The Hardest ACT Reading Questions Ever

The Hardest ACT Reading Questions Ever SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re aiming for a top score on the ACT Reading section, you probably want to know what the hardest questions look like so you’re prepared for everything the test throws at you. In this article, I’ll walk you through the answers to some of the toughest questions I’ve seen on the ACT Reading section. Why exactly are they so hard? How do you tackle them? How well will you do? Challenge yourself for that top score. Detail Questions Detail Questions will ask you to paraphrase or analyze a specific part of the passage.These questions can be difficult because they require a strong understanding of the author's specfic viewpoint and a high level of reading comprehension. Here’s one of the hardest detail questions about the narrator’s point of view that I’ve come across on the ACT: In the last paragraph, a comparison is made between "diminished excellence" and "flawed competence." From the narrator's point of view, the conditions are different because the one is: F. a source of sorrow while the other is a source of pride.G. based in the family while the other is based in the self.H. inherent in the environment while the other is inherent in the individual.J. a sign that the individual can improve the world while the other is a sign that the individual can't. This is the comparison the question refers to: We plan makers are accustomed to things turning out not-quite-as-good-as-we-had-in-mind. Our world view includes the â€Å"diminished excellence† component. Diminished excellence is a condition of the world and therefore never an occasion for sorrow, whereas flawed competence comes out of character and therefore is frequently the reason for the bowed head, the furrowed brow. How do we go about solving a question like this? First, we need to establish what the narrator is saying about the difference between diminished excellence and flawed competence. What is diminished excellence, according to the passage? It’s a â€Å"condition of the world† and â€Å"never an occasion for sorrow†.Diminished excellence is not something to be sad about because it’s out of our control and exists naturally in the world. Ok, how about flawed competence? In contrast, flawed competence â€Å"comes out of character† and is a reason for â€Å"the bowed head†.Flawed competence is a part of the individual, not an immutable condition of the world, so it can be cause for distress. Ok, we know the difference. Now let’s examine the answer choices. Choice F:a source of sorrow while the other is a source of pride Well, one of them is a source of some degree of sorrow (flawed competence), but neither is a source of pride, so this doesn’t work. Nope, this is an irrelevant answer! Choice G:based in the family while the other is based in the self Again, this is sort of half-correct in that flawed competence is based in the self. However, diminished excellence is not based in the family - it’s based in the world at large. Nothing in this answer choice describes diminished excellence. Cross this one out too! Choice H:inherent in the environment while the other is inherent in the individual This seems likely.Diminished excellence is described as a â€Å"condition of the world†, so it’s inherent in the environment.Flawed competence â€Å"comes out of character†, so it’s inherent in the individual. Keep this one! Choice J:a sign that the individual can improve the world while the other is a sign that the individual can’t This is a confusing answer choice, because we don’t see either of the conditions described as signs of anything in the passage.Diminished excellence could be interpreted as a sign that the individual can’t improve the world, but flawed competence certainly isn’t any kind of sign that an individual CAN improve it. This answer is a weird concept jumble - get rid of it! Choice H is our answer! This question was tough because it asked us to consider and compare two complicated ideas in the passage.We had to grapple with abstract concepts as well as be very specific with our answer choice. You can see, however, that when we closely examine the direct evidence and definitions provided, it becomes very clear which answers should be eliminated. If you come across unfamiliar concepts in the passage that you need to understand to answer a question, sometimes it's helpful to write down their definitions in a simpler form next to the question so you can stay focused. Sometimes you have to look at things from the author's point of view on the ACT, even if you can tell he's someone who wears ugly glasses and stares off into the sunset wondering why he wasted the best years of his life. Development and Function Questions Development and function questions ask about the structure of the reading passage and how certain lines or paragraphs contribute to its meaning.These questions can be difficult because you have to have a strong understanding of the argument presented in the passage and how each piece of the passage fits into that argument. Here’s one of the hardest ACT questions I’ve seen in this category: The author uses the events listed in lines 77-79 primarily to: F. show how weather-related disasters threatened the survival of Western civilization.G. criticize subsistence-level agriculture as being too dependent on the weather.H. illustrate how environmental determinism operated in the Little Ice Age.J. suggest the part that climate shifts may have had in producing modern Europe. Here are is the paragraph we need to reference: Consider, for instance, the food crises that engulfed Europe during the Little Ice Age - the great hunger of 1315 to 1319, the food dearths of 1741, and 1816, "the year without a summer" - to mention only a few. These crises in themselves did not threaten the continued existence of Western civilization, but they surely played an important role in the formation of modern Europe. Some of these crises resulted from climactic shifts, others from human ineptitude or disastrous economic or political policy; many from a combination of all three. Environmental determinism may be intellectually bankrupt, but climate change is the ignored player on the historical stage. I have the whole paragraph copied here, rather than just the lines in the question, because it’s necessary to read beyond the lines to get the right answer. That’s part of what makes this question difficult. All right - how do we solve this? First, let's figure out what the question is asking. What is the primary purpose of lines 77-79?It’s important not to miss the world "primary" in this question because some of the answer choices are tricky.They might support the author’s point, but they’re not her primary reason for using those lines. Now let’s go through the answer choices and see which one works. Choice F:show how weather-related disasters threatened the survival of Western civilization If you just read the lines mentioned in the question, you might think this answer was plausible.This is why it’s important to make sure to read the whole paragraph surrounding the lines to get the context.In the next sentence, the author specifically says these crises â€Å"did not threaten the continued existence of Western civilization†. This