Environmental Impact On The Environmental Crisis - 1675 Words

1.1.3 Ecological Design: The evident response to the environmental crisis One natural response to the current crisis and the shift in designers’ discourse has been the engagement in Ecological Design, or Eco-design, described by Orr (2002) as a large concept that joins science and the practical arts with ethics, politics, and economics that, requires â€Å"not just a set of generic design skills but rather the collective intelligence of a community of people applied to particular problems in a particular place over a long period of time† (p.9). This endeavor, according to the author, is nothing less than the effort to harmonize the human enterprise with how the world works as a physical system and how it ought to work as a moral system. Eco-design has been useful in urban planning, industrial parks and networks, architecture, and products, especially technology, in which the concept has been extensively applied to the development and manufacturing. Within this context, it is recognized as a to reduce the impacts associated with the production and consumption of products. It can be said that in the past centuries the human footprint on earth has multiplied many times over, especially after Industrialization, but now, our science and technology are powerful beyond anything imagined to overcome this malefic impact and yet, keep progressing. Although our technical abilities are up-to-date, our moral and ethical senses have not kept pace with them. And this is why this identifiedShow MoreRelatedWhole Foods Market Is Responsible For Protection Of Human Health And The Environment1413 Words   |  6 PagesAdministration (FDA) and paid $3.5 million fine to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June and September of 2016. FDA is responsible for regulating food, dietary supplements, drugs, biological medical products etc. EPA is responsible for protection of human health and the environment. EPA   Federal regulators warned Whole Foods as they failed to manufacture, pack, and store foods in a way that reduce potential for contamination. The US Environmenta l Protection Agency also saw Whole Foods improperlyRead MoreThe Fragile Ecological Existence Of The U.s. Southwest1250 Words   |  5 Pagesis largely in support for saving the environment. However support can be splintered by another need of the country especially when the opposing discourse has a crisis wave to ride. This case shows how the issue of border security is able to triumph environmental needs, due to the pertinence of immigration reform and the effects of crisis on policy. Introduction: The border of the United States and Mexico, is not our longest border, but is arguably our most controversial. Much of the land on theRead MoreEssay On The Quality Of Water1312 Words   |  6 Pagessupply switch. Flint residents disbelieved the city was going to use the Flint River, which once served as a dumping ground for industrial waste from the local General Motors plant (Caton, 2016). Based on comments from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Flint officials did not immediately implement corrosion treatments for the river water (Kennedy, 2016). In May of 2014, residents reported water quality issues and the city issued a boil advisory after E. coli and total coliformRead MoreThe Climate Crisis And Its Effects On The Environment1428 Words   |  6 PagesThe climate crisis is a defining struggle of our age bringing political, economic, religious, and environmental tensions and conflicts to surface. At this moment in history a great transitional worldview needs to take place, but is depressingly out of reach, and humankind seems woefully unprepared/interested to confront monumental challenges and change. The climate change crisis directly affects planetary boundaries, ecological cycles, and limitations on a domestic and international level. It isRead MoreThe Environmental Crisis Of Kenya And The United Nations Framework On Environmental Change1453 Words   |  6 Pages The environmental crisis is the biggest crisis of our time, climate change, scarcity of fresh water and bio diversity loss are just a few o f the problems caused by the environmental crisis. National and international organizations try combat the dire effects of the environmental crisis like The Green Belt Movement in Kenya and The United Nations framework on Environmental Change, they create initiatives like sustainable development but they have not succeeded. My essay will introduceRead MoreGlobal Warming : A Environmentally Friendly Community And Start A Global Movement1726 Words   |  7 Pagescharge of the environmental crisis. Gore states that â€Å"what we are doing is functionally insane†, and he is absolutely right. (Gore) For too long people have been afraid to come terms with the environmental disaster they have helped create; but we’ve spent so much time in denial that we are running out of time to take action. Gore describes five steps that he believes will save the environment. The first step suggested is to become totally committed to solving the environmental crisis and advocateRead MoreEn vironmental Psychology Article Analysis866 Words   |  4 PagesEnvironmental Psychology Article Analysis University of Phoenix Environmental Psychology Article Analysis Environmental psychology does not just study how man affects his environment but also how the environment and natural occurrences affect man. The continual cause and affect cycle from both sides of the equation give purpose to environmental psychology as well as incorporating other disciplines. Unlike many disciplines that have a single focus, the focus of environmental psychologyRead MorePope By John Pope : A Critical Approach Between Science And Religion880 Words   |  4 Pagespolicy. From the first chapter the Pope assumes the latest scientific findings on environmental matters as a way to hear the cry of creation, to become personal suffering what happens to the world, and thus recognize what is the contribution that each can contribute . Various aspects of the current ecological crisis is so rush. The Pope speaks of austerity of life saving measure of the great crisis which we live. We speak of an ecological debt: in the framework of an ethic of internationalRead MoreSCI207 WEEK 2 QUIZ Essay889 Words   |  4 Pages Question : 1 Which of the following is an environmental concern of genetically engineered crops mentioned in your text? Genetically modified crops lead to larger applications of toxic herbicides and insecticides. The genetic modification of crops increases soil erosion while decreasing soil fertility. Genetic engineering is less precise than traditional methods of crossbreeding. CORRECT Genes from genetically modified crops may transfer to non-genetically modifiedRead MoreThe Rise Of Solar Stadiums1292 Words   |  6 PagesThe Rise of Solar Stadiums: Assessing the Motives and Environmental Impact Super Bowl XLVIII. February 2nd, 2014. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As time expires, Mason Crosby kicks a field goal that soars through the uprights and hits . . . a wind turbine? Suddenly, this scenario does not sound so far-fetched: the Philadelphia Eagles have announced their intention to convert Lincoln Financial Field into the â€Å"world’s greenest stadium† (Bauers). As part of the initiative, the Eagles plan to take

The Organizational Culture Of The Work Center - 1647 Words

Introduction There will always be issues in a person’s place of employment. Everyone would love to work in an environment where everyone got along, where everyone knew what his or her roles were and stayed in their lane. Most of all people enjoy working in an atmosphere where the managers provide a sense of pride and welcome to all employees. The attitude of the staff is usually a direct reflection of the person in charge. If the top person seems never to be happy or is a strict micromanager then the attitude of the work center is going to reflect negatively to this. If the manager is viewed as having a low work ethic or uncaring about the job, employees will soon develop that same low work ethic or begin to not care about the production of the work center, this is called the organizational culture of the work area. Nahavandi, Denhardt, Denhardt, define organizational culture as â€Å"the set of values, norms, and beliefs shared by members of an organization† (2014 , p. 39). Most people believe that those of us in the military do not face the same issues that our civilian counterparts encounter. Everyone knows that service members live by a creed of integrity and strive for excellence in all we set forth to do. However, just as one would find in the civilian sector the organizational culture in the military also has its time where managers or leaders do not present the best image for others to follow. The military has issues, with favoritism, racism, and sexism just asShow MoreRelatedORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE1123 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Culture consists of beliefs and behavior. It is cultivated behavior in the sense that it is learnt from the other members of the society. According to Henry Mintzberg, an internationally renowned author on Business and Management, â€Å"culture is the soul of the organization – the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested. I think of the structure as the skeleton, and as the flesh and blood. And culture is the soul that holds the thing together and gives it life forceRead MoreComputime1008 Words   |  5 Pagescommunicate effectively with the RD units. To improve communication channels, Computime can use Frans Johnansson’s concept of making barriers fall, by embracing a range of cultures (2004). Computime can hire engineers who are familiar with the Chinese culture and have experience with Chinese workers. By hiring people who know best how to work with the Chinese, communication can improve. Through improved communication, employees will be able to share ideas about customers’ needs and further anticipate futureRead MoreA Market Plan for People with Disabilities828 Words   |  3 PagesSituation Analysis Over the past years career centers have matched people with jobs to synchronize their career plans with their disabilities. The career center will consist of self-appraisal, career information, career counseling services, career training facilities, and career placement follow up services. The center will reach this by setting in motion of cyclical process of planning, development, implementation, and improvement. With the help of the center the disabled will be able to reach theirRead MoreCase Study : Northern County Legal Services1087 Words   |  5 PagesNorthern County Legal Services It is a late summer morning and without air conditioning the environment at the not-for-profit law center, Northern County Legal Services (NCLS), is reminiscent of an overcrowded Department of Motor Vehicle office. The center does not have a variety of comfortable places to sit as chairs were donated or purchased. The aesthetics of the center, the lack of efficiency, and the frustration of the volunteers surely sets a negative tone for the customers who are already frustratedRead MoreOrganizational Structure And Leadership Style Of Greater Baltimore Medical Center1629 Words   |  7 PagesOrganizational Analysis: Greater Baltimore Medical Center The adaptability of healthcare industries in an evolving world of change requires dynamics to identifying weakness and distinction. Often times, these organizational modifications mirror changes in the society. They are inspired by collective experiences, perceptions, norms, values, economics and political forces at a given particular period (Thomas, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to explore the organizational structure and leadershipRead MoreStructure And Culture Of Toyota1276 Words   |  6 PagesStructure and Culture Structure Toyota manufactures vehicles in 27 different countries and sells its product over 190 different countries under five brands; Toyota, Hino, Lexus, Ranz and Daihatsu. The organization structure of Toyota Motor Corporation is based upon the numerous business operations carried out by the company all across the world. The company has implemented a divisional organizational structure empower flexibility and changes in the market. It supports its business goal and strategicRead MoreHuman Resource Management ( Hrm ) Concepts1429 Words   |  6 Pagesoperational, as well as strategic. While the administrative and operational roles are important more HR management is transforming into strategic contributors. In a morphing society management is exposed to issues never faced before such as: â€Å"organizational cost pressures and restructuring; economics and job changes; globalization of organizations and HR; workforce demographics and diversity, HR technology; and measuring HR impact throu gh metrics† (Mathis, pg. 8). Due to all the previous mentionedRead MoreStructure and the Differences in Culture of Various Organizations766 Words   |  3 PagesWorking Girl: A Case Study in Organizational Structure There isnt any room at the top for local girls like us, yet the upper level management had the world at their fingertips (Nichols, 1988). Mike Nichols quirky 1988 film Working Girl was in many ways much more than a romantic comedy. It reflects the extreme separation between the levels of the hierarchy within a typical organizational culture in the United States in the 1980s. 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As noted in the readings, many definitions exist, however for the scope of this paper I will take the lead of Kuh and Whitt. Defining organizational culture as the â€Å"collective, mutually shaping patterns of norms, values, practices, beliefs, and assumptions that guide the behavior of individuals and groups in an institute of higher education and provide a frame of reference

