Operations Decision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Operations Decision - Essay Example 2. Environmental factors The domestic market for robotics spreads across five major and distinct industries. The automotive industry is the largest consumer of robotics products mainly used in painting and welding operations. The other industries include foundry and heavy manufacturing, aerospace and defense, electronic assembly and consumer products among others. While the automotive industry has shown the most impressive growth in robotics applications to date, it is the electronics assembly market that will be the growth sector of the future (Vassilis, 2008). This is the market which Gen has focused on. Gen has determined that purchasing decisions are currently based in descending order on the following factors: Product reliability Ease of operation Performance specifications Price I am convinced that the noted purchase factors will ultimately determine which suppliers enjoy the most success within the market. 3. We currently use 100 workers to produce 6,000 units of output per mo nth (working 20 days / month). The daily wage (per worker) is $70, and the price of the firm's output is $32. While Gen management feels that pricing will be the least important variable in a purchase decision, the company will price its products at the middle of the market — approximately $40,000 per unit. Potential mid-range price hesitancy on the part of customers will be met head on with specification sheets comparing Gen product performance with competitors and on-site product demonstrations. Gen’s innovative designs result in greater flexibility with potentially lower manufacturing costs than competitors’ products. This will allow the company to regain standard margins above the industry average in spite of our cost exceeding the total revenue (Maria, 2000). I will avail multiple unit order discounts of up to 13% to quantity buyers (units purchased within a sixty-day period will qualify for quantity discounts reduced by 25%). It will be company policy to r equire a 15% cash deposit on all orders, with the balance due within 45 days of installation. With this in mind, even though the cost of other variable inputs is $2,000 per day, as the new managing consultant, this proposal if and when fully implemented, will be able to deal with the firm's fixed cost is which currently is â€Å"high enough† so that the firm's total costs does not exceed its total revenue. The failure which brought the marginal cost of the last unit to be $30 will be a thing of the past (Nick, 2005). 4. Sales Plan Gen will use only in-house sales personnel with impeccable credentials and extensive product training. The needs of the customer will be the main emphasis on a continuous basis. During the first twelve months, I will focus on establishing contacts with target customers. All sales in the first year will be made by home office based personnel. Sales personnel will be compensated with a relatively standard base salary and a â€Å"bonus† payable quarterly based on collected payments on sales made in the preceding three months. Bonus schedules will begin at 2% of ex-factory sales price (excluding freight) and will step to a maximum of 7% with no upward dollar limit. Sales personnel

Dancing with self beauty alice walker Essay Example for Free

Dancing with self beauty alice walker Essay What is a scar? A scar is something that can be covered but never erased. Scars can change a person’s self-esteem and self- worth, relationship with people, and your perception of yourself. A scar can help you find beauty deep down inside just like Alice Walker did. Scars cannot tear you down you are the only one can, its either you live a lie or just accept the true you, which one would you choose? Walker also had problems with self-esteem in her life when her brother shot her in the eye with a BB-gun that left one of her eyes blind. According to walker her life was over â€Å"For six years I do not stare at anyone, because I do not raise my head†. I grew up a tomboy who played with nothing but boys and maybe one or two girls. I was always happy, and a just a big jokers until I started my middle school year and identified hair on my chin. I have suffered with this problem for the longest. I considered myself as different from most girls. When I got the hair on my chin I did not want to be bothered with anybody, I used to hold my head down and kind of slouch so no one wouldn’t see it. My whole attitude changed I went from the girl who used to love herself so very much into the girl who couldn’t stand to look in the mirror. But that should’ve have changed me nor Walker because you can’t look down on yourself just because you have a scar you are who you are no matter if it’s there or not. The scar also changed the relationship with her siblings. From the article Everyday life by K. Nola Mokeyane she said â€Å"sibling’s relationships are important component of children’s social and emotional development. The Child Welfare Information Gateway notes that through their relationship with their siblings, children learn skills such as conflict resolution and negotiation; healthy relationships also provide siblings with a support network. As with anything in life, siblings relationships have positive and negative aspects. Walker started to develop to like on sibling more than the other brother. One of the siblings brought both positive and negative change in her life. The brother who shot her with the BB gun when she was younger and made a big difference in her life and she just was less closer to him just like any other siblings in life. â€Å"What the matter with your eye? † they ask, critically. When I don’t answer with (I cannot decide whether it was an â€Å"accident† or not), they shove me, insist on a fight. My brother, the one who created the story about the wire, comes to my rescue. But then brags so much about â€Å"protecting† me, I become sick. It seems like she is still never forgave her brother for what he had done to her eye and began to not really like him as much. Since her brother was kind of a part of the accident so she kind of liked him better. For some reason he understood her more. â€Å"He is my favorite brother and there is a strong bond between us. Understanding my feelings of shame and ugliness he and his wife take me to a local hospital, where the â€Å"glob† is removed by a doctor named 0. Henry. There is still a small bluish crater where the scar tissue was, but the ugly white stuff is gone. † I to can relate to her by this I had a problem with the hair under my chin still to this very day and my mother wanted to help me out by getting lazer hair remover but I insist on doing so because it really wouldn’t make a difference if I got it removed or not, sometime down the line it still was going to be there no matter what I did. It is so much that family members are siblings can do for you, but you are the one who really have to decide what you are going to do with yourself. People don’t make you and how they change you, you do. According to Answers in Writing â€Å"Sometime we imagine ourselves as different than what we really are one way at least we picture ourselves as this, yet in reality we do not fit this picture. We think we are kind gentle, when in truth we have very little patience for things. We may see ourselves, it is good to see ourselves as exemplary students, but we hate to be wrong. However we picture ourselves, it is good to see ourselves for who we really are. Perception can be altered, whether it is how we see the world or how we see ourselves. All it take is a little honesty, without trying to make ourselves feel better, which is what we usually do when we see what we call faults in ourselves. We try to feel better about it, and this often means we find ways to alter behavior. We try to change how we are to supplement our perceived faults. We are far better off just seeing ourselves for who we are, leaving it at that. Walker use to be the prettiest girl that knew she was pretty and now she is kind of confused. She is worried about what other people think which is stopping her from seeing the positive in her life. â€Å"Years later, in the throes of mid-life crisis, I ask my mother and sister whether I changed after the â€Å"accident†. No, they say, puzzled. What do you mean? † What do I mean? Walker was question herself about who she really was are did she change and she wanted to see what other people such as her family and how they viewed her too. But it was all in the mind of how she saw herself. â€Å"That night, as I do every night, I abuse my eye. I rant and rave at it, in front of the mirror. I plead with it to clear up before morning. I tell it I hate and despise it. I do not pray for sight. I pray for vision. † She must have really seen herself as this person who so ugly until she got it removed but that didn’t change her she had to see herself from within. Many times I put myself in situation where I just look in the mirror and wish some things would go anyway but it doesn’t, you can put make up on, put hair on your head but it want change anything. Walker finally sees herself as this beautiful person. She keep questioning herself â€Å"You did not change they say. † But she finally realizing everything when she is by her daughter and she is talking to her daughter. Walker says â€Å"Since the birth of her daughter she has worried about her discovery that her mothers’ eyes are different from others people’s. Will she be embarrassed? I think. What will she say? Every day she watches a television program called Big Blue Marble. It begin with a picture of earth as it appears from moon. When walker was putting her baby to sleep her daughter Rebecca focus on her eye. She began wanted to protect herself but her daughter didn’t see her eye as such ugliness her daughter tells her there is a world in her eyes. From the perception of her daughter she began to accept herself. â€Å"Yes indeed , I realized, looking into the mirror. There was a world in my eyes. And I saw it was possible to love it. In conclusion scar is something that can be covered but never erased. Scars can change a person’s self-esteem and self- worth, relationship with people, and your perception of yourself. It would not make you who you are you can only make you who you are. Theirs is nothing no one can do to change it. You can never change something and in my eyes she never changed. She still look back and think about her eye.

The end of the road Essay -- Personal Narrative Papers

The end of the road At the end of a journey, it’s always strange to look back on the roads traveled and places visited. It brings with it a sense of nostalgia, a feeling of time passed with the inability, or perhaps unwillingness to go back. I felt like this at the end of the road trip I took this time last year from San Francisco to Alaska. I knew that most likely I’d never again visit those quirky villages in the depths of the Yukon Territory, or stand in the middle of the Alaskan Highway watching a herd of mountain rams cross, miles away from anywhere. And when we reached our destination, the journey seemed far away – separated from the here and now of Whittier, Alaska. And all we had as proof of the 3500 miles traveled were bills for gas and pictures taken along the way. At the end of my semester in EL170, I am left with a very similar feeling of nostalgia and a strange separation from my journey through writing. I look back at genres visited and works â€Å"completed† by our class, and I’m left with a sense of pride at how far we’ve come. And most likely I’ll never again visit where I’ve been, but that doesn’t mean that the memories of where I have visited won’t stay with me for a long time. Thinking way, way back to the world of Non-Fiction shows me just how unexplored my writing really was. Let’s face it, my non-fiction was pretty bad. I had never really written before or had any â€Å"coaching,† so I think my shortcomings were understandable. I found it easy to write because I was drawing from my own experiences, but I found it hard to write well. It felt forced to write about my own experiences. Of all the pieces I wrote, there was one that I liked – my Knowledge Tree. I think that this piece worked better than the othe... ... And it worked. Writing – done. Once I was over the writing hump, I faced the task of creating the digital story. It was difficult, but really fun and it was a great break from the monotony of text book studying which consumed the rest of my life. I feel like my digital story improves as it goes on, simply because I was getting the hang of the idea of the digital story and IMovie. But, in the end I was really proud of what I had made. It was a great experience and I will treasure my digital story forever. So now I’m at the end of my EL170 journey. This has been the best class that I’ve taken in college with the best group of people – professor and tutors included. We created a community in which I could safely release my first writing failures to the world. Words don’t do justice to this class, so I shall leave it at that, and wait for my next journey to start.

