Description of the experiments Essay Example for Free

Description of the experiments Essay The results from the graph show that the 8 node depicted an increasing rate for both the mesh density ant the stress at A. The increase was not proportional as the more the mesh density the more the mesh density became flatter. The 4 node on the other hand started at a lower point (stress at A) than the 8 node. Still it experienced the increasing but at a decreasing characteristic. There was the possibility of the stress and mesh density converging for both the 4 and 8 node though they do not. Generally, there was a positive relationship between the stress and the mesh density whereby both nods exhibited the same characteristics (increase in stress led to a more proportionate increase in the mesh density) From experiment 2: From the graph, it can be seen that 4 node graph starts at a high point and starts to decrease meaning that longitudinal stress at C reduces with increase in the mesh density though not proportionally. This will continue up to a certain point when it stops decreasing and remains constant with increase in mesh density (on the negative side of the longitudinal stress). 8 node on the other hand starts at a lower point in fact negatively then increases meaning that increase in longitudinal stress a C was followed by an increase in the mesh density though less proportionately. This continues for a while until it reaches a point where increase in mesh density had not effect on the longitudinal stress at C. It still maintained the negative side. Both the 8 and 4 node crosses each other at a point where they both increase and decrease at a decreasing rate, respectively. This showed the exact point. From experiment 3: The 4 node tends to increase at a decreasing rate. When mesh density increases, the longitudinal deflection increases less proportionately. On the other hand, the 8 node increase rapidly and reaches a point where it remains constant. The mesh density continues to increase while the longitudinal increases with the increase in the mesh density but reaches a point where it remains constant. From experiment 4:   The 8 node, the percentage error was decreasing with the increase in the mesh density. The decrease is less proportionally as it tends to approach the x axis. On the other hand, the 4 node mesh density increases with a corresponding increase in the percentage error. This increase in the percentage error increases at a decreasing rate until it reaches a point where increase in mesh density led to the decrease of the percentage error. Initially, it has been shown that both the 8 and the 4 nodes appeared to diverged from some common point though it was not the same point. This showed that initially, both the percentage error and the mesh density exhibited almost the same value. From experiment 5: For the 4 node, there was a negative slope exhibited where by increase in mesh density was followed by a proportionate decrease in the percentage error. On the other hand, the 8 node also showed the decreasing level but at a decreasing rate. Increase in mesh density was accompanied by a decrease in the percentage error though less proportionately. Percentage error appeared to approach the X axis with the increase in the mesh density. From experiment 6: The calculation was trying to compare the concentration factor for the finest finite element mesh. The ANSYS value was compared with the theoretical value both calculated in the results.. The result showed that there was a difference with a small margin of 0.005, thus proving the fact that the analysis was very exact. From experiment 7: This experiment showed the same shape graph depicting an inverse solution for the stress against the nodes 4 and 8. They showed a decreasing graph the first phase showing steep gradient as it reduces when stress reduces with the increase in the node. Both the 8 and the 4 node showed almost the same results with small differences in their values though had the same shape of the graph. Reference Giuseppe, P. 2007. â€Å"The finite-element method, part I:R.L. courant: Historical corner†

Student Monitoring System Development

Student Monitoring System Development Project Definition Document A web-based student monitoring system 1. Introduction Educational software has been evolving in the last couple of years, catching up with the advances of software in the rest of the IT world. Mainly due to the advantages of e-learning more and more institutions are inventing to new technologies to accommodate their learners. This moved educational software from the traditional small client application connecting to central databases, to lighter web applications accessible from multiple clients via the internet. The next step that web based educational applications are taking nowadays is a Service Oriented Approach (SOA). This came after the introduction of the web services technology, AJAX and of course the frameworks that support the Model View Controller approach in developing applications. What is meant from the above, is that web based applications need to be able to collaborate with other systems since not all different components of the IT infrastructure of a university is developed by one company. Also open standards enforce more commercial and open source software developers to use approaches that their applications can be easily integrated and expanded. In our case we need to develop a web based student monitoring system, where personal tutors can monitor the attendance of their first year students. Our system would be developed so it would make it possible to be plugged into the existing systems of the University and if possible use data of them system to add more functionality and ease the administrative tasks staff members have to do. At the beginning of each year, the director of first year students s allocating personal tutors to students and also adds the students to a particular lab group. Then attendance sheets should be produced as outputs of our system to lab assistants and personal tutors. The problem with the existing system is that the interface of adding and modifying information is not very flexible. Our system should overcome this problem and make it easier for staff to keep attendance records of the students. Also in order for our system to be able to fit with the existing solutions, a service oriented approach would be used. Interfaces to import structured external data are one of the main areas that we will concentrate and also adding the flexibility of getting data out of the system. Student Monitoring System Student Information System Existing attendance system VLE Portal/Social Networking site Student Monitoring System Interface In the figure above the highlighted components are the ones we are going to develop as a part of this project. The links of our system to other systems would be implemented using a service oriented approach and web 2.0 techniques. 