Economic Globalisation And Rising Global Living Standards Economics Essay

Financial Globalization And Rising Global Living Standards Economics Essay 1.0. Presentation. The idea of financial globalization has become one of the for the most part powerful in monetary advancement just as raises the worldwide expectations for everyday comforts through monetary development and neediness decrease. Financial Globalization is stoutly accepted to bring about better social, monetary and in the contemporary world. However UN1 report (September 1999) show the current pattern of monetary disparity has expanded significantly as an immediate consequence of financial globalization and current principles of exchange. In this way, monetary globalization is becoming appealing a questionable issue whether it can truly prompt an ascent in worldwide expectation for everyday comforts or exasperate the circumstance. A few creators in this part look not to convincingly give or even agree on connection between monetary globalization and expectation for everyday comforts. To my understanding, financial globalization is a fundamental however insufficient condition to rush expe ctation for everyday comforts 1.1. Reason The reason for this exposition is to basically investigate how parts of monetary globalization encourage an ascent in worldwide expectations for everyday comforts. The paper will begin by presenting the ideas of monetary globalization and expectations for everyday comforts and its estimations, utilizing various readings, talks, Journals and my own view in regards to the issue. The initial segment of this paper will outline the connection between financial globalization and commitment of monetary globalization to the procedure of quickened financial development and neediness decrease. Besides, it will inspect some analysis and additionally challenges related with financial globalization. At last, the paper will make a determination dependent on survey discoveries. 1.2 Economic Globalization and Living Standards. The view of monetary globalization mean worldwide traversing financial connections in term of business sectors, money, great and administrations and the system make by value-based (Chase, 1999). As indicated by Nicholas (2009), financial globalization is the expanding of cross fringe stream of products and administration. He underline that It encourages expanding cross fringe development of money related capital, which increment financial matters exercises from private got from outside sources. Besides, development of profitable exercises are then absolutely or somewhat stretched out or migrated to another nation. All things considered, the combinations of worldwide financial empowering social, monetary condition that will broke out of neediness and improved the expectation for everyday comforts of a related network. For better comprehension on the Concept of expectation for everyday comforts, I will brief talk about on the possibility of GNI2 per capita which is more extensive meaning of prosperity. Michael Todaro (2009) express that GNI per capita is a typical proportions of monetary exercises related with financial prosperity of individuals internationally. He stresses that. GNI contains GDP in addition to the contrast between the pay occupants get from abroad for factor benefits less installment made to non inhabitants who add to the local economy. That as well as it characterized by a few International organizations including OECD3 and UN expectations for everyday comforts process by HDI4 positions nations on size of high and lower positions. Typically it center around three pointers: I) future during childbirth information as estimated weighted normal of grown-up proficiency and way of life by utilizing genuine per capita total national output with PPP (Todaro and Smith 2009), ii) HDI uses to assess way of life by decide genuine per capital total national output balanced by PPP5 of each countrys money reflect average cost for basic items of a specific nation (Todaro 2009). The above data gives the implication of expectations for everyday comforts is related with genuine pay per individual and neediness rate. 2.0 Link between Economic Globalization and Living Standard. Prior to the portrayal of connection between the financial globalization and expectation for everyday comforts, this paper will depict to sum things up the objective one of MDG6 in relationship with the worldwide expectation for everyday comforts. The support of kill outrageous neediness and craving (Todaro 2009) is Goal One among of eight motivating and much discussed Millennium Development Goals (MDG). In coalition with its objective of diminish by half of the individuals living on under $1 per day, it points is to improve expectation for everyday comforts, and support monetary development and improve value. In this respects, by accomplishing these focused on objectives, it will assist with improving the development just as pay neediness which is significant in destitution decrease and increase living expectations. Numerous authors accept that individuals lives with pay level underneath 1$ every day speaks to in extraordinary neediness, demonstrating that they live in supreme destitution. As indicated by Allen and Thomas (2000) the worldwide objective for measure expectations for everyday comforts by utilizing destitution line which is US 1 $ every day by balanced by PPP. The inquiry is the thing that the position is for those living under a couple of dollar for each day. This is shows that destitute individuals endure by vital prerequisites like human services, sufficient arrangements and fitting insurance. As I delineate at the outset, financial globalization is the opening of monetary to stream of products and ventures, capital and business from different countries that incorporate their market with that abroad S.Mishkin (2006). Consequently is smarter to look which powers which help to rush the pace of financial globalization today. I will consider on the three significant powers which assists with quickening the financial globalization with expectations for everyday comforts as indicated by OECD handbook on Economic Globalization Indicators (2005). Monetary globalization can increment by various powers. Coming up next are the significant powers which gracefully the quickness up universally monetary: The advancement of capital developments, of money related administrations specifically, the opening of business sectors to global exchange and speculations. Neoclassical perspective transmits exchange progression as a wellspring of conveniences financial development by move to the market advancement and developing worldwide amalgamation. Their key idea by having increasingly open market arranged stress progressively decision in exchange itself and capital stream build up the higher the expectations for everyday comforts of worldwide populace. Todaro and Smith (2009) express that, free market allowing rivalry to thrive privatizations which advance both monetary effectiveness and financial development. Hoekman at al. (2004) concurs that, Trade progression and receptiveness to exchange expands the development pace of pay and yield. In principle, it offers forecast for remote firm and nearby firms resident to be occupied with creation, give trust in trade with residential and worldwide advance. To a huge degree the procedure watched bolster supporting the productive accomplishment of regions like South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. In additi on, it cause workable for enormous firm to assign individual in to practice extra item, consequently grow more market and increment buyer inclinations. Likewise, Neoclassical concurs that, free market as well as monetary globalization in term of budgetary globalization progress the financial development. As per S. Mishkin (2006) monetary globalization through money related low has a few significant in developing business sector economies. In this respects development of capital stream permits to come into a nation empower dissemination of capital just as residential monetary division become wealthy. For Neoclassical viewpoint, capital is physical information sources including cash, machine common asset and human with innovation. The development of capital creation came about blasting sparing in monetary establishment (Nicholas 2009). In this respects expanding of sparing because of higher financing cost will support the accelerate venture, empowering production of work specifically for incompetent work power over the long haul, the salary of unpracticed work will be higher. Then again, Marxists contends that, monetary globalization base on universal financial worldwide leads unavoidably to lopsided increase (Nicholas 2009). Besides, they recognize this internationalize exchange rise a typical European and the development in different worldwide foundation like World Bank and International Monitory Fund (Hossein 2005). Practically speaking, the trading of exchange is imbalanced exchange, for creating nations produces essential products were sent to cutting edge nations who accordingly molded made wares after that they attempted to put available converse to poor nations with esteem included duty making them unreasonably expensive, came about is worldwide free enterprise. Myriam Plank (2006) concurs that, In Gambia modest import of chicken egg and milk loosing nearby access their local market and need chances to gain pay thus ranchers particularly ladies crashed into destitution. This perception accentuate that decrease exchange duty is a key to decimates newborn children enterprises agrarian segment and in food in security particularly in creating nations. Distinctive with Neoclassical viewpoint, New Keynesian hypotheses feature that the worldwide monetary incorporation isn't the consequence of free decision and not really shared useful, yet can be made to be commonly gainful. Nicholas (2009).This circumstance exacerbated by chronicled angle, the job of imperialism was harming of worldwide economy specific for those nations became states which come about the current intercontinental division of work. Maddison (2001) acknowledges that, facilitated commerce was forced in India and other British provinces and a similar valid in Britains casual realm Hence understand that the abuse of assets remembering contributions for term of human, slave exchange and essential item from Africa to the mechanical territories is a fundamental reasons of the expanding disparity in financial development and expectation for everyday comforts among North and South. In extra to that, new Keynesian researchers contends that world economy is basically consistent. Somewhat ch

General Prologue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

General Prologue - Essay Example In this manner Chaucer gets to know various delegates of white collar class social layer. Every one of them are headed to Canterbury to supplicate at a holy place of Saint Thomas Becket (Schwartz). Bit by bit Chaucer delineates principle characters of his Tales. We can see a vendor, an assistant, a knight, a priest, a spouse of Bath and different saints. Chaucer tells about each character in the request, which is fitting to the economic wellbeing of saints. I’d like to focus on the Wife of Bath, Alyson. She is an exemplification of a definitive companion. This lady has been hitched multiple times and enlightens travelers regarding her turbulent relationships. She gives brilliant portrayals of herself contrasting herself and a ‘humble portion of bread’ (Schwartz). So as to legitimize her various relationships Alyson alludes to Solomon’s and Abraham’s spouses. Five spouses of Alison were various types of men, yet the most adorable for her was her fifth husband, Jankyn. Their connections were confounded however they lived respectively till Jankyn’s passing. The Wife of Bath’ story is a long piece of general preface. In such a manner Chaucer ridicules narrow minded and self absorbed characteristics of human character. We can see that the creator underlines this negative attribute as a center of human difficulties and strife. The creators completes the general preface expressing that he has â⠂¬Å"tyme and space† to portray his stories. His notes disclose to us that the stories were kept in touch with some time after the occasions happened the creator is simply offering to us what he recollects about these occasions and simultaneously he imparts his own insight and disposition towards what he is describing. Canterbury Tales mean much for the peruser. Dissimilar to numerous different renowned artistic magnum opuses, these Tales unveil the truth of human’s life and can be viewed as valuable for youthful perusers who need to find out about the world around. Canterbury Tales additionally give extremely fascinating data about the age

Constitution of the United States The Articles

Constitution of the United States The Articles The first three articles set up the threefold separation of powers, said to have been modeled on Montesquieu's study, which on this point was incorrect, of the British government. In actuality this separation has been weakened by the granting of greater powers to the President and his administrative agencies, which now have legislative and judicial as well as executive functions. 1: Congress Article 1 provides for the establishment of the bicameral Congress composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The various powers of the Congress and the respective houses, together with their methods of election, are enumerated in the article. The Seventeenth Amendment, passed in 1916, instituted the direct popular election of Senators and removed the power of their election from the state legislatures as had originally been provided in Article 1. Section 4 of Article 1 gives the states power over the conduct of federal elections but permits the Congress to alter such regulati ons at any time. In 1842 the Congress imposed the district system on the United States. In 1962 the Supreme Court dealt with proper apportionment of election districts and in its decision in Baker v. Carr allowed voters to go into a federal court to force equitable representation in a state legislature. This decision was, however, based on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Later, the court ruled (1964) that state legislative apportionment must reflect the one-person one-vote principle. As a legislative body Congress has certain inherent powers. Among these are the power to investigate pursuant to legislative needs. Congressional investigations have led to a great many court decisions concerning the right of a witness before a Congressional committee to refuse to testify even when granted immunity from prosecution. Section 8 of Article 1 lists the enumerated powers of the Congress. The clause of this section, the commerce clause, which grants the Cong ress the right to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, has, in the 20th cent., been used as a strong argument for the expansion of government power. Since the historic case of Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the commerce clause has been the battleground over which much of the struggle for and against increased federal regulation of private enterprise has been fought. Until the late 1930s Congress exercised its powers under the clause solely with reference to transportation. But after a series of dramatic reversals by the Supreme Court, Congress began to enter areas that had previously been controlled only by the states. The commerce clause is now the source of important peacetime powers of the national government and an important basis for the judicial review of state actions. Besides its enumerated and inherent powers, the Congress has implied powers under Article 1 to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution th e enumerated or expressed powers. Sections 9 and 10 of Article 1 contain guarantees of the writ of habeas corpus , prohibit bills of attainder and ex post facto laws, and also improve certain limitations on state power. 2: The Executive Branch Article 2 creates the executive branch of government headed by the President, elected, along with the Vice President, for a term of four years (see president ; electoral college ). The Twenty-second Amendment (1951) provides that no person may be elected President more than twice. The Twenty-third Amendment (1961) permits District of Columbia residents to vote in presidential elections. Since the adoption of the Constitution there have been two conflicting views of Article 2. The first is that the powers of the President are limited to those enumerated in the article. The opposite view is that the President is given executive power not limited by the provisions of the rest of the article. Every President has had to make the choice of i nterpretations for himself. 3: The Judiciary Article 3 provides for a judiciary and defines treason . Besides its enumerated powers, the judiciary has the inherent authority to interpret laws and the Constitution with an authority that must be deferred to. Article 3 also guarantees trial by jury in criminal cases and lays the basis for federal jurisdiction. The Eleventh Amendment (1798), which prohibits suits against any state by citizens of another state or foreigners (see sovereignty ), was passed in reaction to the Supreme Court's accepting jurisdiction of a suit against a state by a citizen of another state. 4: The States Article 4 deals with the relations of the states (see conflict of laws ), providing that Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. Section 2 prohibits any state from discriminating against citizens of other states, or in favor of its own. It also provides for the extradition of criminals. The article guarantees a republican form of government to every state and provides for the admission of new states as well as the government of territories. 5: Amending the Constitution Article 5 provides for amending the Constitution. The supremacy of the federal Constitution and of federal law over those of the states is the heart of the federal system and is established by Article 6. Article 6 also provides for an oath of office for members of the three branches of the federal government and the states and specifically forbids any religious qualification for office. Article 7 declares that the Constitution should go into force when ratified by nine states. Introduction The Preamble The Articles The Amendments Bibliography The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Government

Visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame Essay - 752 Words

The busts of hundreds of players, managers, coaches, umpires, and baseball pioneers occupy the hallowed halls of a quiet building located in Cooperstown, New York. Thousands of fans travel to this building, otherwise noted as the National Baseball Hall of Fame, each year to get a glimpse of baseball’s immortalized heroes. Hundreds of sportswriters across the nation weed out numerous hall of fame hopefuls once a year and cast their votes on who will be enshrined in Cooperstown and who will merely be a statistic of the Great American Pastime. These sports writers examine a player or coach’s career with extreme meticulousness. Not one player in the Baseball Hall of Fame is undeserving, however, over the next few years we will learn that there†¦show more content†¦- - Not quite! Steroids are Available Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn are two of the newest additions to Cooperstown. Both men posted impressive, record holding careers; however, they were not unanimously voted into the hall of fame because they played in an era where steroids were supposedly present in locker rooms across Major League Baseball. Not once was either player penalized for or even accused of using steroids. But they are guilty by association and were slapped with the steroid label. Barry Bonds clearly used steroids prior to or during his remarkable 73 homerun season considering he averaged just below 40 a year during his career, Right? - - I don’t think so! One time record holder, Roger Maris rarely hit 30 home runs in a season then busted out 61 in 1961, to take the home run crown from the Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth. However, no one can ever recall accusing clean cut, hard-working, Roger Maris of using steroids, but why? Why is it possible for Roger Maris to have a once in a lifetime, dream season, yet when a modern athlete has one he was undoubtedly using steroids. 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VERHULST received her M.B.A. from Drake University. She is a Professor of Management at Des Moines Area Community College where she has received the â€Å"Distinguished Teaching Award.† Susan teaches human resourceRead MoreRetailing Characteristics of Fast Food Stores and Their Impact on Customer Sales and Satisfaction29639 Words   |  119 Pagesnumber of supermarkets and convenience stores and in the role of multinational chains such as Carrefour and Tesco. Developments have not been driven only by international companies; the past decade has also witnessed the emergence of national chains of some significance. Care must be taken in drawing conclusions about the impact of these trends on the fresh produce sector. Firstly, retail sales do not equate to total consumption. 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mbar to atm - Converting Millibars to Atmospheres

This example problem demonstrates how to convert the pressure units millibar (mbar) to atmospheres (atm). Atmosphere originally was a unit related to the air pressure at sea level. It was later defined as 1.01325 x 105 pascals. A bar is a pressure unit defined as 100 kilopascals and 1 millibar is 1/1000 bar. Combining these factors gives a conversion factor of 1 atm 1013.25 mbar. Key Takeaways: Millibars to Atmospheres Pressure Conversion Millibars (mbar) and atmospheres (atm) are two common units of pressure.You can use either of two conversion formulas to convert between millibars and atmospheres.1 millibar 9.869x10-4 atm1 atm 1013.25 mbarRemember, the number in mbar will be about a thousand times larger than the equivalent value in atm. Alternatively, converting from mbar to atm will yield a number about a thousand times smaller.When performing unit conversions, check your answer to make sure it makes sense, convert it to scientific notation if practical, and use the same number of significant digits as the original value. mbar to atm Conversion Problem #1 The air pressure outside a cruising jetliner is approximately 230 mbar. What is this pressure in atmospheres? Solution: 1 atm 1013.25 mbarSet up the conversion so the desired unit will be canceled out. In this case, we want atm to be the remaining unit.pressure in atm (pressure in mbar) x (1 atm/1013.25 mbar)pressure in atm (230/1013.25) atmpressure in atm 0.227 atmAnswer: The air pressure at cruising altitude is 0.227 atm. mbar to atm Conversion Problem #2 A gauge reads 4500 mbar. Convert this pressure into atm. Solution: Again, use the conversion: 1 atm 1013.25 mbar Set up the equation to cancel out the mbar units, leaving atm: pressure in atm (pressure in mbar) x (1 atm/1013.25 mbar)pressure in atm (4500/1013.25) atmpressure 4.44 atm mbar to atm Conversion Problem #3 Of course, you can use the millibar to atmosphere conversion, too: 1 mbar 0.000986923267 atm This may also be written using scientific notation: 1 mbar 9.869 x 10-4 atm Convert 3.98 x 105 mbar into atm. Solution: Set up the problem to cancel out the millibar units, leaving the answer in atmospheres: pressure in atm pressure in mbar x 9.869 x 10-4 atm/mbarpressure in atm 3.98 x 105  mbar x 9.869 x 10-4 atm/mbarpressure in atm 3.9279 x 102 atmpressure in atm 39.28 atm or pressure in atm pressure in mbar x 0.000986923267  atm/mbarpressure in atm 398000 x 0.000986923267 atm/mbarpressure in atm 39.28 atm Need to work the conversion the other way? Here is how to convert atm to mbar About Pressure Conversions Pressure unit conversions are one of the most common types of conversions because barometers (the instruments used to measure pressure) use any of a number of units, depending on their country of manufacture, the  method used to measure pressure, and intended use. Beside mbar and atm, units you may encounter include torr (1/760 atm), millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), centimeters of water (cm H2O), bars, foot sea water (FSW), meter sea water (MSW), Pascal (Pa), newtons per square meter (which is also a Pascal), hectopascal (hPa), ounce-force, pound-force, and pounds per square inch (PSI). A system that is under pressure has the ability to do work, so another way to express pressure is in terms of stored potential energy per unit volume. Thus, there are also units of pressure relating to energy density, such as joules per cubic meter. The formula for pressure is force per area: P F/A where P is pressure, F is force, and A is area. Pressure is a scalar quantity, meaning it has a magnitude, but not a direction. Make Your Own Homemade Barometer Sources Giancoli, Douglas G. (2004). Physics: principles with applications. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-13-060620-4.International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006). The International System of Units (SI), 8th ed. p. 127. ISBN 92-822-2213-6.Klein, Herbert Arthur. (1988).  The Science of Measurement: a Historical Survey. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications 0-4862-5839-4.McNaught, A. D.; Wilkinson, A.; Nic, M.; Jirat, J.; Kosata, B.; Jenkins, A. (2014). IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the Gold Book). 2.3.3. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. doi:10.1351/goldbook.P04819Resnick, Robert; Halliday, David (1960).  Physics for Students of Science and Engineering Part 1. New York: Wiley. p.  364.

Budget Free Essays

What are the macroeconomic effects of the budget proposal Movements and shifts of the curve 7. Conclusion 9 8. References O 5. We will write a custom essay sample on Budget or any similar topic only for you Order Now 2 . 6. 2 The first part of the assignment discusses the economic principles and criteria for a assessing a good budget proposal for any country. Section 3 discusses macroeconomic objectives of a budget, role of government and how it intervenes, tools available to government and the practical considerations (lags in the effects of fiscal policy) The next part of the assignment the team selected the 2009 South African budget proposal and listed all revenue and expenditure proposal 2. What is a budget proposal Bedpan describes a budget as a â€Å"blueprint† for the nation, expressing the objectives and aspirations for the present and future for by the party in power. Mohr describes the budget is an instrument of the fiscal policy and determines the level and composition of government spending(G) and taxation(T). The Keynesian school of thought proposes that fiscal policy to be the most instrumental policy to influence total spending or aggregate demand (AD). He lists the four functions of the budget as: Used to decide priorities Serves to evaluate specific public programmed, reviewing the state’s activities annually used to increase economic growth and impact on development A system of accountability and controls over government officials and agencies, setting limits on their activities and safeguarding against corruption Obedient four groups of people involved in the national budget of South Africa and their roles in brief with regard to the budget are listed in the table below: The cabinet Controls the most critical decisions on the allocation of public funds Civil servants Play supporting roles by providing information to politicians responsible for decision making Members of parliament Acts as the defender of the public interest through its constitutional right to question reasons and feasibility Of each aspect Of the budget The public Through organizations like Noose, interest groups, community based organizations and other bodies provide the voice of all members not directly involved in the budget process 3. Assessing government budget proposal 3. 1 Economic principles and criteria of good budgets The first step in determining economic principle and criteria for good budgets involves identifying what the budget proposal should achieve in terms of macroeconomic objectives. Mohr et al lists the following as the main macroeconomic objectives that can be used to judge a good performance of the economy: Economic growth Full employment Price stability Balance of payments (or external stability) Equitable distribution of income Efficiency T. Manuel in delivering his 2009 South African Budget speech , emphasized the following five principles: Protecting the poor Sustaining employment growth and expanding training opportunities Building economic capacity and promoting investment Addressing the barriers to competitiveness that limit an equitable sharing of opportunities And maintaining a sustainable debt level that would not constrain our development tomorrow Mohr recognizes that the free market system allocates resources in the best possible way. However he also acknowledges that at times market failure occurs where the market system does not achieve efficient allocation Of resources. The market systems failures occurs in the following cases: Monopoly and imperfect competition Public goods Externalities Asymmetric information Common property resources Moor’s summary of government’s role is summarized on the table below: Role Aim Allocation function Correcting market failure and achieving a more efficient allocation of resources Distributive function Achieving more acceptable distribution of income Stabilization Promoting macroeconomic stability 3. 2. 1 How does government intervene The table below shows the five intervention options and examples of each that the government can use to achieve the above roles: Intervention Examples Public provision of goods and services through ownership or financing National Defense, hospitals, Eskimo, prisons Becoming a market participant Through price stability, income redistribution, Government spending Transfer payments to change income distribution Taxation Personal Income Tax Regulation Labor laws, competition policy, anti-tobacco laws 3. Practical considerations: Lags in the effects of fiscal policy Recognition lags Implementation lags Response lags (603,608) Therefore a good budget takes into cognoscente the macroeconomic objectives, address issues relating to market failures and takes steps address the needs of society and the scarce available resources. A good budget should also take into considerations the effects of lags in typefaces policy. 4. 2009 South African Budget proposal The group selected the 2009 South African Budget proposal. The budget speech was delivered by the Finance minister Mr.. Tremor Manuel on the 1 lath February 2009. The table below is a list the budget revenue and expenditure proposals: Budget revenue proposals Budget expenditure proposals Taxes on income and profits Source: National Treasury 2009 Budget Review Statistical Table 2 and Table 3 5. Theory on economic principle of equity As stated in the preceding section, tax is one Of the instrumental tool available to government to achieve its roles of allocation and distributive unction’s mainly through taxation. The criteria for a good tax proposal is that it must meet the following conditions: Neutrality Equity Administrative simplicity We now focus our attention and evaluate tax relief with reference to the criteria of equity. Case and Fair refers to equity as fairness. Under this principle tax burden is distributed fairly. Two theories of equity or fairness exists. These are : 15, 16, 17 Benefits-received principles Ability-to pay principle 381 Under the benefits-received principle, taxpayers should contribute to overborne in proportion to the benefits they receive from public expenditures. This theory of fairness does not receive popular support as it is not possible to determine the value that taxpayers receive from public expenditures. The other theory of taxation, ability-to pay principle states that taxpayers should bear tax burdens in line with their ability to pay taxes. 5. 1. Discuss vertical and horizontal equity. 17 In terms of tax revenue collected by government, horizontal equity relates to the concept of tax neutrality. It defines that the tax system should not criminate between similar things or people, or unduly distort behavior . Len other words, the people with a similar ability to pay taxes should pay the same or similar amounts. Vertical equity usually refers to the idea that people with a greater ability to pay taxes should pay more. However, to those that believe in a flat tax, the idea of vertical equity could mean that the rich should not be punished for their success by paying higher taxes than others. How to cite Budget, Papers

