Wednesday, November 27, 2019

disorders essays

disorders essays Causes, Symptoms, Complications and Treatments for the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa. Eating disorders are devastating behavioral maladies brought on by a complex interplay of factors, which may include emotional and personality disorder, family pressure, a possible genetic or biological susceptibility and a culture in which there is an over abundance of food and an obsession with thinness. Eating disorders are generally characterized as bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and eating disorders not other wise specified. According to the World of Psychology anorexia is defined as " an eating disorder characterized by an overwhelming, irrational fear of being fat, compulsive dieting to the point of self starvation and excessive weight loss."(World of Psychology Page 317). There are some causes, symptoms, complications and treatment of anorexia nervosa. There is no single cause for the eating disorder anorexia but a number of factors including emotional disorders and cultural influences. Researchers have shown that emotional disorders such as depression collaborate in causing anorexia nervosa. This is because most anorexic patients have been found to have abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters particularly serotonin, that are associated with depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. According to a research conducted by Dr. John .E. Godine of Harvard Medical School " studies are finding that low blood levels of amino acid tryptophan, a component in food that is essential to the production of serotonin, can produce depression and may also contribute to anorexia nervosa" (Psychology Today Page 17, May 97). Researches have also shown that changes in seasons affects both depression and eating disorders and also that onset of anorexia appears to peak in May, which is also a peak month for suicide. Anxiety disorde rs are also very common with anorexia. Phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) usu...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Intro to Creating Realistic Photo Textures in Games

Intro to Creating Realistic Photo Textures in Games One of the major challenges of current and next-generation game development is the creation of the massive number of art resources required to create an immersive game world. Character, environment, and other supporting models must be created, and levels must be shelled out and populated with those models. But while you may have a functionally-playable game at that point (with the addition of a tremendous amount of other programming and resource work), you are lacking color, depth, and physical texture in your world. Taking a game from a gray box prototype to a completed game, suitable for public viewing, requires a lot of work for artists to create textures and materials to give the game the feeling of being in the world youve created. Weve touched on this briefly in previous tutorials: The basic concepts of UV mappingApplying and painting textures for a modelManually editing UV map coordinatesCylindrical maps and dealing with seamsIntermediate-level UV mapping techniques In those exercises, we used simple example maps that were hand-painted, but not designed for production work, nor realism. In this series, were going to show you how to make realistic photo textures for your own games, and do so on a reasonable budget. The results you can achieve with a small amount of work may surprise you. Lets get started. There are three primary ways to create photorealistic textures for games. Photo reference/Hand painting. These are the original two techniques for creating game textures. This is the simple process of creating a bitmapped image for use in a game, whether created completely from scratch using a paint application, or converting a photo into a game-ready format. (Both of these techniques are not necessarily simple in actual practice, as youll see later in this article.) This can be very quick, or moderately time-consuming, depending on what sort of results you desire, and how much work youre willing to put in.Procedurally-created. This method relies on algorithms and pre-defined inputs (either photo or completely synthetic) to create tileable/seamless pattern materials. Tiled materials allow you to use a single, highly-detailed texture to apply to a large surface in the game world, and have it repeat along the entire object, without obvious seams where one instance ends and the next begins. This is potentially the most efficient way to create good materials f or your game, however, most procedurally-created materials are quite clearly computer-generated-although the algorithms are improving all the time. Used wisely, however, they can be a tremendous time-saver for areas of your game which dont need to stand up to close scrutiny. High-poly to low-poly model and texture conversion. This is the most labor-intensive of the three options. This is frequently used for high-detail character models, or environment art that will be seen at close range (for example, walls that the character shelters behind in a first-person shooter). To perform this technique, an artist creates an extremely-high polygon model, far greater than the game engine is capable of handling in realtime, and then uses software techniques to bake textures onto a lower-polygon version of the same model. This transfers the surface detail from three-dimensional polygon data into a painted texture on the lower-poly model. This may include normal, bump, displacement, specular highlight, ambient occlusion, and other map types to further create the illusion that the low-poly model has more detail than it does in reality. As you can imagine, the labor required to perform this process is extremely time and cost-prohibitive. The results can be spectacular, but you need to carefully assess whether this is necessary for your project. Most AAA games that are currently on the market for consoles use a combination of all three of these methods. You need to determine what is best suited for your project. If you are creating a more stylized game, hand-painted textures may be the way to go. If youre making a military first-person shooter, you are likely to use a lot of photo-based textures and high-poly models converted down with normal maps for maximum scene detail.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The End of Ramstable Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