2. Aims and Objectives Aim Develop an attendance monitoring system to be embedded within the existing systems of the University using a service oriented approach and web 2.0 technologies to display and enter information to the system Objectives and Testing methods: Research and analyse service oriented approach and MVC frameworks in system development. A review of the different approaches will evaluate why we used a specific framework and methodology to develop our solution. Design, implement and test a complete implementation of the student monitoring system. Test all classes using Unit testing and also produce test plans for different functions of the tool as a blackbox / whitebox testing where appropriate. Produce a set of public APIs that can be used from our system to enable integration with existing systems. Testing of this objective would be by extracting data from the university systems and importing in it to our system easily. Also provide a set or web service or RSS feeds to import data to other systems Methodology Literature review on Service oriented approach in software engineering, J2EE MVC frameworks, RSS and web services. This stage will help us meet the first objective Requirements gathering with rapid prototype development. We will use the WebML approach for web application development which is an iterative simplified waterfall model approach. The outcomes of this stage would be a database schema supported by the entity diagram of the application and also any other diagrams required from the WebML approach. Objective 2 will be met at the end of this phase. Test and document all available APIs. At the end of this stage objective 3 would be met Testing and Evaluation: Expert review to test the chosen technical approach service oriented approach and MVC framework Test the code to minimise the risks of potential bugs Test the system for usability and functionality with potential stakeholders and gather their responses Tools: Eclipse IDE Tomcat J2EE server Spring framework Struts framework WebML AXIS, or other web service engine Deliverables: Student monitoring system with APIs so the system is easily integrated with existing systems Unit testing classes and results, test plan and test results Project report including an evaluation of the project with respect to its objectives. Feasibility and Risks: The proposed project will give me the opportunity to work on a real time scenario in the area of software engineering and provide a solution to an existing problem. From my current studies I got the appropriate base to explore more J2EE technology and develop an application by going through the full lifecycle. Related Theory(Some work needed) Areas of theory concerned in the project: Service oriented approach: J2EE frameworks: Tomcat installation and web application packaging Web app security Software development method: rapid prototyping and WebML. Database design Entity relation modelling and normalization J2EE development using UML and frameworks Unit, Black Box and White Box testing. Application Program interface (API) development Work plan (needs to be completed)

The Complexity of Memory: Literature Review

The Complexity of Memory: Literature Review Wynham Guillemot I. The first article that I decided summarize is labeled: The Production Effect: Costs and Benefits in Free Recall. The Research report was written by Angela C. Jones of John Carroll University and Mary A. Pyc of Washington University in St. Louis. It is found in the 2014 edition of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. This experiment was aimed at examining the costs and benefits of production, through use of free recall paradigm. Paradigm is defined as a typical example or pattern of doing something. Free recall is defined as the process in which participants study a list of items, and then are prompted to recall the items in any order. The production effect is the memorial benefit of reading aloud compared to reading silently. Some studies have shown the production effect as a simple memory improvement method. â€Å"The production effect is additive to the benefits of generation and semantic processing, extends to a delayed retention interval, and has been demonstrated with nonwords, word pairs, and sentences† (Jones and Pyc 300). As we can see the production effect does have certain advantages, but does it actually augment the ability of our memory? Is the effect due to increased memory for items read aloud, or is it something else? Even though at the advent of this experiment statistical tests had not been reported, Jones and Pyc hypothesized that the benefit of production was possibly instead due to a memory reduction for silent items, and thus the goal of their experiment was to prove this. What causes the production effect to alter memory ability? Jones and Pyc decided it had to do with the way in which information is organized when read silently or aloud. â€Å"The increases in recognition accuracy for items read aloud may be the result of item-specific gains associated with production, and the costs to silent items may be the result of minimal relational encoding afforded by the typical production effect paradigm† (Jones and Pyc 300). The authors addressed this issue by splitting the study into two experiments. The goal of Experiment 1 was to discover the benefits and costs underlying the production effect. Thus, the study included one mixed list (silent and aloud items) and two pure lists (one silent, one aloud). After this the participants completed a free recall final test. The study included 48 undergraduate students from John Carroll University. First they underwent the encoding phase. The students were shown 30 items. Fifteen of the items were in blue font, and the other 15 were in red font. The words were split into two different colors because it allowed for relational processing, which increases recall when added to items that naturally elicited item-specific processing (the random non-associated words that the students were to memorize). They did this because, based on prior experiments, they were led to believe that, â€Å"the increases in recognition accuracy for items read aloud may be the result of the item-specific gains associated with production, and the costs to silent items may be the result of minimal relational encoding afforded by the typical production effect paradigm† (Jones and Pyc 300). 17 of the students were assigned to read words of one color aloud and the words in the other color silently. This group was labeled the mixed group. 16 of the students read every word silently, while the remaining 15 read all words aloud. These two groups were the pure groups. Thus, there were four variables in the experiment: silent pure, silent mixed, aloud pure, and aloud mixed. The pure list was used to allow the experimenters to assess the costs and benefits of production. After the encoding phase the students were directed to type every word that they remembered from the phase. The results showed that there was no effect of list type, or basically that recall data was not influenced by mixed or pure list reading. Production showed greater recall from students who read aloud than those who read silently. The most notable and interesting result of the experiment was the interaction of list type and production. Production only played a benefit on the mixed list group. The most significant jump in data was between the mixed silent group (around 8% recall), and the mixed aloud group (around 24% recall). All results considered, the experimenters concluded that the production effect for the mixed list group was most likely driven predominantly by the costs to silent items. Basically, the significant variation between silent-mixed and aloud-mixed groups was less due to the benefit of reading the mixed group aloud, and more so due to the negative cost of reading the mixed group silently. The second experiment replicated the first experiment mostly, however there was one change. Now 30 five letter words were represented, half of which were high frequency words (words that are more common in the english language), and the other half were low frequency words (words that are less common). They decided to do this because almost all previous experiments on the production effect used high frequency words, and therefore they wanted to see if the production effect extended to low-frequency words. 