Leibniz: Theory of Monads

Introduction Whether ultimately correct or not, Leibniz rejects both Cartesianism and atomism. What ought not be missed is that throughout his objections Leibniz's focus never strays far from the mereological issues of wholes, parts, their unity, etc. Indeed, the very nature of his arguments against the mechanist project clearly demonstrate Leibniz's underlying concern for the problem of the continuum, which seems never very far from his mind. (Thompson) In rejecting Cartesianism, Leibniz's concern is with its inability to make sense of the whole, except at the expense of the reality of the parts. In rejecting atomism, his concern is with its inability to make sense of the parts, except at the expense of the unity of the whole. Neither can provide illumination sufficient to escape from the second labyrinth, and the entire mechanist project therefore finds itself impaled effectively on both horns of a dilemma. Since the problem of the continuum has so much relevance to the unity of substance, Leibniz considers mechanist philosophy inadequate. (Brown) Remaining entirely in character, it should not be surprising that Leibniz's own metaphysics is most fundamentally an attempt to reconcile the mechanistic philosophy to that of Aristotle. He attempts to take the best of each of these two systems and synthesize a new theory that manages to escape their individual defects. (Thompson)   Monads are the unit of substance which supposedly bridge the gap between the old and the new, and plug the holes in mechanist theories. Thus, it is with this in mind that his argument for the existence of monads must be examined, for it is the very heart of Leibniz's theory of substance. At the core of Leibniz's metaphysics one finds monads, which are dimensionless and â€Å"windowless† centers of force, the true substances that comprise the created universe. Infinite hierarchies of monads populate the continuum of all created things, each one mirroring the rest of the universe from its own unique point of view, expressing every other monad with a greater or lesser degree of clarity. Monads are the â€Å"metaphysical points†, so to speak, which are the indivisible, unified, and simple substances that are the foundation of the created world. (Mercer) Distinguishing Features of Leibniz's Ontology There are two particularly significant distinguishing features of Leibniz's ontology as a whole. In brief, Leibniz's ontology remains as true to his desire to be the great reconciler as it does to his expectations for substance, epistemology, and the problem of the continuum. This ought not be forgotten amidst the details that follow. Monads are a Synthesis of Old and New It is not surprising, in light of Leibniz's reconciliatory nature, that monads bear hallmarks of both Aristotelian and mechanistic philosophy. In terms of the former, they do the work of substantial forms, possessing an entelechy which guarantees that they unfold through time as they ought. In terms of the latter, they do the work of atoms, explaining how features in the phenomenal world (i.e., the macro-level world) come about as a result of changes of state in the real world of monads (i.e., the micro-level world). The monad is, by its very definition, designed to leverage the strengths of the two opposing theories, while simultaneously inheriting none of their defects. (Mercer) From this it is clear that Leibniz's theory of substance is determined by his expectations, and by the perceived failures of mechanism. In assembling it, Leibniz borrows liberally from what he considers the best features of the old and the new. Regarding those aspects in which Leibniz finds either of them inadequate, he crafts his own philosophy so that it avoids said inadequacies, essentially by definition. Qualitative, not Quantitative What is arguably most interesting and quite unique about this synthesis of systems is the shift in focus. To elucidate, Leibniz sees the mechanist philosophy as a fundamentally quantitative and extensive endeavor. The Cartesian defines the very essence of body as extension, which is quantitative in its extensive nature. Similarly, the atomist cannot help but construct the macro-level world by aggregation, through the grouping of many extended entities in the micro-level world, which is also quantitative by nature. Both variants of mechanism therefore sustain a quantitative and extensive view of the relationships between wholes and parts, explaining or reducing qualitative features of the macro-level world in light of or to quantitative features of the micro-level world. (Mercer) Given the problems he finds with quantitative theories, Leibniz concludes that that the correct theory must instead be uniquely qualitative and intensive, rather than quantitative and extensive, and this unique notion is given flesh along very Aristotelian lines. Latta (1965) provides the following apt description: Accordingly, the essence of Leibniz's argument is that a quantitative conception of the relation of whole and parts affords an inadequate theory of substance. The common element in the contrary positions of the Cartesians and the Atomists is the explicit or implicit reduction of qualitative to quantitative differences. And it appears to Leibniz that the solution of the dilemma is to be found in the opposite hypothesis, namely, that the essence of substance is non-quantitative, and that the relation of whole and parts must be conceived as intensive rather than extensive. Thus a ‘simple substance' has no parts, i.e. no quantitative elements, and yet it must comprehend a manifold in unity; that is to say, it must be real, it must be something, it must be qualitative, specifically determined. (p. 27). The suggested intensive view of the relations between parts and wholes is noteworthy for its novelty if nothing else. What Leibniz seems to have in mind is that the parts of a whole somehow â€Å"participate† in that whole, and similarly that the whole somehow â€Å"participates† in all of its parts. The nature of this participation isn't entirely clear, but it is certain that the conception Leibniz holds is not the traditional understanding of the part-whole relation. There is something deeper at work here, some understanding that is intended to allow both the parts and the whole to remain distinct and unified, the parts in themselves and the whole through its special relationship to the parts. (Thompson) What Leibniz seeks is some sense in which the whole somehow mirrors or expresses all of its parts, containing within itself the explanation for why the parts are precisely as they are. And similarly, the parts must somehow mirror or express the larger whole as well, containing within themselves their explanations, while also mirroring the explanation of the whole, albeit with a lesser degree of clarity. The important degree of mutual inter-participation is what is key to the more organic or holistic relationship Leibniz intends. (Swoyer) Despite the present vagueness, however, this much remains clear: Leibniz believes that the part-whole relation in genuine unities must be something far more special than other philosophical systems have taken it to be. Leibniz's use of monads is therefore intended not only to reconcile Aristotle with the mechanists, but also to lay the groundwork necessary to make such a special relationship logically possible and plausible. (Thompson) The Argument From â€Å"The Monadology† In the first few sentences of â€Å"The Monadology†, Leibniz gives one formulation of his argument for the existence of monads, a formulation which might be described most charitably as terse. Though this is not the only argument Leibniz gives for monads, it is probably the most well known. As early as 1671, for example, Leibniz argues for monads qua indivisible unextended things, though in a much different fashion involving the proper beginnings of extended entities. (1969, p. 139-140) Because his earlier argument is even more terse than the later argument it shall not be discussed any further. It is worth mentioning only because its similarities mark it as a clear precursor for Leibniz's later thinking on the subject. Further, Leibniz claims elsewhere that the existence of monads may be inferred from his doctrine of the pre-established harmony, though his reasons for this remain obscure. (1985, p.80) Returning to the better known argument of â€Å"The Monadology†, while it would be unreasonable to fault Leibniz for his brevity in making the argument, it is nevertheless the case that much remains to be said before the argument can be accepted, rejected, or even understood adequately. Because the monad is at the very heart of Leibniz's metaphysics, one might reasonably expect a more complete formulation of his argument to be possible, just as one might expect Leibniz's critics to focus their attacks upon that argument if monads qua simple substances are to be rejected. For the purposes of this essay, it is necessary to understand this argument and the issues underlying it in order to make clear precisely how Leibniz takes the monad to be united and simple. The following is Leibniz's argument for the existence of monads as given in â€Å"The Monadology†: The Monad, of which we shall here speak, is nothing but a simple substance, which enters into compounds. By ‘simple' is meant ‘without parts.' 2.  Ã‚   And there must be simple substances, since there are compounds; for a compound is nothing but a collection or aggregatum of simple things. (1989, p.213) Common Sense Observations Relevant Observations For Leibniz, the observations relevant to a theory of substance are those of entities in the world. As established already, Leibniz simply looks at the world and takes inventory of what he sees. Among the entities perceived he finds what might be called â€Å"macro entities† of a relatively mundane variety such as tables, chairs, rocks, streams, etc., as well as perhaps not so mundane macro entities such as plants, animals and persons. With the aid of the microscope, one may similarly perceive â€Å"micro entities† both mundane (e.g., crystals) and not so mundane (e.g., unicellular organisms). Further, with the aid of a telescope, one may perceive entities at the large end of the macro scale, if not, in fact, objects of an altogether different order of size. (Mercer) There are two primary points of interest as regards this body of observations. The first is that each entity, because it has extension, is divisible into parts. The second is that despite this divisibility into parts, the entities in question are more or less unities in some sense; i.e., each entity is numerically one, and it is what it is rather than something else. To put these two points a bit differently, this body of observations indicates that for all such objects there seems to be a unified whole, just as there seems also to be discernable parts, which are similarly real and unified. A third less interesting but important point is that in each case one seems to find entities at every scale. No matter how high one turns up the telescope or the microscope, one never reaches the end of things. Wherever one looks, one finds worlds within worlds. Existing Theories This body of observations requires explanation. More to the point, Leibniz takes this body of observations to require an explanation in terms of some sort of substance. In virtue of what is it the case that some particular entity is a whole? In virtue of what is it the case that the parts of that entity are themselves both unified and real? Further, what relations are sustained between the wholes and their parts? And finally, what conclusions may be drawn more generally once answers to these questions have been established? These are the sorts of questions Leibniz has in mind when considering existing theories. A successful theory must address them adequately without falling into either internal conceptual contradiction or external contradiction. That is, the theory must cohere with the present body of observations, just as its predictions (if any may be made) must also cohere with both present and future observations. (Thompson) In terms of evaluating mechanist theories, there are only two that Leibniz takes as plausible candidates, Cartesianism and atomism. As established already, Leibniz considers both of these views to be inadequate for explaining the body of observations under consideration. Having already examined Leibniz's reasons for rejecting these systems in some detail we may move directly to the next step, which involves synthesizing a new theory that avoids the inadequacies of mechanism while embracing its strengths. A Novel Theory of Substance If both ends of the spectrum of mechanist philosophy are unacceptable, then why not head for the middle? Leibniz is convinced of unities in the world because of a wealth of observations, and he believes both the Cartesians and the atomists to be unable to explain such unities with their theories. (Thompson, p. 24-6) What is needed according to Leibniz is a theory whose fundamental unit of substance is both real and indivisible. It must be real for the obvious reason that it simply will not do to explain what does exist by appeal to what does not, and it must be indivisible in such a fashion that it may explain the genuine unity of the observed entities in the world. Further, it must provide a qualitative and intensive, rather than quantitative and extensive, construal of the part-whole relation, as previously discussed. Leibniz concludes, therefore, that what is needed is a new, basic unit of substance:  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦physical points are indivisible only in appearance; mathematical points are exact, but they are merely modalities. Only metaphysical points or points of substance (constituted by forms or souls) are exact and real, and without them there would be nothing real, since without true unities there would be no multitude. (1989, 142) This conclusion, which lays the foundation for the development of the remainder of Leibniz's metaphysics, owes its support to the two factors given earlier as motivations. Most central to it is the fundamental assumption that monadic unity is necessary â€Å"at bottom† for the production of all compound things. In light of this, it is possible to summarize the more complete formulation of Leibniz's argument for monads as follows: P1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Common sense observations show that real, unified entities exist. P2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is real may be explained only by appeal to something real. P3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is unified may be explained only by appeal to something indivisible. C  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Therefore, the explanation for such entities in the world must involve real and indivisible substances, namely, monads. This bears little relation, prima facie, to the less detailed argument given in the first two sections of â€Å"The Monadology†, but it is nevertheless reducible to that argument. P1 amounts to nothing more than the initial premise that compounds exist. P2 and P3 do not appear at all in â€Å"The Monadology†, but it is tolerably clear from the preceding discussion that these principles are indeed assumed by Leibniz. Finally, the conclusion is just a restatement of the conclusion that monads exist. Again, to restate the argument more succinctly: compounds exist, therefore simples exist. The remainder of Leibniz's metaphysical deductions in â€Å"The Monadology† follow from this more complete formulation at least as well as they follow the abbreviated version. Because monads must be both real and indivisible, Leibniz may argue that they can have neither extension nor form and must therefore be immaterial. Because they cannot be divided, Leibniz may still maintain that they cannot go out of existence in any natural way, by the dissolution of parts. Similarly, they cannot come into existence in any natural way, by the aggregation of parts, and so forth. Thus, this more complete formulation of the argument acts as a â€Å"drop in replacement† for its far more concise sibling. Conclusion To summarize, Leibniz's argument for monads is an enthymeme, an argument with an implied premise. Examining the logical derivation suggests a line of thought that Leibniz's other writings explicitly affirm, namely, that there is no reality without unity. With this additional premise in hand, the argument for monads is rendered formally valid. What's more, this additional premise provides a starting point for untangling the issues previously suggested as problems for monadic simplicity. The close tie between reality and unity prompts one to consider what Leibniz means by ‘simple' in a different light. It seems that what he intends in his argument for monads is not merely that they have no parts, but rather that they also include a kind of indivisibility, an inability to be divided in any way that destroys them. If there is no reality without unity, then things that are fatally separable and thus not unified are not intrinsically real. The relation between reality and unity helps suggest the fatal inseparability criterion for simplicity. Further, it also seems that mereological simplicity and fatal inseparability are but negative entailments of a more positive construal of simplicity, namely, ontological simplicity. A thing is ontologically simple if it stands alone, or described negatively if it is self sufficient in the sense that it bears no internal relations of ontological dependence to any other thing. Such an understanding of simplicity resolves the problems raised previously for the mereological construal, helps to make sense of Leibniz's argument for monads, and coheres nicely with the various other texts in which Leibniz uses the term. References Brown, Stuart. The Young Leibniz and His Philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer AcademicPublishers, 1999. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1969) Philosophical Papers and Letters, 2d ed. Translated and edited by Leroy E. Loemker. Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company, Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1985) Theodicy. Translated by E. M. Huggard, edited by Austin Farrer. Open Court Publishing Company. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1965) The Monadology and other Philosophical Writings. Translated and edited by Robert Latta. London: Oxford University Press. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1989) Philosophical Essays. Translated and edited by Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Mercer, Christia. Leibniz's Metaphysics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Swoyer, Chris. (1995) Leibnizian Expression. Journal of the History of Philosophy 33 (1), 65-99. Thompson, Garrett. On Leibniz. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2001.

