The Four Pillars Of Public Administration - 767 Words

The four pillars of Public Administration or better known as, â€Å"E’s of Great Governance,† are a way of balancing public administration’s actions throughout society. In this attempt of keeping all four pillars equal, it allows us in public administration to make decisions best for the common good. Throughout the time in administration, officials have struggled to balance them all correctly, because one must make trade off’s in times of crisis or conflict which may not be a balanced decision. Although these are not the only values of government decision-making or service delivery, these four pillars are the core values that support our practice of public service implementation. The first of the four pillars is Economy; economy is getting the most done for the tax payers’ dollar. This means officials must manage resources to give the resources needed, but at the lowest cost possible. For example, adequately funding organizational priorities on limited budgets, maintaining credit ratings or limiting tax levy increases, these are all examples of actions done in the pillar of economy. Along with the economy pillar, we have our closely related pillar Efficiency; efficiency is the act of getting the most public good done in a short amount of time. This would include things like, street plowing; creating a one stop shop for multiple services, what departments can we tie together, how we can use technology to get more accomplished quickly. All the while, keeping the first pillar inShow MoreRelatedDecentralization Of Public Administration : Contemporary And Developing Nations1229 Words   |  5 Pages Decentralization in Public Administration: Contemporary Efficacy in Fiscal Affairs Lenna Sliney University of North Carolina at Pembroke Decentralization in Public Administration: Contemporary Efficacy in Fiscal Affairs Decentralization is a systems theory approach, but there is division in existing scholarship on a generalized operating definition and the causality or correlation with economic development, resulting in myriad conclusions on its efficacy and necessities for successful implementationRead MoreSafety Management Systems And The Efficiency Provided Throughout The Industry1285 Words   |  6 Pagesvariable. Safety Management Systems provide and will continue to contribute to the assessment and hopeful elimination of most risks. The system’s four pillars explain the function of Safety Management Systems and the overall effectiveness of implementation for any organization. Structure of SMS The Federal Aviation Administration gives the public the basis key point of Safety Management Systems, â€Å"Safety Management Systems is all about safety and decision making through-out the organizationRead MoreSafety Management Systems And The Efficiency Provided Throughout The Industry1565 Words   |  7 Pagesvariable. Safety Management Systems provide and will continue to contribute to the assessment and hopeful elimination of most risks. The system’s four pillars explain the function of Safety Management Systems and the overall effectiveness of implementation for any organization. Structure of SMS The Federal Aviation Administration gives the public the basis key point of Safety Management Systems, â€Å"Safety Management Systems is all about safety and decision making through-out the organizationRead MoreKey Provisions Of The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement1656 Words   |  7 Pageswould encompass 40 percent of the world’s economy and produce over $300 billion U.S. dollars a year. Labor, goods, services, textiles, and intellectual property make up some of the key provisions of particular interest to the U.S. The President’s Administration is seeking â€Å"Fast Track Approval† to move this agreement unmolested through Congress for ratification. Due to many conflicting and competing outside interests, the negotiation proceedings have been kept secret so as to not complicate an alreadyRead MoreCreating A Culture Of Quality1069 Words   |  5 PagesCounty EMS In order to create a culture of quality having quality employees, promoting leaders, and maintaining quality within the service. An article in EMSWorld states that reliability, maturity, adaptability, and good judgement are four traits to look for when hiring employees. These traits can be difficult identify that an applicant portrays due to only being with the applicant for a short amount of time in the interview process. Looking for small clues can be a large assistanceRead MoreArchbishop Wood High School Essay2448 Words   |  10 PagesHigh School has a solid base in the analytics field of competition. Our school possesses several key characteristics and values that fall within the four pillars of analytical competition. As it currently stands, Archbishop Wood possesses characteristics in three of the four pillars, although with varying levels of degree and progress. Of the four pillars, Archbishop Wood High School has following characteristics: the support of a strategic, distinctive capability, an enterprise level approach to analyticsRead MoreThe Natural Gas Production Of The United States Essay1303 Wo rds   |  6 Pagesthey became the first company to voluntarily disclose the fracking fluid additives on a per well basis. Of which they disclosed that it consists of 99.9 percent water and 0.1 percent of common household chemicals. This has earned respect from the public, environmentalist groups, and the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the case study as well as their website, open communication is a main concern, as it helps build trust among the stakeholders about the safety of the production processRead MoreCisco Systems Inc. And The Leadership Of John T. Chambers1299 Words   |  6 Pagesformer Chief Executive Officer of Cisco Systems. Chambers holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business and a law degree from West Virginia University and a master of business administration degree in finance and management from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. After obtaining his master of business administration degree, Chambers began his career in technology at IBM in 1976. In 1983, he moved to Wang Laboratories. There, he became the vice president of US operations in 1987. InRead MoreWhite House Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Essay1487 Words   |  6 Pagesmethods by which the Constitution, specifically the powers of Congress address the role of the government through the use of business administration. Public Policy Challenges with the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) The health care policy for many years has posed significant challenges for administrators within the federal system, which also span in the public, nonprofit and business arena. One of the administrative agency’s primary area of focus is to educate individual through preventiveRead MoreHealthy People 2020: Discussion Questions751 Words   |  3 Pagesprofessionals. The vision of Healthy People 2020 is to create a society in which all people live long, healthy lives along with a proactive mission which involves the following steps, to: Identify nationwide health improvement priorities. Increase public awareness and understanding of the determinants of health, disease, and disability and the opportunities for progress. Provide measurable objectives and goals that are applicable at the national, State, and local levels. Engage multiple sectors to

Piaget, Skinner and Vygotskys Theories on Images of...

