Autism and the link to Mercury-containing vaccines

Autism and the link to Mercury-containing vaccines Free Online Research Papers Autism, can it be caused by a mercury-containing vaccine? This is a question that hasn’t been answered very clearly. Therefore, causing parents, of children with autism, to poor their time and money into unproductive pursuits; other parents become afraid to vaccinate their children. So what are the real causes of autism? First, how does mercury affect the human body? To start off, there are three forms of mercury: methyl mercury, elemental mercury, and other mercury compounds. Methyl mercury is normally absorbed into the body by eating fish and shellfish that contain methyl mercury. The effect of methyl mercury in infants, children and even unborn babies is impaired neurological development. Elemental mercury is only toxic when it’s in vapor form and absorbed through the lungs. The effects of elemental mercury, depends on the amount of exposure. For small amounts, the symptoms are tremors, emotional changes, insomnia, neuromuscular changes, headaches, disturbances in sensations, changes in nerve responses, and performance deficits on tests of cognitive function. At higher exposures symptoms are kidney effects, respiratory failure and death. Other mercury compounds, inorganic and organic, are both absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. High exposure can affect the gastrointestinal tract , the nervous system, and the kidneys. Second, what is autism? Autism is a lifelong developmental disorder, characterized by impaired social interaction, social communication and social imagination. (Fernandes, 2010) It is also know as a group of illnesses that involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize or form relationships with others as well as the ability to communicate and to use imagination (including fantasy play). (Hirsch, Autism) There are many forms of autism: Autistic disorder; a disorder that normally affects children 3 years or younger, it effects their social interactions, communication, and imaginative play. This is the form most people think about when thinking about autism. Asperger’s syndrome; this form of autism is lesser form then that of autistic disorder. It doesn’t affect the child’s language skills, but still affects their social skills and limits their imaginative skills. Pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), also known as atypical autism; this is a kind of catchall category for children who have some autistic problems but who dont fit into other categories. (Hirsch, Understanding) Rett syndrome; children with retts, mostly turn out to be girls, tend to start out normally then start to decline. Most begin to decline at an age ranging between 1 and 4. They start to loss their communication and social skills, repetitive hand movements replace purposeful use of the hands. Childhood disintegrative disorder; these children develop normally for at least two years, and then lose some or most of their communication and social skills. (Hirsch, Understanding) Currently, the cause of autism isn’t clear. Some studies have shown that autism could be caused by genes; others show that autism could be caused by certain drugs or chemicals that the mother comes in contact with during pregnancy. Still other studies are looking at whether autism can be caused by other medical problems or by something in your child’s surroundings. Some parents have suggested that there is a link between childhood vaccines that contain mercury, and autism. This is because parents first noted the signs of autism soon after the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, a mercury derivative. Most cases of autism are noted during the ages of 1 and 2 years, the MMR vaccine is first given to children at 12 to 15 months of age; therefore could be just an unrelated chance occurrence. (Hirsch, Autism) So does mercury containing vaccines cause autism? According to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials have been aware of a link between thimerosal, another mercury derivative, and autism since 2000. In June of 2000, CDC and FDA had a study done by Tom Verstraeten. They wanted proof that a link between thimerosal and neurological disorders was not real. Unfortunately for them, the opposite was true. Verstraeten had looked over the medical records of 100,000 children in the CDC database and discovered that there was a link between thimerosal and neurological disorders. Many cases showed children with symptoms of neurological disorders, such as speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and autism, after receiving a thimerosal vaccine. (Klotter, 2006) Research on this particular subject has lead us to the CDC and the FDA’s study. It looks like the CDC and the FDA found a link between mercury-containing vaccines and autism. The question now is: have they done anything about it? References: Fernandes, T. Autism. Nursing Standard 0029-6570 (2010): 24. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 6 July 2010. . Hirsch, David. Autism Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and More. parenting. WebMD.com, 3 Sept. 2009. Web. 6 July 2010. . Hirsch, David. Understanding Autism the Basics. Brain. WebMD.com, 20 Nov. 2009. Web. 6 July 2010. . Klotter, Jule. Thimerosal, vaccines, and autism.(vaccine preservatives thimersoal link with autism )(Report). Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine 273 (2006): 28+. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 July 2010. 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buy custom Validity essay

buy custom Validity essay Validity is the level of accuracy in measurement of a concept during a study or research. It is concerned with the aptness, and convenience of the exact deductions made from test scores. Validity has been viewed conventionally through various forms related to content, criterion as well as that which is concerned with constructs a proof among others. However, there are current paradigms that take validity as a unitary concept (Cook, 2005). As a result, test proofs should be got from various sources to support an interpretation. If consideration to the orderly assortment of validity evidence is improved, evaluations in psychometric tests will be improved. When a test score and the quality being measured are in conformity, then validity is said to be achieved. The usefulness of a test score can only be achieved by having definite evidence got through definite means (Marakas, Johnson, Clay, 2007). Besides, test values should have validity for the purpose intended. There are rules of evidence that psychologists abide to, as a way of ascertaining that a test score has a meaning for a specific reason. Therefore, to attain validity, the level of deductions from test findings should be reasonable, appropriate and significant (Saccuzzo Kaplan, 2008). At initial stages of data collection in any given study, there is usually no reason to consider a test score valid. However, evidence for validity of a test score is attained through correlation between the test values and other variables in the study. Just like in a court scenario where evidence of guilt is expected to be convincing, evidence is required to show the validity of the test and even establish a connection between two or more variables being considered (Cook, 2005). It is worth mentioning that validity is not a property attached to the apparatus used in a study, but instead, to the results and interpretations of the apparatus. This means that same instrument can be used to measure different variables with different interpretations. Since validity is concerned with deductions, not the apparatus used, it should be well founded for every intended explanation (Cohen, Fu, Fu, 2008). It would be wrong to consider the validity as a concept, since it implies that it can only be found at two extremes. First, validity is attached to the deductions from measurements of an instrument which are reflected as levels of accuracy but not perfect values. The idea of validity is similar to a hypothesis (Cook, 2005). First, researchers states their hypothesis, thereafter, they gather enough proof to support the appropriateness of their arguments. Similarly, validity requires information that helps to proof and link the interpreted test values to heoretical information behind a specific study and the preferred interpretation. Nevertheless, validity cannot be proven since it is only expressed as a degree of appropriateness (Cook, 2005). The new unitary approach to validity has created some paradigms in this phenomenon. All validity should be grouped under a single structure of construct validity. This unique approach highlights that test scores obtained from an instrument are helpful when they signify a construct. At the same time, enough proof is needed to support the correlation between the two. The other forms of validity are then regarded as sources of validity proof in support of the general framework (Cook, 2005). There is no such big difference between the categories of validity, since all of them overlap. They also collectively support deductions made from the test values on construct validity. Content evidence entails steps of analyzing the correlation between the content of a test and the construct that a researcher aims to measure (Cook, 2005). The content ought to reflect the utter truth in order to obtain the intended information. The process involves scrutiny of the instrument intended to be used, development of chosen items to act as values for the information needed and qualification of the human resource used (Marakas, Johnson, Clay, 2007). Detailed description of all these steps is broadly grouped as the content evidence, and they assist in signifying the construct. Response process is an important process that helps to review, thereby shedding some light on the relationship between the construct and nature of details given by researchers (Cook, 2005). For instance, a tutor might inquire if students taking a test that involves measuring the diagnostic reasoning, whether, they invoked high-order thinking procedure. Additionally, if one of the necessities of an instrument used requires students to assess the performance of one another, evidence from the responses would suggest that the experimenters were well trained. Lastly, this category further incorporates data collection and security methods (Cohen, Fu, Fu, 2008). Existence of a relationship with test scores from another instrument where existence of a connection is found or not supports an explanation that is reliable to the fundamental construct. For instance, in order to get quality in life assessment, variations in values among patients with unstable health states would support validity (Cook, 2005). Analysis of results of an evaluation can express and even unearth any possible sources of invalidity. For instance, a test can be carried out to determine the rating levels of teachers in a certain school. If the assessment indicates that male tteachers are rated lower than their female counterparts, it could translate to a number of inferences (Cook, 2005). First, results are ambiguous. Second, the information implies that male teachers are not as effective as their female folks. In such a scenario, proof of the results is important to link test scores to the original construct before the proof can influence the validity of the deductions (Saccuzzo Kaplan, 2008). Moreover, evidence of results can still be evaluated by finding out whether what was expected from the assessment was achieved, and the unplanned effects were evaded. Therefore, if a faculty of higher authority excluded the teachers with lower test scores, the unexpected negative results would definitely affect the meaning of the score values and hence their validity (Saccuzzo Kaplan, 2008). On the contrary, if the remedy was provided and the low value of performance improves, the proof would support the validity of the interpretations. This is a clear indication of the controversial aspect of proof of consequences as far as a validity level is concerned. If the provided proof does not hold up to the original argument of validity, the argument can be declined or improved by fine-tuning the measurement process. The new argument is then re-evaluated once more. Validity is thus seen like a cyclic process of testing and revision. Nevertheless, the amount of evidence needed will depend on the anticipated uses of the instrument (Cook, 2005). Situations that require a high level of confidence in the accuracy of explanations will need more proof than situations that need lower levels of confidence for similar explanations. In addition, integration of the various sources of evidence will imply that some instruments used in measurement will depend more on some categories of validity evidence than others. Integration of categories of validity into one single framework implies that gathering of evidence requires employment of insight and careful planning. Researchers should use the sources of validity evidence as a basic framework when assessing instruments (Saccuzzo Kaplan, 2008). Conclusion Validity is concerned with the level at which test values reflect the underlying construct as well as the explanation of the results according to evidence provided. However, it does not relate to the instrument of measurement itself (Cook, 2005). A precise understanding of validity in psychometric tests and other evaluations helps the professionals in these fields a great deal. Consequently, enhancement of the consideration given to systematic gathering and appraisal of validity evidence will translate to development in research, learning and health care. Buy custom Validity essay

Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and its Relation with Dose Essay Example

Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and its Relation with Dose Essay Example Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and its Relation with Dose Paper Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) and its Relation with Dose Paper The article focuses mainly on the determination mechanism of relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of radiation as a medical technique. The dose effect is normally used in the determination of this effect; and the result show differences for live and dead cells. The presence of complex reactions also poses difficulty in arriving to the valid conclusions. Because of this, the dose effect relationship is eliminated and is replaced with dose-RBE relationship in order to prevent the limitations. The physical quantities are under consideration in the dose-RBE, since RBE becomes the ratio of doses of equal effect. It was identified further that the type of critical cell is important in establishing the RBE. There are some specific considerations which pertain to the effect of low-energy neutrons and high energy neutrons to the deactivation mechanism of electromagnetic radiation by electrons, either by 1-particle or 2-particle mechanisms. The doses of x-ray and ? -rays do not have the expected effect of producing primary lesions because it cannot produce neutrons with energies up to 14MeV, but produces two electrons in radiation. The neutron radiation even at low doses can execute lesion production, but then it was still discovered that the two-electron system of x-ray can produce lesions. The study proceeds with the lesion effects and extent, using the specific energy value, z, produced in the site of radiation by single particle track or the method of superimposition of several tracks. The findings say that there is direct proportionality between effect probability and the square of the specific energy in a region above 1 Â µm. It is noted that there are arguments presented indicative of the similar dependence on z of the x-rays and neutrons of intermediate energy composition. It is determined that probability effects particles exceeding 100 keV/Â µm (high energy neutrons) have a lower proportionality to z2.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning in World War II

Lockheed P-38 Lightning in World War II Designed by Lockheed in 1937, the P-38 Lightning was the companys attempt to meet the requirements of the US Army Air Corps Circular Proposal X-608 which called for a twin-engine, high-altitude interceptor. Authored by First Lieutenants Benjamin S. Kelsey and Gordon P. Saville, the term interceptor was specifically used in the specification to bypass USAAC restrictions regarding armament weight and number of engines. The two also issued a specification for a single-engine interceptor, Circular Proposal X-609, which would ultimately produce the Bell P-39 Airacobra.   Design Calling for an aircraft capable of 360 mph and reaching 20,000 ft. within six minutes, X-608 presented a variety of challenges for Lockheed designers Hall Hibbard and Kelly Johnson. Assessing a variety of twin-engine planforms, the two men finally opted for a radical design that was unlike any previous fighter. This saw the engines and turbo-superchargers placed in twin tail booms while the cockpit and armament were located in a central nacelle. The central nacelle was connected to the tail booms by the aircrafts wings.   Powered by a pair of 12-cylinder Allison V-1710 engines, the new aircraft was the first fighter capable of exceeding 400 mph. To eliminate the issue of engine torque, the design employed counter-rotating propellers. Other features included a bubble canopy for superior pilot vision and the use of a tricycle undercarriage. Hibbard and Johnsons design was also one of the first American fighters to extensively utilize flush-riveted aluminum skin panels. Unlike other American fighters, the new design saw the aircrafts armament clustered in the nose rather than mounted in the wings. This configuration increased the effective range of the aircrafts weapons as they did not need to be set for a specific convergence point as was necessary with wing-mounted guns. Initial mockups called for an armament consisting of two .50-cal. Browning M2 machine guns, two .30-cal. Browning machine guns, and a  T1 Army Ordnance 23  mm autocannon. Additional testing and refinement led to a final armament of four .50-cal. M2s and a 20mm Hispano autocannon.       Development Designated the Model 22, Lockheed won the USAACs competition on June 23, 1937. Moving forward, Lockheed commenced building the first prototype in July 1938. Dubbed the XP-38, it flew for the first time on January 27, 1939 with Kelsey at the controls. The aircraft soon achieved fame when it set a new cross-continent speed record the following month after flying from California to New York in seven hours and two minutes. Based on the results of this flight, the USAAC ordered 13 aircraft for further testing on April 27. Production of these fell behind due to the expansion of Lockheeds facilities and the first aircraft was not delivered until September 17, 1940. That same month, the USAAC placed an initial order for 66 P-38s. The YP-38s were heavily redesigned to facilitate mass production and were substantially lighter than the prototype. Additionally, to enhance stability as a gun platform, the aircrafts propeller rotation was changed to have the blades spin outward from the cockpit rather inward as on the XP-38. As testing progressed, problems with compressibility stalls were noticed when the aircraft entered steep dives at high speed. Engineers at Lockheed worked on several solutions, however it was not until 1943 that this problem was completely resolved. Specifications (P-38L): General Length: 37 ft. 10 in.Wingspan: 52 ft.Height: 9 ft. 10 in.Wing Area: 327.5 sq. ft.Empty Weight: 12,780 lbs.Loaded Weight: 17,500 lbs.Crew: 1 Performance Power Plant: 2 x Allison V-1710-111/113 liquid-cooled turbo-supercharged V-12, 1,725 hpRange: 1,300 miles (combat)Max Speed: 443 mphCeiling: 44,000 ft. Armament Guns: 1 x Hispano M2(C) 20 mm cannon, 4 x Colt-Browning MG53-2 0.50 in. machine gunsBombs/Rockets: 10 x 5 in. High Velocity Aircraft Rocket OR 4 x M10 three-tube 4.5 in OR up to 4,000 lbs. in bombs Operational History: With World War II raging in Europe, Lockheed received an order for 667 P-38s from Britain and France in early 1940. The entirety of the order was assumed by the British following Frances defeat in May. Designating the aircraft the Lightning I, the British name took hold and became common usage among Allied forces. The P-38 entered service in 1941, with the US 1st Fighter Group. With the US entry into the war, P-38s were deployed to the West Coast to defend against an anticipated Japanese attack. The first to see frontline duty were F-4 photo reconnaissance aircraft which operated from Australia in April 1942. The next month, P-38s were sent to the Aleutian Islands where the aircrafts long range made it ideal for dealing with Japanese activities in the area. On August 9, the P-38 scored its first kills of the war when the 343rd Fighter Group downed a pair of Japanese Kawanishi H6K flying boats. Through the middle of 1942, the majority of P-38 squadrons were sent to Britain as part of the Operation Bolero. Others were sent to North Africa, where they aided the Allies in gaining control of skies over the Mediterranean. Recognizing the aircraft as a formidable opponent, the Germans named the P-38 the Fork-Tailed Devil. Back in Britain, the P-38 was again utilized for its long range and it saw extensive service as a bomber escort. Despite a good combat record, the P-38 was plagued with engine issues largely due to the lower quality of European fuels. While this was resolved with the introduction of the P-38J, many fighter groups were transitioned to the new P-51 Mustang by late 1944. In the Pacific, the P-38 saw extensive service for the duration of the war and downed more Japanese aircraft than any other US Army Air Forces fighter. Though not as maneuverable as the Japanese A6M Zero, the P-38s power and speed allowed it to fight on its own terms. The aircraft also benefited from having its armament mounted in the nose as it meant that P-38 pilots could engage targets at a longer range, sometimes avoiding the need to close with Japanese aircraft. Noted US ace Major Dick Bong frequently chose to down enemy planes in this fashion, relying on the longer range of his weapons. On April 18, 1943, the aircraft flew one of its most famous missions when 16 P-38Gs were dispatched from Guadalcanal to intercept a transport carrying the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, near Bougainville. Skimming the waves to avoid detection, the P-38s succeeded in downing the admirals plane as well as three others. By the end of the war, the P-38 had downed over 1,800 Japanese aircraft, with over 100 pilots becoming aces in the process. Variants During the course of the conflict, the P-38 received a variety of updates and upgrades. The initial model to enter production, the P-38E consisted of 210 aircraft and was the first combat ready variant. Later versions of the aircraft, the P-38J and P-38L were the most widely produced at 2,970 and 3,810 aircraft respectively. Enhancements to the aircraft included improved electrical and cooling systems as well as the fitting of pylons for launching  high velocity aircraft rockets. In addition to a variety of photo reconnaissance F-4 models, Lockheed also produced a night fighter version of the Lightning dubbed the P-38M. This featured an  AN/APS-6 radar pod and a second seat in the cockpit for a radar operator.    Postwar: With the US Air Force moving into the jet age after the war, many P-38s were sold to foreign air forces. Among the nations to purchase surplus P-38s were Italy, Honduras, and China. The aircraft was also made available to the general public for the price of $1,200. In civilian life, the P-38 became a popular aircraft with air racers and stunt fliers, while the photo variants were put into use by mapping and survey companies.