Zoe’s Tale PART III Chapter Twenty-Four

I entered the storage deck of the other Obin ship. â€Å"So this is the human who has an entire race to do her bidding,† said the Consu waiting there for me. It was the only place on the Obin ship where he would fit, I guessed. I smiled in spite of myself. â€Å"You laugh at me,† the Consu said. It spoke perfect English, and in a light, gentle voice, which was weird considering how much it looked like a large and savagely angry insect. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said. â€Å"It's just that it's the second time in a day that someone's said that to me.† â€Å"Well,† the Consu said. It unfolded itself in a way that made me want to run screaming in the other direction, and from somewhere inside its body a creepily humanlike arm and hand beckoned to me. â€Å"Come and let me get a look at you.† I took one step forward and then had a very difficult time with the next step. â€Å"You asked for me, human,† the Consu said. I developed a spine and walked over to the Consu. It touched and prodded me with its smaller arms, while its giant slashing arms, the ones the Consu used to decapitate enemies in combat, hovered on either side of me, at just about head level. I managed not to completely lose it. â€Å"Yes, well,† the Consu said, and I heard something like disappointment in its voice. â€Å"There's nothing particularly special about you, is there? Physically. Is there something special about you mentally?† â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"I'm just me.† â€Å"We're all just ourselves,† the Consu said, and folded itself back into its self, much to my relief. â€Å"That is axiomatic. What is it about you that makes hundreds of Obin allow themselves to die to get to me, is what I am asking.† I felt sick again. â€Å"You said that hundreds of Obin died to bring you to me?† â€Å"Oh, yes,† the Consu said. â€Å"Your pets surrounded my ship with their own and tried to board it. The ship killed everyone that tried. They remained persistent and finally I became curious. I allowed one to board the ship and it told me that you had demanded the Obin convince the Consu to help you. I wanted to see for myself what sort of creature could so casually demand this, and could cause the Obin to fulfill it at such a cost to themselves.† It looked at me again curiously. â€Å"You appear upset,† it said. â€Å"I'm thinking about the Obin who died,† I said. â€Å"They did what you asked of them,† the Consu said, with a bored tone. â€Å"You didn't have to kill so many of them,† I said. â€Å"Your pets didn't have to offer up so many to sacrifice,† said the Consu. â€Å"And yet they did. You seem stupid so I will explain this to you. Your pets, to the extent that they can think, did this intelligently. The Consu will not speak to the Obin for their own behalf. We answered their questions long ago and it does not interest us to speak further on the subject.† â€Å"But you spoke to the Obin,† I said. â€Å"I am dying,† the Consu said. â€Å"I am on† – and here the Consu made a noise that sounded like a tractor falling down a hill – â€Å"the death journey that Consu prepared to move forward are permitted if in this life they have proven worthy. Consu on this journey may do as they please, including speaking to proscribed creatures, and may if asked appropriately grant a final boon. Your pets have spied on the Consu for decades – we were aware of this but did nothing about it – and knew the route of the death journey and knew the ceremonial ships those on the journey travel in. Your pets understood this was the only way they could talk to us. And your pets knew what it would require to interest me or any Consu enough to hear them. You should have known this when you made your demand.† â€Å"I didn't,† I said. â€Å"Then you are foolish, human,† the Consu said. â€Å"If I were inclined to feel sorry for the Obin, I would do so because they had wasted their effort and diverted me from my journey on the behalf of someone so ignorant of the cost. But I do not feel sorry for them. They at least knew the cost, and willingly paid it. Now. You will either tell me how you demand I help you, or I will go and your pets' deaths will have truly been for nothing.† â€Å"I need help to save my colony,† I said, and forced myself to focus. â€Å"My friends and family are there and are under threat of attack. It is a small colony and not able to defend itself. The Colonial Union will not help us. The Obin are not allowed to help us. The Consu have technology that could help us. I ask for your help.† â€Å"You said ‘ask,'† the Consu said. â€Å"Your pets said ‘demand.'† â€Å"I demanded help from the Obin because I knew I could,† I said. â€Å"I am asking you.† â€Å"I do not care about your colony or you,† the Consu said. â€Å"You just said that as part of your death journey you can grant a boon,† I said. â€Å"This could be it.† â€Å"It may be that my boon was to the Obin, in speaking to you,† the Consu said. I blinked at this. â€Å"How would it be a boon to them just to speak to me if you won't at least think of helping me?† I said. â€Å"Then it would be you who wasted their sacrifice and effort.† â€Å"That is my choice,† the Consu said. â€Å"The Obin understood that in making the sacrifice the answer might be ‘no.' This is another thing they understand that you don't.† â€Å"I know there is a lot I don't understand here,† I said. â€Å"I can see that. I'm sorry. But I still need help for my family and friends.† â€Å"How many family and friends?† the Consu said. â€Å"My colony has twenty-five hundred people,† I said. â€Å"A similar number of Obin died in order to bring me here,† the Consu said. â€Å"I didn't know that would happen,† I said. â€Å"I wouldn't have asked for that.† â€Å"Is that so?† the Consu said. It shifted its bulk and drew in toward me. I didn't back away. â€Å"I don't believe you, human. You are foolish and you are ignorant, that much is clear. Yet I cannot believe that even you did not understand what you were asking the Obin for when you asked them to come to us for your sake. You demanded help from the Obin because you could. And because you could you did not ask the cost. But you had to have known the cost would be high.† I didn't know what to say to that. The Consu drew back and seemed to regard me, like it might an amusing insect. â€Å"Your capriciousness and callousness with the Obin interests me,† it said. â€Å"And so does the fact that the Obin are willing to give of themselves for your whims despite your lack of care for them.† I said something I knew I was going to regret, but I couldn't help myself. The Consu was doing a really excellent job of pushing my buttons. â€Å"That's a funny thing coming from someone from the race that gave the Obin intelligence but no consciousness,† I said. â€Å"As long as we're talking about capriciousness and callousness.† â€Å"Ah. Yes, that's right,† the Consu said. â€Å"The Obin told me this. You're the child of the human who made the machines that let the Obin play at consciousness.† â€Å"They don't play at it,† I said. â€Å"They have it.† â€Å"And it is a terrible thing that they do,† the Consu said. â€Å"Consciousness is a tragedy. It leads the whole race away from perfection, causes it to fritter its efforts on individual and wasteful effort. Our lives as Consu are spent learning to free our race from the tyranny of self, to move beyond ourselves and in doing so move our race forward. It is why we help you lesser races along, so you may also free yourselves in time.† I bit my cheek at this bit. The Consu would sometimes come down to a human colony, wipe it and everyone in it off the face of their planet, and then wait for the Colonial Defense Forces to come and fight them. It was a game to the Consu, as far as any of us could see. To say that they were doing it for our benefit was perverse, to say the least. But I was here to ask for help, not debate morals. I had already been baited once. I didn't dare let it happen again. The Consu continued, oblivious to my personal struggles. â€Å"What you humans have done to the Obin makes a mockery of their potential,† it said. â€Å"We created the Obin to be the best among us all, the one race without consciousness, the one race free to pursue its destiny as a race from its first steps. The Obin were meant to be what we aspired to. To see them aspire to consciousness is to see a creature that can fly aspire to wallow in mud. Your father did the Obin no favors, human, in hobbling them with consciousness.† I stood there for a minute, amazed that this Consu would tell me, in seemingly casual conversation, things that the Obin had sacrificed half their number for so many years ago but were never allowed to hear. The Consu waited patiently for my response. â€Å"The Obin would disagree,† I said. â€Å"And so would I.† â€Å"Of course you would,† the Consu said. â€Å"Their love of their consciousness is what makes them willing to do the ridiculous for you. That and the fact that they choose to honor you for something that your father did, even though you had no hand in it. This blindness and honor is convenient to you. It is what you use to get them to do what you want. You don't prize their consciousness for what it gives them. You prize it for what it allows you to do to them.† â€Å"That's not true,† I said. â€Å"Indeed,† said the Consu, and I could hear the mocking tone in its voice. It shifted its weight again. â€Å"Very well, human. You have asked me to help you. Perhaps I will. I can provide you with a boon, one the Consu may not refuse. But this boon is not free. It comes with a cost attached.† â€Å"What cost?† I said. â€Å"I want to be entertained first,† the Consu said. â€Å"So I offer you this bargain. You have among you several hundred Obin. Select one hundred of them in any way you choose. I will ask the Consu to send one hundred of our own – convicts, sinners, and others who have strayed from the path and would be willing to attempt redemption. We will set them at each other, to the death. â€Å"In the end, one side will have a victory. If it is yours, then I will help you. If it is mine, I will not. And then, having been sufficiently amused, I will be on my way, to continue my death journey. I will call to the Consu now. Let us say that in eight of your hours we will start this entertainment. I trust that will be enough time for you to prepare your pets.† â€Å"We will have no problem finding a hundred volunteers among the Obin,† Dock said to me. It and I were in the conference room General Gau had lent me. Hickory and Dickory stood outside the door to make sure we weren't disturbed. â€Å"I will have the volunteers ready for you within the hour.† â€Å"Why didn't you tell me how the Obin planned to get the Consu to me?† I asked. â€Å"The Consu here told me that hundreds of Obin died to get him here. Why didn't you warn me that would happen?† â€Å"I did not know how we would choose to try to get the Consu's attention,† Dock said. â€Å"I sent along your requirement, along with my own assent. I was not a participant in making the choice.† â€Å"But you knew this could happen,† I said. â€Å"As a member of the Council I know that we have had the Consu under observation, and that there had been plans to find ways to talk to them again,† Dock said. â€Å"I knew this was one of them.† â€Å"Why didn't you tell me?† I said. â€Å"I told you that attempting to speak to the Consu would come at a high cost,† Dock said. â€Å"This was the cost. At the time, the cost did not seem too high for you.† â€Å"I didn't know that it would mean that hundreds of Obin would die,† I said. â€Å"Or that they would just keep throwing themselves into a Consu firing line until the Consu got curious enough to stop. If I had known I would have asked you to try something else.† â€Å"Given what you required us to do and the time in which we had to do it, there was nothing else,† Dock said. It came to me and opened up its hands, like it was trying to make me see something important. â€Å"Please understand, Zoe. We had been planning to petition a Consu on its death journey for a long time now, and for our own reasons. It was one of the reasons we were able to fulfill your requirement at all. Everything was already in place.† â€Å"But it was my order that killed them,† I said. â€Å"It is not your fault that the Consu required their deaths,† Dock said. â€Å"The Obin who were part of the mission had already known what was required to get the attention of the Consu. They were already committed to this task. Your request changed only the timing and the purpose of their mission. But those who participated did so willingly, and understood the reason for doing it. It was their choice.† â€Å"They still did it because I didn't think about what I was asking,† I said. â€Å"They did it because you required our help,† Dock said. â€Å"They would have thought it an honor to do this for you. Just as those who will fight for you now will consider it an honor.