Children are created to make images show the history, beliefs and the values of learning and teaching. This essay is about deconstructing the following statement in light of theories Piaget, Skinner and Vygotsky with teaching, learning and developing. â€Å" †¦our image of the child is rich in potential, strong, powerful, competent and most of all, connected to adults and other children†. Malaguzzi (as cited in Dahlberg, Moss and Pence, 2007, p.48). The statement demonstrates children through the theories Piaget, Skinner and Vygotsky and how they are connected to the statement Malaguzzi (cited in Dahlberg, Moss and Pence), in images of children, being rich in potential, strong and powerful in children’s learning and†¦show more content†¦Piaget, Skinner and Vygotsky all complement and contradict the statement in many ways. Piaget does not see adults connecting with children rather children connecting with children in the learning and teaching and only needing a teacher for guides but displays through the theory of children being strong, powerful and competent in learning (McLeod, 2012 -Jean Piaget). Vygotsky and Skinner agree that adults connecting with children brings more knowledge, understanding; bond with the adults and behaviour talking and be up to date with the adults (McLeod, 2013). Skinner and Vygotsky comprehend rich in potential and strong, powerful and competent through reinforcement in being positive, having strengths to force on and being social and involved in life. Piaget, Skinner and Vygotsky all have different ways children development and the way adults image children. Strong and powerful children in learning: The part of the statement ‘Strong and powerful children in learning is children being confident, self-assured, knowledgeable, understanding of learning and influential. Piaget’s theory to this statement is that children are actively constructing their understanding of the world as their bodies grow and their minds grow as well (khanacademymedicine, 2013), though learning. This shows that children are learning and developing they’re understanding of what is being taughtShow MoreRelatedSocial Learning And Teaching Play Essay1382 Words   |  6 PagesThere is a part in the handbook, learning and teaching play. Play involves the holistic child, from the physical, psychological, intellectual, social, and emotional. Either by working independently or group work. Play is now a big part of the curriculum as doesn’t just help with the teaching side, but it also gives the children a way to relax and be themselves, and to express their feelings or what is going on i n their life through play. (http://ccea.org.uk accessed on 29th November 2016) Tina BruceRead MoreEarly Childhood Education And Care1751 Words   |  8 Pageseducational programs and strategies geared towards children from birth to the age of eight, these cover both prior-to-school learning and the early years of primary school (Ailwood, Boyd, Theobald 2016). Early childhood settings are often known to be long day cares, occasional care, family day care, preschools and kindergartens (Early Years Learning Framework 2009 page 8). These environments are safe, caring, welcoming environments that promote learning in a child’s mind by encouraging the use of realRead MoreThe Role Of Classical Conditioning And Operant Conditioning981 Words   |  4 PagesBehaviourism Behaviourism is a learning theory founded by American psychologist John B. Watson, which grew to be a dominant strand of psychology in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Watson argued that observing behaviour rather than internal processes gives an insightful and more accurate understanding of learning. Behaviourism is based on the belief that the way in which we learn to behave is a result of the way we are conditioned by our surroundings or the environment in which we interactRead MoreTheories of Development6168 Words   |  25 PagesTheories of Development Multiple Choice Questions 1) Which of the following theories relies on the understanding of internal drives and emotions to answer the whys of human development? A) Psychoanalytic B) Humanistic C) Biological D) Cognitive Answer: A Page Ref: 24 2) Psychoanalytic theorists suggests that human development depends on A) our ability to accommodate external stimuli. B) our ability to modify our behavior based on the prospect of rewards or punishmentRead MoreHow Does the Brain Work? Essay2919 Words   |  12 Pagesneeds to have answered in order to be able to teach effectively. Following are some explanations that have guided my understanding of how I have learned and how I can become more effective in my teaching practice. The brain is a good place to start when we talk about learning. â€Å"It is sometimes referred to as a muscle of thinking.† (Biology about.com)There are lots of different parts to the brain, but the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain are the biggest parts of the brainRead MoreChild Development and Learning Focusing on Language Development1975 Words   |  8 Pagesdevelopment and learning focusing on language development This essay is about a child’s development and learning, focusing primarily on language development. It will describe the main stages of developmental milestones and the key concepts involved for children to develop their language skills, discussing language acquisition and social learning theory. The essay will also look into the key theorists involved in language development, primarily Vygotsky and Chomsky, and how these theories have had anRead MoreDevelopmental Psychology14082 Words   |  57 PagesDISCUSS AND EVALUATE THE POINT OF VIEW OF VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY AND THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH WITH REGARD TO THE ISSUES UNDERLYING CHILD DEVELOPMENT * THE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT (CONTINUOUS OR DISCONTINUOUS) * THE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT: ONE OR MANY * FACTORS THAT DETERMINE DEVELOPMENT (NATURE/NURTURE) Introduction Child development has many theories with different ideas about what children are like and how they change. Children are beings who change physically, cognitivelyRead MoreFactors Affecting Motivation to Learn English25117 Words   |  101 Pagesthis study is to determine the factors which contribute to English proficiency in Chinese students in Johor Bahru. Investigating the factors that contribute to English proficiency might partially explain the occurrence of underachievement in the learning English. The study was conducted with a self-reported questionnaire as an instrument. Data was collected from a sample of 119 students from Southern College, a Chinese community run college based in Johor Bahru. Data was analyzed using the SPSS versionRead MoreDevelopmental Psychology14091 Words   |  57 PagesDISCUSS AND EVALUATE THE POINT OF VIEW OF VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY AND THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH WITH REGARD TO THE ISSUES UNDERLYING CHILD DEVELOPMENT * THE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT (CONTINUOUS OR DISCONTINUOUS) * THE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT: ONE OR MANY * FACTORS THAT DETERMINE DEVELOPMENT (NATURE/NURTURE) Introduction Child development has many theories with different ideas about what children are like and how they change. Children are beings who change physically, cognitivelyRead MoreSLA Lg teaching methods approaches7312 Words   |  30 Pagesï » ¿ An Overview of Language Teaching Methods and Approaches â€Å"†¦there is, as Gebhard et al.