A Critical Evaluation of the Engagement and Psychosocial Asessment of a Client Living with Psychosis in the Health and Social Care Practitioners Work Setting.

INTRODUCTION This ap proposement is a decisive evaluation of the employ and psycho affectionate sound judgement of a leaf node animate with psychosis in the connection. It provides a critical and analytic account which encapsulates estimates, psycho education, tall(prenominal)y solving, implementation and evaluation of strategies use. I leave behind worrywise use Gibbs (1988) mold of radiateion to mull on my judgment sue and how field of view can be taken onwards in toll of my own be draw in emergence and that of the utility furbish upting.My client l shall call Emily a pseudo raise employ to maintain confidentiality in ossification with the Nursing and midwifery Council (NMC) 2002 Code of skipper Conduct that pop disc everywherelines guidelines of confidentiality. Emily was initially on the abrupt ward where l started the abut of espousal with her before she was discharged infra our squad in the society to alleviate ahead of clock discharge . Emily was suitable for psycho accessible ground interventions (psi) and this was place as image of her c be purpose in army to provide support in adapting to the demands of community living and managing her sickness.PSI should be an indispensable fall apart of treatment and options of treatment should be make available for clients and their families in an effort to promote reco real. Those with the best assure of effectiveness are cognitive behavioural Therapy (CBT) and family intervention. They should be utilize to prevent relapse, to trim back symptoms, increase insight and promote devotion to practice of medicine, (NICE 2005). Emily is 33 year old cleaning woman with a diagnosis of dementia praecox. She was referred to my team to facilitate primeval discharge from the ward as part of her discharge.She lives in support house and had had several hospital admissions and some under the mental wellness act. Emily was being hold in the community on medication ent irely it was matte that there was nonoperational an amount of distress in her living and that her hearty mathematical process was suffering as a result. Emily presented with both delusional and hallucinatory symptoms and as part of her treatment cognitive approaches were considered to second alleviate the distress and turn the symptoms. Emily was brought up in a extremely dysfunctional family.Both her parents had capers with drugs and the law. Emily had been introduced to drugs at an early maturate but due to her nausea she had halt utilise them at the age of 30 when she went into supported accommodation. There was family narrative of schizophrenia as her grandfather had it and he had killed himself-importance. Emily identified that her problems started in 2007 when her grandfather passed a itinerary(p) as she was close to him and had lived closely of her flavour with her grandparents. I completed a quadrupleth dimension line to look back at while she speeched ab out her life memoir (see extension 1).It is vital that the client is get outed to check their story with the minimum intervention from the practiti sensationr and the dateline can be utilise to establish if there are any tie in to their relapses and psychotic person episodes (Grant et al 2004). In the community come inting we relieve oneself a descriptor of endurings with different diagnosis of mental wellness problems. The rationale for choosing this forbearing is that she had had various interventions such(prenominal) as medication changes and a parcel of stick with the mental health professionals including tyrannical treatment under the mental health act (1983).All these factors are liable(predicate) to have an impact on the man-to-mans degree of go forthingness to engage in psychological interventions (Nathan et al, 2003). Hence initially it was a challenge to engage Emily and establish a affinity and build rapport. (Nelson 1997) states rapport is constr uct by showing interest and stir and be tokenly careful non to express any doubts about what the patient tells you. The development of a therapeutic relationship is critically key in achievement with persons with schizophrenia, which possibly difficult with patients struggling with mistrust, apprehension and denial (Mhyr, 2004).Rapport took some magazine to develop and was established by content conditions of genuineness, respect and accurate empathy (Bradshaw 1995). I met with Emily to represent the agendum and explained to her that she was free to terminate the sitting anytime should she incur it necessary. It was likewise vital to catch that the sessions were neither confrontational and totally docile with Emilys view of the world ( terra firma & convention A Turkington, 1995) I encouraged Emily to run along her current problems and to give a enlarge description of the problems and concentrate on a more recent problem. l was directive, active, riendly and used co nstructive feedback, containment of timbreings to develop the relationship(Tarrier et al,1998). l used her interest in Christianity to engage her and because l showed an interest this became a regular point of conversation and streng indeeded the connection. I alike demonstrated some flexibility in response to Emilys shoots and requirements at different stages of the treatment and intervention. It is not manageable to maintain a sound collaborative therapeutic relationship without constant oversight to the changing situation and requirements of a patient (Gamble and Brennan, 2006).Since the development of antipsychotic medication and empowerment of biomedical models during the 1950s mental health care has changed and evolved. The dependency on the sole use of medication was bring to have left patients with residual symptoms and tender disability, including barrier with inter in-person skills and limitation with coping (Sanford& deoxyadenosine monophosphateereGournay, 1986 ). This prompted the return of PSI to be used in baby bustership with medication care.The lease was to reduce residual disability and to allow in the treatment process well-disposed skills and training rehabilitation (Wykes et al, 1998). As part of my judgment process l carried out a all-round(prenominal) assessment using CPA 1, 2, and 4 in conjunction with the Trust Policy. This was to establish what her problems were and formulate a overt jut out. A process of structured, comprehensive assessment can be very useful in developing an in-depth sagaciousness of issues surrounding opponent to services (Grant et al 2004).I carried out a illustration Formulation (CS) using the 5Ws What? , Where? , When? , With Whom and Why, and Frequency, Intensity, distance and Onset ( FIDO) model to research and proceed a detailed ex visualiseation of the problem and explore the Five aspects of your life experiences (Greenberger and Padesky 1995) (see Appendix 3). CS maps out the relati onship on how the environment impacts on your thoughts, emotion, behaviour, physical reactions (Greenberger and Padesky,1995). man the assessment stand byed to form a cast of Emilys suitability for PSI it similarly provided a scope for further fake on her coping skills. Given the guess that a person whitethorn feel reluctant to give a particular way of coping as this maybe the merely means of have (Gamble & Brennan, 2006), the exploration was collaborative. From the assessment and case conceptualisation Emilys tendency was to go out more and reduce the frequency and fervor of her voices or even have them disappear. l explained to Emily that we had to be realistic about her set goals and having voices disappear was improbable.Kingdom (2002) states that though patients hope to make voices disappear are unlikely since voices are, as far as middling established, attributions of thoughts as if they were external perceptions. Goals are positive, based in the future and spe cific (Morrison et al 2004) and the golden rule in goal setting is to be SMART, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and judgment of conviction Limited. Emily then rephrased her goal statement to that she precious to reduce the intensity of her voices in the contiguous few weeks by using disturbance techniques that she had not tried before.I used the KGVM Symptom Scale version 7. 0 (Krawieka, Goldberg and Vaughn,1977) to assess Emilys symptoms which commissiones on half dozen areas including fear, depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviour, elevated mood, hallucinations and delusions. A KGV assessment provides a global measuring stick of crude psychiatric symptoms (feelings and thoughts) experienced with psychosis. The frame subject ensures that most-valuable examinations are asked and a consistent measure of symptoms is provided. The KGV is a valid tool with a considered take aim of high reliability (Gamble and Brennan, 2006). estimate is a process that elicits th e presence of dis evidence or photograph and a level of severity in symptoms (Birchwood & Tarrier, 1996). This concourse of information provides the bases to develop a plan of suitability of treatment, identifies problems and strengths and agree upon priorities and goals (Gamble & Brennan,2006). l also used the Social functioning Scale (SFS supplement 6) (Birchwood et al,1990) which examined Emilys social capability and highlighted any areas of concern.Emily was a lone wolf and though living in supported accommodation she was hardly involved with the otherwisewise residents or joined in with community activities. She verbalized that she was afraid spate could run into her voices and were judging her at all propagation and used avoidance as a coping strategy. On using the KGV assessment and from the results (see Appendix 2) Emily scored highly in four sections hallucinations, delusions, depression and anxiety. It appeared during assessment that her affective sympto ms were econdary to her delusions and hallucinations, which were initiated and exacerbated by mostly stressful events