Benjamin Franklin, the Father of Foreign Diplomacy Essay

Some people will argue that the true birth of United States of America started with George Washington leading the Continental Army against Great Britains royal army in pursuit of freedom from foreign dictatorship; seizing the opportunity to create and control their own government in the manner in which they sought fit. One of the major forces in this battle for freedom was the diplomatic travels of Benjamin Franklin. His travels to England and France set the foundation for the dealings in foreign diplomacy that are still in effect today. Without Benjamin Franklins wisdom, knowledge and courage to address Kings and Parliament on the behalf of the colonies, the American government, as we know it would not exist. Benjamin was born†¦show more content†¦Upon his return to the colonies he was elected as the unofficial ambassador to England, and this became a duty that he carried out for many years to come. Over the next decade, hostilities grew between the colonies and England. Benjamin Franklin spent his time as a delegate between the two lands and argued many of the colonies grievances toward Britains mistreatment. In 1765 at the age of 59, Franklin addressed Parliament regarding the Quartering Bill, which allowed forceful housing of British soldiers in the homes of the Americans. He argued on behalf of the colonies and Parliament amended the bill making the act illegal. During this same year, Parliament passed the Stamp Act as a way of acquiring more money from the colonies. This is where many of Benjamin Franklins diplomatic duties began. Franklin was called to testify in front of Parliment, A questioner asked: Considering the resolutions of Parliament as to the right, do you think, if the stamp-act is repealed, that the North Americans will be satisfied? Franklin responded: I think the resolutions of right will gibe them very little concern, if they are never attempted to be carried into practice. A adversary asked: If the stamp-act should be repealed, would it induce the assemblies of America to acknowledge the rights of Parliament to tax them, and would they erase their resolutions [ofShow MoreRelatedBenjamin Franklin Was A Great Impact On Society1249 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Benjamin Franklin was a very important colonist in the Revolutionary War era. He was mainly known for being a Founding Father with many inventions and contributions to the founding of the United States of America; he had helped write the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and the Articles of Confederation, also he helped form the Treaty of Paris, drafted into the Second Continental Congress and performed the kite and key experiment fueling the flame for his interest inRead MoreThe Benjamin Franklin1357 Words   |  5 PagesBenjamin Franklin In our American history many figures have left their mark, and are remembered still today. Benjamin Franklin was as famous as any president, but yet never elected to public office. He was one of the nation’s revolutionary founding fathers of all time. Benjamin Franklin was a respected hero of America of many talents and accomplishments. First of all, Benjamin Franklin was born at Boston in 1706. He was the tenth sibling in the family. He was the son of a soap and candle maker.Read MoreEssay about Benjamin Franklin1935 Words   |  8 PagesBenjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was an American printer and publisher, author, inventor, scientist, and who was a diplomat born on January 17th 1706 and died in Philadelphia on April 17th 1790. Franklin was one of ten sons of seventeen children of a man by the name of Josiah who was a soap and candle maker and mother by the name of Abiah, a discrete and virtuous woman (Van Doren 7). 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Biography on Sir Francis Drake - 948 Words

Francis Drake was born in 1542 in Devonshire, England. He loves the water and can always find himself going back to it over the years. Drake was the oldest of twelve children. Sir Francis Drake’s father was Edmund Drake and his mother was Mary Mlyaye Drake. His father worked as a farmer on the land of Lord Frances Russell. Francis Drake was named after his father’s employer which was also Drake’s god father. Drake married his first wife, Mary Newman in 1569. After twelve years of marriage, she died in 1581. Then in 1585, Drake married Elizabeth Sydenhan. Sir Francis Drake never had any children of his own. At an early age, Francis started to work on a ship that would sail between France and England to trade goods. Drake listened and did what he was to do so well that when the owner of the ship passed away, he had no children of his own, so he left the barque to Drake. Shortly after that, Drake was enlisted to assist his cousins; The Hawkins. They wou ld sail around and seize merchant ships off of the French coast. They were considered privateers. In his early 1560, Drake was given his own ship; The Judith. He enlisted the help of his cousin, John Hawkins. They would sail to Africa to start in slave trading. This was totally against Spanish laws. After they purchased their slaves, they would go back to New Spain and sell their slaves to settlers there. On one of their trips they were held up by the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua in which theyShow MoreRelatedElizabethan Pirates Essay1092 Words   |  5 Pagesthis, they accomplished very large feats. If they hadn’t worked together, winning the war would have been extremely difficult. The teamwork of the privateers is what intimidated the King of Spain and allowed them to severely damage the Armada (Sir Francis Drake). The unity of the privateers with the Royal English Navy also had a large impact on the war. If England was to win, teamwork between the Navy and the privateers was very important. If they hadn’t gotten along, several battles could have beenRead MoreSir Francis Drake706 Words   |  3 PagesSir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake was an English sailor, one of the most famous of the Elizabethan era. Known mostly for being the first Englishman to circle the world between 1577 and 1578, and for helping to defeat the Spanish Armada, Sir Francis Drake was a very important man in history. No birth record exists for Sir Francis Drake, but he was believed to have been born in 1541. Born in Tavistock, England, in a cottage made of tree branches, Drake was the oldest of his eleven brothersRead MoreEssay about Queen Elizabeth I: The Most Glorious Ruler of England 1074 Words   |  5 Pagesa cruel and unseemly childhood. Her mother, the second wife of King Henry was found guilty of treason and subsequently beheaded, when Elizabeth was three years old. 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Queen Elizabeth knew about her sister â€Å"Bloody Mary† and how she got the name, so in order to bring back the peace to her land she called in Parliament in 1559 and re-established the Church of England and the Act of Supremacy that created a commonRead MoreEssay about William Davenant, Son of Shakespeare?930 Words   |  4 Pagesthat the roles between John Davenant and William Shakespeare should have been reversed. Not unlike today, gossip was almost always believed by those who love a scandal. It was whispered throughout England that Shakespeare had an illegitimate son (â€Å"Sir William Davenant†). Despite all of this controversy, William Davenant lived a fairly normally life. He embraced his past when he later incorporated Shakespeare into his life. While he studied at Saint Paul’s Parish in Oxford, Davenant showed major promiseRead MoreEssay on Queen Elizabeth I: Changing the Course of England2839 Words   |  12 PagesJohnson 72). However, her top administrators, who helped her through her reign, were William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and Sir Francis Walsingham. Burghley was her Secretary of State and Walsingham was head of the intelligence department (Elizabeth I BBC). Elizabeth understood that her popularity with the people greatly effected what she received from them. Her financial adviser, Sir Thomas Gresham, helped Elizabeth to settle debts. Eventually, they wanted England to be self-sufficient. In the endRead MoreLope de Vega1752 Words   |  8 Pageswealthy butcher. Still his affairs with other women and Micaela continued. In this year he wrote La Arcadia, a pastoral romance which to this day is one of the poet’s most wearisome productions. Also, he wrote La Dragontea, a history in verse of Sir Francis Drake’s last expedition and death. A year later he wrote a narrative life of Saint Isidore , the patron saint of Madrid, composed in octosyllabolic quintillas, called El Isidro. In 1580s and 1590s his moorish and pastoral themed poems were extremelyRead More Histoy of Blackbeard the Pirate Essay2401 Words   |  10 Pageslaw and they were not supposed to be charged with the act of piracy. However, more often that not, if the enemy managed to seize a privateer, they would often charge them with piracy and have them killed. Two perfect examples of privateers are Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan. Both men were so successful that they eventually received knighthood from the crown. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Another famous group of pirates were the Buccaneers. â€Å"Buccaneers were initially hunter’s of cattle and pigsRead MoreHistoy of Blackbeard the Pirate2498 Words   |  10 Pagesand they were not supposed to be charged with the act of piracy. However, more often that not, if the enemy managed to seize a privateer, they would often charge them with piracy and have them killed. Two perfect examples of privateers are Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan. Both men were so successful that they eventually received knighthood from the crown. Another famous group of pirates were the Buccaneers. Buccaneers were initially hunters of cattle and pigs on the island of what isRead MoreGalileo Galilei, Astronomer/Mathematician5105 Words   |  21 Pagesmotion, and supporting Copernicanism effectively. He has been referred to as the father of modern astronomy, as the father of modern physics, and as father of science. His experimental work is widely considered complementary to the writings of Francis Bacon in establishing the modern scientific method. Galileos career coincided with that of Johannes Kepler. The work of Galileo is considered to be a significant break from that of Aristotle. In addition, his conflict with the Roman Catholic Church

