Effect of Organisational Support on Job Satisfaction

Effect of Organisational Support on Job Satisfaction Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this research is to test the effect of Perceived Organisational Support on Job satisfaction and to determine the effect of mediation of Trust on Job Satisfaction in the two different sectors of employment- Public and Private. Here Sector of Employment acts as a moderator and Job Trust as the mediator. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was prepared and administered to 182 employees working in the public and the private sector in different industries like Banking, Mining, Power Generation and Information Technology. Findings: The research has established positive relationships between the three constructs of perceived organizational support, job satisfaction and job trust for the overall model and public sector employees, whereas these relations are not significant in case of private sector employees. The mediation effect of Trust is significant at 10% for the overall model sans separately in the private and public sector. Research limitations/implications: The respondents have varied profiles in terms of age/ years of experience, seniority level and the industries that they work in. These results may not be generalizable to all employees in other organisations in different industries and geographic areas. Also, a large percentage of responses have been collected through the internet which is not an entirely accurate and reliable form of data collection. Practical implications: The research findings are expected to help the existing organizations in the public and private sector to figure out reasons for decreasing job satisfaction of the employees and devise ways to improve the perception of organizational support. Originality/value: This paper studies the difference in the relationships exhibited between Perceived organisational support, job trust and job satisfaction in the private and public sector in the Indian context. This is one of the first attempts towards studying the employment sectors on a comparative basis. Keywords: Perceived Organisational Support, Job Trust, Job Satisfaction, Public Sector, Private Sector Introduction: Job Satisfaction is a measure of how content an individual is with his job. Quite a few models have been developed in order to explain causes and effects of job satisfaction, for example, affect theory, dispositional theory, two factor theory and the job characteristics model. For years researchers have been trying to establish relationship among various parameters affecting the job satisfaction, job commitment, job dedication and job performance of the employees in the organizations. This is particularly important for organizations in order to improve working conditions, figure out the motivating factors and thus increase employee productivity by creating a healthy work environment. Job Satisfaction is an indicator of employee perceptions and feelings about their jobs. It can also predict work behaviours like organisational citizenship,absenteeismandturnover.Another important and relevant research finding is the relationship between life satisfaction and job satisfaction which is fo und to be reciprocal. It means that a person who is satisfied with his job may be quite satisfied with his life and vice versa. Job satisfaction is believed to positively affect the productivity of the employee which is vital to business units that are aiming to increase outputs. Perceived organizational support is usually thought to be a dynamic relationship between the employer and his employees. According to Rhoades and Eisenberger(2002) the stakeholders share a reciprocal relationship where higher POS is related with sincere efforts put in by the employee to achieve organizational goals. Research findings suggest that professional employees were more likely to perceive higher organizational support when they strongly identified with their workplace and a positive correlation was observed between job performance and POS (Heckman et al., 2009). Our research aims at analyzing the relationship between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction. Trust acts as a mediator in our model. Perceived organizational support is the degree to which employees believe that their organization values their contributions and cares about their well being. Trust is to believe the person who you trust to do what you expect and job satisfaction describes how content a n individual is with his or her job. This research attempts to study and establish relationships between the constructs for the public and private sector employees in India. There are various standard scales available to measure each of these parameters. In this study we have mostly used the shortened version of the scales. Research background and Hypothesis Perceived Organizational Support: The concept of organizational support has generated enough interest in order to study its impact on performance of the employees. The perception an employee develops about his/her organization valuing his contributions and caring about his interests and well being is termed as Perceived Organizational Support (POS)(Eisenberger and Rhoades,2002). A meta-analysis has indicated that three major categories of expectations that an employee has from his work organization are associated with POS. They are evenhandedness of procedures, support of the immediate superior and performance related rewards and favorable job conditions. Taking into account the employers expectations from their employees, they value dedication and loyalty. Emotion centric view of organizational commitment underlines that the sense of unity felt by the employee and the values that he shares with the organization determine the performance and absenteeism levels, probability of quitting his job (Mathieu Zajac, 1990;Me yer Allen, 1997; Mowday, Porter, Steers, 1982). Social Exchange theorists state that employment is a give and take relationship of dedication and loyalty for tangible rewards and social benefits (e.g., Bateman Organ, 1983; Brief Motowidlo, 1986). The antecedents of POS and its outcomes are explained by the organisational support theory which (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, Sowa, 1986). This theory assumes that to determine organisations readiness to reward employee efforts and meet their socio emotional needs, employee forms general beliefs about the concern shown and expected in future by his organisation towards him. POS is also considered an assurance of the assistance that will be available to the employee in times of distress (cf. George, Reed, Ballard, Colin, Fielding, 1993). Actions taken by the agents of the organisation are representative of its intent and are not personal motives. The personification of the organisation is supported by its moral and legal respon sibilities, culture, norms and policies. Employees form perceptions based on the above indicators about the support they get from their work organisation (Levinson, 1965). This theory also states that POS should develop some kind of an obligation in the employee to perform for the organisation and help reach its objectives. The role discernment of employees is assumed to depend on the activities that the organisation sees as necessary for successful job performance (Porter Lawler, 1968). Performance is expected to increase with higher efforts put in by the employee and the perception that such fruitful efforts will be rewarded (Campbell, Dunnette, Lawler, Weick, 1970; Katz, 1964). Job Trust Trust is one of the most important fundamentals on which an employer-employee relationship is based. This relationship goes a long way in instilling confidence and destructing fear by creating a work environment free of worry and suspicion (Zeffane et.al, 2003). Trust has also been suggested to be a psychological state according to which it is measured on the basis of perceived vulnerability or risk due to the uncertainty involved (Kramer, 1999). In our research work we are concerned with the trust within the organization i.e. the extent of trust the employees have in the organization they work for, basically between employees and managers or supervisors. Thus in an organizational context trust is based on the social exchange theory mainly (Whitener et al., 1998), which explains trust to be an outcome of exchange of benefits between the two parties involved. The underlying concept involved here is â€Å"reciprocity†, which establishes the fact that investment in the employees in an organization in terms of recognition, empowerment, justice, support and other favours will always be returned and not go waste (Gouldner, 1960). According the research done by Prusak and Cohen (2001), it is possible for managers to develop an environment of trust in the organization by encouraging mutual trust, and support. This in turn increases the level of perceived faith in the organization by the employees. It has also been argued that this trust (McAllister, 1995) is the key to organizational trust and control. It leads to increased level of employee participation which involves decision making power in the hands of the subordinates which would inevitably lead to increase in mistakes. Thus, by delegating this power to the subordinates the organization increases the risk factor but at the same time, since this delegation needs a bond of trust (Yukl, 1994), gives a clear indication that organization believes in its employees and thus the individual perceives this organizational trust and in turn contributes effectively and positively towards the organization. It is also true that each individual perceives the level of trust differently. So, it is futile to hold common assumptions across all work relationships and thus context based analysis is required. The trust levels also vary on the basis of who is participating in the relationship i.e. at what level of the organization (Graham et al., 2006). Thus, this trust e xisting in an organization determines to a large extent an organizations culture and work dynamics, by influencing factors like organizational structure, job satisfaction and commitment (Zaffane et. al, 2003). Hence, we have taken this as one of the constructs (as a mediator) in our analysis of the relationship between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction was attributed to greatest possible earnings with the least amount of work done (Taylor, 1970). This controversial theory encouraged a number of other studies to prove the significance of other factors in determining job satisfaction. These factors were identified as communication apprehension, perceptions of immediate supervisors and employee esteem (Falcione, 1977). Also, job satisfaction was determined to be influenced by the returns or rewards expected by the individual and the extent to which she was able to achieve them in the job. (Jorgensen, 1973). Employee perceptions were considered more important in determining job satisfaction than physical evidences like pay (Brayfield et al., 1951). The short form version of Brayfield and Rothes scale was developed to measure employee perceptions about their job and organization (Algho et al., 1992). A lot of research has been targeted at job satisfaction and the turnover rates in the organizations or the employees inte ntion to quit. (Spector et al., 1997). In this regard, job satisfaction was proved to be related to job identification. Both of them were determined to be organizational anchors and were used to predict the turnover within organizations (De Moura et al., 2009). A precedent to job satisfaction was identified as job insecurity (Reisel et al., 2010) and an antecedent was found to be role conscientiousness and performance of extra-role tasks (Nathan et al.). Job satisfaction has often been positively linked to training and development opportunities in the organization. A significant positive relationship was observed between employer provided training satisfaction and overall job satisfaction of employees. Satisfaction with training and development significantly affects career decisions and is a valued factor among employees, thus significantly impacting job satisfaction (Schmidt, 2007). Also, job satisfaction was conceptually established as a mediator between perceived organizational s upport and job commitment. Empirically, a positive relationship was established between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction (Chiu et al., 2010). In a recent study on job satisfaction, a total of nine factors grouped under four headings were considered as precedents of job satisfaction. The four headings included organizational change, organizational support, job characteristics and managerial role. It was empirically proved that decentralization, informal communication, support