is an opposite answer - get rid of it! Choice G:criticize subsistence-level agriculture as being too dependent on the weather Hmm - it does seem based on these lines that subsistence-level agriculture was too dependent on the weather.But was that the primary point the author was trying to make by citing these crises?No, this answer misses the larger point even if it makes sense on a factual level. Eliminate it! Choice H:illustrate how environmental determinism operated in the Little Ice Age This answer choice would be easier to understand if you had the whole passage to look at, but the Little Ice Age is a time period of climate instability that was described earlier in the passage.These crises did occur during that time period, so that part makes sense. But is the author trying to support environmental determinism?She says it’s â€Å"intellectually bankrupt† at the end of the paragraph. This answer is slightly off - cross it out! Choice J:suggest the part that climate shifts might have had in producing modern Europe This seems right.The paragraph says the crises â€Å"surely played an important role in the formation of modern Europe†, so that's a pretty close paraphrase of this answer choice. This one’s a winner! Choice J is our answer! You’ll notice that the correct answer choice was the last one, so this question could be particularly difficult if you were rushing on the test.Some of the other choices also seem partially right at first glance. That’s why reading carefully and making sure every part of an answer makes sense is so important. That guy on the right is SO done with everyone he knows dying from malnutrition. Inference Questions Perhaps the most difficult ACT Reading questions are those that ask you to make inferences about the passage.This requires more developed extended reasoning skills and a deep understanding of the points being made by the author. Meaning in context questions are a subset of inference questions. They will ask you to look at specific lines in a passage to infer and then paraphrase their meaning. Here is an example of a very difficult meaning in context question on the ACT: Which of the following statements best paraphrases lines 5-8? A. The imagination lacks value and should be ignored in favor of paying attention to the actual world.B. Reason can enhance the imagination but at the expense of experience in the actual world.C. Rather than become isolated, the imagination should connect to the actual world at least occasionally.D. Reason, not the imagination, is the best way to appreciate and enrich the actual world. Here are the lines we’ll need to reference: A mind risks real ignorance for the sometimes paltry prize of an imagination enriched. The trick of reason is to get the imagination to seize the actual world - if only from time to time. This question is so difficult because the lines it references deal with a somewhat confusing and high-level concept. The answer choices also combine a lot of different concepts that are included in the lines but don't necessarily answer the question correctly. Ok, time to solve this. First, let’s try and understand what the lines are saying. What does the first sentence mean? A mind risks real ignorance for the sometimes paltry prize of an imagination enriched. It seems like it's saying that people often gain an enriched imagination at the expense of their knowledge of the real world.â€Å"Real ignorance† is the price they pay for an â€Å"imagination enriched†. Ok, how about the second sentence? The trick of reason is to get the imagination to seize the actual world - if only from time to time. It's saying that in order to overcome the problem in the first sentence, you have to get your imagination to connect with or â€Å"seize† the real world sometimes. It seems like we have a pretty good understanding of the sentiment in the passage: imagination can make you lose touch with the real world if you don’t bridge the gap between the two sometimes. Now let's go through the answer choices. Choice A:The imagination lacks value and should be ignored in favor of paying attention to the actual world. Hmm this sounds pretty extreme. Even though the author does say that you shouldn’t totally lose yourself in imagination, there’s no mention of ignoring it.She says imagination should â€Å"seize the actual world†, so the two are compatible. Imagination doesn’t â€Å"lack value†. This answer is incorrect! Choice B:Reason can enhance the imagination but at the expense of experience in the actual world. This is definitely an opposite answer. How can reason enhance your imagination if you are sacrificing real world experience?The author’s point is that reason should allow you to enhance your imagination by occasionally putting imagination in the context of your experiences in the real world. Eliminate this one! Choice C:Rather than become isolated, the imagination should connect to the actual world at least occasionally. Looking promising. The author definitely says that the imagination shouldn’t be isolated from the real world or the imaginer â€Å"risks real ignorance†.She also says imagination should â€Å"seize the actual world - if only from time to time†. This seems synonymous with connecting â€Å"to the actual world at least occasionally†. Keep this one! Choice D:Reason, not the imagination, is the best way to appreciate and enrich the real world. This is a plausible interpretation of what the author says, but it’s still not correct.It seems like she does believe that imagination can cause you to lose touch with the real world, so it might not be the best way to appreciate or enrich the real world.However, that’s not the point specifically being made in these sentences. Eliminate this one! Choice C is our answer! These answer choices were very difficult because almost all of them included a plausible element, even though only one was close enough to the meaning of the lines to answer the question correctly.This is common with inference or meaning in context questions, which is why reading the question carefully and being ruthless about eliminating answers that aren’t a perfect match is so crucial! What is the "actual world" anyway? How do we know our imaginations aren't, like, just as real? Duuuude. Review The hardest questions on the ACT Reading section ask you to analyze abstract concepts and paraphrase complex viewpoints expressed in passages. Often the answer choices provided will seem plausible or provide a statement that is true but does not directly answer the question being asked. No matter how difficult or confusing a question seems, you can always find the answer by referring to direct evidence from the passage.If you read carefully and don’t stray from the information you are given, you will get all of these questions right every time! What's Next? Read these articles for tips on how to approach ACT Reading passages and to learn more about the four types of passages you'll see on the test. Do you keep running out of time on the ACT Reading section? Learn about how to avoid the time crunch. If you're already achieving high scores on the Reading section and want to know how you can take it to the next level, check out our article on how to get a 36 on ACT Reading. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