The End of Ramstable - Essay Example The proposed project entitled â€Å"The End of Ramstable† is aimed to mark the end of the old Ramstable theatre with festivity and entertainment that embodied the theatre in its 120 years of existence. The Ramstable Festival Week beginning on August 20 until August 26, 2012 shall be a festivity of Ramstable’s heritage of giving entertainment and delight among its countless patrons for 120 years through music, plays and community engagement. While the proponent intends to make the Festival Week as memorable and as grand as possible, the proponents will not lose sight of the importance of making the endeavour economically viable that will enable the Festival to be successful. There are three aspects of the entertainment component of the project. One of these is Ramstable’s reaffirmation of its commitment to Ramstable community which is its host and patron. To serve this end, one of the highlights of the Festivity Week is the hosting of the Ramstable Theatre to the Finale of the various school’s rendition of â€Å"What the Dickens† to commemorate the 200th birth anniversary of famous Kentish author Charles Dickens. In addition to Ramstable support to the academe, the theatre will also show its commitment to the community by hosting the talent contest â€Å"Ramstable Got Talent† which will run from August 21 to 25 of 2012. Ramstable will commemorate its 120 years of heritage by showing theatre performances in the evening of August 21 to 26 through music and various performances that stretches back in time up to the present. The performances are also designed to include the theatre interest of Ramstable community as the shows will cater to children, parents, men, women, teenager through the careful selection of the artists and genre that will be performed. The artists chosen to perform during the evenings of August 21 to 25 are popular mainstream artists who are proven to provide entertainment of high calibre. Their talent f ees may be hefty but through careful planning and implementation of creative marketing implements, the shows will not only prove to be economically viable but profitable as well. The project proponents believe that Ramstable Theatre has earned enough goodwill through its 120 years of providing entertainment among its countless patrons that will merit its patrons to sponsor the shows. Such, the proponents will capitalise on this goodwill to ensure the viability and profitability of the Festival despite it being intended to be grand. The Festival Week’s viability and profitability can be achieved in two ways. First is through the traditional revenue derived from the ticket sales. Revenue can also be generated by expanding marketing activity through sponsorships and selling of refreshments during the show. Securing sponsors for the show is very doable because the Theatre had enough goodwill from

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Adaptive Culture and Cultural Artifacts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Adaptive Culture and Cultural Artifacts - Essay Example While the organization needed to know every accurate detail about its stakeholders, the latter also needed to provide an honest and realistic output of needs or wants that are to be fulfilled. In other words, information is the framework of those mentioned requisites; its timing and accuracy significantly determine the capability of the organization to process and integrate it with the organizational processes and practices. Moreover, all other aspects that serve to shape an organizational culture has to be taken into consideration -- its level of impact on organizational culture should determine its ability to be incorporated in the whole adaptive culture-framework. While in general, these aspects are conveniently referred to as processes and practices, in specific it includes policies, competencies, reinforced norms, et cetera. A more binding reinforcement for an organization aspiring an adaptive culture is the top management’s commitment. Additionally, the organization†™s people should be tirelessly reminded of the purpose of such adaptive culture. Both commitment and purpose are consistent ‘reinforcers’ of any desired organizational culture, and adaptive culture is no exception. I think that our organization has a relatively strong culture. First, because everybody knows what and who we do for; more than just profit or bonuses, we serve people. Every business unit, whether directly or indirectly involved, recognized its part in the whole value chain. In other words, each of us, from top to the bottom level, could identify ourselves in the organization’s collective mantra. Moreover, this recognition is reinforced through the individual integration of our own task to the company’s core task. Second, our Human Resource Recruitment filters the entrant workers; they make sure that the individual’s goals are well aligned or approximately paralleled with the company’s. Moreover, the HR people look at the