† I looked at my hands, ashamed to look at Dock. â€Å"You said that you had already been planning to petition a Consu on its death journey,† I said. â€Å"What were you going to ask?† â€Å"For understanding,† Dock said. â€Å"To know why the Consu kept consciousness away from us. To know why they chose to punish us with its lack.† I looked up at that. â€Å"I know the answer,† I said, and told Dock what the Consu had told me about consciousness and why they chose not to give it to the Obin. â€Å"I don't know if that was the answer you were looking for,† I said. â€Å"But that's what this Consu told me.† Dock didn't say anything. I looked more closely at it, and I could see it was trembling. â€Å"Hey,† I said, and got up from my chair. â€Å"I didn't mean to upset you.† â€Å"I am not upset,† Dock said. â€Å"I am happy. You have given us answers to questions we have been asking since as long as our race has existed. Answers the Consu would not have given us themselves. Answers many of us would have given our lives for.† â€Å"Many of you did give your lives for them,† I said. â€Å"No,† Dock said. â€Å"They gave their lives to help you. There was no expectation of any compensation for the sacrifice. They did it because you required it. You did not have to give us anything in return. But you have given us this.† â€Å"You're welcome,† I said. I was getting embarrassed. â€Å"It's not a big thing. The Consu just told me. I just thought you should know.† â€Å"Consider, Zoe, that this thing that you just thought we should know was something that others would have seen as something to hold over us,† Dock said. â€Å"That they would have sold to us, or denied to us. You gave it freely.† â€Å"After I told you that I required your help and sent hundreds of Obin out to die,† I said, and sat back down. â€Å"Don't make me out to be a hero, Dock. It's not the way I feel right now.† â€Å"I am sorry, Zoe,† Dock said. â€Å"But if you will not be a hero, at least know that you are not a villain. You are our friend.† â€Å"Thank you, Dock,† I said. â€Å"That helps a little.† Dock nodded. â€Å"Now I must go to find the hundred volunteers you seek,† it said, â€Å"and to tell the Council what you have shared with me. Do not worry, Zoe. We will not disappoint you.† â€Å"This is what I have for you on short notice,† General Gau said. He swept an arm through the space station's immense cargo bay. â€Å"This part of the station is just newly constructed. We haven't actually used it for cargo yet. I think it'll suit your purposes.† I stared at the immensity of the space. â€Å"I think so,† I said. â€Å"Thank you, General.† â€Å"It's the least I could do,† General Gau said. â€Å"Considering how you've helped me just recently.† â€Å"Thank you for not holding the Consu invasion against me,† I said. â€Å"On the contrary, it's been a benefit,† Gau said. â€Å"It stopped the battle around the space station before it could get truly horrific. The traitor crews assumed I had called those ships for assistance. They surrendered before I could correct the impression. You helped me quash the rebellion before it could get started.† â€Å"You're welcome,† I said. â€Å"Thank you,† said Gau. â€Å"Now, of course, I would like them to go away. But it's my understanding that they're here to make sure we don't do anything foolish with our Consu guest while he's here. The ships are fighter drones, not even manned, but this is Consu technology. I don't imagine if they opened fire on us we'd stand much of a chance. So we have an enforced peace here at the moment. Since it works for me, not against me, I shouldn't complain.† â€Å"Have you found out any more about Nerbros Eser and what his plans are?† I asked. I didn't feel like thinking about the Consu anymore. â€Å"Yes,† Gau said. â€Å"Lernin has been quite forthcoming now that he's trying to avoid being executed for treason. It's been a wonderful motivator. He tells me that Eser plans to take Roanoke with a small force of soldiers. The idea there is to show that he can take with a hundred soldiers what I couldn't take with four hundred battle cruisers. But ‘take' is the wrong word for it, I'm afraid. Eser plans to destroy the colony and everyone in it.† â€Å"That was your plan too,† I reminded the general. He bobbed his head in what I assumed was an acknowledgment. â€Å"You know by now, I hope, that I would have much preferred not to have killed the colonists,† he said. â€Å"Eser does not intend to offer that option.† I skipped over that piece of data in my head. â€Å"When will he attack?† I asked. â€Å"Soon, I think,† Gau said. â€Å"Lernin doesn't think Eser has assembled his troops yet, but this failed assassination attempt is going to force him to move sooner than later.† â€Å"Great,† I said. â€Å"There's still time,† Gau said. â€Å"Don't give up hope yet, Zoe.† â€Å"I haven't,† I said. â€Å"But I've still got a lot on my mind.† â€Å"Have you found enough volunteers?† Gau asked. â€Å"We have,† I said, and my face tightened up as I said it. â€Å"What's wrong?† Gau said. â€Å"One of the volunteers,† I said, and stopped. I tried again. â€Å"One of the volunteers is an Obin named Dickory,† I said. â€Å"My friend and my bodyguard. When it volunteered I told it no. Demanded that it take back its offer. But it refused.† â€Å"Having it volunteer could be a powerful thing,† Gau said. â€Å"It probably encouraged others to step forward.† I nodded. â€Å"But Dickory is still my friend,† I said. â€Å"Still my family. Maybe it shouldn't make a difference but it does.† â€Å"Of course it makes a difference,† Gau said. â€Å"The reason you're here is to try to keep the people you love from being hurt.† â€Å"I'm asking people I don't know to sacrifice themselves for people I do,† I said. â€Å"That's why you're asking them to volunteer,† Gau said. â€Å"But it seems to me the reason they're volunteering is for you.† I nodded and looked out at the bay, and imagined the fight that was coming. â€Å"I have a proposition for you,† the Consu said to me. The two of us sat in the operations room of the cargo bay, ten meters above the floor of the bay. On the floor were two groups of beings. In the first group were the one hundred Obin who had volunteered to fight for me. In the other group were the one hundred Consu criminals, who would be forced to fight the Obin for a chance to regain their honor. The Consu looked scary big next to the Obin. The contest would be modified hand-to-hand combat: The Obin were allowed a combat knife, while the Consu, with their slashing arms, would fight bare-handed, if you called being able to wield two razor-sharp limbs attached to your own body â€Å"bare-handed.† I was getting very nervous about the Obin's chances. â€Å"A proposition,† the Consu repeated. I glanced over at the Consu, who in himself nearly filled the operations room. He'd been there when I had come up; I wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten himself through the door. The two of us were there with Hickory and Dock and General Gau, who had taken it upon himself to act as the official arbiter for the contest. Dickory was on the floor. Getting ready to fight. â€Å"Are you interested in hearing it?† the Consu asked. â€Å"We're about to start,† I said. â€Å"It's about the contest,† the Consu said. â€Å"I have a way that you can get what you want without having the contest at all.† I closed my eyes. â€Å"Tell me,† I said. â€Å"I will help you keep your colony safe by providing you a piece of our technology,† the Consu said. â€Å"A machine that produces an energy field that robs projectiles of their momentum. A sapper field. It makes your bullets fall out of the air and sucks the power from missiles before they strike their targets. If you are clever your colony can use it to defeat those who attack it. This is what I am allowed and prepared to give to you.† â€Å"And what do you want in return?† I asked. â€Å"A simple demonstration,† the Consu said. It unfolded and pointed toward the Obin on the floor. â€Å"A demand from you was enough to cause hundreds of Obin to willingly sacrifice themselves for the mere purpose of getting my attention. This power you have interests me. I want to see it. Tell this one hundred to sacrifice themselves here and now, and I will give you what you need in order to save your colony.† â€Å"I can't do that,† I said. â€Å"It is not an issue of whether it is possible,† the Consu said. It leaned its bulk over and then addressed Dock. â€Å"Would the Obin here kill themselves if this human asked it?† â€Å"Without doubt,† Dock said. â€Å"They would not hesitate,† the Consu said. â€Å"No,† Dock said. The Consu turned back to me. â€Å"Then all you need to do is give the order.† â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"Don't be stupid, human,† the Consu said. â€Å"You have been assured by me that I will assist you. You have been assured by this Obin that your pets here will gladly sacrifice themselves for your benefit, without delay or complaint. You will be assured of helping your family and friends survive imminent attack. And you have done it before. You thought nothing of sending hundred to their death to speak to me. It should not be a difficult decision now.† He waved again toward the floor. â€Å"Tell me honestly, human. Look at your pets, and then look at the Consu. Do you think your pets will be the ones left standing when this is over? Do you want to risk the safety of your friends and family on them? â€Å"I offer you an alternative. It carries no risk. It costs you nothing but your assent. Your pets will not object. They will be happy to do this for you. Simply say that you require this of them. That you demand it of them. And if it makes you feel any better, you can tell them to turn off their consciousness before they kill themselves. Then they will not fear their sacrifice. They will simply do it. They will do it for you. They will do it for what you are to them.† I considered what the Consu had said. I turned to Dock. â€Å"You have no doubt that those Obin would do this for me,† I said. â€Å"There is no doubt,† Dock said. â€Å"They are there to fight at your request, Zoe. They know they may die. They have already accepted that possibility, just as the Obin who sacrificed themselves to bring you this Consu knew what was required of them.† â€Å"And what about you,† I said to Hickory. â€Å"Your friend and partner is down there, Hickory. For ten years, at least, you've spent your life with Dickory. What do you say?† Hickory's trembling was so slight that I almost doubted that I saw it. â€Å"Dickory will do as you ask, Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"You should know this already.† It turned away after that. I looked at General Gau. â€Å"I have no advice to offer you,† he said. â€Å"But I am very interested to find out what you choose.† I closed my eyes and I thought of my family. Of John and Jane. Of Savitri, who traveled to a new world with us. I thought of Gretchen and Magdy and the future they could have together. I thought of Enzo and his family and everything that was taken from them. I thought of Roanoke, my home. And I knew what I had to do. I opened my eyes. â€Å"The choice is obvious,† the Consu said. I looked at the Consu and nodded. â€Å"I think you're right,† I said. â€Å"And I think I need to go down and tell them.† I walked to the door of the operations room. As I did, General Gau lightly took my arm. â€Å"Think about what you're doing, Zoe,† Gau said. â€Å"Your choice here matters.† I looked up at the general. â€Å"I know it does,† I said. â€Å"And it's my choice to make.† The general let go of my arm. â€Å"Do what you have to do,† he said. â€Å"Thank you,† I said. â€Å"I think I will.† I left the room and for the next minute tried very hard not to fall down the stairs as I walked down them. I'm happy to say I succeeded. But it was a close thing. I walked toward the group of Obin, who were milling about, some doing exercises, some talking quietly to another or to a small group. As I got closer I tried to locate Dickory and could not. There were too many Obin, and Dickory wasn't somewhere I could easily see him. Eventually the Obin noticed I was walking to them. They quieted and equally quietly formed ranks. I stood there in front of them for a few seconds, trying to see each of the Obin for itself, and not just one of a hundred. I opened my mouth to speak. Nothing would come. My mouth was so dry I could not make words. I closed my mouth, swallowed a couple of times, and tried again. â€Å"You know who I am,† I said. â€Å"I'm pretty sure about that. I only know one of you personally, and I'm sorry about that. I wish I could have known each of you, before you were asked†¦before I asked†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stopped. I was saying stupid things. It wasn't what I wanted to do. Not now. â€Å"Look,† I said. â€Å"I'm going to tell you some things, and I can't promise it's going to make any kind of sense. But I need to say them to you before†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I gestured at the cargo bay. â€Å"Before all of this.