23 students read words from the mixed list, 23 of the students read from the pure silent list, and 23 read from the pure loud list. The recall percent for the high frequency words correlated very closely with the results from experiment 1, as predicted. The low frequency words had higher recall percents across the board for each category, and the rise in word recall for each category was proportional to the trends in the higher frequency words. In other words, the relationship between the categories was the same, with the difference being that each category was higher in word recall in low frequency than its high frequency counterpart. The general results of this experiment gives us good insight on the ability of memory. â€Å"We demonstrated that the production effect is not simply the result of enhanced memory for items read aloud but instead results from a cost to memory for items read silently† (Jones and Pyc 300). Both experiments reflected that the benefits of production were less than the costs of silent items. Thus, this experiment discredits the belief that the production effect is a memory tool, as memory is rather decreased by reading silent items, not increased by reading aloud. II. The second article I selected is titled: Parametric Effects of Word Frequency in Memory for Mixed Frequency Lists. This research report was written by Lynn J. Lohnas and Michael J. Kahana of the University of Pennsylvania. It was published on July 8, 2013, in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. An important concept to consider, as the article is built around this concept, is word frequency paradox. As defined in the abstract of the article, word frequency paradox is the finding that low frequency words are better recognized than high frequency words yet high frequency words are better recalled than low frequency words. However, based on prior experiments, this view is partially challenged, as the types of word that are recalled better can vary between high and low frequency. Thus an important question in the article is brought up. Why is item recognition consistently favorable towards low frequency words in mixed lists, but during superior recall of mixed lists there can be variations in which word frequency type is superior? Previous experiments showed instability in recall results. The authors believe that the instability is due to the substantial difference in the range of word frequencies between the high and low frequency groups. The main goal of this experiment was â €Å"to quantify the functional relation between word frequency and memory performance across the broad range of frequencies typically used in episodic memory experiments.† (Lohnas and Kahana 1). The authors address their questions concerning relations between high and low frequencies by conducting an experiment aimed at collecting data on both recognition memory and free recall. For the free recall portion of the experiment, instead of just collecting data on results from high frequency words and low frequency words, the authors decided to use mixed frequency lists that included all the frequencies in between the high and low as well. 132 participants were used in the overall experiment. For each session of the experiment there were 16 lists of 16 words. One list containing sixteen words would be presented on a computer screen, one at a time. Each word would be accompanied by between 0 and 2 encoding tasks (these tasks included a size judgment and an animacy judgment. The number of encoding tasks changes not by each photo, but by each list. Following each list was an immediate free recall test. The results showed that participants recalled higher proportions of both low and high frequency words than words of intermediate frequency, forming a sort of U shape. This U shape held true for both items without an encoding task, and those with an encoding task. However, when no task was presented, the recall probability for each frequency was higher by about .05 to .08. At the end of the 16 lists presented in the session, participants would be presented with a recognition test. For half of the sessions (randomly selected) students would be given a final cumulative free recall test, in between the recall test from the 16th list and the recognition test. During this free recall test participants were asked to recall all possible items from all the lists in the section. For the recognition test, 320 words were presented one at a time on a computer screen, and participants had to select which words had showed up in the lists, and which one’s hadn’t. The results from the recognition tests show us that with increasing word frequency, participants were more likely to incorrectly accept lures and less likely to correctly recognize targets. Thus the lower the frequency, the more likely participants were to select them in recognition tests. When no encoding tasks were presented, participants were just a little more likely to have a higher hit rate in the recognition test. III. The final article that I decided to summarize is: Learning to Remember by Learning to Speak. The article was written by Marc Ettlinger of the Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System, Jennifer Lanter of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, and Craig K. Van Pay of the University of Houston. This article is found the 2014 edition of Developmental Psychology. The goal of this experiment was to test if a child’s memory can be impacted by language. Many psychological studies regarding language had been conducted before, however none had ever had directly connected memory and language, and thus these authors were interested in digging into this topic. The authors predicted that the children’s ability to recall the plurality of different items depended on the phonology of the word, which is the sounds associated with a certain word. The authors saw it best to use three different categories of plural words. â€Å"We also considered the correlation between children’s ability to recall the plurality of sibilant-final words and their ability to articulate the plural for sibilant-final words, their recall and articulation of plosive-final words, and their recall and articulation of vowel-final words† (Ettlinger 432). For the experiment the authors selected monolingual children that were ages 3–5 years old. In total there were 50 participants. Once they started to undergo the tests, children were show pictures of 36 objects, either shown as a singular object, or the same object four times. The child is later tested on 18 of the photos seen earlier by moving the picture he or she saw into the middle, lower box in the center of a board. If it was one of the photos with four objects, and the child selected, it means that he or she most likely understands the phonology of the name of the object selected. A certain production task, called the wug test was used to test their ability to produce the plural. In this test, the experimenter took a photo of a novel item that the child had not yet seen yet, and told him the name of the object, which was a nonce word. He then shows the child a photo of multiple units of the same object, and asks the child to tell him what it he or she is seeing in the ph oto, in a complete sentence. In the data collected, the researchers found an interesting correlation between plosive final words and sibilant final words. There was no connection with vowel-final words. As stated in the article, â€Å"This suggests that memory mirrors the development of plural production, where children first develop mastery of the pluralization of vowel-final words but still struggle with sibilant final words, with plosives somewhere in the middle† (Ettlinger 436). As a result of their studies, these psychologists were able to accurately prove a connection between language and memory.

