With the technology of the new millennium continuing to advance, there has been an increased interest in participatory forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror entertainment such as role-playing and computer games, websites, and virtual reality settings. People seem to have a desire to go beyond the ordinary and well into the fantastic. This work is a compilation of new essays (all but one never before published) written by experts in both electronic and non-electronic game genres, covering computer games, web pages, Internet role-playing, interactive movies, table-top games, live-action role-playing, ghost hunts, action figures and amusement park rides. They cover a variety of viewpoints as to how and why people become so engrossed with virtual reality–type activities.
This is a biomechanics book with a difference. In it, Dr Cleather shows why an understanding of force is a critical factor in planning effective training programmes. Along the way, he debunks many myths that are prevalent within the strength and conditioning community. Written in digestible short chapters and assuming no prior biomechanical knowledge, 'Force' is essential reading for all coaches and athletes.
Instant New York Times Bestseller Best of 2017 - included on best-of lists by the New York Times, NPR, Barnes & Noble, Publisher's Weekly, LitHub, BookPage, Booklist, TheRealBookSpy.com, the Financial Times (UK) and the Daily Mail (UK) “The Force is mesmerizing, a triumph. Think The Godfather, only with cops. It’s that good.” — Stephen King The acclaimed, award-winning, bestselling author of The Cartel—voted one of the Best Books of the Year by more than sixty publications, including the New York Times—returns with a cinematic epic as explosive, powerful, and unforgettable as Mystic River and The Wire. Our ends know our beginnings, but the reverse isn’t true . . . All Denny Malone wants is to be a good cop. He is “the King of Manhattan North,” a, highly decorated NYPD detective sergeant and the real leader of “Da Force.” Malone and his crew are the smartest, the toughest, the quickest, the bravest, and the baddest, an elite special unit given unrestricted authority to wage war on gangs, drugs and guns. Every day and every night for the eighteen years he’s spent on the Job, Malone has served on the front lines, witnessing the hurt, the dead, the victims, the perps. He’s done whatever it takes to serve and protect in a city built by ambition and corruption, where no one is clean—including Malone himself. What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all. Based on years of research inside the NYPD, this is the great cop novel of our time and a book only Don Winslow could write: a haunting and heartbreaking story of greed and violence, inequality and race, crime and injustice, retribution and redemption that reveals the seemingly insurmountable tensions between the police and the diverse citizens they serve. A searing portrait of a city and a courageous, heroic, and deeply flawed man who stands at the edge of its abyss, The Force is a masterpiece of urban living full of shocking and surprising twists, leavened by flashes of dark humor, a morally complex and utterly riveting dissection of modern American society and the controversial issues confronting and dividing us today.
To boost your sales group's performance, give your salespeople very specific assessments and instructions, as per authors Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha and Greggor A. Zoltners. The trouble here is that the instructions are not only detailed, they are highly technical. You have to see sales as a science to make the best use of the graphs, charts, lists, diagrams and formulas. If you can make your way through the academic writing, you'll find some useful hard data, such as statistical evidence that backs the need for precise sales performance assessments. Despite its lengthy retelling of some very basic sales principles, getAbstract.com recommends this manual to the audience its authors suggest, "sales managers, top managers, salespeople who want to advance professionally, divisional presidents and business owners" plus business school students. If you're going to be academic, you might as well learn something.
To meet the challenges facing the Army, the Army needs predictor measures that will enhance entry-level Soldier selection and classification. One of the purposes of the Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI's) Army Class project is to provide the Army with recommendations on which predictor measures, in particular measures of non-cognitive attributes (e.g., interests, values, and temperament), demonstrate the greatest potential to inform entry-level Soldier selection and classification decisions. The present report documents the development of criterion measures to assist in these analyses. A second purpose of the Army Class project is to develop and pilot job knowledge tests (JKTs) that can be used to aid reclassification decisions. If Soldiers are shown to possess critical knowledge, skills, and attributes (KSAs) for their new jobs, this could reduce training requirements and increase force readiness. This report documents the development of reclassification JKT test items.