† The Obin all looked at me, whether politely or patiently, I can't say. â€Å"You know why you're here,† I said. â€Å"You're here to fight those Consu over there because I want to try to protect my family and friends on Roanoke. You were told that if you could beat the Consu, I would get the help I needed. But something's changed.† I pointed up to the operations room. â€Å"There's a Consu up there,† I said, â€Å"who tells me that he'll give me what I need to save Roanoke without having to have you fight, and risk losing. All I have to do is tell you to take those knives you were going to use on those Consu, and use them on yourselves. All I have to do is to tell you to kill yourselves. Everyone tells me you'll do it, because of what I am to you. â€Å"And they're right. I'm pretty sure about that, too. I'm certain that if I asked all of you to kill yourselves, you would do it. Because I am your Zoe. Because you've seen me all your lives in the recordings that Hickory and Dickory have made. Because I'm standing here in front of you now, asking you to do it. â€Å"I know you would do this for me. You would.† I stopped for a minute, tried to focus. And then I faced something I'd spent a long time avoiding. My own past. I raised my head again and looked directly at the Obin. â€Å"When I was five, I lived on a space station. Covell. I lived there with my father. One day while he was away from the station for a few days on business, the station was attacked. First by the Rraey. They attacked, and they came in and they rounded up all the people who lived on the station, and they began to kill us. I remember†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I closed my eyes again. â€Å"I remember husbands being taken from their wives and then shot in the halls where everyone could hear,† I said. â€Å"I remember parents begging the Rraey to spare their children. I remember being pushed behind a stranger when the woman who was watching me, the mother of a friend, was taken away. She tried to push away her daughter, too, but she held on to her mother and they were both taken away. If the Rraey had continued much longer, eventually they would have found me and killed me too.† I opened my eyes. â€Å"But then the Obin attacked the station, to take it from the Rraey, who weren't prepared for another fight. And when they cleared the station of the Rraey, they took those of us humans who were left and put us in a common area. I remember being there, with no one looking after me. My father was gone. My friend and her mother were dead. I was alone. â€Å"The space station was a science station, so the Obin looked through the research and they found my father's work. His work on consciousness. And they wanted him to work for them. So they came back to us in the common area and they called out my father's name. But he wasn't on the station. They called his name again and I answered. I said I was his daughter and that he would come for me soon. â€Å"I remember the Obin talking among themselves then, and then telling me to come away. And I remember saying no, because I didn't want to leave the other humans. And I remember what one of the Obin said to me then. It said, ‘You must come with us. You have been chosen, and you will be safe.' â€Å"And I remembered everything that had just happened. And I think even at five years old some part of me knew what would happen to the rest of the people at Covell. And here was the Obin, telling me I would be safe. Because I had been chosen. And I remember taking the Obin's hand, being led away and looking back at the humans who were left. And then they were gone. I never saw them again. â€Å"But I lived,† I said. â€Å"Not because of who I was; I was just this little girl. But because of what I was: the daughter of the man who could give you consciousness. It was the first time that what I was mattered more than who I was. But it wasn't the last.† I looked up at the operations room, trying to see if those in there were listening to me, and wondering what they were thinking. Wondering what Hickory was thinking. And General Gau. I turned back to the Obin. â€Å"What I am still matters more than who I am,† I said. â€Å"It matters more right now. Right this minute. Because of what I am, hundreds of you died to bring just one Consu to see me. Because of what I am, if I ask you to take those knives and plunge them into your bodies, you will do it. Because of what I am. Because of what I have been to you.† I shook my head and looked down at the ground. â€Å"All my life I have accepted that what I am matters,† I said. â€Å"That I had to work with it. Make accommodations for it. Sometimes I thought I could manipulate it, although I just found out the price for that belief. Sometimes I would even fight against it. But never once did I think that I could leave what I was behind. Because I remembered what it got me. How it saved me. I never even thought of giving it up.† I pointed up at the operations room. â€Å"There is a Consu in that operations room who wants me to kill you all, just to show him that I can. He wants me to do it to make a point to me, too – that when it comes down to it, I'm willing to sacrifice all of you to get what I want. Because when it comes down to it, you don't matter. You're just something I can use, a means to an end, a tool for another purpose. He wants me to kill you to rub my face in the fact I don't care. â€Å"And he's right.† I looked into the faces of the Obin. â€Å"I don't know any of you, except for one,† I said. â€Å"I won't remember what any of you look like in a few days, no matter what happens here. On the other hand all the people I love and care for I can see as soon as I close my eyes. Their faces are so clear to me. Like they are here with me. Because they are. I carry them inside me. Like you carry those you care for inside of you. â€Å"The Consu is right that it would be easy to ask you to sacrifice yourselves for me. To tell you to do it so I can save my family and my friends. He's right because I know you would do it without a second thought. You would be happy to do it because it would make me happy – because what I am matters to you. He knows that knowing this will make me feel less guilty for asking you. â€Å"And he's right again. He's right about me. I admit it. And I'm sorry.† I stopped again, and took another moment to pull myself together. I wiped my face. This was going to be the hard part. â€Å"The Consu is right,† I said. â€Å"But he doesn't know the one thing about me that matters right now. And that it is that I am tired of being what I am. I am tired of having been chosen. I don't want to be the one you sacrifice yourself for, because of whose daughter I am or because you accept that I can make demands of you. I don't want that from you. And I don't want you to die for me. â€Å"So forget it. Forget all of this. I release you of your obligation to me. Of any obligation to me. Thank you for volunteering, but you shouldn't have to fight for me. I shouldn't have asked. â€Å"You have already done so much for me. You have brought me here so I could deliver a message to General Gau. He's told me about the plans against Roanoke. It should be enough for us to defend ourselves. I can't ask you for anything else. I certainly can't ask you to fight these Consu and possibly die. I want you to live instead. â€Å"I am done being what I am. From now on I'm just who I am. And who I am is Zoe. Just Zoe. Someone who has no claim on you. Who doesn't require or demand anything from you. And who wants you to be able to make your own choices, not have them made for you. Especially not by me. â€Å"And that's all I have to say.† The Obin stood in front of me, silently, and after a minute I realized that I didn't really know why I was expecting a response. And then for a crazy moment I wondered if they actually even understood me. Hickory and Dickory spoke my language, and I just assumed all the other Obin would, too. That was a pretty arrogant assumption, I realized. So I sort of nodded and turned to go, back up to the operations room, where God only knew what I was going to say to that Consu. And then I heard singing. A single voice, from somewhere in the middle of the pack of Obin. It took up the first words of â€Å"Delhi Morning.† And though that was the part I always sang, I had no trouble recognizing the voice. It was Dickory. I turned and faced the Obin just as a second voice took up the counterpoint, and then another voice came in, and another and another, and soon all one hundred of the Obin were singing, creating a version of the song that was so unlike any I had heard before, so magnificent, that all I could do was stand there and soak in it, let it wash around me, and let it move through me. It was one of those moments that you just can't describe. So I won't try anymore. But I can say I was impressed. These Obin would have known of â€Å"Delhi Morning† for only a few weeks. For them to not only know the song but to perform it flawlessly was nothing short of amazing. I had to get these guys for the next hootenanny. When it was done, all I could do was put my hands to my face and say â€Å"Thank you† to the Obin. And then Dickory came through the ranks to stand in front of me. â€Å"Hey, you,† I said to Dickory. â€Å"Zoe Boutin-Perry,† said Dickory. â€Å"I am Dickory.† I almost said, I know that, but Dickory kept speaking. â€Å"I have known you since you were a child,† it said. â€Å"I have watched you grow and learn and experience life, and through you have learned to experience life myself. I have always known what you are. I tell you truthfully that it is who you are that has mattered to me, and always has. â€Å"It is to you, Zoe Boutin-Perry, that I offer to fight for your family and for Roanoke. I do this not because you have demanded it or required it but because I care for you, and always have. You would honor me if you would accept my assistance.† Dickory bowed, which was a very interesting thing on an Obin. Here was irony: This was the most I had heard Dickory say, ever, and I couldn't think of anything to say in return. So I just said, â€Å"Thank you, Dickory. I accept.† Dickory bowed again and returned to ranks. Another Obin stepped forward and stood before me. â€Å"I am Strike,† it said. â€Å"We have not met before. I have watched you grow through all that Hickory and Dickory have shared with all Obin. I too have always known what you are. What I have learned from you, however, comes from who you are. It is an honor to have met you. It will be an honor to fight for you, your family, and for Roanoke. I offer my assistance to you, Zoe Boutin-Perry, freely and without reservation.† Strike bowed. â€Å"Thank you, Strike,† I said. â€Å"I accept.† And then I impulsively hugged Strike. It actually squeaked in surprise. We unhugged, Strike bowed again, and then returned to ranks just as another Obin came forward. And another. And another. It took a long time to hear each greeting and offer of assistance, and to accept each offer. I can honestly say there was never time better spent. When it was done I stood in front of one hundred Obin again – this time, each a friend. And I bowed my head to them and wished them well, and told them I would see them after. Then I headed back toward the operations room. General Gau was at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for me. â€Å"I have a position for you on my staff, Zoe, if you ever want it,† he said. I laughed. â€Å"I just want to go home, General. Thank you all the same.† â€Å"Some other time, then,† Gau said. â€Å"Now I'm going to preside over this contest. I will be impartial when I'm observing it. But you should know that inside I'm rooting for the Obin. And that's something I never thought I would say.† â€Å"I do appreciate it,† I said, and headed up the stairs. Hickory met me at the door. â€Å"You did what I hoped you would do,† Hickory said. â€Å"I regret not volunteering myself.† â€Å"I don't,† I said, and hugged Hickory. Dock bowed to me; I nodded back. And then I approached the Consu. â€Å"You have my answer,† I said. â€Å"So I have,† the Consu said. â€Å"And it surprises me, human.† â€Å"Good,† I said. â€Å"And the name is Zoe. Zoe Boutin-Perry.† â€Å"Indeed,† the Consu said. He sounded amused at my cheekiness. â€Å"I will remember the name. And have others remember it as well. Although if your Obin do not win this contest, I do not imagine we will have to remember your name for long.† â€Å"You'll remember it for a long time,† I said. â€Å"Because my friends down there are about to clean your clock.† And they did. It wasn't even close.