(1990:16) argue, no convincing evidence from pedagogic research, including research into second language instruction, that there is any universally or ‘best’ way to teach. Although, clearly, particular approaches are likely to prove more effective in certain situations, blanket prescription is difficult to support theoretically. The art of teaching does not lie in accessing a checklist of skills but rather

Health Psychology of Biopsychosocial Interactions assignment sample

Question: Discuss about the Health Psychology for Biopsychosocial Interactions. Answer: Introduction The behavioral and psychological factors are closely associated with the wellbeing and health of an individual. According to Edlin Golanty (2012), the impish link in between lifestyle, social factors and psychological wellness determines the constant transformation within an individual. This discourse will explain the basic concepts and cultural understanding of health and wellness. There are several contradictions related to the influence of the cultures in health beliefs, as every culture possesses suitable systems of various health beliefs and wellness, which clearly demonstrate the wellness of an individual. Sarafino Smith (2014) have mentioned that the concept of global markets often vary with the concept of health, illness and wellness of an individual. This discourse will also discuss the importance of biopsychosocial factors for maintain the health and wellbeing of an individual. This essay will also elaborate the mutual dependency in between psychology and biology for prom oting good health, wellbeing and prevent illness. This particular study will reflects health, wellness is more than the absence of diseases, and it requires more than medical treatment. Discussion A concept of wellness suggests a better stage than the physical health, nutrition or exercise. Wellness determines a full integration of the states of mental, spiritual wellbeing and physical health. The term of health and wellness has considered as an essential tool for the global marketers in several industries as the individuals constantly changes their existing habits in order to pursue a better and healthier lifestyle. As opined by Weiss Lonnquist (2015), health and wellness of an individual are depended on the lifestyle and consuming nature and habit of foods. Although the existing definitions and concept of health and wellbeing are ranged from physical to the spiritual, therefore, it is noteworthy to mention here that the wellness and health help an individual to bake adequate decisions in order to improve the overall state of the health of an individual. The general components of pursuit of the health and wellness suggest the healthier food consumption, physical fitness and avoidance of any kind of potentially harmful behaviors of the individual. On the other hand, healthier food consumption can be considered, as an essential part of achieving good health as the belief regarding the health and wellness tend to hinge the capacity of food consumptions, which is directly concerned with the physical health. As opined by Hoeger Hoeger (2016), the maintenance of sensible and healthier diet has become major aspect in the health and wellness psychology and philosophy. On the other hand, physical fitness denotes an active personality, who maintains healthy lifestyle by physical exercise. Avoidance of potentially harmful behaviors suggest avoiding any kind of unhealthy lifestyle such as avoiding smoking, consume healthy diet, daily exercise. Wellness theories focus on the expansion of the health triangle model of biopsychosocial factors involving the occupational health and spiritual health. According to Parmelee (2014), the society and community believes that illness is an outcome of the supernatural phenomena for promoting prayers and existing spiritual interventions, which can be countered as presumed disfavor of the powerful forces. The cultural issues usually play essential role in patient compliance. The care service providers should have adequate knowledge regarding the cultural belief of health and wellness of an individual. Cultural understanding of health and wellness involves healthy aging, which includes many aspects of life rather than only getting old without any kid of disease. According to Miller (2014), the cultural understanding of health and wellness can be concerned and concentrated on various ways, which older adults can avoid for supporting and promoting the basic ability to prevent the illness. However, the concept and idea of healthy aging involves a highest possible level of the self-management of several chronic conditions. On the other hand, th ere are some contradictions regarding the healthy aging, which can be fitted into the understanding of the cultural diversity. Donatelle Ketcham (2013) have suggested that healthcare sectors has started to recognize the essential role of understanding the responsibility of understanding the language, culture and ethnic requirements in order to grow the number of healthy older adults. Caltabiano Sarafino (2008) have suggested that the healthcare disparities can be considered as mitigating any kind of potential issues within the experience of the ethnic groups, which possess different type cultural beliefs than the other across the world. Even some crucial contradictions regarding the cultural understanding of health and wellness includes the importance of cultural diversity in the wellness program as healthcare is solely based upon various concepts and beliefs of individuals. A general and standard type of system or template has been put into the places with an expectation, which a s individual requires services that will find a process of adapting the actual system of their own existing beliefs or experiences. On the other hand, the basic of