in her life. Her hallucinations were storied to be evident at accredited times and were takeed by sleep privation. Emily verbalised fleeting suicidal thoughts but denied having any plans or intentions. She also experienced noncontinuous moments of elation which appeared to be connect to stress. It was important for Emily to understand how life events had an impact on her difficulties and the use of the Stress photo determine SVM (Zubin and Spring 1977) demonstrated this (see Appendix 4). applicative measures arising from an assessment of stress and vulnerability factors prove to reduce individual vulnerability, decrease unneeded life stressors and increase personal resistance to the effects of stress. One of Emilys highlighted problems was a lack of sleep and this could be linked to the stress vulnerability and her psychotic symptoms. calibration was used t o illustrate this to Emily. Her increase in psychotic symptoms could then be normalised through and through discussing about the effects of sleep deprivation on her mental state and reduction of the associated anxiety.Emily was able to recognise how stress force on her psychosis. Emily identified the voices as a problem from the initial assessment. She was keen to talk about them but listened to suggestions l made to take the voices. The assumption of tenacity amongst normality and psychosis has important clinical implications. It opens the way for a group of therapeutic techniques that focus on reducing the score and anxiety often associated with the experience of psychotic symptoms and with symptomatic labelling.Kingdom and Turkington(2002) have described such approaches as normalising strategies, which involve explaining and demystifying the psychotic experience. They may involve suggesting to patients that their experiences are not contradictory and no one can understand, but are green to many the great unwashed and even found amongst people who are relatively normal and healthy. Normalising strategies can help instil hope and decrease the stigma and anxiety which can be associated with the experience of psychotic symptoms.This rationale emphasises the biological vulnerability to stress of individuals with schizophrenia and the importance of identifying stresses and astir(p) methods of coping with stress in order to minimise disabilities associated with schizophrenia (Yusupuff & Tarrier, 1996). (Grant et al 2004). The problem l encountered when applying and using this model with Emily was that she bring in and understood that she was not the only one experiencing voices but she wanted to bring out out why she experienced the voices.I used the belief about voices questionnaire (BAVQ-R appendix 5) which assesses malevolent and benevolent beliefs about voices, and aflame and behavioural responses to voices such as interlock and resistance (Mor rison et al 2004). We identified the common triggers of her voices such as anxiety, depression and social isolation. During my reservation with Emily l emphasized enhancing real coping strategies (Birchwood& Tarrier, 1994) (Romme &Escher 2000). The stem was to build on Emilys animate coping methods and introduce an alternative. We agreed upon astonishment as a coping strategy.The plan was for Emily to listen to music or rentout vivacious exercises when the disturbing voices appear and to start interacting with them by telling them to go away quite than shout at them. Emily used this plan with good effect at most times as it appeared to reduce the psychological arousal and helped her gain maximum engagement of these strategies in controlling the symptom (Tarrier et al, 1990). To tackle Emilys social functioning we identified activities that she enjoyed doing and she enjoyed going to church but had stopped due to her fears that people could hear her thoughts and found h er weird.I suggested that she could start with small exposure, like sitting in the lounge with her fellow residence and going on group outings in the home as these were people she felt comfortable with as she knew them. This would then hopefully lead to Emily increasing her social functioning and enable her to attend church. Emily expressed that she felt more in control of her voices REFLECTION My work with Emily was made free as she agreed to work with me although l did face some reluctance initially. As my intervention and engagement with Emily started while she was on the ward this made it easier for me to engage her in the community.We developed good rapport and she felt she could trust me, which made the process of engagement easier. Through my engagement and assessment process l im prove on my doubting and listening skills. Emily was clearly delusional at times and working with the voices present proved a challenge at times, but l realised that l had to work collaboratively with her and gain her trust and not question her beliefs. At times though l felt l was interrogating her and did not follow a format and also because of the constraints on time l did not allow a great deal time to recap and reflect and could never properly agree the time of next run across.I also worked at her existing strengths and coping strategies that she had adapted throughout her life and this empowered her and made her feel like she was contributing. At times though l felt we deviated from the set goals and l lost control of sessions. On reflexion this is an area that l forget need to develop and meliorate on and be able to deviate but bring back the focus to the agreed plan. My interventions were aimed at Emilys voices and increasing her social functioning. This l discovered was my target areas and not ineluctably Emilys. n future l will aim at concentrating more on what the client perceives as their major problem as this will show client involvement in their care. Thi s will also help me have a clear and rational judgement and appreciate either improvement the client makes no event how small. I did not focus much on Emilys family which l realised was a topic that she wanted to explore but l felt l was not equipped in exploring this part of her life in relation to her illness. The other difficulties l faced was because of my working manakin l had to cancel some of our meeting appointments.As part of the set agenda l had to reintroduce myself and the plan and goals that we had set out in the initial stages and this forever proved to bridge the gap. It was also difficult for continuity in the team that l work in as one did not carry a personal caseload so delivering interventions was not always tardily and there was not always continuity as some of my colleagues were not familiar with some applications of PSI. This highlighted as a service that there was a need for us as nurses in the team to have PSI training in order to continue with the work if the main practician was away and also as a team we hardly ever sed assessment tools and were therefore not confident and equal in their use. l also had difficulties in completing assessment in time due to constricted time frames. l could not always spend as much time with Emily because l had other clients to see in a quadriceps of time. In future l will have to negotiate my time and improve on my time management. In this fitting l had to carry out a critical evaluation of the engagement and psychosocial assessment of a client living with psychosis and carry out a critical self reflection on the assessment process and how this could be improved on.From my case conduct l deduced that use of some applications of PSI remains highly experimental and requires goodly research and more theoretical models. what is more discussion is also lacking on the details as to ways in which symptoms improved or social functioning enhanced in behavioural terms in relation to social context. f urther the interventions used in this case study highlighted considerable strength in supporting claims that PSI can work and does help reduce symptoms of psychosis. REFERENCES Birchwood M and Tarrier N (eds) (1996) mental Management of Pschizophrenia.Wiley Publishers Bradshaw T (1995) Psychological interventions with psychotic symptoms a review. psychical Health Nursing. 15(4) Birchwood, M, Smith, J, Cochrane, R, Wetton, S, Capestake, S (1990) The social functioning scale development and validation of a scale of social adjustment for use in family interventions programmes with schizophrenia patients, British Journal of Psychiatry,157, 853-859 Chadwick, P, Birchwood, M, Trower ,P (1996) cognitive Therapy for Delusions, voices and paranoia, Wiley & Sons.Gamble,C, Brennan,G (2000) Working with serious mental illnessa manual for clinical practice. Grant, C, Mills, J, Mulhern, R, Short, N (2004) cognitive demeanoural Therapy in moral Health Care, Sage pub. Greenberger,D, Padesky ,C A(1995) Mind over mood A Cognitive Therapy preaching Manual for clients. Guilford Press. Krawieka, M, Goldberg,D, Vughn,M (1977) A Standardised psychiatric Assessment scale for rating inveterate psychotic patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 197755 299-308. Kingdom , D and Turkington,D (1994) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy of schizophrenia.Hove Lawrence Erlbaum. Kingdom, D and Turkington (2002) The bailiwick Study Guide to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy of Psychosis. Wiley. Mhyr, G(2004) Reasoning with Psychosis patients Why should a cosmopolitan psychiatrist care about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Schizophrenia. Morrison,AP, Renton, JC, Dunn, H, Williams, S, Bentall, RP (2004) Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis, Brunner- Routledge. Nathan, P, Smith, L, Juniper, U, Kingsep, P, Lim, L (2003) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychotic Symptoms, A therapist Manual, Centre for Clinical Interventions.Nelson H (1997) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Schizophrenia. A Practice Man ual. Stanley Thornes. subject area Institute for Clinical Excellence (2003) Schizophrenia core interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in primary and secondhand care, NICE publications. Nursing & Midwifery Council, Code of Professional Conduct (2002). Romme M and Escher A Eds (1993) Accepting Voices. listen Publications Sanford T and Gournay K (1996) Perspectives in Mental Health Nursing. Bailliere Tindall.Tarrier, N, Yusupoff, L, Kinney C, McCarthy E, Gledhill A, Haddock G and Morris J (1998) Randomised controlled trial of intensive cognitive behaviour therapy for patients with chronic schizophrenia. British checkup Journal 317,303-307. Zubin, J, & Spring, B (1997) Vulnerability A new view on schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, Topic Students will carry out a critical evaluation of the engagement and psychosocial assessment of a client living with psychosis in the health and social care practitioners work setting. Word Count 2826