Existentialism In No Exit Essay -- essays research papers

In his play, No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre examines basic themes of existentialism through three characters. The first subject, Garcin, embraces existentialist ideas somewhat. The second character, Inez, seems to fully understand ideas deemed existential. Estelle is the third person, and does not seem to understand these ideas well, nor does she accept them when they are first presented to her. One similarity amongst the three is that they all at some point seem to accept that they are in Hell for a reason.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Garcin admittedly is in Hell because he was unkind and unfaithful to his wife. He however, does not wish he had acted differently, for he says, “I tell you I regret nothing (p. 24).'; In this respect of acknowledging and owning up to his actions, Garcin is following existentialist laws. However, he sometimes violates them. For example, he is so preoccupied with the idea that he is a coward that he demands the women to renounce this and declare his masculinity. He is so dependent upon this that he refuses to engage in sexual activity with Estelle until she affirms him. This is anti-existential because according to its principles, he should not have to rely on others for confidence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inez is in Hell because she had seduced her cousin’s wife, then conspired to make his life miserable, until he finally stepped in front of a tram and was killed. Inez also brought a lot of guilt upon her lover, Floren...

Marriage Issues in Tom Jones Essay example -- Tom Jones Essays

Marriage Issues in Tom Jones      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, there are many examples of marriage. There is Squire Western's marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick's marriage, the mentions of Allworthy's wife, the marriage of Nightengale and Nancy, and the marriage of Nightengale's cousin and the clergyman, and finally the marriage of Tom and Sophia. Some of these marriages end with a happy ending and some do not and we, the reader, are supposed to look at these marriages and see why they went wrong or why they are good. Through all these examples of marriage, Fielding is urging us to question the current institution of marriage and what it is based on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fortune is a big issue in the book, especially when marriage is involved. Squire Western's wife's father married her off to the Squire against her will because of his fortune, and she became more of his servant than his wife. He treated her badly and they ended up hating each other.   Mr. Fitzpatrick also married his wife for her money, which is made evident by the letter sent to Mr. Fitzpatrick by Sam Cosgrave concerning Mr. Fitzpatrick's debt and Mrs. Fitzpatrick's "ready money" (379). Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mrs. Fitzpatrick grew to resent each other, he treated her horribly, and he spent all of her money. Using these examples, Fielding challenges the reader to question if money should be the foundation of marriage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Squire Western's marriage is prearranged by the Squire and Mrs. Western's father (just as he would like to do for Sophia). It was a tradition in this time for marriages to be prearranged by the parents according to fortune, title, etc. Women had no voice in whom they were to marry and the marriage became more of a t... ... Injustice and Oppression..."(575) and he likewise says in the book that no one should be married to each other except on the basis of love. Fielding is trying to get the point across to the readers that marriage should be based on love, not fortune, estate, or prearrangement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In this book fielding gives the reader examples of how a marriage can be if it is prearranged with fortune in mind or how it can be when it is based on love. He challenges the reader to question the current institution of marriage and all it's faults. He, then, suggests a happy alternative through love.   In this book fielding is challenging his readers to think about the world around them and about issues such as injustice in marriage and oppression of women through marriage. Work Cited: Fielding, Henry.   The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling.   London: Penguin, 1966.

Innovative marketing strategies

It was not another mundane day of my life as everything seemed bright and gay that day. When I woke up, the dazzling rays of sun were sending the divine blessing in my room.I was not tired mentally and psychologically as I used to be at the threshold of each new day previously. It was my first day at work after promotion. When I reached office, every face was glowing with mirth and joy. The colors of the building were shining vibrantly. I wondered whether it was really true or was a mere reflection of inner self and satisfaction.Whatever the case was, I felt that Life had some worth and world was too better a place to live ad enjoy. My ecstasy coupled with promotional fulfillment capacitated me to think of deliver according to my high professional caliber. Innovative marketing strategies, patterns and procedures to develop new products, cost effective, time management, all these were in my mind when I heard the tone of the phone bell, ringing continuously. I thought it be another tim e-wasting congratulatory call from my friends. With a sense of pride I received the phone but there was a strange voice giving me a strange message.My previous state of ecstasy faded soon and an air of melancholy pervaded over me. The colors of the walls were no more bright, the time on the wall-clock in front of desk was blurred. I told my boss that I am laving but I don’t remember what reason I told him for leaving so early. His face was full of astonishment and. I passed the lobby and found every one suffering from strange pathos and miseries. There was not a tinge of happiness on their faces. Truth came to me at-once that this is the ultimate reality of life.I refused to believe it. My mind failed to swallow the news. I