wellness has been revolved around a person-centered concentration (Tulchinsky Varavikova, 2014). Such understanding and beliefs often helps an individual to determine best health decisions, changing behavior based on relevant information. It also improves the condition of health for preventing and decreasing the potential risk of decline. Health is solely concerned with the traditionally equated without the existence of any kind of diseases. A drawback of the fundamental pathology clearly defines and determines the health of an individual, whereas the biological driven pathogens and critical conditions, which can render the poor health condition of an individual. However, a narrow possibility on the health limitation suggests the basic understanding of the health and wellbeing. DeSteno et al. (2013) have referred that biopsychosocial processes play an important role for health and wellness. The biopsychosocial processes can be viewed as a broad medium, which attributes various outcomes of diseases to the variable and intricate interaction of the biological factors, such as biochemical etc. On the other hand, biopsychosocial processes also help to understand the psychological factors, for instances, personality, mood, behavior and the social factors, such as familial, cultural, medical and socioeconomic. From various r esearches and studies, it has been clarified that biological, psychological and social factors fundamentally determine the health and wellness of the individual. According to McMahon Fleury (2012), holistic health is concerned as biopsychosocial model, which posits psychological, biological and social factors. The basic premise that all of these factors are layered with each other and interconnected has lead towards an outcome in a completely new way of looking health and illness and wellbeing. As biopsychosocial model is concerned as biomedical model, therefore the fundamental efficiency of this particular model can be employed to treat and diagnose intricate diseases. There are arguments related to this model as it hardly focuses on the psychological factor, which is considered as an essential factor of wellbeing in todays modern and complex life. Girard et al. (2013) have referred that this dominant model of biomedical leaves no scope for psychological, behavioral and social dimensions of illness. On the other hand, biopsychosocial model provides a perfect opportunity for designing a better world of treatment of critical diseases in the modern health care system across the world. For instance, depression, a psychological condition can be treated with the effective employment of biopsych osocial model as it examines the relevant contribution of social, psychological and biological factors for mental diseases. Some of individuals suffering from depression may become immune to neurotransmitter malfunctions and other clinical medicines, this particular model may be proved helpful for them. Various researches on this particular model have clearly shown that the biologically depended personality characteristics possess a suitable kind of influencing aspects to overcome depressive symptoms from an individuals life. There are also mentions of social stressors, which perform like triggers and are responsible for causing sudden transformation in the entire brain functioning that leads towards the depressive symptoms (Edlin Golanty, 2012). The psychosocial factors, such as hostility, stress, hopeless stress, and risk and job control often contribute to the illness of an individual. Psychosocial hypothesis has proposed various psychosocial factors that are essential of health inequalities. Mental states, social environment and psychological traits that suggests negative connotation. The preceding remarks on plausibility notwithstanding, it is noteworthy to mention here that the psychosocial adversity may cause physical diseases, even it possess the capability of fostering unhealthy behavior, such as smoking, which can lead directly to the neuroendocrine perturbations, which influence the basic risk of diseases. Even psychosocial factors are linked with the paternal postnatal depression (Girard et al., 2013). Conclusion This discourse truly determines that health and wellness is more than the fundamental absence of disease. The social, psychological and biological factors are required for the state of health and wellness more than the medical treatment. Various factors of biopsychosocial processes and examples of it are elaborately discussed in this study for providing a view on the concerned topic. There are certain situations, which are neither approachable nor unfeasible. There is an essential incorporation of relationship in between the fundamental and contingent causes of psychosocial factors. Depression and stress are another example of psychosocial factors that may influence the risk of health. The social disadvantage is interconnected with the poor physical health and is heightened for expositing several psychosocial factors with the negative social connotation. Even the psychosocial hypothesis may hold certain exposure, which mediate the link in between physical health, psychological interv ention and social disadvantage for improving the health of the disadvantaged. References Caltabiano, M. L., Sarafino, E. P., Byrne, D. (2008). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions (2nd Australian ed.). Milton, Qld.: John Wiley Sons. DeSteno, D., Gross, J. J., Kubzansky, L. (2013). Affective science and health: The importance of emotion and emotion regulation.Health Psychology,32(5), 474. Donatelle, R. J., Ketcham, P. (2013).Access to health. Pearson Higher Ed. Edlin, G., Golanty, E. (2012).Health and wellness. Jones Bartlett Publishers. Girard, M. E., Lacharit, C., Dubeau, D., Devault, A. (2013). Psychosocial factors associated with paternal postnatal depression.Journal of affective disorders,150(1), 44-49. Hoeger, W. W., Hoeger, S. A. (2016).Lifetime physical fitness and wellness: A personalized program. Cengage Learning. McMahon, S., Fleury, J. (2012, January). Wellness in older adults: A concept analysis. InNursing forum(Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 39-51). Blackwell Publishing Inc. Miller, J. W. (2014). Wellness: The history and development of a concept. Parmelee Jr, A. H. (2014). and Disease Concepts.Emotion, Cognition, Health, and Development in Children and Adolescents (PLE: Emotion),10, 155. Sarafino, E. P., Smith, T. W. (2014).Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions. John Wiley Sons. Tulchinsky, T. H., Varavikova, E. A. (2014).The new public health. Academic Press. Weiss, G. L., Lonnquist, L. E. (2015).Sociology of health, healing, and illness. Routledge.