Cause of Financial Crisis and Impact of the Financial Crisis on Financ

Questions: Subprime mortgage crisis is an example of a financial crisis that affected global markets worldwide. Give another example of a financial crisis in your discussions below. 1. Discuss the possible causes of the financial crisis. 2. Discuss the impact of the financial crisis on financial institutions and businesses elsewhere including your own country. 3. Explain how the financial crisis affected the economies of different countries. Answers: 1. The possible causes of the financial crisis are as follows: (a) Leverage position:the high leverage position can create great problems of the financial crisis. Adequate capital needs must be established in order to control the leverage position and thus the financial leverage and thus can lead to problem of bank run. (b) Level of liquidity: a proper balance need to be maintained in the liquidity position of the lending and borrowing. The mismatches like borrowing for long period and lending for short period can create various problems of financial crisis. (c) Problem of sustainability: this provides that the size of the firm can also have a adverse effect. The big size of firm provides for the economies of the scale but the firm must sustain in the market and for that it needs to diversify, decentralize and thus maintain excess buffers. (d) Taxes and subsidies in the economy: the level of taxation is having a great impact on the cost of the capital and the flow of the capital. A proper management needs to be done in regard to the taxation system and the level of subsidies so that the level of speculation in the economy can be controlled. The subsidies should be eliminated on the debt based financing system. (e) Governance: Democratic governance is very essential for controlling the financial crisis. As the level of money supply will be in a controlled situation. Thus the non democratic governance can be a very big cause if the financial crisis and can lead to problem of recession. The above causes lead to various financial crises such as: Bank run Stock market crash Currency crisis Sovereign default Recession Depression 2. The housing market was greatly affected in the United States by the problem of financial crisis as there were many home owners who took up subprime loans but they were unable to meet the mortgage repayments that were required to be made as per the agreements. The value of the homes diminished due to the process of the financial crisis and thus they reached to the situation of the negative equity. There was a situation where large number of owners defaulted in the payment of the installments thus the bank repossessed those houses but the bank suffered losses as the market value of the bank had diminished in accordance to their original prices. Thus bank came under a situation of liquidity crisis which is known as credit crunch. The jobs in the financial services have been strongly affected by the financial crisis. In the United Kingdom, the mortgage industry suffered great loss as it had lost 15% of the members between the start of the credit crunch between the Period August 2007 and mid-2008. The mortgage brokers are also marginalized by banks in the United States. There was a great cut of jobs from various sectors such as banks, insurers and funds. There were significant losses of jobs in the financial sector. There was a decline in the level of activity of the financial sector and the level of employment had also declined. There is a great stagnation and deceleration in the level of the growth of the income in the sector. A great problem of restructuring was found within the financial institutions. 3. The financial crisis have affected to a great extent to many developing countries. The high economies have gone through the problem of recession. The financial crisis came as a hurricane in the developing world. (a) The financial institutions in the developing countries are affected to a great extent by the problem of subprime mortgages. The banks of the developing countries are not having weak links with the international banks. As in china the government is controlling the financial sector thus china is having very limited exposure to the subprime mortgages of United States. (b) The financial crisis had led to reduction in the export earnings of the developing countries. The international monetary fund had expected that the growth in the world trade will decline in the period 2006-2009 from 9.4% to 2.1%. The developing countries have experienced the decline in the prices of the various commodities, demand of goods has declined, and level of tourism in the countries had also declined. (c) The global financial crisis came to the situation where the World Bank and the IMF forecasts that growth in the developing countries had slowed down from the level of 4.5% to 3.3%. (d) The international labor organization also came to the conclusion that the level of unemployment in the world would rise by around 20 million in the world. (e) The United States is affected by a great extent by the financial crisis. Various industries are strongly affected such as banking, real estate, and the construction related industries. It had suffered problem of great recession and the depression. (f) The global trading market of the third world countries is strongly affected by the financial crisis. The prices if various commodities have strongly declined. (g) The financial crisis had also adversely affected the investment by banks and the governments in the third world countries. Thus this had led to decline in the level of jobs and thus less of money is available to invest in the economy and the businesses. (h) The developing countries are affected by a great extent. But the level of impact depends upon various factors such as integration in the financial markets, dependence of the economies on the foreign investment, and the dependence of the developing countries on the developed countries in order to get aid, trade and remittances. (i) The financial crisis had also affected the level of the living conditions of the population. The low income countries are also adversely affected as the level of poverty as the reduction in the growth of 1% in income will lead to forcing an around 20 million people in the situation of the absolute property. Thus it had created a situation of social unrest in various countries. Reference: John Fullerton Dr. Sally Goerner, 2010, The Six Root Causes of the Financial Crisis. International Labour Office, Geneva, 2009, Impact of the Financial Crisis on Finance Sector Workers. The Financial and Economic Crisis and Developing Countries.

What the Mantis Shrimp Sees-University of Chicago Essay free essay sample

The mantis shrimp could be seeing anything . . .and that’s the beauty of it all. I can postulate to no end what the mantis shrimp perceives, describe a color none of us can even hope to imagine, delineate what exists on either side of the visible spectrum. The mantis shrimp could outdo any of our conventional, fictionalized superheroes, boasting x-ray, night, laser, telescopic and heat visions all at the same time. It may be that the mantis shrimp see clearly those truths which man has sought for centuries: the light, a sign, the forest for the trees. Perhaps the mantis shrimp can see the future, the past and the present for what it truly is. Who can say what the mantis shrimp sees? If Newton did not describe it in his Opticks and only Johnny Nash claims to have seen clearly, then it is not likely that I, a mere philosophy prospie, will be the one. We will write a custom essay sample on What the Mantis Shrimp Sees-University of Chicago Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I could always guess, but this would be musing, wasted space. No, I cannot say what the mantis shrimp sees. Rather, I will skip ahead. What is it that we could be missing?Man, naturally, is an exceptionally anthropocentric species. We’ve claimed superiority throughout our history in our religions, our literature and even our science. â€Å"of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along theThen God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birdsground.’ In our oldest written work, Gilgamesh, Enkidu is disallowed to live among the animalsbecause of his superior emotion and intellect. We are upright and bipedal at the end of theevolutionary journey and we reside comfortably at the top of the food chain. We were made inGods image. We have received dominion. We have set ourselves apart. The Earth is ours toexploit and the environment ours to protect because we are so advanced in our physical,technological and intellectual qualities. We understand so much of the universe and are movingin leaps and bounds to discover the rest. We know it all. And here resides our fatal flaw:arrogance.So, back to the question: what are we missing? Well, I guess we’re missing that we’re not really â€Å"all that.† We’re missing the fact that something as (seemingly) insignificant as a shrimp could outdo us in any physical feat. The discovery, the revelation, must be along the same vein as Arthur Dent learning that the Earth is in fact an experiment run by white lab mice. We’re missing the fact that we don’t have to look as far as a Marvel comic or an episode of Doctor Who to find a species that could surpass us physically, outsmart us or absolutely crush us at a game of hide and seek. We’re missing the fact that we just have to look down at our bowl of scampi to find that creature.And isn’t it just a bit aggravating? It’s a little exasperating that, to the mantis shrimp, we may seem like the proverbial blind men, failing to understand the elephant, failing to understand the world we live in. isn’t it maddening that the mantis shrimp might observe how one electron behaves in the double slit experiment or how light acts as a particle and a wave? Just think of the mysteries we could solve with just a fraction of the mantis shrimp’s eyesight. Isn’t it jus t a little bit annoying? It is. But it is also humbling, awe-inspiring and absolutely fantastic. The fact that we cannot even begin to imagine what the mantis shrimp sees is exactly what we are missing. That we haven’t got then world completely figured out. That maybe we never will. And that some somehow, somehow, an organism that spends more time in our stir fry and ceviche may know a little more about the universe than we do. No, I cannot say what the mantis shrimp sees. It could be anything and isn’t that just beautiful?

Evaluation Of The Play Blood Brothers By Willy Russel essays

Evaluation Of The Play Blood Brothers By Willy Russel essays Evaluation Of The production Blood Brothers The production I went to see was Blood Brothers. The version I saw was performed at the Regent Theatre and written by Willy Russell it was a scripted piece and was written for young adults as some concepts would be unsuitable for children. We watched this production because we recently performed this ourselves The production is set in Liverpool and was written in the 1980s.The production effectively shows the barrier between the different classes of people basically it is about two twins seperated when young one going to a rich family one going to a poor family, the poor mother mrs johnstone would like the twins to be friends whilst the rich mrs lyons is just as opposed the twins mickey (poor) I feel one of the main reasons why this production has been so successful is the audience enjoy watching how the characters relate to each other, as their very contrasting characters fuse. At the age of seven Eddie has been completely smothered by his parents and is exactly how his parents would want him to be. He enters in his grey school uniform, with shorts and long socks, this immediately gives the audience some information about this character, and makes it obvious who he is, as this is the first time the audience see Eddie since he was a baby. Eddie is extremely well spoken, and first introduces himself to Micky as 'Edward Lyons'. Eddie's body language is very much more controlled than Micky's, it seems as though Eddie is very much more conscious of his actions. He may act like this to show that he has not been brought up around people of his own age, and he doesn't really know how to relate to anybod...