Business Report Free Essays

As a world-leading cosmetic company of Australia and established in 1985, Jurlique has expanded its customers at a staggering rate recently. I have used its products for many years and am one of its loyal customers. Although Jurlique has conducted its businesses beyond Australia and gradually penetrated into many other countries, it neglects an imperative country that can contribute to boost its sales and profits significantly, namely China. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Report or any similar topic only for you Order Now Because Jurlique has not entered into Chinese market, every time I come back to China, my relatives and friends always will ask me to bring them its products. Therefore, I am thinking whether Jurlique can expand its businesses into Chinese market so that its loyal customers can purchase its products conveniently and easily. It is widely know that the most unique quality of Jurlique is its natural elements in products. Almost all the other cosmetic products contain various chemical compositions that may potentially have subtle negative influence on customers. However, Jurlique plants raw materials that its products need on its own and provides pure and natural materials for its products, so that these products are environmental friendly. Due to such unique character, Jurlique gradually attracts more and more loyal customers. Thus, for Jurlique, operating its businesses in China becomes increasingly necessary. With Chinese cheap labour, Jurlique can establish factory in China to manufacture its products. And with the assistance of excellent marketing strategies, there is no doubt that Jurlique can achieve huge success in Chinese market. Executive Summary Jurlique can select China to be its target country. As an emerging country, China has the highest GDP growth around the world. This situation means that there are numerous opportunities for various companies to conduct their businesses in this emerging market. Hence, Jurlique can profit from these numerous opportunities by operating its businesses there. Furthermore, owning the largest population around the world, there is no denying that China has significant potential for digesting the products of Jurlique. To be more specific, Chinese people are more affluent than before. It is universally acknowledged that during the economic crisis period, Chinese people contribute the most to continue flourishing luxury industry. And Chinese women lay more emphasis on their faces than before, thereby providing enormous opportunity for cosmetic industry. Consequently, China is an extremely appropriate choice for Jurlique to expand its business. Because Jurlique is a famous brand around the world and and belongs to high-end products. Therefore, it mainly targets its customers in China at affluent people. Although affluent people only account for small part of the whole Chinese people, due to the large population base, there are still a large number of Chinese people to spend money on its products. Jurlique can distribute its products in China mainly through two ways. The first one is online sales. The prevalent online shopping phenomenon in China can help Jurlique reach the most potential customer. The other one is set up counters in shopping malls, which is the most frequent places people go to buy cosmetics. Campaign Strategy It has been mentioned that the main potential customers of Jurlique are affluent women. And those women generally live in such big cities as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and so on. Therefore, Jurlique can start its business from the Chinese fashion city, namely Shanghai. It is widely known that Shanghai women usually spend more time and money than others on makeup. And then this company can gradually penetrate its business into other cities and take full advantages of Chinese market to expand its businesses, thereby achieving high profits. Undeniably, the giant influence of advertisement can not be ignored and therefore the first step of starting Jurlique’s business should be effective advertising. Firstly, appropriate slogan should be made. Because the unique quality of Jurlique is its natural and pure raw material and the main function of its products is make women be beautiful and charming, the brand slogan can be â€Å"for your natural beauty†. As to advertisement, Chinese people should be its models in order to show people directly that products of Jurlique can beautify not only western people but also eastern people. In order to boost its sales effectively and smoothly, Jurlique should conduct some promotions in accordance with local culture. And the most effective promotional method should be advertising (Gabriel, Kottasz, Bennett, 2006). There are a host of ways can be used for advertising. The most effective one is TV advertising. To be more precise, there are numerous fashion programs on TV now and they attract a vast number of fashion people to be their audience. More importantly, some TV stations even specially set up a fashion channel to broadcast fashion related programs. As a consequence, by advertising on these channels, Jurlique can effectively and efficiently cover its target customers as many as possible. Additionally, Jurlique also can advertise on fashion magazines. These magazines have the same target customers as Jurlique and therefore can effectively and efficiently deliver its information to customers. Another advertising way is billboards. They generally should be established in subway station (Low, Mohr, 2000), because in China, the majority of white-collars who can be potential customers of Jurlique are prone to take subway when getting off work. During the time of waiting for trains, people usually have nothing to do. If there are some gorgeous billboards in front of them, they are inclined to staring at these billboards to appreciate their fabulous content. And them, these people may be motivated in large distance to buy the advertised products. In order to make Jurlique operate smoothly in China, this company also should consider the timeline and costs of its expansion. As to timeline, Jurlique can start its business from Shanghai. About several months later, its business can be expanded to Beijing, and then other big cities. Turning to cost, it is one of the most crucial parts for company, because it relates to its profits. For cosmetic business, advertisements usually occupy the most costs, because gorgeous and luxury advertising contents can contribute to consolidate its high-end position and the high price can offset increased cost in advertisement (Mitchel, 1985). As a result, Jurlique can allocate more money on advertising costs than other aspects. How to cite Business Report, Papers