from supervisor, participative organizational culture, autonomy and empowerment of employees and the type of role in the organization significantly influenced the job satisfaction of employees (Lee et al., 2008). The role of supervisory or immediate boss support was determined to be significant. As per the study, supervisors were perceived as the representatives of the organization by employees and are responsible for acting as the interface between organization and employees. Thus, they nat urally build a relationship with employees. Quality of this relationship was the significant determinant of employee perceptions and job satisfaction (Ladebo, 2008). The use of information systems in the organization has been observed to have a positive impact on employee job satisfaction. In the evolving workplaces of present, the ability to work flexibly and efficiently is observed to have a major impact on the technologically advanced employees. Thus, the installation of an efficient Information System, which provided easy access to information was observed to increase the job satisfaction scores significantly (Chen et al, 2008). The relationship between POS and Job Satisfaction POS is related to, yet different form the constructs like job satisfaction. POS is determined to have a strong influence on employee reactions to their jobs on various dimensions, including job satisfaction, job involvement and job commitment (Rhoades, 2002). As per the norms of reciprocity, an employee would react positively to good treatment from the supervisor or immediate boss. As the immediate boss is the direct representative of the organisation, a fair treatment from him would be seen to be organisational support and would encourage employees to go beyond their normal call of duty to reciprocate the good treatment (Rousseau, 1989). POS is defined as the perception which employees have of how much the organization values them, their contributions or cares about them. High POS would meet psychological needs of employees, e.g. approval, esteem and social identity needs. It would also motivate the employees by raising the expectations of rewards on above average or above expected performance (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Percieved organisational support has a positive relationship with psychological well being which is defined in terms of job satisfaction and life satisfaction. This relationship is mediated by effective commitment (Meyer et al., 2002). POS is most often observed to be positively related with organizational commitment (Shore et al., 1991). However, POS is still distinct from organisational commitment because while POS measures the extent to which organisation cares about its employees as per their perceptions, organisational commitment measures the extent to which employees see themselves as being committed to the organisation and thus satisfied (Shore et al., 1993) Without POS, employees may be unhappy with the tasks associated with their jobs and may be dissatisfied. POS is affected by the various aspects of an organizations treatment of its employees (Tansky et al., 2001). Organizational support is measured in terms of customized training op portunities and options of flexible working hours. Career satisfaction acts as a mediating variable for relationship between perceived organizational support and employees intentions to continue in the organization (Armstrong et al., 2009). Training and mentoring before special assignments has been seen to be a strong indicator of organisational support. These initiatives give a sense of security to employees and reassure them and organization will help them meet challenges. Thus, they identify more with the job and do it more efficiently (Cuplan, 2002). Many senior women managers have complained of the managements failure to recognise their talent and lack of support and advancement opportunities within the organisation. Women form only a tiny fraction of males in senior positions (Wellington et al., 2003). Such perceptions often lead to quitting the job, which is a significant indicator of reduced job satisfaction at negative perception of organisation justice (Jawahar et al., 2008). Both POS and JS are observed to be having significant relationship with organisation commitment, which shows the presence of a correlation between these variables. Organisational identification is seen to have a strong positive effect on outcome variables like job satisfaction (Abrams et al., 2001). Organisational support however indicates how well organisation takes care of the OID for their employees. POS theory suggests that if organisation takes good care of employees, they will develop a stronger attachment to the organisation (Rhoades et al., 200 1), hence being more satisfied and committed (Rhoades et al., 2002). Based on the above discussion, hypothesis H1 is proposed: H1. Perceived Organizational Support (POS) has a significant positive influence on Job Satisfaction (JS) The relationship between Job Trust and Job Satisfaction: Theoretically it seems quite obvious that job trust leads to job satisfaction in employees. Measuring the job trust implies probing into how the individual views the organization and also the bond he has with the organization (Perry et al., 2007). Many researchers have reported a positive relationship between job satisfaction and job trust. According to a research analysis aimed at studying the antecedents and outcomes of trust (Derks et.al 2002) found job satisfaction and job commitment as the major consequences. The level of trust existing in an organization determines to a large extent an organizations culture and work dynamics, by influencing factors like organizational structure, job satisfaction and commitment (Zaffane et. al, 2003). Thus, by building a high trust relationship with the subordinates, managers can increase organizational effectiveness through improved levels of job satisfaction. But once this trust is broken, it leads to a never ending cycle of mistrust and conse quently an organizational environment, where employees are distressed, insecure and unsatisfied (Zaffane et. al, 2003). And since job satisfaction and job commitment are strongly related to trust, job commitment being the antecedent of job satisfaction (Mowday et.al 1974), such a situation is really alarming for organizations. The job trust is mostly perceived as the trust between the employees and their managers or the superiors. It has been further proven that if the employees show trust in their superiors then the superiors have greater influence on them (Goris et al. 2003). The reason being the superiors are responsible for many duties which shape the career of their subordinates like performance evaluations, guidance in terms of job responsibilities and training. Thus if the trust on the basis of such parameters in a manager increases then as a result job satisfaction also increases (Dirks et al. 2001). Also, this increased level of trust encourages cooperation, reduction in conflicts and thus improved job satisfaction. Hence the Hypothesis H2: There exists a positive relationship between Job Trust and Job Satisfaction The relationship between POS and Job Trust Many studies have been conducted on measuring the levels of job trust (Dietz and Den Hartog, 2006) and POS in organisations. Trust between two entities is stated as the readiness of one (Trustor) to be susceptible to the actions of the other (Trustee). This readiness of the trustor is basically his expectation that the one he trusts will act in his favour irrespective of exercising control and supervision (Mayer et al., 1995). Job Trust is considered of high importance in todays organisations because it has been empirically established that when trust levels are high, organisation commitment is high (Brockner et al., 1997). As per the definition of trust used above lack of trust means a higher need of monitoring (Handy, 1995) and increased trust levels suggests lower need for supervision (Bradach and Eccles, 1989; Ouchi, 1979). POS as defined above is believed to affect Job Trust though there is not enough empirical evidence available. There is enough research available on the antece dents of POS and its outcomes but none talks about the Job Trust with specific mention. POS is has its theoretical roots in the social exchange relationship (Allen and Brady, 1997), in which the employee is obliged to reciprocate to the organisation like he feels about it (Eisenberger et al., 2001). If employees believe that their organisation or for that matter immediate superior is truly interested in their well being then trust will develop (Doney et al., 1998). Researches indicate that increased perception of organisational support results in increased efforts jointly put in by the employees to achieve the organisations objectives (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Research conducted by Cook and Wall(1980) noted that there is a positive correlation between trust and involvement with the work organisation. Similarly studies reveal a positive relationship between POS, affective attachment and expectations of performance related rewards (Eisenberger et al., 1990). According to a research conducted by Florence et al., (2006), the relationship between procedural justice and tru st is partially mediated by POS. Also trust has been found to mediate the relationship between procedural justice and organisational citizenship behaviour (Konovsky and Pugh, 1994), POS is also a mediator of the link between the above two (Moorman et al., 1998). Thus we can expect a possible linkage between trust and POS. Hence the Hypothesis H3: There exists a positive relationship between POS and Job Trust Employment sectors moderating role on the model In this research we have taken into account the moderating effect of the dichotomous moderator: the employment sector of the respondent i.e. public and private sector. The definition of employment sector in the Indian context refers to the government owned and operated organisations which come under public sector and privately owned entities which are termed the private sector organisations. Employee job satisfaction has been studied extensively on various occasions but a research aiming to bring out differences in the levels of observed POS, Trust and Job Satisfaction and the relationships between them in Public and Private sector have not been studied in depth. Since the work culture of these two sectors are very different and so are the job factors. The work environment in the private sector is more competitive, open and result-oriented while in public sector its conservative, less open to new ideas and generally plunged by stagnation in the long run. So, we aim to analyze the var iables of POS, trust and job satisfaction in these two sectors and try to find the differences in perception due to the way the system works. 0.322* 0.553* 0.253* 0.184/ 0.441* 0.439*/ 0.642* 0.096/ 0.412* In the above figure Number 1/ Number 2: Standard beta coefficient of Public sector/ Standard Beta Coefficient of Private sector Methods Sample In all 183 respondents employed in managerial capacity in public and private sector establishments in India were administered this survey asking their perceptions about the job, organisational support and satisfaction. The questionnaires were electronically mailed to the target group which constituted equal number of respondents from both sectors and a wide arena of industries like banking, information technology, power generation etc. Measures Unless otherwise stated all the following constructs have been measured by Likert scales with responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Perceived Organisational Support: Employees perception of organisational support has been measured using an 8 item and a 5 point scale developed by Eisenberger (2001). A sample item is, My organization strongly considers my goals and values. Job trust: Trust that the employee has in his or her organization has been measured using a 7 item and a 5 point scale developed by Tyler (2003). A sample item is In my organization, my views are considered when decisions are made. Job Satisfaction: The contentment that the employee derives from the nature of his job is measured by a 7 item and 7 point scale developed by Brayfield and Rothe (1951). A sample item is . I feel fairly satisfied with my present job. Limitations and Conclusion One of the limitations of this research proposal is the diversity in the years of experience of the respondents. Public sector employees who were administered this survey had a higher average years of experience while the private sector employees were new entrants into employments. The difference in expectations and parameters on which their perceptions are based may have affected the results of the research. Second, the respondents in the public and the private sector work in entirely different industries. For example, the respondents from the public sector undertakings are mainly from the banking and power generation sector whereas private sector respondents belong to information technology, consultancies etc. Direct comparison of public and private sector employees working in the same industry has not been brought out clearly. Third, the method of data collection through the internet is not entirely accurate and reliable. References Allen, M.W. and Brady, R.M. 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Employee Resistance to Change: Dissertation