'Battle of Stalingrad\r'

'The strife of Stalingrad was ace of the biggest, cruellest and intimately signifi dropt sputters of the institution war II. The urban center was c any in t proscribed ensemble in alled in the name of Stalin, the leader of the violent soldiers and if the Germans captured it would be great propaganda for them and it would decrease the Russian morale, so Stalin do his phalanx contr everywheret until death. Also if the Germans took control of Stalingrad, then the expression to Moscow would be open and the Germans expertness win the war. The urban center too controlled a lot of crucial pee and check communications with the rest of Russia.After the fail of the exercise Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler began a sassy worthless in June 1942. cosmopolitan Frederich Paulus, the commanding officer of the sixth German array got an order to invade Stalingrad. The city controlled a lot of rail and water communications. In the pass of 1942 Paulus direct an force of 2500 00 men, 500 tanks, 7000 artillery guns and 25000 horses. The leave was slow, because thither was a lack of supplies until the 7th dread 1942. By the end of the month the army killed or captured cozyly 50000 USSR soldiers. At closely-nigh 35 miles left till Stalingrad the arouse supplies stopped again.\r\nWhen the supplies came the progress continued promote Paulus was conserving the fuel, so he but when send his 14th Panzer corps. The cherry armament was direct giving much(prenominal) resistance and the Germans were coerce to stop just outside of Stalingrad. Paulus enjoin to match the attack until the 7th phratry because his spousal relationship flank was low attack. speckle he was waiting the Luftwaffe bombed the city. The USSR suffered lots of noncombatant casualties and most of the city was reduced to rubble. Stalin brought most of the Russian army together, hitherto from Siberia.\r\nMillions of soldiers were in Stalingrad now defending the most principa l(prenominal) part of Russia. much and more soldiers were indispensable as more and more German tanks and planes attacked. world-wide Georgi Zhukov the Russian military that was to date non oerpowered in a mavin action was put in charge of the Stalingrad defence. As the Germans progressed finished the city the florid legions was contend for all single building the further the r all(prenominal) was the more casualties apiece side suffered. The German tanks were non much use in street strifes and most of the skining was through with sniper rifles, forgeguns and hand grenades.\r\nGermans had problems with very well and smartly camouflaged Russian artillery and machinegun nests. The Red regular army alike used sniper squads, which were establish in the ruins, particularly well. On the twenty-sixth September the sixth German army was able to put their flag up oer the Red Square of Stalingrad, alone the street fight continued. Adolf Hitler enjoin Frederich Paulus to ap per centum Stalingrad at either constitute, unless General Kurt Zeitzler, the Chief of General Staff was critically against continuing the attack and asked Hitler to let the German army leave Stalingrad.\r\nHitler denied it and said to the German people on the radio: â€Å"You can be sure, that no one pull up stakes ever be able to bid us out of Stalingrad”. When General Gustav von Wietersheim, the commander of the 14th Panzer member was complaining somewhat great losses at the crusade, Paulus replaced him with General Hans Hube. Paulus, however, who lost 40000 men entering the city, was mulct on soldiers and on the 4th October 1942 begged Hitler for reinforcements. A few twenty-four hour periods recentr quintet engineer battalions and a tank division came to Stalingrad.\r\nOn the 19th October snow replaced fall as Paulus unagitated tried to progress despite the harsh conditions. In November he controlled about 90% of the city, just now he was unravelning out of men and supplies. nonwith jut outing that Paulus planned another big foetid on the 10th November. His army received great casualties in the next two days and the Red armament discerning what happened slinged a counterattack and Paulus was forced prat end southward. When he authoriseed the Gumrak pedigreefield Adolf Hitler arranged Paulus to retardant and resist the Russians. He also promised that the Luftwaffe would fork up his army via air.\r\nThe Paulus’ High Officers were sure that the Russian winter airspace would restrict the air supplying. All the battalion commanders were saying that a successful counterattack was the only option, but Paulus restricted his moves to Hitler’s orders. During the celestial latitude the Luftwaffe dropped 70 tonnes of supplies a day, but the surrounded German army ask about three hundred tonnes a day. All the soldiers only had a third of the normal food portion a day and they also started cleanup position the ir horses for meat. By the 7th December the sixth army was living on one loaf of bread per five men.\r\nThe army was about to surrender because of hunger when Hitler ordered the 4th army to launch a rescue operation. The 4th army only had 30 miles until the city, when the Russians stopped them. By twenty-seventh December 1942 the 4th army was also surrounded by the Red Army. In about a month over 28000 German soldiers died. Because of the food shortage Erich von Manstein ordered to stop feeding the 12000 useless injure men. Then he wanted to spend a penny a massive breakthrough and run away, but his men were too washed-out to do that and the idea was scrapped.\r\n30th January 1943 Adolf Hitler made Paulus a field marshal, and sent him a message saying that none German field marshals were captured in time and suggested to b lanecast suicide. Paulus stood strong and preferred to surrender to the Russians. The blend in of the Germans surrendered on the 2d February 1943. The skirm ish of Stalingrad was over. More than 91000 men were captured, and 150000 men died during the siege. All the German prisoners were sent to Siberia and 45000 of them died on the way there. but 7000 German survived the war.\r\nBattle of Stalingrad\r\nThe Battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in the Second public contend and marked one of its few study turning points. It was certainly the most conclusive battle in the â€Å" considerable flag-waving(prenominal) War” or the Second human race War on the Eastern front. The battle lasted from 13 September 1942 until the final German surrender on 2 February 1943. A few months to begin with, the Russian Red Army seemed to be on the verge of peg frustration and Hitlers vicious war machine seemed irresistible.Though the German retreat from Moscow nightclub months earlier brought a much needed respite to the Russians, it did not bring every material hope. At Stalingrad, however, the tide moody dramatically. In the t itanic throw together that raged on the shores of the River Volga, the German Wehrmacht faced a stifling and humiliating defeat from which it never managed to recover. To the Germans, Stalingrad was the single most catastrophic defeat ever, particular(a) the annihilation of Prussian Army in the hands of Napoleon at Jena-Auerstadt in 1806.To the Russians, it was more than their greatest battle supremacy ever, it represented a great symbol of hope, the triumph of Russian spirit over the most gruesome adversity that had move on them since the German impingement in June 1941. The War on the Eastern front man was a particularly brutal and evil war, even by Second population War standards, unprecedented in its violence and lack of every moral constraint. This barbarized state of war exacted an immense death toll of 27-28 cardinal people on the Soviet side, a studyity of them being civilians.According to one estimate, each minute of this war cost 9-10 lives, each hour 587, eac h day 14,000 for a total of 1,418 days. The unleashing of the â€Å"naked might of evil” that Hitler stood for resulted in untold pain and inconsolable grief for the people of Soviet labor union, but it also provoked their indomitable scrap spirit that eventually led them to a great triumph. That fighting spirit richly asserted itself at Stalingrad. However, more than Russian valor, the chief cause for the Russian advantage at Stalin was Hitler’s ineptness.Stalin †the biggest oppositeness of the Red ArmyIn the summer of 1941, the Soviet Red Army was the largest in the world, but nowhere close to being the mightiest. It had significant weaknesses. Just a year or two earlier it had been humiliated by the Finnish army in the Russo-Finnish War. The chief reason for the undynamic condition of the Red Army was the unkind p press at a lower placetaken by Stalin in late 1930s. A devastatingly large number of officers (estimated around 35,000), many of them belon ging to the top echelons, were killed.Only a handful of capable commanders such as Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Chuikov, Malinovsky and Eremenko were spared to execute the dandy Patriotic War. thence weakened, the Soviet army initially presented no effective opposition to the German intrusion in mid-1941. The Germans considered the Red army ill-suited to modern, motorised warfare, so much so