The Army needs the best personnel to meet the emerging demands of the 21st century. Accordingly, the Army is seeking recommendations on new experimental predictor measures that could enhance entry-level Soldier selection and classification decisions, in particular, measures of non-cognitive attributes (e.g., interests, values, temperament). The U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) is conducting a longitudinal criterion-related validation research effort to collect data to inform these recommendations. Data on experimental predictors were collected from about 11,000 Soldiers. Training criterion data were collected for differing subsets of the predictor sample in the first of three planned criterion measurement points. Soldiers were drawn from two samples: (a) job-specific samples targeting six entry-level Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) and (b) an Army-wide sample with no MOS-specific requirements. In the analyses reported here, the value of the experimental predictor measures to enhance new Soldier selection was examined. Overall, many of the experimental predictors significantly incremented the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) in predicting Soldier performance and retention during training. In addition, the experimental predictors generally exhibited smaller subgroup mean differences (by gender, race, and ethnicity) than the AFQT.
Limited research exists about the determinants of sales organization effectiveness in pharmaceutical sales organizations. To fill this void, sales management control, sales territory design, and sales force performance are conceptualized as antecedents to sales organization effectiveness in pharmaceutical sales organizations. The results of the structural equation model tested suggested that pharmaceutical sales representatives perform better and are more effective when they are satisfied with sales territory design because of its significant relationship with sales force behavioral performance. The present study suggests sales force behavioral performance leads to sales organization effectiveness through its significant relationship to sales force outcome performance. These findings are somewhat different to those from similar studies in other industries, and identify some important implications for sales leaders in the pharmaceutical industry as well as suggesting a number of important research directions.
The contribution of culture to organizational performance is substantial and quantifiable. In The Culture Cycle, renowned thought leader James Heskett demonstrates how an effective culture can account for 20-30% of the differential in performance compared with "culturally unremarkable" competitors. Drawing on decades of field research and dozens of case studies, Heskett introduces a powerful conceptual framework for managing culture, and shows it at work in a real-world setting. Heskett's "culture cycle" identifies cause-and-effect relationships that are crucial to shaping effective cultures, and demonstrates how to calculate culture's economic value through "Four Rs": referrals, retention, returns to labor, and relationships. This book: Explains how culture evolves, can be shaped and sustained, and serve as the organization's "internal brand." Shows how culture can promote innovation and survival in tough times. Guides leaders in linking culture to strategy and managing forces that challenge it. Shows how to credibly quantify culture's impact on performance, productivity, and profits. Clarifies culture's unique role in mission-driven organizations. A follow-up to the classic Corporate Culture and Performance (authored by Heskett and John Kotter), this is the next indispensable book on organizational culture. "Heskett (emer., Harvard Business School) provides an exhaustive examination of corporate policies, practices, and behaviors in organizations." Summing Up: Recommended. Reprinted with permission from CHOICE, copyright by the American Library Association.
"By contemplating and applying the precious knowledge in these pages, you will learn to make everything in your life easier . . . Relationships. Jobs. Family. Creativity. Happiness. And maybe even doing something more game-changing than you've ever thought possible." - Dave Asprey Why do some people thrive while others just get by? What's their secret to peak performance and maximum happiness? Some call it the zest, the gusto, or the extra edge in life. The ancient Indian spiritual tradition Vedanta calls it prana, or life force. We can call it vital force. By any name, it's the fundamental fuel that activates and optimizes all physical, emotional, and cognitive functions, including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgment, and memory. In modern life, we have forgotten the golden key-the higher our energy, the better our performance in everything we do. Energy naturally impacts mind-set and moves us toward greater happiness, success, and self-awareness. This book gives you back your power with simple tools to take hold of the limitless energy of life itself-more swiftly and easily than you ever thought possible. Rajshree Patel is a former federal prosecutor who discovered Vedanta by accident and went on to become an internationally renowned teacher of its deep wisdom and dynamic practice. In these pages, she reveals: • What vital force is, how it influences every single aspect of your life, how to enhance it-and how your mind, the biggest energy hog, can drain it; • Tools to dial down the chatter of your racing mind and resolve your personal energy crisis; • Why traditional mindfulness meditation may not be your best path to inner peace; • Easy biohacking techniques, from breath work to meditation to movement, that reduce stress and maximize joy; and • Ancient secrets to fuel your purpose and performance in every aspect of your life. The Power of Vital Force is a practical pathway to the unlimited source of energy and intelligence that exists beyond the thinking and reasoning mind.