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Crime of Stalking Essay -- Crime Stalking Stalk Harassment Essays

The Crime of Stalking Stalking has been around since the beginning of time. Men and women alike have been accused of such a crime cause they either can't get it out of their head that the other person does not want to have anything to do with them, or they are just obsessed with a stranger. It is just recent that they United States Government have decided to make stalking a crime in it self. This type of crime was labeled as harassment, annoyance, or domestic violence. It wasn?t until the 80's and 90's that stalking cases were brought to the attention of the media and high political policy makers. I suppose that I should inform you as to the legal definition of stalking before I go any further with this paper. There really is no one definition, each state has the right to put down on paper their own definition of what they this is stalking. Most states will agree that stalking is a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment or another individual that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested. Basically this is saying that in order for there to be stalking, a person need to feel like their life is in danger, they are unable to lead a normal life cause of another person that won?t leave them alone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are three main types of stalkers. The first one is the simple obsession type. This is probably the most common one consisting of 70 to 80 percent of all stalking cases. Most of these were brought on when a relationship of some type was terminated. This could have been a business relationship, neighbor, customer, dating or even a lover. These people are also seen as the most dangerous. In cases where the two people were dating or lovers, they become obsessed with getting the relationship back, not with the sexual aspect. This type of stalker has a low self-esteem and feels that their partner is the only positive thing in their life. They fear losing this person, for they become dependant on them for their support and sense of achievement. They literally feel that without this person being an active and positive part in their life that they are worthless. They do not realize that they are driving the person further from them, they think that they a... ...  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Expecting police to solve your problem and hope it goes away 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taking adequate privacy and safety precautions 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Neglecting to enlist the support of family and friends. 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ignoring their emotional need before and after a stalking . This is only the top ten mistake that a victim makes. There are probably plenty others, and if a person feels like a they are a victim of stalking then they need to get some help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, stalking is not something to be taken lightly. It is a serious crime that affects thousands of people each year. Recent laws are making it safer for the victim, but there is a lot more that needs to be done, and as long as there are men and women on this earth then there is going to be stalking. Works Cited 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Heavy Hands, by: Denise Gosslin. Prentice Hall 2000. Pp. 316-326 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  National Call for Law Enforcement Stalking Protocol, by: David Anderson (6 Mar. 2000) 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Top Ten Mistakes, by: Clairity Consulting. (6 Mar. 2000) http://www.stalkingvictims.com/mistakes.html 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stalker Definition, by: Zona. (6 Mar. 2000) http://onour.com/stalking/definiti.htm

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Love is a logical Fallacy Essay