10 Cheap Ways to Get Books for Class

10 Cheap Ways to Get Books for Class College classes are a chance to expand your mind, explore new subjects, meet new people and learn more than you ever wanted to know about just how expensive books can be. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find books on the cheap. These helpful hints can trim down your book budget, see also how to find money for education, and help you to work smarter instead of harder. Find Out If You Need the Textbook First Plenty of courses have a recommended textbook and plenty of students know that doesn’t mean youll actually use them. Each year, thousands of students buy expensive textbooks they open once and then throw into a corner to collect dust until the end of the school year. Talk to former students or ask your professor or TA directly if youll need the textbook. Shop Online Secondhand books have become a huge industry online. Websites like ABE and Alibris specialize in out of print and hard to find titles – including textbooks. Amazon also offers quite a few options – including a marketplace solely dedicated to used and secondhand books. When shopping online for textbooks, there are a few tips that can help make sure you find a great deal. Ask About the Edition – Some textbooks go through major revisions every year. Others move the placement of a comma and release it as an Updated Edition. Trawl through the Table of Content, look for a list of updates and changes or simply ask your professor if an older version is fine for the course. Being able to buy an older edition could slash the cost of a textbook in half. Check the Condition – Secondhand books are, by their very nature, used. However, not all students go through a Highlight Fever phase so many textbooks are in great shape with little, if any, marks or highlights. Others, however, can be so marked up that youll start to think the previous owner fostered a deep seated marker scent addiction. If a textbook is priced especially low, be sure to check the notes on its condition. If youre able to ignore marks and notes in the margins, then a heavily used copy will be a lot cheaper than one with little or no marks. Cast the Net Wide – When looking for textbooks online, be sure to include websites that arent completely dedicated to books. Both eBay and Craigslist can be great places to find used textbooks, especially if you manage to search right after a semester ends. Plenty of students try to sell their own textbooks directly and some even sell them as a lot on sites like Craigslist. Factor in Shipping – When you buy books online, they could be coming from anywhere. If youve only started to look for textbooks a few weeks before class starts, be sure theyll arrive in time. Also factor in the shipping costs – textbooks are notoriously heavy. Get Local If your university is near a major city, be sure to check out the local thrift stores. Many students dont bother trying to resell their old textbooks and you may be surprised how many end up on the bookshelves of a local charity shop. While the editions may be older, if your course doesn’t require the most up to date edition, picking up a used copy at a thrift store could make a real difference in how much you end up paying for books. Consider International Editions International editions of major textbooks have the same content as domestic editions. The difference typically has to do with the quality of paper and other materials used to publish the book. These books are not available through US websites or stores. That means youll need to consider extra shipping costs and more shipping time since youll be ordering from abroad. Explore E-Book Options These days, more and more publishers are offering electronic versions of popular university and higher education textbooks. Although you wont be able to easily resell these books once the class is over, they are typically priced much lower than their traditional counterparts. Rent Them! Renting textbooks has become the newest way for students to help take the crunch out of their book budgets. Smaller websites like Textbook Rentals and Book Renter have become hot buzzwords on college campuses. Even the book giants Amazon and Barnes Noble are beginning to get into the textbook rental business. Although currently there are a limited number of books you can rent, its growing popularity suggests that soon students will be able to rent everything from Accounting 101 to Zoology 999. There are many expenses associated with getting a college degree. Paying for tuition and class fees is really the top of the iceberg. Books come a close second in terms of how much of your education budget but these tips can help lessen the sting of buying books for every class. Freeing up a bit of money by getting textbooks cheaper means less stress on your budget and your mind which can make your next semester a lot easier.

Red Ball Express Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Red Ball Express - Research Paper Example In comparison to such scenarios of war from the past, the modern way of warfare is quite different in terms of dimension and pace. In today’s time, due to automated and mechanized forces, long distances can be crossed at a velocity that could previously not be perceived by the best war leaders of the old era. With the invention of automated and mechanized armed forces, expedite transportation became possible. However, along with this speed of transportation, a new requirement developed. Inventing new, highly capable fuels in abundant amounts was now required to sufficiently maintain and run these engines of mechanized war equipment. Further comparison of the ancient times of warfare to the modern day situation illustrates that previously the armies had to keep sufficient supplies of goods like barley, hay and oats for the long distances that had to be covered. This has now been replaced by the need to ensure supply of energy sources like petroleum, oil and other lubricants, PO L, which constitutes the ‘modern-day’ need of the United States army. The older techniques of warfare started to fade and the army started the usage of vehicles and trucks in warfare since the year 1911. The Red Ball Express was a creation during the period of the Second World War for the management of the supplies during the war. There were many underlying reasons that led to the formation of the Red Ball Express and then to its discontinuation (Anders 2011). In the year 1918, on November 15th, the Third Army was formed and because of its efficient working and success in its operations, it was given the authority of handling the functioning and working of the Red Ball Express. They had the power to control the posting of the units of the Red Ball Express according to their decisions. Following its formation, the Third Army was given a high command with regard to all the army decisions during the periods of wars. The Third Army played an active role in the Second World War; it trained armed forces for the purpose of the war. Its success was indicated by the victory of the army against the Nazis of Germany (Province 2011). The Third Army was inactivated from duties of war and the army was given administrative duties in the year 1947. It was completely abolished in the year 1973. However, an insight of history shows that on 3rd December, 1982, an official function was done at Fort McPherson to officially announce the same status of the Third Army as before. Third U.S. Army was activated again. The army was to be regulated by Lt. Gen. M. Collier Ross. High profile army personnel were present at the occasion (Pike 2011). Keeping in mind the overall aspects that gave birth to mechanized and fast paced wars, it can be said that World War II was the first war which utilized all the technological innovations and modern warfare techniques. Due to exceptionally high consumption of POL, throughout the war the demand remained sky high in most of the countries of the world. TORCH, an operation that initiated in North Africa was a very small scale project but still its requirements of fuel were as high as ten million gallons. â€Å"Blitz†, which was basically a 5 gallon container, was manufactured by Allied logistics, and these were brought to use. Not only this, a number of oil tankers, trucks and pipelines that carried oil were utilized to meet the increasing oil demands. These preparations were basically for the