The Academic Decathlon †How to Prepare for the USAD Test

The Academic Decathlon – How to Prepare for the USAD Test The Academic Decathlon – How to Prepare for the USAD Test Academic competitions are common. There are spelling bees and robotic competitions on a national level, for example. There are school-wide, regional, and state competitions. One of the most interesting national academic competitions is the Academic Decathlon, a product of the U.S. Academic Decathlon Association (USAD). The competition was created in 1968 by the Superintendent of Schools for Orange Country, California just for California. It was later expanded to a national competition, and today most states and a few international schools now participate. What is Unique About the Academic Decathlon Most competitions involve the very best students that schools can put together as competitors. But this one is different, in the following ways: Each team is made up of 9 students. 3 are considered â€Å"honors† with GPA’s between 3.75-4.0; 3 are named â€Å"scholastic, with GPA’s between 3 – 3.74; 3 are named â€Å"varsity† with GPA’s of 0.00 – 2.99). There are ten events, and all students compete as individuals in their classified divisions. Team scores are determined by taking top scores from each division in each of the events and then added up for a total score for the team. Competitions begin at the local level, and the winning team from each state then moves on to the national competition. Tests of the Competition The ten events of USAD cover all academic disciplines that typical high school students study. These are as follows: 7 multiple-choice tests in language literature, math, science, social studies, economics, art and music. There is a Super Quiz that is either in science or social studies There is an essay to write, based upon optional prompts Each student must prepare a speech on a pre-selected topic Each student will be interviewed by judges. Obviously, the multiple-choice tests are objective measurements. The other three events are assessed subjectively by the judges, although the judging criteria is published on the organization’s website. Students don’t Go In â€Å"Blind† Every year the organization publishes its curriculum in every subject on its website. This provides students with an outline of the skills and content to be included in the 7 objective tests. This curriculum is developed by a 10-member panel. Anyone contributing to the curriculum must have a Bachelor’s degree in the subject. Once the curriculum is created, it is then checked by others for accuracy. There is also a USAD â€Å"theme† developed for each year, and the tests all relate to the theme. In the language and literature section, for example, a novel or set of plays is selected each year and provided to students. In music and art, students are provided with specific works that they must research and study. If, for example, the theme were to be â€Å"Africa,† as it was one year, social studies, language and literature, economics, art, and music tests will all relate to that continent, and contestants are provided specific topics to study. The Subjective Portions of the Competition As the term implies, there are no right or wrong answers to these parts of the event. Speech: This event is divided into two parts. The first is a prepared speech on a pre-provided topic, and it is to be 3  ½ - 4 minutes long. The second part is an impromptu speech. Contestants are given three optional prompts, choose one, and then deliver a 1  ½ - 2minute speech on that topic. The Interview: This is a formal event, during which the student is asked a series of questions and expected to respond. Questions have included such things as â€Å"Who is your role model and why?† The Essay: Contestants are given three prompts, choose one, and have 50 minutes to write their essays on the chosen topic. The prompts relate to the theme of that year and come from the language and literature or the Super Quiz areas. How to Prepare for the USAD Test There is a wealth of information published and updated each year on the organization’s website. This includes the theme and â€Å"curriculum† in each of the seven objective testing content areas. Information is released according to a calendar. For the 2017-2018 USAD competition, for example, the theme and general topic was posted March 1, 2018; the outlines for each curricular topic area on May 1; and more specific curriculum materials (e.g., study guides) will began to be shipped out to team coaches and state directors on May 15. The competition takes place in November, 2018, giving teams the summer months to spend time in strong preparation. Materials for Study – The Objective Multiple-Choice Tests The study materials that are provided by the USAD, including the topic areas and outlines are all free and can be downloaded from the website, and this is a good start for preparation. The more specific study materials – resource guides, study guides, etc. must be purchased by each team, and the cost is $1000. While there have been lots of complaints about charging for these materials, the organization claims that it has to in order to meet its over $1 million budget each year. This can put an additional burden on schools and school districts that are from poorer areas, and that has been a point of controversy. There are also USAD practice tests that are developed each year by third-party for-profit companies. These are sold to teams, and, when schools are able to provide this kind of financial support, the tests can be a big help. The USAD does not support or encourage the purchase of the practice tests; however, they are well-done and can give a team a pretty big advantage. Any time students have the opportunity to take practice test, research shows that they do better on the real thing. With all of this information and all of these study materials, most teams can be well-prepared for the objective testing events, provided they have a good coach and they spend a lot of time studying the material. The objective tests are very fact-based and do not require critical or creative thinking. It is really a matter of memorization. Because of this, a number of educational associations, such as the ASCD, have criticized the objective portion of the event. The criticism relates to the fact that students are basically engaged in straight memorization of facts rather than any higher-level thinking skills, such as application, analysis, or synthesis. The Association’s response is that, because the event is theme-based, students will become â€Å"experts† of sorts on those wider curricular areas and will have a knowledge base that they would not get in a regular school curricular environment. Materials for Study – The Subjective Portion of Testing No one can completely prepare for this portion of the event. However, given that the USAD theme for each year is published, and given that the essay and speech prompts will all relate to this theme, preparation can be in the following forms: For the essay portion of the exam, students can review and study essay samples in the general topical theme areas. And just as they would practice for an ACT or SAT essay, they should write several essays on their own that also relate to the theme and the language and literature and super quiz curricula. Speech Preparation: The ability to deliver a good speech is as much about self-confidence as it is about the content. Students should practice preparing and delivering speeches on the thematic topic areas of course. It is the impromptu speech event that will probably present the greatest challenge. But there are tactics and strategies that can be learned and practiced. During the time they have to prepare for USAF test, students should be given topics from their coaches that relate to the theme and take the one-minute of allowed preparation time to gather their thoughts. The most important parts of any speech are the opening and the ending. Practice using your minute of allowed preparation time to craft a great opening sentence and a solid ending. These will be the most memorable. Again, practice is the one thing that will get you over that anxiety and nervousness. The Interview: you will not be able to anticipate the questions you might be asked in a formal interview situation. The key to success, though, will be in your ability to stay calm, focused, and poised. Again, the key to a successful interview is practice. Your USAD coach should set up several interview sessions and ask difficult questions. Your goal is to take a minute, think about the question being asked, and form a response that relates directly to that question. Part of evaluating your performance will be your ability to stick to the topic of the question, to speak clearly and with confidence, and to keep your response relatively brief. The biggest mistake that people make during interviews is veering off topic and giving an answer that is disjointed and incoherent. Outside Research – It is Valuable You have the outlines and the study guide and resource materials. You know what the theme is. This year, for example, it is Africa. So, how much do you really know about Africa – it’s history, its development, it political, economic and social challenges? Most high schools do not offer a course in African studies, so you may not know much. You can take the study guides and gain a lot of factual information about Africa, but do you really have a solid, general understanding of the continent? Chances are you don’t. Take some time during the summer months before the competition to make Africa your focus of study. There is an amazing amount of online resources about this continent and the richness of its history, geography, and societies. Your goal should be to get a broad base of general knowledge, so that the factual information you may need to memorize actually makes sense to you. For example, you can access the National Geographic website and find a huge amount of information about Africa. In fact, there is a TV series on our African beginnings, narrated by Morgan Freeman, that is soon to start. Likewise, there are news stories about Africa published daily by online news organizations. The more general knowledge you can absorb about Africa, the more you will be able to appear as an â€Å"expert,† especially during the subjective portions of the event. You just never know when you may be able to throw in some information you have about Africa that will impress the judges. Above All – Take the Time You Need When you study for final exams, you have two choices. You can organize your material regularly throughout the semester and study a bit at a time. Or, you can â€Å"cram† at the last minute, perhaps 1-2 days before that exam and get help from essay services. Students who choose either option can be successful and get good exam grades. But preparing for the Academic Decathlon is different. It’s not like a final exam in history or social studies that covers a finite amount of material. It is an examination that covers all content areas. There is no way to â€Å"cram† at the last minute. Fortunately, your team will have a coach who will prepare a schedule of work and study over a longer period of time. You can study and learn in a relatively stress-free environment, and this means that you will retain much of what you learn long-term. So, if you study a piece of literature without the stress of an immediate exam, that more relaxed environment allows you to absorb information, to think critically about the piece, and to â€Å"cement† your understanding. Likewise, the longer preparation time will allow lots of practice for the subjective parts of the event – those speeches, the interview, and that essay. In these areas, it is practice, not study, that will make the difference. Above all, you need to understand that you are a part of a team with a coach. While you will be scored on your individual performance, it is important that you have the mindset of being a member of a team. Each member’s accomplishments should be encouraged and applauded – that’s what teamwork is all about.