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Love is a logical fallacy. In Metamorphoses, even the god of pure reason, Apollo is ridiculed and behaves irrationally while the Phaedra of Seneca violated all norms of proper female behavior for the sake of her love. Truly, love makes people do the most illogical and impractical acts. Love is a logical fallacy because had reason intervened, the ill-fate of the characters in both works would be largely abated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In book twelve of the Metamorphoses, Priam laments Paris’ incontinence. By his rape of Helen and his rejection of Hera as the fairest goddess, Paris had effectively doomed Priam’s city of Troy. Priam, Hector and all others of Priam’s sons wept for the tragedy that would soon befall the city. Not so for Paris because he felt that his love for Helen, and the love she felt for him in return was just compensation. Such is the hubris that Paris’ love brought upon the house of Priam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hubris too drove Phaedra, who was married to Thesus to attempt to seduce her foster son Hippolytus. Many artifices and guiles will she employ through out the play but Hippolytus refuses to dishonor his father’s memory by committing incest on the queen. Phaedra will become increasingly desperate even co-opting her wet nurse to help her win over the young Hippolytus but to no avail. In the end Phaedra will even accuse Hippolytus of indeed having relations with her to his father Thesus. Hippolytus will die because of her slander. Indeed when they said â€Å"love conquers all† they had the love-crazed Phaedra in mind. Her insane love conquered all reason from her mind and led her to an untimely and unfortunate end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Still another story of hubris from the Metamorphoses is the ill-fate of Midas. Already wealthy and a reasonably powerful king Midas desired gold above all other treasures. So Bacchus grants him the power to turn all that he touches into gold. He soon embarks upon a tragic quest to gain as much gold as his can until he soon turns even his daughter into gold. The lust for gold ruined all that was good around him. The tragedy of Midas was that he was so blinded by his love for gold that he did not realize how much that he truly loved could be lost. No less tragic was the life of Thesus in Phaedra. After returning from the dead Thesus is greeted by his wife with the accusation that Hippolytus had had his way with her. Blinded with rage over the mishandling of his ‘beloved’ wife Thesus says a prayer to Neptune for the redress of his wrongs. Sure as a sunrise, Neptune strikes down Hippolytus by having him ripped apart by his horses. Never mind that he was entirely innocent to begin with.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, even if Amor, the Roman Cupid, can drive all reason from those he assails not all of his conquests have turned to evil. One example is the love story of Thetis and Peleus, the soon to be famous parents of Achilles. Evil was still done to the two but eventually their escapade resulted in some good being accomplished. In the story of the two lovers in book   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thetis was a sea nymph whose beauty so drew Peleus that the poor king would soon be driven to desperate measures to gain her. Just like Phaedra he begins a campaign of seduction that is initially rebuffed by the coy nymph mirroring the failed seduction efforts of Phaedra upon Hippolytus. However, while Phaedra is ultimately unsuccessful Peleus has some measure of success.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After a whole day of trying to conquer Thetis, and Thetis trying to break free eventually Thetis tires of their struggles and consents to have relations with Peleus. As will later be seen, this union will result in Achilles perhaps the most famous Greek in story and in Song.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hippolytus tried to stay loyal to his father by refusing to acquiesce to his step-mother’s incestuous desires. His deep love for his father does not allow him to dishonor him especially not so soon. Eventually, Phaedra accuses him wrongly and Thesus prayers leads to his death. However, in his death some good is achieved since Phaedra confesses her incestuous desires and the innocence of Hippolytus. As this sampling of the two works suggests love is not places in very high regard by these two authors. By allowing reason to be overwhelmed by love, or lust, the heroes and gods are led down ill paths. Phaedra embarks of a sickening path of incestuous seduction, Midas loses everything to worthless gold, Troy will burn for the indiscretion of the boy Paris. Thesus will slay his own son out of blind love for Phaedra. They are a just a few examples, how love conquered the rational thought of the characters and brought them ill fate. If any good is achieved it is accidental and to be realized later on. Tragedy still befalls those who imbibe in love regardless of what good will occur later because of it. Just ask Hippolytus who was torn apart by his horses before Phaedra would realize the error of her ways. Trully, love is a logical fallacy. Both Greek and Roman prized reason and common sense over love. It is by allowing ourselves to be buffeted by the winds of love that tragedy befalls. Therefore, we must ever be vigilant lest our reason be mastered by this logical fallacy.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