Personal Security free essay sample

The Importance of Safe Guarding Personal Information Identity theft is a serious problem worldwide. This crime flourishes when thieves are given access to your personal information, allowing them to commit crimes under your name or spend your money unbeknownst to you. You may be under the impression that identity theft could never happen to you. You may be careful with whom you give your Social Security number to, or diligent about changing up your passwords for the sake of safety. However, identity thieves are getting smarter about how they access your information. The statistics revolving around identity theft are disconcerting, but with a better understanding of how these crimes continue to be committed, we can help lower the rate of identity theft and prevent ourselves from becoming another statistic. 1. Odds Against You The United States Department of Justice states that in 2010, 7% of all United States households had at least one member of the family at or over the age of 12 who has been a victim of some sort of identity theft. That means the odds are greatly against you. Identity theft sets the government, American citizens, and businesses back by billions of dollars each year. From 2005 to 2010, 64. 1% of these instances involved credit card fraud, the fastest growing type of identity theft. Over the range of this time period, credit card misuse was doubled as the determining factor in identity theft. 2. Grave Robbing According to Time Magazine, 2. 5 million dead people get their identities stolen every year. Studies conducted by ID Analytics have shown that identity thieves have been applying for credit cards under the names of the deceased, opening up clean credit lines, new cell phone services, and in a staggering 1. million cases, using Social Security numbers previously belonging to dead people. This can be devastating for family members of the deceased who have been left to manage his or her estate. More than 2,000 identities of corpses per day are assumed by these fraudsters. 3. Social Media Fraud With a 13% increase in identity fraud between 2010 and 2011, a study conducted by Javelin Strategy amp; Research showed that consumers may be putting them selves at a higher risk for identity theft as a result of their increasingly intimate social media behaviors. Sixty-eight percent of people with public social media profiles on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter shared their birthday information with 45% of them getting into specifics about the exact month, day, and year. Sixty-three percent shared where exactly they attended high school. Eighteen percent shared their phone number and 12% shared their pet’s name. Not only are all of these details typically asked when verifying an identity, but people also frequently use them in passwords. The statistics are clear — people are giving away far too much personal information on social networking sites, allowing for fraudsters to easily steal their identities. 4. Medical Identity Theft According to the findings from a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, 19,428 complaints regarding medical identity theft have been reported to the Consumer Sentinel Database since January 1, 1992. Prior to that, medical-related identity theft was not documented, so there may have been many more instances of it that simply went unreported. Likewise, the number of medical identity theft victims rose from 1. % in 2001 to 1. 8% in 2005. Medical identity theft can be distressing to its victims, who often incur charges for medical care they didn’t even receive after their computerized medical records are stolen. A large chunk of these victims experienced raised premiums as a result of medical identity theft, with almost half losing coverage entirely. Medical identity thef t is more of an insider crime, as it is typically done by a health care professional. It may be committed by doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and others associated with the hospital. Part of the reason that medical identity theft is made possible could be because almost half of seniors carry their Social Security card or Medicare card in their wallets, which is a risky place to keep such valuable information. 5. College Students at Risk The United States Department of Education encourages college-aged students to be particularly aware of identity theft. After they conducted a recent survey, the Department of Education found that 48% of the students that participated in the survey admitted to leaving personal information out in their dorm rooms, some of which was financial in nature. Thirty-one percent of these students were burglarized or knew someone in the building who was burglarized, which means that their personal information could have been compromised. Identity thieves look to college-aged adults because they often have good, clean credit scores, making them an ideal target. On college campuses, Social Security numbers are often used for identification purposes. For example, a student may use their social to register for classes. With such easy access to your Social Security number, an identity thief has all the information they need to commit their crime. Lastly, college students are not as attentive to their banking accounts and private information, which buys the identity thief valuable time with your funds at hand. 6. Misleading Trial Offers The Consumer Federation of America works with commercial providers of identity theft services to figure out ways to keep people safe from identity theft. According to a 2012 report it released examining ways these services could be bettered, customers most commonly complained about the service’s lack of addressing misleading trial offers. Free trials are everywhere, offering a week or months’ worth of Weight Watchers, Netflix, or Proactiv face wash. However, customers complained that the identity theft protection sites themselves were unclear as to the trial offer stipulations. The problematic part is that customers often forget to cancel these temporarily â€Å"free† subscriptions, or they don’t realize they need to cancel, and then charges begin to accrue in their accounts from a service they may not even use. Customers feel this may as well be on par with the stealing that occurs via identity theft. So, even sites that help protect against identity theft may be draining your funds via an unclear trial offer scheme. 7. Cost to Victims According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2006 Report, while 50% of all identity fraud victims accrue little to no out-of-pocket charges for the legal fees, lost wages, and false payments brought upon them during the fraud, a small bracket of 10% of all identity theft victims incur considerable out-of-pocket expenses. This can be upwards of $1,200. This is most commonly the case when fraudsters use a false identity to open new accounts. The top percentile of these victims lost as many as $3,000, an unsettling amount to personally lose as a result of identity theft. Few things leave a person feeling more vulnerable and taken advantage of. Likewise, resolving identity theft crime isn’t easy. Ten percent of all victims spend 55 or more hours sorting out their problems, while the top 5% spend at least 130 hours. 8. Child Identity Theft Since children have perfectly clean backgrounds, no real credit score to speak of, and their parents don’t think to monitor the status of their identity, they make easy targets for identity theft. The main reasons fraudsters use child identities is to administer illegal immigration, steal, and wipe clean the credit scores of a loved one by utilizing that of a child in their place. Sadly, this can have negative effects on the child’s credit down the line, and they could have trouble securing student loans, getting a decent job, or even purchasing a cellphone. In a study conducted by Carnegie Melon’s CyLab, 10. 2% of the children reported that someone else had used their Social Security number fraudulently. The worst of these accounts was toward a 16-year-old girl who had reported fraudulent charges of $725,000 under her name. 9. Police Notification According to the Consumer Sentinel Network’s 2011 report, 57% of identity theft victims notified a police department, resulting in a police report. Six percent notified a police department, but did not have a police report filed, and 7% notified the police but were unsure as to whether a report was filed. This leaves an alarming 30% of victims who didn’t bother to notify the police at all. In order to get ahold of the problem of identity theft, victims need to be proactive about stopping thieves with police intervention. Otherwise, the crime will perpetuate, as it is easy to get away with and can strongly benefit the thief. Title: How IASO has Failed to Protect Personal Identifiable Information? When it comes to protecting private information, no one wants to feel exposed. The most precious information a person may ever possess is their personal identifiable information: a Social Security Number, address, date of birth and even a name. If this information is stolen or tampered with, it may never be restored. Personal identifiable information, or PII as it is commonly known, has been strictly protected for years by lengthy information security regulations. Information security, or IS, works to inspect, maintain, record or destroy information while guarding it against unauthorized access, use or alteration. Most often, this type of security refers to computer-based security, simply because most precious information is now recorded on these electronic systems. The question is: is your information really being protected? Unfortunately, your PII might not be under lock and key. There are several issues with IS, many of which revolve around people – the ones both protecting and sabotaging your information. Out of all the issues plaguing IS, these are the most dangerous: * Ignorance. Computer security threats most often occur when computers are hacked or infected through sites, files and other media found through the internet. Employees and individuals that are uneducated in smart internet searching and threat recognition are more likely to invite hackers, infections and identity thieves into their databases. These days, many employees receive very little training on protection against internet dangers, which can result in serious consequences. * Covering, not solving. When problems are encountered in a system, many individuals focus on finding the infection so that it can be destroyed. Other avenues include wiping the computer altogether to rid it of the virus. However, neither of these methods takes away the source of the problem; if there is a site that is causing the problem, it should be avoided; if there is something else causing the disturbance, it should be discovered, reported and destroyed. Too often the focus is on fixing the immediate problem instead of devising a permanent solution. * Personal irresponsible action. PII is often disclosed through more simple means than computer hacking; many times, information security problems come directly from people. Individuals that place important information on sites, communicate information over internet messaging, or even disclose private information in the everyday world are at higher risk of security threats. Theft of computers, hard drives and flash drives also occurs frequently in unwatchful workplaces. All of these issues make IS less effective, and should be taken into serious consideration when any government organization, company or individual is seeking to protect precious personal identifiable information. Identity Theft Victim Statistics| Approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses totalling upwards of $50 billion. * On a case-by-case basis, that means approximately 7% of all adults have their identities misused with each instance resulting in approximately $3,500 in losses. Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen. These alarming statistics demonstrate identity theft may be the most frequent, costly and pervasive crime in the United States. The sophistication level of professional identity thieves involved in organized crime continues to grow along with the methods they develop. From individually tailored phishing and vishing scams, to increasingly successful hacks of corporate and government databases, to elaborate networks of botnets designed to hijack millions of computers without any trace, there is an ever-increasing threat to all Americans. At the same time, basic methods of identity theft continue unabated. From stealing wallets and purses, to dumpster diving and stealing mail, to the use of pretext and social engineering to deceive customer call centers into releasing personal account information, the original methods of identity theft still work. As the methods used to perform identity theft expand, so do the types of accounts and services being stolen by identity thieves. Credit, debit, checking and saving accounts are no longer the only targets. Identity fraud has grown to include theft of cell and landline phone service; cable and satellite television service; power, water, gas and electric service; Internet payment service; medical insurance; home mortgages and rental housing; automobile, boat and other forms of financing and loans; and, government benefits. Identity thieves will also use stolen identities to obtain employment and to deceive police when arrested. Quite simply, every individual or business is vulnerable to attack when it comes to personal or corporate information, products and services. *Based on a range of information gathered from public and private resources. | | Techniques for obtaining and exploiting personal information for identity theft Identity thieves typically obtain and exploit personally identifiable information about individuals, or various credentials they use to authenticate themselves, in order to impersonate them. The statute now makes the possession of any means of identification to knowingly transfer, possess, or use without lawful authority a federal crime, alongside unlawful possession of identification documents. However, for federal jurisdiction to prosecute, the crime must include an identification document that either: (a) is purportedly issued by the United States, (b) is used or intended to defraud the United States, (c) is sent through the mail, or (d) is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce. See 18 U. S. C.  §Ã‚  1028(c). Punishment can be up to 5, 15, 20, or 30 years in federal prison, plus fines, depending on the underlying crime per 18 U. S. C.  §Ã‚  1028(b). In addition, punishments for the unlawful use of a means of identification were strengthened in  § 1028A (Aggravated Identity Theft), allowing for a consecutive sentence under specific enumerated felony violations as defined in  § 1028A(c)(1) through (11). The Act also provides the Federal Trade Commission with authority to track the number of incidents and the dollar value of losses. Their figures relate mainly to consumer financial crimes and not the broader range of all identification-based crimes. [35] If charges are brought by state or local law enforcement agencies, different penalties apply depending on the state. Six Federal agencies conducted a joint task force to increase the ability to detect identity theft. Their joint recommendation on red flag guidelines is a set of requirements on financial institutions and other entities which furnish credit data to credit reporting services to develop written plans for detecting identity theft. The FTC has determined that most medical practices are considered creditors and are subject to requirements to develop a plan to prevent and respond to patient identity theft. [36] These plans must be adopted by each organizations Board of Directors and monitored by senior executives. [37] Identity theft complaints as a percentage of all fraud complaints decreased from 2004-2006. [38] The Federal Trade Commission reported that fraud complaints in general were growing faster than ID theft complaints. [38] The indings were similar in two other FTC studies done in 2003 and 2005. In 2003, 4. 6 percent of the US population said they were a victim of ID theft. In 2005, that number had dropped to 3. 7 percent of the population. [39][40] The Commissions 2003 estimat e was that identity theft accounted for some $52. 6 billion of losses in the preceding year alone and affected more than 9. 91 million Americans;[41] the figure comprises $47. 6 billion lost by businesses and $5 billion lost by consumers. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a report released in 2007 revealed that 8. 3 million American adults, or 3. 7 percent of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005. 42] The latest report from the FTC showed that ID theft increased by 21% in 2008. However, credit card fraud, that crime which is most closely associated with the crime of ID theft, has been declining as a percentage of all ID theft. In 2002, 41% of all ID theft complaints involved a credit card. That percentage has dropped to 21% in 2008. [43] Two states, California[44] and Wisconsin[45] have created an Office of Privacy Protection to assist their citizens in avoiding and recovering from identity theft. In Massachusetts in 2009-2010, Governor Deval Pat rick made a commitment to balance consumer protection with the needs of small business owners. His Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation announced certain adjustments to Massachusetts identity theft regulations that maintain protections and also allows flexibility in compliance. These updated regulations went into effect on March 1, 2010. The regulations are clear that their approach to data security is a risk-based approach important to small businesses and might not handle a lot of personal information about customers. [46][47] The IRS has created the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit to help taxpayers who are victims of federal tax-related identity theft. Generally, the identity thief will use a stolen SSN to file a forged tax return and attempt to get a fraudulent refund early in the filing season. A taxpayer will need to fill out Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit.