Memristor Hardware Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Memristor Hardware Analysis - Research Paper Example Chua demonstrated a number of principles to expose that there was a ‘missing’ two-terminal circuit element from the family of â€Å"fundamental† passive devices such as resistor, capacitor and inductor. He named it as â€Å"Memristor† because it is a resistor with memory. He said that memristor exists in order to relate the flux in a circuit to the charge but during that time people couldn’t figure out what physics could give rise between flux and charge. People tried to find the causality of the two to find out their relationship. In the mathematical proof of Chua it just shows flux and charge are equal which means that any physical interaction that makes the mathematical equation true gives rise to memristor. He mathematically proved that memristors had features that are not able to generate by any mixture of the other three elements. A common analogy for a resistor is a pipe that carries water. The water itself is analogous to electrical charge, the pressure at the input of the pipe is similar to voltage, and the rate of flow of the water through the pipe is like electrical current. Just as with an electrical resistor, the flow of water through the pipe is faster if the pipe is shorter and/or it has a larger diameter. An analogy for a memristor is an interesting kind of pipe that expands or shrinks when water flows through it.   If water flows through the pipe in one direction, the diameter of the pipe increases, thus enabling the water to flow faster. If water flows through the pipe in the opposite direction, the diameter of the pipe decreases, thus slowing down the flow of water. If the water pressure is turned off, the pipe will retain it most recent diameter until the water is turned back on. Thus, the pipe does not store water like a bucket (or a capacitor) – it remembers how much water flowed thro ugh it (â€Å"HP Memristor FaQ†). The characteristic of memristor is

Negative Impacts of Large Salaries of Professional Athletes Essay

Negative Impacts of Large Salaries of Professional Athletes - Essay Example The large salary paid to athletes has been a controversial issue since time immemorial. Olympic gold winners such as Usain Bolt and Mike Tyson have topped the table of some of the highest paid athletes in the histories of their respective sports. Athletes make as much as thirty million dollars in a single sports event while a professional doctor in the united states may earn an average salary of slightly over $500,000 a year. The disparity is large a feature that makes athletes live a particular type of life that has consequently defamed both themselves and their respective sports. Among the living examples of poor management of the large salaries, including the life of the professional boxer Mike Tyson and several other athletes in Africa who have lived recklessly thereby losing either their lives or limbs thereby missing the sports (Mottram, 2005). Among the reasons that lead to a poor reputation, the large salaries have earned to both the sports and the athletes include the motivation arising from the large salaries. The athletes have therefore resorted to doing anything possible to win the medals in order to earn the large salaries. As explained earlier, the large salaries are often both a motivation and a reward for the strenuous exercises the athletes undergo during their sports. However, the fame and the millions of dollars have affected the lives of the athletes negatively thereby tarnishing the reputation of the sports. Doping, for example, is a contentious issue in athletes with the sports organizers calling back and banning many athletes who have won their trophies unscrupulously (Santo & Mildner, 2010).

Planning Function of Management Essay Example for Free

Planning Function of Management Essay Planning is a crucial function of management that enables an organization to achieve its maximum potential. Halliburton is one of the largest corporations in the United States, with a workforce of over 100,000 people in over 120 countries. Their home office is located in Houston, Texas and they are one of the worlds largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas industry. This paper will discuss the issues impacting and influencing management planning within Halliburton. Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter DruckerIt takes successful management at all levels and quality leadership to lead a business down the proverbial golden path. Planning is the primary management function, which formalizes an organizations goals and objectives and establishes a base for the other functions of management. Halliburton Company is an oilfield services company and a provider of engineering and construction services that was founded in 1919. The company has expanded through tremendous internal growth and several acquisitions and in March, 2002, Halliburton split into two main divisions: the Energy Services Group (ESG) and Kellog Brown and Root (KBR). ESG offers a wide range of products and services to upstream oil and gas customers worldwide, ranging from the manufacturing of drill bits and other downhole and completion tools and pressure pumping services (www.halliburton.com) [APA citation error (incorrect-do not use Web addresses or URLs in citations). If the author is cited in text = Authors name (year) direct quote (p. #). If the author is not cited in text = direct quote (author, year, p. #).] . KBR is the engineering subsidiary for Halliburton and is a global leader in construction and project management. Additionally, KBR is a leading government services contractor, which has been t he focal point of many legal and ethical issues. Halliburton has received a great deal of negative publicity over the past year or so regarding it Iraq and Kuwait operations. The Pentagon and Justice Department have both launched criminal investigations due to erroneous contract cost estimates totaling $2.7 billion to serve American troops in  the middle east. Accusations have been made of overcharging for meals supplied to troops in Iraq, as well as employees accepting kickbacks from a Kuwaiti subcontractor. Pentagon auditors found that KBR overcharged the U.S. government by $27.4 million during a period of nine months in 2003. Additionally, Halliburtons internal audit revealed employees accepted these kickbacks in exchange for providing Army supply contracts to the subcontractor (Associated Press). Limited military spending has created lucrative opportunities for privately held companies such as Halliburton to win these contracts and will continue to be at the forefront of media campaigns as long as the United States remains in Iraq, especially when it comes to Dick Cheney. [You have addressed the issue thoroughly and supported your assertions.] Much speculation has been generated in regard to current Vice President of the United States and former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheneys financial ties to his former company. On the September 14, 2003 edition of NBCs Meet the Press, Vice President Cheney said, And since I left Halliburton to become George Bushs vice president, Ive several all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and havent had, now, for over three years (St. Louis Journalism Review). However, it came to light that Cheney received a salary of over $150,000 and maintained over 400,000 shares of unexercised stock options at the time. Cheney stated that he deferred his salary and stock options; therefore it did not constitute a violation of ethics. The Congressional Research Service found that these financial interests in Halliburton demonstrated a financial interest with his former employer creating a conflict of interest. Despite the fact that Cheney broke the law of ethics, he is exempt from the enforcement of such laws and cannot be prosecuted for it (Halliburton Watch). KBR is the largest military contractor in Iraq, with more than 50,000 employees and subcontractor working there and in Kuwait and Afghanistan. These employees drive trucks, wash clothes, deliver mail, and provide additional support services for the U.S. troops. These workers are part of the Pentagons privatization strategy that enables the military to reduce the number of troops needed in a given location by assigning noncombat functions to civilians. Halliburtons social responsibility is to keep these  workers safe and away from fighting, but it has proved a difficult task. Numerous complaint and lawsuits have surfaced because of Halliburtons failure to provide safe working conditions and in the case of one man who was killed, the suit states he was intentionally sent the convoy as an enemy decoy in the U.S. military camouflage vehicles, to ensure the safe arrival and delivery of a second H-KBR fuel convoy (CNNMoney.com). Halliburtons social responsibility remains in question with workers being placed in harms way on a regular basis. Factors influencing Halliburtons strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning include political instability, rising steel prices, and environmental regulations. Halliburton operated in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Russia, which are currently experiencing unstable political and social climates. Continued conflict in these areas could have an impact on the companys bottom line and their ability to generate substantial revenue. Steel is a major commodity that is used in the setting up of plant and processing facilities for natural gas and petroleum refining. Record breaking high prices were reached in early 2005, but have since stabilized. However, the ongoing consolidation in the steel industry could lead to higher prices causing the profit margins to suffer. Lastly, Halliburton is subject to environment and legal requirement in its worldwide operations, such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Air Interstate Rule, causing the states to re duce the allowable sulfur dioxide SO2 emissions by 70% and nitrogen oxides emissions by 60%. Environmental issues such as these could place a burden on is cash flow. [Insightful analysis]Halliburton has an exceptional global presence and they are currently playing a prominent role in rebuilding Iraq and by providing our troops with shelter, meals, and delivery of materials. Although Halliburton has come under intense scrutiny over the past several years due to its involvement with Vice-President Chaney and its legal and ethical issues, it has still managed to win military contracts due to its expertise in the oil service industry. This shows tremendous resiliency and reassures its customers and stockholders that it will continue to be a strong force in the oilfield services industry. [Your paper is well written. It is clear and concise.]References-references must match citations by author/owner. References begin with author/owner name e.g. CNN.money and Halburton are the owners of the websites. See examples in APA manual. MarketLine Business Information Center. Retrieved January 27, 2007 fromhttp://dbic.datamonitor.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/companies/company/?pid=B07921BD-F512-44F2-AE84-4DA7D8630C9D#CompanyOverviewTop 25 Censored Stories. St. Louis Journalism Review; Dec 2006/Jan 2007, Vol. 36Issue 292, P23-27, 5p. Retrieved January 26, 2007 fromhttp://web.ebscohost.com. Decision Management System. Retrieved January 28, 2007 from www.halliburton.comHalliburton Announces Full Year and Fourth Quarter Results. Retrieved January 28,2007 from http://CNNMoney.comKelly, Matt. (2003, March). Halliburton Fires Workers for Allegedly Taking Kickbacksfor Iraq Contract. Retrieved Janury 27, 2007 from www.commondreams.orgTotal points available=14Your score=13.75Areas for improvement=teal belowContent and Development = 40%_____ Key elements covered, content comprehensive/accurate, clear points supported with detail, appropriate use of vocabulary, integration of theory and practice, research adequate/timely, content and purpose clear. Very good work on this section. Organization = 30%_____ Lead is interesting and relevant, thesis is well-developed, directional statement previews major points, paragraph transitions maintain flow, body paragraphs support a specific major point, conclusion is logical/flows evenly, conclusion reviews major points. Good work-very well organized. Easy to read. Format = 10%_____ APA format, reader friendly, utilizes references appropriately, headings aid adaptability/not overdone, neatly presented, format requirements followed. Some small errors in APA formatting of reference page and citations. (-.25)Mechanics = 10%_____ Punctuation rules followed, contractions avoided, spelling correct, vernacular is avoided, written in same person throughout, tense remains consistent. Readability and Style-10%_____ Complete, clear, concise statements, well constructed sentences, sentence transitions present, words/concepts precise,