Leader ship Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leader ship - Assignment Example In Robins & Judge (2010) for proper discharge of companies’ services to their clients, the management should focus on excellence of their products, ensure their clients are contented with their products and give their employees inducement in order to maximize their productivity. Leadership Theory In any business environment the management should ensure proper coordination of activities right from the organization to the clients. For the management to achieve this level of operation, they should ensure they are focused and be able to control other activities of the organization. According to management theory the leaders of any organization have a task to ensure that all other components in the organization are well coordinated (Robins & Judge, 2010, p.567). On the other hand, relationship theory requires the organization leaders to give their workers stimulus in order to ensure proper coordination of activities within the organization. The managers should ensure that workers a re aware of the organizations objectives in order to pursue them. They should also ensure that all appropriate resources are available for the worker in order to promote efficiency in the organization. ... This streamlines communication within the organization hence enabling the company’s management to effectively make their objectives known to the employees and work with a common interest of achieving the set goals. This will also simplify the problem of delegating tasks to the workers. The management practicing this theory in their organization will be interested with the collective prosperity of the individual’s advancement. Motivation Giving incentives to both workers and consumers plays a magic in the performance of the organization (Gorman, 2004, p.57). The management can give their employees incentives of various forms such as increasing their salaries, offering them an opportunity to advance their careers, or just appreciating them for their good work in the presence of other workers. This enables the workers to identify with the organization and feel encouraged to work and achieve management objectives. Organizational leaders should also encourage the employees b y giving them challenging tasks in the organization and avoid public condemnation even when they have gone wrong. The management should also establish training programs in order to assist the workers to upgrade their skills (Gorman, 2004). This enables the workers to increase their efficiency and confidence of performing their duties hence increasing their output in the organization. The workers will be able to interact with their clients freely and offer them excellent services. Providing products and services to the consumers is of paramount importance to the organization because it will help to create consumer trust on company and their products. When worker provide exemplary services to the customers, the

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 30

Case Study Example Steven further states that the modern business environment does not have many managers firing their employees, and this is because there are many legal processes that may follow which may impede the operations and performance of the organization. An example is if an employee files a lawsuit citing wrongful employment termination and this has the repercussion of slowing down the development of the organization (Shaer 10). There are various important concepts to understand when counseling an underperforming employee and one of these concepts is ensuring that the employee does not rationalize his or her performance. Many employees offer excuses for their underperformance, and consequently many managers end up not guiding these employees to quality performance. Eliminating rationalization ensures that the employees accept the fact that they have performed poorly and thus generate a plan through which they can improve their performance (Shaer 25). Another concept to comprehend when carrying out the counseling process is offering the employees a chance to state their views regarding the manager’s perception of the performance. Many times the employees have influential, quality views regarding the counseling did, and it is essential that the managers offer them a chance to air views (Shaer 25). Underperforming employees rationalize their state in an organization through many different ways. One of the ways through which employees do this is by denying the fact that they have performed poorly. Most of the employees that deny the subtle performance state that the method used by the manager to determine the state of the employee’s performance is fraud, and the measurement is rather wrong. Another way through which employees rationalize subtle performance is by accepting but offering an excuse where they state that they may be performing poorly but that they make up for this through other different ways. Another way through which underperforming employees rationalize

PEER REVIEW AND SELF ASSESSMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PEER REVIEW AND SELF ASSESSMENT - Essay Example We also connected and worked together, and no one dodge d his or her responsibilities and that made it easier finishing the group work within the agreed time. However, there was a weakness in that some of the members did not respond on time, which resulted in performing in a rush so as be done with the project within the due date. In addition, communication was another issue, whereby, some members like Jennifer and Carolyn always responded late on the discussion board. It changed towards the end, though, for Carolyn as she increases the number of time she communicated. Jennifer, however, never changed and always had an excuse. Another challenge is that, initially there was we had a problem with nursing diagnosis, whereby, we kept going back and forth, on which diagnosis would be correct for the patient. Eventually, we all agreed on the final diagnosis and everyone consented on the final decision. In terms of contribution, I would say that it varied although during the diagnosis it wa s equal. Jennifer contributed the least as she always presented excuses for not being able to carry out a task. In a future project, what I would do differently is ensuring that I have every group member’s number such that communication is improved. Further, I would ensure that we hold group meetings frequently, which possibly would make everyone more serious and effective. During the first few classes, I assumed this course was easy and thought that it only involved the assessment of patients. However, I have come to learn that advance health assessment is very broad and requires a lot of critical thinking. It has developed me in the way I am to assess my patients which and now I am able to issue a quality patient examination. It was challenging at the beginning but through constant consultation with the professor and studying of books such as Jarvis Physical

The growth of inequality in many countries and it's impact on U.S Research Paper

The growth of inequality in many countries and it's impact on U.S multinational companies and future strategies to deal with its impact - Research Paper Example (Buckley & Ghauri, 2004 p.86) United Nations Human Development Report (1999) said â€Å"Poverty is everywhere. Gaps between the poorest and the richest people and countries have continued to widen. In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% . In 1977, 74 times as much. This continues the trend of nearly two centuries. Some have predicted convergence, but the past decade has shown increasing concentration of income among people, corporations and countries.† (Sala-i-Martin, 2002 p.1; Sala-i-Martin, 2002) Recent research by Soysa and Oneal (1999); UNCTAD (1999); Ram and Zhang (2002); Dollar and Kraay (2002); Bhalla (2002) show us that globalization raises the growth of average incomes in developing countries. However, the standard of living of the poor in these societies could decline if consolidation into the global economy negatively affects the distribution of income. Quite a few researchers conclude that the fears over globalization and letting foreign companies operate in domestic markets: multinational corporations further increase income inequality in developing countries, and thus, marginalize the poorest of the poor. (Brussman et al, 2005 p. 286). Peter Woicke, former executive vice president of the International Finance Corporation, says that 20% of the population in the world controls approximately 80% of the assets and that roughly 1.2 billion people live below the poverty line. Moreover, he says that most of the population growth over the next two to three decades shall take place in poor countries, which means another two billion people will be born poor. (Wilson & Lodge, 2006 p. 9) (Wilson & Lodge, 2006) He believes that this huge challenge of reducing poverty and inequality cannot be handled by the Governments alone. The private sector, particularly the MNC’s must come forward and share this burden and help countries develop socially as well as

Novels and god Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Novels and god - Essay Example In this context, the author quotes and correlates the Bible by stating, â€Å"Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, â€Å"Who sees us? Who will know?† (Isaiah 29:15). This gives us a great understanding of God and morality that behind human actions, this itself is free will. I think one can sense the serenity of Susie and other authors on acceptance of faith even though they had the misfortune of this terrible crime such as Susie in Lovely Bones. However, some readers may feel angry and even frustrated about religion and morality. It almost seems that one can be mad about God not punishing these killers. On the contrary, nothing is ever hidden from God and this world is just an illusion. Some readers understand that everyone must give account to God and it may seem that they get away with their heinous crimes, but that is not the reality of the matter. "The Lovely Bones also known as "Lovely Bone," "Lovely Bones," "Desde mi cielo," "Amabili resti," "Cennetimden Bakarken," "Flickan frÃÆ' ¥n ovan," "In meinem Himmel," "Oma taivas," "PevnÃÆ' © pouto," "Um Olhar do ParaÃÆ' ­so," "V mojih nebesih," "Visto do CÃÆ' ©u"." The Lovely Bones (2009) ...review and/or viewer comments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Christian Spotlight on the Movies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ ChristianAnswers.Net. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2014.