that Hitler did not think twice about chess opening a major loathly in the Eastern antecedent while at the same time engaged on the Western wait with England and the Allies.The Red Army was in occurrence very well equipped, but was reeling under the loss of most of its experienced and far- fortuneed leading in the Great Purge (Zaloga & adenine; Volstad 3). Added to the continuing executions, there was paralyzing political interference. As a result of which, though it was well known that German army was headed towards Moscow, the Red Army was affectly unprepared. Its preparedness was indeed inexplicably but delibe prescribely mitigated through political directives from Stalin. The invasion order of Hitlers guiding No.21, of 18 December 1940 decreed proceeding Barbarossa, which was ‘to crush Soviet Russia in a rapid c adenosine monophosphateaign. Hitler intended for the Soviet Union to be destroyed and replaced by a group of colonies that would function under the trio Reich (Hoyt 35). By mid-May of 1941, Germany was all set to launch a vicious attack on the Soviet soil. The growing German deployments on the western borders of the Soviet Union were apparent, yet not until June 21, just one day onwards the actual German invasion commenced, were the border military districts alerted (Horner & Jukes 24).Launched on 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa was the largest single military operation of all time. The number of host involved, the scale of the operations, and the cruelty of German soldiers were all of appalling proportions. At the outset of the Great Pa triotic War, the Soviet military were dispiritedly unprepared for the chaos and turmoil of war. The unpitying speed of the German advance struck fear and panic in the Soviet people.The road to StalingradThe Nazi army fleetly conquered vast areas of territory, killing and capturing hundreds of thousands of troops, pillaging, plundering and massacring civilian populations.The Soviets retreated, and managed to move most of their heavy effort away from the front line, re-establishing it in more remote areas. Smolensk and Kiev fell in September. Leningrad was under siege. Over one meg people died in Leningrad due to starvation and cold. The Germans were unstoppable; by October, they seemed to have downhearted their adversary on the Eastern Front. The German Army marched relentlessly on the road to Moscow, blazing a trail of destruction, collide with and mayhem on its path. Hitler proudly declared, â€Å"The enemy has been routed and lead never regain his personnel” (Gilber t 242).But Russia would not give up so easily. As the extent and reality of the German atrocities became widely known throughout Russia, the will to resist stiffened and the â€Å"patriotic war” became in reality a ‘peoples war, but the cost to soldier and civilian alike was horrendous. ((Erickson & Erickson 72). As winter set in, long defense prevented the Germans from capturing Moscow. However, the Russians found a surprising ally. The Germany army was ill-equipped to withstand the freezing severity of the Russian winter and was considerably weakened.The Soviets launched their branch counter-attack on December 11, 1941. However, most a year had to pass before the tide began to turn during the second stagecoach of the Great Patriotic War. With the 1942-43 winter struggle at Stalingrad (along with the crushed German summer offensive at Kursk in 1943), the Soviet Union would consolidate its position and stand as a formidable adversary. The Battle of Stalingrad w ould mark the end of the German advance, and Soviet reinforcements in great numbers would stepwise push the German armies back. 3. Stalingrad in 1941: a prime objectiveStalingrad, originally knownn as Tsaritsyn, had been a prosperous trading town on the Volga during the 19th century. During the Russian Civil War of 1918-21, the Reds had triumphed decisively at Tsaritsyn. Though Stalins portion to the Reds success was not very significant, Stalin named the city after himself when he achieved supreme power in 1925. Subsequently, Stalins role in the victory of 1920 was enhanced through propaganda, and soon it was Stalin was formally recognized for his crucial role in both the October Revolution of 1917 and triumph of 1927.Thus, Stalingrad came to be strongly associated with Stalin and Russian Revolution, a occurrence that added an important psychological dimension in showdown between Hitlers and Stalins forces in the battle of Stalingrad. By 1941, Stalingrad was a city of 600,000 p eople. It had contend an important role in Stalins industrial drive of the 1930s and is location on the Volga ensured that it was a significant player in the Soviet war economy. Hitler had set his sight on Stalingrad because it was a valuable political, economic, communications and psychological objective.From the Soviet perspective, Stalingrad was important not only as a major industrial center but also as the major connecting point to any operations in the Caucasus.Hitler †the Red Army’s biggest allyThe disaster for Germans at Stalingrad did not bring about immediate defeat of Germany, but, after February, 1943, few German officers really believed in victory. The confidence of Hitler himself could not be shaken so easily, of course, one would think. The defeat at Stalingrad drastically widened the rupture of believe between Hitler and the army high command, which began at the battle of Moscow in December 1941.The German defeat at Stalingrad in February 1943 was a hea vy psychological mess to the Wehrmacht and to the Germany people who were accustomed to victory. It raised the beginning(a) widespread doubts about Hitlers leading and the readiness of Germany to win the war. After Stalingrad, Hitler himself was rarely seen in public and his outward behavior became relatively muted. In the mid-1942 the Germany army had already seemed to be in a more low-keyed condition as compared to its irrepressible aggressiveness an year ago.The new Fall Blau (Case Blue) offensive was intended to be a recommencement of the stalled invasion of Russia. Despite Hitlers optimism, the 1941 Campaign †which undetermined along a 2,000 kilometer front and involved 148 combat divisions †failed to shatter Russia â€Å"to its root with one blow. â€Å"… The summer campaign of 1942, although lull immense, was necessarily less ambitious. (Hayward 7) Overriding his generals, Hitler gave the offensive two separate objectives on 90-degree different axe s †the Caucasus oilfields and the Volga crossing at Stalingrad.Fall Blau was deeply blemished by ambiguity of strategic aim. Further, Hitlers amateur attempts to control the deployment of his forces and his opportunistic changes of mind contend an important part in whippy the campaign. For Hitler, Stalingrad had become the main objective of German effort; it was an obsession. Hitler was an amateurish strategist with an unshakeable opinion in his own genius, which no facts from the real world could really affect. His campaigns were foredoomed by grand-strategic misjudgment, a prime example of which is his ‘no retreat insurance policy in Russian from Stalingrad to Berlin.In Hitlers view the summer offensive of 1942 should bring about a final decision in the Russian campaign with the capture of Stalingrad on the Volga and Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, and by occupying the oilfields in the Caucasus. The outskirts of Stalingrad were reached in venerable 1942, with the Ge rmany forces already weakened, but the battle stuck in street and house-to-house fighting. Hitlers front commanders did pass water how much of a gamble the offensives towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus were.They harbored fears about the military capabilitys of the Russian reserves, and the weakness of the diverging German thrusts, dependent as they were for flank egis on the ill-equipped armies of Hungary, Italy and Romania. Most of them felt up that Hitlers tendency to underestimate the Russians was becoming dangerous. His leadership displayed a total lack of any understanding of the command machinery and its function. Colonel-General von Kleist warned Hitler against using the Hungarians, Italians and Romanians as flank protectors for the 6th Army during its struggle for Stalingrad, but the Fuhrer would not listen.The Stalingrad sequel †a German perspectiveThe battle at Stalingrad was a vicious, close-quarter, street fighting. The 6th Army, commanded by Paulus, slogged o n street by street, its flank shelter entrusted by Hitler to Romanian troops. Pauluss units were decimated at the rate of 20,000 casualties a hebdomad. By the end of October, however, only one tenth of Stalingrad still held out, in the north of the city. But the balance of strength was changing. The earlier German superiority had gone. Stalingrad was the first priority for Russian reserves.Sufficient Russian troops were sent into the city to keep the fight going on there. As more Soviet troops were sent into the city, the fighting began to be a block-by-block slogging match, moving back and forth in bloody fighting. straining losses for both sides characterized the street fighting. In advance(prenominal) November, the winter came. The temperatures would soon reach thirty below zero. In the midway of that month, Hitler sent Paulus a message urging one last effort to pure(a) the capture of Stalingrad. By mid-November the Russians were strong plenty to undertake a major offensive .They had 11 armies, several mechanized, cavalry and tank corps, 900 tanks, 1,115 aircraft for the offensive. The were all set to destroy the German forces at Stalingrad (Hoyt 160). Generals Zhukov and Chuikov directed the defense of Stalingrad. Eremenko was also sent to command the Stalingrad front. Hitler staked more and more on Stalingrad’s capture, but Chuikovs 62 Army refused to yield. On 19 November 1942, the Russian counter-strike forces under Zhukov smashed through the Romanians and on 22 November completed their encirclement of Pauluss 6th Army.On November 23 Moscow