George B. McClellan: The Disposable Patriot :: essays research papers

There were really no very interesting characters in this book. I was never one to be interested in history. There were some interesting parts though, for instance, the chapter about the railroad man was pretty good, and it was kind of cool that he got promoted to vice-president of the railroad he work on within a year after he started the job. Some of the wars he was in were ok as well. It sometimes amazes me that there were so many unnamed heroes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As you know, the book talks about his life, the wars he was in and a little behind the scenes. Mr. McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December third, eighteen twenty-six. His ancestors were from Scotland and came to the American colonies in the seventeen hundreds. When Mr. McClellan graduated from college, he graduated with a degree in medicine and was a respected surgeon. He married Elizabeth Brinton in eighteen twenty at the local Presbyterian Church where they were members. Skipping ahead, we get to â€Å"a nice little war in Mexico.† Here it explains McClellan’s commission and when he was sent to West Point to train troops bound for Mexico. After this time McClellan contracted malaria and dysentery and was confined to a hospital bed for almost one month while being nursed back to health by one of his friends named Jimmy Stuart. The one consolation for Mr. McClellan was that his unit was idle during his period of illness. The mala ria that McClellan experienced in Mexico, however, would stay with him for the rest of his life. He would often refer to this problem as his â€Å"Mexican disease† when it flared up from time to time. Early in eighteen eighty-five, he had two articles published in the century magazine as a part of their â€Å"battles and leaders of war† series. Mac Was asked to write about his experiences as a commander during the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns. In October eighteen eight-five, Mac began to experience severe chest pain that was later diagnosed as angina pectoris. His doctor prescribed different treatments and rest. Within a week or two his condition began to improve and the doctor believed Mac would make a complete recovery. However, on the evening of October twenty-eight, while finishing an article for the century, Mac began to experience severe chest pains once again. His condition quickly deteriorated throughout the night, and at three o’clock in the morning he turned and looked at his wife and said to the physician, â€Å"Tell her I am better now.

Law Enforcement Today Essay

Trust is a huge issue police department’s face in today’s society. Society’s faith in policing has been diminishing as the century has passed because of corrupt police officers and brutality scandals. An immense amount of law enforcement administrators are overwhelmed with the task of again bringing a trust worthy structure to police departments. One reason for the corruptness is the extraordinary level of drugs, growing gang members, and guns in the different cities. Agencies are blind to see who they are hiring, some departments continue to hire the wrong type of people then are forced to participate in cover-ups of misconduct in hope the department will not receive a bad reputation. Money, a controversial issue, can be another factor. Officers that know and deal with the dangers of the daily life that citizens are living each day, are helpless to finding real hard-core evidence or gain real suspects as some small town departments are not funded for the more serious crimes. Stress is likely an issue that police officers in today’s society deal with. Humans just like the rest of us, police officers cannot show any symptoms of weakness in front of their co-workers, or emergency services as well as public safety workers, but more importantly the accused. Police officers do not have an easy job. These men and women are forced to make split-second decisions involving the life or death of not only themselves, but of the victims as well as the accused. Sometimes the decisions that officers make can result in serious injury or bring death to the wrong person. In some instances police officers are killed because they do not act quickly enough or make immediate decisions. Each day officers are subjected to danger and extreme mental coupled with physical stress. Unfortunately this intense amount of stress can cause officers to engage in brutal offenses, which reflect opon the department, such as beating the guilty or snapping on the innocence. Violence is another issue police department’s face daily. About 70 percent of police officers who suffer from bullet inflicted wounds leave the police force within seven years of the experience. â€Å"Police are admitted to hospitals at significantly higher rates than the general population and rank third among occupations in premature death rates (Sewell et al, 1988)† The federal government supports State and local authorities when their resources are in high demand or are predicted to be overwhelmed. The federal departments are there to respect the independence in addition to responsibilities of local, tribal, and State governments while providing assistance. The Department of Homeland Security also known as DHS is on the federal level, though state governments are assigned to lead the role in Homeland Security. In response to the assignment, many states brought together existing public security, law enforcement, and emergency response services by drawing them together and opening channels to other states. The connection between DHS, law enforcement, and intelligence has practically demolished as some law enforcement departments are becoming more like intelligence agencies while the existence of foreign intelligence is primarily improved. The Department of Homeland Security, in hopes of improvement, has established the six-point agenda. The agenda begins with 1. â€Å"Increase overall preparedness, particularly for catastrophic events 2. Create better transportation security systems to move people and cargo more securely and efficiently 3.  Strengthen border security and interior enforcement and reform immigration processes; 4. Enhance information sharing with our partners 5. Improve DHS financial management, human resource development, procurement and information technology 6. Realign the DHS organization to maximize mission performance. † In the year 2006/2007, Congress developed the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act which requires the Department of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Communications to create an order to provide a roadmap that will improve the Nation’s emergency communications purpose.  The National Emergency Communications Plan is a goal setter in hopes to enhance governance, planning, technology, training and exercises, as well as disaster communications capabilities. It also makes recommendations available which include improvements of the emergency response in emergency communications. Police departments can improve by cleaning up the corruption in their departments in addition hiring the right types of individuals, lowering the number of minutes in response time, and obeying the law themselves.

Miley Cyrus

I guess you are wrote some news about you don’t have to talk about. You have to go on the middle of the way. Yours writer wrote about full of lie or humiliating things about Miley Cyrus. I get so angry about it because she can do every thing she wants. I’m not a Miley fan or something like that but the news is very bad for her. She has a family too like us. If you want to make a news about Miley Cyrus or someone else you have to talk right and don’t judge people what they are doing. That’s why I’m writing this letter to you.First of all, the editor is so mean about Miley’s choice this is her choice you shouldn’t make a comment about it. If there is some problems about her life her father or mother will get a protection about the her problem Secondly, Your news have to be more serious and objective but you are doing the all stupid and idiot, news. I just wanted that from you is just take your business. You don’t have to talk bad thing to get an attention. You just can make of high quality news Thirdly, you can make more visible news like videos or photos.I don’t want to read the same things please make a difference in the magazine news. All these things considered, I feel I need to be compensated. In addition, I demand that you improve the news at your website or shut it down because of the silly and unnecessary news. If you do not do either of these, I will report it to the authorities myself. Please contact me at the address above or the following email address: [email  protected] com I would love to hear from you as soon as possible. I want to read more good and valuable news. Take care, writer