Sword Art Online free essay sample

A grey sword cut my shoulder. The thin line at the top left corner of my field of vision shrank slightly. At the same time a cold hand passed over my heart. The blue line —called the â€Å"HP bar†Ã¢â‚¬â€ is a visual rendering of my life force. There was still a little over 80% left. No, that phrase isnt appropriate enough. Right now, I was about 20% closer to death. I dashed backwards before the enemys sword even began its attacking motion. â€Å"Haaa † I forced a huge breath to steady myself. The  «body » in this world didnt need oxygen; but the body on the other side, or rather the body lying down in the real world, would be breathing heavily. My limp hands would be soaked with sweat, and my heartbeat would be off the charts. Of course. Even if everything I see right now is nothing more than a rendering of a 3D virtual reality, and the bar being reduced was nothing more than a bunch of numbers that showed my hit points, the fact that I was fighting for my life didnt change. We will write a custom essay sample on Sword Art Online or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When you think about it like that, this fight was extremely unfair. Thats because the  «enemy » in front of me —a humanoid with dully shining arms covered in dark green scales and a lizards head and tail— was not a human, nor was it really alive. It was a digital lump that the system would replace regardless of how many times it was killed. —No. The AI that controlled the lizardman was studying my movements and enhancing its ability to respond to them with every second that passed. However, the moment that this unit was destroyed, the data would be reset instead of being passed on to the unit that would regenerate in this area. So in a sense, this lizardman was also alive, a single being unique to this world. â€Å" right? † There was no way that it would have understood the word that I had muttered to myself, but the lizardman (a level 82 monster called  «Lizardman Lord ») hissed and smiled, showing the sharp fangs that protruded from its long jaw. This is reality. Everything in this world is real. Theres no virtual reality or fakery of any kind. I shifted the one-handed long sword in my right hand to waist-height and watched the enemy. The lizardman moved the buckler in his left hand forward and drew back the scimitar to his right. A chill breeze blew into the shadowed dungeon and the flame of the torch shook. The wet floor softly reflected the flickering torch-light. â€Å"Kraaah!! † With a tremendous scream, the lizardman leapt. The scimitar drew a sharp arc as it flew towards me. A blinding orange light lit its trajectory; a high-class one-hit sword skill of the curved sword  «Fell Crescent ». It was a formidable charge-type sword skill that covered a distance of 4 meters in 0. 4 seconds. But, I was already expecting the attack. I had slowly increased the distance to lure the AI into creating this situation. I closed in on the lizardman, my mind registering the burning smell that the scimitar left behind as it sliced through the air merely centimeters before my nose. â€Å" Ha! † With a short shout, I swung my sword horizontally. The sword, now covered in sky-blue light, cut through the thinly protected stomach and bright red light scattered instead of blood. There was a low scream. However, my sword didnt stop. The system assisted me through the programmed movements and chained the next slash with a speed that would normally have been impossible. This is the most important element in battles in this world,  «Sword Skill ». The sword sped off right from left and cut into the lizardmans chest. In this state, I spun my body in a full circle and the third strike stuck the enemy more deeply than before. â€Å"Raarrgh! † As soon as the lizardman recovered from being stunned briefly because it failed to hit with a big skill, it screamed with rage or perhaps fear, and raised its scimitar high in the air. But my chain had not ended. The sword that had been swinging right suddenly sprang, as if forced by a spring, left and up and hit its heart—a critical point. The sky-blue rhombus drawn by my four consecutive hits flashed then scattered; a horizontal, consecutive 4-hit skill,  «Horizontal Square ». The clear light shone strongly in the dungeon and then faded. At the same time, the HP bar above the Lizardmans head disappeared without even a single dot left. The huge body fell, leaving a long trail, then suddenly stopped awkwardly— With a sound similar to breaking glass, it broke down into infinite polygons and disappeared. This is the  «Death » of this world. It is instantaneous and short, a perfect destruction, not leaving even a single trace. I glanced at the virtual experience points and drop items I received, appearing in a purple font in the center of my vision, and swung my sword right and left before sheathing it in the scabbard on my back. I backed away a few steps and slid slowly down with my back against the dungeon wall. I spat out the breath I was holding and closed my eyes. My temple started throbbing, perhaps from the fatigue due to the long fight. I shook my head a couple of times to get rid of the pain and opened my eyes. The shining clock at the bottom right of my field of vision showed that it was already past 3PM. I should get out of the labyrinth or I wont make it to the city before dark. â€Å" Should I get started? † There was nobody here to listen, but I just spoke and got up slowly. I was done with making progress for the day. I somehow escaped the hand of death again today. But after a brief rest, tomorrow will come with more battles. When fighting battles without a 100% chance of victory, however many safety nets you prepare, theres going to be a day when you fall out of lady lucks favor. The problem is whether this game will be  «cleared » or not before I draw the ace of spades. If you value your life above all else, staying in a village and waiting for somebody else to clear the game is the wisest route to take. But I go to the front lines every day solo. Am I just simply an addict of VRMMO who keeps increasing his stats through countless battles, or— Am I an idiot who insolently believes that he can win the freedom of everyone in this world with his sword? As I started walking towards the labyrinth entrance with a slight smile of self-scorn, I thought back to that day. Two years ago. The moment that everything ended and began. Chapter 2 â€Å"Ahh The sword swinging to these strange shouts swished around, cutting nothing but air. Right afterwards, the blue boar (which moved surprisingly quick considering its bulk) charged fiercely at its assailant. I burst into laughter, watching him fly through the air and roll on the hill after getting hit by the boars flat nose. â€Å"Hahaha not like that. The first movement is important, Klein. † â€Å"Argh that bastard. † The