A Long Way Gone: Ishmael

Ishmael Beah was 12 years old when the opposing army, The Rebels, attacked his small town, Sierra Loene. Ishmael fled leaving everything important to him behind. His family, home, and possessions were all gone. With only his brother and nine friends, he ran away. For two years they stayed away from the rebels walking from town to town looking for their lost families. Ishmael lost 8 of his friends and eventually his brother along the way. With only Alhaji left they were found by the army and made to fight or be killed. They used their rap and hip-hop skills to remain popular between missions. To these two gentle-hearted boys killing became a way of life. At the age of sixteen Ishmael and Alhaji were chosen to be removed from the fighting by UNICEF. Upon arriving at the rehabilitation center two boys were killed with hidden knives and guns because they were rebels. The others didn’t care that they too, were forced to fight. This didn’t come as a surprise to the workers; the kids had been doing it for most of their lives. Ishmael entered therapy with kind young women named, Esther. After many months of vigorous therapy Ishmael opened up and finally accepted his new life. With the help of Esther and many other individuals, Ishmael found an uncle of whom his father rarely spoke about and went to live with him and his family. He was enjoying meeting his long lost relatives when he was invited to go to a conference in San Francisco for kids who survived terrifying things and wanted to educate others about it. He was chosen out of millions of kids to speak about child soldiers. He immediately agreed at sent his forms away to the conference officials telling them he was coming. He had problems getting a passport but that was quickly taken care of by the workers from his old rehabilitation center in an effort to help him. He attended the conference and met a kind, rich, woman who helped him and a few friends he met adjust to the city and the constant action that they weren’t used to. When he got back from San Francisco he was shocked to realize that the rebels had taken over the city. Terrified that he would be recognized and killed or that he would have to fight once again Ishmael looked for a way out of the city. He found one and risked being one of the many shot just for being on the street. Ishmael contacted the woman he had met at the conference and she agreed to let him live with her until he could find a way to make money. Ishmael was one of the lucky people who got out of the war, some kids weren’t as fortunate. A Long Way Gone is a true story about a real boy. It’s horrifying that kids as young as nine are being forced into a war they want no part of in order to survive.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Life In A Highschool Essays - Social Groups, Youth, Adolescence

Life In A Highschool Essays - Social Groups, Youth, Adolescence Life In A Highschool Life in a High School Bart Hayes Eng102sec.065 4/27/00 Cliques are small groups of between two and twelve individuals. Cliques are small enough that the members feel that they know each other better than do people outside the clique. Members of a clique share common activities and friendships. They are social settings in which adolescents hang out, talk to each other, and form closer friendships. Groups of friends, called cliques can be important for social upgrading, but in most cases the enormous power and effects of these cliques can create alienation, exclusion , and destructive results. In my high school , as well as every other high school in America there are social groups of individuals, called cliques , that effect every individual whether they are an insider or an outsider. Generally there are the cool cliques , the athletic cliques, the freak clique, the skater clique, the smart clique, and the average clique. Almost everyone finds their place in one of these cliques, but there are always a few outsiders who go through high school never knowing where they belong. these are the people who are constantly ridiculed, picked on , and talked about day in and day out. The effects can be devastating, even deadly. In Littleton, Coloraldo two outcast teenagers came into school one day and began shooting, targeting the athletes and other students who had made their lives awful by ridiculing them constantly. Seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stormed their suburban Denver school with guns and bombs last April 20, killing 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives(Kenworthy 1). Augustana University education professor Larry Brendtro explained kids who feel powerless and rejected are capable of doing horrible things(Cohen 4). A high school student, Jason Sanchez understands why the two outsider snapped by saying If you go to school, and you dont have friends, it drives you to insanity(Cohen 4). So what do these lonely outcast kids do if they are rejected by everyone? Roger Rosenblatt discusses in his article, Welcome to the Works of the Trench Coat , how kids will discover self-worth by hating an enemy(Rosenblatt 1). The kids of Columbine for example look alike; they conceal differences. People who are attracted to clans and cults seek to lose their individuality and discover power and pride in a group. As individuals , the killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were vulnerable, taunted by the other tribes in school the cliques, the athletes as geeks and nerds(Rosenblatt 1). The end result as a young girl involved in the murders reported was , He just put a gun to my head, and he started laughing and saying it was all because people were mean to him last year(Rosenblatt 1). The social warfare of cliques has no limits or boundaries; anything can and will happen. Columbine High School is only one example of how high school cliques can be damaging to teenagers. At Glen Ridge High School a group of jocks raped a retarded woman. In that attractive upper-middle-class New Jersey suburb, thirteen jocks were present in the basement where the young womans body was penetrated by a baseball bat and a broomstick. The country was sickened by the inhumanity of a bunch of guys who were among the most admired and envied young men in their community and high school (Lefkowitz 653). These star athletes were not even afraid of being punished. They told their friends and schoolmates of the incident not trying to hide it at all. Athletes are treated as kings of the school. This is not only true for the athletes , but for the cheerleaders too. In the article by Adam Cohen he says While others plod through high school, they glide: their exploits celebrated in the pep rallies and recorded in the school paper and trophy cases(Cohen 2). Another high school student Blake McConnell says that The jocks and the cheerleaders have the most clout, they get out of punishment even with the police. Joe Blow has a wreck and has been drinking, and he gets the book thrown at him. The quarterback gets busted, and he gets a lighter sentence ( Cohen 2). How does this