Gender Bias Essay Example For Students

Gender Bias Essay Whoever said men and women are equal must be blind. Women have always taken a back seat to men in American society. There has always seemed to be one set of standards that apply to men, and another set of standards that apply to women. This is evident in the home, workplace, and all throughout society. I would like to briefly discuss some of the differences that we learn about our gender, which will enable us to better understand men, women, and domestic violence in society today. Once we understand causation, we can then begin to understand effects and prevention. Our supposed roles as men and women start at the hospital when we are born. Boys get blue blankets while girls get pink blankets. The toys we play with growing up are targeted at either males or females. Toys that are made for little boys include trucks, blocks, guns, soldiers, and action figures. While toys made for little girls include dolls, kitchen utensils, dress-up, and doll houses. Boys are raised to be aggressive, tough, dominant, and daring, while girls are raised to be passive, emotional, sweet, and subordinate. These patterns and thought processes continue on into our adulthood and begin to play out in our relationships with others, which include dating and marriage. With these gender biases and stereotypes in mind, it is easy to see how domestic violence can exist in today’s society. More importantly, we begin to understand how these negative messages can effect us personally. Although domestic violence includes sibling abuse, elder abuse, and child abuse, the focus of my essay will be on spousal abuse. Domestic violence has many names such as family violence, battering, wife beating, and domestic abuse. However, as discussed in class, domestic violence is not limited to physical beatings alone. Domestic violence is any behavior that is intended to subjugate and control another human being through the use of humiliation, fear, and physical or verbal assaults. So what makes an abuser? The goal of the abuser is power and control over their partner. Domestic violence can affect all, but more often it is the male inflicting the harm due to their physical advantage and also their societal taught dominating role. The abuser tends to conform to the stereotypical view of the man and women. The man goes out to make the money and support the family, while women stays home to cook, clean, and look after the kids. In knowing this, it is easy to understand why leaving an abusive relationship can be so difficult for the individual being abused, as leaving involves many needed changes and few solutions to the problems. Domestic violence is a very important social problem that we must educate ourselves on because it has such a profound and negative effect on the individual(s) being abused. They are affected mentally, emotionally, physically, and I know from experience that the scars can run very deep. Being in an abusive relationship for three years was devastating to my self-image as a teenager, and because of these feelings of inadequacy, my decreasing esteem allowed me to stay in such a dangerous scenario. Healing from the negative effects of that relationship has been a difficult journey for me, and I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for women abused for years on end. To this day, I struggle greatly with the ability to let go of my own â€Å"control† and trust others. I have a very difficult time believing that my significant other can truly have my best interest at heart. I have the intellectual ability to grasp the logical aspect of each situation, but when it comes to matters of the heart I tend to be very guarded. It is so important that we, as a whole, learn to extinguish domestic violence so that the healing process can begin for many and never even be needed for others. Most people in todays society agree that domestic violence is wrong and think that it should be stopped. As a society, we know that domestic violence is unacceptable, yet we do very little to become involved and prevent it. Victims of domestic violence are often reluctant to leave the abusive relationship because of their feelings of dependency. People who are abused tend to think that there is no way out b ecause they are so dependent on their partner. They continue to put up with the abuse and learn ways to cope with it. Domestic violence has been acted out for thousands of years, so it is no wonder that there is still the acceptance and view from society that it is not a major problem, or more accurately, it is not â€Å"their problem†. When domestic violence occurs there is several different types of abuse that take place. There is physical violence, emotional abuse, mental abuse, and sexual abuse, and although many people do not realize it, sexual abuse does not exclude married or dating couple. .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 , .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .postImageUrl , .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 , .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:hover , .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:visited , .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:active { border:0!important; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:active , .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96 .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u4f469cf9450236958d9bc10d3ecc9a96:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Native American Genocide Essay Being aware of the different types of abuse that can and are taking place is important for us to know, because we can see this message being taught through the media, entertainment, magazines, etc. Time and again, we see the woman being taken advantage of or treated as an object by the man, and this negative portrayal of relationships seeps daily into our own lives. Teaching our children that violence is inappropriate and teaching them better methods of problem solving, is the first step in ending domestic violence. One of the key components to making the teaching of our children work is leading by example and setting a positive model for them to follow. Educating society as a whole is also a very important key to ending domestic violence, and this can be accomplished through changes in public policy and practices. Greater consequences are needed since most abusers are only given a â€Å"slap on the wrist†, which impresses a message that domestic violence is something that people can get away with it. Only when communities establish mandatory arrest and prosecution policies, then will a message be sent out to the police and courts that domestic violence is a crime that society will not tolerate. In my opinion, it is not only the individual abusers, rather, society as a whole which needs great help. Domestic violence is still extensive and this needs to end. Our media and entertainment industries still glamorize and demean the seriousness of domestic violence, and they greatly influence our behavior by showing false examples of how we should act and react to one another. In closing, I do believe that we are on the right track to ending domestic violence but our effort is just not strong enough because our message that domestic violence is a crime is not strong enough. This class has opened my eyes and made me aware of what is going on and what needs to be done. In the future, I will do what is needed to stop this violence around me, and I will accomplish this by simply using my voice and speaking out about what is wrong. Bibliography:

Cause And Effect Womens Rights Essays - Feminism, Lecturers

Cause And Effect: Women's Rights Throughout the years, women have been seen as someone to have children, someone to cook, someone to clean, and someone who does not deserve rights. Until women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton rose up against these stereotypes, it looked as if women would always be seen as them. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was not alone in her fight to earn rights for women; Susan B. Anthony was helping her. These two women joined together to start the fight for womens rights. Almost 100 years after they started this fight, Gloria Steinem came along and continued it with the same force. Together Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Gloria Steinem would change the way that the United States viewed women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton started the fight for womens rights at a convention in Seneca Falls, New York 1848. She spoke out on the so-called equal rights that women had, It is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise (1: Scott). With that great statement Elizabeth Cady Stanton showed that women do have an opinion and they want to voice it. As her speech progressed she spoke about the inalienable rights granted to all in the constitution and how these were not given equally to women. Her radical new ideas sparked a controversial battle that would last well into the next century. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the first women to wear bloomers and not a dress around her town and home, causing her husband (a judge) much ridicule and embarrassment. In 1851 at another convention in Seneca Falls, she met Susan B. Anthony a woman as passionate about the fight for women to vote as she was; oddly enough they met while Stanton wa s wearing bloomers. The women immediately became friends, and started full force to gain equal rights for women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote most of the speeches delivered by Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Cady Stanton became the woman behind the scenes, and as the years progressed so did their fight. Susan B. Anthony helped start the movement for womens rights in 1851 when she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Between the two of them, these women started in New York and slowly worked across the country educating women on what rights they should have and why they did not have them. The two were strongly fighting for a womans right to vote. At the time the only people allowed to vote were white males over the age of 21, no slaves, no colored people, and no women. From 1854 to 1860 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked in New York to change all laws discriminating against women. Anthony began organizing women all over the state to help with this fight. In 1869 Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Lucy Stone and Henry Beecher joined forces to organize the National Woman Suffrage Association. This group would work to get a constitutional amendment that would grant women the right to vote (the idea was sparked by the 15th amendment which stated that the newly freed slaves ha d the right to vote). To make their statement more dramatic Susan B. Anthony and 12 other women cast their votes in the 1872 presidential election. These votes were one of many dramatic steps in gaining voting rights for women. Anthony was arrested, convicted, fined $100, and then set free for this, she soon became an icon in history. In 1920 the fight for a womens right to vote was soon over as the 19th amendment to the constitution was passed allowing this right. This also allowed women to become more outgoing and true to there own beliefs. Later in the century women would once again have to fight for equality but for a very different reason. Gloria Steinem is not only a successful businesswomen and co-founder of Ms. magazine, she was also a major figure in the womens liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It may have been written in her genetic code to be a feminist as her grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, was a suffragist in the 1900s. Steinems major life change came shortly before she

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The History and Legitimacy of Graphology as a Psychodiagnost essays The History and Legitimacy of Graphology as a Psychodiagnostic Tool The Greek words graphein-, meaning to write, and -ology meaning the study of come together to form the modern-day term, graphology (Victor 3). The definition of graphology simply stated, the study of handwriting, tells one very little about the true meaning of graphology. Graphology: the science of estimating character by studying the handwriting. This definition delivers a much more precise and clear picture of what is involved with graphology. This paper will explore the history of graphology, and, more importantly, its needful inclusion to the battery of currently used psychodiagnostic tests. Handwriting analysis, although considered to be a contemporary idea, has a lengthy history, dating as far back as the third century B.C., when Aristotle wrote, Just as all men do not have the same speech sounds, neither do they all have the same writing. Fourteen hundred years later, in the eleventh century, the Chinese philosopher Kuo Jo-hsu wrote, Handwriting infallibility can show whether it comes from a person who is noble-minded or one who is vulgar. In Italy, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Alderisius Prosper composed the first systematic written study of handwriting analysis entitled Ideographia. Although the book did not receive the widespread recognition that it hoped for, it did not go unnoticed. Eighteenth century writings appear from Lavatar and Grohman, both continuing the research earlier explored by Prosper and his predecessors. Many artisans in various fields began to show an interest in the correlation between a mans written words and his char acter traits. Many authors and poets, including Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Mann, and Alexander Dumas, intrigued by the connection refer to graphology in their publicized works (Sara 13-15). A group of the European pioneers...

Paraphrasing my Business administration Capstone assignment Essay - 2

Paraphrasing my Business administration Capstone assignment - Essay Example For the Stilsim Company to be able to create a generic strategy intended at enhancing their competitiveness in the market, the following are essential: Differentiation is aimed at appealing to clients by distinguishing between the corporation’s product and services and those that are provided by the rivals, thus giving clients a clear option as well as gaining their favor. In addition, the corporate level strategy the other strategy that can possibly used in place of the generic strategy, which is also known as the grand strategy. This strategy consists of the corporation’s supply-chain mechanism and the organizational structure. In using this strategy, the company is able to choose the business areas to be pursued, and determines that benefits that are realized by the company together with the amount of its competitiveness. At corporate level, strategic management is critical for the corporation since it is the foundation of the corporate as well as unit level financial strategic planning. Different from the corporate level strategy and generic strategy, we find that functional strategy is the functional strategy, which describes the strategy that is applied in each function of the like a strategy of product development and strategy of human resource, and these come from the major business strategy so as the company to be in a position of gaining a competitive advantage in the market as well as be able to create value. The Stilsim Company has many crucial matters that should be addressed. The identification of the issues that face the company has been done by the use of rational, internal and external analysis. The most disturbing, out of these issues is that with the Capital City Office, the main office which is no longer productive. However, this gives the company a less competitive advantage. If the company wants to gain comparative advantage over its

Team Policy Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team Policy Analysis Paper - Essay Example By submitting to the law, it nullifies the chances of the offenders to be served justice by the society, which usually leads to death or suicide, and justice is served (Emanuel, 2007). Deterrence simply implies to imposing heavy penalties on the offender to discourage other members of the society to take part in criminal activities (Scaros, 2004). When the members in the society see the measures taken to curb the social injustices, they will cease to act unlawfully. According to Emanuel (2007), rehabilitation is aimed at transforming a criminal into a morally upright citizen, in the society, by ensuring their code of conduct is impeccable. This will enable the offender to be able to live normally with others. Incapacitation refers to quarantine of the offender (Scaros, 2004). This is usually achieved through sentences passed by the court of law of imprisonment. The offender is to stay away in solitude and reflect on his actions. Finally, restoration refers to the justice of the victim. It aims at making the victims continue with life as it was before a crime was committed against them. When the justice system fails in its criminal prevention activities, intensively monitored parole, probations and electronic monitoring, all these things, people, hence lose faith in them. Scaros (2004) says that the chronology of mankind is driven by a universal force of mob psychology. This means that people will act out simply because they know the judicial system is incapable of adhering to its duties. The law is implemented by the judicial system, and it works to prevent crime, protect the public, support victims of crime and help the offenders to get back on track (Emanuel, 2007). Criminal law entails all these. Laws were made to make us better citizens and for there to be order among us. When all the above have been avoided, and the same efforts to curb criminal activities