complaining assailant, a party member called Klein, got up and glanced at me while answering plaintively. â€Å"But Kirito, even if you say that I cant do anything about the fact that its moving. † I met this person, who had reddish hair held up by a bandana and simple leather armor worn over his thin body, a few hours ago. If he had revealed his real name, it would have been hard to omit the honorifics, but his name (Klein) and mine (Kirito) were both names we had made up for our characters. Putting -san or -kun at the end of them would sound comical more than anything. The legs of the person in question started shaking. â€Å"Seems like hes a little dizzy. † I picked up a pebble from the undergrowth at my feet and raised it above my shoulder. As soon as the system detected the first motion of a sword skill, the pebble started giving off a slight green light. After that, my left hand almost moved by itself and the pebble went flying, drawing a straight line of light and hitting the boar between its eyebrows. *Ggiik! * The boar squealed in fury and turned towards me. â€Å"Of course they move, theyre not training dummies. But if you begin the correct motion, the system will put your sword skill into motion and hit the target for you. † â€Å"Motion motion † While muttering this like some spell, Klein raised the cutlass that he held in his right hand. Although the blue boar, officially named  «Frenzy Boar », was a level one monster, Klein had lost almost half of his HP from being hit by counterattacks due to his wild swings. Well, even if he died hed just respawn at the  «Starting City » near here, but coming all the way out to this hunting ground again was somewhat annoying. It seemed like there was one move left before the fight reached its conclusion. I cocked my head as I blocked the boars charge with the sword in my right hand. â€Å"Hmm, how should I explain Its not like one, two, three, then strike. But more like gathering a bit of energy and then, as soon as you feel the skill start, it goes BAM and you feel it hit the monster † â€Å"Bam, eh? † Kleins roughly handsome face grimaced itself into an unsightly image as he leveled his sword at his waist. Inhale, exhale; after taking a deep breath, he lowered his stance and raised his sword as if he was going to shoulder it. This time, the system sensed the pose correctly and the arcing sword slowly started shining orange. â€Å"Ha! † With his low yell, he jumped off the ground with a movement that was completely different from the ones before. *Swish—! * With this crisp sound, the sword drew its flame red trajectory through the air. The  «Reaver », a basic skill of the one-handed curved sword, struck the boar right in its neck as it was about to charge and got rid of the rest of its HP, which (like Kleins) was about half full. Guekk— it gave a pitiful cry and its large body shattered like glass and purple numbers appeared, showing how many virtual experience points I gained. â€Å"Ye~~a~~h! † Klein struck an over-blown pose of victory with a huge smile on his face and raised his left hand. I high-fived him and smiled again. â€Å"Congrats on your first victory  but that boar—its about as hard as slimes from other games. † â€Å"Eh, really? I thought it was some sort of semi-boss or something! † â€Å"Not a chance. My smile became a little forced as I sheathed my sword on my back. Even though I was teasing him, I understood what he was feeling right now. Since I had two more months of experience than him, it was only now that he could feel the exhilarating feeling of destroying his enemy with his own hands. Klein started to use the same sword skill over and over again yelling as he did so, perhaps as a way of practicing. I left him alone and looked around. The endlessly stretching plains gave off a beautiful red as the sun had started setting. Way up north, there was the silhouette of a forest, a sparkling lake down south, and I could just about make out the walls that surrounded the city to the east. To the west, there was a limitless sky going on forever with bunches of golden clouds drifting by. We were at the plains that stretched to the west of the  «Starting City », which was situated at the north end of the first floor of the colossal floating castle— «Aincrad ». There should be numerous players fighting monsters around here, but because of the enormous size none of them were visible. Finally seeming satisfied, Klein sheathed his sword and walked over while observing the area as well. â€Å"But really however many times I look around like this, I still cant believe that this is  «inside the game ». † â€Å"Well even if you say inside its not like our souls were sucked in or anything. Our brains just seeing and hearing instead of our eyes and ears with the signals that the  «Nerve Gear » is sending,† I said with a shrug. Klein pouted like a kid. â€Å"You might be used to it now, but for me its the first time doing a  «FullDive »! Isnt it awesome? Really its a relief that I was born in this era! † â€Å"Youre exaggerating. † But as I laughed, I totally agreed with him.  «Nerve Gear ». Thats the name of the hardware that drove this VRMMORPG— «Sword Art Online ». The basic structure of this machine is totally different from the older ones. Unlike the old-style man-machine interface hardware like â€Å"flat screen monitors† or â€Å"hand-held controllers†, Nerve Gear only had a single interface: a streamlined interface that covered your whole head and face. Inside, there were numerous signal transceivers. By using the electronic signals sent by those transceivers, the gear accessed the users brain itself. The user didnt use their eyes or ears to see and hear, the signals went directly to their brain. In addition, the machine could access not only sight and sound, but also: touch, taste, and smell as well—that is to say, all five senses. After slipping the Nerve Gear on, locking the strap under your chin, and speaking the initiation command ( «Link Start »), all noise fades away and youre swathed in darkness. As soon as you pass the rainbow colored circle in the middle, youre in another world made entirely of data. So Half a year ago, this machine (which started selling in May, 2022) successfully created a  «Virtual Reality ». The electronics company which created the Nerve Gear called the actual act of linking to the virtual reality  «FullDive ». It was a total seclusion from reality, fitting of the word â€Å"full†. The reason for this is that the Nerve Gear not only sent fake signals to the five senses, it also blocked and rerouted the orders that the brain sent to the body. This can be called the most basic requirement for moving freely in a virtual reality. If the body received the brains signals when the user was in FullDive, the moment the user decided they wanted to  «run » their actual body would run into a wall. Because the Nerve Gear could reroute the commands