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Which States Require the ACT Full List and Advice

Which States Require the ACT Full List and Advice SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Over the past five years, the number of states that administer the ACT statewide has more than doubled: there are now 12 states that require every junior to take the test and eight more that either require the test in some districts or offer it as a free option for students who wish to take it. This post explains why these programs exist, which states have them, and how you can take advantage of them if you live in one of these states. Why Do Some States Require the ACT? In 2001, when states were first implementing statewide assessment programs, Illinois and Colorado decided that, rather than creating their own tests for high school juniors, they would contract with ACT, Inc. to use the ACT as a statewide assessment. (The ACT is generally considered more content based than the SAT, and therefore a better for for assessments.) This plan had the added advantages of providing every student with the chance to take a college admissions test and, ideally, encouraging students who might not have otherwise considered college to apply. Colorado and Illinois were followed by Kentucky, Wyoming, and Michigan in 2007 and then North Dakota and Tennessee in 2009 (although Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan have since switched to the SAT). Since then, the number of states using the ACT as a statewide assessment has almost doubled, and the SAT has created an equivalent program called SAT School Day. The spread of the ACT as a state assessment helped it surpass the SAT as the most popular college admissions test in the US 2011-2017 (although recently it's been overtaken by the SAT once more). For the 2019-2020 school year, 20 states have a contract with ACT, Inc. to provide free ACT testing to some or all high school juniors at public schools. Which States Require the ACT? Of the 12 states that administer the ACT statewide, more than half include the writing (the rest do not). There are also a few states that don't require the test of all students but allow districts to opt in to the program or give students the choice of which test to take. States that require all students to take the ACT with Writing Alabama Hawaii Montana Nebraska Nevada North Carolina North Dakota Utah Wisconsin States that require all students to take the ACT (no Writing) Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Wyoming States with other arrangements Arkansas - offered but not required; no Writing Kansas - offered but not required; no Writing Minnesota - SAT or ACT offered Missouri - determined by district; not funded Ohio - SAT or ACT required; district determines which test Oklahoma - SAT with Essay or ACT with Writing required; district determines which test South Carolina - SAT or ACT required Tennessee - SAT or ACT required (districts may provide either SAT or ACT or allow students to choose) What Does Statewide Testing Mean For Your ACT Prep? The short answer is that it doesn’t make a huge difference: the ACT is the same whether you take it on a state-administered date or one of the regular test days. However, if you do live in one of the states listed above, you may want to tweak your approach to take advantage of some of the state resources available to you. Here are a few things to keep in mind. You'll Be Able to Take the Test for Free If the cost of taking the ACT is a financial burden for your family, the opportunity to take the test for free is a valuable one, and you should take advantage by scheduling your studying accordingly. Remember that you'll also be able to send four free score reports. You may also be eligible for a fee waiver, thus giving you the chance to take the test up to 3 times for free. You Might Practice for the ACT in School Because the statewide ACTs can double as an assessment for schools and teachers, you may do some in-class preparation for the test. This instruction can help make you more familiar with the test, which is a key step in preparing for the ACT. High school teachers aren't always the most knowledgeable about the ACT, however, so if a teacher tells you something about the test that seems off or contradicts what you've learned in your prep, make sure to double check it! There Could Be Other Free Prep Materials or Classes Available to You Even if your school doesn't offer in-class ACT prep there might be other resources you can take advantage of like free prep books or after school classes. (For example, students in Utah have access to free ACT study materials on Shmoop.) Check with a counselor or teacher at your school to find out if you're eligible for extra study help. Again, though, you should be mindful of whether the materials are good quality. The Curve Won't Be Affected One key thing that won't be affected by whether your state offers free ACT testing is the score curve. Many students believe that the curve is easier on state-mandated test dates because more low-scoring students take the test. Though it's true that scores on these dates are generally lower, the curve isn't actually affected. It's based on years worth of data, not a single test date. What's Next? Make sure you know when to start studying for the ACT and check out these 5 tips to get you started. Not sure what ACT score you should be shooting for? Calculate your target score with this helpful guide. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? We have the industry's leading ACT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and ACT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Report about Greece Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Report about Greece - Essay Example This has been the state of affairs affecting Greece. This paper looks at the turnaround experienced by Greece through analysis of the country’s GDP growth and its economic performance of the region. The GDP of Greece since 2008 has been on the rocks according to statistics provided by the World Bank (2014). The nation has experienced a mere 0.46 percent growth since this time with a low of -2.80 percent in 2010 (Tradingecomomics, 2014). Based on this, it is clear that the nation is facing an economic crisis. Despite this there is, the nation is forecasted to do better as it is now picking up from the low it experienced as shown in the graph below. From the above, one can see that the GDP of the state has been taking a downward trend, but has picked up in the last few years. This can be attributed to the reforms placed in the employment sector. According to BBC’s Mark Lowen (2014), through the job cuts and firm restructures, the rate of unemployment has reached an all time high of 28 percent and contrasts the turnaround experienced by the nation in terms of economic growth. Before, at least 50,000 jobs a year were made available to the citizens of the nation and the economy was growing at 5 percent annually. After the crash, the inverse was experienced with the rate of growth plummeting and the unemployment rate increasing rapidly. In accordance with Herbert Grubel (2013), the problem resulted from the instability of prices. That is to say inflation caused by those in government. The problem began when wages were reduced, resulting in the leaders increasing the nominal wages in the public sector. The higher wager resulted in the printing of more money, increasing the deficit experienced by the nation. All this resulted in inflation in the region and led to the collapse of the Greece economy and thus the increased rate of unemployment and the fall in the growth of the GDP. According to N. Roubini (As cited by George Alogoskoufis, 2012),