Cadburys Business Strategy and Human Resources (HR)

Cadburys Business Strategy and Human Resources (HR) 1.1 Access the fit of Cadburys approach to managing its human resources and its business strategies with reference to relevant models of SHRM. The approach in which Cadbury manage its human resources and its business strategies lies in the ability to identify the core competence of their people and use these resources with each individuals capability to create a competitive advantage for the Company to stay ahead among its competitors in the industry. Cadbury Schweppes employs more than 50,000 people and has manufacturing operations in more than 35 countries. It is the worlds third largest soft drinks company and holds either the top or second position in the market share of 24 of the worlds top 50 confectionery markets. This illustrates that this large Quaker company has its value in the market where it is important for HR to manage their employees performances, working culture and management in an efficient and positive way. Resource based model, the SHRM role becomes one of the creating systems and procedures that focus not on external relationships but on how staff and their abilities are used. The resource based model recognizes that many aspects of capability can be formally defined in skill terms and allows the integration of the intangible aspects of work alongside other more visible areas such as patents, trademarks and other intellectual. The core competencies include many things such as aspects change of the management, capability of staff, strategic development capability and speed of response. The RBV of the firm argues that a firms growth (Penrose, 1959) and competitive advantage (Wernerfelt, 1984) are function of the unique bundle of resources that it possess and deploys (Barney, 1991, 1997). Firms acquire critical human resources and then establish HR system to enhance the potential of these human resources that are most difficult to imitate (Paauwe and Boselie, 2002; Jackson et al., 2004) As the business has grown and acquired a wide range of non Cadbury originated businesses the strategy has been adapted to fit the worldwide competitive situation it finds itself in. Cadburys goal is to deliver its superior shareholder performance, just as simple as that Cadbury focused on its shareholders which ranked 26th in the FTSE and they achieved its goal in the year of 2004 by showing the turnover business from  £6,738 million to  £1,115 million for its underlying profit. The success of a best fit model depends on its ability to integrate into the strategic plans of the organization, provide horizontal or vertical integration or the key policy areas. How far organizational objectives will be met is also dependent on the level of fit between the business strategy and the environment at one level, HR strategy and business strategy at a second level and the internal coherence of the policy. Best fit allows organizations to determine whether a hard or a soft approach needs to be taken given the prevailing circumstance and the success of a best fit model depends on its ability to integrate into the strategic plans of the organisation and provide horizontal or vertical integration of the key policy areas. There is no one single perfect SHRM model to be applied in Cadburys and the Company needs to take into consideration the nature of business of the Company, the external environment of the industry and in this case the resource based view and best fit model is more suitable. 1.2 Using your knowledge from Unit 8 and the related information about managing effective change evaluate the organisations approach to change assessing its impact and the role played by SHRM techniques and processes? It is important for Cadbury to use its SHRM techniques and processes to manage effective change and evaluate the impact by helping the company in establishing or executing various strategies, provide alternative insights. HR requires people management skills but also in depth understanding of the current situation of the Company and provide value creating proposition accordingly. The HR departments strategies, policies and activities must support and align with the companys corporate and competitive strategies. The strategies of Cadbury for managing their peoples value is to aim to increase employee understanding on how company be profitable and make sure employees in the company is result oriented focused. Cadbury can carry out employees surveys and use the feedback obtained to make necessary future strategy planning. Any sort of feedback -negative or positive feedback makes huge impact in the company as HR can use this to address people management issues. Any discovery of dissatisfaction can be used to minimize existing conflict and personality or culture clash happened in the company. Furthermore, the top management formulates its strategy by supplying competitive intelligence that may be useful in the strategic planning process, supplying information regarding the companys internal human strengths and weakness by conducting employee survey, feedback regionally. By doing such, HR builds a persuasive case that show how the HR can implement several strategies that can be evaluated in a mea surable terms and contribute in creating value for the company. After the merger, there is another group of employees joining the Company with different age (gap) and technology skills which plays a huge part of their working responsibility daily no matter in operations or communications area thus, there will be an internal restructuring and consolidation of workforce to be carried out. With the given transition period after the merger, and the increasingly competitive market and the continuous evolution of technology together with the different generation who may have joined the Company (Gen Y and Gen Z or NetGen), therefore HR can be able to implement workplace training to address to skill gap between employees. These trainings must also be evaluated accordingly by doing a pre training evaluation of performance and post training evaluation. It is important to ensure that the focus of the evaluation is to analyse the performance of employees as well as providing information on how to manage the different categories of people and improve on their performance .A systematic training literature indicates which techniques might be the best for which behaviour in which situation. Changes in job as new technologies develop can have similar effects and more effective training programs can also affect other systems in the work organization. For example, when a employee in C adbury change his or her current position into new position as a result of a career change or promotion, they need to enter into training program. It is important for them to understand the effects of training experiences as part of the organisation. Merger and Acquisition in Cadbury Schweppes shows difference its difference before and after the merging with Schweppes (a.k.a Cadbury Schweppes) is that they managed to show the people how strong both the company and they are worth 4.2 billion after the merging with their new HR director, Andrew Gibson whom was promoted for Cadbury Schweppes for GB and Ireland to drive the company further as HR isnt usual. Managing for Value was invented in year 1977, which this is a programme that employees have to go through on a five-day training course that linked their work to those goals. Cadburys HR director Andrew Gibson practice the use of the 3As which include Accountable, Adaptable and Aggressive which in this context is about being results-focused and tenacious. Results-focused is certainly something every Cadbury Schweppes employee has to be according to Gibson. However, HR have to ask several question such as how has the programme able to show measurable result and overall impact for the Company and whether the programmes reflect on current issues or interest that applies to their work? The impact can be measured through designing a performance management system with quantifiable elements as the staffs key performance index (KPI). Different reward system (monetary and non monetary) can be designed to motivate the staffs further and retain the overachievers in the Company. Managing the people for their value added is extremely important for HR to consider in every level in the business such as their employees have the freedom to do what is right, bottom up their initiatives where staffs can recommend to management their ideas either locally or globally. With this merging, Cadbury had gained their competitive advantages and also in the same time improved and maximize the companys resources as the company went through a major reorganization, moving to a more decentralized way of operating business units within a new structure. In order to reinforce that message of value added for the people, Cadbury Schweppes has two share schemes, ShareSave that has been operating since 1974 and the companys share worth having for Cadburys employee. The impact can be accessed through analyzing the overall staff turnover of the Company and also conduct a staff satisfaction survey relating it to their performance results. Working Better Together is a framework designed by their HR director himself, Andrew Gibson is to encourage employees to undertake in order to work more collaboratively than they were used to a more decentralised business structure both company have different working culture after merged. Cadbury Schweppes have some tough managers who would usually only talk about hard nose financial results where they focus on behaviour and unlocking the potential of people at different levels of the business had really paid dividends. The impact can be measured by the overall team performance and the reduction in conflict or people issues. Passion for People was introduced for directors to look closely of their peoples managing performance and also their skills of enhancement. Adding to the impression that the people who work there with full satisfaction, Gibson reveals that the climate survey (staff attitude survey) where the employees said they understood the businesss purpose and values and its local priorities, were proud to work for the company and felt part of team. Cadbury is successful because their HR are able to unlock employees potential and they focused on their strength and implement the growth of people within the organisation. Both companies has different cultures and it is important for HR to develop a similar benefits in the company for the peoples consideration to get used to the culture of the business and the nature of the way may undertake change. The result of those implemented programme by HR of Cadbury, showed that training and communication among employees and management is important in order to get the ball rolling within the company and also the business regionally. 1.3 From your knowledge of the course how does the HR Function seem to be supporting the Business Strategy at Cadburys? In general how can HR best support an organisations going through change? HR function important in organisation to help them formally evaluate the effectiveness of the performances within the Company. HR seems to be supporting the Business Strategy in Cadbury by bringing in Bob Stack as the companys HR director whom has being so geared towards companys dividends such as bringing more shareholders and create a positive working environment among their employees. After the merging, Cadburys business indeed been through a huge amount of change as the acquisitions of confectioners Trebor Bassett and Adams which at $4.2 billion, the purchase of Adams in 2003 was the biggest acquisition Cadbury Schweppes has made. HR function is often linked between HR department and business such as developing people, bringing out talent, supporting the organisational strategy and being guideline to the people in the Company. System value like communication, training and development should be carry out in HR function too. The changing business environment could bring employees some uncertainty towards the organisations such work is becoming unsecure, the notion of organisational boundaries is sometimes less clear, employees long term relationships with organisations could stopped due to redeveloping access in between. The change process in organisational need to make sense for the management and employees which involve communication between people of more understanding the objective and how change can be achieved. The main areas under HR function are Recruitment and Selection, Training and Development, Industrial Relation / Employee Relation, Compensation and Benefit, Health and Safety. Under Recruitment and Selection stage, it show how effective will HR be in planning decision such as what are the recruitment planning, career planning, succession and workforce planning of staff where they will be given chance to expand their skills or ability within the Company freely. Staff selection should be integrated as the main key task for the organisation as a whole while HR department do the selection. Training and Development is also required whether it is foundation or introduction planning for new entry level staffs, professional development for executives, leadership and management training for managers and HOD in order for the people to improve and grow together with the Company. Industrial Relation / Employee Relation reflect on areas for employees assessment such as teamwork, mentoring, communication between people within an organisation. Compensation and Benefit stage is where the staffs need to know what are the equitable of themselves such as promotion, rewards, insurance, employees deduction of funds and etc. Lastly but not least, Health and Safety is being considered because the employees need to have sort of security during working hours in case if any accident might happen and the Company will have the responsibility to take care of it. In general, HR department is like a consultant of the Company where they assist people to solve their problems or difficulty working among colleagues, provide guidance, explaining or create ruling (SOP) in line with the labour laws and human rights to support organisation which is also called as HR Chain Management. Section B Question 2 What is the value to organisations in creating a learning organisational culture? How can organisations work towards creating this culture through its HRM/HRD Strategies? The value and the importance of an organization in creating a learning organisational culture is to encourage the interaction and friendship between the families in the company. Skills training programme and also advanced system that can simplify work yet promoting a happy workplace is the criteria that HRM/HRD (Human Resource Management / Human Resource Development) should consider in order to help staffs maintain a healthy balance between work and their personal life as we know we spent most of our time in workplace from 9am-6pm (average 8 hours per day). A company should be enriched by the staffs creativity, brilliant ideas and initiative in order to grow or move forward thus, taking care of their needs and potential has to discover and what matters is the quality of staffs work, results together with their passion that is always noted and rewarded by the company. Organisational culture can be reflected in person related objectives and bring in the cultural change or culture reinf orcement. For example, the HR department in an organisations will need to work closely with Corporate Culture department on how to bring their staffs together as one family such as setting up activities that are designed to build their characteristic and leadership skills by understanding their job more in various area. Culture is a set of shared meanings that influence or determine behaviour on how decision are taken care of, how rules are made, what and what information is being shared. All these elements can also prescribed by organisations in term of say their mission statements or in the informal ways, individuals and groups develop ways of thinking about working behaviour and these is an attitude that grows over time in response to organisational events. By creating a healthy culture, an HR must consider few things such as the structural control within the Company, co-ordination and job design can be influenced thoroughly thus standardisation of jobs or flexibility of job (free thinking), formalisation of communication channels and flows, division of labour between departments or teams, term and conditions and the degree of rules and also the ability to work beyond contract. The dimension of HRM in managing cultural behaviour according to strategic aspects will be discuss as follows:- What are the key to organisational relations (customer service)?, create initiatives for integrated strategic change, fast speed of making decisions, transformational leadership working to bring positive change, facilitation or prized management skills involving employee support and encouragement to employees. Teamwork and communication is always important in working culture especially it need to be handled through managing culture and being harmonised with overall business strategy objectives. Question 4 To what extent can performance management systems stand alone from an organisations overall approach to developing and managing people? How can organisations integrate the performance and developmental aspects of managing people? Use case examples to illustrate your answer. Performance Management Systems (PMS)., Bevan Thompson (1992) is a set of techniques and procedure on how to improve an organisation performance such as how to communicate the vision of an organisations objectives to the employees, providing departmental or business unit and individual performance targets that are drawn from the wider organisational objectives or a formal review process of how the objectives have been met. A fully integrated PMS (objective setting, review process and linked development and review system) provides the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the whole performances process in providing enhanced organisational performance. As case examples, AirAsia Bhd is a low cost carrier or budget airline in Southeast Asia and they still a growing airline for 8 years now but yet theyve started to implement the 360 degrees of performance appraisal among its employee so that the company can know well as well as provide its employees with unparalleled opportunities for career development and to achieve a multi-skilled workforce which a lot more other established company has not practise this 360 degrees appraisal program. The role of HR under PMS is to consult and formulate its schemes in consultation with line of managers and staff, monitor and evaluate PMS based on stakeholder use on what are the outcomes and process effectiveness, review organisational capability as a result of PMS and design policy action in HRD and recruitment. PMS distinguishing in an organisation is seen as a series of steps linked to an overall business strategy such setting objectives, on going review on the objectives, development of personal improvement plans, formal appraisal with feedback, a competence based organisational capability review and pay review for result oriented. In this world of business today, managing people could be tough and challenging especially in a huge organisations where there are employees from different countries, different culture and also the language barriers. The features that can make up PMS as a series of steps linked to an overall business strategy as follows: Figure 1: Features of a Performance Management System As illustrated in Figure 1:Features of a Performance Management System, a performance management system has six (6) distinguished features, namely: i) Objective setting this would be the area where long term objectives would be set for the employee and are normally stated in a formal Key Performance Indicator/Index (KPI) and is normally set by the immediate manager or by the management team. ii) Ongoing review of objectives this would be the area where KPIs are reviewed periodically either every 3 months or quarterly to ensure that the employee would be able to meet the said long term objectives. iii) The development of personal improvement plans linked to training and development this area is to ascertain the targeted development that the employees wish to go through and to allow personal development to takes place to help improve productivity of the employee. iv) Formal appraisal with feedback this area is to review the progress of the employee against personal skills development and personal experimentation in trying out new tutoring systems or skills. Also to ascertain the level of self improvement the employee had managed to gain throughout the period of the objective setting. v) Pay review this area would allow the management to see how best fit the employee would be rewarded for the effort that they had shown over the period of the appraisal. vi) A competence-based organisational capability review this area would be more to organisational strategies where the organisation would be able to place resources where they are more suitable to able productivity to be increased. Learning and Development objectives should also be measured in order to contributes to better productivity, improved job performance and eventually a high performance culture. LD objectives is bring employees in an organisation to link directly with the skills and core competence requirements of the business and help to achieve organisational development goals. All these include how the employees behaviour in term of the job is being carryout, positive teamwork attitude or communication among colleagues or customers. Thus, HR department is responsible to emphasize on quality behavioural factors of the people, differentiation of individual performance (resource based view), increase bottom line (profit/cost) prioritisation to be fed down to each employee and get to understand the importance of communicating with employees themselves that can align their behaviour and attitudes. The concern to improve individuals potential in their workplace is necessary for HR because the future of th e organisations will become more dependent on the people and their ability will effectively help the company grow stronger. Despite of providing external training, staffs within the organisation can often have swapping lesson where opportunities is opened for self directed learning experiences from different colleague, different field. As for conclusion, the organisational culture will be influenced by the decisions taken by PMS on matter such as the relationship the relationship of dependence or interdependence formed by managers and employees and how this influences change through the design and delivery of the scheme. References Irwing L.Goldstein K.Kevin Ford., Training in Organisations (Fourth Edition), 2002. Derek Torrington, Laura Hall Stephen Taylor., Human Resource Management. Strategic Management of Human Resources,. University of Sunderland BA (Honours) Business Management, Version 3.0, Unit 1 Definition and Purpose of SHRM., pp.13-22. Strategic Management of Human Resources,. University of Sunderland BA (Honours) Business Management, Version 3.0, Unit 8 Managing Change: Culture and Performance., pp. Managing Human Resource Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage www.emeraldinsight.com/reseachregister The Strategic Managing of Human Resources., John Leopold, Lynette Harris Tony Watson, 2004.