Passage To India By Foster Essays - A Passage To India,

Passage To India By Foster In his novel A Passage to India, Forster uses a series of repeated misunderstandings between cultures, which become hardened into social stereotypes, to justify the uselessness of attempts to bridge cultural gulfs. In many instances, the way in which language is used plays a great role in the miscommunication between the English and the Indians, as well as among people of the same culture. This is exemplified in the way in which people use the same words, but do not hear the same meaning. It is also displayed through the British characters Aziz meets and befriends, through a series of invitations and through time and true mistakes. Upon Meeting the British: Two significant instances of miscommunication occur when Aziz meets the British characters in the novel that will end up being very close, yet controversial friends. Upon his encountering Mrs. Moore at the Mosque, he sees a British woman and right away develops a series of misconceptions about her. He believes that she is like all other British women (bring up conversation on women being alike): ?Madam, this is a mosque, you have no right here at all; you should have taken off your shoes; this is a holy place for Moslems.' ?I have taken them off.' ?You have?' ?I left them at the entrance.' ?Then I ask your pardon. I am truly sorry for speaking.' ?Yes, I was right, was I not? If I remove my shoes, I am allowed?' ?Of course, but so few ladies take the trouble, especially if thinking no one is there to see' (18). What Aziz finds is the unexpected fact that she is like Aziz in many ways, or as he describes her, "Oriental" (21). Yet, when seeing this side of the British woman, he again breaks his connection with her when she speaks of her son: ?And why ever do you come to Chandrapore?' ?To visit my son. He is the City Magistrate here.' ?Oh no, excuse me, that is quite impossible. Our City Magistrate's name is Mr. Heaslop. I know him intimately.' ?He's my son all the same,' she said smiling, (19). It does not occur to Aziz that Mrs. Moore's son may be part of the Indian race. It is something that is not understandable at first. Another British character that Aziz makes a connection with is Mr. Fielding. When Aziz arrives at Fielding's home to meet him for the first time, he has the same type of miscommunication that he does with Mrs. Moore, yet is is displayed in an opposite manner: "Lifting up his voice, he shouted from the bedroom, ?Please make yourself at home.' The remark was unpremeditated, like most of his actions; it was what he felt inclined to say. To Aziz it had a very different meaning" (66). Aziz understands Fielding's remark as a warm invitation, whereas Fielding has a routine of making the remark. People Saying One Thing and meaning another, usually just to be polite: A. Invitations The matter of invitations in the novel creates a cultural misunderstanding between the Indians and the British in the sense that the Indians make invitations just to be polite, which the British take literally. This causes offense in some cases to the British involved, whereas the Indians see it as a normal part of their society. This is first apparent at the Bridge Party, where Adela and Mrs. Moore are introduced to Mrs. Bhattacharya: When they took their leave, Mrs. Moore had an impulse, and said to Mrs. Bhattacharya, whose face she liked, ?I wonder whether you would allow us to call on you some day.' ?When?' she replied, inclining charmingly. ?Whenever is convenient.' ?All days are convenient.' ?Thursday...' ?Most certainly.'... ?What about the time?' ?All hours.' ?Tell us which you would prefer.' Mrs. Bhattacharya seemed not to know either. Her gesture implied that she had known, since Thursdays began, that English ladies would come to see her on one of them, and so always stayed in. Everything pleased her, nothing surprised. She added, ?We leave for Calcutta today.' ?Oh do you?' said Adela, not at first seeing the implication. Then she cried, ?Oh, but if you do, we shall find you gone.' Mrs. Bhattacharya did not dispute it. (44). Mrs. Bhattacharya doesn't think of the invitation in the same way Adela does. The same is for Aziz when inviting the two women to the Marabar caves. "He thought again of his bungalow in horror. Good heavens, the stupid girl had taken him at his word! What was he to