Reflective on Customer Relationship Management Strategy Case Study

Reflective on Customer Relationship Management Strategy - Case Study Example Specifically, the report attempts to narrate the background of the necessity of a CRM plan from the company's perspective and objectives for which CRM plan was developed. Furthermore, I have tried to portray the challenges that the company has faced and the prescribed the ways to overcome those challenges. The essay is concluded with my experience of doing an informative project and the lessons I learned out of my experience. Now, I feel that if I had been given little more time for completion, the project would have been much better. The CRM project has bee done as a part of my curriculum in the Business System Integration Coursework for the week 5-10. The project has been completed in association with other students who have been selected for the group to which I belong. The assigned project was to prepare a CRM plan and Implementation strategy for a big company- Alcatel Company, which has been in telecom and entertainment industry for last several years. The main aim of the project was to provide a practical exposure to the students as to how integrating business system works and how effectively CRM strategies can be framed and implemented. Apart from that, it attempts to equip the students with the knowledge and experience about teamwork and communication skills. The work starts with situation analysis of the company to know about where it stands and where it wants to reach and what is the difference between the two states. After analyzing the background of the company, the next task was to propose a CRM plan and implementation strategy so that the company can overcome its present problems and challenges. The work has touched almost all functional areas, which have a bearing upon the CRM plan and its implementation. The project was concluded with suggestions and recommendations to further improve the CRM plan effectiveness and reach the goal of customer loyalty and sustainability. All efforts have been put to make the work most efficiently and contributing prosperity to the company.Aims and Objectives 1. To enhance the knowledge about Business System Integration To get acquainted with how to formulate and implement CRM strategies Apply CRM concepts to real-life business situations 2. To realize the effectiveness of teamwork in contrast to working in isolation and develop team working skill The group emphasized on teamwork and every decision was taken in consultation with all team members Held meetings regularly to discuss difficulties, solutions, plans, and processes3. To undertake the assignment in a professional manner and complete it successfully Devote enough time to come up with the best CRM strategy appropriate for the company Extensive research of books, articles and other secondary sources on CRM implementation.

Kodak Strategy Essay Example for Free

Kodak Strategy Essay The first Kodak camera led to the creation of their first slogan: â€Å"You press the button – we do the rest†. He named the brand of camera Kodak because it was short, it would not be mispronounced, and the name was unique in the business. (Gartrell, n. d. ) By the late 19th century and early 1900’s, advertising played a major role in Kodak’s marketing and promotion strategy. As a result, Kodak became a household word. Today, the Kodak name has become entrenched in home town America. It is known for being very American since its photo spots can be seen at iconic patriotic hot spots like Disneyland. In addition â€Å"Kodak Moments† help make it a household name for photography and imaging. (Wikinvest, 2007) Kodak has always dominated the â€Å"holy trinity of film†; film, paper and chemicals. (Upbin, 2000, para #8) Kodak’s big concern is to remain competitive in the market place. The Eastman Kodak company had to take on some strong competition, such as Polaroid, who is famous for instant photography. Kodak began to sell their version of the instant camera in June 1976 to expand its market. The camera was called the Pronto which spit out a picture card which formed into a picture before the photographers eyes. The idea was successful and although Kodak’s ten picture pack of film was more expensive than Polaroid’s, several Japanese companies made cameras that used the new Kodak Film. (Time Magazine, 1976) Soon after, the disposable camera became popular. According to statistics, U. S. sales of disposable cameras grew 30% a year. Kodak sells more than anyone else, allowing Kodak to have sufficient cash flow to invest in a digital future. In the mid 1990’s Kodak’s innovators began to dabble with digital photography. In fact, they invented the first digital camera and realized that digital technology would transform their business. By the year 2000, Kodak had sunk more than $5 billion into digital investments during the 1990s, but received only $20 million in digital earnings in 1999 to show for it. Daniel Carp, the latest Chief Executive at Eastman Kodak stated that â€Å"digital can generate half of revenue and quarter of profits by 2005†. (Upbin, 2000, para. #3) So why wasn’t Kodak getting a return on their investment? One of the main issues that plagued the Eastman Kodak Company was not their innovation, but their timing in their marketing strategy and their assessment of the adaptability of its consumers. Kodak missed out on several holiday seasons where digital camera growth was high and failed to get a leg up on the competition back in 1996. The company was unable to â€Å"wean itself† from traditional film business. They have three major customer bases. The first is the Photofinishing Group which makes up almost 1/3 of sales. This group is made up of Kodak’s traditional film products and services that the average customer uses, plus products used by the film industry to reproduce and distribute motion pictures. The second group, not formed until 2003, is the Graphic Communications Group (GCG). It’s Kodak’s largest division which includes document imaging and digital printing services for businesses. The third group relates to healthcare services and is called the Health Group. This group specializes in healthcare imaging products such as x-ray devices and specialized films. To catch up to their competition, Kodak created a fourth group, the Consumer Digital Group, to change their main product line from traditional film to digital products. They turned their focus to digital cameras and printers, photo kiosks (like at CVS and Wal-Mart) and online photo sharing. Wikinvest, 2007) The problem was they did not react to the market until almost 2 years after their fierce competitors, such as Hewlett Packard, Canon, and Sony began to overtake the business. The irony is that although Kodak created many digital products that were ahead of their time, such as the Photo CD and high-end digital cameras, Kodak continued to focus their marketing strategy on the investor rat her than the customer. It is unfortunate because many of the digital imaging products that Kodak introduced, and that we still use today, did not get the commitment they deserved from their creators. Because of their own corporate reluctance to replace their main base of income (traditional film), many investors questioned whether it was too late for Kodak to join the digital age. (Nikondigital. org, 2007, para. #2) Timing was not the only problem. Kodak had digital competition from the evolution of the internet, the Sony Corporation, Hewlett Packard, and Canon, to name a few. Despite the invention of the digital camera, Kodak fell behind in efficiency profit margins and sheer sales. The company failed to market other media devices leaving Hewlett Packard and Lexmark to dominate the printer industry. Kodak is now trying to catch up in that area. Kodak needed to make several adjustments in their marketing strategy, develop their product line, promote their product, rethink their distribution efforts and develop a pricing strategy to steal market shares from industry leaders. With a new management philosophy and marketing strategy, Kodak realized the need to adjust its consumables. Most of Kodak’s traditional photography was based on their services, their paper and ink. With the addition of digital imagery, that had to change. Chemicals, to produce the photos were no longer needed for digital photography. How could Kodak compensate for the changing technology? Putting their innovators to the test, Kodak came up with the EasyShare family of cameras. It became one of Kodak’s biggest successes. Even today, it is still the â€Å"simplest way to get started in digital† photography. (Nikondigital. org, 2007, para. #7) Kodak developed this type of camera by studying how camera users take and print pictures and how it fits into their daily lives. Their research paid off. Kodak focused on low-priced, easy-to-use cameras that would appeal to women, who take the majority of snapshots. In 2004 the competition with Sony, the largest digital camera maker, paid off with a rise from a 5% market share in 2000 to a 19% share in 2004. (Hansell, 2004) In addition to the EasyShare system, category expansion has increased Kodak’s consumer base. One of the ways they accomplished this is by developing effective partnerships. To compete with some of the industry leaders, Kodak developed the â€Å"Kodak Gallery† an online photo sharing site which allows consumers to upload their photos and share them with friends and family. This competes with sites like Shutterfly and Photobucket. It recently partnered with Martha Stewart, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. com. (Wikinvest, 2007) Kodak has also planned investment in Lucky Film, Co. Ltd which will strengthen its position in Asia, and has increased its interest in medical markets. They have acquired PracticeWorks, a leader in digital dental imaging, and have improved their economic performance with Kodak Directview PACS System 5 for radiologists. (Eastman Kodak Company, 2004) To promote their products, Kodak has used the traditional advertising as well as some creative promotion techniques. Kodak wants to develop the customers of traditional cameras into future consumers of digital products. One of the ways they are doing this is donating 5,000 traditional cameras to those provinces in China that are not familiar with photography. As China’s rural areas become more economically independent, Kodak hopes to capture the market. This allows Kodak to continue its traditional (bread and butter) line of products to third world nations while focusing the digital sales to the United States, Canada and some European countries. (China Daily, 2004) One way to focus those sales in the U. S. is Kodak’s distribution to direct marketers who want to customize their flyers or retail changes that need variable posters. Digital technology makes it possible to economically print custom copies of anything and at almost any volume. They want to â€Å"elevate print and other visual communications for creativity and commerce†. (Sherburne, 2007, para. #3) Kodak is introducing the MarketMover Network, designed to focus on small business in a similar fashion that the Kodak Creative Network does, where the consumers create the photo books, calendars and flyers. Finally, Kodak’s pricing strategies had to be dramatic. One of the best things we hear about Kodak is the â€Å"quality of their service†. The problem is the competition is rapidly meeting Kodak’s quality standards. In 2007, Kodak developed KOS, the Kodak Operating System to streamline the production system and incorporate that into all aspects of Kodak’s operations. It changed their management philosophy. This had some effect on not only their marketing strategies, but their pricing strategies. In the past, companies were willing to sacrifice profits on the â€Å"durable† portion of their product – the printer, to make money on the â€Å"consumable† portion – printer cartridges. In February of that year, Kodak announced a new pricing strategy. It was a long term competitive dynamic disruption strategy. The strategy was aimed at reducing the cost of printing photos for the average consumer. Consumers will have to change their behavior to focus on printing costs instead of hardware costs. (Neff, 2007) In addition, the new printers will not have as many features as Hewlett-Packard printers currently have. This could corner an aging market that has not wanted to purchase â€Å"fancy† printers due to the challenge of technology. However, there is a growing share of private label recycled ink cartridges. Kodak will need to maintain their focus not only on the pricing of their ink cartridges, but they should reinforce the â€Å"quality† aspect of their product. During the past two decades, the Eastman Kodak has struggled with the advent of digital photography. What sets Kodak apart? Kodak is not a computer company, nor is Kodak a company which dabbles in several industries. They are focused on print products and photography.