Employee Resistance to Change: Dissertation Chapter 1- Introduction Change comes from anywhere, and is the only constant. Propelled by the driving force of technology and globalization, the economic landscape continuously transform in a way that has come to undermine the relevance of received wisdom on how a firm should be managed and what underlies its success (Gregory Prastacos, et al., 2002). In this new millennium, it is more challenging for an organization to sustain its competency or even survive in the diversity market. When an organization is threatened by environmental changes such as crisis or competition, it results in the increasing needs for communication as technology develops rapidly and higher customer demands will be foreseen. Organizational change is not an option; it constitutes a fundamental necessity for success within the new competitive landscape (Hamel and Prahalad, 1996). An organization need to evaluate its performance and review its business strategies, corporate structure, operational process and HR policies to identify th e areas that need transformation. To maintain its competitive advantages,ÂÂ  an organization must make effort to implement changes accordingly. Usually changes to be made in an organization is for the seeking of extending the ability of the organization to achieve the strategic goals but sometime changes do not necessarily contribute to the improvement of the organization (Stroh, 2001). The expected result of the change might vary due to other unexpected factors, such as resistance to change. Resistance is a phenomenon that affects the change process, delaying or slowing down its beginning, obstructing or hindering its implementation, and increasing its costs (Ansoff, 1990). Effect of resistance of changes in organization will cause distorted perception, interpretation barriers and vague strategic priorities, low motivation among the people and lack of creative response (Val, 2003). It is crucial for change initiators to deal with resistance for a successful change. Forasmuch as employees are the one who get the job done, and they the one who possess the knowledge, skills, tools and experiences, it is clear that organizational changes cannot be achieved without employees support and involvement. Employee acceptance and commitment are the key factors for successful changes. Effective change management should recognize the importance of its employees and the way to minimize the resistant from employees. Therefore, understand why it is caused, the forms of resistance and the factors determine employees reactions to change is significant. 1.1 Research Objective This research will study on the factors of resistance to change from employees prospective. The aim of this research is to review the factor and find out the correlates among the factors. By better understanding these which a shift in perception could occur, the paper hope to develop a framework to change initiators of how certain group of employees is the likely to react and behave to change that being unleashed by the value and perception, this knowledge will enable change initiators to design change plan and training programs which recognize the values of employees, and to interact with diverse others in order to optimize the expected change affect. The research attempt to explore the followings areas as a systematic way to rationalize the value of this project study: To identify the natural of employee resistance to change. To identify the symptoms of employee resistance to change. To identify the reasons of employee resistance to change To determine the various factors to effect employees resistance to changes. To evaluate the effect of these factors on organizations future development. 1.2 Chapter Summary Chapter 1 of Introduction has provided a background of the circumstances that force organization to change, and examined the inevitable resistance can undermined organizational change. By identifying the importance of employee in the organizational change, research objectives were generated to study on the resistance of change from employees perspectives and listed done the areas of the study to be explored on. The research was planned in a systematic way to rationalize the value of this project. Next chapter of this project will touch on a review of current literatures on the natural, symptoms and the reasons of employee resistance to change and factors affect employee resistance, followed by the research methodology, samples and limitation of the research. The subsequent chapter will be the questionnaire data analysis presentation and lastly the paper will conclude the findings and its implications for change initiators. The aim of this research is to review the factors that affect employee resistance and evaluate it thought the target samples. Chapter 2- Literature Review 2.1 Employee Resistance to Change 2.1.1 The nature Organizations can be confronted with incremental changes that focus on doing things better through a process of continuous tinkering, adaptation and modification or transformational changes that are regarded as revolutionary and break with the past.(John Hayes, 2010) Although the incremental changes rarely presented any abrupt challenges to the assumptions people make about how they related to the world (John Hayes, 2010), this is not always that case. People are not duplicate, the values, beliefs, assumption and knowledge of that person will be developed over the time, formed as a set of personal opinion, perceptions, views of the world to guide their behaviors (Hallie Preskill and Rosalie Torres, 1999). It is concerned with whether employees regards view change can bring present or future personal benefit and opportunities or change is a threat to their job, skills or any other interests. The implementation of changes inevitably involves the vital interests of various shareholders, and especially employees.Resistance occurs since most employees desire to be successful in their work environments due to they have basic needs which must be satisfied. To begin with, employees want to know their role and their responsibilities within the organization. In additional, employees want to be able to predict what they will face in the future (Appelbaum, S.H. et al, 1998). Even though old procedures that were initially regarded as cumbersome, costly or ineffective, after a prolonged recursive execution, employees become comfortable and are used to the ways things were done. Employee might fear in a changing organization, therefore change are frequently be seen as a threat to ones existence within an organization if upgrading or acquiring new skills are a problem because of time constraints , or the inability of the person to learn these new techniques. Change within an organizational setting usually poses several problems and challenged by the pressure in aspect of money , ego, and power for those who resist it. Employees resist change because they have learned to associate it negative feelings since their basic needs may now be threatened (Mealiea, 1978). Thus it is human nature that employees look at Change negatively, resistance thereby coming into play. 2.1.2 The symptoms Resistance, described by Kilian M. Bennebroek Gravenhorst (2003) is commonly considered to be standard or even natural in reaction to organizational change. It is described as an most inevitable psychological and organizational response that seems to apply to any kind of change, ranging from rather modest improvement to far-reaching change and organizational transformation. Symptoms are the specific behaviors exhibited when employee resistance to change (Albert F. Bolognese, 2002) According to Bhutan (1995), it is important to distinguish between the symptoms of resistance to change and the causes behind them. Symptoms can be reflected in varies of forms, which Marc Maltz (2008) categorized it into the two varieties: overt and covert. Overt resistance is concern with obvious opposition, disagreement, arguing, debating, etc., to any change effort. While, covert resistance comes in two forms: one is conscious covert which employees are concerned about the consequences of their actions that they apparently agreed but actually not following though or withhold information and avoid implementation. Secondly is the unconscious covert resistance, which is the most difficult to see symptoms among employees as employees are unaware their resistance. 2.1.3 The Reasons There are many causes attribute to employees resistance to change, such as Coch French (1948), studied the workers of a clothing manufacturer and find that lower employee participitation causing the mistrust of management and increase their resistance to change. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) identify four common reasons why people resist organizational change: people focus on their own interest and fear of losing something of value, it can be power and status, autonomy and control, or specific skills; Misunderstanding the change will cost them more than they will gain and lack of trust to the person who initiating change; Different assessment of the necessity and benefit of change situations; Low tolerance for change, sometimes people just resist to change emotionally even they understand the need for change. Several studies have acknowledged what Kotter and Schlesingers publication and enhance these categories with further researches, according to Prosci- A business process reengin eering directory and resource companys study (2003) in past six years in 288 organizations from 51 countries, result shows the top reasons employee resist to change is because of corporate history and culture, which the organizations past performance of change project failed or did not make much sense, employees are less interested to take initiatives to support the current change, they are not in the flavor the month , thus employee expected it go away like what happened in the past. Lorenzo (2000) also acknowledge that one attribute to employees resistance is that past failures leaves negative image for future changes. Another reason added on in Prosci (2003)s research is that employee often opposes to change because of the added job responsibilities, new processes or technologies. Changes with lower motivation to get employees involved and less consideration of employees interest and their emotional and perceptual perspectives thereby eliminate their initiatives and level of comm itment. Pardo Del Val, Manuela and Martinez Fuentes, Clara (2005) conclude above sources to employees resistance are most likely happen in change formulation stage, they further identify some reason rise resistance that consist of: (a) organizational values in relation to change values that cause a strong implementation climate to determine whether employee to accept or oppose to change; (b) departmental politics that form employees resistance. 