French Proofreading and Editing Tips for Key Problems

French Proofreading and Editing Tips for Key Problems Whether youre checking over French homework, proofreading an essay, or verifying a translation, there are certain key problem areas to watch out for. This is not a definitive list by any means, but it indicates areas of confusion and common mistakes caused by differences between French and English and includes links to more detailed explanations and examples. Before you turn anything in, check the following areas of your work. Vocabulary Watch out for differences in meaning and/or spelling. AccentsMissing and incorrect accents are spelling mistakes. ExpressionsDouble-check your idiomatic expressions. False CognatesMany words are similar in spelling but not in meaning. Spelling EquivalentsStudy these differences between English and French spelling. True CognatesThese words are identical in spelling and meaning. Grammar An endless topic, but here are some typical areas of difficulty. AgreementMake sure your adjectives, pronouns, and other words agree. ArticlesDont forget -   these are more common in French. Clauses    * Conjunctions Use the right kind of conjunction.    * Relative Clauses Be careful with relative pronouns.    * Si Clauses Check that these are set up correctly. GenderMake a real effort to use the correct gender. NegationBe sure to use the best negative structure. QuestionsAre you asking them correctly? Verbs    * Conjugations Ensure that each  conjugation matches its subject.    * Modal Verbs These are quite different in French.    * Prepositions Be sure to follow each verb with the right preposition.    * Tense Mood Are your tenses consistent? Do you need the subjunctive? Word OrderAdjectives, adverbs, negation, pronouns cause positioning problems. Mechanics Written conventions can be very different in French and English. Acronyms/AbbreviationsMake sure you write them the French way. CapitalizationCareful - this is much less common in French. ContractionsThese are optional in English, but required in French. Punctuation NumbersFollow French spacing rules and use the correct symbols.

Sexual Harrasment Essays

Sexual Harrasment Essays Sexual Harrasment Essay Sexual Harrasment Essay Effects and Solutions of Sexual Harassment in Schools Sexual harassment in schools is a common problem. It can lead to nightmares for the victim. Sexual harassment is any sexual activity that makes the victim feel uncomfortable. Although victims of sexual harassment could be both boys and girls, this essay is concerned with girls who face the harassment from boys in schools. There are many studies of students around the world reveal that girls can be a part of solutions that deal with sexual harassment in schools because many of them have uffered from this problem. This essay discusses the psychological effects on victims and the solutions of this problem which would reduce sexual harassment in schools and which should be taken as serious solution for a serious issue. Sexual harassment in schools has many effects and the most dangerous one is the psychological effect. Girls who are harassed in schools suffer through a number of psychological effects. This could be anxiety, frustration, depression, sleeplessness, and nightmares. Moreover, this problem could guide the victim to a suicide. There are along term studies refer to that four out often girls will make a complaint. Many of them feel that any complaint will not be taken seriously. They are also fearful that the sexual harasser revenges or denies. This kind of crime has its harmful psychological effect on girls, so there are many solutions should be taken by many people who live around the harassed or by the victims themselves. Fortunately, everyone can help to produce and prevent sexual harassment. Girls can be a part of the solution by challenging sexual harassment and making sure their school is taking the issue seriously. Girls can protect themselves by many ways. For instance, they can create Stop Sexual harassment campaign by collecting girls stories about the harassment that happened to them and posting them on boards or blogs. They also can make survey for classmates to find out where sexual harassment occurs and what girls think could prevent it, then they take the findings to the rincipal. There is an organization is called Girls for Gender Equity, this organization worked with students to make a sexual harassment survey with more than 1,100 students. GGE found that nearly one in four students faced sexual harassment everyday. Moreover, there is another idea to stop sexual harassment that girls should not respond on the harassers threats and should save the messages and emails of that person and show them to the principle as an evidence. However, all these olution could work, the school staff should work on that too to make sure that the school environment is comfortable for all students. In conclusion, it is clear that sexual harassment in school is a serious issue which nas many impacts on girls especially the psychological one, and sometimes they lead the victim to a very dangerous situation. In the end, however, there are some solutions that the victims can make by themselves. Those solutions should be taken seriously by the school management to reduce sexual harassment in schools.

The Baby Boom and the Future of the Economy

The Baby Boom and the Future of the Economy Whats going to happen to the economy as all the baby boomers get older and retire? Its a great question that would need an entire book to properly answer. Fortunately, many books have been written on the relationship between the baby boom and the economy. Two good ones from the Canadian perspective are Boom, Bust Echo by Foot and Stoffman, and 2020: Rules for the New Age by Garth Turner. The Ratio Between Working People and Retired People Turner explains that the big changes will be due to the fact that the ratio between the number of working people to the number of retired people will change dramatically over the next few decades: When most boomers were in their teens, there were six Canadians like them, under the age of 20, for every person over 65. Today there are about three young people for every senior. By 2020, the ratio will be even more frightening. This will have profound consequences on our entire society. (80) Demographic changes will have a major impact on the ratio of retirees to workers; the ratio of the number of people ages 65 and over to the number ages 20 to 64 is expected to grow from about 20% in 1997 to 41% in 2050. (83) Examples of Expected Economic Impact These demographic changes will have both macroeconomic as well as microeconomic impacts. With so few people of working age, we can expect that wages will rise as employers fight to retain the small pool of labor available. This also implies that unemployment should be fairly low. But simultaneously taxes will also have to be quite high to pay for all the services that seniors require such as government pensions and Medicare. Older citizens tend to invest differently than younger ones, as older investors tend to buy less risky assets like bonds and sell riskier ones such as stocks. Do not be surprised to find that the price of bonds rises (causing their yields to fall) and the price of stocks to fall. There will be millions of smaller changes as well. The demand for soccer fields should fall as there are relatively fewer people will the demand for golf courses should rise. The demand for large suburban homes should fall as seniors move into one story condos and later to old-age homes. If youre investing in real estate, it will be important to consider the change in demographics when youre considering what to buy.