Test Corrections

2. John Wesley is associated with the founding of what religious sect? I chose to omit this question because I couldn’t remember with which â€Å"ism† John Wesley was associated. The correct answer is c. Methodism because in the â€Å"Impact of the Enlightenment† PowerPoint, a parenthetical mentions John Wesley in the description of Methodism. 6. Romanticism changed the direction of the Enlightenment by emphasizing†¦ I answered a. skepticism which is incorrect because skepticism was more of a defining characteristic for movements like the Scientific Revolution. The correct answer is c. emotion because Romanticism was a focus on the individual and nature which were ofter very emotional ordeals. 8. The Encyclopedia contributed to Enlightenment goals of social reform by†¦ I answered c. providing systematic plans for social reform that could be used by anyone who was able to read which is incorrect because the Encyclopedia itself was not about social reform, and even if someone could read, he or she wouldn’t necessarily be able to understand the Encyclopedia. The correct answer is a. romoting the spread of knowledge that would be used to make informed decisions about social problems because the Encyclopedia’s direct influence was its spread of knowledge, which, in turn, was used to make informed decisions. 13. â€Å"In every government, there are three sorts of power†¦when the legislative and executive are united in the same person or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty because†¦the same monarc h or senate†¦(may) enact tyrannical laws. † The author of this passage was: I answered e. Rousseau which is incorrect because although Rousseau favored epublicanism as stated in his The Social Contract, he never really made the distinction between the three branches of government. The correct answer is a. Montesquieu because he made the distinction of dividing the â€Å"administrative† powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. 14. Voltaire’s statement â€Å"Ecrasez l’infame† (crush the infamous thing) refers to†¦ I answered a. the government of Louis XIV which is incorrect because Louis XIV died in 1715 when Voltaire was only 18 years old and hadn’t begun his writing career. The correct answer is b. igotry and intolerance because he thought that the royalty and the clergy bred â€Å"superstition and intolerance† within the people. 18. In his campaign for greater toleration, French Huguenot refugee Pierre Bayl e (1647-1706) published his Historical and Critical Dictionary, which†¦ I answered d. was an attempt to offer clear definitions of commonly used religious terminology that Bayle felt was too often misunderstood, a contributing factor to religious intolerance which is incorrect because Bayle’s Historical and Critical Dictionary wasn’t a literal dictionary in which terms were defined. The correct answer is c. listed the errors and delusions of an entire host of writers on religion in an effort to show that religions must be held accountable to reason because the word â€Å"dictionary† simply refers to the writers on religion, and rather that blaming religious terminology for religious intolerance, he wanted to express that religions should be held accountable to reason. 19. What is a major way that the Enlightenment in France differed from that in Germany? I answered a. The German government wholeheartedly supported its intellectuals, including Lessing and Kant, while France’s philosophes faced censorship or arrest which is incorrect because this answer has the trigger word â€Å"wholeheartedly,† and philosophes faced censorship throughout Europe. The correct answer is c. French philosophes were far more aggressive in their condemnation of church and state than were German scholars because France has a history of breaking from the church freely such as with the Papal Schism, while Germany, being consumed by the Holy Roman Empire was tied closer with the church. 1. The only enlightened ruler who ended the personal aspects of serfdom was†¦ I answered a. Catherine the Great of Russia which is incorrect because although the serfs under Catherine had limited rights, they were still bound to their nobles’ land, and were still owned by these nobles. The correct answer is b. Joseph II of Austria because his Imperial Patent of 1785 abolished serfdom. 25. The spread of Enlightenment ideals and the emergence of a more prosperous middle class in Europe were also reflected in music with†¦ I answered d. rejection of baroque and all older styles of musical composition in favor of continuous innovation and experimentation which is incorrect because this answer has the trigger word â€Å"all,† and music at this time didn’t completely reject baroque styles because old styles will always be the basis for new styles. The correct answer is b. the transition from complex polyphony to an emphasis on more popularly accessible melody because this reflects a prosperous middle class which was both popular and accessible. 26. The Gordon riots, which devastated much of London in 1780, served as an xample of the fact that†¦ I answered b. eighteenth-century governments, though aspiring to modern state management, were still far from their espoused goals which is incorrect because the Gordon riots rooted in p olitical grievances as much as they were in religious agitation brought about by the Protestants. The correct answer is d. popular demonstrations did not always support reforms because the riots’ most prevalent effect was that Britain’s reputation was damaged right when they needed allies the most in the American War of Independence. 30. Which of the following is INCORRECTLY matched? I answered c. Catherine the Great—Instruction which is incorrect because Catherine did in fact write this work whose full title was â€Å"Instructions for the Guidance of the Assembly. † The correct answer is e. Moses Mendelssohn—Confessions because Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote this, while Moses Mendelssohn wrote works such as his Philosophical Conversations. 32. The most important contribution Catherine the Great made early in her reign was the†¦ I chose to omit this question because although I knew Catherine’s overall importance as an enlightened despot, I wasn’t sure on the specific contributions she made early on. The correct answer is a. stablishment of a legislative commission to review the laws of Russia because this was a real effort to share the power over Russia with a republican council in which the people could theoretically be represented. 49. Charlotte Corday assassinated Jean-Paul Marat in July 1793, in the belief that†¦ I answered d. Mara t had engineered the arrest and execution of Danton and his followers. which is incorrect because she wasn’t specifically concerned with avenging Danton’s death, but rather felt that she was avenging all of France. The correct answer is c. she was avenging innocent people executed because Marat had called for their heads. ecause even in her trial she claimed, â€Å"I killed one man to save 100,000,† showing her concern with the shear massiveness and unjustness of Marat’s Reign of Terror. 52. The fall from grace of Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety came about when Robespierre†¦ I answered d. inaugurated a Cult of the Supreme Being, which many Catholics viewed as a brazen and blasphemous attempt to replace Christianity. which is incorrect because although anti-religious member of the Committee of Public Safety opposed this decree, they didn’t really do anything concrete about it. The correct answer is a. began to order the execution of members of the Convention itself. because the planned strike against Jean-Lambert Tallien and Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier who were members of the Committee of General Security really was what tore the Committee of Public Safety apart and led to the arrest of Robespierre. 54. During the era of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction†¦ I chose to omit this question because I couldn’t remember whether the Thermidorian Reaction led to the dissolution of the National Assembly or the Reign of Terror. The correct answer is a. terminated the Reign of Terror and led to the execution of Robespierre. because it was the month of Thermidor when Robespierre’s planned strike against members of the Committee of General Security led to his execution. 55. The Committee of Public Safety was established to†¦ I answered e. train a new generation of intendants who were more loyal to the bourgeoisie government in power in 1794. which is incorrect because the Committee of Public Safety was more of military establishment whose purpose was to protect the new republic rather than to ensure loyalty. Loyalty was mainly ensured by the threat of the guillotine to anyone who resisted the republic. The correct answer is b. combat the dual threat of internal rebellion/counter-revolutionaries and foreign invasion. because it was a wartime measure put into place to protect the new and fragile republic. 59. According to the video and the text, what role did Jacques-Louis David play in the French Revolution? I answered d. He edited a newspaper that called for the execution of the king. which is incorrect because he was a painter, not a newspaper editor. The correct answer is c. He was an artist who painted images of the Revolution and planned revolutionary festivals. because he organized various festivals beginning with a parade through the streets of Paris to bury Voltaire at the Pantheon, and he was a Neoclassical painter who strayed away from classical Rococo grandeur. 60. When French armies occupied an area, they†¦ I answered a. brutally repressed the people living there according to the dictates of the Terror. which is incorrect because the Reign of Terror described the death of many by the guillotine, not by military brutality. The correct answer is b. introduced the laws of the French Republic, such as the abolition of seigneurial dues. because the abolition of seigneurial dues, one of many Enlightenment ideals being implemented at this time, was enacted by the National Constituent Assembly in the â€Å"August Decrees. † 62. Which of the following did NOT lead to the attack on the Bastille? I answered c. The marching of thousands of troops toward Paris by order of the king which is incorrect because the French Army was in fact encamped on the nearby Champs de Mars. The correct answer is b. The massacre by Louis XVI’s troops of members of the National Assembly because although Louis had planned to march into the Salle des Etats where the National Assembly met, but he never did, and therefore, his troops never massacred members of the National Assembly. 63. The achievements of the Jacobins included ALL of the following EXCEPT†¦ I answered a. abolition of slavery. which is incorrect because the Jacobins did in fact abolish slavery when they abolished feudalism. The correct answer is e. edistribution of all land among the peasants. because under the Jacobins, peasants only received limited rights and did not actually receive redistributed land. 65. Women†¦ I answered b. took few leadership roles in revolutionary activities. which is incorrect because women did in fact hold important roles in the French Revolution like with the Women’s March on Versailles and with influential female writers like Mary Wollstonecraft and Olympe de Gouges. The correct answer is d. joined demonstrations, wrote petitions and tracts, and organized political clubs. ecause women were in fact important to the Revolution and did all of these named revolutionary acts. 68. The term September Massacres refers to†¦ I answered b. The bloodiest days of the Reign of Terror; also known as the Great Terror which is incorrect because the September Massacres occurred over a year prior to the Reign of Terror. The correct answer is a. mobs that slaughtered over 1100 prisoners they believed were traitors because after Louis XVI fled the Tuileries Palace, a scared group made up mostly by sans-culottes massacred over 1100 Parisian prisoners.