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine of Alexandria Known for:Â  legends vary, but usually known for her torture on a wheel before her martyrdom Dates: 290s C.E. () - 305 C.E. (?)Feast Day: November 25 Also known as: Katherine of Alexandria, Saint Catherine of the Wheel, Great Martyr Catherine How We Know About Saint Catherine of Alexandria Eusebius writes about 320 of a Christian woman of Alexandria who refused the advances of the Roman emperor and, as a consequence of her refusal, lost her estates and was banished. Popular stories add more details, some of which conflict with each other. The following summarizes the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria depicted in those popular stories. The story is found in the Golden Legend and also in an Acts of her life. Legendary Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria is said to have been born the daughter of Cestus, wealthy man of Alexandria in Egypt. She was noted for her wealth, intelligence, and beauty. She is said to have learned philosophy, languages, science (natural philosophy), and medicine. She refused to marry, not finding any man who was her equal. Either her mother or her reading introduced her to the Christian religion. She is said to have challenged the emperor (Maximinus or Maximian or his son Maxentius are variously thought to be the anti-Christian emperor in question) when she was eighteen years old. The emperor brought in some 50 philosophers to dispute her Christian ideas but she convinced them all to convert, at which point the emperor burned them all to death. She then is said to have converted others, even the empress. Then the emperor is said to have tried to make her his empress or mistress, and when she refused, she was tortured on a spiked wheel, which miraculously fell apart and the parts killed some who were watching the torture. Finally, the emperor had her beheaded. Veneration of Saint Catherine of Alexandria In about the 8th or 9th century, a story became popular that after she died, St. Catherines body was carried by angels to Mount Sinai, and that the monastery there was built in honor of this event. In medieval times, St. Catherine of Alexandria was among the most popular saints, and was often depicted in statues, paintings, and other art in churches and chapels. She has been included as one of the fourteen holy helpers, or important saints to pray to for healing. She was considered a protector of young girls and especially of those who were students or in cloisters. She was also considered the patroness of wheelwrights, mechanics, millers, philosophers, scribes, and preachers. St. Catherine was especially popular in France, and she was one of the saints whose voices were heard by Joan of Arc. The popularity of the name Catherine (in various spellings) is likely based on Catherine of Alexandrias popularity. In Orthodox Churches Catherine of Alexandria is known as a great martyr. There is no real historical evidence for the details of St. Catherines life story outside these legends. Writings of visitors to the Mt. Sinai monastery do not mention her legend for the first few centuries after her death. The feast day of Catherine of Alexandria, November 25, was removed from the Roman Catholic Churchs official calendar of saints in 1969, and restored as an optional memorial on that calendar in 2002.

The Top 4 ACT Reading Strategies You Must Use

The Top 4 ACT Reading Strategies You Must Use SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you struggle with the ACT Reading section, you're probably on the lookout for some new strategies to help you improve your performance. In this article, I’ve put together four of our top strategies for fixing whatever problems you have on the Reading section and dramatically increasing your scores! Strategy #1: Learn to Eliminate Three Wrong Answers This is the cornerstone of the fundamental rule of ACT reading, which states that there is only one correct answer for each question, and all other choices can be eliminated based on concrete evidence in the passage.This sounds simple, but it’s much more difficult in practice.You have to be super picky with every answer choice! If an answer choice contains even one word or phrase that doesn’t match up with the evidence in the passage, you must eliminate it.Don’t fall for answers that COULD work but don’t have any direct evidence to back them up. That’s how the test tries to trick you. A good way to avoid tricky answers is to answer the question in your own words first and then look at the answer choices. This way, you can formulate an opinion before your thoughts are influenced in any way by the incorrect options. This is an important strategy because it’s much easier to get rid of three wrong answers than to try and pick out one correct answer right off the bat. Even if you’re not sure exactly what the right answer is, with this strategy you can find it just by figuring out what the wrong ones are. Practice Question for Strategy #1: In the last paragraph, the author expresses the belief that scientists who open a new line of research on a topic are likely to: A. quickly discover the answers to the questions they raise.B. find that new questions arise as old ones are answered.C. receive answers far different than they anticipated.D. learn that they have often asked the wrong questions. Here’s the last paragraph of the passage for reference: Like many preliminary scientific reports, Cho’s study raises more questions than it answers. Still, he has demonstrated new functional effects of acupuncture. â€Å"Classically, acupuncture was the ultimate in experimentation; people collected data for thousands of years,† says Joie Jones, professor of radiological sciences at the University of California at Irvine and coauthor of the study. â€Å"With these studies, we’ve demonstrated that for at least some acupuncture points [a connection] goes through the brain.† Which belief is the author expressing in the paragraph? Well, first let’s decide which beliefs he or she ISN’T expressing. Choice A: quickly discover the answers to the questions they raise This seems wrong.The paragraph says that the study â€Å"raises more questions than it answers†.This doesn’t go along with a belief that scientists who open new lines of research like the one in the passage will â€Å"quickly discover the answers to the questions they raise†. The study led to more questions, not immediate answers!Cross it out. Choice C: receive answers far different than they anticipated This looks wrong too.Did the paragraph ever talk about the study revealing unexpected answers to the scientists’ questions?It seems like it’s saying that the study demonstrated what they expected it to: that acupuncture points are connected to signal pathways in the brain. Get rid of this answer! Choice D:learn that they have often asked the wrong questions This choice also seems incorrect.Although the study â€Å"raises more questions than it answers†, the paragraph doesn’t refer to the original questions being â€Å"the wrong questions.†They just didn’t cover all the questions that would ultimately come up as a result of the study. Cross this answer out too! The only answer we have left after eliminating the incorrect choices is: Choice B: find that new questions arise as old ones are answered This answer choice makes complete sense. It restates the phrase in the paragraph about new questions being raised almost word for word! You can see from this example how process of elimination makes the answers to ACT Reading questions a lot more clear-cut. That's why it's such a key strategy to keep in mind. New questions will always arise as old ones are answered. We will never truly be enlightened. Humanity toils endlessly to find meaning in existence. Oh, the horror of consciousness. Didn't think a picture caption would get this dark, did you? Strategy #2: Find Your Ideal Passage Reading Method This strategy is also critical, especially if you struggle with running out of time on ACT Reading.Time can be a huge problem for students on the Reading section because you only get 35 minutes for 40 questions. That’s 53 seconds per question!If you spend a total of 15 minutes just reading the passages, that brings your time per question down to 30 seconds. This means picking the most efficient reading methodwill do a lot to improve your performance.Here are three methods that you might decide to use. Experiment with each on timed practice tests to see which feels the most comfortable and allows you to save the most time. Method #1: Skim the Passage First This is an effective method if you want to get a sense of the overall structure of the passage before looking at the questions without wasting too much time.The best way to skim is to read the introduction and conclusion paragraphs of the passage and the first and last sentences of the body paragraphs.The author's main pointswill be located in these parts of the passage, so you should be able to answer any big picture questions you come across after skimming. If a question asks about details in the passage that you don’t remember, you can always go back and find them.By doing this on a question-by-question basis, you will save yourself time because you’ll only be reading closely in the specific parts of the passage that are relevant to the questions. Method #2: Skip Straight to the Questions This might seem crazy, but trust me, it’s a workable strategy.Close to half of the questions on the ACT Reading section are about small details, so you don’t have to know the main idea of the passage to answer them. You can answer these types of questions just by searching through the passage and finding one specific detail.By the time you answer all the detail questions and are ready to move on to big picture questions, you'll have a solid sense of the main points of the passage.If not, you can always use the skimming technique outlined in Method #1. This method scares some people, but if you’re willing to go for it, it can actually save tons of time! Method #3: Read the Whole Passage First This is the method most people use instinctively.If you’re a fast reader with great reading comprehension skills, it might be fine to read passages this way. Just make sure that it really is working for you - again, I suggest taking timed practice tests where you experiment with these methods to see which one will serve you best on the real test. Even if you CAN read quickly, that doesn't mean you'll absorb the information effectively. Make sure you're a quick and thorough reader before deciding to abandon the other methods and read passages in-depth. When it comes to reading passages, don't bite off more than you can chew. Mini-Strategy #2.5: Answer Questions Based on Your Reading Strategy I mentioned this a bit when describing the different reading methods, but on the test you should answer questions in an order that makes sense based on your chosen reading strategy. If you use Method #1 and skim the passage first or use Method #3 and read thoroughly first, then you should start with big picture questions. The main points of the passage will be freshest in your mind right after you skim the passage. If, on the other hand, you use Method #2 and start with the questions, you should answer detail questions first. They'll be much easier to answer than big picture questions if you haven't yet read the passage in full. Strategy #3: Understand Your Mistakes The key to improvement in any endeavor is first understanding where you're going wrong, and the ACT Reading section is no exception.When you take practice tests, mark every question you get wrong or are unsure about, and determine why you missed each of them. This should include any questions where you guessed and got the right answer. You might not be so lucky next time! When analyzing your mistakes, it’s not enough to say â€Å"I made a dumb mistake† and move on. WHY did you make a mistake on that particular question? What will you do to prevent it from happening again in the future? There Are Four General Types of Mistakes: Type 1: Time Pressure Did you miss the question because you just didn’t get to it?Were you rushing and picked an answer that you didn’t really think about? If time pressure is the reason for many of your mistakes, you may need to refine your passage reading strategy or just takemore practice tests to get used to how fast you need to move through the questions.You might also need to work on skipping difficult questions initially so you don’t spend too much time on one question and miss easier questions later in the section. Type 2: Content Weakness This is less common in the Reading section, but it’s possible that you just didn’t know what a word or concept meant in the passage and ended up choosing the wrong answer.The best way to fix this is to do more challenging reading on your own time.You should alsoread this guide to ACT vocabulary and the most common words you’ll need to know! Type 3: Question Comprehension Did you misunderstand what the question was asking? These types of mistakes are why it’s so critical to make sure you know what’s being asked before you start looking at the answer choices.If you find a question confusing, restate it in your own words before choosing an answer. Type 4: Careless Error Did you miss an â€Å"EXCEPT† or â€Å"LEAST† in the question?Were you rushing? Remind yourself to slow down and read carefully.Try different passage reading strategies if you think this is partially a time pressure issue.If you’re rushing because you’re anxious about finishing the section, I would suggest skipping straight to the questions.This way you will get some questions done right away and will feel less pressed for time. Once you realize where your mistakes are happening, you can start to correct them.Confronting your mistakes directly will improve your scores significantly! Time to eat a nice slice of humble pie washed down with a glass of my mistake milk. Rein in your ego, and you won't get food poisoning. Probably. Strategy #4: Find Your Problem Areas and Practice, Practice, Practice This is the next step after figuring out the types of mistakes you make most frequently.After you identify all the questions you’ve been missing, you can categorize them by question typeto make it easier to cater your practice sessions to the areas of the test that give you the most trouble. ACT Reading question types that we’ve identified include: Big picture questionsLittle picture/detail questionsVocabulary in context questionsFunction questionsInference questions Click on the links for more information about each type and strategies for solving them.Once you’ve categorized all your problem questions, you can start doing more practice in the areas that cause you the most trouble. If you find that your mistakes are pretty evenly distributed, you can practice all types of questions and work on taking more timed practice tests.It’s possible that it’s not the questions themselves that are a problem for you but the timing of the test. This just means getting used to the structure and learning better time management. Review If you really want to improve your ACT Reading scores, you’ll need work hard at perfecting your testing strategies and fixing your weak areas. The four strategies you should keep in mind are: Strategy #1: Learn to eliminate three wrong answer choicesStrategy #2: Find the best passage reading method for youStrategy #3: Understand your mistakes Strategy #4: Find your problem areas and do practice questions If you follow this advice and devote significant time to mastering these strategies, you should start to see awesome results! What's Next? For more quick ways to improve your ACT Reading score, check out my article on the best tips for ACT Reading. If you're really ambitious, read our article on how to get a perfect 36 on ACT Reading for more advanced strategies. Ready to get your studying started? Take a look at this article on the best way to practice for ACT Reading. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Definition of Marketing and Nutritional Supplements Assignment