City of Atlanta Essay Example for Free

City of Atlanta Essay Atlanta, the center of higher education in the South East United States with more than 15 colleges and universities, has a student population of over 77,117. Major universities include Emory University, University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, and Oglethorpe University, which are all situated strategically in and around Atlanta. With an adult population of around 4,536,323, Atlanta is a key location that CoViTek should target. The average household income is between $50,000 $74,999 which compromises 21. 3% of the total population of the city. Students age 18-34 have an income that is between $30,000 $74,999 which compromises around 113,362 households. Atlantas congested areas include Clifton Rd. , College Park, UGA Campuses, and the Midtown area. Market Data Credit Card Usage: Over 3 million people in Atlanta own and use credit cards. 84% of the population has a Bank Card, 29% have gas/department store credit cards, and 18. 7% of the population has at least some kind of travel/entertainment credit cards. Only 200,255 of the population of the city do not carry credit cards. With 5. 8 million students enrolled in 4-year colleges around the United States, they have an aggregate spending power of more than $90 billion. $30 billion of the spending is from personal earning and parents. Almost two thirds of college students in Boston carry a credit card while spending an average of $1,213 per month, with up to 10% of expenditures on some form of entertainment, including video rentals. CoViTek will have to hire a market research firm to indicate (in each city): 1. Average spending dollar per household on video rentals a year 2. Total number of students who rent videos (how many per year) 3. Total students with the relevant purchasing power 4. Entrepreneurial activity in and around the city 5. An overall business climate, which includes: consideration of transportation, banking, professional services, economic base, and growth trends Travel / Entertainment 425,723 13. 2% Bank Cards 1,912,341 59. 6% Gas / Department Stores 669,319 20. 8% No Credit Cards 200,255 6. 4% Credit card usage/ year in the city of Atlanta. Areas of Volume We will also need to negotiate with all kind of locations that drive a lot of traffic such as stores, buildings, and large apartment complexes. We are interested in any strategic location that is frequented by a high volume of pedestrians. We would also have to negotiate with them the same terms of revenue sharing agreements as with the universities. Nevertheless, we see a very interesting opportunity in negotiating alliances with retail chains that occupy strategic locations such as Starbucks. We would offer such companies with profit sharing plans in CoViTek, and in return, we would get the right to implement a machine outside their stores. This type of agreement would enable us to gain several key locations, saving us time and money. Metro Stations The T in Boston is the most frequently used method of transportation, which accounts for more than 695,000 passengers a day. Other forms of transportation include buses and taxis. A large percentage of professionals use the T every day for commuting back and forth from work. Marketing CoViTeks advertising plan will be based around the individual cities we choose to place machines in. Our first city, Atlanta, was selected because the CEO and COO live and work there. Advertising on college campuses can be very inexpensive, and we will focus our efforts there. At least one machine will be on each of the following schools campuses: Georgia State University, UGA, and Emory University. Our advertising methods for all of our campus locations will be similar. We will target residence halls and popular campus locations with posters and fliers posted on campus bulletin boards, distributed in residence halls, and advertisements in the schools newspaper. Campus advertising should not cost more than $1,000 per school, most likely less, depending on the schools population. We will also hire a full-service advertising agency, but not until we expand to other cities. We want to see how much awareness we can achieve in Atlanta without an agency campaign. Once we expand to other cities, we will need an agency to create a consistent and strategic brand image for CoViTek. All of our advertising will stress our convenience and value, to deliver a clear brand image in the consumers mind. In addition to our marketing efforts, CoViTek will employ a variety of other marketing strategies: Viral Marketing CoViTek will aggressively target and distribute e-mails to potential consumers featuring promotional deals, newly released videos, as well as a direct link to CoViTeks web page. Public Relation CoViTek will use a top New Media public relations firms to promote the company and secure write-ups in prominent Internet/Technology and business magazines. Online Advertising CoViTek will place online banner advertisements on popular B2C web sites that our profile user would frequent. Feedback We will encourage our customer to give us feedback on what they would like to see in our machines through our and offer them incentives to do so such as free rental or coupons. While our selection will be smaller than our brick and mortar competitor, our market will be more targeted. Rather than having everything, we are striving to provide our market with the exact products that meet their needs. Thus this narrower selection can be seen as an advantage for us as it demands that our company remains focused on our customers and our competitors, to ensure that we are providing our customers with what they want to see. We will also encourage our customers to give us feedback on what they would like to see in our machines. This will be done through our website by offering incentives and free rental coupons. Distribution Michel Khoury and Sina Mouloud will be in charge of the maintenance of up to ten machines at one point in time. We will hire students as our operation expands onto more universities across the US. Suppliers Video Vending North American VVNA is the creator and market leader in the production of video rental machines. Its system is exclusive in its combination of both VHS and DVD formats. VVNA has been manufacturing video-dispensing machines since the early 90s. VVNA machines are the most innovative and modernized in the market. To maintain the maximum market value of their products, VVNA manufactures sturdy, reliable machines, made to last many years and capable of providing thousands of rentals without requiring machine alteration. VVNA machines have been designed using a unique, patented technology proven to provide the markets most reliable and safe equipment, while reducing the level of maintenance intervention to a minimum. A central computer is used to remotely manage all the dispensers via DSL networks. Personalization of the Video Dispensers VVNA, the manufacturer of the video vending machines is willing to customize the design of the machine for us. Therefore we need to develop a design for our machine that will efficiently promote our company. The design and the logo must attract attention while being contemporary and functional. We want the machine to catch the attention of pedestrians who walk by the machine in order to drive more traffic to it. Production Companies Ninety percent of our videotapes will come from one of the six major production companies (Buena Vista, Warner Bros. , Universal, Fox, Paramount, or Columbia-Tri-Star). The power of these suppliers is very high, as they hold the rights of the movies they produce. We will be working with Video Bicicling. They will give us a competitive price on Videos and DVD. Our experience has shown us that it is better to own a rentable video in order to use it for resale after complete amortization. This system will allow us to sell the movies that are not in high demand after using their complete value in rental time. CoViTek may consider the selling of consumer information gathered from their database technology to research companies primarily dealing with entertainment studies.

Perception of Leadership and Followership

Perception of Leadership and Followership Leadership and followership have the same coin but different face that we live by from the moment were born. Being on one of them does not mean youre just on that side, you can be a follower with your employer and a leader in your personal life. Both concepts have a broad meaning and cannot be adjusted into a short range or to a specific situation. Nevertheless, the relationship between them are endless and neither one of them can survive without the other. Moreover, whenever the leadership is setting an exemplary role, the follower will follow up exactly at the same level or at least the majority will do. Although, there is a correlation relationship between them, but it is always the leadership that has responsibilities to create reforms, expansions, and prosperity in the society. Furthermore, there is a very thin line between them and that line must be recognized by both side to ensure that commonsense balance is always present. For example, leaders sometimes forget to impose equ ality for all the followers under their responsibility due to the general system that has a limitation for them to spot that equality gap. Additionally, in this case, its better that a follower steps up to leadership and point out that gap and act accurately to close it by the right means. I feel that there is always a significant amount of useless area between leadership and followership that can be filled with enthusiasm, passion, and productivity. My family heritage and background have greatly influenced my perception of leadership in several ways. The experiences that you get in your early childhood days from the interactions that you have had with your family often re-emerges in your adult life interactions that you have with others including the interactions that you have in the business world. In that sense family becomes your first organization, and your family members become your first management team. It is your family life and upbringing that affects the ways in which the leaders respond to the pressures and the way they behave with their team members (Barry, 2015). My family upbringing was such that where I had many siblings and had many relatives with whom I used to interact quite often, which I believe has helped me develop my communication skills which I use as a leader also. The first time I realized my leadership potential was when I managed to finish my first big project in work much before the deadline and that project was a big deal to company performance and efficiency. Furthermore, the project was to transform hundreds of thousand paper data to electronic data which I was able to do with four members team and the timeline was two years and we finished it in just one year. As a result of my initiative, everything got sorted. There I was able to realize my leadership/influential skills. Values play a very crucial role in our lives. Besides taking decisions as per your values and philosophies, recognizing and understanding a given situation at your work place with respect to the values and philosophies of other team members is also very important. When an individual is able to establish a link between his or her own personal values with those of his or her employer, then a powerful connection is created (Anonson, 2014). Teaching can also be a way to shape the beliefs of a person regarding leadership. For example, The teacher who I can say had changed my life, and my views of leadership were my English teacher. When I was in 6th grade, there was a student in my class who was quite shy to speak up in the class, but Mr. Sultan (English teacher) showed faith in him and always encouraged him to speak even if he was wrong. And later on, that student became a very good spokesperson even at college level. At present concerning my professional work, I look up to my manager who is one of the executive, Mr. Abdullah as my role model for the most respective leader. The qualities that I admire about him are that he focusses on strength. He not just focusses on his own strengths or the strengths of the company, but also makes efforts to improve the strength of others in the organization as well. Besides this, he has got the qualities of trust. As an HR professional or line manager, HR Competencies will help me to become a better leader or follower and enhanced my team effectiveness. Earlier, before the development of leadership competencies, leadership was thought to be a task to be done only at the top level in the organization. Only the senior level people in the organization were able to take decisions and influence all in the organization (Shanafelt, 2015). Although, by the advancement of leadership competencies, it is now becoming an essential part in every level of the organization and not just by the upper-management. Leadership function that I was able to demonstrate while working with my team was being polite and friendly with my team members, and that gave me the advantage to have a better communication with them and to be opened to sort any misunderstanding that might happen. The Challenges and problems that I faced in my leadership were that though I was liked among my team members but due to this informal bonding, I lacked that respect that as a leader I should be getting and also people used to take my orders for granted. But as soon as I face this problem, I started working on the ways to overcome it. And for that purpose, I rather than encouraging informal communications, started taking up weekly formal meetings with all members. Race and gender also sometimes have an impact on leadership. When a female is given the position of a leader, many male team members refuse to follow her ideas. Also sometimes people do not cooperate with their leader on the basis of his nationality or caste. Ethics play a very important role in leadership. Sometimes leadership places employees in compromising positions which can result in dissatisfaction and thus can completely tarnish an organizations image and mission. Thus, leaders must take ethically correct decisions in the organization. On taking my self-assessment test, I got 37 points as a leader, which shows that I am a team player who enjoys working in the team. After my own experiences of working as a leader and a follower, I have noticed two dimensions of followership which are competency and relationship. Competency requires working well with others by analyzing them as a source of work. Whereas relationship requires building trust and improving communications. Whereas as a good leader, your strengths are being patient, confident, a role model and being polite to all. Using these strengths when your performing the leadership or followership role will enhance the reliability of your role and your part of any team. After assessing my own experiences, I can say that followers can either make or break the leaders by influencing the way the goals are achieved. Being a good follower means you take responsibility to back your leadership with any assistance they need to be on the right path and most importantly remained them if they lose their tracks. By being a good follower, you dont really have to be a sheep and follow blindly to the leader, but rather you must develop those skills of a good follower which will help you become a better leader (Derler, 2014). Thus, my future goals would include becoming a good follower to become a role model when following ethical leadership when it comes to being a leader. Thus, it can finally be concluded that followership is nothing but the mirror image of leadership and becoming a good follower will not let you down rather will help you in becoming a great leader. Also, leadership is inefficient without good followers. References Barry, T. R. (2015). Top 10 qualities of a project manager Anonson, J., Walker, M. E., Arries, E., Maposa, S., Telford, P., Berry, L. (2014). Qualities of exemplary nurse leaders: perspectives of frontline nurses. Journal of nursing management, 22(1), 127-136. Shanafelt, T. D., Gorringe, G., Menaker, R., Storz, K. A., Reeves, D., Buskirk, S. J., Swensen, S. J. (2015, April). Impact of organizational leadership on physician burnout and satisfaction. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 90, No. 4, pp. 432-440). Elsevier. D. (2015). Leaders in the Shadows: The Leadership Qualities of Municipal Chief Administrative Siegel, Officers. University of Toronto Press. Black, S. A. (2015). Qualities of effective leadership in higher education. Open Journal of Leadership, 4(02), 54. Derler, A., Weibler, J. (2014). The ideal employee: context and leaders implicit follower theories. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 35(5), 386-409. Bligh, M. C., Kohles, J. C. (2015). Approaching leadership with a follower focus.