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 4-6

CHAPTER 4 Captain Bezu Fache carried himself like an angry ox, with his wide shoulders thrown back and his chin tucked hard into his chest. His dark hair was slicked back with oil, accentuating an arrow-like widow's peak that divided his jutting brow and preceded him like the prow of a battleship. As he advanced, his dark eyes seemed to scorch the earth before him, radiating a fiery clarity that forecast his reputation for unblinking severity in all matters. Langdon followed the captain down the famous marble staircase into the sunken atrium beneath the glass pyramid. As they descended, they passed between two armed Judicial Police guards with machine guns. The message was clear: Nobody goes in or out tonight without the blessing of Captain Fache. Descending below ground level, Langdon fought a rising trepidation. Fache's presence was anything but welcoming, and the Louvre itself had an almost sepulchral aura at this hour. The staircase, like the aisle of a dark movie theater, was illuminated by subtle tread-lighting embedded in each step. Langdon could hear his own footsteps reverberating off the glass overhead. As he glanced up, he could see the faint illuminated wisps of mist from the fountains fading away outside the transparent roof. â€Å"Do you approve?† Fache asked, nodding upward with his broad chin. Langdon sighed, too tired to play games. â€Å"Yes, your pyramid is magnificent.† Fache grunted. â€Å"A scar on the face of Paris.† Strike one.Langdon sensed his host was a hard man to please. He wondered if Fache had any idea that this pyramid, at President Mitterrand's explicit demand, had been constructed of exactly 666 panes of glass – a bizarre request that had always been a hot topic among conspiracy buffs who claimed 666 was the number of Satan. Langdon decided not to bring it up. As they dropped farther into the subterranean foyer, the yawning space slowly emerged from the shadows. Built fifty-seven feet beneath ground level, the Louvre's newly constructed 70, 000-square-foot lobby spread out like an endless grotto. Constructed in warm ocher marble to be compatible with the honey-colored stone of the Louvre facade above, the subterranean hall was usually vibrant with sunlight and tourists. Tonight, however, the lobby was barren and dark, giving the entire space a cold and crypt-like atmosphere. â€Å"And the museum's regular security staff?† Langdon asked. â€Å"En quarantaine,†Fache replied, sounding as if Langdon were questioning the integrity of Fache's team. â€Å"Obviously, someone gained entry tonight who should not have. All Louvre night wardens are in the Sully Wing being questioned. My own agents have taken over museum security for the evening.† Langdon nodded, moving quickly to keep pace with Fache. â€Å"How well did you know Jacques Sauniere?† the captain asked. â€Å"Actually, not at all. We'd never met.† Fache looked surprised. â€Å"Your first meeting was to be tonight?† â€Å"Yes. We'd planned to meet at the American University reception following my lecture, but he never showed up.† Fache scribbled some notes in a little book. As they walked, Langdon caught a glimpse of the Louvre's lesser-known pyramid – La Pyramide Inversee – a huge inverted skylight that hung from the ceiling like a stalactite in an adjoining section of the entresol. Fache guided Langdon up a short set of stairs to the mouth of an arched tunnel, over which a sign read: DENON. The Denon Wing was the most famous of the Louvre's three main sections. â€Å"Who requested tonight's meeting?† Fache asked suddenly. â€Å"You or he?† The question seemed odd. â€Å"Mr. Sauniere did,† Langdon replied as they entered the tunnel. â€Å"His secretary contacted me a few weeks ago via e-mail. She said the curator had heard I would be lecturing in Paris this month and wanted to discuss something with me while I was here.† â€Å"Discuss what?† â€Å"I don't know. Art, I imagine. We share similar interests.† Fache looked skeptical. â€Å"You have no idea what your meeting was about?† Langdon did not. He'd been curious at the time but had not felt comfortable demanding specifics. The venerated Jacques Sauniere had a renowned penchant for privacy and granted very few meetings; Langdon was grateful simply for the opportunity to meet him. â€Å"Mr. Langdon, can you at least guess what our murder victim might have wanted to discuss with you on the night he was killed? It might be helpful.† The pointedness of the question made Langdon uncomfortable. â€Å"I really can't imagine. I didn't ask. I felt honored to have been contacted at all. I'm an admirer of Mr. Sauniere's work. I use his texts often in my classes.† Fache made note of that fact in his book. The two men were now halfway up the Denon Wing's entry tunnel, and Langdon could see the twin ascending escalators at the far end, both motionless. â€Å"So you shared interests with him?† Fache asked. â€Å"Yes. In fact, I've spent much of the last year writing the draft for a book that deals with Mr. Sauniere's primary area of expertise. I was looking forward to picking his brain.† Fache glanced up. â€Å"Pardon?† The idiom apparently didn't translate. â€Å"I was looking forward to learning his thoughts on the topic.† â€Å"I see. And what is the topic?† Langdon hesitated, uncertain exactly how to put it. â€Å"Essentially, the manuscript is about the iconography of goddess worship – the concept of female sanctity and the art and symbols associated with it.† Fache ran a meaty hand across his hair. â€Å"And Sauniere was knowledgeable about this?† â€Å"Nobody more so.† â€Å"I see.† Langdon sensed Fache did not see at all. Jacques Sauniere was considered the premiere goddess iconographer on earth. Not only did Sauniere have a personal passion for relics relating to fertility, goddess cults, Wicca, and the sacred feminine, but during his twenty-year tenure as curator, Sauniere had helped the Louvre amass the largest collection of goddess art on earth – labrys axes from the priestesses' oldest Greek shrine in Delphi, gold caducei wands, hundreds of Tjetankhs resembling small standing angels, sistrum rattles used in ancient Egypt to dispel evil spirits, and an astonishing array of statues depicting Horus being nursed by the goddess Isis. â€Å"Perhaps Jacques Sauniere knew of your manuscript?† Fache offered. â€Å"And he called the meeting to offer his help on your book.† Langdon shook his head. â€Å"Actually, nobody yet knows about my manuscript. It's still in draft form, and I haven't shown it to anyone except my editor.† Fache fell silent. Langdon did not add the reason he hadn't yet shown the manuscript to anyone else. The three- hundred-page draft – tentatively titled Symbols of the Lost Sacred Feminine – proposed some very unconventional interpretations of established religious iconography which would certainly be controversial. Now, as Langdon approached the stationary escalators, he paused, realizing Fache was no longer beside him. Turning, Langdon saw Fache standing several yards back at a service elevator. â€Å"We'll take the elevator,† Fache said as the lift doors opened. â€Å"As I'm sure you're aware, the gallery is quite a distance on foot.† Although Langdon knew the elevator would expedite the long, two-story climb to the Denon Wing, he remained motionless. â€Å"Is something wrong?† Fache was holding the door, looking impatient. Langdon exhaled, turning a longing glance back up the open-air escalator. Nothing's wrong at all, he lied to himself, trudging back toward the elevator. As a boy, Langdon had fallen down an abandoned well shaft and almost died treading water in the narrow space for hours before being rescued. Since then, he'd suffered a haunting phobia of enclosed spaces – elevators, subways, squash courts. The elevator is a perfectly safe machine, Langdon continually told himself, never believing it. It's a tiny metal box hanging in an enclosed shaft! Holding his breath, he stepped into the lift, feeling the familiar tingle of adrenaline as the doors slid shut. Two floors.Ten seconds. â€Å"You and Mr. Sauniere,† Fache said as the lift began to move,† you never spoke at all? Never corresponded? Never sent each other anything in the mail?† Another odd question. Langdon shook his head. â€Å"No. Never.† Fache cocked his head, as if making a mental note of that fact. Saying nothing, he stared dead ahead at the chrome doors. As they ascended, Langdon tried to focus on anything other than the four walls around him. In the reflection of the shiny elevator door, he saw the captain's tie clip – a silver crucifix with thirteen embedded pieces of black onyx. Langdon found it vaguely surprising. The symbol was known as a crux gemmata – a cross bearing thirteen gems – a Christian ideogram for Christ and His twelve apostles. Somehow Langdon had not expected the captain of the French police to broadcast his religion so openly. Then again, this was France; Christianity was not a religion here so much as a birthright. â€Å"It's a crux gemmata† Fache said suddenly. Startled, Langdon glanced up to find Fache's eyes on him in the reflection. The elevator jolted to a stop, and the doors opened. Langdon stepped quickly out into the hallway, eager for the wide-open space afforded by the famous high ceilings of the Louvre galleries. The world into which he stepped, however, was nothing like he expected. Surprised, Langdon stopped short. Fache glanced over. â€Å"I gather, Mr. Langdon, you have never seen the Louvre after hours?† I guess not, Langdon thought, trying to get his bearings. Usually impeccably illuminated, the Louvre galleries were startlingly dark tonight. Instead of the customary flat-white light flowing down from above, a muted red glow seemed to emanate upward from the baseboards – intermittent patches of red light spilling out onto the tile floors. As Langdon gazed down the murky corridor, he realized he should have anticipated this scene. Virtually all major galleries employed red service lighting at night – strategically placed, low-level, noninvasive lights that enabled staff members to navigate hallways and yet kept the paintings inrelative darkness to slow the fading effects of overexposure to light. Tonight, the museum possessed an almost oppressive quality. Long shadows encroached everywhere, and the usually soaring vaulted ceilings appeared as a low, black void. â€Å"This way,† Fache said, turning sharply right and setting out through a series of interconnected galleries. Langdon followed, his vision slowly adjusting to the dark. All around, large-format oils began to materialize like photos developing before him in an enormous darkroom†¦ their eyes following as he moved through the rooms. He could taste the familiar tang of museum air – an arid, deionized essence that carried a faint hint of carbon – the product of industrial, coal-filter dehumidifiers that ran around the clock to counteract the corrosive carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors. Mounted high on the walls, the visible security cameras sent a clear message to visitors: We see you.Do not touch anything. â€Å"Any of them real?† Langdon asked, motioning to the cameras. Fache shook his head. â€Å"Of course not.† Langdon was not surprised. Video surveillance in museums this size was cost-prohibitive and ineffective. With acres of galleries to watch over, the Louvre would require several hundred technicians simply to monitor the feeds. Most large museums now used† containment security.† Forget keeping thieves out.Keep them in.Containment was activated after hours, and if an intruder removed a piece of artwork, compartmentalized exits would seal around that gallery, and the thief would find himself behind bars even before the police arrived. The sound of voices echoed down the marble corridor up ahead. The noise seemed to be coming from a large recessed alcove that lay ahead on the right. A bright light spilled out into the hallway. â€Å"Office of the curator,† the captain said. As he and Fache drew nearer the alcove, Langdon peered down a short hallway, into Sauniere's luxurious study – warm wood, Old Master paintings, and an enormous antique desk on which stood a two-foot-tall model of a knight in full armor. A handful of police agents bustled about the room, talking on phones and taking notes. One of them was seated at Sauniere's desk, typing into a laptop. Apparently, the curator's private office had become DCPJ's makeshift command post for the evening. â€Å"Messieurs,† Fache called out, and the men turned. â€Å"Ne nous derangez pas sous aucun pretexte. Entendu?† Everyone inside the office nodded their understanding. Langdon had hung enough NE PAS DERANGER signs on hotel room doors to catch the gist of the captain's orders. Fache and Langdon were not to be disturbed under any circumstances. Leaving the small congregation of agents behind, Fache led Langdon farther down the darkened hallway. Thirty yards ahead loomed the gateway to the Louvre's most popular section – la Grande Galerie – a seemingly endless corridor that housed the Louvre's most valuable Italian masterpieces. Langdon had already discerned that this was where Sauniere's body lay; the Grand Gallery's famous parquet floor had been unmistakable in the Polaroid. As they approached, Langdon saw the entrance was blocked by an enormous steel grate that looked like something used by medieval castles to keep out marauding armies. â€Å"Containment security,†Fache said, as they neared the grate. Even in the darkness, the barricade looked like it could have restrained a tank. Arriving outside, Langdon peered through the bars into the dimly lit caverns of the Grand Gallery. â€Å"After you, Mr. Langdon,† Fache said. Langdon turned. After me, where?Fache motioned toward the floor at the base of the grate. Langdon looked down. In the darkness, he hadn't noticed. The barricade was raised about two feet, providing an awkward clearance underneath. â€Å"This area is still off limits to Louvre security,† Fache said. â€Å"My team from Police Technique etScientifique has just finished their investigation.