2.2 Factors affect employees resistance to change Literatures have identified variety of factors affect employee resistance to change, the most cited views of the factors fall on the organizational level, for instance the communication process, employee participation, change facilitation procedures in change process (Ricky Griffin ,2008) to improve organizational effectiveness. Moreover, employee motivation (David Clarence and McClelland, 1987) and quality of leadership (Ken W. Parry, 1999) have been widely acknowledged to have influence on employees work initiatives, involvement and commitment, so that it can argues to be a significant factor to affect employees willingness to change. Above factors virtually are the ways to deal with the subtext of organizational humanity on the stage of change process. However, one must understand the root factors played to affect employees perception towards organizational change. Fail to understand the intrinsic factors govern employees values and beliefs guided behavior in the context of the way they were doing and expected in the future, and all the necessities organization attempt or should to do to implement and facilitate change is crucial. Therefore, the research will mainly explore on the personal factors played to affect employee resistance to change including age, gender, personality traits (Locus of control) and employee educational level as follows: 2.2.1Age Baby Boomers refer to people who are born between 1945-1964. This generation grew up in an era of unprecedented economic growth and stability, so as to be regarded as a generation that finds comfort with long term employment with one organization. This has provided them with a false sense of stability (Loomis, 2000).Their perceived working values emphasize on chain of command, teamwork, technically challenged, team work and loyal to employer As they born after War II, which they entered the economic boom era, Money and job security such as life time employment are definitely extremely important for them to sustain their living. In this regard, it is argued that Baby Boomers are easier to accept organizational change as their working value of chain of command which they tend to commit to the hierarchical order. Moreover, the inception of organization loyalty also attributes them to be more committed rather than resistant or any other negative reactions. (Hui-Chun, Yu and Peter Miller, 2003) Another neuropsychological research held by (Stanford University professor Laura L. Carstensen et al. 2000) on the relationship between age and emotional experiences found that the periods of highly positive emotional experience were more likely to endure among older people and periods of highly negative emotional experience were less stable. With age, older adults report relatively low levels of worrying (Sandra Hunt, Patricia Wisocki and Julianne Yanko, 2003), experience less anger (Schieman,1999), and have lower levels of emotional distress after natural disasters (Bolin Klenow, 1982-1983). The implication of these findings are older employees have better capability to regulate their negative emotions with organizational change and adjust themselves to adapt the environment.Employees adaptability has been seen a key attribute to a successful organizational change (Heslin , 2005). Compared with Baby Boomers, Generation X refers to those people who were born between 1965 to 1980. This generation of employee tend to more independent, self-motivated and self-sufficient (Loomis, 2000). This is because most X generations did not have enough of their family attention as children because their parent may have been single or working parents. X generations therefore became adaptive at handling things on their own and in their own ways. Their work value is perceived more on personal satisfaction, and their attitudes towards work are focus on flexibility empowerment, loyal to skills. (Hui-Chun, Yu and Peter Miller, 2003). Hence, when the change conflict with their own interest such as against what they used to do , their skills, or leave less empowerment to them, they will feel unmotivated towards to commit to the change. However, David J. OConnell, Eileen McNeely and Douglas (2004) argue that since Xers entered the workforce under the employment of deal, in which career planning and development are largely individual responsibilities and where the average worker can expect to make several changes during their working lives. In this regards, it seems like Xers are more adaptive to change. However, there are also many scholars debate the relationship between the age and the personal adaptability to change, such as Mirvis and Hall, 1996. Recent research held by OConell, McNeely and Hall, 2008 also support this assertion, reporting that age is limited measured as a categorical variable namely the characteristics about an individual . 2.2.2 Gender Although many literatures have acknowledged the impact of gender difference on the management practice, there had been little systematic attention focus on identifying the gender roles on effective change management relatively. Feminist perspectives have tended to highlight not only the impact of organizational change on womens relatively marginalized position but also the role of women in the change management (Melissa Tyler, 2005). Jamie L, Michael G and Homer Tolson (2005) research findings suggest that there is a difference between male and female executive of their emotional expressiveness, and women are regarded to process better skill at encoding and decoding emotions (Laura K. Guerrero and Kory Floyd, 2008). Emotions are intensive feelings that are directed at someone or something (Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, 2010). Goleman-the founder of emotional intelligence theory also mentioned that women are good at reading others feelings than men averagely in his book pub lished in 1995. The skills to encode and decode emotions generally have advantage to develop and maintain relationships (Laura K. Guerrero and Kory Floyd, 2008), because skilled encoders have ability to express their internal emotional state so that other people can decode their emotions more easily and accurately (Burgoon and Bacue, 2003). In this regard, the chances such as misunderstanding and conflict due to implicit or unclear message delivered or received prone to be decreased, the communication becomes more easily and effective. In many literatures, communication has been widely acknowledged as a useful approach to eliminate resistance to change. Therefore, women are deems to be more successfully engaged in change circumstances. Maddock (1999) added that Women focus on relational aspect of how to do things, while men tend to be expected to think what to do. It appears that women are emotionally discreet on how they are going to process the information, express and interpret their view points to react to change before making any decision. Combined with womens secondary position in labor market due to gender discrimination, especially in Confucian countries, in addition to their greater responsibilities in family and child care than men, which cause women are relatively powerless to challenge the situation (Melissa Tyler, 2005). Hence Melissa argues that women in change management appear to be positioned as performing an interpersonal function associated with safety; providing security in times of unexpected turbulence and anticipating. On the basis of these arguments, it seems that women tend to avoid conflict in working in this regard and to accept the change accordingly. 2.2.3 Personality Traits Some people are quiet and reserved, while others are aggressive and outgoing. Some people are trustworthy, some are not. People differ with each other in various dimensions as a result of different behavior and attitude towards things in personal life and working. The individuals differences are shaped by personalities (Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, 2010) Personality refers to the traits and characteristics that make individuals unique (Greenberg and Baron, 2002). The most frequent used definition of personality was produced by Gordon Allport nearly 70 years ago which he commented that personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment. Personality thus becomes an important reason mangers need to know to generate a view of employees likely behaviors and examine their coping reaction. Meselaar and Cozijnsen (1997) further highlighted the personality is a determinate of individ ual reaction to organizational change. Locus of control refers to the degree people believe their own behaviours determine what happens to them. People believes they have more control over their destiny are referred as internal, and people who believe they have less control over their life and the results are attributing to the will of God, or to the fortune of being born in the right social class or family are referred as external. At this point, it is suggested that people behave differently towards change. Wilson (1992) developed an approach referred as determinism to study change management portrays the manager and other organizational members as pawns affected by change rather than as agents who can initiate and secure change. Their ability to influence is limited because of the main determinates lie outside the organization. John Hayes (2010) argues that those who are overcommitted deterministic view of change may be inclined to believe that the locus of control is external to themselves and the organization and may therefore develop view that there is little they can do to influence events. Hence, people who think this way is less likely to attempt to adopt a proactive approach to the management of change than those who have more internal view about locus of control. 2.2.4 Educational Level Although there were not many literatures specifically emphasize the employees educational level to their resistance to organizational change, it is widely acknowledged (e.g.: George H. McCall, Karl E. Ristow and Daniel J. Cimini, 2004) that higher education improves employees personal management, time management, communication skills and problem solving skills. Higher education defined by Roberg (1987) refers to the instruction that was obtained at university or colleague. According to Thomas Kent Gaylor (2001)s research on 286 police officer from two North Texas Police department in 2001, result shows no significance relationship between the educational level and employees openness to change. However the limitation of his research was lack of variation in respondents education level. Nevertheless, the author believe that higher education of employees will be more likely to support and commit organization change with more positive thinking of why the change is needed, hence the resea rch intend to do further evaluation with different samples on the relationship of educational level to employee resistance to change since it is a logic factor that higher education equipped with employees more knowledge and broader thinking and believe, which reduce the tendency to be dogmatic and to be more creative. 2.3 Chapter Summary Chapter 2 of Literature Review has explored on the current literatures on employee resistance to change in terms of the natural, symptoms and reasons. The inevitable resistances from employee impulse the research to further find out the factors that affect employee resistance to change. The research noted many factors including communication process, employee participations, change facilitation process, employee motivation and quality of leadership, and lastly mainly reviewed the personal factors played consist of age, gender, personality traits (locus of control) and employee educational level influence various aspects from values and beliefs and emotions as a result of different behavior and levels of adaptability reacted to change After exposit the literature review of factors affect employees resistance to change, the paper will tackle the main objectives of this research. Starting with the description of research methodology, samples and limitation of the research, then paper will touch on the analysis part of the questionnaire, to examine the reflected results against with the literatures reviewed earlier on, so as to evaluate its universality of the factors in the sampling organization. Chapter 3- Research Methodology 3.1 Secondary Research The research was carried out at the beginning though a secondary research to review the current literatures on the areas of the study, which contains of the nature, symptoms and the reasons of employee resistance to change and the factors affect employee resistance to change from a more intrinsic view by looking at employee personal factors. The factors focus on the employees adaptability to change determined by age and gender, one dimension of personality traits -locus of control, and employee educational level. The information is collected from textbooks, journals and articles from reliable and creditable online Journal Publications, National Library and Campus Library. 3.2 Primary Research In order to evaluate the factors been presented in literature review, the research will primarily employ questionnaires as the main methodologies for information gathering. The questionnaire will be carried out with various employees working in a large organization. The methods allow directly and original information to be gathered from participants. Questionnaire results are to be consolidated, and will be analyzed using various questionnaire analyze techniques, to interpret the data. The main reason of using questionnaire and interview is because data is collected directly from specific target respondents. Interviewers have the ability to ask extra intensive questions of the respondent concerning survey responses. 