Learning Team Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Learning Team Paper - Essay Example I, in this paper, review application of week one’s objectives of understanding flowcharts and metrics, and factors that affect process development. One of the week’s objectives is understanding the designing of flow charts and measures for determining and improving processes. The objective involves an understanding of elements of flowcharts and approaches to modeling elements to achieve a desired performance level, and process analysis plays an important role. Application of the knowledge of process analysis by a manager or designer in a manufacturing process is an example. This would include determination of the process’s objectives and aims of the specific analysis and determination, through exploring questions, of factors around a process. Such questions may relate to current output capacity of the process, expectations, possible modifications, and involved costs. The manager would then consider available materials and equipments, and process cycles to develop a flow chart, a process that would allow for easy understanding of the process towards improvements. Once a process is understood from its analysis, its performance can be measured from productivity, efficiency, time, and rate, and decisions made to improve the performance (Chase and Jacobs, 2006). Identification of factors that affect process development, and a further understanding of how the factors influence the development are another set of objectives and are applicable in improving processes towards optimum levels of efficiency. Understanding factors such as expected output, customers’ waiting time, and alternative approaches to process generates ideas for establishing a process, refining a draft process, or improving an existing process (Chase and Jacobs, 2006; Inan, Buyukkupcu and Akinci, 2010). The week’s objective of developing flow charts and metrics for determining and improving process performance together with identifying and

Assay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Assay - Essay Example f— the dealing is otherwise authorised by regulation†, and the Regulation specifies when authorization becomes limited in provisions Chapter 2, Part 2, paragraph 4 where it indicated that â€Å"[1] a health professional’s authorisation is subject to any condition or restriction to which the health professional is subject to under the Health Professionals Act 2004 (see s 20); [2] the authorisation of a person to prescribe a medicine is subject to any restriction included in sch 1 in relation to the person (see s 30 (1) (b))†. The Medicines, Poisons, and Therapeutics Act of 2008 is an act which defines medicines and other substances which are within the authority of the pharmacist to dispose. It also provides for the responsibilities of the pharmacist in the proper dispensing of the medicines and his criminal liabilities for improper dispensation of these medicines. The act also defines prohibited and regulated drugs and how the pharmacist is required to dispose of these. This act has a great impact on the pharmacy practice because it helps guide and regulate the proper dispensation of medicines—whether these be regulated or not. It cautions pharmacists to be more vigilant in their duties as health care professionals. The Medicines, Poisons, and Therapeutics Regulation of 2008 is a regulation made under the Medicines, Poisons, and Therapeutics Law. It is a guideline made under the principles and acts laid out by the law to help authorities implement the provisions of the act. It also prescribes the proper procedures that the pharmacist should follow in dispensing medications, especially regulated and controlled substances. This act greatly impacts on the pharmacy profession because it helps the pharmacist be better informed about what he can and cannot do under the law. The Public Health Act of 1997 sets the laws for the protection of public health and the prevention of diseases. It defines and describes the health authorities tasked with

MBA Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MBA Essays - Essay Example I proposed a plan to Greenline, an environmental NGO that I deal with awareness campaigns. The plan was to clean the sandy beach using shovels and placing sponges to prevent oil in the sea from returning onto the sand. I coordinated with Greenline’s VP to secure the sponges and shovels, and contacted the Red Cross and schools’ community service groups to help. With more than 50 volunteers, we were able to clean 5 km of Beirut shoreline. As the news spread, more people joined arms, cleaning additional 15 km of shoreline. â€Å"You will not inherit anything, only education.† This was my father’s often-repeated phrase. My siblings and I faced limited prospects due to our family’s financial situation and even dimmer prospects while in countries like Lebanon. The only way forward was through a top-notch education, which I had benefited from via a merit scholarship. I wanted to maximize my siblings’ chances of following my path. My youngest sister, Rula, had demonstrated high academic potential although the best education available at the American University of Beirut was beyond my parent’s financial capabilities. My sister however succeeded in her admission and I decided to finance her education. The decision meant many things at a personal level; it meant selling my car, and reducing the outings and other expenditures that are appropriate for man in his mid-twenties. Career wise, it meant taking up overtime and delaying my postgraduate plans for a year. Rula’s motivation and hard work paid off. She is soon to graduate from AUB before joining a private equity firm in Qatar. I know her life and surroundings will be changed for the better and I hope in some ways that I passed our father’s legacy to her. I was hired amongst a team of four by Etisalat, the national telecom operator in the United Arab Emirates, to propose the next generation Information, Communication, & Technology (ICT) policy

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 105

Summary - Essay Example as an agent of black culture was unquestioned, being rejected by the people he represented, at time when they were required to be struggling for each other, was a rejection while being in the minority (Adelt, 2010, 13). Remarkably, this is what brought his feelings of being black twice. This photograph is one of a black man in a sea of white rock and roll fans. Although this combination of audience was one B. B. King was not accustomed to and one that he was not comfortable with, the photograph shows him greeting the fans showing that he was appreciative of the opportunities that presented themselves. The photograph on page 25 is the B. B. King’s â€Å"Indianola Mississippi Seeds† album cover. The cover photograph was of a watermelon curved out in the shape of a guitar placed in from of an old amplifier. At a time where there were still purist in the music industry, the photograph expressed the need to remain true and the guitar gave a clear rock reference. This image is not fixed to any racial construct. Post WW II Germans and Europe at large had a respect for jazz and blues and American artist found a growing audience. This was revealed by the shift in the racial construct of blues and what they represented, restriction. The American Folk Blues Festival brought Memphis Slim and other African American blues performance to both Germany and other European countries (Adelt, 2010, 78). This was an attempt at modernizing Germans with African American blues. This was a noble cause however, they were not fully prepared to accept an art form that had primarily been performed black to a black audience and were not yet ready to accept a primitive form of art while wanting to be modern. This complicated dialogues of racism in that in rejecting the blues, which served as an anti-racist strategy they, we in fact being ignorant and rejecting the artist that sang the music, which could be viewed as a form of prejudice or ignorance of the things that transpired among

Does Motivating Nurses Lead to Higher Levels of Job Satisfaction Literature review

Does Motivating Nurses Lead to Higher Levels of Job Satisfaction - Literature review Example Job satisfaction is the level to which an employee of an organization is content with their position and enjoys their role (Armstrong 2006.) Satisfaction on the job is of considerable interest in the health services industry. Job satisfaction has a direct correlation with improved job productivity and also predicts lower employee turnover rates and reduction of absenteeism (Cohen and Golan 2007). Â  However, there is a gap in the research literature as to whether motivating nurses improves job satisfaction. There could potentially be mitigating circumstances of a nursing position or the specific health services environment where a nurse is employed that improves job satisfaction without necessarily considering motivation. For example, Craven, Hirnle, and Jensen (2013) assert that nurses require meaningful social relationships and affection in order to experience higher levels of job satisfaction. Favorable feelings about one’s job encompass the essence of job satisfaction (Robbins 2005). Â  In an environment where nursing supervisors must develop appropriate strategies to improve job satisfaction, learning whether motivational strategies are sufficient enough is of considerable concern in an effort to create new best practice leadership strategies to boost performance and productivity of nurses. If motivation is inadequate for improving nurses’ job satisfaction, then nursing supervisors can determine other, more valuable strategies to create a rewarding and productive work environment for diverse nursing professionals. Â  

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 105

Summary - Essay Example as an agent of black culture was unquestioned, being rejected by the people he represented, at time when they were required to be struggling for each other, was a rejection while being in the minority (Adelt, 2010, 13). Remarkably, this is what brought his feelings of being black twice. This photograph is one of a black man in a sea of white rock and roll fans. Although this combination of audience was one B. B. King was not accustomed to and one that he was not comfortable with, the photograph shows him greeting the fans showing that he was appreciative of the opportunities that presented themselves. The photograph on page 25 is the B. B. King’s â€Å"Indianola Mississippi Seeds† album cover. The cover photograph was of a watermelon curved out in the shape of a guitar placed in from of an old amplifier. At a time where there were still purist in the music industry, the photograph expressed the need to remain true and the guitar gave a clear rock reference. This image is not fixed to any racial construct. Post WW II Germans and Europe at large had a respect for jazz and blues and American artist found a growing audience. This was revealed by the shift in the racial construct of blues and what they represented, restriction. The American Folk Blues Festival brought Memphis Slim and other African American blues performance to both Germany and other European countries (Adelt, 2010, 78). This was an attempt at modernizing Germans with African American blues. This was a noble cause however, they were not fully prepared to accept an art form that had primarily been performed black to a black audience and were not yet ready to accept a primitive form of art while wanting to be modern. This complicated dialogues of racism in that in rejecting the blues, which served as an anti-racist strategy they, we in fact being ignorant and rejecting the artist that sang the music, which could be viewed as a form of prejudice or ignorance of the things that transpired among

Cause and Effect;What would be the effects of dropping out of high Essay

Cause and Effect;What would be the effects of dropping out of high school - Essay Example High school dropouts will hardly provide any meaningful skills to the job market and therefore, not able to secure good jobs. This causes a sharp drop in living standards among high school dropouts. Lack of education means lack of skills needed by most employers if not all. This leaves high school dropouts with no choice than to do the unskilled jobs that are lowly paid. Whereas this is a loss to the employment sector, most of the loss occurs to the dropouts since they forego the gratification that comes with professional jobs. Such dropouts can hardly support their families with the little income they have. More notably, they are most likely to create a poor generation since their family foundations are already economically unstable. With the increasing problems associated with global economic crisis, high school dropouts are most likely to face overwhelming competition and difficult living conditions. US government has to make a huge budgetary allocation every year in aid for the poor families that cannot support themselves. A great number of high school dropouts add to this burden every year. This is because as they can hardly support themselves economically. Additionally, they nurture families that are not economically stable thereby adding more pressure to the already heavily burdened government spending. For instance, the government has to struggle raising funds to support a healthcare program for the poor even when the poor, such as high school dropouts, cannot afford to contribute financially to the program. Poor living conditions and lack of livelihood is a prerequisite to criminal activities. Criminal activities are most likely to be more prevalent among high school dropouts due to inability to generate enough income. High school dropouts hardly have any option apart from engaging in criminal activities due to the overwhelming competition in the modern society. More notably, high school dropouts are, most certainly, likely to associate with