† He motioned to the opening. â€Å"Please slide under.† Langdon stared at the narrow crawl space at his feet and then up at the massive iron grate. He's kidding, right? The barricade looked like a guillotine waiting to crush intruders. Fache grumbled something in French and checked his watch. Then he dropped to his knees and slithered his bulky frame underneath the grate. On the other side, he stood up and looked back through the bars at Langdon. Langdon sighed. Placing his palms flat on the polished parquet, he lay on his stomach and pulled himself forward. As he slid underneath, the nape of his Harris tweed snagged on the bottom of the grate, and he cracked the back of his head on the iron. Very suave, Robert, he thought, fumbling and then finally pulling himself through. As he stood up, Langdon was beginning to suspect it was going to be a very long night. CHAPTER 5 Murray Hill Place – the new Opus Dei World Headquarters and conference center – is located at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City. With a price tag of just over $47 million, the 133, 000- square-foot tower is clad in red brick and Indiana limestone. Designed by May & Pinska, the building contains over one hundred bedrooms, six dining rooms, libraries, living rooms, meeting rooms, and offices. The second, eighth, and sixteenth floors contain chapels, ornamented with mill- work and marble. The seventeenth floor is entirely residential. Men enter the building through the main doors on Lexington Avenue. Women enter through a side street and are ‘acoustically and visually separated' from the men at all times within the building. Earlier this evening, within the sanctuary of his penthouse apartment, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa had packed a small travel bag and dressed in a traditional black cassock. Normally, he would have wrapped a purple cincture around his waist, but tonight he would be traveling among the public, and he preferred not to draw attention to his high office. Only those with a keen eye would notice his 14-karat gold bishop's ring with purple amethyst, large diamonds, and hand-tooled mitre-crozier applique. Throwing the travel bag over his shoulder, he said a silent prayer and left his apartment, descending to the lobby where his driver was waiting to take him to the airport. Now, sitting aboard a commercial airliner bound for Rome, Aringarosa gazed out the window at the dark Atlantic. The sun had already set, but Aringarosa knew his own star was on the rise. Tonight the battle will be won, he thought, amazed that only months ago he had felt powerless against the hands that threatened to destroy his empire. As president-general of Opus Dei, Bishop Aringarosa had spent the last decade of his life spreading the message of â€Å"God's Work† – literally, Opus Dei.The congregation, founded in 1928 by the Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva, promoted a return to conservative Catholic values and encouraged its members to make sweeping sacrifices in their own lives in order to do the Work of God. Opus Dei's traditionalist philosophy initially had taken root in Spain before Franco's regime, but with the 1934 publication of Josemaria Escriva's spiritual book The Way – 999 points of meditation for doing God's Work in one's own life – Escriva's message exploded across the world. Now, with over four million copies of The Way in circulation in forty-two languages, Opus Dei was a global force. Its residence halls, teaching centers, and even universities could be found in almost every major metropolis on earth. Opus Dei was the fastest-growing and most financially secure Catholic organization in the world. Unfortunately, Aringarosa had learned, in an age of religious cynicism, cults, and televangelists, Opus Dei's escalating wealth and power was a magnet for suspicion. â€Å"Many call Opus Dei a brainwashing cult,† reporters often challenged. â€Å"Others call you an ultraconservative Christian secret society. Which are you?† â€Å"Opus Dei is neither,† the bishop would patiently reply. â€Å"We are a Catholic Church. We are a congregation of Catholics who have chosen as our priority to follow Catholic doctrine as rigorously as we can in our own daily lives.† â€Å"Does God's Work necessarily include vows of chastity, tithing, and atonement for sins through self-flagellation and the cilice?† â€Å"You are describing only a small portion of the Opus Dei population,† Aringarosa said. â€Å"There are many levels of involvement. Thousands of Opus Dei members are married, have families, and do God's Work in their own communities. Others choose lives of asceticism within our cloistered residence halls. These choices are personal, but everyone in Opus Dei shares the goal of bettering the world by doing the Work of God. Surely this is an admirable quest.† Reason seldom worked, though. The media always gravitated toward scandal, and Opus Dei, like most large organizations, had within its membership a few misguided souls who cast a shadow over the entire group. Two months ago, an Opus Dei group at a mid-western university had been caught drugging new recruits with mescaline in an effort to induce a euphoric state that neophytes would perceive as a religious experience. Another university student had used his barbed cilice belt more often than the recommended two hours a day and had given himself a near lethal infection. In Boston not long ago, a disillusioned young investment banker had signed over his entire life savings to Opus Dei before attempting suicide. Misguided sheep, Aringarosa thought, his heart going out to them. Of course the ultimate embarrassment had been the widely publicized trial of FBI spy Robert Hanssen, who, in addition to being a prominent member of Opus Dei, had turned out to be a sexual deviant, his trial uncovering evidence that he had rigged hidden video cameras in his own bedroom so his friends could watch him having sex with his wife. â€Å"Hardly the pastime of a devout Catholic,† the judge had noted. Sadly, all of these events had helped spawn the new watch group known as the Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN). The group's popular website – www odan.org – relayed frightening stories from former Opus Dei members who warned of the dangers of joining. The media was now referring to Opus Dei as† God's Mafia† and† the Cult of Christ.† We fear what we do not understand, Aringarosa thought, wondering if these critics had any idea how many lives Opus Dei had enriched. The group enjoyed the full endorsement and blessing of the Vatican. Opus Dei is a personal prelature of the Pope himself. Recently, however, Opus Dei had found itself threatened by a force infinitely more powerful than the media†¦ an unexpected foe from which Aringarosa could not possibly hide. Five months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was still reeling from the blow. â€Å"They know not the war they have begun,† Aringarosa whispered to himself, staring out the plane's window at the darkness of the ocean below. For an instant, his eyes refocused, lingering on the reflection of his awkward face – dark and oblong, dominated by a flat, crooked nose that had been shattered by a fist in Spain when he was a young missionary. The physical flaw barely registered now. Aringarosa's was a world of the soul, not of the flesh. As the jet passed over the coast of Portugal, the cell phone in Aringarosa's cassock began vibrating in silent ring mode. Despite airline regulations prohibiting the use of cell phones during flights, Aringarosa knew this was a call he could not miss. Only one man possessed this number, the man who had mailed Aringarosa the phone. Excited, the bishop answered quietly. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Silas has located the keystone,† the caller said. â€Å"It is in Paris. Within the Church of Saint-Sulpice.† Bishop Aringarosa smiled. â€Å"Then we are close.† â€Å"We can obtain it immediately. But we need your influence.† â€Å"Of course. Tell me what to do.† When Aringarosa switched off the phone, his heart was pounding. He gazed once again into the void of night, feeling dwarfed by the events he had put into motion. Five hundred miles away, the albino named Silas stood over a small basin of water and dabbed the blood from his back, watching the patterns of red spinning in the water. Purge me with hyssop andI shall be clean, he prayed, quoting Psalms. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Silas was feeling an aroused anticipation that he had not felt since his previous life. It both surprised and electrified him. For the last decade, he had been following The Way, cleansing himself of sins†¦ rebuilding his life†¦ erasing the violence in his past. Tonight, however, it had all come rushing back. The hatred he had fought so hard to bury had been summoned. He had been startled how quickly his past had resurfaced. And with it, of course, had come his skills. Rusty but serviceable. Jesus' message is one of peace†¦of nonviolence†¦of love.This was the message Silas had been taught from the beginning, and the message he held in his heart. And yet this was the message the enemies of Christ now threatened to destroy. Those who threaten God with force will be met with force.Immovable and steadfast. For two millennia, Christian soldiers had defended their faith against those who tried to displace it. Tonight, Silas had been called to battle. Drying his wounds, he donned his ankle-length, hooded robe. It was plain, made of dark wool, accentuating the whiteness of his skin and hair. Tightening the rope-tie around his waist, he raised the hood over his head and allowed his red eyes to admire his reflection in the mirror. The wheels are in motion. CHAPTER 6 Having squeezed beneath the security gate, Robert Langdon now stood just inside the entrance to the Grand Gallery. He was staring into the mouth of a long, deep canyon. On either side of the gallery, stark walls rose thirty feet, evaporating into the darkness above. The reddish glow of the service lighting sifted upward, casting an unnatural smolder across a staggering collection of Da Vincis, Titians, and Caravaggios that hung suspended from ceiling cables. Still lifes, religious scenes, and landscapes accompanied portraits of nobility and politicians. Although the Grand Gallery housed the Louvre's most famous Italian art, many visitors felt the wing's most stunning offering was actually its famous parquet floor. Laid out in a dazzling geometric design of diagonal oak slats, the floor produced an ephemeral optical illusion – a multi- dimensional network that gave visitors the sense they were floating through the gallery on a surface that changed with every step. As Langdon's gaze began to trace the inlay, his eyes stopped short on an unexpected object lying on the floor just a few yards to his left, surrounded by police tape. He spun toward Fache. â€Å"Is that†¦ a Caravaggio on the floor?† Fache nodded without even looking. The painting, Langdon guessed, was worth upward of two million dollars, and yet it was lying on the floor like a discarded poster. â€Å"What the devil is it doing on the floor!† Fache glowered, clearly unmoved. â€Å"This is a crime scene, Mr. Langdon. We have touched nothing. That canvas was pulled from the wall by the curator. It was how he activated the security system.† Langdon looked back at the gate, trying to picture what had happened. â€Å"The curator was attacked in his office, fled into the Grand Gallery, and activated the security gate by pulling that painting from the wall. The gate fell immediately, sealing off all access. This is the only door in or out of this gallery.† Langdon felt confused. â€Å"So the curator actually captured his attacker inside the Grand Gallery?† Fache shook his head. â€Å"The security gate separated Sauniere from his attacker. The killer waslocked out there in the hallway and shot Sauniere through this gate.† Fache pointed toward anorange tag hanging from one of the bars on the gate under which they had just passed. â€Å"The PT Steam found flashback residue from a gun. He fired through the bars. Sauniere died in here alone.† Langdon pictured the photograph of Sauniere's body. They said he did that to himself.Langdon looked out at the enormous corridor before them. â€Å"So where is his body?† Fache straightened his cruciform tie clip and began to walk. â€Å"As you probably know, the Grand Gallery is quite long.† The exact length, if Langdon recalled correctly, was around fifteen hundred feet, the length of three Washington Monuments laid end to end. Equally breathtaking was the corridor's width, which easily could have accommodated a pair of side-by-side passenger trains. The center of the hallway was dotted by the occasional statue or colossal porcelain urn, which served as a tasteful divider and kept the flow of traffic moving down one wall and up the other. Fache was silent now, striding briskly up the right side of the corridor with his gaze dead ahead. Langdon felt almost disrespectful to be racing past so many masterpieces without pausing for so much as a glance. Not that I could see anything in this lighting, he thought. The muted crimson lighting unfortunately conjured memories of Langdon's last experience in noninvasive lighting in the Vatican Secret Archives. This was tonight's second unsettling parallel with his near-death in Rome. He flashed on Vittoria again. She had been absent from his dreams for months. Langdon could not believe Rome had been only a year ago; it felt like decades. Another life.His last correspondence from Vittoria had been in December – a postcard saying she was headed to the Java Sea to continue her research in entanglement physics†¦ something about using satellites to track manta ray migrations. Langdon had never harbored delusions that a woman like Vittoria Vetra could have been happy living with him on a college campus, but their encounter in Rome had unlocked in him a longing he never imagined he could feel. His lifelong affinity for bachelorhood and the simple freedoms it allowed had been shaken somehow†¦ replaced by an unexpected emptiness that seemed to have grown over the past year. They continued walking briskly, yet Langdon still saw no corpse. â€Å"Jacques Sauniere went this far?