3.2.1 Research Samples The research was conducted using data collected from a large size agribusiness organization located in Singapore, mainly doing palm oil plantation and trading. The reason of choosing this organization is because it is currently undergoing turbulence and change on merger with one small size palm oil trading company and one ship chartering company. And it also has experienced many merger and change in the past. Therefore the target samples of the questionnaire participants in the organization must have many varies views on organizational change to enable the research generate more practical reflections from employees perspective on organizational change and change effect on them, aims to evaluate the universality application of all those factors on employee resistance to change presented in literature on the target sampling. The questionnaire attempt to invite 150 employees in this organization from four departments who are affected by the merger plan, respectively 25 employee from IT department, 35 employees from logistic department, 25 employee from finance department and 65 employees from operation department. 3.2.2 Limitation of This Research During the research, data collected could be deviated due to limitation in the research methodology as follows: Data may not represent the entire population due to the limitation of sampling size As the four department employees may experience different kinds of minor changes in their department respectively, whether the change offend their interest or not might bring subjective bias towards their response to the questionnaire, hence the accuracy of data collected will be deviated. Respondent who experience the past organizational change may bring different perceptions towards new change. The choice of the question may limited respondents response. 3.3 Chapter Summary Chapter 3 presented the methodology of this research which employed on secondary research to review the current literatures on the area of the study, and also the primary research using questionnaires to collect data. Research Samples chosen was a large agribusiness organization who is experiencing turbulence and undergoing merger and work structural change. The limitations of the research were also discussed including the sample size, respondents bias, past organizational change experience as well as the choice of questions may also affect the accuracy of the survey result. Next chapter will touch on the research result analysis and discussion. Chapter 4- Result Analysis and Discussion The questionnaires were distributed to 150 employees in IT, Logistic, Finance and Operation department respectively as planned in Chapter 3, the responding rate is about 76%, namely 114 employees attend the questionnaire. Following are the result of each factors being tested. 4.1 Age The research finding on age factors shows that respondents in different age group perceived change differently and appears with different level of resistance. In contrary with literatures presented earlier on demonstrating age have negative relationship with organizational change where people are more emotional stable and adaptable to organizational change as they age. Instead, the result shows that in the age group of 20 to 65+, employees are more resistant to change as they age; an interesting finding is that for employees aged below 20, whom were surprisingly scored higher marks on resistance. Figure 4.1.2 shows details of scores on resistance in each age group. Figure 4.1.2- Age group vs Resist to change score The possible causes lead to this result might because when younger people firstly enter the workforce with no experience and lower educational background, they are uncertain about their skills and abilities. They may behave self-concerned and less flexible dealing with working matters, and not mature enough to regulate their emotions as they are undergoing a transition from childhood to adult, school life to working life with increased responsibilities, time is needed to help them accept such big changes and adapt themselves in the new environment. As they age and become more mature, they seek for competence, career movement and relationship, they are more flexible and motivated to change themselves in the organization to achieve their objectives. As time goes on, they feel tired and queried about what supposed to be. They are loyalty to their skills and fear losing it in the future. Stability, job security and sense of seniority may become the main values after they age 46. Hence th ey might act more resisting to change as demonstrated in below figure. Super (1980)s Life Stage Theory displayed some common characteristics against to the above analysis and assumptions, which the author would like to research further. 4.2 Gender Out of total 114 respondents, 78 are women, and 36 are men, most of men respond strongly agree that organizational change is necessary and beneficial, and express their willingness to take challenges. Although there is no strong evidence to show that women are more resistance to change, most of women strongly agreed with the statement that when things are not going as plan, they tend to feel stress and if there is significant change regarding the way things are done, they would probably feel stressed. At this point, the research result suggested that women tend to be trapped in stress situation more easily than men. Hellriegel, D. Slocom, J. W., and Woodman, R.W.(2001) has pointed out that organizational change can be viewed as greatest source of stress on job and perhaps employees life. Stress cause low morale, high desertion rate and consequently reduce in job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The women research samples in this study reflect lower ability to regulate stre ss in working and life that affect their job performance. When organizational changes go against their interest, plan or principles, family life, it easily get women feel stress emotionally and potentially raise their resistance level which can be described as unconscious covert resistance (Marc Maltz, 2008) whereby employees are unaware of their resistance to change. Such symptom as mentioned in Chapter 2 is difficult to recognize and manage. The result urges the management to recognize gender-related problems in the organizational process. The implication of the result underlines the importance of evaluating and managing performance between women and men employees in implementing change. 4.3 Locus of Control Figure 4.3.1 shows the relationship between Locus of Control versus Resist to Change scale. The extent of Locus of Control are divided into 5 category based on the score respondents received on answering 10 specially designed question (Q7-Q16) catered to identify the individual level of locus of Control. For each correct answer that suggested Internal Locus of Control, the participant are give 1 point, the end results are totaled up with a formula (N/10)x100. The result are categ

Analysis of Spring In War Time by Edith Nesbit :: essays research papers

Spring In War-Time by Edith Nesbit is a very moving poem. It describes nature in such a beautiful way, and then goes on to say how, to her, it is not beautiful anymore. She writes about her loss by saying things such as Where last year we used to go Where we shall not go again. Nesbit explains how she and her partner used to do lovely things together like go on walks in the woods and enjoy the nature. Her partner sadly died in the war, and since then, she can not appreciate nature's beauty anymore. Life seems to have stopped for her but in reality, life goes on. Just like last year's violets, too, But they have no scent this year. She is a casualty of the war, not physically, but mentally. She is wounded emotionally by the loss of her loved one. This poem is set out like a nursery rhyme, its message is simple. The message reads that, in her eyes, war has ruined everything that used to be beautiful. War is unnatural and cruel, completely the opposite of nature. Spring In War-Time reflects on the memories she had with her partner. It shows how they can never do things which they used to because war has taken him away, tearing them apart forever. It's obvious it is going to take Nesbit a long time to let it go, if not never. All on the verses have four stresses per line, with a rhythm and a rhyme, except for the last verse. Presently red roses blown Will make all the garden gay? Not yet have the daisies grown On your clay. This last verse just stops. Without warning, it just finishes and you are left thinking, "Oh..." It is short and it leaves the poem sounding slightly un-finished, like Nesbit?s life with her partner. It stops suddenly like his death, his death was sudden. This last verse tells us that he has only recently died in the war and been buried, becoming part of nature, not just an observer of it. Nesbit has all her memories of him to hold onto mentally, but physically all she has is his gravestone and maybe a few photos.

Speech Recognition Software :: Essays Papers

Speech Recognition Software Wouldn't it be nice to talk normally to our computers, just as we've seen the characters in "Star Trek" do? Of course, the computers in "Star Trek" understand what you're saying, and that's still a long way off. Tecnology has been advancing at astonishing rates, developing new software for a better interaction computer – human. For example Dragon Systems' NaturallySpeaking is the first continuous-speech voice-recognition program designed for general dictation Until now, most voice-recognition programs supported discrete speech. Examples include Dragon Dictate, Kurzweil Voice, and IBM's Simply Speaking and VoiceType. These work well in special circumstances. But. You. Have. To. Speak. Like. This. Good enough IBM's soon-to-be-released Via Voice different is that they offer large-vocabulary, continuous-speech recognition. Their promise is that you can speak normally and the program will understand what you say. These programs are designed to replace dictation machines and give you hands-free typing. Seeing this In NaturallySpeaking, the app writes the words you speak, and you can save what you've spoken as an .RTF file or copy the material to the Clipboard and an application. You can even edit your text within that application by speaking specific phrases. Saying phrases like "select word" or "spell that" is cumbersome and more time-consuming than editing by hand, but it does allow hands-free use of the program. Ideally, it could be combined with a speech-synthesis program that would verbally prompt you for information. But the real breakthroughs are farther off, when the programs can better differentiate the context of what you are saying. Even then, that doesn't mean the computer will understand what you mean. That's just science fiction. But having it recognize words as you speak them is a big step forward. Dragon has added some new dictation and editing capabilities not found in its previous product, DragonDictate. You can spell words by saying the letters instead of using the alpha-bravo alphabet. Voice macros enable you to add long phrases to documents by speaking shorter ones. To aid postdictation editing, its new select-and-say feature highlights a word or phrase anywhere in the document if you say, "Select [word or phrase]." Typically, you'll have to edit your document after you dictate it; if you wish to edit your file orally, you have to learn the appropriate voice commands. Once you have installed the software it is important that you go through the speech training consisting on two parts. The first part, an informative dictation trainer, stepped me through both a basic and dictation training session.

Favorite Room

My Favorite Room Walking through the front door of my apartment, I enter my favorite and most relaxing place to be: the living room. Sitting in my living room I feel relaxed and stress free. The first thing I see when I walk in is my wife’s shoe rack. To the left is her creepy monkey picture. When I look to the right I can see the whole room. I try to keep it nice and clean, but with school work, it doesn’t always stay that way.As I sit down on my big comfortable couch, I look up at my huge three piece entertainment center in front of me. The entertainment center holds my new flat screen TV, PlayStation 3, and DVD surround sound system. To the right of the entertainment center is our black book shelf which holds our novel books; I love to read when I have free time. To the left of the entertainment center is a matching book shelf which holds all of our text books from school.On the right side of the couch is a match chair and foot rest. The furniture set was a gift to m y wife, so it has a lot of sentimental value to us. On the far left wall is the sliding glass door that leads to our patio. When the weather is nice, I like to sit on the patio and read or do my homework. When I’m sitting in my living room, I feel a sense of safety. No matter what kind of day I have had, as soon as I am in my living room, all of my stress is lifted; I can truly relax in my favorite place.