announced triumphantly that Russian forces had a great victory in the bend of the Don, and that the Germans were now entrapped in Stalingrad. That word convulsed the world… By November 28 the weigh ring around Stalingrad had closed. (Hoyt 205) This was when a new deteriorating phase opened in Hitlers transaction with his generals †that of his utter refusal to face the realities of defeat, o f inferior sources, and of the limits to even the German Soldier’s powers of survival and fighting skill.Hitler saw himself as an essential military genius and blamed the incompetency and lack of willpower of his generals, or their disloyalty to their fuehrer, for all the failures of the German army on its mordant path back to Berlin in the issue of Stalingrad. The Russian attacks fell on creaky held sectors north and south of the city, manned primarily by Romanian forces in the north and by a mixture of further Romanians and units of the 4th Panzer Army in the south. The Russian plan was simply to encircle all of the German forces in the Stalingrad area.The Russians soon stony-broke through the thin defenses, particularly in the north. The 6th Army at Stalingrad was in serious danger. Decisive action at that time could have saved the situation for the Germans, however. If some units were sent north and south to hold the Russians while the bulk of the 6th army withdrew from the ruins of Stalingrad, it would have been saved. The catastrophe that ultimately overtook German army at Stalingrad in February 1943 stemmed largely from Hitlers refusal to sanction an early break-out before the Russian ring could be consolidated.Hitler ordered Paulus and his men to remain in Stalingrad as a forward ‘fortress until the avocation spring. When the Russians closed the ring on 23 November, Paulus was cut off. General von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, the most superior of the corps commanders at Stalingrad, urged Paulus to withdraw without delay before escape became impossible. But Paulus, obedient to his Fuehrer, refused to listen to him. From then on the Germans descended into catastrophe slowly. On January 8 1943 the Russians sent Paulus an ultimatum, go the alternative of honorable surrender or complete annihilation.Consulting Hitler, Paulus refused to surrender again. The Russians continued their attack. They move on from west to east, pressing the Germans b ack into the city. They captured half(a) of the pocked in the first week and then again paused to demand surrender. Again, Paulus consulted Hitler and refused. As long as there was still some hope for at to the lowest degree part of 6th Army breakage out, von Manstein, who commanded the relief efforts, supported Hitler in insistence that Paulus must continue to resist.By 22 January, when the Russians had captured 6th Army’s only stay airfield, Manstein supported Pauluss request for permission to surrender, which Hitler refused. By the end of the month, it was nearly all over for Germans. Only a few units held out until February 1. On the 2 February 1943, the momentous battle of Stalingrad came to an end.ReferencesErickson, John & Erickson, Ljubica. â€Å"Hitler Versus Stalin: The Second world War on the Eastern Front in Photographs. ” London : Carlton Books, 2004.Gilbert, Martin. â€Å"The Second World War: A Complete History.” immature York : Henry Ho lt and Company, 1989.Hayward, Joel S. A. â€Å"Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitlers foiling in the East, 1942-1943. ” Lawrence, KS : University of Kansas Press, 2001.Horner, D. M. & Jukes, Geoffrey. â€Å"The Second World War (5) The Eastern Front 1941-1945. ” Oxford : sea eagle Publishing, 2002.Hoyt, Edwin P. â€Å"199 Days: The Battle for Stalingrad. ” New York : act upon Books, 1993.Zaloga, Steven & Volstad, Ronald. â€Å"The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War 1941-45” (Men-at-Arms). Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 1984.\r\n'

'Diseconomies of Scale Essay\r'

'Diseconomies of scale occur when a unassailable increases its output and the cost of the extensive run output signal of this output in addition increases. Diseconomies of scale occur when a firm is real big to bring somewhat coordination puzzles and change magnitude stimulant costs. This occurs because of two primary(prenominal) reasons: coordination difficultys and the increasing input costs. Coordination problems digest be broken overmatch to several themes. And this problem is usually due to the turning of employees in a firm. One of the issues with coordination is conversation.Upon increasing the number of employees in a firm for the nominate of increasing output, the channels for communication (i.e. ring lines, cost of having internet connection for but information dissemination, etc) withal increases. This is so since proportionality of the number of employees and the communication channels is not 1:1. This means an increase in cost. So in the long run, ha ving to a greater extent than spate becomes not viable already since it now causes coordination problem through communication cost, thus increasing in doing cost in general. An another(prenominal) issue with having a masses of race in a firm is that the firm’s response time becomes bumper-to-bumper. This fanny also be connected to the communication problem that I discussed above.This is so since, having a lot of people implies the pick out for bureaucracy. With bureaucracy, come metre operating procedures, policies to be followed, roles and division of responsibilities, and hierarchies. account a policy which reduces the alliance’s daily cost from 1000USD to 500USD. Before it can be approved, it has to go through a lot, thus causing a slower response time for a very urgent need. Because of the bureaucracy that is needed for arrange a large number of people, the agelong the delay of approving this policy; and the overnight the company delays producing doub ly the output for the alike(p) input cost.Increasing input costs can also be broken down to several issues. One issue with the increasing input costs is that when the firm gets so big, one department might be working with the same projects as with other departments. This means that the firm is producing or profiting from a single project and is paying for twice the number of employees who can actually covering the job. Another issue with increasing input costs is that having a lot of people to do the job needs animal trainers to set up them.Having more managers means paying more for employees who does not actually contribute to the production and is only on that point to supervise the people. So let’s say that there are five employees, paid 10USD, that need one manager, paid 20USD, to supervise them. The manager is acquire 28. 6% of the over-all salary, but the company which pays for 70USD over all is only producing 83. 3% since only 5 out of 6 people are actually worki ng. So, having a lot of people means getting a lot of managers which leaves lesser people who actually does the production.\r\n'

'The Lost Symbol Chapter 79-82\r'

'CHAPTER 79\r\nEight miles due p personal line of crediting of Alexandria, Virginia, Robert Langdon and Katherine Solomon strode calmly cross personal adult malehoodners a wide expanse of frost-c overed lawn.\r\nâ€Å"You should be an actress,” Langdon utter, ease impressed by Katherines quick idea and improvisational skills.\r\nâ€Å"You werent half bad yourself.” She gave him a smile.\r\nAt first, Langdon had been mystified by Katherines abrupt antics in the taxi. With turn bring out warning, she had suddenly de gayded they go to Freedom middle based on approximately disclosure active a Jewish single and the Great Seal of the United States. She move a rise up- accreditn conspiracy-theory image on a dollar bill and accordingly insisted Langdon panorama closely whither she was pointing.\r\nFin ein truth last(predicate)y, Langdon realized that Katherine was pointing non at the dollar bill tho at a tiny indicator medulla on the foul of the drivers s eat. The bulb was so covered with grime that he had non still noniced it. As he leaned forward, however, he could distinguish that the bulb was illuminated, emitting a dull red glow. He could also chat the two st exclusively last(predicate) words this instant beneath the luminousness bulb.\r\nâ€INTERCOM ONâ€\r\n trailtled, Langdon glanced back at Katherine, whose frantic eyeball were urging him to look into the front seat. He obeyed, stealing a discreet glance by dint of the partition. The cabbys prison jail cubicle ph star was on the dash, wide o playpen, illuminated, veneering the intercom speaker. An instant later, Langdon understood Katherines actions.\r\nThey k straightway were in this cab . . . theyve been lis cardinalnering to us.\r\nLangdon had no idea how much time he and Katherine had until their taxi was stopped and surrounded, al whiz he knew they had to act fast. Instantly, hed begun playing along, realizing that Katherines desire to go to Free dom Plaza had nonhing to do with the benefit solely rather with its organism a large vacuum tube berthâ€Metro Centerâ€from which they could take the Red, Blue, or Orange lines in any of half dozen different directions.\r\nThey jumped out of the taxi at Freedom Plaza, and Langdon took over, doing some improvising of his own, leaving a trail to the masonic Memorial in Alexandria before he and Katherine ran down into the subway station, dashing prehistoric the Blue run along platforms and continuing on to the Red Line, where they caught a train in the opposite direction.\r\nloco interrogative hexad stops northbound to Tenleytown, they emerged all al integrity into a quiet, upscale neighborhood. Their destination, the tallest coordinate for miles, was immediately visible on the horizon, repairly get rid of Massachusetts Avenue on a vast expanse of soldieryicured lawn. bid a shot â€Å"off the grid,” as Katherine called it, the two of them walked crossways th e damp grass. On their right was a medieval-style garden, famous for its antiquated rosebushes and Shadow househ elder gazebo. They move past the garden, directly toward the majestic building to which they had been summoned. A refuge containing ten pitfalls from Mount Sinai, one from heaven itself, and one with the visage of Lukes dark be cum.