A Contributing Member of Society :: Law College Admissions Essays

A Contributing Member of Society "My immediate goal is to gain admission to the College of Law. I know that I will be able to receive a top-notch education that will allow me to fulfill my potential as a contributing member of society. As a young boy, I dreamed of becoming a police officer or a fireman. Of course, many young boys my age harbored similar aspirations. However, I was not attracted to these professions for their obvious action and bravado. What made the people who performed these jobs special to me is that they stood up for others. They protected others when they could not help themselves. For me, they represented justice. In retrospect, I know these early admirations laid the foundation for my future interest in law. Another strong influence in my life has been the work of my father. As a business agent for the Teamster's Union and later as the president of the Transit Worker's Union Local 100, he was always mired in important labor negotiations. My father advocated and garnered better wages, benefits, and working conditions for his fellow public employees. It became clear to me that my father was performing a necessary, if not noble service in helping hard-working people attain a better livelihood. What was hard for me to understand, though, was that he had to fight for this. I asked him why the union was often at odds with the city. He explained that the city government had competing responsibilities to its workers, taxpayers, and the bottom line. In other words, they had to make the transit system run efficiently. The point he was trying to make is that there are two sides to every conflict and usually neither side is totally right or entirely wrong. This is a belief that I hold in the highest regard today. It can be applied to everything from labor relations, to a murder trial, and even to situations as relatively trivial as bickering neighbors. By the time I had reached high school I was fascinated with the social sciences. I relished my classes in civics, government, and history. During the course of my studies in high school I became more interested in the law and consequently the practice of it. This interest must have been sparked by my passion for helping people, my father's work, and societal improvement.