How to Improve Your ACT Reading Score 8 Expert Tips

How to Improve Your ACT Reading Score 8 Expert Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you struggling with ACT Readingscores between 14 and 24? You're not alone- hundreds of thousands of students are scoring in this range. But many don't know the best ways to break out of this score range and score 26 or higher. Here, we'll discuss how to improve your ACT Reading score effectively, and why it's so important to do so. Unlike other fluffy articles out there, I'm focusing on actionable strategies.Put these eight strategies to work, and I'm confident you'll be able to improve your ACT score. Brief note: This article specifically targets lower-scoring students- i.e., those scoring below 26 on ACT Reading. If you're already above this range, my perfect 36 ACTReading score article is more appropriate for you as it contains more advanced strategies. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring high is a good idea, go over what it takes to score a 26, and then jump into our top ACTReading tips andstrategies. Stick with me- this is like building a house. You need to lay a solid foundation before you can put up the walls and pretty windows. Similarly, we need to make sure we understand why you're doing what you're doing before we can dive into tips and strategies. In this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 26. But if your goal is a 24 or lower, these concepts still equally apply to how you should study. This is a pretty long article, so here's what we'll be covering (in case you want to skip around or review a section): Getting a 26 on the ACT: Understand the Stakes Know That You Can Get a 26 ACT Score or Higher What It Takes to Get a 26 in ACT Reading Strategy 1: Save Time on Reading Passages by Switching Your Reading Strategy Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate the 3 Wrong Answers Strategy 3:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Strategy 4: Only Use High-Quality ACT Reading Sources Strategy 5:Don't Focus On Vocab Strategy 6:Skip the Most Difficult, Time-Consuming Questions Strategy 7:Understand All Your Reading Mistakes Strategy 8: Guess on EveryQuestion You Don't Know Getting a 26 on the ACT: Understand the Stakes At this score range of 14-24, improving your ACT Reading scoreto a 26 or higher will dramatically boost your chances of getting into better colleges. Let's take a popular school as an example: the University of California, Riverside. The average ACT score of admitted applicants to UC Riverside is 23(out of 36). Its 25th percentile score is 22, and its 75th percentile score is 28. Furthermore, its acceptance rate is 56%. In other words, a little more than half of all applicants are admitted.But the lower your ACT score is, the worse your chances are of getting in. In our analysis, if you score around 22, your chance of admission drops to just 43%. But if you raise your score to 26, your chance of admission goes up to 75%- that's a really good chance of admission!And the higher your score gets, the more certain you are to get in. In short, improving your ACT Reading score will bump up your average composite score.And improving your ACT composite score, even by just 5 points, can make a huge difference in your chances of getting into your target colleges. For the Reading section, this is especially true if you want to apply to humanities majors and programs, such as English or communications. They expect you to have a strong Reading score. If you have a low one, they'll doubt your ability to do college-level humanities work. Even if you're a math superstar and are applying to a science major, schools still need to know that you can process difficult texts at a college level. A low Reading score will cast huge doubt on you. It's really worth your time to improve your ACT score. Hour for hour,it's the best thing you can do to raise your chance of getting into college. Curious what chances you have with a 26 ACTscore? Check out ourexpert college admissions guide for a 26 ACT score. Know That You Can Get a 26 ACT Score or Higher This isn't just supposed to be a vague happy-go-lucky message you see in a fortune cookie. I mean, literally, you and every other student can do this. In my job here at PrepScholar, I've worked with thousands of students scoring in the lower ranges of around 14-20. Time after time, I see students who beat themselves up over their low scores and think improving them is impossible. They often say the following: "I know I'm not smart." "I just can't read passages quickly, and I don't know how to improve my ACT Reading score." "I was never good at English, and my English teachers have never told me I did a good job." This breaks my heart. Because I know that, more than anything else, your ACTscore is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. Not your IQ and not your school grades. Not how Mr. Crandall in 10th grade gave you a C on your essay. The key point here is thatACT Reading is designed to trick you- and you need to learn how. Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you feel as though the questions are different from those you've seen in school? I bet you've had this problem: withACT Reading passages, you often miss questions because of an "unlucky guess." You try to eliminate a few answer choices, but the remaining choices all seem like they are equally likely to be correct. So you throw up your hands and randomly guess. The ACT is purposely designed this way to confuse you.Literally millions of other students have the exact same problem you do. And the ACT lovesthis. Normally, in your school's English class, your teacher tells you that all interpretations of a text are valid. You can write an essay about anything you want, and English teachers aren't usually allowed to tell you that your opinion is wrong. They can get in trouble for telling you what to think, and they feel bad about restricting your creativity. But the ACT has an entirely different problem. It's a national test, meaning it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It's even used in many states as a statewide standardized test. As a result, the test needs to be rock solid. And every question must have a single, unambiguously, 100% correct answer. There's only ever one correct answer. Find a way to eliminate three incorrect ones. Imagine if this weren't the case. Imagine that a Reading question had two answer choices, both of which might beplausibly correct. When scores come out, every single student who got the question wrong would probably complain to ACT, Inc., about the test being wrong or misleading. If this were true, ACT, Inc., would then have to throw out the question, which is a huge hassle. Have too many of these incidents, and there'd be a big scandal about the ACT failing to do its job. ACT, Inc., wants to avoid this nightmare scenario. Therefore, every single Reading passage question has only one correct answer. This is an important concept to remember. It makes your life a lot easier- all you have to do is eliminate the three wrong answer choices to get the single right one. But the ACT purposely disguises this fact to make life more difficult for you. It asks questions that are typically worded as so: It can reasonably be inferred that: Which of the following best describes: The author's contemporaries for the most part believed: Notice a pattern here? The ACT always disguises the fact that there's only one unambiguous answer. It tries to make you waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely. And then you guess randomly. And then you get it wrong. You can bet that students fall for this. Millions of times every year. Students who don't prepare for the ACT in the right way don't appreciate this. But if you prepare for the ACT in the right way, you'll learn the tricks the ACT plays on you.And you'll raise your score. The ACT Reading section is full of patterns like these. To improve your score, you just need to do the following: Learn the types of questions the ACT tests, such asthe ones above Learn strategies to solve these questionsusing skills you already know Practice with a lot of realistic questions so you learn from your mistakes The point is that you can learn these skills, even if you don't consider yourself a good reader or a great English student.I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, though, let's see how many questions you need to get right to get a 26 on Reading. What It Takes to Get a 26in ACTReading If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. Remember that we're aiming for a Reading test score of 26,out of 36. Here's the raw score to ACT Reading Score conversion table. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this guide.) Raw Scaled Raw Scaled Raw Scaled Raw Scaled 40 36 29 26 19 19 9 12 39 35 28 25 18 18 8 38 34 27 24 17 17 7 10 37 33 26 23 16 16 6 10 36 32 25 23 15 16 5 8 35 32 24 22 14 15 4 7 34 31 23 21 13 14 3 6 33 30 22 21 12 14 2 5 32 29 21 20 13 1 3 31 28 20 19 10 12 0 1 30 27 Source: Official ACT Practice Test 2017-18 Note that if you're aiming for a 26 in ACT Reading, you'll need a raw score of 29/40.This is a 72% score. This has serious implications for your testing strategy. In essence, you only need to get right about 3/4 of all Reading questions.We'll go into more detail below about what this means for your approach to this ACT section. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you'll need to get to a 26. For example, if you're scoring a 20, you'll need to answer about eight more questions correctly on ACT Reading in order to get a 26. Once again, if your goal is a 20, the same analysis applies. Just find your target raw score using the chart above. OK- so far we've covered why scoring a higher ACT Reading score is important, why you're fully capable of improving your score, and the raw score you'll need to get in order to hit your target score of 26. I hope a lot of this was useful and changed how you thought about ACTprep. Now, we'll get into the real, working strategies you should use in your ACT Reading prep. 8 Strategies to Improve Your Low ACT Reading Score In this section, we introduce our eight best strategies that are guaranteed to raise your low ACT Reading score. Strategy 1: Save Time on Reading Passages by Switching Your Reading Strategy From the thousands of students I've worked with, by far the most common problem students have with ACTReading passages is that they keep running out of time before they can get through all the questions. This is a problem because, unlike ACT Math, the passage questions aren't arranged in order of difficulty. Therefore, by not completing all the questions in time, you could miss easy questions at the end that you would have gotten right if you'd only had enough time. What's the cause of this? The most common one I see is that students are reading the passages in far more detail than they actually need to be.Once again, this is a consequence of what you learn in English class. In English, you've probably gotten (stupid) tests that quiz you about what Madame Bovarysaid in a particular scene, or what color Tom's T-shirt was. So of course you've learned to pay attention to every single detail. The ACTis different. For a passage that's 90 lines long, there will be only 10 questions. Many of these don't even refer to specific lines- they talk about the point of the passage as a whole,or the tone of the author. The number of questions that focus on small, line-by-line details is low. Therefore, it's a waste of time to read a passage line by line, afraid that you'll miss a detail they'll ask you about. The best way to read a passage: skimming it on the first read-through. This is why I recommend thatall students try this ACT Reading passage strategy: Skim the passage on the first read-through. Don't try to understand every single lineor write notes predicting what the questions will be. Just get a general understanding of the passage. You want to finish reading the passage within three minutes, if possible. Next, go to the questions. If the question refers to a line number, go back to that line and try to make sense of the text around it. If you can't answer a question within 30 seconds, skip it. (More on this strategy later.) These steps are important because Reading questions ask about far fewer lines than the passage actually contains. For example, lines 5-20 of a passage might not be relevant to any question that follows. Therefore, if you spend time trying to deeply understand lines 5-20, you’ll be wasting time you could've spent elsewhere. Some students take this strategy to the extreme by reading the questionsbefore the passage. If a question refers to any specific line or lines, they mark those in the passage. This then gives them a guide to focus on important lines when they actually start to read the passage. Different strategies work for different students. You need to try out different ones so you can see which one gives you the best results. But by and large, I'm confident that you're spending way too much time reading the passage. Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate the 3 Wrong Answers I talked above about how the ACT always has one unambiguously correct answer. This has a huge implication for the strategy you should use to find the right ACT Reading answer. Here's the other way to see it: out of the four answer choices, three of them have something that is totally wrong about them.Only one answer is 100% correct, which means the other three are 100% wrong. You know how you try to eliminate answer choices and then end up with a few at the end that all seem equally likely to be correct? You're not doing a good enough job of eliminating answer choices. Remember- every single wrong choice can be crossed out for its own reasons. You have to learn how to eliminate three answer choices for every single Reading question. "Great, Allen. But this doesn't tell me anything about how to eliminate wrong answer choices." Thanks for asking. There are a few classic wrong answer choices the ACTloves to use. Here's an example: Imagine you just read a passage focusing on how human evolution shaped the environment. It offers a few examples. First, it talks about how the transition from earlier species such asHomo habilus to neanderthals led to more tool usage like fire, which caused wildfires and thus shaped the ecology. It then talks about Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago and their overhunting of certain species, such as the woolly mammoth, to extinction. Sounds like a plausible passage, right? It fits into that weird style of ACT Reading passages that's oddly specific about a topic you've likely never thought deeply about before. We then run into a question asking, "Which of the following best describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are our possible answer choices: A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals B: The study of evolution C: How the environment shaped human evolution D: The plausibility of evolution E: The influence of human development on ecology (Note that we're using five answer choices for illustration even though the ACT only has four.) As you're reading these answer choices, a few of them probably started sounding really plausible to you. Surprise! Each of the answers from A-D has something seriously wrong with it. Each one is a classic example of a wrong answer type given by the ACT. Let's look at how we can tell these are incorrect. Wrong Answer 1 (A): Too Specific A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It’s meant to trick you because you might think to yourself, "Well, I see this was mentioned in the passage, so it’s a plausible answer choice." Wrong! Think to yourself: can this answer choice really describe the entire passage? Can it basically function as the title of this passage? In this case, you’ll find that A is just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage. Wrong Answer 2 (B): Too Broad B: The study of evolution This type of wrong answer has the opposite problem than the one above- it’s way too broad. Yes, theoretically the passage is about the study of evolution, but only one aspect of it (human evolution) and particularly as it relates to its impact on the environment. To give another crazy example- let's say you talked to your friend about losing your cell phone. He saysthe main point of your conversation was the universe. Well, while you were talking about the universe in some form (you're part of the universe just like everyone else is!), this was actually only a tiny, tiny fraction of your conversation. Just the same, answer choice Bis far too general. Wrong Answer 3 (C): Reversed Relationship C: How the environment shaped human evolution This wrong answer choice can be tricky because it mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between those words needs to be correct as well. Here, the relationship is flipped.The passage is about how humans affected the environment- not the reverse. Students who read too quickly make careless mistakes much like these because all the words sound right at a glance! Wrong Answer 4 (D): Unrelated Concept D: The plausibility of evolution Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on the tendency of students to overthink the question. If you’re passionate about arguing about evolution in your personal life, this might be a trigger answer since any discussion of evolution becomes a chance to argue about its plausibility. Of course, althoughthis concept appears nowhere in the passage,some students just won’t be able to resist choosing answer choice D. Do you see the point? On the surface, each of the answer choices sounds possibly correct. But possibly isn't good enough. The right answer needs to be 100%, totally right. Wrong answers might be off by even one word- and you need to eliminate those. Carry this thought into every ACT Reading passage question you do. Next strategy: find your weak links and fix them. Strategy 3:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them ACT Reading passage questions might look similar, but they actually test very different skills. At PrepScholar, we've categorized the major passage skills as follows: Big Picture/Main Point Little Picture/Detail Vocabulary in Context Inferences Author Function That's a good number ofskills! More than is obvious when you're reading a passage on the test. Each of these question types uses different skills in regard to how you read and analyze the passage.They each require a different method of prep and focused practice. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in Reading than you are at others. You might be better at getting the big picture of a passage compared to an inference. Or you might be really strong at understanding the author's tone but not so strong at figuring out the meaning of a phrase in context. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. You have a lot of homework, you have extracurriculars (for example, maybe you're an athlete or a member in your school band), and you have friends to hang out with. This means that for every hour you study for the ACT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the "dumb" way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're shocked. I'm not. Studying effectively for the ACTisn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover all your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was this: they wasted their time on subjects they already knew and didn't spend enough time on their weaknesses. Studying effectively for the ACT is like plugging up holes in a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole and fill it. You then need to find the next biggest hole and fix that, too. Soon you'll see that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to ACT Reading? You need to find the sub-skills you're weakest in and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fixing up the biggest holes. With ACT Reading, you need to figure out whether you have patterns in your mistakes. Are you consistently running out of time on reading passages? Having trouble with Inference questions? Really struggling with interpreting details? For every question you miss, you must identify what type of question it is. Once you notice patterns in the questions you miss, you need to practice this sub-skill extra hard. Say you miss a lot of inference questions (this is typically the hardest type of question for students to get). Your goal is to find a way to get focused practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes and improve. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACTprep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills - in Reading, English, Math, and Science. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 4: Only Use High-Quality ACT Reading Sources ACT Reading passages are very specific in how they work. ACT Reading questions, too, are very specifically phrased and constructed to have bait answers. If you want to improve your Reading score, you have to use realistic ACT Reading sources.If you don't, you'll develop bad habits and end up training the wrong skills. Think about it like this: let's say you're trying out for a baseball team. Instead of practicing with real baseballs, you decide to practice with Wiffle balls instead.It's a lot cheaper and easier, and hitting the ball makes you feel good. So you train and train and train with a Wiffle ball. You understand how the Wiffle ball curves when it's thrown, how to hit it, and how to throw it. Finally, you try out for the baseball team. A pitch comes, but it's way faster than you've ever practiced with before. It doesn't curve like a Wiffle ball does. Swing, and a miss. You've trained with the wrong thing, and now you're totally unprepared for baseball. This is not real baseball. ACT Reading works in the exact same way. Train on badly written tests, and you'll develop poor habits and unhelpful strategies. The very best sources for ACTReading passages areofficial ACT practice tests.This is why we include official practice testsin our ACT prep program- we can gauge your progress and train you on the real thing. Unfortunately, there's a limited number of official practice tests: five free PDFs online, and five in the old third edition of theofficial ACT prep guide(the newest edition includes three practice tests, but these overlap significantly with the free ones online). Thus, to have enough questions to practice on, you'll need to find other sources of questions. The first suggestion is to use prep resources customized for the ACT.Be careful, though- most companies release poor quality passages and questions (most books you see on ACT Reading are pretty terrible, frankly). This is especially harmful for ACT Reading because the style of passages and what questions ask are complex, as opposed to ACT Math which is more straightforward. To write realistic questions, you need to understand the test inside and out. That's why at PrepScholar, we've created what I believe are the highest quality Reading questions available anywhere. This is what we've done: We've deconstructed every available official ACT practice test, question by question, answer choice by answer choice. We've statistically studied every question type on the test, and we understand exactly how questions are phrased and how wrong answer choices are constructed. As head of product, I'm responsible for content quality. I hire only the most qualified content writers to craft our test content. This means people who got perfect scores on the ACT, who have hundreds of hours of ACT teaching experience, and who graduated from Ivy League schools. This results in the most realistic, highest quality ACT Reading questions. Even if you don't use PrepScholar, you should be confident that whatever resource you do use undergoes the same scrutiny as we use.If you're not sure, or you see reviews saying otherwise, it's best to avoid it. For more tips on what ACT resources to use,learn what my favorite ACT Reading books are. Strategy 5:Don't Focus On Vocab Vocab gets way too much attention from students. It feels good to study vocab flashcards because it seems like you're making progress. "I studied 1,000 vocab words- this must mean I improved my score!" This is why other test prep programs love teaching you vocab- you feel as though you're learning something and it's worth your money. But the truth is, learning vocab doesn't really help you. Fortunately, vocab doesn't play more than a minor role in your ACT Reading score. This has always been less of a problem for the ACT than the SAT, which used to feature vocab-heavy Sentence Completion questions. Thankfully, the SAT removed these questions in 2016. But still, a lot of students look for ACT vocab lists to study with, and it's just not a good use of time. The only real questions you'll need to use vocab skills for are the Vocab in Context questions. Here's an example of one from an official ACT practice test: As it is used in line 13, the word popular most nearly means:A)well likedB)commonly knownC)scientifically acceptedD)most admired Wait- "popular"? They're asking a question about the word "popular"? Yes, it's a common word, but the key to this question is understanding how it's used in context.Popular can mean all the things listed in the answer choices, but only one of them is actually correct in this case. Here's the source sentence: It includes the area known in popular legend as the Bermuda Triangle. In this case, popular is used to describe a legend that's well known, so answer choice B is the best choice. Here are examples of words you'll need to understand in context on the ACT: adopted concentrated humor nostalgia read something These are all reasonable words you've probably heard before. The trick to these questions is to actually understand how the word is used in the passage- not to focus on what you think it means. So don't waste too much of your time studying vocab, and think twice before you're convinced by someone that it's a good use of your ACT prep time. Don't spend a lot of time studying vocab- most likely, it's not the best use of your time. This time is far better spent learning how to deal with Reading passages better.There are so many more questions about passages that it's a better use of your time to learn passage strategies and how to answer Reading questions. Strategy 6:Skip the Most Difficult, Time-Consuming Questions Here's an easy strategy most students don't do enough. Remember what I said above about raw scores? To score a 26, you only need a raw score of about 29 (that's 29 correct answers out of a total of 40 Reading questions). This varies from test to test, but it's pretty consistent in general. What does this mean?You can completely guess on 15 questions, get four of them right by chance, and still score a 26 on Reading. Once again, you can completely guess on almost 40% of all questions and still hit your goal! Skip questions carefree like this woman. Why is this such a powerful strategy? It gives you way more time on easy and medium difficulty questions- the questions you have a good chance of getting right. If you're usually pressed for time on the ACT Reading section, this will be a huge help. Here's an example: on the Reading section, you get 35 minutes to answer 40 questions. This is usually pretty hard for most students to get through- it's just 52 seconds to answer each question, including the time it takes to read each passage. The average student will try to push through all the questions. "I've got to get through them all since I've got a shot at getting each question right," they think. Along the way, they'll probably rush and make careless mistakes on questions they should have gotten right. And then they spend five minutes on really hard questions, making no progress and wasting time. Wrong approach. Here's what I suggest instead. Tryeach question but skip it if you're not getting anywhere after 30 seconds.Unlike math, the Reading passage questions aren't ordered in difficulty, so you can't tell right away which questions are harder or easier. You need to try each one but then skip it if it's costing you too much time. By doing this, you can raise your time per easy/medium question to 100 seconds per question or more. This is huge! It's a 100% boost to the time you get per question.As a result, this significantly raises your chances of getting easy/medium questions right. And the questions you skipped? They're so hard you're honestly better off not even trying them. These questions are meant for 30-36scorers. If you get to 26, then you have the right to try these questions- but not before you get to 26. How do you tell which questions are going to take you the most time?This varies from person to person, but here are a few common question types: Questions without a line number that make you hunt for a detail: You'll spend a lot of time rereading the passage looking for a certain detail if you can't remember where it was originally mentioned. "EXCEPT" questions: These are specifically designed to waste your time. They'll ask something like, "The author mentions all of these details EXCEPT: ... " and your job is to find which three are mentioned and which one isn't. Inference questions that ask you what the author most likely meant: These are usually quite difficult because they take multiple steps to solve: (1) What did the author explicitlysay in the passage? and (2) What does the author most likely mean? But don't just take my word for it. You need to figure out your own weaknesses after doing a lot of practice. They might not be the same question types as the ones above. Approach your Reading prep with this in mind. If you notice yourself getting stuck on a question, pay attention to what type of question it is and see whether there's a pattern. For example, do you always get stuck on that particular question type? Strategy 7: Understand All Your Reading Mistakes Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason. If you don't understand exactly why you missed a question, you'll make that mistake over and over again. Think about it like learning how to cook. The first time you learn to chop vegetables, you might cut your finger accidentally. Ouch- that hurts. But you quickly learn from your mistakes- you start to keep your fingers away from the knife and hold the knife differently. After all, if you don't learn from your mistake, you'll keep cutting your finger over and over again. Why would you treat ACT prep any differently? Too many students scoring at the 18-24 level refuse to study their mistakes. It's not fun.I get it. It sucks to stare your mistakes in the face. It's draining to learn skills you're not good at. So the average student will skip reviewing their mistakes and instead focus on areas they're already comfortable with. It's like cozying up with a warm blanket. Their thinking goes like this: "So I'm good at Big Picture questions? I should do more Big Picture problems! They make me feel good about myself." The result? No score improvement. You don't want to be like these students. So here'swhat you need to do instead: On every practice test or question set you take, mark every question that you're even just 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every question you marked and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you can do to avoid making this mistake in the future. Have separate sections by subject and sub-topic (e.g., Big Picture, Little Picture, Inference, etc.). It's not enough to just think about it and move on, or to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. For Reading Passage questions, you must find a way to eliminate every incorrect answer. If you were stuck between two answer choices, review your work to figure out why you couldn't eliminate the wrong answer choice. If you don't do this, I guarantee you will not make progress. But if you do take this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflections on why you might've missed them. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Strategy 8: Guess on EveryQuestion You Don't Know You probably already know this one but if you don't, you're about to earn some serious points. The ACT has no guessing penalty. This means you have no reason not to guess and fill up every blank on your answer sheet. So before you finish the Reading section,make sure every blank question has an answer filled in.When you look at your answer sheet, you shouldn't see any blank questions. For every question you're unsure about, make sure you guess as best you can.If you can eliminate even just one answer choice, this gives you a much better shot at getting it right- from 25% to 33%. If you have no idea, just guess! You still have a 25% chance of getting it right, after all. Most people know this strategy already, so if you don't do this, you're at a serious disadvantage. Here's a bubbling tip that will save you a few minutes per section. When I first started taking tests in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. This was my pattern: finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This approach actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks: solving questions and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, and then bubble all of them in at once at the end. This has a couple of huge advantages: You focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just five seconds per question, you get back three minutes and 20 seconds on the Reading section. This is huge! These extra secondscan buy you time to solve three more questions, which will dramatically improve your score. Be very careful, though, as you do not want to run out of time before you've bubbled in all your answers. Definitely make sure you bubble in your answers to that point with at least 10 minutes remaining. If the proctor calls time and you haven't bubbled in any answers yet, you're going to get a 1 on Reading! Overview: How to Raise Your Low ACT Reading Score These are the eight main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT Reading score. If you're scoring 12, you can improve it to 18.If you're scoring 20, you can boost it to 26.I guarantee you'll get a score increase, as long as you put in the right amount of work and study using the tips I've given you above. The main point is this: you need to understand where you're falling short and constantly drill those weaknesses. You also need to be thoughtful about your mistakes- in other words, don't ignore any of them. This is really important to your future. Make sure you give ACT prep the attention it deserves- before it's too late and you get a rejection letter you didn't want. If you want to go back and review any of the strategies, here's a quick listing: Strategy 1: Save Time on Reading Passages by Switching Your Reading Strategy Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate the 3 Wrong Answers Strategy 3:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Strategy 4: Only Use High-Quality ACT Reading Sources Strategy 5:Don't Focus On Vocab Strategy 6:Skip the Most Difficult, Time-Consuming Questions Strategy 7:Understand All Your Reading Mistakes Strategy 8: Guess on EveryQuestion You Don't Know What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides you can use to raise your ACT score. For ACT Reading, learn the#1 fundamental, most important strategy.It's an expansion of one of the strategies in this guide and certain to raise your score. Curious how to prep to get a perfect ACT Reading score? Read our in-depth guide to getting a perfect 36 on the Reading sectionfor our best tips. What's a good ACT score for you? Figure out your ACT target score todayusing our step-by-step guide. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