was not myself. I found her lying on the bed as stiff as steel and as cold as ice. Slowly the ice in my mind started melting and the painful truth started dawning on me. I realized that she is no more with me alive. That she is dead.I started becoming disi llusioned about everything. I found myself face to face with the eternal realities of this earth. That death is the only thing in life that is absolutely certain.Sweeping reforms and far reaching revolutions may take place in society, but death, will remain. Science may learn the art of prolonging the individual human life far, far beyond the century mark, but ultimately death must and will come. This being so, one should have thought that human beings would, through sheer familiarity, become so used to this event that they would hardly think about it, emotionally, philosophically or poetically.My mother’s death made me realized that try as we may, we cannot summon back from the past those rare remembered joys that lifted us on high. Time is irreversible, and one minute gone is as completely irretrievable as a day or a year. It is not only the fleetingness of single moment that makes us sensitive to the sting of transience. Months, years, decades, whole lives seem to pass wit h the same uncanny swiftness. Almost before we know it the cold gray season of death is upon us. These are hard truths that I started understanding.The true comprehension of death never made me recover from the shock of my beloved mother’s death. It haunts me hitherto. My grief made me completely lost my poise and become almost insane. The world, it appeared to me, had raised a sting for me, and I knew not where to descend. I seemed to waver and quiver and threatened to burst into flames. I wanted to remain unseen, unnoticed and always felt that people were pointing at me.At odds with the world, I remained lost in my thoughts, sojourning in other-worldly regions, unmindful of what happened around me. I started feeling like a hollow man in a possibly hollow universe. Life loses all its meanings for me. I found myself like a square peg in a round hole. The death of my mother made me stand face to face with the greatest mystery of all times. The grief that this event brought wit h it and the comprehension of this eternal truth completely destabilized my whole existence. Â  

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Two

â€Å"And that's all I remember,† Bonnie concluded as she and Meredith walked down Sunflower Street between the rows of tall Victorian houses. â€Å"But it was definitely Elena?† â€Å"Yes, and she was trying to tell me something at the end. But that's the part that wasn't clear, except that it was important, terribly important. What do you think?† â€Å"Mouse sandwiches and open graves?† Meredith arched an elegant eyebrow. â€Å"I think you're getting Stephen King mixed up with Lewis Carroll.† Bonnie thought she was probably right. But the dream still bothered her; it had bothered her all day, enough to put her earlier worries out of her mind. Now, as she and Meredith approached Caroline's house, the old worries returned with a vengeance. She really should have told Meredith about this, she thought, casting an uneasy sideways glance at the taller girl. She shouldn't let Meredith just walk in there unprepared†¦ Meredith looked up at the lighted windows of the Queen Anne House with a sigh. â€Å"Do you really need those earrings tonight?† â€Å"Yes, I do; yes, absolutely.† Too late now. Might as well make the best of it. â€Å"You'll love them when you see them,† she added, hearing the note of hopeful desperation in her own voice. Meredith paused and her keen dark eyes searched Bonnie's face curiously. Then she knocked on the door. â€Å"I just hope Caroline's not staying home tonight. We could end up stuck with her.† â€Å"Caroline staying home on a Saturday night? Don't be ridiculous.† Bonnie had been holding her breath too long; she was starting to feel lightheaded. Her tinkling laughter came out brittle and false. â€Å"What a concept,† she continued somewhat hysterically as Meredith said, â€Å"I don't think anybody's home,† and tried the knob. Possessed by some crazy impulse Bonnie added, â€Å"Fiddle-dee-dee.† Hand on doorknob, Meredith stopped dead and turned to look at her. â€Å"Bonnie,† she said quietly, â€Å"have you gone completely through the ozone?† â€Å"No.† Deflated, Bonnie grabbed Meredith's arm and sought her eyes urgently. The door was opening on its own. â€Å"Oh, God, Meredith, please don't kill me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Surprise!† shouted three voices. â€Å"Smile,† Bonnie hissed, shoving the suddenly resistant body of her friend through the door and into the bright room full of noise and showers of foil confetti. She beamed wildly herself and spoke through clenched teeth. â€Å"Kill me later-I deserve it -but for now just smile.† There were balloons, the expensive Mylar kind, and a cluster of presents on the coffee table. There was even a flower arrangement, although Bonnie noticed the orchids in it matched Caroline's pale green scarf exactly. It was a Hermes silk with a design of vines and leaves. She'll end up wearing one of those orchids in her hair, I'll bet, Bonnie thought. There were balloons, the expensive Mylar kind, and a cluster of presents on the coffee table. There was even a flower arrangement, although Bonnie noticed the orchids in it matched Caroline's pale green scarf exactly. It was a Hermes silk with a design of vines and leaves. She'll end up wearing one of those orchids in her hair, I'll bet, Bonnie thought. â€Å"Nothing I can't break with an iron crowbar,† Meredith replied. But she smiled back with wry warmth and Bonnie relaxed. Sue had been a Homecoming Princess on Elena's court, along with Bonnie, Meredith, and Caroline. She was the only girl at school besides Bonnie and Meredith who'd stood by Elena when everyone else had turned against her. At Elena's funeral she'd said that Elena would always be the real queen of Robert E. Lee, and she'd given up her own nomination for Snow Queen in Elena's memory. Nobody could hate Sue. The worst was over now, Bonnie thought. â€Å"I want to get a picture of us all on the couch,† Caroline said, positioning them behind the flower arrangement. â€Å"Vickie, take it, will you?