the brain sent through the spinal cord, Klein and I could both move our avatars around freely and swing our swords around. Weve completely leapt into the game. The effect of this experience captivated me and many gamers like me, to the point where we were sure that we could never go back to the old touch-pens or motion sensors. Klein was staring at the wind passing through the plains and the castle walls off in the distance with actual tears in his eyes. â€Å"So, SAO is the first game for the Nerve Gear that youve played? † I asked. Klein, looking like a calmly handsome warrior from the Sengoku period, turned his head my way and nodded. â€Å"Yeah. † If he wore a serious expression on his face, he had an impressive bearing about him worthy of an actor from a historical play. Of course, this was different from his actual body in the real world. It was an avatar made out of nothing, based on choosing from a list of options. Of course, I looked like a ridiculously handsome protagonist from some fantasy animation as well. Klein continued in his low vigorous voice, which (of course) was different from his real voice as well. â€Å"Well, to be exact, I sorta bought the hardware in a rush after I managed to get my hands on SAO. There were only ten thousand in the first batch, so I suppose I was really lucky. Well, if I think about it, you were ten times luckier when you got picked for beta testing. They only picked a thousand! † â€Å"Ah, yeah I suppose. † Klein kept staring at me. I unconsciously scratched my head. I remembered the excitement and enthusiasm that  «Sword Art Online » created when it was announced through the media like it was yesterday. Nerve Gear had realized the future foundation for gaming with FullDive. However, due to the innovation of the actual machine, only unremarkable titles came forth for the all-important software. They were all puzzles, education related, or environmental type games; causing discontent among game addicts like me. Nerve Gear can truly render a virtual reality. But you could only walk 100 meters before you hit a wall in that world, it was really a huge letdown. It was almost unavoidable that hard core gamers like me, who had been deeply absorbed in the experience of being within the game, started anticipating a certain game genre. We were waiting for a network response game, the kind that let millions of players log in and raise, fight with, and live as a character of their own—that is to say, an MMORPG. When the anticipation and craving reached its limit, the first VRMMORPG was announced just in time,  «Sword Art Online ». The stage for the game is a floating castle consisting of 100 floors. The players lived in a world with forests and lakes, relying only on their sword and drive to discover the route to the upper floors, defeat countless monsters, and make their way endlessly to the top.  «Magic », considered an indispensable part of fantasy MMORPGs, had been boldly left out. An almost endless number of skills, called  «Sword Skills », were created. It was part of a plan to let players actually feel the experience of fighting with their own bodies through FullDive as much as possible. Skills were varied, including productive skills (such as smithing, leather working, and sewing) and everyday skills (such as fishing, cooking, and playing music), allowing the player to not only adventure the huge game but also actually  «live » in it. If they so wanted, and if their skill levels were high enough, they could buy a house and live as shepherds. As the information was steadily revealed, the gamers enthusiasm only grew. The beta test only recruited a thousand testers. Its said that one hundred thousand people, the number of half the Nerve Gear sold at that time, volunteered to be a tester. Luck was the only reason that I got through the narrow gap and was picked. Beta testers also received the additional benefit of being able to pre-order the game. The two months of beta testing were like a dream. At school I thought endlessly of my skill set, equipment, and items. I ran all the way home as soon as school ended and dived till dawn. The beta test ended in the blink of an eye. On the day my character was reset, I felt a sense of loss as if half of my actual self had been cut away. And now— November 6, 2022, Sunday.  «Sword Art Online », after all the preparations were finished, officially started its online service at 1 PM. Of course, I had been waiting for 30 minutes and then logged on without even a seconds delay. When I checked the server, over ninety-five hundred people had already logged on. It seemed as if all of the people who had been lucky enough to get their hands on the game felt the same way I did. All the online shopping sites announced that the game was sold out seconds after it had gone on sale. The offline sales, which had started yesterday, had created lines of people who had queued up for four days, creating enough of a racket to get on the news. That meant that all the people who had been able to buy a copy of the game were almost all serious game addicts. Kleins actions showed this clearly as well. After I had logged onto SAO, I started running through the nostalgic stone paved roads of the  «Starting City », headed for the weapons shop. Realizing that I was a beta tester after seeing me start and dash, Klein ran over without any hesitation. â€Å"Hey, teach me a few things! † hed begged. I wondered how he could be so shameless and demanding to a person he hadnt met before. I was so lost for words it was almost amazing. â€Å"Ah, er, then why dont we go to the weapon shop? † I answered like some NPC. We ended up forming a party and I began teaching him some basics of fighting. And thats how we ended up in this current situation. To tell the truth, I didnt get along with people in real life; in games, perhaps even less so. During beta testing, I got to know a couple of people, but I didnt get close enough to anyone to actually call them a friend. But Klein had a side to him that grows on you, and I didnt find this uncomfortable either. Thinking that I might be able to get along with him, I opened my mouth. â€Å"So what do you want to do? Do you want to keep hunting till you get used to it? † â€Å"Sure! is what I want to say, but † Kleins delicate eyes looked at the bottom right of his vision. He must have been checking the time. â€Å" well, I should log off and eat. I ordered some pizza for 5:30. † â€Å"Pretty thorough,† I said at a loss for words. Klein thrust out his chest. â€Å"Of course! † he said proudly. â€Å"I promised to meet some mates at the  «Starting City » in a bit. I could introduce you to some of them and you could register them as friends. That way you could always send messages. How about it? † â€Å"Errr Hmmm † I mumbled subconsciously. I got along with Klein pretty well, but there was no guarantee that itd be the same for his friends. I