Friday, November 1, 2019

British Airways strategic management Case Study

British Airways strategic management - Case Study Example and Stahl, M.J. (1997, p. 2) that managers of organizations need to anticipate and adapt to change by keeping in touch with the external environment of the organization. The present chapter is focused on British Airways which is one of the world's favourite airlines as it carries more international passengers to more destinations than any other air carriers (Haberberg, A and Rieple, A, 2008:458). Since its establishment in the year 1919, the British Airways has come a long way to be one of the reputed airlines in the world and continuously returning profits at the end of financial years, which most of its competitors are unable to do so. The secret for the success of British airways is attributed to its strategic management decisions (Cole, G.A., 2003:191) and hence the present research is undertaken to study the process of planning, development and implementation of management strategies in order to know the actual success factors like management, human resource, finance, marketing and communication. The British Airways' forerunner company Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T) launched the world's first daily international scheduled air service between London and Paris, way back on 25th August, 1919 (www.britishairways.com). Presently it is the world's largest international airline and has global flight network through USAir, Qantas, and TAT European Airlines serving 95 million passengers a year using 441 airports in 86 countries and more than 1000 planes. (www.fundinguniverse.com) British Airways Ltd came into existence with the merger of many smaller airlines to form Imperial Airlines which was later nationalized into the present original form. (www.bizcovering.com) Cole A.G. (2003, p.192) states that the company has been able to achieve considerable rate of success all these years just because of its effective strategic management decisions including maintaining a sustained marketing campaign, focusing on the requirements and preferences of business customers which res ulted into development of brands like Concorde, First Class, etc; focusing on the needs of private passengers and tourists, marketing the excellent reputation of the company's safety and engineering aspect, providing effective customer service through the use of information technology, promoting an extensive programme of staff training ensuring the efficiency, productivity and awareness of the employees. The company adopted a strategy of alliance and mergers which was advantageous to provide service to more