William Faulkners A Rose for Emily Essay -- A Rose for Emily, William

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily In the story â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, William Faulkner, the author talks about a life of a woman and the town she lived in. The story begins just when miss Emily died. The author doesn’t tell us much about that time except that many people were interested to see what was in her house. As the story progresses, the author decides to jump all the way to the beginning when miss Emily was still a young woman and her father was still alive. During that time, the town felt bad for poor miss Emily and thought that she was going to die with out a husband by her side, since her father didn’t like any men that liked his daughter. Later on, the author gets to the time when her father just died. Miss Emily felt so alone that she decided to keep her dead father’s body in the house, and not let anyone take him away from her. After the neighbors kept coming to the city council and complaining about the fowl smell that was coming from miss Emily’s house, the judge sent a few men to put lime around the house to kill the smell. As the reader later finds out, the smell was coming from miss Emily’s father’s decaying body. Finely the authorities took the dead body out of the house and buried it. As the story goes on, the reader is told that the town was being renovated, streets being paved and such. With the renovators, came a young man, by the description, he was a handsome young man. The town kept talking as they always did, gossiping about miss...

Will the Euro Survive? Essay -- European Union, Greek Crisis

"Europe must prevent Greece from becoming an out-and-out catastrophe and make sure that the same fiscal 'remedy' is not applied to other weak economies" -- Franziska Brantner The brutality of the World War II and the anguish of the Cold War enforced nations in Europe to establish the European Union for peace and unity in the region. With ratification of the Maastricht Treaty by members of the European Community in 1993, an economic and political union; the European Union is formed. In December 2012, the European Union awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its â€Å"historical accomplishments†. Nevertheless, the member states of the European Union are still facing the crisis that started in the Eurozone since 2009. One of the major causes of the crisis is the common currency – the euro which has weak structural formation. The creation of a currency, the euro, is one of the major parts of the European Union. The German Chancellor Gerhard SchrÃâ€"der said in a speech in 1999 that â€Å"The introduction of the euro is probably the most important integrating step since the beginning of the unification process.†(Yeager, 30) Therefore, in this essay I would like to study the history of creation of the euro, lessons that the European Union draws from the euro crisis and analyze the future predictions of specialists about the euro. I will use the publication â€Å"Economic and monetary union and the euro† by the European Commission as the main source and other credible sources about the euro in my paper. Since the start of the European Coal and Steel Community with the Treaty of Paris in 1950s, the leaders of the European Community have higher ambition to create the new â€Å"common currency†. Politicians rather than economists pushed for it, and the idea is... ...urrent crisis, the future of unified European Union is higher. Works Cited European Commission. Economic and monetary union and the euro. Publications. Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union, 2012. Document. Grauwe, Paul De. "The Political Economy of the Euro." The Annual Review of Political Science (2013): 153-170. Academic Search Complete. Schwartz, Pedro. "Why The Euro Failed And How It Will Survive." Cato Journal (2013): 521-534. Academic Search Complete. Schwarzer, Daniela. "Crisis and Reform in the Euro Area." Current History (2013): 83-87. Academic Search Complete. Witte, Mark Dawson and Floris de. "Constitutional Balance in the EU after the Euro-Crisis." The Modern Law Review (2013): 817-844. Academic Search Complete. Yeager, Leland B. "The Euro Facing Other Moneys." Cato Journal (2004): 27-40. Academic Search Complete.

Art Analysis: Claude Monet

Painting Description Essay Humanities 110 There are many paintings in the world and as a modern society that is everyday evolving; we must be able to describe the paintings we see. In doing so we can extract the culture and value it represents and only then can we fully understand these different cultures and human values that are presented throughout history in the many arts that are created. In my eyes any type of emotional expression can be appreciated. Recently I came upon a painting by the Painter Claude Monet who was the basis for impressionism.This painting was awe inspiring and brought my mind to deeply fathom the pursuit of knowledge and power. In order to fully describe this painting I will use the formal elements of paint; texture, color, line and lastly composition. Let's start with composition: the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work. It can also be thought of as the organization of the eleme nts of art according to the principles of art. The composition of the painting was very unique and helps to rate an image that burns in your mind.The shapes of the painting are not very structured. It's impossible to look over that objects in the paining were close to real- life scale through eye perception thus being somewhat realistic. Another factor that made the painting close to realistic was the movement shown in the painting made by brush strokes to give an impression of wind through the field of grass that also went through the bushes and the tree. There is depth in the painting that is created by shadowing and balance of lighter areas.The bushes are asymmetrical and the tree is off to one side more specifically the middle right. There is big open space of green field to the middle left , top middle and bottom right and on the bottom of the middle left is where the bushes reside, furthermore the top left is where the blurred castle is placed and horizontal to that is what se ems to be a Classified that drifts to the ocean. Throughout the painting there is green everywhere which unifies the painting. It more predominately is unified with color in juxtaposition with shapes.Furthermore the red saturation that is presented in the shrubbery or bushes provides variety Another element to the painting is the texture which is very sloppy but it is an impressionist painting so that is expected which doesn't mean it's a beautiful and high skilled painting. The Sense provided leaves for the paint to be blended but also has many brush strokes which gives uniqueness to the texture. Most objects are barely visible but can be somewhat recognized. Other areas of the painting are smooth in order to provide rest to the eyes. Paintings Anton exist without color whether there is any color or none at all.In this painting we see more warm and complimentary colors. The very limited analogous colors helped to created subtlety in the painting which played off the complimentary c olors very well. Some of the colors used most included : red, orange, blue, and purple, green, yellow. The colors were also very natural and consistent with being realistic. The colors blended very well and contrasted making a very alive background that made you feel as if you were there in this big field and wind blowing in your face and he ocean being close off of the Classified.Lastly one element that brings in the painting together is line which provides many things to help create peace, action, and variety. In the painting the balance of having visible and implied lines help to truly evoke the emotion of the painting and as well as the representation that this is semi realistic but Just an impression and not a duplicate of the exact scene seen. The painting is not only painted but created by shapes that tie in the picture in that all at oneness a painting possesses. There are diagonal lines leading to the saturated red shrubbery creating action.The vertical line that the tree p resents counteracts the horizontal line of the Classified and horizon. This creates for an amazing painting that is pleasant to ones eye. The painting contains numerous amounts of blurred lines. The horizontal line helps to create the horizon which further creates depth and evokes the gradation presented which is the dark yellow sun setting and playing of the white of the sky and the sun disappearing . This also creates the distinctive path room the castle to the ocean and a depth perception that there is a beach off of the Classified.The horizontal lines in the ocean portray its mistiness. Open lines all blended in together. Lastly though we must consider line plays an important role in paintings, because this is a impressionist painting, color is placed in a higher role. All in all we must take in the culture of the world through art and history and anything else that helps understand each other and further evolve society maybe one day we will create or further improve the tools t hat help us describe paintings or anything else.