felt like there would be a higher chance of not getting along with them and, as a result, fall out with Klein as well. â€Å"Should I? † Seeming to understand the reason for my not-so-confident answer, Klein shook his head. â€Å"Ah, I dont mean to force you. Therell be a chance to introduce them sometime anyway. † â€Å" Yeah. Sorry, and thanks. † As soon as I thanked him, Klein shook his head vigorously. â€Å"Hey, hey! I should be the one thanking you. I got a lot of help from you. Ill pay you back sometime soon. Mentally. † Klein smiled and took another look at the clock. â€Å" Well, Ill log off for a bit. Thanks a lot, Kirito. Be seein ya. † With that, he put his hand forward. At that moment, I thought this person would have been a great leader in  «another game » and shook his hand. â€Å"Yeah, see you around. † We each let go of the others hand. That was the point where Aincrad, or Sword Art Online, stopped being just some fun game for me. Klein stepped back a bit, put his right index finger and thumb together, and pulled downwards. This was the action that opened the  «main menu window ». Immediately afterwards, there was a ringing sound and a shining purple rectangle appeared. I moved a bit, sat on a rock, and opened my menu too. I started moving my fingers to organize the items that Id gotten from fighting the boar. Then â€Å"Eh? † Klein said in a strange tone. â€Å"Whats this? Theres no log out button. † I stopped moving my fingers and raised my head at that. â€Å"No button? No way, look a bit closer,† I said, a bit confused. The swordsman opened his eyes wide beneath the bandana and pushed his face closer to the menu. The rectangle, wider than it was high, had a bunch of buttons to the left and a silhouette showing what equipment you had on to the right. At the bottom of the menu, there was a  «LOG OUT » button that allowed you to escape from this world. As I was turning my head to the inventory that listed the items I had gained over hours of fighting, Klein started speaking in an unusually high voice. â€Å"Its really not there. You take a look Kirito. † â€Å"I told you that theres no way that its not there † I muttered with a sigh as I tapped on the button on the top left to go back to the menu screen. The inventory window on the right closed and the main screen re-opened. To the left of the silhouette, which still had quite a lot of empty spaces, there was a long row of buttons. I moved my hand down in a movement that had almost become a habit and My body froze. It wasnt here. As Klein had said, the button that had been there during the beta test —no, even right after Id logged on— had disappeared. I stared at the empty space for a couple of seconds then looked through the menu, making sure that it hadnt just changed its position. Klein looked up with â€Å"Right? † written on his face. â€Å" Not there, right? † â€Å"Yeah, its not there. † I nodded, although it felt slightly annoying to agree so easily. Klein smiled and started rubbing his thick chin. â€Å"Well, its the first day so these sort of bugs could occur. Around about now, the GMs should be crying by now from the number of messages flooding in,† Klein said calmly. â€Å"Is it all right for you to stand around like that? You said that you ordered some pizza, didnt you? † I asked teasingly. â€Å"Ah, thats right! † I smiled as I watched him jump around, his eyes wide. I threw away a couple of items I didnt need from the inventory, which had turned red from having too many items, and then walked over to Klein. â€Å"Argh! My anchovy pizza and ginger ale! † â€Å"Why dont you call a GM? They might cut you off from their side. † â€Å"I tried, but theres no response. Its already 5:25! Hey, Kirito! Isnt there some other way to log out? † After listening to what Klein, who was waving both arms, said My face became rigid. I felt a groundless fear send a chill down my back. â€Å"Lets see to log out † I said while thinking. To get out of this virtual reality and back to my room, I have to: open the main menu, press the Log Out button, and press Yes on the window that popped up on the right. It was pretty simple. But at the same time, apart from that procedure, I wasnt aware of any other way of logging off. I looked up at Kleins face, situated quite a bit higher than my own, and shook my head. â€Å"No theres none. If you want to log yourself off, you have to use the menu. Apart from that, theres no other way. † â€Å"Thats impossible theres got to be something! † Klein suddenly started shouting as if he was denying my statement. â€Å"Return! Log out! Escape! † But of course nothing happened. There were no voice commands in SAO of that description. After Klein shouted this and that and even jumped around, I spoke to him. â€Å"Klein, its useless. Even the manual doesnt have anything on emergency access terminations. † â€Å"But this is just stupid! Even if its a bug, I cant even go back to my room and my body when I want to! † Klein shouted with a bewildered expression on his face. I totally agreed with him. This was impossible. It was complete nonsense. But it was indisputably the truth. â€Å"Hey what is this? Its just really weird. Right now, we cant get out of this game! † Klein gave a desperate laugh then quickly started talking again. â€Å"Wait, we can just turn the power off. Or just pull the  «Gear » off. † As I watched Klein move his hands as if he was trying to take off some invisible hat, I felt the anxiety returning. â€Å"Thats impossible, both of them. Right now, we cant move our bodies our real bodies. The  «Nerve Gear » intercepts all the signals that our brain is sending here,† I tapped the back of my head, â€Å"and reroutes them to move our avatars here. † Klein slowly closed his mouth and put his hands down. We both stood speechless for a while, each lost in thought. To reach the FullDive state, the Nerve Gear intercepts the signals that our brain sends down our spines and translates them so that we can control our avatars in this world. So however wildly we swing our arm about here, the arm of my real body (lying on my bed right now) wouldnt move an inch, ensuring that I wouldnt hit my head against the corner of my table or anything. But because of this function, we cant cancel the FullDive of our own free will right now. â€Å" So unless the bug is fixed or somebody in the real world takes the Gear off, we have to wait it out? † Klein mumbled, still a little dazed. I silently signaled my agreement. â€Å"But I live by myself. You? † I hesitated slightly but told him the truth. â€Å" I live with my mom and my younger sister, a family of three. I think that Ill be forced out of the Dive if I dont come down for dinner † â€Å"What? H-How old is your sister? † Klein suddenly looked at me, his eyes sparkling. I pushed his head away. â€Å"Youre pretty calm right now, arent you? Shes in a sports club and hates games, so shes got nothing in common with people like us