How resources are allocated Essay

An economic system is the result of individuals (consumers and producers), groups (firms, trade unions, political parties, families etc) and the government coming together and interacting in a legal and social society. The function of an economic system is to resolve the basic economic problem – scarcity which means that the resources are limited but wants are infinite. This distribution has three dimensions: * What is to be produced * How is it to be produced * For whom is it to be produced. There are 2 economic systems which are commonly used world-wide. There are: the free market system in which the role for the government is limited and the planned system where the government takes viturally total control. In both of these systmes there are different methods of resource allocation used. There are economies that use a mixture of these systems in particular the planned and free market system also known as the mixed economy in which some of the decisions resource allocation are done by the government and other by the public. In a free market economy: *The factors of production are owned by private individuals or groups of individuals who own the resources. They then rent them out to the firms so that they can produce the goods and services. *Everyone is motivated by pure self interest. Consumers maximise welfare, firms maximise profits and privated individuals aim to maximise rents, wages interest and profit. *Firms can sell anything they want. They respond to the consumers who are allowed to by anything that is sold by the producers. *The level of competition is very high. Firms are competing desperately for customers and the consumers are competing with each other for the goods on offer How are resources allocated under a market mechanism? What is to be produced? In a pure free market, it is the consumer which determines the allocation of resources. Consumers are sovereign. Each consumer has a free choice on the amount of money to spend on goods and services. Firms with the money recieved, buy the factors of production needed to produce goods and sercives. In other words in a free market a firm will only produce what the consumers are prepared to buy. The consumers are the ones to dicate the goods that should be produced. For example the public decides that they want to buy more product X than product Y. The increase in demand for product X will increase the price at first. The production of product X will increase since many new first will get attracted with the idea of profit and at the same time the level of competition will increase. On the other hand for product Y the demand will fall along with profits. In general there is a transfer of resources from one industry to another. How will it be produced? There is competition between the various firms. Consumers will buy from the producers which offer the lowest price. So producers must produce at lowest cost. This then determines how goods are produced. The firms will adpot the lowest cost technique of production hence resulting in productive efficiency and allocative efficiency For whom will it be produced? The amount of money the consumers spend is determined by their income. This affects the factors of production since those with high invomes will be able to consume more of the goods whlist those with low income can only buy few  goods and services. There are some advantages in a free market economy: *Resources are allocated more efficiently. *There will be a much larger choice of goods and services *Firms will keep on innovating and produce better quality products since there is a high level of competition *Higher economic growth rates – Economic systems with a free market model have grown much faster than those with a command economy. For example with the restaurant Mac Donald’s the demand is high because the consumers find it convenient to just drop by and have a meal within a matter of minutes, and since the consumers demand more the supply of it is also large. A command economy has a very powerful government sector and the workets and consumers are subordinate. The resources are allocated through a planning mechanism. Some goods and services are prvided free and some rationed or sold The characteristics of a command economy: * Factors of prodction are owned publicly by the government * No one think of himself – Everyone is assumed to be working for the common good * There are no free enterprise * There is very little competition which gives rise to black markets * Since there is no competition there is no price mechanism. The authorities  set the prices, and they are forced to set the prices low to make sure that it is affordable to everyone * The government has the responsability of planning how all the resources should be used. The decide what should be produced and in what quantities. In other words they set the output and price levels. What is to be produced? The consumer does not have any control at all on what will be produced. The planners or the government decide what will be produced, but the main problem which arouses is that the government does not know what exactly the consumers need. In other words supply is dictated by a governing body which tries to predict demand however this process is very difficult and it leads to heavy losses. How will it be produced? There is no such thing as firms in a planned economy. The government direct the resources into producing â€Å"units† They have no autonomy, so basically the government decides the quantities of output and the methods of production For whom will it be produced? The government tries to distribute the output of the economy more fairly. Wages are determined by the planners and so are the prices of the goods produced. So the government is effectively determining how much each consumer can consume. They also believe that all consumers get equal amounts. Advantages of a planned economy: * The strong government will make sure that public and merit goods are consumed that the right levls and that demerit goods are banned or taxed heavily * The government will try to make sure that nobody falls through the safety net. It will be a fairer economy even though it is likely to be less successful overall. * Command economies can make sure that the prodction processes that they chose are as environmentally friendly as possible. They should be able to make sure that the level of output is the socially optimal level of output. For example in Russia the government decided to produce jeans at a large scale but people were importing levis jeans and were selling them for a much cheaper price. this meant that the government lost a lot of money since they predicted that the people needed jeans but in reality they did not and even though they lowered the prices there were still huge amounts of stock which was not sold. A mixed economy as the name implies is a mixture of a planned economy and a free enterpirse economy. In pure practice no pure planned economies or free enterprise economies exist in the world. It is a mixture of the two extremes and the degree of mixing depends and varies from one society or country to another. Characteristics of a mixed economy: * The government owns some of the country’s factors of production publicly and some are owned privately * The market part of the economy will be motivated by self interest. First will maximise profit consumers will maximise their welfare and the factor owners will maximise rent interest and profit. The government on the other side has the common good goal. * There are only free enterprises in the free market part of the economy * The level of competition will vary on the degree of mix. and it will depnd on the market structure. * The price mechanism operates in the private sector. its efficiency depends on how competitive the market structures are. The government run activities. Many countries or economic systems have attempted to solve the resource allocation problem by reaching a compromise between the free market and planned economy systems. For example a governing body may decide that the production possibility frontier (ppf) has potential to increase if education and health services are provded to the public and thus enforces this, thus supplying it for free – this must be paid for by taxes which encourage a planned economy approach. However the remainder of the economy follows a free-market model The government needs to decide the perfect balance between these two factors. If people are healthier then they are more educated and the more educated the healthier. This means that they firms will be able to have better qualified workers. This in turn will mean that the taxes will increase and the government will get more money. This money can be invested into improvements in technology and resulting in an increase in the ppf. For example the UK offers free NHS this means that more money can be spent on education and train people and this can lead to an improvement in techonology. On the other hand the better the education means that people are better qualified and more people can become doctors and thus it will improve health services. Though there are 3 main types of economic systems which sue three different methods of resource allocation, there is often, in developed countries a tendency to use mixed economic methods in which both aspects of the free market and the planned economy are present. In developing countries there are approaches to the problem of resource allocation using all 3 methods. In a free market economy supply is dictated by demand, the bigger the demand the bigger the supply and thus the price of the product is given. In a planned economy the governing body makes those decisions, supply is dictated by a governing body which tries to predict demand however this proves very  difficult and it supplies goods to its wish and in a mixed economy supply of certain guds is dictated by a governing body and the others by demand.