Is Decoherence a Solution for the Measurement Problem

Abstract—Decoherence is considered as one of the important topics in quantum computing research area. Some researchers stated that decoherence solved the measurement problem and on the other hand many researchers stated the opposite. In this paper we will prove whether decoherence is a solution or not through an exhaustive survey of the different ideas, methodologies, and experiments. Index Terms—Quantum computing, decoherence, measurement problem INTRODUCTION Decoherence is considered as one of the important research areas since 1980s.Quantum decoherence is the Loss of coherence or ordering of the phase angles between the components of a system in quantum computing superposition and the consequence of this is classical or probabilistically additive behavior†¦ (Zurek Today 10 (1991)) Wave function collapse is the reduction of the physical possibilities into a single possibility as seen by observer can appear in quantum decoherence also it justifies the framework an d can predict using classical physics as an acceptable approximation†¦ Namiki and Pascazio 1991). However, decoherence is a mechanism that emerges out quantum stating point also it determines the location of the quantum classical boundary moreover decoherence appear when the quantum system interacts with its environment in a thermodynamically irreversible way and that lead to prevent different factors in the quantum superposition of the system and environments wave function from interfering with each other†¦ Zurek Today 10 (1991)) Decoherence can be viewed in different ways such as flowing information from the system to the environment lead to lose information this is known as heat bath since each system is losing some of its energetic state because of its surroundings environments†¦ (Kumar, Kiranagi et al. 012) There is also another view of decoherence that is called isolation; which is the combination of the system and the environment which known as non-unitary ther efore the dynamics of the system alone are irreversible also as a result of combination of system and environment the entanglements are generated between them and that will lead to sharing quantum information without transferring these information to the surroundings†¦ (Lidar and Whaley 2003) Describing how the wave function collaps occurs in quantum mechanics called measurement problem. The disability of observing the process directly lead to different nterpretations regard quantum mechanics, also it rises too many qustions that each interpretation must answer. However there are some researches provides aprove that the decoherence solved the measurment problem and some other researchers prove the opposite thus in this paper we will make a comparasion between these two different point of views†¦ (Kumar, Kiranagi et al. 2012) PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION Decoherence is a real challenge that prevents implementing quantum computers; because the machines rely on undisturbed evolutio n of quantum coherences†¦ (Chen, Ang et al. 003), (Flitney and Abbott 2004) Decoherence provides an explanations for the appearance of the wave function collapse it does not generate actual wave function collapse and that is the nature of quantum systems it leaks into the environment and that done by decomposing the component of the wave function from the coherent system and then applying phases to the environment†¦(Flitney and Abbott 2004) P. W Anderson claimed that decoherence has solved the Quantum measurement problem while S. L Adler prove the opposite†¦. Adler 2002) In this paper, we will conduct a comprehensive survey of the different views and experiments to come up with a solution for the relationship between decoherence and measurement problem. Decoherence is the Solution Zurek (1991), Tegmark and Wheeler (2001), and Anderson (2001) stated that decoherence has solved the quantum measurement problem by eliminating the necessity for Von Neumann’s wave fu nction collapse postulate. Osvaldo Pessoa Jr. wrote an article titled â€Å"Can the Decoherence Approach Help to Solve the Measurement Problem? He concluded that decoherence could help to solve measurement problem in open systems. From that point, he wanted to count on the open systems to solve the measurement problem of individual systems. He also mentioned that decoherence helps to get an approximate solution for the statistical version of the measurement problem. Wallace (2011) mentioned that decoherence explains why the measurement problem is a philosophical rather than a practical problem and stated that decoherence could solve the measurement problem.He claimed that the quantum state continues to describe the physical state of the world. So, decoherence finds its natural role in the measurement problem as the process which explains why quantum mechanics can be fundamentally deterministic and non-classical, but emergently classical. It does not dull the aspect of Everett's pro posal, which states that all are equally part of the underlying quantum reality. Decoherence is Not the SolutionThe decoherence initiative was to explain the transformation from large to conventional by evaluating the relationships of a program with a determining program or with the environment. It is realistic to think about a large specialized substance or program of pollutants as a divided program boating in unfilled space. Dynamical Failing Styles Somehow do not like the idea of failure due to professionals trying to rig the pattern function improvement so to advantage loss of the situation vector in a well described way.One way is to say that the pattern function, or at least an element of it, consistently gets â€Å"hit† in such a way as to cause localization in the position base. Another way is to add a not unitary term into Schrodinger’s program. There are suggestions stated that we can infer using mind ability to get the collapse of the wave function Tohmas Br euer at 1996 try to investigate these suggestions and apply it to recent results of quantum machines regard restrictions on measurement from inside.Tohmas Breuer count on these restrictions to come up with a phenomena of subjective decoherence therefore he split his article into parts. The first part is â€Å"measurement from inside† and he makes a presentation to illustrate why it is impossible for an observer to make a distinction between all states in a system in which an observer is contained and that consider as restriction on the measurability from inside, he conclude that bigger system O need more parameters to fix its state.However, this will lead to situations that big O can be determined of each physically possible state by the state of a subsystem A together with some constraint. Second part is â€Å"EPR-Correlations† and he focus on situation which stronger results hold when we take into account particular features of quantum mechanical situations for examp le if we have two systems A and some environment R then the union of two system A ? R equal to Big O. also if both systems A and R have Hilbert spaces HA and HR as state spaces then EPR correlations can be obtained in the vector states HA HR .Therefore he conclude that A con not make a distinction between states of O which is make difference only in the EPR correlations between A and R. however observers can only be able to make a measurement of EPR correlations between A and R in A ? R†¦(Breuer 1996) David Wallace wrote his article to achieve two goals the first one is to present an account of how quantum measurements are dealing with in modern physics in other word quantum measurements does not involve a collapse of the wave functions also to present the measurement problem from that account perspective of view.The second part is concentrate on clarifying the role of decoherence plays in modern measurement theory and what affects it has on the different strategies that have been proposed to solve measurement problem. Wallace concluded that it seems not possible to have a complete understating of the microscopic predictions quantum mechanisms without interpreting the state in a probabilistic way and that because of interference since quantum states cannot be thought of as probability distributions in physical states of airs.Therefore it is allowable to try to resolve the incoherence by two ways, the first one by philosophical methods which means trying hard to think about how to make a full understanding quantum states so as to come out with a non-incoherent way, also the second way done by making modifications on the physics which means trying to make a replacement of the quantum mechanics by using some new theory which does not prima facie lead to the conceptual incoherence.Finally, Wallace state that the natural role of decoherence can be found in the measurement problem as the process which provides an explanations regard why quantum mechanics, inte rpreted can be basically not classical and deterministic, but critically classical†¦(Wallace 2011) Dan Stahlke based on application he made state that the most important point of decoherence theory is that it provides understanding about the process of wave collapse. Some systems need to be built in way that it stays in coherent superposition.However, tendency of system that been in superposition can be immediately calculated. Also he stated that decoherence does not give the ultimate solution in the measurement problem but it bring some light to the matter†¦(Stahlke 1999) Maximilian Schlosshauer makes a distinctive discussion regard the role of decoherence in the foundation of quantum mechanics, and focusing of the effectiveness of decoherence regard the measurement problem. He concludes that within a standard interpretation of quantum mechanics that decoherence cannot solve the problem of definite outcomes in quantum measurement.Therefore he mention the effectiveness of environment super selection of quasiclassical pointer states along with the local superposition of interference terms can be put to large use in physical motivation, assumptions and rules regard alternative interpretation approaches that can change the strict orthodox eigenvalue-eigenstate link or make modification on the unitary dynamics to account for the awareness of definite outcomes†¦(Schlosshauer 2005) Elise M.Crull mention in his article that it has been claimed that decoherence has solved the measurement problem. In other hand, some researchers stated that it does not solve the measurement problem. However, the Crull target is â€Å"Which measurement problem? †, thus he argue three questions depending on Max Schlosshauer which has neat catalog on the different problems which called â€Å"the measurement problem†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(Schlosshauer 2008; Crull 2011) Harvey Brown stated that there are many attempts to proof the insolubility of the measurement problem in non -quantum mechanics.We can use these attempts for quantum mechanics. These proofs tend to establish that if mechanical interaction between object system A and measuring instrument B is described through a suitable defined unitary operator on the â€Å"Hilbert† tensor product space, so the final state of the A + B together cannot be described by a density operator of a specific kind in that space.Therefore this leads us to a resolution in terms of weighted projections which be useful to interpreted as mixture of pure A + B states, which are eigenstates corresponding to the â€Å"pointer position† that observable connected with the instrument†¦(Brown 1986) Ford, Lewis and Connell count on a book â€Å"Decoherence and the Appearance of a Classical World in Quantum Theory† †¦(Giulini, Joos et al. 1996) which state that ‘‘irreversible coupling to the environment seems to have become widely accepted ~and even quite popular!During the last decade, not least through the various contributions by Woljciech Zurek and his collaborators. ’’ And he conclude that general and simple formulation of quantum measurement gives a good method regard discussing quantum stochastic systems†¦(Ford and Lewis 1986) . Also authors stated that decoherence appear at high temperature with or without dissipation and the time for both cases are the same furthermore at zero temperature, decoherence occurs only in the presence of dissipation†¦(Ford, Lewis et al. 001) In 1980s and 1990s techniques are established to cool single ions captured through a trap and to control their state by using laser light and the single ion can be observed using photons with minimal interaction with the environment. Photons can observed without being destroyed during interaction together with atoms in designed experiment. That leads to make a study regard pioneers that make a test for basis of quantum mechanics also the transition between microscopic and microscopic world.The most important stage in controlling the quantum state regard ion is cooling it to the lowest energy of the trap using a common technique called sideband cooling†¦(F. Diedrich, Bergqvist et al. 1989) this technique consists of exiting the ion, increasing inside energy also decreasing the vibration energy†¦(SCIENCES 2012) Bas Hensen starting his discussion by defining the measurement problem and he stated that measuemet problem begin naturally from quantum theory’s success through describing the realm regard microscopic particles also permitting them to have definite values for quantities like momentum and position.Then he split the problem into several parts. The first two parts are â€Å"the problem of outcomes: Why does one perceive a single outcome among the many possible ones in equation? †, â€Å"The problem of the collapse: What kind of process causes the state of the system to ‘collapse’ to the outcome one percei ved (in the sense that a repeated measurement yields the same answer)? † in these two part he found that in quantum the world must be divided into a wave quantum system and the rest stays in some classical system.Also in accuracy point of view the division is made one way or another in a particular application. The third part is â€Å"The problem of interference: Why do we not observe quantum interference effects on macroscopic scales? † in this part author stated that the best way to illustrate this problem by using the double slit experiment. The experiment shows that the physical setup suggests that grouping the probability distribution gained with either one of the slit opened should occur in the probability distribution regard the two slits opened.For this situation of electrons as particles the probability distribution regard course differs, but regard a similar setup using macroscopic particles it doesn’t†¦(Hensen 2010 ) Dieks reviewed several proposa ls that solved the quantum mechanical measurement problem by taking into account that in measurement interactions there are many unobserved degrees of freedom. He found out that such â€Å"solutions† are unsatisfactory as they stand, and must be supplemented by a new empirical interpretation of the formal state description of quantum mechanics (Dieks 1989).Zurek mentioned in † Decoherence, Einselection, and the Quantum Origins of the Classical† that decoherence is caused by the interaction in which the environment in effect monitors certain observables of the system, destroying coherence between the pointer states corresponding to their eigenvalues. Then, he mentioned that when the measured quantum system is microscopic and isolated, this restriction on the predictive utility of its correlations with the macroscopic apparatus results in the effective â€Å"collapse of the wave packet†; which implicitly states that decoherence did not solve the measurement p roblem (Zurek 2003).Elby scrutinized the claim that the measurement problem is solved by decoherence, by examining how modal and relative-state interpretations can use decoherence. He mentioned also that although decoherence cannot rescue these interpretations from general metaphysical difficulties, decoherence may help these interpretations to pick out a preferred basis (Elby 1994). Janssen mentioned that the alleged relevance of decoherence for a solution of the â€Å"measurement problem† is subjected to a detailed philosophical analysis.He reconstructed a non-standard decoherence argument that aimed to uncover some hidden assumptions underlying the approach. He concluded that decoherence cannot address the â€Å"preferred-basis problem† without adding new interpretational axioms to the standard formalism (Janssen 2008). Busch et al (1996) explained decoherence using the many-worlds interpretation and stated the decoherence cannot solve the measurement problem. Legge tt (2005) concentrated on the paradox of Schrodinger's cat or the quantum measurement paradox to prove that dechorence is not a practical solution.Other researchers and scientists including Gamibini and Pullin (2007), Zurek (2002), Joos and Zeh (1985), Bell (1990), Albert (1992), Bub(1997), Barrett (1999), Joos (1999), and Adler (2002) stated that decoherence did not solve the measurement problem. Conclusion There is a serious and unresolved quantum measurement problem. Some, like Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber (1986), try to solve it by modifying quantum mechanics. If successful, such attempts would result in a theory, distinct from but closely related to quantum mechanics, that is no longer subject to a measurement problem. That problem may be unsolvable (Healey 1998).