\r\nâ€Å"Ive neer been here at darkness,” Katherine said, gazing up at the brightly lit towers. â€Å"Its spectacular.”\r\nLangdon agreed, having forgotten how impressive this devote truly was. This neo-Gothic chef-doeuvre stood at the north end of Embassy Row. He hadnt been here for hoar age, not since writing a piece approximately it for a kids magazine in hopes of generating some excitement among young Ameri pots to come see this amazing landmark. His articleâ€â€Å"Moses, Moon Rocks, and sensory faculty Wars”â€had been part of the tourist literature for years.\r\n majuscule subject celestial orb it duomo, Langdon thought, contact an un takeed apprehension at being back later on all these years. Where better to ask about One confessedly God?\r\nâ€Å"This cathedral really has ten rock-and-rolls from Mount Sinai?” Katherine asked, gazing up at the twin bell towers.\r\nLangdon nodded. â€Å" penny-pinching the main altar. They symbolize the Ten Com parthooddments given over to Moses on Mount Sinai.”\r\nâ€Å"And in that locations a lunar rock?”\r\nA rock from heaven itself. â€Å"Yes. One of the stained-glass windows is called the Space Window and has a fragment of moon rock insert in it.”\r\nâ€Å"Okay, but you cant be on the dot about the last thing.” Katherine glanced over, her pretty eyes flashing skepticism. â€Å"A statue of . . . Darth Vader?”\r\nLangdon chuckled. â€Å"Luke Skywalkers dark father? Absolutely. Vader is one of the National Cathedrals intimately familiar grotesques.” He pointed high into the w est towers. â€Å" concentrated to see him at night, but hes in that respect.”\r\nâ€Å"What in the ball is Darth Vader doing on Washington National Cathedral?”\r\nâ€Å"A contest for kids to cut a gargoyle that depicted the pillowcase of evil. Darth won.”\r\nThey r severallyed the fantastic staircase to the main entrance, which was set back in an eighty-foot archway beneath a breathtaking rose window. As they began climbing, Langdons musical theme shifted to the mysterious stranger who had called him. No denotes, recreate . . . Tell me, devote you successfully defend the map that was en boldnessed to you? Langdons get up ached from carrying the heavy sway benefit, and he was looking forward to con textbookbook edition it down. Sanctuary and answers. As they approached the top of the stairs, they were met with an fantastic pair of wooden doors. â€Å"Do we just knock?” Katherine asked.\r\nLangdon had been wondering the comparable thing , overleap that presently one of the doors was creaking scatter.\r\nâ€Å"Whos there?” a frail voice said. The boldness of a withered old man appe ard in the doorway. He wore priests robes and a mindless st be. His eyes were opaque and discolour, cloud-covered with cataracts.\r\nâ€Å"My name is Robert Langdon,” he replied. â€Å"Katherine Solomon and I are pursuance mental hospital.”\r\nThe blind man exhaled in relief. â€Å"thank God. Ive been expecting you.”\r\nCHAPTER 80\r\n warren Bellamy mat a sudden ray of hope.\r\n indoors the Jungle, music director Sato had just genuine a peal call from a field operator and had immediately flown into a tirade. â€Å"Well, you damn intimately better find them!” she shouted into her prognosticate. â€Å"Were racetrack out of time!” She had hung up and was now stalking back and forth in front of Bellamy as if nerve-racking to break up what to do next.\r\nFinally, she stopped directly in front of him and turned. â€Å"Mr. Bellamy, Im going to ask you this once, and except once.” She stared deep into his eyes. â€Å"Yes or noâ€do you have any idea where Robert Langdon susceptibility have gone?”\r\nBellamy had much than a corking idea, but he move his head. â€Å"No.”\r\nSatos piercing gaze had never leave his eyes. â€Å"Unfortunately, part of my job is to agnize when people are trickery.”\r\nBellamy averted his eyes. â€Å"Sorry, I cant garter you.”\r\nâ€Å"Architect Bellamy,” Sato said, â€Å"this night just aft(prenominal) seven P.M., you were having dinner in a restaurant outside the city when you received a band call from a man who told you he had kidnapped pecker Solomon.”\r\nBellamy felt up an instant chill and returned his eyes to hers. How could you by chance know that?! â€Å"The man,” Sato continued, â€Å"told you that he had sent Robert Langdon to the Capitol make and given Langdon a task to pass with flying colors . . . a task that required your help. He warned that if Langdon failed in this task, your friend m otherwisefucker Solomon would die. Panicked, you called all of Peters numbers but failed to reach him. Understandably, you indeed raced to the Capitol.”\r\nBellamy could not imagine how Sato knew about this phone call.\r\nâ€Å"As you fled the Capitol,” Sato said behind the combust knock of her cigarette, â€Å"you sent a text meat to Solomons kidnapper, assuring him that you and Langdon had been successful in obtaining the Masonic Pyramid.”\r\nWhere is she getting her information? Bellamy wondered. non even Langdon knows I sent that text subject. Immediately after entering the dig to the Library of Congress, Bellamy had stepped into the electrical manner to plug in the construction lighting. In the cover of that moment, he had decided to send a quick text message to Solomons captor, notice him about Satos invol vement, but reassuring him that he†Bellamyâ€and Langdon had obtained the Masonic Pyramid and would indeed help with his demands. It was a lie, of course, but Bellamy hoped the reassurance might secure time, two for Peter Solomon and also to cloak the benefit.\r\nâ€Å"Who told you I sent a text?” Bellamy demanded.\r\nSato tossed Bellamys cell phone on the judicial system next to him. â€Å"Hardly rocket science.”\r\nBellamy now remembered his phone and keys had been taken from him by the agents who captured him.\r\nâ€Å"As for the rest of my inside information,” Sato said, â€Å"the Patriot roleplay gives me the right to function a dab on the phone of anyone I use up a viable threat to topic surety. I consider Peter Solomon to be such a threat, and last night I took action.”\r\nBellamy could barely get his mind around what she was set uping him. â€Å"Youre tapping Peter Solomons phone?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes. This is how I knew the k idnapper called you at the restaurant. You called Peters cell phone and odd-hand(a) an anxious message explaining what had just happened.”\r\nBellamy realized she was right.\r\nâ€Å"We had also intercepted a call from Robert Langdon, who was in the Capitol Building, deeply upturned to learn he had been tricked into coming there. I went to the Capitol at once, arriving before you because I was closer. As for how I knew to check the roentgenogram of Langdons bulk . . . in light of my realization that Langdon was complicated in all of this, I had my module reexamine a seemingly blameless early-morning call mingled with Langdon and Peter Solomons cell phone, in which the kidnapper, posing as Solomons assistant, persuaded Langdon to come for a lecture and also to deal a microscopic tract that Peter had entrusted to him. When Langdon was not forthcoming with me about the big money he was carrying, I pass oned the X-ray of his bag.”\r\nBellamy could barely think. Admittedly, everything Sato was formulation was feasible, and nonetheless something was not adding up. â€Å"But . . . how could you mayhap think Peter Solomon is a threat to national security?”\r\nâ€Å"Believe me, Peter Solomon is a salutary national-security threat,” she snapped. â€Å"And frankly, Mr. Bellamy, so are you.”\r\nBellamy sat give out upright, the handcuffs chafing against his wrists. â€Å"I beg your free pardon?!”\r\nShe issued a smile. â€Å"You Masons play a insecurityy game. You keep a very, very dangerous occult.”\r\nIs she talking about the quaint Mysteries?\r\nâ€Å"Thankfully, youve always done a good job of keeping your secrets vague. Unfortunately, new-fashionedly youve been careless, and this night, your most dangerous secret is about to be unveiled to the world. And unless we can stop that from happening, I assure you the results leave be catastrophic.”\r\nBellamy stared in bewilderment.\r\nâ€Å"If y ou had not attacked me,” Sato said, â€Å"you would have realized that you and I are on the alike police squad.”\r\nThe same team. The words sparked in Bellamy an idea that seemed near im practical to fathom. Is Sato a member of eastern Star? The Order of the Eastern Star†lots considered a sister presidential term to the Masonsâ€embraced a similar confidential school of thought of benevolence, secret wisdom, and spiritual open-mindedness. The same team? Im in handcuffs! Shes tapping Peters phone!\r\nâ€Å"You leave help me stop this man,” Sato said. â€Å"He has the electromotive force to bring about a sequel from which this country might not recover.” Her face was equal pitfall.\r\nâ€Å" whence why arent you tracking him?”\r\nSato looked incredulous. â€Å"Do you think Im not trying? My trace on Solomons cell phone went dead before we got a location. His other number appears to be a liquid phoneâ€which is almost impossibl e to track. The reclusive-jet association told us that Langdons flight was booked by Solomons assistant, on Solomons cell phone, with Solomons Marquis cat valium card. on that point is no trail. Not that it divisions anyway. even off if we find out exactly where he is, I cant possibly risk miserable in and trying to grab him.”\r\nâ€Å"why not?!”\r\nâ€Å"Id prefer not to parcel of land that, as the information is classified,” Sato said, patience in recountigibly waning. â€Å"I am a struggleg you to trust me on this.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, I dont!”\r\nSatos eyes were standardised ice. She turned suddenly and shouted crosswise the Jungle. â€Å"Agent Hartmann! The briefcase, please.”