† â€Å"Mr. Sauniere suffered a bullet wound to his stomach. He died very slowly. Perhaps over fifteen or twenty minutes. He was obviously a man of great personal strength.† Langdon turned, appalled. â€Å"Security took fifteen minutes to get here?† â€Å"Of course not. Louvre security responded immediately to the alarm and found the Grand Gallery sealed. Through the gate, they could hear someone moving around at the far end of the corridor, but they could not see who it was. They shouted, but they got no answer. Assuming it could only be a criminal, they followed protocol and called in the Judicial Police. We took up positions within fifteen minutes. When we arrived, we raised the barricade enough to slip underneath, and I sent a dozen armed agents inside. They swept the length of the gallery to corner the intruder.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"They found no one inside. Except†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He pointed farther down the hall. â€Å"Him.† Langdon lifted his gaze and followed Fache's outstretched finger. At first he thought Fache was pointing to a large marble statue in the middle of the hallway. As they continued, though, Langdon began to see past the statue. Thirty yards down the hall, a single spotlight on a portable pole stand shone down on the floor, creating a stark island of white light in the dark crimson gallery. In the center of the light, like an insect under a microscope, the corpse of the curator lay naked on the parquet floor. â€Å"You saw the photograph,† Fache said,† so this should be of no surprise.† Langdon felt a deep chill as they approached the body. Before him was one of the strangest image she had ever seen. The pallid corpse of Jacques Sauniere lay on the parquet floor exactly as it appeared in the photograph. As Langdon stood over the body and squinted in the harsh light, he reminded himself to his amazement that Sauniere had spent his last minutes of life arranging his own body in this strange fashion. Sauniere looked remarkably fit for a man of his years†¦ and all of his musculature was in plain view. He had stripped off every shred of clothing, placed it neatly on the floor, and laid down on his back in the center of the wide corridor, perfectly aligned with the long axis of the room. His arms and legs were sprawled outward in a wide spread eagle, like those of a child making a snow angel†¦ or, perhaps more appropriately, like a man being drawn and quartered by some invisible force. Just below Sauniere's breastbone, a bloody smear marked the spot where the bullet had pierced his flesh. The wound had bled surprisingly little, leaving only a small pool of blackened blood. Sauniere's left index finger was also bloody, apparently having been dipped into the wound to create the most unsettling aspect of his own macabre deathbed; using his own blood as ink, and employing his own naked abdomen as a canvas, Sauniere had drawn a simple symbol on his flesh – five straight lines that intersected to form a five-pointed star. The pentacle. The bloody star, centered on Sauniere's navel, gave his corpse a distinctly ghoulish aura. The photo Langdon had seen was chilling enough, but now, witnessing the scene in person, Langdon felt a deepening uneasiness. He did this to himself. â€Å"Mr. Langdon?† Fache's dark eyes settled on him again. â€Å"It's a pentacle,† Langdon offered, his voice feeling hollow in the huge space. â€Å"One of the oldest symbols on earth. Used over four thousand years before Christ.† â€Å"And what does it mean?† Langdon always hesitated when he got this question. Telling someone what a symbol† meant† was like telling them how a song should make them feel – it was different for all people. A white Ku Klux Klan headpiece conjured images of hatred and racism in the United States, and yet the same costume carried a meaning of religious faith in Spain. â€Å"Symbols carry different meanings in different settings,† Langdon said. â€Å"Primarily, the pentacle is a pagan religious symbol.† Fache nodded. â€Å"Devil worship.† â€Å"No,† Langdon corrected, immediately realizing his choice of vocabulary should have been clearer. Nowadays, the term pagan had become almost synonymous with devil worship – a gross misconception. The word's roots actually reached back to the Latin paganus, meaning country-dwellers. â€Å"Pagans† were literally unindoctrinated country-folk who clung to the old, rural religions of Nature worship. In fact, so strong was the Church's fear of those who lived in the rural villes that the once innocuous word for† villager† – villain – came to mean a wicked soul. â€Å"The pentacle,† Langdon clarified,† is a pre-Christian symbol that relates to Nature worship. The ancients envisioned their world in two halves – masculine and feminine. Their gods and goddesses worked to keep a balance of power. Yin and yang. When male and female were balanced, there was harmony in the world. When they were unbalanced, there was chaos.† Langdon motioned to Sauniere's stomach. â€Å"This pentacle is representative of the female half of all things – a concept religious historians call the ‘sacred feminine' or the ‘divine goddess. ‘ Sauniere, of all people, would know this.† â€Å"Sauniere drew a goddess symbol on his stomach?† Langdon had to admit, it seemed odd. â€Å"In its most specific interpretation, the pentacle symbolizes Venus – the goddess of female sexual love and beauty.† Fache eyed the naked man, and grunted. â€Å"Early religion was based on the divine order of Nature. The goddess Venus and the planet Venus were one and the same. The goddess had a place in the nighttime sky and was known by many names – Venus, the Eastern Star, Ishtar, Astarte – all of them powerful female concepts with ties to Nature and Mother Earth.† Fache looked more troubled now, as if he somehow preferred the idea of devil worship. Langdon decided not to share the pentacle's most astonishing property – the graphic origin of its ties to Venus. As a young astronomy student, Langdon had been stunned to learn the planet Venus traced a perfect pentacle across the ecliptic sky every four years. So astonished were the ancients to observe this phenomenon, that Venus and her pentacle became symbols of perfection, beauty, and the cyclic qualities of sexual love. As a tribute to the magic of Venus, the Greeks used her four-year cycle to organize their Olympiads. Nowadays, few people realized that the four-year schedule of modern Olympic Games still followed the cycles of Venus. Even fewer people knew that the five-pointed star had almost become the official Olympic seal but was modified at the last moment – its five points exchanged for five intersecting rings to better reflect the games' spirit of inclusion and harmony. â€Å"Mr. Langdon,† Fache said abruptly. â€Å"Obviously, the pentacle must also relate to the devil. Your American horror movies make that point clearly.† Langdon frowned. Thank you, Hollywood.The five-pointed star was now a virtual cliche in Satanic serial killer movies, usually scrawled on the wall of some Satanist's apartment along with other alleged demonic symbology. Langdon was always frustrated when he saw the symbol in this context; the pentacle's true origins were actually quite godly. â€Å"I assure you,† Langdon said,† despite what you see in the movies, the pentacle's demonic interpretation is historically inaccurate. The original feminine meaning is correct, but the symbolism of the pentacle has been distorted over the millennia. In this case, through bloodshed.† â€Å"I'm not sure I follow.† Langdon glanced at Fache's crucifix, uncertain how to phrase his next point. â€Å"The Church, sir. Symbols are very resilient, but the pentacle was altered by the early Roman Catholic Church. As part of the Vatican's campaign to eradicate pagan religions and convert the masses to Christianity, the Church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and goddesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil.† â€Å"Go on.† â€Å"This is very common in times of turmoil,† Langdon continued. â€Å"A newly emerging power will take over the existing symbols and degrade them over time in an attempt to erase their meaning. In the battle between the pagan symbols and Christian symbols, the pagans lost; Poseidon's trident became the devil's pitchfork, the wise crone's pointed hat became the symbol of a witch, and Venus's pentacle became a sign of the devil.† Langdon paused. â€Å"Unfortunately, the United States military has also perverted the pentacle; it's now our foremost symbol of war. We paint it on all our fighter jets and hang it on the shoulders of all our generals.† So much for the goddess of love and beauty. â€Å"Interesting.† Fache nodded toward the spread-eagle corpse. â€Å"And the positioning of the body? What do you make of that?† Langdon shrugged. â€Å"The position simply reinforces the reference to the pentacle and sacred feminine.† Fache's expression clouded. â€Å"I beg your pardon?† â€Å"Replication. Repeating a symbol is the simplest way to strengthen its meaning. Jacques Sauniere positioned himself in the shape of a five-pointed star.† If one pentacle is good, two is better. Fache's eyes followed the five points of Sauniere's arms, legs, and head as he again ran a hand across his slick hair. â€Å"Interesting analysis.† He paused. â€Å"And the nudity?† He grumbled as he spoke the word, sounding repulsed by the sight of an aging male body. â€Å"Why did he remove his clothing?† Damned good question, Langdon thought. He'd been wondering the same thing ever since he first saw the Polaroid. His best guess was that a naked human form was yet another endorsement of Venus – the goddess of human sexuality. Although modern culture had erased much of Venus's association with the male/female physical union, a sharp etymological eye could still spot a vestige of Venus's original meaning in the word† venereal.† Langdon decided not to go there. â€Å"Mr. Fache, I obviously can't tell you why Mr. Sauniere drew that symbol on himself or placed himself in this way, but I can tell you that a man like Jacques Sauniere would consider the pentacle a sign of the female deity. The correlation between this symbol and the sacred feminine is widely known by art historians and symbologists.† â€Å"Fine. And the use of his own blood as ink?† â€Å"Obviously he had nothing else to write with.† Fache was silent a moment. â€Å"Actually, I believe he used blood such that the police would follow certain forensic procedures.† â€Å"I'm sorry?† â€Å"Look at his left hand.† Langdon's eyes traced the length of the curator's pale arm to his left hand but saw nothing. Uncertain, he circled the corpse and crouched down, now noting with surprise that the curator was clutching a large, felt-tipped marker. â€Å"Sauniere was holding it when we found him,† Fache said, leaving Langdon and moving several yards to a portable table covered with investigation tools, cables, and assorted electronic gear. â€Å"As I told you,† he said, rummaging around the table,† we have touched nothing. Are you familiar with this kind of pen?† Langdon knelt down farther to see the pen's label. STYLO DE LUMIERE NOIRE. He glanced up in surprise. The black-light pen or watermark stylus was a specialized felt-tipped marker originally designed by museums, restorers, and forgery police to place invisible marks on items. The stylus wrote in a noncorrosive, alcohol-based fluorescent ink that was visible only under black light. Nowadays, museum maintenance staffs carried these markers on their daily rounds to place invisible† tick marks† on the frames of paintings that needed restoration. As Langdon stood up, Fache walked over to the spotlight and turned it off. The gallery plunged into sudden darkness. Momentarily blinded, Langdon felt a rising uncertainty. Fache's silhouette appeared, illuminated in bright purple. He approached carrying a portable light source, which shrouded him in a violet haze. â€Å"As you may know,† Fache said, his eyes luminescing in the violet glow,† police use black-light illumination to search crime scenes for blood and other forensic evidence. So you can imagine our surprise†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Abruptly, he pointed the light down at the corpse. Langdon looked down and jumped back in shock. His heart pounded as he took in the bizarre sight now glowing before him on the parquet floor. Scrawled in luminescent handwriting, the curator's final words glowed purple beside his corpse. As Langdon stared at the shimmering text, he felt the fog that had surrounded this entire night growing thicker. Langdon read the message again and looked up at Fache. â€Å"What the hell does this mean!† Fache's eyes shone white. â€Å"That, monsieur, is precisely the question you are here to answer.† Not far away, inside Sauniere's office, Lieutenant Collet had returned to the Louvre and was huddled over an audio console set up on the curator's enormous desk. With the exception of the eerie, robot-like doll of a medieval knight that seemed to be staring at him from the corner of Sauniere's desk, Collet was comfortable. He adjusted his AKG headphones and checked the input levels on the hard-disk recording system. All systems were go. The microphones were functioning flawlessly, and the audio feed was crystal clear. Le moment de verite, he mused. Smiling, he closed his eyes and settled in to enjoy the rest of the conversation now being taped inside the Grand Gallery.