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 30

Matt had given up on clues. As far as he could tell, something had caused Elena to bypass the Dunstan house and barn completely, hopping on and on until she got to a squashed and torn bed of thin creeping vines. They hung limp from Matt's fingers, but they reminded him, disquietingly, of the feeling of the bug's tentacles around his neck. And from there on there was no sign of human movement. It was as if a UFO had beamed her up. Now, from making forays to all sides until he had lost the patch of creepers, he was lost in the deep Wood. If he wanted to, he could fantasize that all sorts of noises were all around him. If he wanted to, he could imagine that the light of the flashlight was no longer as bright as it had been, that it had a sickly yellowish tinge†¦. All this time, while searching, he had kept as quiet as possible, realizing that he might be trying to sneak up on something that didn't want to be snuck up on. But now, somewhere inside him, something was swelling up and his ability to stop it was weakening by the second. When it burst out of him, it startled him as much as it might have any possible listeners. â€Å"Ellleeeeeeeeeeeeeeenaaaa!† From the time when he'd been a child, Matt had been taught to say his nighttime prayers. He didn't know much else about church, but he did have a deep and sincere feeling that there was Someone or Something out there that looked after people. That somewhere and somehow it all made sense, and that there were reasons for everything. That belief had been severely tested during the past year. But Elena's return from the dead had swept away all his doubts. It had seemed to prove everything that he'd always wanted to believe in. You wouldn't give her back to us for just a few days, and then take her away again? he wondered, and the wondering was really a form of praying. You wouldn't – would You? Because the thought of a world without Elena, without hersparkle ; her strong will; her way of getting into crazy adventures – and then getting out of them, even more crazily – well, it was too much to lose. The world would be painted in drab grays and dark browns again without her. There would be no fire-engine reds, no flashes of parakeet green, no cerulean, no daffodil, no mercury silver – and no gold. No sprinkles of gold in endless blue lapis lazuli eyes. â€Å"Elllleeeeeeenaaaa! Damn you, you answer me! It's Matt, Elena! Elleeeeee – â€Å" He broke off quite suddenly and listened. For a moment his heart leaped and his whole body started. But then he made out the words he could hear. â€Å"Eleeeeeenaaa? Maaaatt? Where are you?† â€Å"Bonnie?Bonnie! I'm here! † He turned his flashlight straight up, slowly twisting it in a circle. â€Å"Can you see me?† â€Å"Can you see us?† Matt pivoted slowly. And – yes – there were the beams of one flashlight, two flashlights, three! His heart leaped to seethree beams. â€Å"I'm coming toward you,† he shouted, and suited the action to the word. Secrecy had been long ago left behind. He was running into things, yanking at tendrils that tried to grab his ankles, but bellowing all the while, â€Å"Stay where you are! I'm coming to you!† And then the flashlight beams were right in front of him, blinding him, and somehow he had Bonnie in his arms, and Bonnie was crying. That at least lent the situation some normality. Bonnie was crying against his chest and he was looking at Meredith, who was smiling anxiously, and at†¦Mrs. Flowers? It had to be, she was wearing that gardening hat with the artificial flowers on it, as well as what looked like about seven or eight woolly sweaters. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers?† he said, his mouth finally catching up with his brain. â€Å"But – where's Elena?† There was a sudden droop in the three people watching him, as if they had been on tiptoes for news, and now they had slumped in disappointment. â€Å"We haven't seen her,† Meredith said quietly. â€Å"Youwere with her.† â€Å"Iwas with her, yeah. But then Damon came.He hurt her , Meredith† – Matt felt Bonnie's arms clench on him. â€Å"He had her rolling on the ground having seizures. I think he's going to kill her. And – he hurt me. I guess I blacked out. When I woke up she was gone.† â€Å"He took her away?† Bonnie asked fiercely. â€Å"Yeah, but†¦I don't understand what happened next.† Painfully, he explained about Elena seemingly jumping out of the car and the tracks that led nowhere. Bonnie shivered in his arms. â€Å"And then some other weird stuff happened,† Matt said. Slowly, faltering sometimes, he did his best to explain about Kristin, and the similarities to Tami. â€Å"That is†¦just plain weird,† Bonnie said. â€Å"I thought I had an answer, but if Kristin hasn't had any contact with any of the other girls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You were probably thinking something about the Salem witches, dear,† said Mrs. Flowers. Matt still couldn't get used to Mrs. Flowerstalking to them. She went on, â€Å"But you don't really know with whom Kristin has been in the last few days. Or with whom Jim has been, for that matter. Children have quite a lot of freedom in this day and age, and he might be – what do they call it? – acarrier .† â€Å"Besides, even if this is possession, it may be an entirely different kind of possession,† Meredith said. â€Å"Kristin lives out in the Old Wood. The Old Wood is full of these insects – these malach. Who knows whether it happened when she simply stepped outside her door? Who knows what was waiting for her?† Now Bonnie was shaking in Matt's arms. They'd turned out all the flashlights but one, to conserve energy, but it sure made for spooky surroundings. â€Å"But what about the telepathy?† Matt said to Mrs. Flowers. â€Å"I mean, I don't believe for a minute thatreal witches were attacking those Salem girls. I think they were repressed girls who had mass hysteria when they all got together, and somehow everything got out of hand. But how could Kristin know to call me – to call me – the same name that Tamra did?† â€Å"Maybe we've all got it all wrong,† Bonnie said, her voice buried somewhere in Matt's solar plexus. â€Å"Maybe it's not like Salem at all, where the – the hysteria spread out horizontally, if you see what I mean. Maybe there's somebody on top here, who's spreading it wherever they want to.† There was a brief silence, and then Mrs. Flowers murmured, â€Å" ¡Ã‚ ®Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings†¦'† â€Å"You mean you think that's right? But then who is it that's on top? Who's doing all of this?† Meredith demanded. â€Å"It can't be Damon because Damon saved Bonnie twice – and me once.† Before anyone could muster words to ask aboutthat , she was going on. â€Å"Elena was pretty sure that something was possessingDamon . So who else is it?† â€Å"Somebody we haven't met yet,† Bonnie muttered ominously. â€Å"Somebody we aren't going to like.† With perfect timing there was the crackle of a branch behind them. As one person, as one body, they turned to look. â€Å"What I really want,† Damon said to Elena, â€Å"is to get you warm. And that either means cooking you something hot so you'll warm up from the inside or putting you in the tub so you'll warm up from the outside. And considering what happened last time – â€Å" â€Å"I†¦don't feel I can eat anything†¦.† â€Å"Come on, it's an American tradition. Apple soup? Mom's homemade chicken pie?† She chuckled in spite of herself, then winced. â€Å"It's apple pie and Mom's homemade chicken soup. But you didn't do badly, for a start.† â€Å"Well? I promise not to mix the apples and the chicken together.† â€Å"I could try some soup,† Elena said slowly. â€Å"And, oh, Damon I'm so thirsty just for plain water. Please.† â€Å"I know, but you'll drink too much, get pains. I'll make soup.† â€Å"It comes in little cans with red paper on them. You pull the tab on top to make it come off†¦.† Elena stopped as he turned to the door. Damon knew she had serious doubts about the entire project, but he also knew that if he brought her anything passably drinkable she would drink it. Thirst did that to you. He was unliving proof of the example. As he went through the door there was a sudden horrendous noise, like a pair of kitchen choppers coming together. It nearly took off his – his rear from top to bottom, by the sound of it. â€Å"Damon!†A voice crying weakly through the door. â€Å"Damon, are you all right? Damon! Answer me!† Instead, he turned around, studied the door, which looked perfectly normal, and opened it. Anyone watching him open it would have wondered because he put a key in the unlocked door, said â€Å"Elena's room† and then unlocked and opened the door. When he got inside, he ran. Elena was lying in a hopeless tangle of sheets and blankets on the floor. She was trying to get up, but her face was blue-white with pain. â€Å"What pushed you off the bed?† he said. He was going to kill Shinichislowly . â€Å"Nothing. I heard a terrible sound just as the door shut. I tried to get to you, but – â€Å" Damon stared at her.†I tried to get to you, but – † This broken, hurting, exhausted creature had tried to rescuehim ? Tried so hard that she'd fallen off her bed? â€Å"I'm sorry,† she said, with tears in her eyes. â€Å"I can't get used to gravity. Are you hurt?