The Miranda warning

IntroductionFor even the most casual viewer of police television shows, the cry of â€Å"read me my rights† has been heard from the lips of accused criminals as frequently as anything else.   Beyond this statement, however, lies a real life drama- The Miranda Warning.   Where this warning came from, its true meaning and intent, as well as what the future should hold for The Miranda Warning are all pivotal questions which will be answered in the course of this research in order to better understand not only Miranda, but the overall American criminal justice system and its approach to the rights of those accused of crimes.What is the Miranda Warning?To begin, the origins of The Miranda Warning itself, as well as the actual verbiage of the warning, need to be understood.   Originally, The Miranda Warning came forth from the legal case of Ernesto Miranda, the focus of the 1963 Supreme Court Case Miranda v. Arizona   (Lyman, 2004).   Essentially, the facts of the case are as follows: Ernesto Miranda was arrested, accused of the rape of a mildly mentally handicapped woman.   At the time of his arrest, Miranda was not advised by the arresting officer that he had the Constitutional right to remain silent, to choose not to answer questions without an attorney present, and to not be forced to offer any information that would be used against him in any legal case.Eventually, Miranda’s attorney argued that Miranda’s confession to the crime should be thrown out of court, because it was obtained without Miranda being advised of his rights.   The original judge in the case denied this motion, but eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that the statements that Miranda originally made to the police should be disregarded because he was not read his rights (Robertson, 1997).   As a result of this pivotal ruling, a standardized warning, therein known as The Miranda Warning, was instituted by all police forces in the United States, and recited to a nyone accused of a crime before being questioned.   The full text of the warning is as follows:â€Å"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Do you understand? Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand? You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. Do you understand?  If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. Do you understand?If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Do you understand? Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?† (Robertson, 1997, p. 161)  Ultimately, the warning was effectively made much shorter and easier for suspects to und erstand, presented as follows:â€Å"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.† (Robertson, 1997, p. 162).With The Miranda Warning having been refined and put in place, one would make the assumption that the rights of individuals are protected, and the police are safeguarded against having key evidence dismissed on a technicality, but the opposite is actually the case.   Further research has revealed pivotal issues surrounding The Miranda Warning.Pivotal Issues Surrounding the Miranda WarningThe Miranda Warning faces heavy controversy both from the viewpoint of the criminal justice system and the accused criminal.   For police and the courts, Miranda is sometimes argued against, as the claim is made that the Warning prevents the s wift investigation of criminal matters due to the lack of divulgence of important information during questioning that could literally save lives or property; this has especially become true in the modern era of terrorism, when foreign suspects, many argue, need to be compelled to give information immediately so that potential terror plots can be diffused before mass murder occurs.However, for the accused and the attorneys that represent them, Miranda is seen as something that is necessary in order to keep police from either misinterpreting the statements of suspects, coercing confessions out of suspects through psychological means, or by actually resorting to violence to literally beat a confession out of the suspect (Miranda’s Enemies, 2000).   Based on the two sides of the issue, the pivotal issue is clear: how can Miranda be used in a way that protects victims, aids law enforcement and promotes common order, while still giving accused criminals the entitlements of due pr ocess as guaranteed by the Constitution?   There is no clear answer to how this can be achieved, but on both the federal and state levels, the issue has been explored.States’ Views of the Miranda WarningSome states have taken a more generous view of the use of Miranda than others, resulting in cases being brought to appeal in the supreme courts of those states.   The landmark case in this regard, cited over the past several years, is Missouri v. Seibert.   The basic facts of this case were that police in the state of Missouri were reading Miranda to suspects only after they began questioning them, and they would then continue to question after the reading, in an effort to confuse a suspect.With this approach, the suspect, even if their statements made before the reading were dismissed, would still likely have some statements made after the reading that would be incriminating.   Calling this a â€Å"two-step† around the Constitution, this practice was eventually ruled illegal by a Missouri court (Leo, 1996).   This also brings up another important technicality- the need to provide Miranda to everyone being questioned by police, or only those who are officially placed under arrest.   The net effect of all of this is to greatly muddy the legal waters and make the use of Miranda, or the lack of it, a hot legal topic on both sides of the courtroom bench, so to speak.   Therefore, many states have looked to the federal government to issue universal decrees on Miranda.Constitutional View of the Miranda WarningEvery accused criminal has classically been protected by the Constitution, specifically by the First and Fifth Amendments as an example.   Essentially, all of the debates about Miranda have filtered down to a few Constitutional standards, which of course are not set in stone due to the dynamic nature of the American justice system, but are worthy of discussion in this research.   Generally speaking, the Supreme Court of the United States, based on cases like Missouri v. Seibert, has ruled that neither the accused in a criminal case, nor those arrested in a criminal case need to be â€Å"Mirandized† as it has come to be called.However, there is a caution to be noted- if the individual is not made aware of their rights, there is the possibility that statements they make can be dismissed in a legal case against them since the information was technically obtained in an illegal manner by the law enforcement personnel who obtained it in the first place (Nooter, 2005).   Again, there is a legal tightrope to be walked here, between what can be done to protect individual rights of accused and victim alike, while still serving the interests of justice and fulfilling the role of law enforcement in society.   A key question leads to the conclusion of the research- what should be done about Miranda?Conclusion- What Should be Done about the Miranda Warning?In wondering what should be done about Miranda, there i s something that needs to be laid out right off- there is no ideal criminal justice system, and the guilty will sometimes avoid punishment, and unfortunately, the innocent will be punished as well.   However, this being said, there need to be safeguards in place to make sure that the police do not falsely generate evidence against accused criminals, and as well, that the truly guilty do not escape justice.   Therefore, in closing, it is one humble opinion that Miranda should be kept in place, closely monitored as it has been.   While it is flawed in some areas, to discard it wholesale would be much worse than the present situation.ReferencesLeo, R. A. (1996). The Impact of Miranda Revisited. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86(3), 621-692.Lyman, M.D. (2004).   Criminal Investigation: The Art and Science.   New York: Prentice Hall.Miranda's Enemies. (2000, May 15). The Nation, 270, 4.Nooter, D. S. (2005). Is Missouri V. Seibert Practicable? Supreme Court Dances the â€Å"Two-Step† around Miranda. American Criminal Law Review, 42(3), 1093+.Robertson, D. (1997). A Dictionary of Human Rights. London: Europa Publications.

Macro Environmental Factors Essay

Lancaster (2011) defines the macro environment as ’those global elements over which the organization has no control over but which affect the organization’s ability to serve its customers profitably.’ There are six major macro environment forces: cultural, demographic, economic, natural, political, and technological. The cultural environment includes institutions and other forces that affect the basic values, behaviours, and preferences of the society-all of which have an effect on consumer marketing decisions. The demographic environment includes the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race, occupation, and other statistical information. The economic environment consists of all factors-such as salary levels, credit trends, and pricing patterns-that affect consumer spending habits and purchasing power. The (ecological) natural environment involves all the natural resources, such as raw materials or energy sources, needed by or affected by marketers and marketing activities. The political environment includes all laws, government agencies, and lobbying groups that influence or restrict individuals or organizations in the society. The technological environment consists of those forces that affect the technology and which can create new products, new markets, and new marketing opportunities. This is a way a country is governed, and they are usually more than one political party in a country thus bring in threats and opportunities to the businesses operating in such an environment. There two possible out comes from political environment are stability and changes in the ruling government. When a country has a multi-party system the environment is most likely to be associated with political instability as parties are battling for power. Political unrest is destructive to any business activity. In most cases these unrests results in loss of assets without compensation. The decision by the ruling party in Zimbabwe in 2000 was the land reform program which in principle was to redress the imbalance of land ownership between the black majority and white minority. The effect was a sharp decline in agricultural output as the white commercial farmers were mostly replaced by either politician or high ranking government officials most of whom were not really passionate about farming or by peasant farmers who had neither the technical knowledge nor resource to undertake farming at commercial level. For example, Delta as a result of poor agricultural season sorghum beer volumes declined with 8 percent as the supply of raw materials have been affected and the black majority in the farms could not cope up w this change in the season(The Sunday Mail Business ,page B7, 19 may 2013). Political instability is a favourable environment for an organization to operate in because they will be able to strategically plan and set objectives and they will be SMART. In Zimbabwe since the GNU the economy has stabilizes that firms such as delta could set themselves goals to achieve within a specific time frame and Delta has been pouring cash into re-tooling, re-capitalization and strategically positioning its business. Changes in government, as governments are formed by political parties. Government exert pressure on business through enactment and enforcement of legislation and formulation and implementation of government policies. For example government that might come onto power may cause threa ts to delta in the sense that it may be The social cultural factors are those factors which are considered to be socially acceptable in a society. These include the attitudes of the society to foreign goods and services, the dominant religion in that area, population structure-older generation wealth and pressure groups etc. as a firm it has to be aware of the dominant region in the area it is operating. For instance in Zimbabwe there are more than 60% Christians therefore it has to sell more of soft drinks to beer thereby affecting their decisions on what quantity to produce and their pricing strategies. It is unwise for DELTA to market its products in a market it is not aware of what’s being socially acceptable in that area, taking this scenario when DELTA tried to market its products like scud lion lager in the market of Mozambique. In Mozambique people prefer beer in small containers but with high alcoholic percentages, thus their products did not make t in the Mozambique cane market. Therefore a firm has to fir st consider the social cultural factors of the market it wants to operate in for there are the potential customers of tomorrow for their business. This is the application of scientific knowledge to convert resources of an economy into outputs. On the technological aspect will be looking at the entrance of better and effective +ways in terms of machinery and products etc. Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is also a major driver of globalization. This involves the creation of new markets and opportunities were a firm can easily adopt a new innovative way of doing operation and this enables it to compete globally. The uses of better advanced technology have a greater impact on the processes and performance of a firm. Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. The Delta Beverages has moved into modern packaging like the light 300mml bottle which uses fewer materials in production. The bottle was 25% heavier than the new one. The new plant for the bottle reduces rejects and output was enhanced to 42000 per hour Let’s take for instance Delta it needs to switch from being labour intensive to capital intensive in order to produce more quality efficiently and effectively as new advanced machinery will be introduced in the market. It means that if there were twenty employees who were mixing the contents and filling containers of coke they are automatically going to be eliminated. Therefore their way of doing operations need to be reorganised .As a result of using modern communication Medias like video conferencing and Skype managers can now make decisions whilst on holiday and it also enables exchange of vital information among workers at different geographical location easily. Organisations are also affected by the ecological 3factors; these are environmental factors that affect the businesses. It involves factors that occur naturally like drought, tsunami, floods etc. These factors have a greater impact on the operations of a business. For example if Zimbabwe is being affected by drought this means that the agricultural sector will have little to produce and for Delta which rely on sorghum as raw materials to manufacture beer , it will have to export those resources from other countries .Therefore this will affect the decisions ,strategies ,processes and their performance . A worker who will be involved in production will absent themselves from working search of food to sustain their families. Floods have also a negative impact on the operations of businesses as they result in deaths, destruction of infrastructure or the premises of the organisations leading to closure of some business and deaths of personnel. And the legal factors can be classified as polices, laws, rules and regulations adopted by the Government ruling at that time. These factors may have a greater impact on the decisions and strategies to be adopted by a firm. The Government they may adopt pricing policies. For instance the Government may put a price ceiling say a king-size bottle of soft drinks should not go above $0,50c so as DELTA it has to abide to the laws of the Government for it to continue operate in the market of Zimbabwe. The pricing policies impose on the farm produce also had an impact on the performance of DELTA as a firm. Say sorghum is said that its price should not precede $2 per kilogram, these means that the farmers will not be willing to sell their produce to the market thus leading DELTA to import in order to operate at their expected production line and experience an increase in their cost of production. So we can safely say some of the policies adopted by the Government may lead to an increase in p rices or reduction in production causing shortages in the market. However there are some of the legal factors imposed by the Government to the economy which affect the performance, decisions, strategies and processes of DELTA as a firm. For example the ‘MURAMBATSVINA’ policy which resulted to an increase in unemployment meaning to say that it also lead to an decrease in the level of spending of people. So DELTA as a firm sell more like luxuries goods so people are likely to reduce their consumption of such like products, thus may result in the reduction of prices of the products in order to lure the customers to buy and maintain their market share. Be that it may, not all the policies, rules and regulations set by the Government and laws will have an effect on the operations of DELTA.