Interpretations of our Culture and gender Essay Example for Free

Interpretations of our Culture and gender Essay Culture is a representation of many aspects ranging from indigenous practices, eating habits and even clothing, thus culture is expressed all the way through many and various ways, customs, habits and behaviors. Nevertheless culture is also identified through language. Culture and language are so intertwined and in that complexity, culture can neither be separated from language nor can language be separated from culture. The way people choose to use language in various phases of life affiliates them to a one specific culture from the other. In this context, cultures are very different from one another, for instance in some cultures women have no voice in society and there are roles that they are not allowed to play. However, (Embers 2007) note that, â€Å"it must not be forgotten that some people can create a class through stratification or class which may end in discrimination or segregation†. In this case there is class of the poor and another of the rich and through these classes; people develop a culture befitting them. In matters of sex or gender, some ethnic groups are very discriminative towards women and the class of women has been given lesser roles in society than men. Women do not make decisions or are not involved in decision making processes or procedures. However, it has dawned in many cultures that women play vital roles for the survival of many societies. Many rigid cultures that have rendered women voiceless have realized women at many a times make brilliant decisions than expected. So, what have they done? Women have been listened to and many have been given powerful leadership positions in such cultures to make impacting decisions. Currently, in many cultures women are leaders and they have performed. So far so good, there is no major disagreement and the way forward for many cultures is not to use gender or sex as a whip, but to be specific let girls and boys in any cultural setting get equal education, position and or all other favors, then give them equal opportunities. Reference: Ember, C. Ember, M. (2007). Cultural Anthropology, 12th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

The Indian real estate sector

The Indian real estate sector The Indian real estate sector plays a significant role in the countrys economy. The real estate sector is second only to agriculture in terms of employment generation and contributes heavily towards the gross domestic product (GDP). Almost 5 per cent of the countrys GDP is contributed to by the housing sector. In the next five years, this contribution to the GDP is expected to rise to 6 per cent. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, faster economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) could result in the property markets of those nations recovering at a faster rate than the UK and US real estate markets. It has also been suggested that Indias property sector could begin to improve from late 2009 and may attract up to US$ 12.11 billion in real estate investment over a five-year period. Almost 80 per cent of real estate developed in India is residential space. According to the Tenth Five Year Plan, there is a shortage of 22.4 million dwelling units. Thus, over the next 10 to 15 years, 80 to 90 million housing dwelling units will have to be constructed with a majority of them catering to middle- and lower-income groups. It is for this reason that residential properties in India, particularly in Mumbai and Delhi, are viewed as very good investments as per a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Urban Land Institute, a global non-profit education and research institute. In the 2009-10 budget, developers of affordable housing projects (units of 1,000-1,500 sq ft) have been granted a tax holiday on profits from projects initiated in the financial year 2007-08. Such projects would have to be completed before March 1, 2012. At the same time, the finance minister allocated US$ 207 million to grant a 1 per cent interest subsidy on home loans up to US$ 20,691, provided the cost of the home is not more than US$ 41,382. This subsidy is expected to give a further boost to the housing sector. An apartment is a self-contained residential unit or section that occupies a part of a building. It can be either owned or rented. Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments as cooperatives, in which the dwellers or residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development. In condominiums, residents own their apartments and share ownership of the public spaces. Living in apartments is gaining popularity in India. The Sahara Group has already decided to build 217 townships across India. Their allure lies in the convenience that they offer in terms of safety and security and maintenance of utilities like electricity and water. A central maintenance system obviates the need for hiring outside help for minor problems like leaking taps or electric short circuits. Stand-alone homes also require incurring additional costs like buying/leasing land, licensing, duties, etc. Apartments enable maximization of space utilization and reduce demand on public resources. People are also able to avail of additional amenities like gymnasiums, swimming pools, etc. at affordable prices. There is a gap in the literature, however, with regard to the value drivers that dictate purchase decisions of residential property in the country. Similar studies exist for other countries but were found wanting in the Indian context, especially when it comes to apartments. Through this paper, we aim to do the very same, i.e. establish which factors dictate purchase decision and to what extent. We will also correlate these preferences with the demographic profiles and characteristics of our respondents and hence arrive at a greater and much deeper understanding of these issues. We see immense utility for our paper, especially for builders and property dealers who can use our findings in structuring their own business activities. RESEARCH BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Even though consumer behaviour is generally assumed to be an important part of real estate valuation, buyer preferences are generally not considered during the valuation process. It is basically reduced to the confirmation of a bid price which may or may not be met by the buyer. Efforts are being made to address this fault and many papers have been written on the analysis of motivations of residential property purchasers, attempting to explain them using models such as bounded rationality and hedonic pricing. Hedonic Pricing, or Hedonic Demand Theory as it is also known, decomposes the item of interest into constituents and evaluates the importance of each of them and their contribution to the overall valuation. These factors can be both internal characteristics of the good or service and external factors. In the case of real estate valuation, internal characteristics include layout, structure, etc of the property while status of neighbourhood, proximity to schools, etc are the exter nal factors. Factor Analysis enables us to do just that. It is a statistical method that reduces the number of variables by grouping two or more of them into unknown or hidden variables known as factors. Further analysis is then conducted by looking at the variation among these factors and evaluating their relative performance. These factors are taken to be linear combinations of the original variables plus error terms (Richard L. Gorsuch, 1983). Factor analysis seeks to do precisely what humans have been engaged in doing throughout history that is to make order of the apparent chaos of the environment (Child, 1990). It has great use in evaluating consumer behaviour. Charles Spearman is credited with its invention. He used it in the formulation of the g Theory as part of his research on human intelligence (Williams, Zimmerman, Zumbo Ross, 2003). Over the years it has found uses in fields as diverse as psychometrics, marketing, physical sciences and economics. It can be used to segment consumers on the basis of what benefits they want from the product/service (Minhas Jacobs, 1996). It has evolved as a technique over the years, with many researchers working on fine-tuning and improving the analytical process. Bai Ng (2002) developed an econometric theory for factor models of large dimensions. It focused on the determination of the number of factors that should be included in the model. The basic premise of the authors was t hat a large number of variables can be modeled by a small number of reference variables. Marketing strategies based on customer preferences and behaviour often make use of this technique during the market research phase (Ali, Kapoor Moorthy, 2010)[14] and while devising and changing the marketing mix (Ivy, 2008). Factor Analysis has also been used in ground water management to relate the spatial distribution of different chemical parameters to various sources (Love, Hallbauer, Amos Hranova, 2004). The facility of segmentation that factor analysis offers has been extended to the real estate sector and all studies thereof. Regression analyses are subject to aggregation biases and segmented market models yield better results. This segmentation is done using factor analysis Watkins, 1999). Property researchers have also dedicated a lot of attention to researching the preferences of property buyers and identifying the drivers of property value. A study in Melbourne, Australia (Reid Mills, 2004) analyzed the purchase decisions of first time buyers and tried to determine the most influential attributes that affect the purchase decision using factor analysis. The research findings of the paper indicated that financial issues accounted for approximately 30 percent of the variance in the decision of first time owners to buy housing. This related to timing, the choice of housing, and the decision to buy new housing. Apart from that the choice of housing is dependant on Site Specific fac tors (Location) and the decision to buy new housing is dependent on Lifecycle factors, such as family formation, marital status or the size of the existing house. Another study determined that brand, beauty and utility play a defining role in property value (Roulac, 2007). The findings of the paper explain why certain properties command premium prices, relative to other properties. It came to the conclusion that for value determination of high priced properties the overall perception of the brand is the most important factor followed by utility and beauty. Brand names are also very important especially in metropolitan markets as they add to the appeal, distinctiveness of the property. Another way to attract buyers attention is through the mix of neighborhood amenities offered (Benefield, 2009). Neighborhood amenities like tennis courts, clubhouses, golf courses, swimming pool, play park and boating facilities significantly impact property values. Hedonic pricing models in which buye rs are assumed to evaluate property specifics and location attributes separately when they purchase a home have also been used to study housing markets like that of Shenzhen, China (Xu, 2008). The findings suggest that the marginal prices of key housing attributes are not constant. Instead, they vary with the household profile and location. Cluster analysis involves the grouping of similar objects into distinct, mutually exclusive subsets known as clusters. The objective is to group either the data units or the variables into clusters such that the elements within a cluster have a high degree of natural association among themselves while the clusters remain relatively distinct from one another. Mulvey and Crowder (1979)[22] presented and tested an effective optimization algorithm for clustering homogenous data. Punj and Stewart (1983)[23] reviewed the applications of cluster analysis to marketing problems. They presented alternative methods of cluster analysis to evaluate their performance characteristics. They also discussed the issues and problems related to use and validation of cluster analysis methods. The application of cluster analysis in strategic management research was studied by Ketchen and Shook (1996). Their paper chronicles the application of cluster analysis in strategic management research. They analyzed 45 published strategy studies and offered suggestions for improving the application of cluster analysis in future inquiries. They believed that cluster analysis is a useful tool but the technique must be applied prudently in order to ensure the validity of the insights it provides. Since Marketing researchers were introduced to discriminant analysis half a century ago, it has become a widely used analytical tool since they are frequently concerned with the nature and strength of the relationship between group memberships. It is especially useful in profiling characteristics of groups that are the most dominant in terms of discrimination. Morrison (1969) explained how discriminant analysis should be conducted using canned applications and how the effect of independent variables should be determined. However, care must be taken when applying discriminant analysis. The potential for bias in discriminant analysis has long been realized in marketing literature. Frank, Massy and Morrison (1965) showed that sample estimates of predictive power in n-way discriminant analysis are likely to be subject to an upward bias. This bias happens because the discriminant analysis technique tends to fit the sample data in ways that are systematically better than would be expected by chance. Crask and Perreault (1977) looked at the validation problems in small-sample discriminant analysis. http://www.ibef.org/artdispview.aspx?in=60art_id=25260cat_id=381page=1. http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/welcome.html. http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/asset-management/real-estate/assets/emergingtrend s2009.pdf. http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2009-10(I)/ubmain.htm. http://www.sahara.in/press03.html. Australia Richard Reed and Anthony Mills, Identifying the drivers behind housing preferences of first-time owners, February 2004, Journal of Property Management, Vol 25 Issue 3 , Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 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