Psychological research Essay

Eyewitness memory for details of an event can be affected at the registration stage by witness factors and event factors. Witness factors include age, stress and expectations. For example, several studies have shown that children typically give fewer details about an event they have witnessed than adults. Similarly, List (1986) found that older people may also recall less than younger people. In addition, even though a high level of arousal (stress) would increase your level of performance, too much arousal would lower it. That is to say that a very frightened person will start to repress memories and force them to the back of their mind where they can never be retrieved again. Information is lost with the passage of time, which can be explained by the trace decay theory of forgetting. Over time, â€Å"basic† information is retained, especially from a significant event. Much of the detail is lost, and misleading information is typically given after an event if participants are able to recall this new information as if they’d seen it. However, this might only be partial. As with the influence of exposure time on memory, this too was demonstrated by Ebbinghaus (1885). It has also been shown in a naturalistic study of long term forgetting, carried out by Wagenaar and Groeneweg in1990. Seventy-eight survivors of the concentration camp, Camp Erika, were interviewed between 1984 and 1987 about their camp experiences. The information they gave was compared with earlier evidence they had given just after the end of the war. There was general agreement in the later interviews on basic information. All but three of the thirty-eight people who had been tortured by the camp commandant, for example, remembered his name. However, much of the detail had been lost. In conclusion, while basic information may be well remembered over time, details tend to be forgotten. On the whole, storage factors can affect recall. Basic information is often retained, but detailed information is lost over time. Memory can be supplemented by later information. It can be distorted by misleading information, known as the misinformation effect. This can also lead to completely inaccurate information being given. The misinformation effect has been challenged in terms of whether it is the result of memory impairment of the effects of bias in the testing situation.

Study Tips for Math Homework and Math Tests

Study Tips for Math Homework and Math Tests There are several ways to study math. Some students need to use as many practice questions as possible, while other students can benefit by listening to the math lecture over and over. Find out which math tips help you most. Study Tips for Math at Home Make photocopies of textbook problems. Math books give you sample problems to solve, but they often dont give you enough similar problems to help you understand a process. You can photocopy or scan a page with good samples and re-work the problems several times, perhaps once a day. By solving the same problems over and over, youll better understand the processes that you go through.Buy used textbooks.  Sometimes we dont understand a concept because the explanation is just plain bad or its not written in a way we can understand. Its good to have an alternate text that gives alternate explanations and additional sample problems to work out. Many used bookstores will have inexpensive texts.Study actively.  Dont just work out a problem. Draw pictures and diagrams of a process and make up stories to go along with them. If you are an auditory learner you may want to make brief recordings of yourself defining some terms or processes. Read about helpful​ tactile learning tips  a nd  visual learning tips. Read actively.  Use sticky note flags to mark important things in your chapter or things you need to ask about in class. If you have a sample problem that youve worked out and youd like to have similar problems for additional practice, mark it with a flag and ask the teacher in class. Read the end of your assigned chapter first. Take a look at the problems youll be solving to get a preview of your goals. This gives your brain a framework to work with.Make flashcards for terms.  Flashcards are good for visual and tactile learners. They reinforce information as you see it and as you create it with your own hand.Use college prep study guides.  If you cant find an old textbook to use in addition to your class text, try using an SAT, ACT, or CLEP study guide. They often provide great explanations and sample problems. You can also find free online study guides for these tests.Take breaks.  If you come across a problem that you dont understand, read it over a few times and try- but then walk away from it and make a sandwich or do some other small task (not other homework). Your brain will continue to work on the problem subconsciously. Study Tips for Math in Class Review yesterdays notes before class.  In the minutes before class starts, look over notes from yesterday. Determine if there are any sample problems or concepts you should ask about.Record lectures.  If the teacher allows it, record your class. You will often find that you miss small steps in your notes or you dont quite pick up on an explanation that the teacher gives. A class recording will pick up everything. Auditory learners will really benefit from listening. Remember, just because your math class lasts 45 minutes, dont think youre going to end up with 45 minutes of lecture to listen to. Youll find that the actual talking time is about 15 minutes.Ask for extra sample problems.  Ask your teacher to solve sample problems. Thats a teachers job! Dont let a topic go by if you dont get it. Dont be shy.Draw anything the teacher draws.  If the teacher makes a drawing on the board, you should always copy it. Even if you dont think its important at the time or you dont understan d it at the time. You will! Study Tips for Math Tests Review old tests.  Old tests are the best clues to future tests. They are good for establishing a strong foundation for the newer information, but they also provide insight as to how the teacher thinks.Practice neatness.  How unfortunate would it be to miss a test question out of sloppiness? Its important to make sure you can line up problems neatly so you dont confuse yourself, and also to make sure you can tell your sevens from your ones.Find a study partner.  Youve heard it before, but its worth repeating. A study partner can test you and help you understand things you cant get on your own.Understand the process.  You sometimes hear that it doesnt matter how you come up with the right answer, just as long as you get there. This is not always true. You should always strive to understand an equation or a process.Is it logical?  As you work out a story problem, always give your answer the logic test. For example, if you are asked to find the speed of a car traveling between two distances, you are probably in trouble if your answer is 750 mph. Apply the logic test as you study so you dont repeat a faulty process during your test. xnynznx^{n} y^{n} z^{n} xn yn zn