Reading Tips to Improve Pronunciation for ESL Students

Reading Tips to Improve Pronunciation for ESL Students If youre working on pronunciation, these tips can help you use reading as a way to practice outside of class, either by yourself or with a couple of friends. Top Tips Choose a paragraph and read aloud.Choose a paragraph and mark each sentence with a sound script (helpful pronunciation markup). This will help you read more naturally, and thus pronounce correctly.Choose a few sentences from your reading material and highlight content words. Read these sentences focusing on accenting these content words while quickly speaking over the structure words.Once you become comfortable reading a single paragraph aloud, read an entire page by reading a paragraph aloud and then reading one silently.Choose some nursery rhymes to practice. They will help you with pronunciation through rhythm.Read a short story or a few paragraphs to a friend who is also studying English. Compare the differences and discuss what might be the reasons for the differences.Choose a paragraph, short article, or newspaper story with new vocabulary. Use the Babylon dictionary or another online pronunciation resource to help you learn the correct pronunciation of these words.Read a play with some friends. Each friend takes a different part. Start with short scenes. Once you are comfortable, read longer pieces together.

Things you probably didn`t know about British student life

Things you probably didn`t know about British student life Interesting facts from the history of British student life British student life was quite interesting and exciting even during the Middle Ages. It was full of various traditions, riots, revelries, and characters†¦ Women were not always welcome in academia The male students of Cambridge University didn`t want female students to be granted with the full degrees. In 1897, they hung an effigy of a female cyclist from Cambridge Senate House to show their disapproval. Only in 1948 women could finally get the full degrees. In the late 19th century the first female colleges were established. Women had the opportunity to receive education. However, their student life was not easy. Female students were narrowly watched and tightly scheduled. The violent student protests There was an increasing tension between the local people and Oxford`s students. The St Scholastica Day riot of 1355 became the bloodiest conflict in British student history. There was a violent pub brawl between two scholars and the taverner. After that, the armed struggle began. The medical students had the conflict over vivisection which lasted almost seven years. They scuffled with police, let off stink bombs during court cases, and attacked effigies of a local magistrate. In 1907 a lot of students marched on London in order to defend their rights. In 2010 the student protests spilled over into violence on the streets of London. Students breached the peace, smashing windows, throwing eggs, and setting off the smoke bombs. As a result, 153 students were arrested. The admittance of the young students Nowadays, a lot of the senior students can laugh at the freshmen, who can behave like little children. However, during the Tudor and Stuart periods it was quite normal to admit the students in the age of 12 to the university. The process of gaining a university degree was very long. Those young students could impress their tutors with the astonishing knowledge of different languages and subjects. The boundless merrymaking Students have enjoyed a bit of revelry since the earliest times. St Andrews University is known for its party atmosphere. The tradition of the ‘Raising Weekend’ was something special. Students had several days of parties and challenges which usually ended with a foam fight. That is how the academic family welcomed its freshmen. In the 16th century, the students of Cambridge University usually entertained their peers with the satirical comedies. Everybody was drinking and singing until the morning. They even made fun of the local people. Sometimes, such celebrations could be uncontrollable, so the university authorities were forced to ban such revelry for three years. A warm welcome of foreign students Foreign students could study at the British universities since the 12th century. Many of them faced suspicion, hostility, discrimination, and prejudice. However, a large number pained a positive picture of their student life in Britain as a foreigner. Edward Atiyah, who was born in the Ottoman Empire, was treated with friendliness and kindness while studying at Oxford. He didn`t feel that he was a stranger among the English people. He had positive experience of studying in another country. Samuel Satthianadhan was the Indian student, who studied at Cambridge in the 1870s. He felt himself quite comfortable studying with British students. He had not any feeling of awkwardness. Moreover, the British universities welcomed a lot of the refugee students during the two world wars. Student life was remarkably regulated The student life was not always the time of freedom. In the Middle Ages, students` behavior and morals were significantly controlled. Students were supposed to be sober in character and honest in life. They hadn`t enough time for the extra-curricular activities they were interested in. Students practices archery or took walks speaking in Latin. In 1410 the authorities of Oxford University issued a decree which enforced the students to live in the university halls to prevent them from visiting brothels and taverns at night. Universities weren`t just for the rich It is a popular belief that only children from the wealthy families could study at the first British universities. The medieval Oxford, St Andrews, and Cambridge admitted students from the middle-ranking families. By the 17th century the sizarships were established. Sizars had to work as university servants in order to pay the reduced fees. It was rather degrading for them, but such early bursary system gave many bright minds the opportunity to get the higher education.

Biography of Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Blacklist

Biography of Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Blacklist â€Å"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?† It was a question asked of dozens of people brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the 1940s and 1950s, and in October of 1947, it was put to Dalton Trumbo, one of Hollywood’s best-known and highest-paid screenwriters. Trumbo and nine others- dubbed the ‘Hollywood Ten’- refused to answer the question on First Amendment grounds This stand for principle came at a steep price: federal prison terms, fines, and worst of all, a place on the  Hollywood blacklist, a prohibition that kept them from working in their chosen profession. Dalton Trumbo spent much of the rest of his life climbing back to the top. The fall from grace was particularly hard for Trumbo, who had  struggled to establish a writing career  and had risen to the upper ranks of the Hollywood studio structure less than a decade earlier. Early Life James Dalton Trumbo was born in Montrose, Colorado on December 5, 1905 and grew up in the nearby town of Grand Junction. His father, Orus, was hardworking but struggled to achieve financial stability. Orus and Maud Trumbo often had difficulty supporting Dalton and his sisters. Trumbo became interested in writing early in life, working as a cub reporter for the Grand Junction newspaper while still in high school. He studied literature at the University of Colorado with the hope of becoming a novelist. Then, in 1925, Orus decided to move the family to Los Angeles in the hopes of finding more lucrative work, and Dalton decided to follow. Within a year of the move, Orus died of a blood disorder. Dalton got what he hoped would be a short-term job at the Davis Perfection Bread Company to help support the family. He ended up staying for eight years, working on novels and short stories in his spare moments. Few were published. His big break came in 1933, when he was offered a job writing for the Hollywood Spectator. This led to a job reading scripts for Warner Brothers in 1934, and by 1935, he was hired as a junior script writer in the B-Picture Unit. Later that year, his first novel, Eclipse, was published. Early Career For the next few years, Trumbo hopped from studio to studio as he mastered his new craft. By the late 1940s, he was earning as much as $4.000 a week- a major improvement over the $18 a week he had earned at the Perfection Bread Company. He wrote over a dozen movies between 1936 and 1945, including Five Came Back, Kitty Foyle, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and A Guy Named Joe. His personal life also flourished. In 1938, he married a former drive-in waitress named Cleo Fincher, and they soon had a family: Christopher, Mitzi, and Nikola. Trumbo bought an isolated ranch in Ventura County as a retreat from Hollywood life. Joining the Communist Party Trumbo had a reputation in Hollywood as an outspoken critic of social injustice. Having been a member of the working class for much of his life, he was passionate about labor rights and civil rights. Like many of his liberal-leaning Hollywood peers, he was eventually drawn towards Communism. His decision to join the Communist Party in December 1943 was a casual one. While not a Marxist, he agreed with many of its general principles. â€Å"People joined the Communist Party for very good, humane reasons, in my view,† he once said. The early 1940s was the high point for Party membership in the United States; Trumbo was one of more than 80,000 â€Å"card-carrying† Communists of the era. He loathed the meetings, which he described as â€Å"dull beyond description and about as revolutionary in purpose as Wednesday evening testimonial services at the Christian Science Church,† but he passionately believed in the Party’s right to exist under a Constitution that afforded Americans the freedom to assemble and to speak. The Hollywood Ten Trumbo’s affiliation was well-known at the time, and he, like other Hollywood Communist Party members, was under FBI surveillance for several years. In September 1947, the family was at their remote ranch when FBI agents arrived with a subpoena to appear before the HUAC. Trumbo’s son Christopher, then seven, asked what was happening. â€Å"We are Communists,† Trumbo said, â€Å"and I have to go to Washington to answer questions about my Communism.† About 40 members of the Hollywood community were issued subpoenas. Most simply complied with HUAC investigators, but Trumbo, along with fellow screenwriters Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz, Ring Lardner, Jr., Samuel Ornitz, and John Howard Lawson, directors Edward Dmytryk and Herbert Biberman, and producer Adrian Scott, decided not comply. In a contentious hearing on October 28, 1947, Trumbo repeatedly refused to answer HUAC members’ questions on First Amendment grounds. For his intransigence, he was found in contempt of Congress. He was later convicted on the charges and sentenced to a year in prison. Prisoner #7551 It took three years for the case to work through the appeals process, but Trumbo’s actual punishment began as soon as he returned from the hearings. He and his peers were blacklisted from working for any of the major studios and shunned by many in the Hollywood community. It was a hard time for the family both financially and emotionally, as Cleo Trumbo told People in a 1993 interview. â€Å"We were broke, and we weren’t invited anywhere. People dropped away.† With legal fees draining his savings, Trumbo returned to his B-movie roots and began churning out scripts under various pseudonyms for small studios. He worked right up until the day in June 1950 when he shaved off his signature mustache and flew east to begin his year-long prison term. Trumbo, now known as Prisoner #7551 was sent to the Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky. After almost 25 years of ceaseless work, Trumbo said that he felt â€Å"a sense of almost exhilarating relief† when the doors closed behind him. His stint at Ashland was filled with reading, writing, and light duties. Good behavior won him early release in April 1951. Breaking the Blacklist Trumbo moved the family to Mexico City after his release, hoping to get away from the notoriety and to stretch their reduced income a little further. They returned in 1954. Mitzi Trumbo later described the harassment of her new elementary school classmates when they found out who she was. Throughout the period, Trumbo continued to write for the screenplay black market. He would end up writing around 30 scripts under various pen names between 1947 and 1960. In one two-year span, he wrote 18 scripts at an average payout of $1,700 each. Some of these scripts were very successful. Among his work during this period was the classic romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) and The Brave One (1956). Both won Academy Awards for writing- awards that Trumbo couldn’t accept. Trumbo often passed on work to other struggling blacklisters, not only out of generosity but also  to flood the market with so many black-market scripts that the whole blacklist would look like a joke. Later Life and Legacy The blacklist continued to weaken throughout the 1950s. In 1960, director Otto Preminger insisted Trumbo receive a credit for writing the script for the Biblical blockbuster Exodus, and actor Kirk Douglas publicly announced Trumbo had written the script for the historical epic Spartacus. Trumbo adapted the script from a novel by Howard Fast, himself a blacklisted author. Trumbo was readmitted to the Writers Union and from that point on, he was able to write under his own name. In 1975, he received a belated Oscar statuette for The Brave One. He continued to work until he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1973, and died in Los Angeles on September 10, 1976 at the age of 70. By the time Trumbo died, the blacklist was long broken. Fast Facts Bio Full Name: James Dalton TrumboOccupation: Screenwriter, novelist, political activistBorn:  December 9, 1905 in Montrose, Colorado  Died:  September 10, 1976 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaEducation: Attended  University of Colorado and University of Southern California, no degreeSelected Screenplays: Roman Holiday, The Brave One, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Spartacus, Exodus Novels: Eclipse, Johnny Got His Gun, The Time of the ToadKey Accomplishments:  Joined  nine other Hollywood figures in resisting the anti-Communist House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Worked for years under assumed names until he was able to rejoin the Hollywood community.  Spouses Name: Cleo Fincher TrumboChildrens Names: Christopher Trumbo, Melissa Mitzi Trumbo, Nikola Trumbo Sources Ceplair, Larry.. Dalton Trumbo: Blacklisted Hollywood Radical. University Press of Kentucky, 2017.Cook, Bruce. Trumbo. Grand Central Publishing, 2015.