\r\nBellamy heard the hiss of the electronic door, and an agent strode into the Jungle. He was carrying a guileful titanium briefcase, which he set on the ground beside the OS director.\r\nâ€Å"Leave us,” Sato said.\r\nAs the agent departed, the door h issed again, and then everything brutal silent.\r\nSato picked up the metal case, laid it across her lap, and popped the clasps. and then she raised her eyes behind to Bellamy. â€Å"I did not want to do this, but our time is running out, and youve left me no choice.”\r\nBellamy eyed the strange briefcase and felt a swell of fear. Is she going to torturing me? He strained at his cuffs again. â€Å"Whats in that case?!”\r\nSato smiled grimly. â€Å"Something that go away persuade you to see things my way. I guarantee it.”\r\nCHAPTER 81\r\nThe subsurface space in which Malakh performed the Art was ingeniously hidden. His homes basement, to those who entered, appeared quite normalâ€a normal cellar with boiler, fuse nook, woodpile, and a gallimaufry of storage. This visible cellar, however, was save a spate of Malakhs underground space. A sizable area had been walled off for his clandestine practices.\r\nMalakhs unavowed exert space was a suite of sma ll rooms, each with a narrow down purpose. The areas sole entrance was a steep behave secretly accessible through and through his animation room, making the areas discovery virtually impossible.\r\nTonight, as Malakh descended the ramp, the tattooed sigils and signs on his flesh seemed to come lively in the cerulean glow of his basements specialized lighting. Moving into the bluish haze, he walked past several closed doors and headed directly for the largest room at the end of the corridor.\r\nThe â€Å"sanctum sanctorum,” as Malakh liked to call it, was a consummate(a) twelve-foot square. Twelve are the signs of the zodiac. Twelve are the mins of the day. Twelve are the gates of heaven. In the center of the chamber was a stone table, a seven-by-seven square. seven are the seals of Revelation. Seven are the steps of the Temple. Centered over the table hung a carefully calibrate light source that cycled through a spectrum of preordained colors, completing its cycle eve ry six hours in accordance with the blessed table of Planetary Hours. The hour of Yanor is blue. The hour of Nasnia is red. The hour of Salam is white.\r\nNow was the hour of Caerra, meaning the light in the room had modulated to a soft purplish hue. Wearing simply a silken loincloth intent around his buttocks and neutered gender organ, Malakh began his preparations.\r\nHe carefully combined the suffumigation chemicals that he would later ignite to sanctify the air. Then he folded the virgin silk robe that he would eventually don in place of his loincloth. And finally, he purified a flask of peeing for the anointing of his offering. When he was done, he move all of these prepared ingredients on a side table.\r\nNext he went to a shelf and retrieved a small bead box, which he carried to the side table and set(p) with the other items. Although he was not only ready to use it, he could not resist opening the lid and admiring this treasure.\r\nThe glossa.\r\nInside the ivory box, nestled in a cradle of dark-skinned velvet, shone the sacrificial wound that Malakh had been saving for tonight. He had purchased it for $1.6 million on the Middle Eastern antiquities black market last year.\r\nThe most famous glossa in history.\r\nUnimaginably old and mootd lost, this precious mark was made of iron, attached to a bone handle. Over the ages, it had been in the bullheadedness of countless world-beaterful individuals. In recent decades, however, it had disappeared, languishing in a secret private collection. Malakh had gone to terrible lengths to obtain it. The knife, he suspected, had not drawn root for decades . . . possibly centuries. Tonight, this blade would again taste the power of the sacrifice for which it was honed.\r\nMalakh gently lifted the knife from its cushioned compartment and reverently polished the blade with a silk cloth soaked in purified water. His skills had progressed outstandingly since his first rudimentary experiments in New Y ork. The dark Art that Malakh unspoilt had been known by legion(predicate) call in many languages, but by any name, it was a nice science. This early technology had once held the key to the portals of power, but it had been banished long ago, relegated to the shadows of occultism and magic. Those few who still practiced this Art were considered madmen, but Malakh knew better. This is not cast for those with dull faculties. The ancient dark Art, like modern science, was a discipline involving precise formulas, specific ingredients, and meticulous timing.\r\nThis Art was not the impotent black magic of like a shot, often practiced halfheartedly by curious souls. This Art, like nu receive physics, had the authorization to unleash enormous power. The warnings were dire: The unskilled practitioner runs the risk of being struck by a reflux reliable and destroyed.\r\nMalakh finished admiring the sacred blade and turned his attention to a lone sheet of rich vellum lying on the ta ble before him. He had made this vellum himself from the skin of a mishandle lamb. As was the protocol, the lamb was pure, having not all the same reached sexual maturity. Beside the vellum was a quill pen he had made from the feather of a crow, a silver saucer, and tether gleam candles arranged around a solid-brass cast. The rolling wave contained one inch of thick cherry-red liquid.\r\nThe liquid was Peter Solomons blood.\r\nBlood is the spectre of eternity.\r\nMalakh picked up the quill pen, placed his left hand on the vellum, and dipping the quill tip in the blood, he carefully traced the chalk out of his open palm. When he was done, he added the quintet symbols of the past Mysteries, one on each fingertip of the drawing.\r\nThe crown . . . to represent the king I shall become.\r\nThe star . . . to represent the heavens which have ordained my destiny.\r\nThe sun . . . to represent the luminosity of my soul.\r\nThe lantern . . . to represent the feeble light of servi ceman take careing.\r\nAnd the key . . . to represent the missing piece, that which tonight I shall at last possess.\r\nMalakh end his blood tracing and held up the vellum, admiring his puzzle out in the light of the three candles. He waited until the blood was dry and then folded the thick vellum three times. While chanting an see-through ancient incantation, Malakh convergeed the vellum to the third candle, and it give way into flames. He set the flaming vellum on the silver saucer and let it burn. As it did, the carbon in the animal skin dissolved to a powdery black char. When the flame went out, Malakh carefully tapped the ashes into the brass bowl of blood. Then he stirred the smorgasbord with the crows feather.\r\nThe liquid turned a deeper crimson, around black.\r\nHolding the bowl in both palms, Malakh raised it over his head and gave thanks, intoning the blood eukharistos of the ancients. Then he carefully poured the discolor mixture into a glass ampoule and corked it. This would be the ink with which Malakh would scrape the untattooed flesh atop his head and flesh out his masterpiece.\r\nCHAPTER 82\r\nWashington National Cathedral is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world and soars higher(prenominal) than a thirty-story skyscraper. Embellished with over two vitamin C stained-glass windows, a fifty- three-bell carillon, and a 10,647-pipe organ, this Gothic masterpiece can accommodate more than three thousand worshippers.\r\nTonight, however, the smashing cathedral was deserted.\r\n sacred Colin Gallowayâ€doyen of the cathedralâ€looked like he had been alive forever. Stooped and withered, he wore a simple black cassock and shuffled blindly before without a word. Langdon and Katherine followed in silence through the darkness of the four-hundred-foot- long naves central aisle, which was turn ever so slightly to the left to create a softening optic illusion. When they reached the Great Crossing, the doyen guided them through the r ood screenâ€the symbolic divider between the public area and the sanctuary beyond.\r\nThe scent of frankincense hung in the air of the chancel. This sacred space was dark, illuminated only by indirect reflections in the foliose vaults overhead. Flags of the fifty states hung above the quire, which was ornately ordained with several carved reredos personation biblical events. doyen Galloway continued on, ostensibly knowing this walk by heart. For a moment, Langdon thought they were headed straight for the high altar, where the ten stones from Mount Sinai were embedded, but the old doyen finally turned left and groped his way through a discreetly hidden door that led into an administrative annex.\r\nThey moved down a short lobby to an slip door bearing a brass nameplate:\r\nTHE REVEREND DR. COLIN GALLOWAY\r\nCATHEDRAL doyen\r\nGalloway opened the door and turned on the lights, apparently accustomed to remembering this courtesy for his guests. He ushered them in and closed th e door.\r\nThe deans office was small but elegant, with high bookshelves, a desk, a carved armoire, and a private bathroom. On the walls hung sixteenth-century tapestries and several religious botherationtings. The old dean motioned to the two leather chairs directly opposite his desk. Langdon sat with Katherine and felt delightful finally to set his heavy shoulder bag on the floor at his feet.\r\nSanctuary and answers, Langdon thought, settling into the comfortable chair.\r\nThe senior man shuffled around behind his desk and alleviated himself down into his high-backed chair. Then, with a wear down sigh, he raised his head, staring blankly out at them through clouded eyes. When he spoke, his voice was unexpectedly prepare and strong.\r\nâ€Å"I realize we have never met,” the old man said, â€Å"and until now I feel I know you both.” He took out a handkerchief and dabbed his mouth. â€Å"prof Langdon, I am familiar with your writings, including the cute piece you did on the symbolism of this cathedral. And, Ms. Solomon, your crony, Peter, and I have been Masonic brothers for many years now.”\r\nâ€Å"Peter is in terrible trouble,” Katherine said.\r\nâ€Å"So I have been told.” The old man sighed. â€Å"And I will do everything in my power to help you.”\r\nLangdon saw no Masonic ring on the deans finger, and insofar he knew many Masons, especially those inwardly the clergy, chose not to advertise their affiliation.\r\nAs they began to talk, it became clear that Dean Galloway already knew some of the nights events from Warren Bellamys phone message. As Langdon and Katherine filled him in on the rest, the dean looked more and more troubled.\r\nâ€Å"And this man who has taken our beloved Peter,” the dean said, â€Å"he is insisting you decipher the profit in exchange for Peters life?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” Langdon said. â€Å"He thinks its a map that will address him to the hiding place of the Ancient Mysteries.”\r\nThe dean turned his eerie, opaque eyes toward Langdon. â€Å"My ears tell me you do not debate in such things.”\r\nLangdon did not want to decamp time going down this road. â€Å"It doesnt matter what I believe. We desire to help Peter. Unfortunately, when we decode the pyramid, it pointed nowhere.”\r\nThe old man sat straighter. â€Å"Youve decipher the pyramid?”\r\nKatherine interceded now, quickly explaining that despite Bellamys warnings and her brothers request that Langdon not unwrap the package, she had done so, feeling her first priority was to help her brother however she could. She told the dean about the chromatic capstone, Albrecht Durers magic square, and how it decrypted the sixteen-letter Masonic cipher into the set phrase Jeova Sanctus Unus.\r\nâ€Å"Thats all it says?” the dean asked. â€Å"One True God?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, sir,” Langdon replied. â€Å"Apparently the pyramid is more of a metaph orical map than a geographic one.”\r\nThe dean held out his workforce. â€Å" allow me feel it.” Langdon unzipped his bag and pulled out the pyramid, which he carefully hoisted up on the desk, cathode-ray oscilloscope it directly in front of the reverend.\r\nLangdon and Katherine watched as the old mans frail pass on examined every inch of the stone†the engraved side, the sedate base, and the truncated top. When he was finished, he held out his hands again. â€Å"And the capstone?”\r\nLangdon retrieved the small stone box, set it on the desk, and opened the lid. Then he removed the capstone and placed it into the old mans waiting hands. The dean performed a similar examination, feeling every inch, pausing on the capstones engraving, apparently having some trouble meter reading the small, elegantly inscribed text.\r\nâ€Å"`The secret hides at bottom The Order,” Langdon offered. â€Å"And the words the and order are capitalized.”\r\nThe ol d mans face was expressionless as he positioned the capstone on top of the pyramid and aligned it by maven of touch. He seemed to pause a moment, as if in prayer, and reverently ran his palms over the complete pyramid several times. Then he reached out and located the cube- approach patternd box, taking it in his hands, feeling it carefully, his fingers probing inside and out.\r\nWhen he was done, he set down the box and leaned back in his chair. â€Å"So tell me,” he demanded, his voice suddenly stern. â€Å"why have you come to me?”\r\nThe question took Langdon off guard. â€Å"We came, sir, because you told us to. And Mr. Bellamy said we should trust you.”\r\nâ€Å"And yet you did not trust him?”\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry?”\r\nThe deans white eyes stared directly through Langdon. â€Å"The package containing the capstone was sealed. Mr. Bellamy told you not to open it, and yet you did. In addition, Peter Solomon himself told you not to open it. And y et you did.”\r\nâ€Å"Sir,” Katherine intervened, â€Å"we were trying to help my brother. The man who has him demanded we decipherâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"I can revalue that,” the dean declared, â€Å"and yet what have you achieved by opening the package? Nothing. Peters captor is looking for a location, and he will not be satisfied with the answer of Jeova Sanctus Unus.”\r\nâ€Å"I agree,” Langdon said, â€Å"but unfortunately thats all the pyramid says. As I mentioned, the map seems to be more figurative thanâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Youre mistaken, Professor,” the dean said. â€Å"The Masonic Pyramid is a real map. It points to a real location. You do not understand that, because you have not yet rewrite the pyramid fully. Not even close.”\r\nLangdon and Katherine change startled looks.\r\nThe dean laid his hands back on the pyramid, almost cuddling it. â€Å"This map, like the Ancient Mysteries themselves, has many layers of meani ng. Its authentic secret remains veiled from you.”\r\nâ€Å"Dean Galloway,” Langdon said, â€Å"weve been over every inch of the pyramid and capstone, and theres nothing else to see.”\r\nâ€Å"Not in its current state, no. But objects change.”\r\nâ€Å"Sir?”\r\nâ€Å"Professor, as you know, the portend of this pyramid is one of miraculous shiftative power. figment holds that this pyramid can change its shape . . . alter its physical form to name its secrets. Like the famed stone that released Excalibur into the hands of King Arthur, the Masonic Pyramid can transform itself if it so chooses . . . and reveal its secret to the worthy.”\r\nLangdon now sensed that the old mans right years had perhaps robbed him of his faculties. â€Å"Im sorry, sir. Are you saying this pyramid can undergo a literal physical transformation?”\r\nâ€Å"Professor, if I were to reach out with my hand and transform this pyramid right before your eyes, woul d you believe what you had witnessed?”\r\nLangdon had no idea how to respond. â€Å"I hypothesize I would have no choice.”\r\nâ€Å" genuinely well, then. In a moment, I shall do exactly that.” He dabbed his mouth again. â€Å"let me remind you that there was an era when even the brightest minds perceived the man as flat. For if the earth were round, then surely the oceans would spill off. cypher how they would have mocked you if you proclaim, `Not only is the world a sphere, but there is an invisible, mystical force that holds everything to its surface!”\r\nâ€Å" theres a difference,” Langdon said, â€Å"between the man of gravity . . . and the ability to transform objects with a touch of your hand.”\r\nâ€Å"Is there? Is it not possible that we are still living in the Dark Ages, still mocking the tincture of `mystical forces that we cannot see or comprehend. History, if it has taught us anything at all, has taught us that the strang e ideas we deride today will one day be our celebrated truths. I claim I can transform this pyramid with a touch of my finger, and you question my sanity. I would expect more from an historian. History is replete with great minds who have all proclaimed the same thing . . . great minds who have all insisted that man possesses mystical abilities of which he is unaware.”\r\nLangdon knew the dean was correct. The famous Hermetic aphorism†sleep together ye not that ye are gods?â€was one of the pillars of the Ancient Mysteries. As above, so below . . . piece created in Gods image . . . Apotheosis. This persistent message of mans own divinityâ€of his hidden potentialâ€was the recurring theme in the ancient texts of countless traditions. Even the Holy discussion cried out in Psalms 82:6: Ye are gods!\r\nâ€Å"Professor,” the old man said, â€Å"I realize that you, like many educated people, live trapped between worldsâ€one foot in the spiritual, one foot in the physical. Your heart yearns to believe . . . but your intellect refuses to permit it. As an academic, you would be wise to learn from the great minds of history.” He paused and cleared his throat. â€Å"If Im remembering correctly, one of the greatest minds ever to live proclaimed: `That which is impenetrable to us really exists. posterior the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Who said that?” Langdon said. â€Å"Gandhi?”\r\nâ€Å"No,” Katherine interjected. â€Å"Albert encephalon.”\r\nKatherine Solomon had read every word Einstein had ever written and was struck by his pro constitute respect for the mystical, as well as his predictions that the masses would one day feel the same. The religion of the future, Einstein had predicted, will be a cosmic religion. It will transcend personal God and distract dog ma and theology.\r\nRobert Langdon appeared to be struggling with the idea. Katherine could sense his rising frustration with the old apostolical priest, and she understood. After all, they had traveled here for answers, and they had found instead a blind man who claimed he could transform objects with a touch of his hands. Even so, the old mans overt dear for mystical forces reminded Katherine of her brother.\r\nâ€Å"Father Galloway,” Katherine said, â€Å"Peter is in trouble. The CIA is chasing us. And Warren Bellamy sent us to you for help. I dont know what this pyramid says or where it points, but if deciphering it means that we can help Peter, we need to do that. Mr. Bellamy may have favorite(a) to sacrifice my brothers life to hide this pyramid, but my family has experienced nothing but pain because of it. Whatever secret it may hold, it ends tonight.”\r\nâ€Å"You are correct,” the old man replied, his tone dire. â€Å"It will all end tonight. Youve guaranteed that.” He sighed. â€Å"Ms. Solomon, when you stony-broke the seal on that box, you set in motion a series of events from which there will be no return. There are forces at work tonight that you do not yet comprehend. There is no turning back.”\r\nKatherine stared dumbfounded at the reverend. There was something apocalyptic about his tone, as if he were referring to the Seven Seals of Revelation or Pandoras box.\r\nâ€Å"Respectfully, sir,” Langdon interceded, â€Å"I cant imagine how a stone pyramid could set in motion anything at all.”\r\nâ€Å"Of course you cant, Professor.” The old man stared blindly through him. â€Å"You do not yet have eyes to see.”\r\n'