† Vickie Bennett had been standing by quietly, unnoticed. Now she said, â€Å"Oh, sure,† and nervously flicked long, light brown hair out of her eyes as she picked up the camera. Just like she's some kind of servant, Bonnie thought, and then the flashbulb blinded her. As the Polaroid developed and Sue and Caroline laughed and talked around Meredith's dry politeness, Bonnie noticed something else. It was a good picture; Caroline looked stunning as ever with her auburn hair gleaming and the pale green orchids in front of her. And there was Meredith, looking resigned and ironic and darkly beautiful without even trying, and there she was herself, a head shorter than the others, with her red curls tousled and a sheepish expression on her face. But the strange thing was the figure beside her on the couch. It was Sue, of course it was Sue, but for a moment the blond hair and blue eyes seemed to belong to someone else. Someone looking at her urgently, on the verge of saying something important. Bonnie frowned at the photo, blinking rapidly. The image swam in front of her, and a chilling uneasiness ran up her spine. No, it was just Sue in the picture. She must've gone crazy for a minute, or else she was letting Caroline's desire for them â€Å"all to be together again† affect her. â€Å"I'll take the next one,† she said, springing up. â€Å"Sit down, Vickie, and lean in. No, farther, farther-there!† All of Vickie's movements were quick and light and nervous. When the flashbulb went off, she started like a scared animal ready to bolt. Caroline scarcely glanced at this picture, getting up and heading for the kitchen instead. â€Å"Guess what we're having instead of cake?† she said. â€Å"I'm making my own version of Death by Chocolate. Come on, you've got to help me melt the fudge.† Sue followed her, and after an uncertain pause, so did Vickie. The last traces of Meredith's pleasant expression evaporated and she turned to Bonnie. â€Å"You should have told me.† â€Å"And that makes it all worthwhile?† â€Å"Well, it helps,† Bonnie said, with an air of being reasonable. â€Å"And really, it probably won't be so bad. Caroline's actually trying to be nice, and it's good for Vickie to get out of the house for once†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It doesn't look like it's good for her,† Meredith said bluntly. â€Å"It looks like she's going to have a heart attack.† â€Å"Well, she's probably just nervous.† In Bonnie's opinion, Vickie had good reason to be nervous. She'd spent most of the previous fall in a trance, being slowly driven out of her mind by a power she didn't understand. Nobody had expected her to come out of it as well as she had. Meredith was still looking bleak. â€Å"At least,† Bonnie said consolingly, â€Å"it isn't your real birthday.† Meredith picked up the camera and turned it over and over. Still looking down at her hands, she said, â€Å"But it is.† â€Å"What?† Bonnie stared and then said louder, â€Å"What did you say?† â€Å"I said, it is my real birthday. Caroline's mom must have told her; she and my mom used to be friends a long time ago.† â€Å"Meredith, what are you talking about? Your birthday was last week, May 30.† â€Å"No, it wasn't. It's today, June 6. It's true; it's on my driver's license and everything. My parents started celebrating it a week early because June 6 was too upsetting for them. It was the day my grandfather was attacked and went crazy.† As Bonnie gasped, unable to speak, she added calmly, â€Å"He tried to kill my grandmother, you know. He tried to kill me, too.† Meredith put the camera down carefully in the exact center of the coffee table. â€Å"We really should go in the kitchen,† she said quietly. â€Å"I smell chocolate.† Bonnie was still paralyzed, but her mind was beginning to work again. Vaguely, she remembered Meredith speaking about this before, but she hadn't told her the full truth then. And she hadn't said when it had happened. â€Å"Attacked-you mean like Vickie was attacked,† Bonnie got out. She couldn't say the word vampire, but she knew Meredith understood. â€Å"Like Vickie was attacked,† Meredith confirmed. â€Å"Come on,† she added, even more quietly. â€Å"They're waiting for us. I didn't mean to upset you.† Meredith doesn't want me to be upset, so I won't be upset, Bonnie thought, pouring hot fudge over the chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. Even though we've been friends since first grade and she never told me this secret before. pouring hot fudge over the chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. Even though we've been friends since first grade and she never told me this secret before. Then Bonnie shook her head determinedly. She couldn't think about this right now; she had a party to think about. And I'll make sure it's a good party and we all get along somehow, she thought. Strangely, it wasn't even that hard. Meredith and Vickie didn't talk much at first, but Bonnie went out of her way to be nice to Vickie, and even Meredith couldn't resist the pile of brightly wrapped presents on the coffee table. By the time she'd opened the last one they were all talking and laughing. The mood of truce and toleration continued as they moved up into Caroline's bedroom to examine her clothes and CDs and photo albums. As it got near midnight they flopped on sleeping bags, still talking. â€Å"What's going on with Alaric these days?† Sue asked Meredith. Alaric Saltzman was Meredith's boyfriend-sort of. He was a graduate student from Duke University who'd majored in parapsychology and had been called to Fell's Church last year when the vampire attacks began. Though he'd started out an enemy, he'd ended up an ally-and a friend. â€Å"He's in Russia,† Meredith said. â€Å"Perestroika, you know? He's over there finding out what they were doing with psychics during the Cold War.† â€Å"What are you going to tell him when he gets back?† asked Caroline. It was a question Bonnie would have liked to ask Meredith herself. Because Alaric was almost four years older, Meredith had told him to wait until after she graduated to talk about their future. But now Meredith was eighteen-today, Bonnie reminded herself-and graduation was in two weeks. What was going to happen after that? â€Å"I haven't decided,† Meredith said. â€Å"Alaric wants me to go to Duke, and I've been accepted there, but I'm not sure. I have to think.† Bonnie was just as glad. She wanted Meredith to go to Boone Junior College with her, not go off and get married, or even engaged. It was stupid to decide on one guy so young. Bonnie herself was notorious for playing the field, going from boy to boy as she pleased. She got crushes easily, and got over them just as easily. â€Å"I haven't seen the guy so far worth remaining faithful to,† she said now. Everyone looked at her quickly. Sue's chin was resting on her fists as she asked, â€Å"Not even Stefan?† Bonnie should have known. With the only light the dim bedside lamp and the only sound the rustle of new leaves on the weeping willows outside, it was inevitable that the conversation would turn to Stefan-and to Elena. Stefan Salvatore and Elena Gilbert were already a sort of legend in the town, like Romeo and Juliet. When Stefan had first come to Fell's Church, every girl had wanted him. And Elena, the most beautiful, most popular, most unapproachable girl at school, had wanted him too. It was only after she'd gotten him that she realized the danger. Stefan wasn't what he seemed-he had a secret far darker than anyone could have guessed. And he had a brother, Damon, even more mysterious and dangerous than himself. Elena had been caught between the two brothers, loving Stefan but drawn irresistibly to Damon's wildness. In the end she had died to save them both, and to redeem their love. Stefan Salvatore and Elena Gilbert were already a sort of legend in the town, like Romeo and Juliet. When Stefan had first come to Fell's Church, every girl had wanted him. And Elena, the most beautiful, most popular, most unapproachable girl at school, had wanted him too. It was only after she'd gotten him that she realized the danger. Stefan wasn't what he seemed-he had a secret far darker than anyone could have guessed. And he had a brother, Damon, even more mysterious and dangerous than himself. Elena had been caught between the two brothers, loving Stefan but drawn irresistibly to Damon's wildness. In the end she had died to save them both, and to redeem their love. â€Å"I still can't believe she's gone,† Sue said quietly, shaking her head and shutting her eyes. â€Å"She was so much more alive than other people.† â€Å"Her flame burned brighter,† said Meredith, gazing at the patterns the rose-and-gold lamp made on the ceiling. Her voice was soft but intense, and it seemed to Bonnie that those words described Elena better than anything she'd ever heard. â€Å"There were times when I hated her, but I could never ignore her,† Caroline admitted, her green eyes narrowed in memory. â€Å"She wasn't a person you could ignore.† â€Å"One thing I learned from her death,† Sue said, â€Å"is that it could happen to any of us. You can't waste any of life because you never know how long you've got.† â€Å"It could be sixty years or sixty minutes,† Vickie agreed in a low voice. â€Å"Any of us could die tonight.† Bonnie wriggled, disturbed. But before she could say anything, Sue repeated, â€Å"I still can't believe she's really gone. Sometimes I feel as if she's somewhere near.† â€Å"Oh, so do I,† said Bonnie, distracted. An image of Warm Springs flashed through her mind, and for a moment it seemed more vivid than Caroline's dim room. â€Å"Last night I dreamed about her, and I had the feeling it really was her and that she was trying to tell me something. I still have that feeling,† she said to Meredith. The others gazed at her silently. Once, they would all have laughed if Bonnie hinted at any-thing supernatural, but not now. Her psychic powers were undisputed, awesome, and a little scary. â€Å"Do you really?† breathed Vickie. â€Å"What do you think she was trying to say?† asked Sue. â€Å"I don't know. At the end she was trying so hard to stay in contact with me, but she couldn't.† There was another silence. At last Sue said hesitantly, with the faintest catch in her voice, â€Å"Do you think†¦ do you think you could contact her?† It was what they'd all been wondering. Bonnie looked toward Meredith. Earlier, Meredith had dismissed the dream, but now she met Bonnie's eyes seriously. â€Å"Is that the only way to communicate with dead people? What about a Ouija board or something?† Sue asked. â€Å"My parents have a Ouija board,† Caroline said a little too loudly. Suddenly the hushed, low-key mood was broken and an indefinable tension filled the air. Everyone sat up straighter and looked at each other with speculation. Even Vickie looked intrigued on top of her scaredness. â€Å"Would it work?† Meredith said to Bonnie. â€Å"Should we?† Sue wondered aloud. â€Å"Do we dare? That's really the question,† Meredith said. Once again Bonnie found everyone looking at her. She hesitated a final instant, and then shrugged. Excitement was stirring in her stomach. â€Å"Why not?† she said. â€Å"What have we got to lose?† Caroline turned to Vickie. â€Å"Vickie, there's a closet at the bottom of the stairs. The Ouija board should be inside, on the top shelf with a bunch of other games.† She didn't even say, â€Å"Please, will you get it?† Bonnie frowned and opened her mouth, but Vickie was already out the door. â€Å"You could be a little more gracious,† Bonnie told Caroline. â€Å"What is this, your impression of Cinderella's evil stepmother?† â€Å"Oh, come on, Bonnie,† Caroline said impatiently. â€Å"She's lucky just to be invited. She knows that.† â€Å"And here I thought she was just overcome by our collective splendor,† Meredith said dryly. â€Å"And besides-† Bonnie started when she was interrupted. The noise was thin and shrill and it fell off weakly at the end, but there was no mistaking it. It was a scream. It was followed by dead silence and then suddenly peal after peal of piercing shrieks. For an instant the girls in the bedroom stood transfixed. Then they were all running out into the hallway and down the stairs. â€Å"Vickie!† Meredith, with her long legs, reached the bottom first. Vickie was standing in front of the closet, arms outstretched as if to protect her face. She clutched at Meredith, still screaming. â€Å"Vickie, what is it?