1. The war on terror is more important than the war on poverty Essay

1. The war on terror is more important than the war on poverty. Discuss - Essay Example Appendix A shows a table of the cost of various war events. This essay analyzes the impact the current war on terror has on the worldwide battle against hunger. The official data the war between the United States and its allies commence was after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers in which two commercial airplanes were used as missiles by suicidal bombers who took hostile all the civilians abort these aircrafts. Thousands of people lost their lives and the top financial epicenter in the world was shutdown causing chaos. The airline transportation and energy industry were hit hard as well as the entire global economy since it entered into disequilibrium. The efforts of the developed nation that today compose G8 were not doing enough to battle world hunger prior to the war, after the start on Terror the battle against hunger became even less important to the developed world and huge amounts of funds were diverted for war related activities. Around the world there are many places in which its inhabitants simply do not have anything to eat and suffer from malnutrition to the level that people are dying on hunger which is why the existence of this atrocity and the efforts to combat it is called the war on hunger. In the southern part of Africa below the Sahara there are over 33 million children living in malnutrition in a sub-human standard of living; in 2006 five million children in Africa died from malnutrition a figure that represents 40% of the deaths worldwide (Country Insight, 2007). Society has to stop this immediately and bring a resolution to end this war in order to ensure everyone on earth has a plate of food on the table. Other regions that are suffering the victims of the battle against hunger are the overpopulated country of India, the Middle East region and Latin America. The war of poverty requires trillions of dollars as well a plan to develop the economies of these nation for them

Trends in Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Trends in Terrorism - Essay Example Tsunamis, hurricanes, and typhoons are just a few natural disasters that mankind faces from time to time (Kapur & Smith, 2010). It is up to different individuals to set the stage for some of them to be tackled. This paper will examine one such disaster, and some of the communication problems agencies might have faced when it came down to handling the situation. Hurricane Katrina, to some, may have been the worst hurricane to ever hit the Atlantic. It is estimated to have killed over 1, 800 people, and the damage assessed to over 80 billion U.S dollars. Communication failure might have worked to increase the damage in terms of lives lost and the property destroyed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director at the time was forced to resign because of the actions or lack of actions, to warn of the failure of the levee system to drain the flood water. The New Orleans Police Department also had to let go of the Superintendent after investigations were conducted into the fail ure of the levee system in the area (Milakovich & Gordon, 2011). Accurate weather tracking were provided by the U.S Coast Guard and the National Hurricane Center. However, none of these agencies were provided with sufficient knowledge about the levee system in the areas affected, and there was no way the citizens in the area could have automatically known of their fate. During the impact of Katrina, a lot of areas needed health information. Unfortunately, as the devastation of the hurricane continued, it was crucial for the agencies present to change their strategies to those of drown prevention and protection against electrical threats (Izard & Perkins, 2011). The fire departments in some of the states affected were destroyed completely, making the rescue efforts harder for the local agencies and some of the personnel to reach the affected areas. Communication became a problem due to the loss of information centers in these regions. There were reports of department personnel from s ome of the agencies abandoning their posts during the storm. There would have been no definite channel of communication between the different departments and agencies that were present during the evacuation and rescue operations. The destroyed communication infrastructure disabled rescue attempts as there could no longer be any coordination of response teams. There could be no access to the police and fire dispatch centers present in the affected areas, and no public safety radio system was able to operate adequately. In one incident, a senior state official was reported as saying there was no channel of communication and people were writing messages on paper, putting them in bottles, and throwing them in the water for people on the ground (Milakovich & Gordon, 2011). The inadequacy and inefficiency of response teams had consequences on the lives and property of the individuals in the affected areas. The economic, social, and even political scene was changing as people were quick to point fingers in every direction. In terms of repairs for some of the damages, the administration at the time sought for over $100 billion to start some of the repairs. Land was destroyed in the aftermath of Katrina, for example in Mississippi; acres of forest land were destroyed. The redistribution of people changed the social scene drastically