Definition of Marketing and Nutritional Supplements - Assignment Example As a management process, it believe that it must incorporate the 4ps where the organization initiate a new product, sets the price, ensure that it is in the right place to a certain channel of distribution, and familiarization is enhanced through the right promotional techniques. Therefore, I can generalize and argue from a philosophical perspective that the entire process of marketing is social process in nature for it involves taking action to meet clients’ needs and realize organizational goals of increased sales through an exchange of products and customer’s value. To discuss marketing from my point of view, I will consider GNLD, a nutritional supplement company in the U.S. Nutritional supplements have increased tremendously due to the increased importance of essential vitamins and minerals that lack in people’s body. These important are not available in the normal diets. However, the increase in the Nutritional Supplements selling companies has increased havoc since medical practitioners have noted with concern that some of these companies are money making since their productions are not regulated increasing controversy surrounding the products. However, GNLD is an example of such a company, which for over 50 years has ensured good health to millions of people. Its purpose is ideally to empower individuals with essential knowledge and through their scientifically proven products realize long life health. The history of this company is unique. The founder, Jerry Brassfield, introduced this company at a very young age when he realized that quality supplements played a profound impact in restoration of people health. This was after his life was sa ved by his mother who healed his long allergy and asthma through addition of nutritional products in his food. Since the introduction of the company, it has achieved national and international success hence through the founder; the company

Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Report - Research Paper Example .. 7 3. Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 4. References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 APPENDIX The Brazilian Economy 1. Executive Summary Brazil has maintained considerable economic difficulties from 1900 to 2012 due to ineffective financial policy construction, government reforms, and an over-reliance on commodities to drive economic sustainability and growth. Historically, coffee and oil have been staple export products; however, these commodities are subject to unpredictable spikes or decline in prices. At the same time, the CPI in Brazil is affected by higher-than-average inflation due to rising supply chain prices and interest rate fluctuatio ns that limit consumer spending and investment. It is recommended that Brazil diversify its economy and return to the crawling peg monetary policy now that industrialization and consumerism are beginning to develop effectively in this country. 2. Background on Brazil and its Economy Brazil is currently experiencing significant economic growth due to changes governmental and economic reforms as well as its current position as a major contributor to the global trade system. The country, once overly reliant on coffee production and rail system transportation to promote economic growth and job security, now maintains a growing industrial base in consumer products, industrial products and commodity development that contributes to a high GDP comparatively to other countries around the globe. Sixty seven percent of total GDP is attributed to the service sector, as it relates to health care, hospitality, beauty provision and restaurant (to name only a few). The rest of gross domestic produc t is allocated in agricultural development and industrial-based employment. Unfortunately, Brazil currently has a debt to GDP ratio of approximately 50 percent, which is much higher than that of other emerging or developing nations (Blanchard, 2005). At the same time, the inflation rate in Brazil is approximately four percent annually which impacts disposable income for consumers and also cash flow availability for companies in the industrial and agricultural sectors. High prices throughout the commodity supply chain, as one example, are offset by rising prices on corn, coffee and other commodity products used in the household sector. High inflation occurring annually since 2003, when the country experienced over 17 percent hyperinflation, continues to erode the government’s ability to stimulate more economic and job growth. The provision of public services, such as electric, telephone services, and water consumption experienced inflation rates of 8.38 percent with supplement ary tariff increases of over 15 percent on all of these services (Business News Americas, 2004). Brazil has not, even during years where inflation was reduced through economic policy and infrastructure development, experienced any significant decreases from these cost levels. As such, consumerism is reduced due to lowered disposable income for consumer products. From 1990 to 1997, Brazil experienced inflation to the level where gross national product was consumed up to 40 percent due to rising prices (Selva, 2010). Further, credit card companies, in response to decreased consumer savings in banking institutions, began charging upwards of 25 percent for consumer and industrial purchases (Selva, 2010). The lack

Business decision making Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business decision making - Assignment Example Decision making process is a very significant function to any company that must attain success in the market. It stipulates the areas that the company can easily penetrate in the market without enormous incurrence on costs and any impending risks. Data collection is the approach that wills open doors for such a company to make an adequate decision from the analysis they arrive at as per the data segments (Carroll, 2008). In this paper is stipulated that data analysis is a significant faction which every company ought to adopt. The report revolves around a fashion industry selling fashion clothes, shoes, jeans and other related fashion components whose main target is the youth generation. It possesses a challenge since the youths are dynamics in their desires, this call for constant review of its products to meet the demand of its market segment. A group comprising of 20 youths is sampled from Coventry region who are interviewed on a major market trends about fashion and their take on how fashion impacts the development of new products in the market. Their involvement in the changes is the key factor that is considered (Bazerman& Moore, 2013). Decisions amount to the most significant components to business in the market regardless of its current position. For a business to start it must involve decision making processes and growing business must always apply different decisions for its growth purposes, otherwise growth and start-up will never be met. An agglomeration of factors must be taken into consideration on the particular field of the company. A company ought to ask such questions like what is my market size. What is the market trend? Who are my consumers? What is the market perception? Among other critical questions which will drive the company to undertake proper steps. Quality, quantity, location, size and other structural characteristics are influenced by the decisions made by management in a company (Teale,