† â€Å"Not as much as you are,† he said, purposely keeping his voice rough, his eyes averted. â€Å"I did something stupid, leaving the room, and the house†¦reminded me.† â€Å"What are you talking about?† said the woebegone Elena, dressed only in sheets. â€Å"This key,† Damon held it up for her to see. It was golden and could be worn as a ring, but two wings folded out and made a beautiful key. â€Å"What's wrong with it?† â€Å"The way I used it. This key has the power of the kitsune in it, and it will unlock anything and take you anywhere, but the way it works is that you put it into the lock, say where you want to go, and then turn the key. I forgot to do that in leaving your room.† Elena looked puzzled. â€Å"But what if a key doesn't have a lock in it? Most bedroom doors don't have locks.† â€Å"This key goes into any door. You might say it makes its own lock. It's a kitsune treasure – which I shook out of Shinichi when I was so angry about you being hurt. He'll be wanting it back soon.† Damon's eyes narrowed and he smiled faintly. â€Å"I wonder which of us will end up keeping it. I noticed another one in the kitchen – a spare, of course.† â€Å"Damon, all this about magical keys is interesting, but if you could let me get off the floor†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He was contrite at once. Then came the question of whether to put her on the bed or not. â€Å"I'll take the bath,† Elena said in a small voice. She unsnapped the top of her jeans and tried to scoot out of them. â€Å"Wait a minute! You might faint and drown. Lie down and I promise to get you clean, if you're willing to try and eat.† He had new reservations about the house. â€Å"Now undress on the bed and pull the sheet over you. I do wicked massages,† he added, turning away. â€Å"Look, you don't have to not look. It's something I haven't understood since I†¦came back,† Elena said. â€Å"Modesty taboos. I don't see why anyone should be ashamed of their body.† (This came to him in a rather muffled voice.) â€Å"I mean for anyone who says God made us, God made us without clothes, even after Adam and Eve. If it's so important, why didn't he make us with diapers on?† â€Å"Yes, actually, what you're saying reminds me of what I once said to the Dowager Queen of France,† Damon said, determined to keep her undressing while he gazed at a crack in one of the wooden panels of the wall. â€Å"I said that if God were both omnipotent and omniscient, then He surely knew our destinies beforehand, and why were the righteous doomed to be born as sinfully naked as the damned?† â€Å"And what did she say?† â€Å"Not a word. But she giggled and tapped me three times on the back of my hand with her fan, which I was later told was an invitation for an assignation. Alas, I had other obligations. Are you on the bed still?† â€Å"Yes, and I'm under a sheet,† Elena said wearily. â€Å"If she wereDowager Queen, I expect you were glad,† she added in a half-bewildered voice. â€Å"Aren't they the old mothers?† â€Å"No, Anne of Austria, Queen of France, kept her remarkable beauty to the end. She was the only redhead that – â€Å" Damon stopped, groping wildly for words as he faced the bed. Elena had done as he had asked. He just hadn't realized how much she would look like Aphrodite arising from the ocean. The ruffled white of the sheet came up to the warmer milk-white of her skin. She needed cleaning, certainly, but just knowing that under that thin sheet she was magnificently naked was enough to make him lose his breath. She had rolled her clothes into a ball and thrown them into the farthest corner of the room. He didn't blame her. He didn't think. He didn't give himself time. He simply held out his hands and said, â€Å"Lemon-thyme chicken consomm ¦, hot, in a Mikasa cup – and plum flower oil, very warm, in a vial.† Once the broth was duly consumed and Elena was lying on her back again, he began to gently massage her with the oil. Plum flower always made for a good start. It numbed the skin and the senses to pain, and it provided a basis for the other, more exotic, oils he planned to use on her. In a way, it was much better than dumping her in a modern bath or Jacuzzi. He knew where her injuries were; he could heat the oils to the appropriate temperature for any of them. And instead of a barely mobile Jacuzzi head spouting water against a bruise, he could avoid anything too sensitive – in the painful sense. He started with her hair, adding a very, very light coating of oil that would make the worst tangles easy to brush out. After the oiling, her hair shone like gold against her skin – honey on cream. Then he began with the muscles in her face: tiny strokes with his thumbs over her forehead to smooth it and relax it, forcing her to relax along with his movements. Slow, circular swirls at her temples, with only the lightest of pressure. He could see the thin blue veins traced here, and he knew that deep pressure could put her to sleep. He then proceeded to upper arms, her forearms, her hands, taking her apart with ancient strokes and the correct ancient essences to go with them, until she was nothing but a loose, boneless thing under the sheet: sleek and soft and yielding. He flashed his incandescent smile for a moment while pulling a toe until it popped – and then the smile turned ironic. He could have what he wanted of her, now. Yes, she was in no mood to refuse anything. But he hadn't counted on what the damned sheet would do tohim . Everyone knew that a scrap of covering, no matter how simple, always drew attention to the taboo area as pure nakedness did not. And massaging Elena by inches this way only focused him on what lay beneath the snowy fabric. After a while Elena said drowsily, â€Å"Aren't you going to tell the end of the story? About Anne of Austria, who was the only redhead to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"†¦to, ah, remain a natural redhead to the end of her life,† Damon murmured. â€Å"Yes. It was said that Cardinal Richelieu was her lover.† â€Å"Isn't that the wicked Cardinal from theThe Three Musketeers ?† â€Å"Yes, but perhaps not so wicked as he was portrayed there, and certainly an able politician. And, some say, the real father of Louis†¦now turn over.† â€Å"It's a strange name for a king.† â€Å"Hm?† â€Å"Louis Now Turn Over,† Elena said, turning over and showing a flash of creamy thigh while Damon tried to eye various other parts of the room. â€Å"Depends on the naming traditions of the individual's native country,† Damon said wildly. All he could see were replays of that glimpse of thigh. â€Å"What?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"I was asking you – â€Å" â€Å"Are you warm now? All done,† Damon said and, unwisely, patted the highest curve of terrain under the towel. â€Å"Hey!† Elena reared up, and Damon – faced by an entire body of pale rose-gold and perfumed and sleek – and with muscles like steel under the silken skin – precipitately fled. He came back after an appropriate interval with a calming offering of more soup. Elena, dignified under her sheet, which she had made into a toga, accepted. She didn't even try to swat him on the bottom when his back was turned. â€Å"Whatis this place?† she wondered instead. â€Å"It can't be the Dunstans' – they're an old family, with an old house. They used to be farmers.† â€Å"Oh, let's just call it a little pied--terre of my own in the woods.† â€Å"Ha,† Elena said. â€Å"I knew you weren't sleeping in trees.† Damon found himself trying not to smile. He'd never been with Elena when the situation hadn't been life-or-death. Now, if he said he'd found he loved her mind after having massaged her naked under a sheet – no†¦No one would ever believe him. â€Å"Feeling better?† he asked. â€Å"As warm as chicken-apple soup.† â€Å"I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?† He made her stay on the bed while he thought up nightgowns, all sizes and styles, and robes, too – and slippers, all in the instant of walking to what had been a bathroom, and was pleased to find that it was now a walk-in closet with everything anyone could want in terms of night attire. From silky lingerie to good old-fashioned sleeping gowns to night-caps, this wardrobe had it all. Damon emerged with a double armful and gave Elena her choice. She picked a high-necked white nightgown made out of some modest fabric. Damon found himself stroking a regal sky-blue gown trimmed with what looked like genuine Valenciennes lace. â€Å"Not my style,† Elena said, quickly tucking it under some other robes. Not your style aroundme , Damon thought, amused. And a wise little lass you are, too. You don't want to tempt me into doing anything you might be sorry for tomorrow. â€Å"All right – and then you can get a good night's sleep – † He broke off, for she was suddenly looking at him with astonishment and distress. â€Å"Matt! Damon, we were looking forMatt ! I just remembered. We were looking for him and I – I don't know. I got hurt. I remember falling and then I was here.† Because I carried you here, Damon thought. Because this house is just a thought in Shinichi's mind. Because the only permanent things inside it are we two. Damon took in a deep breath of air.