Women with guns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women with guns - Essay Example The reason that this happens is because these woman are defenseless at late night time, and they do not carry a gun at times when they need to protect themselves. If women knew how to use a gun for the purposes of self-protection, there would be fewer rapes and murders and also women would not be victimized as much. There are many single mothers raising children who sometimes feel defenseless in their own home, especially if they don’t have a male figure to protect them. Single mothers should keep a firearm safely concealeden in their homes in order to protect their young families. The reason for this is that many women are unable to defend themselves from large more, aggressive predator who tries to break in their house to rob or hurt them or their children. Most single mothers have no greater responsibility than to take care of themselves and those they love the most: their children. By allowing women to keep guns in their homes, it would ensure that their households are safe and everyone is protected. Finally, women should carry firearms for their own self-independence. The reason that a woman should carry a gun for self-independence is because they should not have to feel weak and afraid. Allowing a woman to carry a gun will make her feel safe and not afraid of what may be lurking around the next dark corner when they’re on their way home late at night. A woman should never have to feel as if they need a man for protection, so letting women have firearms gives them self-independence and prevents them from being victimized in the future. When a woman has the power of a gun, that she has a gun she has a lower chance of becoming victimized. There are many reasons why a woman should carry a firearm, but the reality is that women are still being victimized. because its the There is a perception and reality that not enough women are carrying

How are bodies socially constructed

How are bodies socially constructed It is crucial to gain an understanding of what social construction is, in order to assess its influence on human bodies. However it is difficult to operationalise social construction in literal terms. Social construction encompasses a multitude of elements, Hacking (2002) notes, social construction is a kettle of many very different kinds of fish. Typically however, social construction is concerned with the ways in which society has conceptualised ideals and expectations, looking at this in relation to specific areas of sociological interest. For sociologist when looking at the body their main concern is with the process of transforming a biological entity through social action Chris Shilling (2003). Members of a society construct their bodies in ways that comply with their gender status and accepted notions of masculinity and femininity. That is, they try to shape and use their bodies to conform to their cultures or racial ethnic groups expectations. (Lorber and Martin 2005) This essay will look at the ways in which the body is a social construction, with particular focus on the extent in which individuals in society are willing to perform to socially constructed ideals. It is important to recognise that social construction of the body is a global phenomenon; however this essay will look at westernised social construction of the body in particular. By looking primarily at the social construction of femininity, a subject which has typically been theorised extensively when looking at the body, an attempt will then be made to look at the social construction of masculinities and the aging body, in relation to the complex role that societys expectations have to play. The body is often seen as something which is straightforwardly biological, natural and given. (Macionis and Plummer, 2005). Unsurprisingly different types of bodies can be seen in terms of shapes, sizes and physical build; however there is an increasing notion of what aesthetically is socially acceptable, with women in the media industry in particular being promoted in a certain way. In affluent Western societies, slenderness is generally associated with happiness, success, youthfulness and social acceptability (Grogan, 1999). This notion could be said to have largely contributed to the fact that, increasingly, women are dissatisfied with their bodies. For Grogan (1999), media, as an industry, depicts the ideology that slenderness is preferred. This factor no doubt, has impacted the rise in eating disorders and womens willingness to have cosmetic surgery in modern times, in order to fit such ideals of slenderness which are conceptualised in magazines and television programmes. In wes tern culture dieting, breast enhancement and face-lifts are ways that women have changed their appearance to fit ideals of feminine beauty (Kivisto, 2005) Grimlin (2000) looks negatively at the role of cosmetic surgery, as a multi-million pound industry, with the notion that womens bodies are treated as commodities, Cosmetic surgery stands, for many theorists and social critics, as the ultimate symbol of invasion of the human body for the sake of physical beauty.'(Grimlin 2000). This view could be criticized, in the idea that many women who choose to have surgery, rather than to fit in with social constructions and therefore demands of society, do so in order to express their own personal individualism and identity, perhaps advocating their rights of freedom to adapt their own body if it pleases them to do so. Featherstone and Turner (2001) note Bodies have become the ultimate vehicle for writing ones identity.; this looks at anything from the clothes and makeup an individual wears, to self decoration through tattoos, piercings and cosmetic surgery. It is questionable to what extent women self decorate in order to fit the stereotypical views of social expectations of what is beautiful, or to oppose these views of conventional attractiveness, both however implicitly relate to the body as a social construction, either in a way that conforms to, or rebels against ideas of socially constructed beauty. Sexuality is closely linked with that of the female body, with socially constructed expectations of sexual femininity, Women are expected to be nuturant and emotionally giving, willing to subordinate their own desires to please men and their own interests to take care of children, Therefore womens bodies should be yielding and sexually appealing to men when they are young and plumpy maternal when they are older. (Kivisto 2005). This mass of generalizations, and assumptions, (that women are heterosexual, that all women want children, that women will forget about their own pleasures to please men), highlights the typical socially constructed views of western culture. It is therefore important to notice a change in womens sexual role through feminist ideas which reflect a modernized culture, with a new type of woman emerging in the 21st century. Through promoting sexual autonomy, feminists attempt to, advocate womens control of their sexuality and reproduction. (Macionis and Plummer 200 5), making their bodies less socially constructed to please male expectation. It is interesting to look at the social construction of the body in relation to the process of aging, as commonly, especially in traditional thesis, the bodily aging process has been referred to as a biological one, without consideration of its social relevance, Popular stereotypes about old people, usually centered around the inevitability of old age and its manifestation as physical decrepitude from which culture irrelevance could be inferred. Old age was therefore out-side the social because it was an essentially biological process. (Tulle-Winton 2000). With this in mind, Christopher A. Faircloth (2003) looks explicitly at the social construction of the aging process on peoples bodies. Reinserting that older bodily images are ones which are to be looked at with equal importance to younger women. Faircloth (2003), gives a detailed examination of the sexual attractiveness of older aged women (than that which is traditionally conceptualised in the media), concluding that there need to be seen as sexually attractive is still of extreme significance. Faircloth looks at the visual representations of older women through the realms of film and photography for example, with specific reference to a loss of sexuality in the representation of the older generation in society. Similarly Itzin (1986) states, Rarely are women portrayed as capable and independent, never as sexually attractive, (with the word women in this case, referring specifically to that of older women). Itzin notes that societies construction of what is sexually attractive is r arely looked at in relation to that of the older generation. When looking at the social constructions of femininity and the aging process, it can be seen that menopause is often reflected which considerable negativity, with the term being one which has connotations of a loss of sexuality and the idea that a noticeable change on the youthfulness of a womens body can be seen. These socially constructed misconceptions, suggest that the menopause directly affects a womens body, creating wrinkles and bodily sagging, which biologically is not the case (Winterich 2003). In a bid to maintain the socially constructed body which is considered attractive, characteristically one of youthfulness, merchandise, such as hair colouring products, anti-wrinkle creams and an increased number cosmetic surgeries can be seen to be endorsed by the older generation, (Craig Thompson 1995). Traditionally much theoretical focus on the social constructions of body, has been on that of femininity; however the social constructions of masculinity can be considered similarly, western societies expect men to be aggressive initiators of action and protectors of women and children, therefore their bodies should be muscular and physically strong, increasingly Men life weights, get hair transplants, and undergo cosmetic surgery to mould their bodies and faces to a masculine ideal (Kivisto 2005) This observation of men in the 21st century shows masculinity of the body to be concerned with that of aesthetic pride in a similar way to women, however there is less pressure on the male community to fit the mould of these constructed ideals. A modernised new man is also represented to fit the ideas of social construction, with the coinage of the phrase heterosexual male to highlight the increased notion of male grooming as acceptable in society. Inevitably this essay only looks at a small spectrum of the features that contribute to the body as a social construction, however a lot can be seen on how the body is effected by the views of society, a body which conclusively is not only biologically constructed but also socially.