The Evolution of Urban Society in Mesopotamia

The Evolution of Urban Society in Mesopotamia Where and when did the first urban societies appear? Were the earliest cities a prerequisite for the development of civilization or merely by-products of it? These are fundamental questions that are attempted to be answered in studies of the ‘urban revolution, which is defined as â€Å"emergence of urban life and the concomitant transformation of human settlements from simple agrarian-based systems to complex and hierarchical systems of manufacturing and trade.† (Gotham 2007) For decades now, many anthropologists, archaeologists and historians have accepted that the ‘cradle of civilization was situated in the Fertile Crescent, a vast stretch of land which extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. More specifically referred to is Mesopotamia, meaning â€Å"land between the rivers† in Greek, lying in the basin of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Mesopotamia is indeed the oldest site that provides evidence of a complex and urban society, s uch as writing, grand architecture, and bureaucracy. It contains all the characteristics necessary to support the social, economic, and religious needs of a large and sedentary population. Although there is no exact definition for an urban society, scholars have established a myriad of different criteria to classify societies. One of the earliest, and most important, lists of characteristics used to evaluate whether a society can be described as urban was V. Gordon Childes ten-point model in his seminal article â€Å"The Urban Revolution†. His analysis of these different, yet related, factors is often summarized under the acronym â€Å"POET†: population, organization, environment and technology (Wyly 6:2008). For this essay, I will focus on these four criteria and how the ancient societies in Mesopotamia satisfied them. First of all, the growth and density of a population depends on the food supply available, which is restricted by the natural resources available to the inhabitants. Mesopotamia was blessed as a rich agricultural area between its two rivers. It had very favourable geographical characteristics as a flat and alluvial land. As a consequence of its consistent elevation, the Tigris and the Euphrates flowed relatively slowly. The lack of natural dykes or barriers to the rivers caused the yearly flooding. The waters consistently overflowed their banks and deposited a rich layer of silt onto the plains. Since the ground in southern Mesopotamia was extremely fecund, people were able to regularly grow an abundance of crops which could support a considerable population. According to Elvin Wyly (1998), â€Å"After a long period of struggles to improve cultivation techniques in the fertile river valleys, archaeologists believed, an ‘agricultural revolution allowed the production of a surpl us that eventually laid the basis for an ‘urban revolution about 5,500 years ago (3,500 before the current era, or BCE).† It was from the environment that social surpluses were made possible, meaning farmers were able to produce annually more food than what was necessary to sustain him and his family. However, the annual flooding of the plains was often a mixed blessing. Although the fertility of the soil was caused by centuries of silt deposits transferred from the river beds, the flooding could also be unpredictably catastrophic. In an instant, rivers could destroy crops and wipe out entire communities and their inhabitants. Once the hordes of neighbouring peoples settled in adjacent to the waterways, it became necessary for them to join together in a form of collective management to protect their settlements and livelihoods from flooding. This collective management of the flood waters and the social surplus associated with it formed the rudimentary conditions for the progression of Sumerian civilization. Childe (1950: 8) makes this point clear when he notes, â€Å"At the same time dependence on river water for the irrigation of the crops restricted the cultivable areas while the necessity of canalizing the waters and protecting habitations against annual floods encouraged the aggregation of population. Thus arose the first cities—units of settlement ten times as great as any known Neolithic village.† These novel agricultural innovations of controlled irrigation and canalization served as catalysts for the broader societal changes. By providing a consistent social surplus, the populations of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia were able to rapidly increase in absolute terms and also in the density of their settlement. The greater numbers of people provided the basis for specialization and hierarchical institutions. The largest Mesopotamian city Ur, which was built on a tributary of the Euphrates, had a maximum population of 34, 000 in the old walled city, and possibly more than 340,000 when its surrounding regions are included (Wyly 2008: 2). This is an astounding number for a settlement during this period. Among the rivers and streams, the Sumerian people built the first cities along with irrigation canals which were separated by vast stretch es of open desert or swamp where nomadic tribes roamed. Communication among the isolated cities was difficult and at times dangerous. Thus each Sumerian city became a city-state, independent of the others and protective of its independence. This demonstrates that the development of cities and states were inextricably linked, as one was necessary for the formation of the other. This irrigation cultivation and food surplus released certain members of the population from manual labour. The economic and political transformations that brought about early complex societies were largely due to the production of a social surplus by commoners, which enabled the formation of political differentiation and the complex division of labour. Thus began the process of social stratification and the formation of different social classes, perhaps the most significant change incurred by the Urban Revolution â€Å"As with other cities of Mesopotamia, Ur was socially heterogeneous, with a detailed specialization of labor, and substantial differences in wealth and power between an elite class and the remainder of the population.† (Wyly 2008: 2). A strict hierarchy began. At the top were the land-owning elites, consisting of nobles, priests and the military, who controlled the distribution of the surplus. Next, there were specialists such as craftspeople, metallurgists, and scribes employed to track the surplus. At the bottom were the powerless peasants who supported the entire economy on their backs. Smith (2009: 10) notes that â€Å"Sir Leonard Woolley (1954) was directing excavations at Ur, where he uncovered evidence for many craft specialists in the residential neighborhoods.† The power of the elites was symbolized and consolidated by the construction of grand public monuments. â€Å"Every Sumerian city was from the first dominated by one or more stately temples, centrally situated on a brick platform raised above the surrounding dwellings and usually connected with an artificial mountain, the staged tower or ziggurat.† (Childe 1950: 14). Granaries and workshops were attached to these temples allowing the concentration of food and wealth to be held in the hands of a relative few. The ability to store and trade the surplus spurred scientific innovations in measurement and storage, while new political means emerged to supervise the allocation of the surplus and its benefits. According to Childe (1950: 16), new technologies and innovations emergence directly from the need to manage and organize the surplus. The priests and bureaucrats of Sumerian temple invented the first type of writing, in the form of Sumerian cuneiform, as a way of accounting and re cording the resources and revenues collected as tribute from the commons. The invention of writing led to the development of other â€Å"exact and predictive sciences—arithmetic, geometry and astronomy†. The use of writing and sciences for administrative purposes by the state is one of the hallmarks of a more complex, urban society. George Cowgill (2004: 535) claims that â€Å"If the first cities were deliberately created, it is likely that they were new kinds of settlements that arose abruptly, rather than old kinds of settlements that gradually grew so large that they became qualitatively as well as quantitatively different.† Works Cited Childe, V. Gordon 1950 The Urban Revolution. Town Planning Review 21:3-17. Cowgill, George L. 2004 Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:525-544. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica 2009 History of Mesopotamia. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/376828/Mesopotamia, accessed November 20, 2009. Smith, Michael E. 2009 V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: An Historical Perspective on a Revolution in Urban Studies. Town Planning Review 80:3-29. Wyly, Elvin 2008 Urban Origins and Historical Trajectories of Urban Change. Introduction to Urban Geography 1-10.

My Personal Philosophy of Education :: Education Teachers Reflective Writing Essays

Philosophy of Education I believe all students have the potential to think critically and mathematically. However, each student manifests this ability at a different level and pace. Thus, it is the role of the teacher to facilitate learning by providing each student with the opportunity to grasp mathematical concepts. Too often teachers assume that only those who have demonstrated a high level of achievement in the classroom will be able to experience higher-order problem solving situations. Often, problems that require critical thinking are simplified to mere procedures and rules. Instead, I contend that it is precisely the struggle and challenge of these situations that can enhance all students’ understanding in some way. As an educator, it is my responsibility to provide the resources (information, experiences, problem solving strategies, etc.) to enable each student to improve his or her reasoning skills. However, it is often difficult to reach students individually and even more difficult to change the deep-set attitudes towards mathematics, especially among those who struggle. I propose that creating a caring, problem-solving based community is the best way to combat negative attitudes towards mathematics and to help individuals make gains in their critical thinking ability. If I encourage students to be working together as mathematicians in a community, then they can learn from and communicate with each other. In this setup, every student has some insight to bring and each will struggle and learn from problems at their own level. My role in this environment is that of a guide, presenting tools and strategies for the class to discover and reason through mathematics. The more students see that there are different ways of thinking about the same situation, the more they will be able to access resources when they encounter a problem on their own. For instance, in a 7th grade classroom , we used two color counters to introduce integer operations. For the exit exercises, some students still needed the idea of chips while others had established generalizations. Through guided discovery, they took away a level of understanding that best suited them. The students who needed visuals still were not forced to resort to generalized procedures that they did not yet understand. They were able to correctly perform the calculations in a way that made sense to them. I also must guide the establishment of a strong community by encouraging mathematical communication, critical commentary and sensitivity. My Personal Philosophy of Education :: Education Teachers Reflective Writing Essays Philosophy of Education I believe all students have the potential to think critically and mathematically. However, each student manifests this ability at a different level and pace. Thus, it is the role of the teacher to facilitate learning by providing each student with the opportunity to grasp mathematical concepts. Too often teachers assume that only those who have demonstrated a high level of achievement in the classroom will be able to experience higher-order problem solving situations. Often, problems that require critical thinking are simplified to mere procedures and rules. Instead, I contend that it is precisely the struggle and challenge of these situations that can enhance all students’ understanding in some way. As an educator, it is my responsibility to provide the resources (information, experiences, problem solving strategies, etc.) to enable each student to improve his or her reasoning skills. However, it is often difficult to reach students individually and even more difficult to change the deep-set attitudes towards mathematics, especially among those who struggle. I propose that creating a caring, problem-solving based community is the best way to combat negative attitudes towards mathematics and to help individuals make gains in their critical thinking ability. If I encourage students to be working together as mathematicians in a community, then they can learn from and communicate with each other. In this setup, every student has some insight to bring and each will struggle and learn from problems at their own level. My role in this environment is that of a guide, presenting tools and strategies for the class to discover and reason through mathematics. The more students see that there are different ways of thinking about the same situation, the more they will be able to access resources when they encounter a problem on their own. For instance, in a 7th grade classroom , we used two color counters to introduce integer operations. For the exit exercises, some students still needed the idea of chips while others had established generalizations. Through guided discovery, they took away a level of understanding that best suited them. The students who needed visuals still were not forced to resort to generalized procedures that they did not yet understand. They were able to correctly perform the calculations in a way that made sense to them. I also must guide the establishment of a strong community by encouraging mathematical communication, critical commentary and sensitivity.