10 Fascinating Facts About Dung Beetles

10 Fascinating Facts About Dung Beetles Is there anything cooler than a dung beetle pushing a ball of poo? We think not. But lest you disagree, please consider these 10 fascinating facts about dung beetles. 1. Dung Beetles Eat Poop Dung beetles are coprophagous insects, meaning they eat excrement of other organisms. Although not all dung beetles eat poop exclusively, they all eat feces at some point in their life. Most prefer to feed on herbivore droppings, which are largely undigested plant matter, rather than carnivore waste, which holds very little nutritional value for insects (and really, who could blame them for that preference). Recent research at the University of Nebraska suggests dung beetles may be most attracted to omnivore excrement, since it provides both nutritional value and the right amount of odor to make it easy to find. 2.  Not All Dung Beetles Roll Their Poop When you think of a dung beetle, you probably picture a beetle pushing a ball of poop along the ground. But some dung beetles don’t bother rolling neat little dung balls at all. Instead, these coprophages stay close to their fecal finds. Aphodian dung beetles (subfamily Aphodiinae) simply live within the dung they find, often cow patties, rather than investing energy in moving it. The earth-boring dung beetles (family Geotrupidae) typically tunnel below the dung pile, making a burrow which can then be easily provisioned with poop. 3. Dung Beetles Provision Their Nests With Poop for Their Offspring When dung beetles do carry or roll the dung away, they do so primarily to feed their young. Dung beetle nests are provisioned with poop, and the female usually deposits each individual egg in its own tiny dung sausage. When the larvae emerge, they are well-supplied with food, enabling them to complete their development within the safe environment of the nest. 4. Many Dung Beetles Are Good Parents Dung beetles are one of the few groups of insects that exhibit parental care for their young. In most cases, child rearing responsibilities fall on the mother (surprise!), who constructs the nest and provisions it with food for her young. But in certain species, both parents share child care duties to some degree. In the Copris and Ontophagus dung beetles, the male and female work together to dig their nests. Certain Cephalodesmius dung beetles even mate for life. 5. Most Dung Beetles Are Particular About the Poop They’ll Eat For most dung beetles, not just any poop will do. Many dung beetles specialize on the dung of particular animals, or types of animals, and simply will not touch the poo of other critters. Australians learned this lesson the hard way, when the outback was nearly buried in cattle dung. Two hundred years ago, settlers introduced horses, sheep, and cattle to Australia, all grazing animals that were new to the native dung beetles. The Australian dung beetles were raised on poop from Down Under, like kangaroo poo, and refused to clean up after the exotic newcomers. Around 1960, Australia imported exotic dung beetles that were adapted to eating cattle dung, and things got back to normal. Phew. 6. Dung Beetles Are Really Good at Finding Poop When it comes to poop, the fresher the better (at least from the dung beetles perspective). Once a dung patty has dried out, it’s less palatable to even the most dedicated poop eater. So dung beetles move quickly when an herbivore drops a gift in the pasture. One scientist observed 4,000 dung beetles on a fresh pile of elephant scat within 15 minutes after it hit the ground, and shortly thereafter, they were joined by an additional 12,000 dung beetles. With that kind of competition, you have to move quick if you’re a dung beetle. 7. Dung Beetles Navigate Using the Milky Way With so many dung beetles vying for the same pile of poop, a beetle needs to make a quick getaway once he’s rolled his dung ball. But it’s not easy to roll a ball of poop in a straight line, especially when you’re pushing your ball from behind using your hind legs. So the first thing the dung beetle does is climb atop his sphere and orient himself. Scientists had long observed dung beetles dancing on their poo balls, and suspected they were looking for cues to help them navigate. New research confirmed that at least one species of African dung beetle, Scarabaeus satyrus, uses the Milky Way as a guide to steering its dung ball home. The researchers placed tiny hats on the dung beetles, effectively blocking their view of the heavens, and found the dung beetles could only wander aimlessly without being able to see the stars. 8. Dung Beetles Use Their Poop Balls to Cool Off Have you ever walked barefoot across a sandy beach on a scorching hot summer day? If so, you probably did your share of hopping, skipping, and running to avoid painful burns to your feet. Since dung beetles often live in similarly hot, sunny places, scientists wondered if they, too, worried about burning their tootsies. A recent study showed that dung beetles use their dung balls to cool off. Around noon, when the sun is at its peak, dung beetles will routinely climb atop their dung balls to give their feet a break from the hot ground. The scientists tried putting tiny, silicone booties on the dung beetles, and they discovered the beetles wearing shoes would take fewer breaks and push their dung balls longer than the beetles that were barefoot. Thermal imaging also showed that the dung balls were measurably cooler than the surrounding environment, probably because of their moisture content. 9. Some Dung Beetles Are Surprisingly Strong Even a small ball of fresh dung can be hefty to push, weighing 50 times the weight of the determined dung beetle. Male dung beetles need exceptional strength, not just for pushing dung balls but also for fending off male competitors. The individual strength record goes to a male Onthphagus taurus dung beetle, which pulled a load equivalent to 1,141 times its own body weight. How does this compare to human feats of strength? This would be like a 150 lb. person pulling 80 tons! 10. Millions of Years Ago, Ancient Dung Beetles Cleaned up After Prehistoric Giants Because they lack bones, insects rarely show up in the fossil record. But we do know that dung beetles existed around 30 million years ago, because paleontologists have found fossilized dung balls the size of tennis balls from that time period. Prehistoric dung beetles collected the poop of South America’s megafauna: car-sized armadillos, sloths taller than modern houses, and a peculiar long-necked herbivore called Macrauchenia.

Dq-4.1-Sheila Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dq-4.1-Sheila - Coursework Example The socio-technical system is one of the new systems that are employed firms to enhance better performance among their teams of workers working at different levels globally. This system coordinates workers easily thus team work is embraced. Other improved communication channels also play a major role here. Such technologies include Blackberry phones, iPhones and android phones. This paper is going to highlight how the communication in departments and teams can be improved by these innovations. A socio-technical system is a combination of technology and the people in the society. It is an operational system that enhances the working together of all the members in the society using the available techniques (Bass, 2012). Due to this reason, most organizations and business firms employ the socio-technical systems that are easy to adopt. They use these systems to make communication an instant thing in their operations despite the distance between workers. There are various types of socio-technical systems that have been put in use by many globally operating firms (Horspool, 2011). Some of them include Skype, online chats, emails and video conferencing. All of these systems require some components to operate effectively. There are some parts that are common to all of the socio-technical systems. These parts are the software, hardware, procedures, and the people using the system (Frederiksen, 2013). In my workplace we use videoconferencing to hold some board meetings with regional managers in different parts of the world. The use of videoconferencing and Skype can be classified as socio-technical. Therefore, the socio-technical system is also in use at my work area. Knowledge workers who are dispersed to far places in the world sometimes face difficulty of communication. The socio-technical systems are some of the few opportunities available for these team members to connect without being disturbed with the distance. Due to this there is need