† Caroline demanded, sounding more angry than afraid. There were game boxes scattered across the floor and Monopoly markers and Trivial Pursuit cards strewn everywhere. â€Å"What are you yelling about?† â€Å"It grabbed me! I was reaching up to the top shelf and something grabbed me around the waist!† â€Å"No! From inside the closet.† Startled, Bonnie looked inside the open closet. Winter coats hung in an impenetrable layer, some of them reaching the floor. Gently disengaging herself from Vickie, Meredith picked up an umbrella and began poking the coats. â€Å"Oh, don't-† Bonnie began involuntarily, but the umbrella encountered only the resistance of cloth. Meredith used it to push the coats aside and reveal the bare cedarwood of the closet wall. â€Å"You see? Nobody there,† she said lightly. â€Å"But you know what is there are these coat sleeves. If you leaned in far enough between them, I'll bet it could feel like somebody's arms closing around you.† Vickie stepped forward, touched a dangling sleeve, then looked up at the shelf. She put her face in her hands, long silky hair falling forward to screen it. For an awful moment Bonnie thought she was crying, then she heard the giggles. â€Å"Oh, God! I really thought-oh, I'm so stupid! I'll clean it up,† Vickie said. â€Å"Later,† said Meredith firmly. â€Å"Let's go in the living room.† Bonnie threw one last look at the closet as they went. When they were all gathered around the coffee table, with several lights turned off for effect, Bonnie put her fingers lightly on the small plastic planchette. She'd never actually used a Ouija board, but she knew how it was done. The planchette moved to point at letters and spell out a message-if the spirits were willing to talk, that is. â€Å"We all have to be touching it,† she said, and then watched as the others obeyed. Meredith's fingers were long and slender, Sue's slim and tapering with oval nails. Caroline's nails were painted burnished copper. Vickie's were bitten. â€Å"Now we close our eyes and concentrate,† Bonnie said softly. There were little hisses of anticipation as the girls obeyed; the atmosphere was getting to all of them. â€Å"Think of Elena. Picture her. If she's out there, we want to draw her here.† The big room was silent. In the dark behind her closed lids Bonnie saw pale gold hair and eyes like lapis lazuli. â€Å"Come on, Elena,† she whispered. â€Å"Talk to me.† The planchette began to move. None of them could be guiding it; they were all applying pressure from different points. Nevertheless, the little triangle of plastic was sliding smoothly, confidently. Bonnie kept her eyes shut until it stopped and then looked. The planchette was pointing to the word Yes. Vickie gave something like a soft sob. Bonnie looked at the others. Caroline was breathing fast, green eyes narrowed. Sue, the only one of all of them, still had her eyes resolutely closed. Meredith looked pale. â€Å"Keep concentrating,† Bonnie told them. She felt unready and a little stupid addressing the empty air directly. But she was the expert; she had to do it. â€Å"Is that you, Elena?† she said. The planchette made a little circle and returned to Yes. Suddenly Bonnie's heart was beating so hard she was afraid it would shake her fingers. The plastic underneath her fingertips felt different, electrified almost, as if some supernatural energy was flowing through it. She no longer felt stupid. Tears came to her eyes, and she could see that Meredith's eyes were glistening too. Meredith nodded at her. â€Å"How can we be sure?† Caroline was saying, loudly, suspiciously. Caroline doesn't feel it, Bonnie realized; she doesn't sense anything I do. Psychically speaking, she's a dud. The planchette was moving again, touching letters now, so quickly that Meredith barely had time to spell out the message. Even without punctuation it was clear. CAROLINE DONT BE A JERK, it said. YOURE LUCKY IM TALKING TO YOU AT ALL â€Å"That's Elena, all right,† Meredith said dryly. â€Å"It sounds like her, but-† â€Å"Oh, shut up, Caroline,† Bonnie said. â€Å"Elena, I'm just so glad†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her throat locked up and she tried again. BONNIE THERES NO TIME STOP SNIVELING AND GET DOWN TO BUSINESS And that was Elena too. Bonnie sniffed and went on. â€Å"I had a dream about you last night.† TEA â€Å"Yes.† Bonnie's heart was thudding faster than ever. â€Å"I wanted to talk to you, but things got weird and then we kept losing contact-â€Å" BONNIE DONT TRANCE NO TRANCE NO TRANCE â€Å"All right.† That answered her question, and she was relieved to hear it. CORRUPTING INFLUENCES DISTORTING OUR COMMUNICATION THERE ARE BAD THINGS VERY BAD THINGS OUT HERE â€Å"Like what?† Bonnie leaned closer to the board. â€Å"Like what?† NO TIME! The planchette seemed to add the exclamation point. It was jerking violently from letter to letter as if Elena could barely contain her impatience. â€Å"Danger?† Vickie repeated, looking as if she might jump off the chair and run. WAIT LISTEN FIRST THE WHOLE TOWN IS IN DANGER â€Å"What do we do?† said Meredith instantly. YOU NEED HELP HES OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE UNBELIEVABLY STRONG NOW LISTEN AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS YOU HAVE TO DO A SUMMONING SPELL AND THE FIRST INGREDIENT IS H- Without warning, the planchette jerked away from the letters and flew around the board wildly. It pointed at the stylized picture of the moon, then at the sun, then at the words Parker Brothers, Inc. â€Å"Elena!† The planchette bobbed back to the letters. ANOTHER MOUSE ANOTHER MOUSE ANOTHER MOUSE â€Å"What's happening?† Sue cried, eyes wide open now. Bonnie was frightened. The planchette was pulsing with energy, a dark and ugly energy like boiling black tar that stung her fingers. But she could also feel the quivering silver thread that was Elena's presence fighting it. â€Å"Don't let go!† she cried desperately. â€Å"Don't take your hands off it!† MOUSMUDKILLYOU, the board reeled off. BLOODBLOODBLOOD. And then†¦ BONNIE GET OUT RUN HES HERE RUN RUN RU- The planchette jerked furiously, whipping out from under Bonnie's fingers and beyond her reach, flying across the board and through the air as if someone had thrown it. Vickie screamed. Meredith started to her feet. And then all the lights went out, plunging the house into darkness.