Printable ACT Practice Tests PDFs 6 FREE Official Tests

Printable ACT Practice Tests PDFs 6 FREE Official Tests SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips No matter how you prep for the ACT- whether you have a tutor, take a class, or study by yourself- you must get access to official, printable ACT tests. These tests are released by ACT, Inc., and contain real questions given to actual students on previous test dates. Although all of these questions have been removed from circulation (meaning you won't ever see them on the real ACT), their quality is second to none when it comes to realistic ACT practice. In this post, I'll tell you where you can find all official, printable ACT practice tests with answer keys. I'll also give you key strategies to help you make big improvements on each practice test. 6 Free, Printable ACT Practice Tests Below are all six currently available PDFs for official ACT tests. Even though some practice tests are old (dating as far back as 2005), the format of the ACT hasn't changed much since then (except for the introduction of a redesigned Writing section in 2015), so you're basically still taking the same test from more than a decade ago. ACT Printable Practice Test 2018-2019 (Form 74FPRE) Test: p11-55. Answer key: p57-60. ACT Printable Practice Test 2015-16 (Form 72CPRE) Test: p11-55. Answer key: p57-62. ACT Printable Practice Test 2014-15 (Form 67C) Test: p11-51 (ignore the essay). Answer key: p56-62. ACT Printable Practice Test 2011-12 (Form 64E) Test: p13-56 (ignore the essay). Answer key: p60-65. ACT Printable Practice Test 2008-09 (Form 61C) Test: p13-55 (ignore the essay). Answer key: p60-64. ACT Printable Practice Test 2005-06 (Form 59F) Test: p13-55 (ignore the essay). Answer key: p60-65. Each test includes a full answer key so you can grade your test. Notice a few years missing? That's because ACT, Inc., often duplicates the same practice test in consecutive years. For example, the 2015-16 test is identical to the 2016-17 and 2017-18 tests. We've included the form ID for each test (in parentheses) so that you can check what's the same and what's different (the ID is located in the bottom-left corner of each page). Once you've downloaded a PDF practice test, I recommend printing it out and working through it on paper using official time limits (more on this in a moment). Note that these tests are not a cure-all for your ACT problems. To use them effectively, you'll need to learn what they do and don't do. You'll also need to make sure you're using ACT practice tests at an optimal frequency (in other words, don't take one too close to your ACT test date!). But how else can you utilize official practice tests in your ACT prep? 6 Strategies to Get the Most Out Of ACT Practice Tests When you set aside four hours for an ACT practice test, it's important to try to get the most out of your time and energy. Using our six critical tips below as you take your ACT tests can help you prepare more effectively for test day. #1: Print Out the Test and Work Through It on Paper You're going to take the actual ACT on paper (as opposed to a computer), so it's best to emulate this format by taking each practice test on paper, too. Do your scratch work directly in your "test book" (in other words, not on separate pieces of scratch paper- remember, you won't get any extra paper on test day, though you are allowed to take notes directly on your test!). If you're taking the Writing (essay) section, be sure to use the lined essay paper (included in each PDF above) to write out your essay by hand. #2: Keep Strict Timing on Every Section Many students struggle with time pressure on the ACT. Going over a section's time limit by just two minutes can make a noticeable difference in your score since you're essentially giving yourself the chance to answer two or three more questions. This is why it's so important to adhere to the official time limits. Not only will this help you get used to the test structure, but it'll also let you learn how to identify your weaknesses. Here are the official time limits on the ACT as well as approximately how long you should aim to spend per question on each section: ACT Section Time per Section Time per Question English 45 minutes 36 seconds Math 60 minutes 60 seconds Reading 35 minutes 52 seconds Science 35 minutes 52 seconds Writing (Optional) 40 minutes 40 minutes Last but not least, the ACT isn't without breaks, so make sure to rest during your test, too! #3: Take the Test in One Sitting, If Possible The ACT is a marathon: it lasts about four hours, and you have to take it on a Saturday morning. Thousands of students have told me how difficult it is to stay focused during the whole exam and how easy it is to make careless mistakes at the end of the test. Just like training for a marathon, you need to ensure you've got enough endurance to be able to succeed on the ACT. And the best way to do this is to take a practice test in one sitting- just as you will on test day. If there's no possible way for you to take an ACT test in one sitting (for example, maybe you're an athlete and have practice every day that completely wears you out), it's OK to split up the test over multiple days- just as long as you're obeying each section's time limit exactly. In the end, it's better to do some practice than none at all! #4: Review Your Answers and Mistakes The main point of taking ACT practice tests isn't just getting to do a lot of questions- it's being able to learn from your mistakes. For every test you take, review all of your mistakes as well as every question you got right. If you don't know why you missed a question, don't gloss over it! Doing this means you won't learn from your mistakes and will keep making them over and over again, thereby lowering your score. Ultimately, learn to prize study quality over quantity. It's better to take three ACT practice tests with detailed review instead of six practice tests with no review. #5: Take At Least 4 Practice Tests Before Test Day Based on my experience with thousands of students, I've found that taking four practice tests makes you extremely comfortable with the ACT in all respects: timing, endurance, and even stress. While you can definitely take more than four tests if you want, you'll need to balance this practice with some focused prep on your weaknesses so that you can make faster progress. #6: No Score Improvement? Supplement Your Practice Tests Some students are great at using practice tests to study by themselves- they'll see a mistake they made, instantly realize why they made it, and then avoid making it in the future. That said, most students need additional help with pinpointing their weaknesses and getting down key test-taking skills and strategies. Some of the best options for prep help include hiring a tutor, buying a comprehensive ACT prep book, and taking an online ACT prep course. Our dedicated guide can help you figure out which ACT prep method works best for you. What's Next? Ready to get a perfect ACT score? Read our famous guide on what it takes, written by an expert 36 scorer. If you're aiming for top scores on all four sections of the ACT, read our in-depth strategy guides on how to get a 36 on ACT English, ACT Math, ACT Reading, and ACT Science. 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 your prep program to your strengths and weaknesses. We also have expert instructors who can grade every one of your practice ACT essays, giving feedback on how to improve your score. Check out our 5-day free trial: