Critical Response- George Orwells Shooting And Elephant :: essays research papers

Basic Response Essay I class, we read a short story by George Orwell called Shooting an Elephant. It was an anecdote about mental fortitude, judgment, and the weight of companions. I for one didn't care for this story. I thought that it was exhausting, silly, and simply one more "hasn’t - this - occurred - to - you" tale about nothing. Be that as it may, it was very elegantly composed, and on the off chance that I needed to basically react to this story, I would adulate the creator on various things.      The story opens by depicting the connection between the town and himself, a kind of sub-division cop of the town. Portrayal is definetly not ailing in the opening, as words, for example, "aimless", and "petty" are utilized to depict the town, and the manner in which it treats it officials. It descriibes the sort of obliviousness the town needs to untouchables and anybody they don't "approve of". The story opens well, and explains immediately, the who, what, where, when, why and how. No inquiries are posed and all disarrays are immediately nullified.      The second section portrays clearly how he the storyteller feels about his activity decision, and his perspectives on the town. He says "†¦I was stuck between my contempt of the domain I served and my fury against the malevolence lively little brutes who attempted to make my activity impossible". The storyteller not exclusively is in a spot where he detests, yet he likewise loathes the individuals he works with, and works for! Amazing, how’d he end up there?      Basically, the story line comes to tell the story of an elephant that should be executed, on the grounds that it escaped the zoo and endagers the network. The story portrays how the principle character feels about himself and the weights of the network. A standoff peaks the storyline between the elephant and the storyteller, and the whole town is there to observe and allure the primary character. Basic Response-George Orwells Shooting And Elephant :: papers research papers Basic Response Essay I class, we read a short story by George Orwell called Shooting an Elephant. It was an anecdote about fortitude, judgment, and the weight of friends. I for one didn't care for this story. I thought that it was exhausting, inconsequential, and simply one more "hasn’t - this - occurred - to - you" tale about nothing. Be that as it may, it was very elegantly composed, and on the off chance that I needed to fundamentally react to this story, I would applaud the creator on various things.      The story opens by portraying the connection between the town and himself, a kind of sub-division cop of the town. Portrayal is definetly not ailing in the opening, as words, for example, "aimless", and "petty" are utilized to depict the town, and the manner in which it treats it officials. It descriibes the sort of obliviousness the town needs to untouchables and anybody they don't "approve of". The story opens well, and explains immediately, the who, what, where, when, why and how. No inquiries are posed and all disarrays are immediately nullified.      The second passage depicts strikingly how he the storyteller feels about his activity decision, and his perspectives on the town. He says "†¦I was stuck between my disdain of the domain I served and my fierceness against the malice energetic little monsters who attempted to make my activity impossible". The storyteller not exclusively is in a spot where he despises, yet he additionally loathes the individuals he works with, and works for! Amazing, how’d he end up there?      Basically, the story line comes to tell the story of an elephant that should be slaughtered, on the grounds that it escaped the zoo and endagers the network. The story depicts how the primary character feels about himself and the weights of the network. A confrontation peaks the storyline between the elephant and the storyteller, and the whole town is there to observe and tempt the fundamental character.

Analysis of ethical dilemma that has been addressed by a professional Essay

Examination of moral situation that has been tended to by an expert writer - Essay Example Why? c. What was the impact of the choice on the people in question and on the network when all is said in done? What might have been the impact of an alternate decision in tending to this moral choice? d. Are there any significant laws that affected the journalist’s choice? Provided that this is true, what does the law state, and how could it influence the choice? Are there any legitimate ramifications to the choice? Moral Dilemma Addressed by a Professional Journalist Chosen Report The report picked to be dissected for this paper is entitled â€Å"The kid with an intermediary heart: extraordinary issues with adolescents are newsmakers† composed by Richard Paxson (2011). Case realities uncovered the narrative of a multi year old kid, Jody Collins, who incidentally caused the passing of a classmate when punched at the back. Evidently, the classmate, named Justin Charlie, was accounted for to have had a â€Å"plastic valve sewn into his heart a month prior to fix a birt h deformity. At the point when Jody hit Charlie, the blow tore out fastens holding the valve in the aorta, as indicated by the post-mortem examination report. Charlie’s heart halted beating† (Paxson, 2011, standard. 3). Columnist Nick Lamberto researched the realities behind the occurrence by seeking after Jody at his home and meeting him without looking for earlier assent from a grown-up. Ensuing news reports have distinguished Jody when he was accused of automatic murder and attack. Compounding an already painful situation, Jody, who was recently distinguished as a casualty to a sexual maltreatment and affirmed in court during the uncle’s (perpetuator’s) preliminary, was simultaneously revealed and sensationalized. a. What is the moral issue or problem? The moral issue introduced in the article incorporated infringement of security, giving educated assent, abilities of kids, ecological and social setting, among others. Protection issues have been obvious ly characterized by the reporter’s legal advisors, particularly in cases including adolescents who have purportedly carried out some criminal offense however has not been charged as of the date of booked report. What's more, there were arrangements against naming sexual maltreatment casualties to shield the character and exonerate them from social shame. The moral issue of getting assent from grown-ups, not from the kids, was in like manner disregarded by the revealed. The subject of looking for agree ends up being disputable as far as who the writers should look for assent from notwithstanding the youngsters themselves, the subject of skill is increasingly questionable because of the age by which fitness in kids is conceded to. For this situation, regardless of the clear expectation of Jody to look for the nearness and assent from his stepfather, the detailed dismissed the moral commitment to look for assent from the grown-up and continued on talking Jody alone. Ability was obviously delineated by Alderson (1995) as having 3 attributes: getting, knowledge, and opportunity. At 14 years old, Jody is as yet thought to be an adolescent and all things considered, fitness is still undermined. Moral issues of the earth and society were prominent through the weights and activities showed by neighbors, indeed: â€Å"eggs as of now had been hurled at his home and at a van he was riding in† (Paxson, 2011, standard. 17). Likewise remarks from Jody’s neighbors have as far as anyone knows validated the boy’s brutal and forceful conduct; apparently legitimizing and defending the reporter’s goal to distribute his character. What decisions did the writer have when giving an account of the issue, and for what reason did the individual choose the manner in which the individual in question did?

Avoiding Payday Loans How to Deal With a Bounced Paycheck

Avoiding Payday Loans How to Deal With a Bounced Paycheck Avoiding Payday Loans: How to Deal With a Bounced Paycheck Avoiding Payday Loans: How to Deal With a Bounced PaycheckCan a paycheck bounce? Unfortunately, yep. It does happen.If your paycheck bounces or your employer is late with a payment, it can mean financial disaster. Here are the steps you can take to fix the situation, as well as savings strategies to make sure you have the funds to make it through.If you’re one of the millions living paycheck-to-paycheck, then what would you do if your next paycheck happened to, well, just not show up. Or worse, it does show up, but when you go to cash it, you get the four worst words in the English language: “Transaction Failed, Insufficient Funds.”What are you going to do now? Do you have enough money in your savings account to deal with a delayed paycheck?If you don’t know the answers to these questions, don’t worry. There’s no need for you to run over to your local payday lender and take out a short-term, high-interest loan that’ll put you in an even deeper financial hole.Instead, ju st keep reading.1. Talk to your employerNothing shakes your faith in the American enterprise system like a bounced paycheck,” says Howard Dvorkin (@HowardDvorkin), CPA and Chairman of Debt.com (@debtcom).“It happens most often in small businesses, and many times, it’s not only unintentional, the employer is rightfully embarrassed as hell.”Dvorkin says that your first step should be to “call your employer and politely inquire. You just might get a horrified apology because someone forgot to do something important.”According to Roslyn Lash (@RosLash), an Accredited Financial Counselor and the founder of Youth Smart Financial Education Services, you should want to “make sure that the money wasnt incorrectly transferred or some type of computer glitch.”“Therefore,” she says, “you need to call your employer and explain the situation and inquire about a reissue date.”2. Start a Paper TrailIf your bounced paycheck does turn out to be a simple error, then you’ll pr obably be fine. But if it’s something elseâ€"if your employer is maybe up to somethingâ€"then you’re going to need documentation. You’ll need to not only document your lack of a paycheck, but your efforts to resolve the issue.“If you contact your employer and you get an attitude, start a paper trail,” says Dvorkin. “Get a copy of the returned check, and keep copies showing if you had to pay overdraft fees.”According to Lash, when people with a bounced paycheck contact their employer, they should “be sure to document the name, location of the representative that they speak with. This will be the beginning of the paper trail,” she says. “From this point forward, every conversation and everything and I mean everything should be documented.”3. Call Your BankMost people plan their bill payments around their paycheck. But when a paycheck bounces, that plan has got to change.Contact your bank to have all drafted automatic payments from your account canceled.” says L ash.   “Explain the situation to the bank representative and request proof that your paycheck was not deposited into your account.”“Any documentation that they can provide proofing that the employer had insufficient funds or that the check bounced would be helpful,” she says.Lash also recommends that “if you have an emergency savings, transfer some funds into this account to cover any outstanding bills.”“Ask your lender if there are any provisions made for NSF fees that you may incur,” she says.4. Contact your creditorsPeople tend to think that lenders are totally inflexible when it comes to your payments. And while it’s true that most lenders aren’t pushovers, and they don’t like it when people are constantly calling in about insufficient funds, they do understand that (and this a very technical banking term) “stuff happens.” The same goes for utility companies.Lash says that you should call your lenders and “Advise them of the situation and request a pa yment date change.”“Explain that you expect to be paid by date (whatever date that the employer advised you) but you will keep them abreast of any changes.”If you have already incurred a delinquent fee, she adds, “request a courtesy removal.”5. If you need to, then lawyer upIn cases where you aren’t able to get the situation resolved immediately, then you’re probably going to need an attorney. (Also: a new job.)Lawyers can be expensive. For someone with a low-income, especially someone who’s now not even receiving that income, a traditional lawyer might be out of the price range.This is is why both Lash and Dvorkin recommends contacting your local Legal Aid office. If you qualify for free legal aid, they should be able to set you up with a lawyer.“Meanwhile, if you want to get your employer’s attention, report him to the Department of Labor in your state,” says Dvorkin. “There are laws about these things, and you can file a complaint.”Try These Savings Stra tegiesOf course, if you aren’t able to get your paycheck issue resolved quickly, then you’re still going to need money. Even if you are able to find another job, it’ll probably be a few weeks before your paid. In the meantime, how are you gonna eat?This is where a payday loan might start looking like a pretty good option. But stay away. The extremely high APRs and the short repayment terms can all too easily lead to you rolling the loan over instead of paying it off on time. That’s how the dangerous cycle of debt begins.Instead, the best way to manage this situation is to have money in your savings. This way, you can bridge the gap without having to pay any additional fees or interest.Saving money does take some extra work and disciplineâ€"especially if you’re someone with a low-income, but there are definitely ways you can make it work.Kendal Perez (@HassleFreeSaver)is the Savings Expert for CouponSherpa.com (@CouponSherpa). Here are some of her tips for building your sav ingsHack your recurring expenses: “The most effective way to build your savings or emergency fund is to reduce your monthly payments and direct the difference to your savings accounts. Its a good idea to regularly review these expenses anyway to ensure youre not overpaying. Good candidates for review include cable TV and internet bills, mobile plans, auto insurance policies, and subscriptions. You can opt to swap your cable TV for a Netflix and/or Hulu subscription; decrease your data plan based on usage; increase the deductible on your auto insurance policies to drop your monthly premium, and review the subscriptions you pay for and start making cuts. You can also use a service called Trim to review and cancel unused subscriptions on your behalf.”Limit your splurges: “If youre prone to buying coffee or dining out for lunch each week, start cutting back on these treats and deposit what you save into your emergency fund. Cutting out these purchases entirely may lead to burnout, so select a day or two during the week or month to treat yourself. Limiting your splurges to Fridays and paydays only, for example, strikes a nice balance between enjoying your money now and saving for the future.”Automate your savings: “Paying yourself first means placing a priority on your financial wellness and security. This can be accomplished by setting up an automatic transfer of funds between checking and savings every time you receive a paycheck, or at any increment you choose. You can also use a tool like Digit which reviews your daily spending and makes small, incremental transfers from your checking to an online, FDIC-insured account.”Sell your stuff: “While reducing your spending and saving money is an important part of building an emergency fund, so too is adding to your income. Tis the season to spring clean and declutter, so consider selling your stuff at a garage sale, or through Craigslist or Facebook community groups, and deposit your profits into savings .”Attempt a no-spend challenge: “The more adventurous savers can try a no-spend challenge, whereby you try to purchase nothing for a certain period of time (one week, one month or even one year). The money you save by limiting your spending can go toward building your emergency fund.”Hopefully, you will never have to deal with a bounced paycheck. But if you do, follow these steps and you’ll weather the storm just fine.Have your own tips for dealing with bounced paycheck (and avoiding dangerous payday or bad credit loans)? Let us know! You can find us on Twitter at  @OppLoans.Visit OppLoans on YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedINContributorsHoward S. Dvorkin  (@HowardDvorkin)    is a  two-time author, personal finance expert, community service champion and Chairman of Debt.com  (@debtcom). As  one of the most highly regarded debt and credit expert in the United States and has played an instrumental role in drafting both State and Federal Legislation.  Howard’s latest boo k “Power Up: Taking Charge of Your Financial Destiny” provides consumers with the detailed tools that they need to live debt free and regain their financial freedom. Howard has appeared as a finance expert on CBS Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, The Early Show, Fox News, and CNN.Roslyn Lash  (@RosLash) is an Accredited Financial Counselor and the founder of Youth Smart Financial Education Services.  She specializes in youth financial education, adult coaching and works virtually with adults helping them navigate through their personal finances i.e. budgeting, debt, and credit repair.  Her advice has been featured in national publications such as USA Today, TIME, Huffington Post, NASDAQ, Los Angeles Times, and a host of other media outlets.Kendal Perez is the Savings Expert for CouponSherpa.com  (@CouponSherpa), a popular source for online, in-store and grocery coupons. Her money-saving tips are often featured on Bankrate, GOBankingRates, US News World Report, Wisebread a nd more. Kendal can be found on Twitter  @HassleFreeSaver.

Can a National Sales Tax Replace Income Taxes in the U.S.

Tax time is never a pleasant experience for any American. Collectively, millions and millions of hours are spent filling out forms and trying to decipher arcane instructions and tax regulations. By filling out these forms and perhaps even sending an additional check to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), we become painfully aware of how much money we actually put into federal coffers each year. This heightened awareness generally causes a flood of proposals on how to improve the way governments collect funds. The Fair Tax Act of 2003 was one such proposal. The Fair Tax Act of 2003 Back in 2003, a group known as Americans for Fair Taxation proposed replacing the United States income tax system with a national sales tax. Representative John Linder of Georgia even went as far as to sponsor a bill known as the the Fair Tax Act of 2003, which ended with fifty-four other co-sponsors.  The acts stated aim was to: â€Å"To promote freedom, fairness and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the states. A fellow About.com expert, Robert Longley, wrote an interesting summary of the Fair Tax proposal  that is worth checking out. Though the Fair Tax Act of 2003 ultimately did not pass, the questions raised by its presentation and the underlying concepts of the move from an income tax to a national sales tax still remain a highly discussed topic in the economic and political arenas. Proposal for a National Sales Tax The core idea of the Fair Tax Act of 2003, the idea to replace the income tax with a sales tax, is not a new one. Federal sales taxes are widely used in other countries around the world, and given the low tax burden compared to Canada and Europe, it is at least plausible that the federal government could obtain enough revenue from a sales tax in order to completely replace federal income taxes. The Fair Tax movement represented by the 2003 act proposed a scheme in which the Internal Revenue Code would be amended to repeal subtitle A, subtitle B, and subtitle C, or income, estate and gift, and employment taxes respectively. The proposal called for these three areas of the tax code to be revoked in favor of  a 23% national sales tax. It is not difficult to see the appeal of such a system. Since all taxes would be collected by businesses, there would be no need for private citizens to fill out tax forms. We could abolish the IRS! And most states already collect sales taxes, so a federal sales tax could be collected by the states, thus reducing administrative costs. There are a lot of apparent benefits to such a change. But in order to properly analyze such a large change to the American tax system, there are three questions we must ask : What impact will the change have on consumer spending and the economy?Who wins and who loses under a national sales tax?Is such a scheme even feasible? We will examine each question over the next four sections. One of the largest effects a move  to a national sales tax system would have is to change peoples working and  consumption behavior. People respond to incentives, and tax policies change the incentives people have to work and to consume. It is unclear if replacing an income tax with a sales tax would cause consumption within the United States to rise or fall. There will be two primary and opposing forces at play: 1. The Effect on Income Because income would no longer be taxed under a national sales tax system like FairTax, the incentives to work would change. One consideration would be the impact on a workers approach to overtime hours. Many workers can choose the amount of overtime they work. Take, for example, someone who would make an extra $25 if he worked an hour of overtime. If his marginal income tax rate for that extra hour of work is 40% under our current income tax code, he would only take home $15 out of the $25 as $10 would go toward his income taxes. If income taxes are eliminated, he would get to keep the whole $25. If an hour of free time is worth $20, then he would work the extra hour under the sales tax plan, but not work it under the income tax plan. So a change to a national sales tax plan reduces the disincentives to work, and workers as a whole would likely end up working and earning more. Many economists argue that when workers earn more, theyll also spend more. So the effect on income suggests that the FairTax plan could cause consumption to increase. 2. Changes in Spending Patterns It goes without saying that people dont like paying taxes if they dont have to. If there is a large sales tax on purchasing goods, we should expect people to spend less money on those goods. This could be accomplished in several ways: Spending less and saving more. Of course, todays savings are likely to be used for tomorrows consumption, so consumers may just be delaying the inevitable. But workers may still wish to save more now as opposed to spend, as they may believe the sales tax will not last forever or they may plan on finding other ways to avoid the tax in the future.Spending money outside of the United States. Currently if consumers wish to spend their money cross-border shopping in Canada or on a vacation in the Caribbean, they have already been taxed by the Federal government on that money at the income level. Under a sales tax scheme, they can spend their earnings outside the country and not be taxed on any of it, unless they bring enough goods back into the United States. So we should expect to see more money spent on vacations and outside of the United States, and less money spent domestically within the United States.Spending in a manner that evades taxes. If there is an easy way to evade taxes, it is highly likely that a large number of people will exploit it. One way to evade a national sales tax would be to claim your spending as a business expense, even if it is a purchase for personal use. Goods which are used in production, known as intermediate goods, are generally not subject to a regular sales tax. The government could close this loophole by making the sales tax a Value Added Tax (VAT) like the Canadian Goods and Services Tax (GST). But VATs and GSTs are rather unpopular with the business community, as they raise the costs of production, so it is unlikely the U.S. would want to embark on this path. With a high sales tax rate, tax evasion will be prevalent, so this effect will cause a decrease in spending on taxed goods. Overall, it is not clear whether consumer spending would increase or decrease. But there are still conclusions we can draw on what effect this will have on different parts of the economy. We saw in the previous section that a simple analysis cannot help us determine what would happen to consumer spending were a national sales tax system like the one proposed by the FairTax movement be implemented in the United States. From that analysis, however, we can see that a change to a national sales tax is likely to influence the following macroeconomic variables: Production would likely rise as marginal income tax rates fall to zero, which induces people to work extra hours.Take home income would rise as people are not taxed on income and presumably may work extra hours.Consumer spending within the United States may or may not rise.Saving and spending abroad would likely increase, which would cause:A weakening of the U.S. dollar as Americans who want to buy foreign goods will need to exchange their U.S. dollars for foreign currency. We should expect to see the U.S. dollar become less valuable relative to other currencies, particularly the Canadian dollar.The price of investment goods such as bonds may rise as people wish to save more, so interest rates would fall.The after-tax price of consumer goods would go up due to the new sales tax. The pre-tax price of consumer goods, on the other hand, would be more likely to fall since increased productivity would cause an increase in the supply of goods. We have seen that we cannot be sure whether or not there would be an increase or decrease in demand for consumer goods purchased within the United States. The price of these consumer goods would increase, but not by the full amount caused by the tax increase.The price of goods outside of the United States (particularly in Canada) would likely increase because of this increased demand. Cities such as Windsor, Ontario should expect to see even more American visitors than they do already. It is important to note, however, that not all consumers would be affected equally by these changes. Well next look at who will lose and who will win under a national sales tax. Changes in government policy never affects everybody equally and not all consumers would be affected equally by these changes. Lets take a look at who would win under a national sales tax system and who would lose. Americans for Fair Taxation estimates that the typical American family will be over 10% better off than they currently are under the income tax system. But even if you were to share the same sentiment as Americans for Fair Taxation, it is clear that all individuals and American households are typical, so some would benefit more than others and, of course, some would benefit less. Who Might Lose Under a National Sales Tax? Seniors. People do not earn income at a steady rate during their lifetime. The bulk of most peoples earnings occurs before the age of 65. People over the age of 65 have vastly reduced incomes and typically live off the savings they earned while employed in addition to programs like Social Security. A switch to a national sales tax would, in effect, result in taxing much of that money twice. These individuals would have already paid a lifetime of income taxes and would now be living off of a mix of previously taxed and tax-deferred savings. Under a new national sales tax system, the previously taxed savings would essentially be subject to tax again when used for purchases. Unless special consideration is given to the current generation of seniors, they would end up paying a disproportionate share of taxes. The Poor. Generally under the current system, the working poor pay very little (if any) income tax. But everyone needs to consume to survive. The poor would get hit twice under suc h a scheme. While currently the poor pay very little tax, under the new system they would have to pay taxes on their consumption, so their total tax bill would rise dramatically. The poor also spend a larger proportion of their total income on consumption goods to survive, so they would ultimately pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than wealthier individuals. The FairTax advocates realize this, so their plan includes sending each American family a rebate or pre-bate check each month to cover the necessities of life. The size of the checks would be designed such that a family right at the poverty line would not pay a cent in taxes. Of course, the higher the allowance made for the poor, the higher the tax rate everyone else will pay in order to cover federal spending.Economist William G. Gale at the Brookings Institute has determined that most low income families would still pay more taxes under a national sales tax system, stating, Under the Americans for Fair Taxation proposal, taxes would rise for households in the bottom 90 percent of the income distribution, while households in the top 1 percent would receive an average tax cut of over $75,000. Families.  The current American income tax offers all sorts of deductions for small families such as earned income credits and child care credits. Under a national sales tax system, these would disappear with the elimination of the income tax. A sales tax, other than for purposes of the rebate, would not distinguish between families and individuals. Gale states that the enactment of a broad-based, flat-rate consumption tax like the sales tax ... would hurt families with incomes less than $200,000, because of the loss of tax preferences, but would help families with income above $200,000, due to the dramatic reduction in the top tax rate. Given that the rebates in the current proposal would be given based on proximity to the poverty line, this is not surprising. IRS Employees and Income Tax Lawyers. Pa rt of the appeal of the proposal is that it will make the IRS irrelevant, which would eliminate the need for jobs in these industries, while likely not creating enough or any new opportunities for these displaced workers. Having looked at those groups who would likely lose under a national sales tax system such as the one proposed by the FairTax movement, we will now examine those who would benefit most. Who Might Win Under a National Sales Tax? People who are inclined to save. A consumption tax can be avoided by not consuming. So it makes sense that people who do not consume a lot will benefit from the plan. Gale admits that there are savings for a large portion of the population, stating that if households are classified by consumption level, a somewhat different pattern emerges. Households in the bottom two-thirds of the distribution would pay less than [they do] currently, [while] households in the top third would pay more. Still households at the very top would pay much less, again receiving a tax cut of about $75,000.People who can shop in other countries.  This group includes people who take a lot of  overseas vacations and Americans living near either the Canadian or Mexican border who can do their shopping in those countries to avoid American sales taxes.People who own businesses.  The sales tax will only be charged on goods bought by individuals, not by firms. Owning a business would give an individual an adv antage as goods could be purchased free of sales tax if they are claimed as business expenses.The wealthiest one percent.  As stated previously, this group would likely see an average tax cut of $75,000 per person. National Sales Tax Conclusions Like the flat tax proposal before it, FairTax was an interesting proposal to solve the issues of an overly complex system. While implementation of a FairTax system would have several positive (and a few negative) consequences for the economy, groups that lose under the system would certainly make their opposition known and those concerns would need to be addressed explicitly. Despite the fact that the 2003 act did not pass in Congress, the underlying concept remains an interesting idea worth discussing.

Intel Case Study Of Intel - 1280 Words

Intel Case Study In the case study of Intel, as noted by Palmer, Dunford, Akin, C. R. Barrett, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Intel was half-way through a six-year tenure. As CEO, Barrett implemented a number of changes to the organization and experienced many unforeseen environmental pressures. Barrett wanted to make a lasting impact upon the organization, as his/her processors had done, and worked hard to keep the company competitive and profitable during a time when technology companies were significantly struggling or outright failing. According to Dedrick, Gurbaxani, Kraemer, in the mid-2000, IT investment decreased due to sluggish financial growth, and the collapse of many Internet-related companies (2003). Barrett managed to†¦show more content†¦Too much organizational change, as displayed by Barrett, can create an environment of uncertainty and damage the likelihood for success. As noted by Palmer, et al., the implementation of a new culture can lead to conflict...and can be an i nfluence in failure or success (2009). Environmental Pressures In addition to the various changes Intel went through, there were also many environmental pressures such as fashion, geopolitical, market decline, hypercompetition, and reputation and credibility pressures placed upon the company. As noted above, the change in organizational culture and restructure can be considered fashion pressures, and the weak demand in the semiconductor industry can be associated with pressure of a market decline. Also, Intel had to deal with a number of geopolitical pressures such as the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and the resulting threat of war, as well as a sluggish national economy (Palmer, et al., 2009). Intel adapted by realigning its resources in an effort to capitalize the strength of its workforce in an effort to remain competitive. 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Intel was always the pioneer in inventing and enhancing the DRAM with respect to the price and performance,Read MoreIntel Case Study Essay3886 Words   |  16 PagesBusiness and Entrepreneurship Technology and Innovation Management Case Study of Intel Corporation Team Members Prasanna Pavuluri Fergus Hanley Mazin Daghistani Student ID D14124072 C09491082 D14124910 Date of Submission: 26 November 2014 1 Table of Contents (1)Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3 (1.1) History of Intel ..............................................................Read MoreCase Study: Amd vs. Intel1549 Words   |  7 PagesCASE STUDY 1 AMD vs. INTEL Group 4 Fariba Ma’soomeh Hadi Ahmad Salman 21. 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The Pentium was the result of constant innovation and expensive research and development and yet was accused as being defective in solving particular mathematical calculations. The primary question facing Intel was whether or not to recallRead MoreIntel in China Case Study Essay833 Words   |  4 PagesThe Intel in China case presents a valid issue. But deep beneath the surface, this case has many other issues associated with the one presented. At the surface it is evident that Li is an emotional worker who puts his whole hearted effort into his job. This presents a challenge for any manager because of the emotional attachment that the employee presents. But the question is whether it is just Li that feels this way in the organization. Perhaps, this behavior stems from other organizational issuesRead MoreCase Study - Intel This is a strategic management case3101 Words   |  13 PagesKEY DRIVERS What drove Intel? Craig Barrett, appointed executive vice president in January 1990, believes that the world changes and the centre of gravity shifts. We need to shift with it. . Intel recognises the need for continually analysing and reviewing its strategies in order to meet the changes and challenges that come from the external environments so as to meet the stakeholders expectations. Intel strives for business renewal and revitalisation as a way of dealing effectively with the

Compare Human Brain and the Computer Free Essays

Over the past years we have seen how computers are becoming more and more advance, challenging the abilities of the human brain. We have seen computers doing complex assignments like launching of a rocket or analysis from outer space. But the human brain is responsible for, thought, feelings, creativity, and other qualities that make us humans. We will write a custom essay sample on Compare Human Brain and the Computer or any similar topic only for you Order Now So the brain has to be more complex and more complete than any computer. Besides if the brain created the computer, the computer cannot be better than the brain. There are many differences between the human brain and the computer, for example, the capacity to learn new things. Even the most advance computer can never learn like a human does. While we might be able to install new information onto a computer it can never learn new material by itself. Also computers are limited to what they â€Å"learn†, depending on the memory left or space in the hard disk not like the human brain which is constantly learning everyday. Computers can neither make judgments on what they are â€Å"learning† or disagree with the new material. They must accept into their memory what it’s being programmed onto them. Besides everything that is found in a computer is based on what the human brain has acquired though experience. Another difference between the human brain and the computer is, the creativity of the human brain. For instance humans can create art, act in plays, or write stories and songs but computers can only help us in these activities not come up with them. While computers can help us solve math problems and find answers to certain questions it can never think of new solutions until they have been programmed into them. Furthermore computers cannot create new games or produce anything they desire like humans. In fact, the human brain is the one who comes up with new ideas or theories not taught before. But in a computer, everything that is there has being taught out by the human brain. Although the computer brain and the human brain have many differences they also have a couple similarities. Both can increase their memory storage capacity. Computer memory grows by adding computer chips. Memories in the brain grow by stronger synaptic connections. Both computers and brain have repair and â€Å"backup† systems. The brain has â€Å"built-in back up systems† in some cases. If one pathway in the brain is damaged, there is often another pathway that will take over this function of the damaged pathway. Both can degrade. Computers break down and brain cells deteriorate. Like all machinery, computers break down with time. Brains also deteriorate with age, losing their functions and slowing down because of lower counts of chemicals and hormones. Both are used for storage of information, to process information and to run tasks. In terms of the functions, both are used for mathematical calculations, carrying out complex algorithms and to storing of crucial information. Counting all the similarities and differences of the brain and the computer brain, you would now see that the computer and the brain do have somethings in common, but in many more ways they are actually more different than they are similar. How to cite Compare Human Brain and the Computer, Essay examples

Redhat Cluster Suite free essay sample

RedHat Cluster Suite For creation of GFS file system . # ccs_tool create testcluster # System-config-cluster First we need to add nodes as given below . [pic] We need to add the fencing device for the as given below . [pic] Save the setup [pic] Move the configuration to the other node . # scp /etc/cluster/cluster. conf 192. 168. 1. 5:/etc/cluster/cluster. conf /etc/cluster/cluster. conf cluster conf file looks like this . [[emailprotected] ~]# cat /etc/cluster/cluster. conf [[emailprotected] ~]# Execute # CCS_tool lsnode For seeing the number nodes . [pic] # ccs_tool lsfence [pic] You are ready to proceed with starting up the following daemons on all the nodes in the cluster, once you either copied over the configs or re ran the same commands above on the other 2 nodes /etc/init. d/cman start /etc/init. d/rgmanager start You can now check the status of your cluster by running the commands below clustat cman_tool status Before we start to create the LVM2 volumes and Proceed to GFS2, we will need to enable clustering in LVM2. We will write a custom essay sample on Redhat Cluster Suite or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page lvmconf enable-cluster Now it is time to create the LVM2 Volumes pvcreate /dev/dm-6 this is show an error force them with ff option . vgcreate -c y /dev/sdb t will create clustered volume group but it will say clustered volume group isn’t supported . igmore the error . lvcreate -n testvglvm01 -L 5G testvg we need to create start the lv and start the clvmd daemon on both server . /etc/init. d/clvmd start [pic] mkfs -t -p -t ClusterName: -j # mkfs -t gfs2 -p lock_dlm -t testcluster:testpv -j 2 /dev/testvg/testvglvm01 # mount /dev/testvg/testvglvm01 /opt/testmount On both server # echo â€Å"/dev/testvg/testvglvm01 / opt/testmount gfs2 defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0 0 /etc/fstab Server Application users should have same UID which are accessing the Storage LUN.

Fundamentals to writing a good essay

Fundamentals to writing a good essay Introduction Essay writing is a major concept practiced in high schools, colleges and universities, regardless of the course that one is undertaking. Unlike creative writing, which can take any format, it is worth noting that essay writing has a method that has to be followed, especially for academic reasons. This paper explores the method of writing a good essay, with special focus on the format and main ideas that have to be considered during this type of writing.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Fundamentals to writing a good essay specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Fundamentals to writing a good essay While most people know that essays usually have an introduction, body, and conclusion, less emphasis is put on balancing the three components in actual writing. Oftentimes, most experts recommend that introduction, body, and conclusion should represent 10%, 80%, and 10% respectively (Helpsheet 2). Essays, which do not adhere to this rule, are likely to score low marks, since it is considered as the basic structure of any academic essay. Secondly, the introduction of an essay depends on the research questions or the topic of research being considered. In general, the topic gives direction on how ideas are organized in the essay, and may take varied approaches. At this point, one may choose to turn the research topic into a question, as a way of introducing the essay (Langley 3). Additionally, a good essay narrows its scope to limited issues, since not everything can be covered in a single essay. In other words, it is important to state what to be covered, areas under consideration, and possible comparisons, in order to give the reader a clear picture of the content of the essay. Importantly, this method allows the writer to draw information from different disciplines, as a way of collecting enough materials to educate the reader, rather than reproducing other people’s ideas (Helpsheet 3). T his also makes the essay authentic and interesting to read, as one’s view of the topic is widened through different ideas. In this line of thought, excellent essays are neither too general nor too specific. When the method is too general, it becomes hard for one to plan in terms of how to start, the content, and the final direction of the essay. On the other hand, too specific essays may lack enough materials, thus remaining shallow and boring to the reader. For this reason, a good essay balances the scope of the research with the reader in mind. Besides having focused research questions and a plan of the essay, it is important for the writer to select a topic, which captures the entire area of study. This is to say that, the reader should be eager to know the content of the essay as depicted by the title. A good title can be in form of a question, a statement, or a combination of the two.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get yo ur first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Notably, there has to be a direct link between the title of research and the content of the essay. Another important component of a good essay is a thesis statement, which states the position taken by the writer. This gives direction to the reader throughout the essay, as it forms the basis of all arguments presented. A thesis can also be a point of view taken by different authors on a given topic of research. Conclusion Above all, a good essay has a conclusion, which summarizes the ideas discussed, thus giving it a smooth flow that allows easy understanding. The three elements ensure the transition of ideas as the reader is able to tell the direction of the essay. Helpsheet. Essay Writing Basics. The University of Melbourne, 2010. Web. Langley, Lester. The Basics of Good Writing. SUNY Rockland Community College, 2006. Web.

Weird Naked Mole Rat Facts (Heterocephalus glaber)

Weird Naked Mole Rat Facts (Heterocephalus glaber) Every species of animal has its unique traits. However, some of the characteristics of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) are quirky bordering on downright weird. Some people think the rats unique physiology could be studied to unlock immortality or find a way to prevent cancer. Whether or not this is true remains to be seen, but one thing is certain. The mole rat is an unusual creature. Fast Facts: Naked Mole Rat Scientific Name: Heterocephalus glaberCommon Names: Naked mole rat, sand puppy, desert mole ratBasic Animal Group: MammalSize: 3-4 inchesWeight: 1.1-1.2 ouncesLifespan: 32 yearsDiet: HerbivoreHabitat: East Africa grasslandsPopulation: StableConservation Status: Least Concern Description The naked mole rat queen is larger than the other rats within a colony. Geoff Brightling / Getty Images Its easy to recognize the naked mole rat by its buck-teeth and wrinkled skin. The rats body is adapted for life underground. Its protruding teeth are used for digging and its lips seal behind its teeth, to prevent the animal from eating dirt while burrowing. While the rat isnt blind, its eyes are small, with poor visual acuity. The naked mole rats legs are short and thin, but the rat can move forward and backward with equal ease. The rats arent completely bald, but they have little hair and lack an insulating fat layer beneath the skin. The average rat is 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) in length and weighs 30 to 35 g (1.1 to 1.2 oz). Females are larger and heavier than males. Diet The rodents are herbivores, feeding primarily on large tubers. One large tuber can sustain a colony for months or years. The rats eat the interior of the tuber, but leave enough for the plant to regenerate. Naked mole rats sometimes eat their own feces, although this may be a social behavior rather than  a source of nutrition. Naked mole rats are preyed upon by snakes and raptors. The Only Cold-Blooded Mammal A naked mole rat would feel cool to the touch. Karen Tweedy-Holmes / Getty Images Human, cats, dogs, and even egg-laying platypuses are warm-blooded. As a rule, mammals are thermoregulators, able to maintain body temperature despite external conditions. The naked mole rat is the one exception to the rule. Naked mole rats are cold-blooded or thermoconformers. When a naked mole rat is too hot, it moves to a deeper, cooler part of its burrow. When its too cold, the rat either moves to a sun-warmed location or huddles with its pals. Adaptation to Oxygen Deprivation Humans cant live very long without air. Dimitri Otis / Getty Images Human brain cells start to die within 60 seconds without oxygen. Permanent brain damage typically sets in after three minutes. In contrast, naked mole rats can survive 18 minutes in an oxygen-free environment without suffering any harm. When deprived of oxygen, the rats metabolism slows and it uses anaerobic glycolysis of fructose to make lactic acid to supply its cells with energy. Naked mole rats can live in an atmosphere of 80 percent carbon dioxide and 20 percent oxygen. Humans would die from carbon dioxide poisoning under these conditions. Habitat and Distribution The rats are native to the dry grasslands of East Africa, where they live in colonies of 20 to 300 individuals. Reproduction and Social Behavior Naked mole rats and other mole rats form colonies, much like bees and ants. Kerstin Klaassen / Getty Images What do bees, ants, and mole rats have in common? All are eusocial animals. This means they live in colonies that have overlapping generations, division of labor, and cooperative brood care. As in insect colonies, naked mole rats have a caste system. A colony has one female (queen) and one to three males, while the rest of the rats are sterile workers. The queen and males begin breeding at one year of age. The hormones and ovaries of worker females are suppressed, so if the queen dies, one of them can take over for her. The queen and the males maintain a relationship for several years. Naked mole rat gestation is 70 days, producing a litter ranging from 3 to 29 pups. In the wild, naked mole rats breed once a year, providing the litter survives. In captivity, the rats produce a litter every 80 days. The queen nurses the pups for a month. After this, smaller workers feed the pups fecal pap until they are able to eat solid food. Larger workers help to maintain the nest, but also protect the colony from attacks. Unusual Aging Process Biologically, an old naked mole rat and a young one are virtually indistinguishable. R. Andrew Odum / Getty Images While mice may live up to 3 years, naked mole rats can live up to 32 years. The queen doesnt experience menopause, but remains fertile throughout her lifespan. While naked mole rat longevity is exceptional for a rodent, its unlikely the species holds the Fountain of Youth in its genetic code. Both naked mole rats and humans have DNA repair pathways not present in mice. Another reason mole rats may outlive mice is because of their lower metabolic rate. Naked mole rats are not immortal. They die from predation and illness. However, mole rat aging does not adhere to the Gompertz law describing aging  in mammals. Research into naked mole rat longevity may help scientists unravel the mystery of the aging process. Cancer and Pain Resistance Unlike the naked mole rat, naked mice and other rodents are susceptible to tumors. littlepeggy / Getty Images While naked mole rats can catch diseases and die, they are highly resistant (not entirely immune) to tumors. Scientists have proposed multiple mechanisms for the rats remarkable cancer resistance. The naked mole rat expresses the p16 gene that prevents cells from dividing once they come in contact with other cells, the rats contain extremely high-molecular-mass hyaluronan (HMW-HA) which may protect them, and their cells have ribosomes capable of making nearly error-free proteins. The only malignancies discovered in naked mole rats were in captive-born individuals, which lived in a much more oxygenated environment than rats in the wild. Naked mole rats neither itch nor feel pain. Their skin lacks a neurotransmitter called substance P that is needed to send pain signals to the brain. Scientists believe this might be an adaptation to living in poorly ventilated species, where high levels of carbon dioxide cause acid to build up in tissues. Further, the rats dont feel temperature-related discomfort. The lack of sensitivity may be in response to the naked mole rats extreme habitat. Conservation Status The IUCN classifies the naked mole rat conservation status as least concern. Naked mole  rats are numerous within their range and are not considered to be endangered. Sources Daly, T. Joseph M.; Williams, Laura A.; Buffenstein, Rochelle. Catecholaminergic innervation of interscapular brown adipose tissue in the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Journal of Anatomy. 190 (3): 321–326, April 1997.Maree, S. and C. Faulkes. . IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesHeterocephalus glaber. Version 2008. International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2008.ORiain, M. Justin; Faulkes, Chris G. African mole rats: eusociality, relatedness and ecological constraints. In Korb, Judith; Heinze, Jà ¶rgen. Ecology of Social Evolution. Springer. pp. 207–223, 2008.Park, Thomas J.; Lu, Ying; Jà ¼ttner, Renà ©; St. J. Smith, Ewan; Hu, Jing; Brand, Antje; Wetzel, Christiane; Milenkovic, Nevena; Erdmann, Bettina; Heppenstall, Paul A.; Laurito, Charles E.; Wilson, Steven P.; Lewin, Gary R. Selective Inflammatory Pain Insensitivity in the African Naked Mole-Rat (. PLoS Biology. 6 (1): e13, 2008.Heterocephalus glaber)Thomas J. Park; et al. Fructose-driven glycolys is supports anoxia resistance in the naked mole-rat. Science. 356 (6335): 307–311. April 21, 2017.

Implant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Implant - Essay Example A 10 year prospective clinical research study by Karoussis et al (2004) evaluated the periodontal and peri-implant conditions in a cohort of 89 edentulous patients (mean age 58.9 years) in order to assess the environmental, physiological and radiographic changes in the dental implants over a long period of time post-implantation. The rationale for this clinical research study involves the need to establish reliable data relevant to the use of dental implants in patients who have had tooth extractions. These types of data are difficult to obtain since they require long term assessments of patients who have received dental implants. These longitudinal single subject studies also require recruitment of large patient cohorts and need to address physiological and environmental factors that affect long-term success rates for dental implant procedures. The study participants were evaluated at one year and again at 10 years post implantation to evaluate the changes periodontal peri-implant c onditions in individual patients. This study also incorporated an evaluation of risk factors associated with sub-optimal patient outcome post-implantation. Patients recruited in this study had previously been treated for periodontal disease and also had received prosthetic structures such as fixed partial dentures and crowns. ITI dental implant system was used in all patients enrolled in this study. Within this cohort a total of 179 implants were assessed; the same number of control natural teeth were included as a basis of comparison. In addition, all remaining teeth were examined in these patients. Patient behavioral risk factors, particularly cigarette smoking, were also evaluated in this study. The data parameters assessed in this study included plaque index (PI) for teeth and modified plaque index (MPI) for implants, gingival index (GI) for

Greece Police Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Greece Police - Essay Example This paper will analyze policing in Greece with a focus on the Hellenic police. The Hellenic Police is a government agency that was formed in 1984 with the merging of the Urban Police Forces (Astynomia Poleon) and the Gendarmerie (Chorofylaki) (Hellenic Police 2014). As would generally be expected, the agency is charged with enforcing law and order. In relation to this, the mission of the police force in Greece is to see to it that peace prevails in the country and that citizens enjoy unhindered social development. Its other mission is to interdict criminals, prevent crime, protect the state and ensure that a democratic government oversees the functioning of the state (Hellenic Police 2014). In general, the Hellenic police conduct function related to general policing and traffic safety in line with the stipulates of the constitution. The police force falls within the of the Ministry of Interior. In this respect, the Ministry directs schedules monitors and oversees the activities of the police force as noted by the Hellenic Police (2014). Figure 1 shows the logo of the Hellenic Police Force. Members of the police force are trained in line with a curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Interior. Based on the training and the functions that they are mandated to perform, members of the police force in many occasions have to bear with risks as they endeavor to prevent crime and attend to the public’s demands in different situations. The force commonly relies on advanced training, technology, and cooperation with other bodies to deal with situations that they commonly face (Interpol 2014; Hellenic Police 2014).  

Metacognitive Awareness Of Reading Strategies And Critical Reading

Metacognitive Awareness Of Reading Strategies And Critical Reading Researchers believe that awareness and monitoring of ones comprehension processes are critically important for skilled reading. Such awareness and monitoring processes are often referred to as metacognition. Recent researches show that metacognitive strategies differentiate between effective and ineffective learners i.e. the more a student knows about how he learns, the better he will learn. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability of the students. To this end, 113 third/forth year Iranian college students majoring in English translation/literature, aged around 21-36 were selected to participate in this study. They took part in a Nelson test of proficiency, and a critical reading comprehension test. They also completed a questionnaire, namely Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI). Data analysis through Pearson Correlation Coefficient formula showed that there is a significant relationship between the students metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and their critical reading ability. The findings can have implications for EFL learners and teachers in developing an authentic, interactive and learner- centered environment in their reading classes. Key words: Learning strategies, Metacognition, Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, Critical reading 1. Introduction The recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in developing critical thinking skills of students in order to improve their thinking and learning abilities and help them to succeed in their educational goals. Improving students critical thinking skills will help students: a) improve their thinking about their course work b) use sound thinking on tests, assignments, and projects in their courses c) have the strategic, analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills they need when they are at college d) have the strategic, analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills they need when they move to the workplace. The term critical thinking when used by educators has varied meanings in different contexts-whether in formal logic courses, where it has a precise meaning; when applied to arguments or in casual discussions in a faculty lounge about students struggles to grasp the course content, where the term is used more loosely to simply mean good thinking (Pierce, 2005). Before proceeding any further, an account will be provided as how critical thinking has been defined in literature: As stated by Thomson (1996), the critical thinking tradition, which derives from both philosophy and education, originates in the USA. Some of its foremost American proponents were John Dewey, Edward Glaser, and Steven Norris; in Britain, the name most closely associated with critical thinking is that of Alec Fisher. In Learning to Think: Disciplinary Perspectives (2002), Janet Donald (quoted in Keller 2008) presents a variety of approaches to thinking based on the work of different academic disciplines. She provides a working model of thinking processes in higher education in which she describes a perspective on different methods of inquiry. The working model offers a set of procedures followed by most disciplines, including: description, selection, representation, inference, synthesis, and verification. Under each topic on this inventory, then, she lists subtopics indicating their relation to the diverse inquiry methods she previously connected to academic areas. In a later summary of the most important thinking processes used generally across disciplines, she lists separately Identify the context and State assumptions, then reduces her previous set of common procedures to those of selection, representation, and synthesis. In Maclellan and Soden (2001, quoted in Keller 2008), we see the following set of critical thinking skills: a) unpacking concepts-ability to unpack or break down ideas, concepts or theories; b) recognizing contradictions-differentiating between viewpoints and counterarguments; c) development-explaining a phenomenon, joining ideas together to form lines of arguments; d) providing evidence-supporting or justifying assertions; e) examining implications of evidence-generating hypotheses about consequences or examining the relationships between key factors; f) alternative interpretation-questioning or challenging an interpretation of the evidence and offering an alternative. After the above review on what critical thinking is, now we turn to critical reading. A major issue in education today is the concern about students ability to read critically and to evaluate the material. Critical reading is taught as a sub-skill of comprehension with appropriate exercises. Critical reading enjoys several features which make it appear rooted in critical thinking. Among the features we can mention the followings listed by students counseling service of Salisbury University: a. previewing: Learning about a text before really reading it. b. contextualizing: Placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts. c. questioning to understand and remember: Asking questions about the content. d. reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal responses. e. outlining and summarizing: Identifying the main ideas and restating them in your own words. f. evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and emotional impact. g. comparing and contrasting related readings: Exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand them better. Furthermore, Burmeister (1986, qtd in Cherney 1986) defines critical-creative reading and thinking as requiring the skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. He adds that such cognitive abilities require readers or thinkers to reason using techniques of formal logic or at least to be consciously aware of the thought processes they are using. Analysis, according to Burmeister, requires the examination of parts of the whole; synthesis is the act of combining or unifying elements into a coherent whole and evaluation requires the establishment of standards and also a judgment as to the goodness of fit of the idea. Burmeister considers evaluation to be the highest level of the cognitive domain. (p.256) The researchers assume that metacognitive strategies are among the strategies which can foster critical thinking and hence reading. However, it sounds reasonable to ask why such a relationship is felt. To answer this question an attempt will be made to clarify metacognitive strategies. Sheorey and Mokhtari (2001) state that many studies recognize the role of meta-cognitive awareness in reading comprehension, whether one is reading in the native language or a second language. Indeed, the consensus view is that strategic awareness and monitoring of the comprehension process are critically important aspects of skilled reading. Such awareness and monitoring is often referred to in the literature as meta-cognition, which can be thought of as the knowledge of the readers cognition relative to the reading process and the self-control mechanisms they use to monitor and enhance comprehension. Auerbach and Paxton (1997) and Carrell et al. (1989), for example, consider meta-cognitive awareness-planning and consciously executing appropriate actions to achieve a particular goal-to be a critical element of proficient, strategic reading. Such meta-cognition, according to Auerbach and Paxton (1997), entails knowledge of strategies for processing texts, the ability to monitor compr ehension, and the ability to adjust strategies as needed (pp. 240-41). Furthermore, Taylor (1999) defines meta-cognition as an appreciation of what one already knows, together with a correct apprehension of the learning task and what knowledge and skills it requires, combined with the ability to make correct inferences about how to apply ones strategic knowledge to a particular situation, and to do so efficiently and reliably. (p.126) To increase their metacognitive abilities, students need to possess and be aware of three kinds of content knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional. Declarative knowledge is the factual information that one knows; it can be declared-spoken or written. An example is to know the formula for calculating momentum in a physics class (momentum = mass times velocity). Procedural knowledge is knowledge of how to do something, of how to perform the steps in a process; for example, knowing the mass of an object and its rate of speed and how to do the calculation. Conditional knowledge is knowledge about when to use a procedure, skill, or strategy and when not to use it; why a procedure works and under what conditions; and why one procedure is better than another. For example, students need to recognize that an exam word problem requires the calculation of momentum as part of its solution. (Paris, Cross and Lipson, 1984. qtd. in Pressley 2002). This notion of three kinds of knowledge applies to learning strategies as well as course content. When they study, students need the declarative knowledge that (1) all reading assignments are not alike; for example, that a history textbook chapter deals with factual information differs from a primary historical document, which is different from an article interpreting or analyzing that document. They need to know that stories and novels differ from arguments. Furthermore, they need to know that there are different kinds of note taking strategies useful for annotating these different types of texts. And (2) students need to know how to actually write different kinds of notes (procedural knowledge), and (3) they need to know when to apply these kinds of notes when they study (conditional knowledge). Knowledge of study strategies is among the kinds of meta-cognitive knowledge, and it too requires awareness of all three kinds of knowledge (Pierce, 2003). Many of the current studies recognize the role of awareness in reading comprehension. Reading strategies are of interest for the way readers use them to manage their interaction with the written text and how these strategies are related to text comprehension (Rigney, 1978). Reading in second language reading suggests that strategies improve reading comprehension. Reading strategies indicate how readers conceive a task, how they make sense of what they read and what they do when reading comprehension is difficult (Singhal, 2001). Indeed researchers agree that strategic awareness and monitoring of the comprehension process are critically important aspects of skilled reading. Such awareness and monitoring is often referred to in the literature as metacognition, which is used to monitor and enhance reading comprehension (Pressley and Afflerbach, 1995; Alexander and Jetton, 2000; Pressley, 2000). Recent researchers (Cohen, 1998, Anderson, 2002, Santana, 2003) show that the strategies that mark the true differences between effective and ineffective learners are the metacognitive strategies. In spite of the fact that many of the previous studies have obtained information about learners strategies and reading process, few of them have examined readers metacognitive awareness of reading strategies ( Singhal, 2001). Considering the important role of metacognitive reading strategies in reading comprehension with suspicious eye, this study is designed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness reading strategies and critical reading ability and to view the notions of meta-cognitive awareness strategies and critical reading in the same horizon. For this purpose, we also need to have references to critical thinking because, as was mentioned above, critical reading roots in critical thinking. 1. 1. Statement of the problem For the improvement of critical reading, instructors should teach a variety of strategies that research has shown to be effective, like: generating questions and answering them, writing summaries, writing elaborations and using organizing strategies. The preceding strategies already seem to have been taken into account by Iranian teachers and learners. However, a potential problem in applying the mentioned strategies in reading comprehension can be the absence of meta-cognitive awareness about them. Hence, the researcher assumes that a set of meta-cognitive strategies can strengthen the above line of activity and foster the progress of critical reading. 1. 2. Research Question Is there any significant relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability? 3. Statement of the hypothesis The null hypothesis underlying this proposal is that there is not any significant relationship between meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability. 2. Method 2. 1. Participants A community sample of 130 male and female participated in this study in the second semester of 2010 majoring in English language literature and translation in Qom Islamic Azad University. They were all in their third and forth year. These students were asked if they would volunteer to participate in the study. Out of 130 participants who completed the questionnaires and tests, about 113 participants were accepted to participate in the study. 2. 2. Measure and Procedure The researchers visited the classes to administer one questionnaire and two tests. A total of 130 students were instructed to answer the proficiency test in one session and to the critical reading test and MARSI questionnaire at a later session. Students rated the items of MARSI, using a 5-point likert-type scale ranging from 1 (I never do this) to 5 (I always do this). From this population, some students were eliminated because they had not properly completed their questionnaires. The general proficiency test (Nelson test, 300 B) comprised 50 multiple-choice and vocabulary items. The total score of the test was 50 and one point was assigned to each correct answer. The critical reading comprehension test consisted of four passages with 4 or 5 multiple-choice items for each passage. So the 20 items were scored by one point for each correct answer. Then the score for all items were added and an ultimate score was calculated. The range of scores for this test was between 9 to 18. For scoring the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory, the procedure proposed by Mokhtari Richad (2002) was used. A score was assigned to each answer which ranged from 1 to 5: never or almost never=1, occasionally=2, sometimes=3, usually=4, always=5. Then the scores for all items were added up and an ultimate score was calculated. The range of scores for this scale was between 46 to 146. 3. Data analysis To carry out the statistical analysis of the study, several statistical techniques were utilized: to calculate the reliability of the Nelson test, the Cronbach alpha (a) formula was utilized. In order to estimate the reliability of the critical reading comprehension test, the Cronbach alpha (a) formula was utilized. Considering the point that the participants will be assigned interval scores both for their meta-cognitive awareness and critical reading ability, the statistical analysis was Pearsons product Moment Coefficient of Correlation. Also, the reliability index of the translated version of MARSI was assessed by applying Cronbach alpha (a) formula. After administrating the instruments with the main subjects of the study and correcting the papers, the ultimate scores on critical reading comprehension test and MARSI were calculated and entered into SPSS. 3. Results In order to be certain of the homogeneity of the participants of the study in terms of language proficiency, a general language proficiency test (Nelson test) was utilized. The test was extracted from Nelson English language tests by W.S. Flower and Norman Goe (1976). It composed of 50 multiple choice grammar and vocabulary items. Through the pilot study, the reliability of the Nelson test was estimated and the following result was achieved: Table of reliability statisticsof the Language Proficiency Test (Nelson) Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .899 50 As it is noticed, the reliability of the Nelson test was estimated as .89 through the pilot study among 42 students, so the test enjoyed the acceptable reliability. The present study, also used a new self report measure, the Meta cognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari Richard, 2002), which is designed to assess adolescent and adult readers awareness and perceived use of reading strategies while reading materials. According to the author of MARSI, the major purposes of developing of this inventory were to devise an instrument that would permit one to assess the degree to which a student is or is not aware of the various processes involved in reading and to make it possible to learn about the goals and intentions he or she holds with coping with reading tasks. As a result of employing this inventory, the second statistical procedure was to estimate the reliability of the translated version of Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) administered to the subjects in the pilot study. Table of reliability statistics of the translated version of MARSI Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .799 30 According to table 4. 2., the reliability index of the students answers to the MARSI, assessed by applying the Cronbach alpha (a) formula, was 0.79. In order to assess the participants ability in reading critically, a test of reading comprehension, extracted from a model TOEFL, was applied. The reliability of this test administered to the subjects in the pilot study was estimated to be: Table of reliability statistics of critical reading comprehension test Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .748 18 It is necessary to add that in order to validate the critical reading comprehension test, basically four steps were taken such as checking the content validity, face validity, criterion related validity, and construct validity. The procedure for each step can be found in the following in details. The test was compiled according to the recommendation of Alderson and Urquhart (1984). Four different texts were selected. The texts were found from among the materials suggested for preparation of language learners for TOEFL test. Of course it was evident that not any passage could qualify: the passages had to be of an independent entity and understandable without a larger context. However, the main principle in text selection was to find text types that Iranian students of English were likely to read critically. I also consulted my supervisor to ensure the content validity of the passages and also to get confident that the questions could not be answered without reading the passages critically. The texts found were also sent to my advisor to make sure if there were any specific issues to be reconsidered. At the end of each passage, four or five questions were asked. Answering to the questions would be almost impossible without reading the test critically. The text chosen represente d the following text types: a scientific text from a field relevant to Chemistry; a text containing materials about body language and communication; a passage about the sinking of the luxurious ship, Titanic ; a biographical passage about an influential citizen of the United States, John Muir. In addition to improving the test items through item analysis (item facility, item discrimination and choice distribution), the face validity of the test was examined in qualitative terms. The students in the pilot study were asked to state their reasons for estimating the reading test as being critical or not. The comments (40 students) were rather divided. Some disliked the test but many of them liked it. Those who liked it wrote that it required imagination, and cleverness and a few compared taking the reading test with doing philosophical reasoning. Those who disliked the test mostly argued that it required to test other abilities besides language proficiency (e. g. imagination). Some complained that the test was too difficult and that they could mainly perceive the structure of the sentences. For criterion related validity, the researcher followed the same procedure as Assar (2008). With the help of the Nelson language proficiency test and by running correlation between these sc ores and those obtained from the improved reading test, among 32 students who participated in the pilot study, the concurrent validity of the test was established with an index of 0.71. Finally the critical reading test was construct-validated. To this end, the researcher took a process oriented approach following the picture depicted by Hirano (2008) and devised a questionnaire based on the discussed issues found in the literature on critical thinking and reading. The questionnaire was piloted among 40 students. First, they took the critical reading comprehension test, and immediately after they were asked to answer the questions in the questionnaire. Through a frequency count, it was discovered that the test had led to a critical reading successfully. The following table shows the result of the students answers to the fifteen questions in the devised questionnaire by the researcher based on the discussed issues found in the literature on critical thinking and reading. The results in the Mean column show the average score for each of the fifteen questions calculated based on a liker scale for each question ranging from 0 to 3. Table of reliability statistics for the reliability of critical reading questionnaire Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .624 15 It is necessary to mention that after the reliability of the questionnaire for process validation of the reading comprehension test was calculated, the researcher tried to revise some of the questions. It is, therefore, hoped that further studies through the revised questionnaire will provide more reliable results. Finally we come to the research question, which was concerned with relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability of the students. To investigate this question, the Pearson product correlation coefficient was run. The result of statistics is presented in the following table: According to the above table, correlation is significant at the 0.01 level. By using Pearson product correlation coefficient formula, the correlation between the two variables was estimated as .70. That is, there is a significant relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (MARSI) and critical reading ability. The results have been illustrated in the following scatter plot graph: Graph/Scatter plot for Correlation coefficient between critical reading ability and meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies The above scatter plot illustrates the correlation coefficient between critical reading ability and meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies including 113 subjects. Variable 1 (Y axis) is related to meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies in an interval scale up to 130; variable 2 (X axis) is related to critical reading ability in an interval scale from zero up to 20. 4. Discussion This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (MARSI) and critical reading ability of Iranian students majoring in fields of English translation and literature. The statistical results proved that there is a significant relationship between the two variables of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability. So the present study has found evidence that good and poor students are significantly different in their awareness and perceived use of metacognitive strategies. That is, the more a student knows about how he learns, the better learner he will be. Therefore, helping students to be more aware of their metacognitive reading strategies plays an important role in not only developing their critical reading ability but also in their general reading comprehension ability. The results of this study can be compared and contrasted with those of other researchers. For instance, findings of the present study are in congruity with the study conducted by Parson (2002) whose major purpose of his study was to investigate the strength of the relationship between the use of metacognitive strategies and critical reading ability of the students. It was conducted, specifically, to test the effectiveness of a teaching procedure designed to improve critical reading ability by training students in metacognintive strategies. He discovered that the students who were instructed with this metacognitive training package (questioning, summarizing, predicting and speculating on the authors intended tone and purpose) should become more aware of their own mental processes and will demonstrate not only increased critical reading ability, but also increased general comprehension ability. Also, qualitative improvement noted in subjects strategy use provided sufficient evidence fo r further study into the effectiveness of this training procedure. Furthermore, the findings could indirectly support Icmezs (2009) findings who suggests that in a critical reading course, developing a competence in critical reading skills evokes curiosity and the novelty essential for students with high levels of proficiency. Finally, we can conclude that our findings here is in line with what Ajideh (2009) suggests, that poor readers in general lack effective metacognitive strategies and have little awareness on how to approach to reading. They also have deficiencies in the use of metacognitive strategies to monitor for their understanding of texts. In contrast, successful L2 readers know how to use appropriate strategies to enhance text comprehension. 5. Conclusion As mentioned previously, among the tools that students use to learn a second language, learning strategies have been given a crucial role in all academic studies. Language learning strategies have been known as a factor that differentiates successful language learning from unsuccessful language learning. In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the necessity to examine human personality in order to find solutions to the perplexing problems in language learning. It is evident that a student uses language learning strategies while he is under the influence of many linguistic, cognitive, and affective factors. Thus, such an intertwined network can provide an answer to the wide individual differences within the classroom. Also, the ability to critically analyze written materials has long been recognized as being crucial to the educational process. In this study, it has been tried to explore the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability of the students. With respect to the research question, it was found that when the students show more metacognitive awareness of strategies, they can read more critically and therefore it is more probable that they score higher on reading comprehension test. Based on the results, it can be concluded that there is a meaningful relationship between the students metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and their performance on critical reading comprehension test. Therefore, metacognitive strategies could provide the missing link between cognitive processes and critical reading ability. Metacognition refers to ones awareness of and control over his/her own mental processes (Brown, 2007). Consequently, it is worth mentioning that the relationship demonstrated here is only part of a complex picture, which reveals just some of the factors operating in mind of our students that warrant investigation. It should be mentioned that language learners strategies and their effect in the process of learning is a highly complex issue. Therefore, metacognitive strategy awareness may not be just the only aspect of this achievement in learning; rather, we need to investigate other types of language learning strategies and look at what helps the students to increase their ability in achieving the best results. 6. Implications The present study has found evidence which supports previous research findings that demonstrated that good and poor students are significantly different in their awareness and perceived use of metacognitive strategies. That is, the more a student knows about how he learns, the better learner he will be. Therefore, helping students to be more aware of their metacognitive reading strategies plays an important role in not only developing their critical reading ability but also in their general reading comprehension ability. So based on the above results, the finding of the study can have implications for teachers in reading classes. To be more specific, training good readers means more than just improving their knowledge about language structure and general study skills, and it needs raising their awareness of metacognitive strategies for critical reading. Also the results in this study may have implications for reading comprehension assessment. As mentioned before, critical reading skills are essential for the students with high level of proficiency. That is the higher the level of proficiency, the higher the ability for critical reading. Therefore, one of the factors to be included in the assessment of language proficiency can be the ability to read critically especially at higher level of proficiency.

Deception Point Page 5

Rachel nodded. She was both. Four minutes later, Rachel Sexton exited the NRO and climbed into the waiting helicopter. Before she had even buckled herself in, the craft was airborne, banking hard across the Virginia woods. Rachel gazed out at the blur of trees beneath her and felt her pulse rising. It would have risen faster had she known this chopper would never reach the White House. 5 The frigid wind battered the fabric of the ThermaTech tent, but Delta-One hardly noticed. He and Delta-Three were focused on their comrade, who was manipulating the joystick in his hand with surgical dexterity. The screen before them displayed a live video transmission from a pinpoint camera mounted aboard the microrobot. The ultimate surveillance tool, Delta-One thought, still amazed every time they powered it up. Lately, in the world of micromechanics, fact seemed to be out-pacing fiction. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) – microbots – were the newest tool in high-tech surveillance – â€Å"fly on the wall technology,† they called it. Literally. Although microscopic, remote-controlled robots sounded like science fiction, in fact they had been around since the 1990s. Discovery magazine had run a cover story in May 1997 on microbots, featuring both â€Å"flying† and â€Å"swimming† models. The swimmers – nanosubs the size of salt grains – could be injected into the human bloodstream a la the movie Fantastic Voyage. They were now being used by advanced medical facilities to help doctors navigate arteries by remote control, observe live intravenous video transmissions, and locate arterial blockages without ever lifting a scalpel. Contrary to intuition, building a flying microbot was even simpler business. The aerodynamics technology for getting a machine to fly had been around since Kitty Hawk, and all that remained had been the issue of miniaturization. The first flying microbots, designed by NASA as unmanned exploration tools for future Mars missions, had been several inches long. Now, however, advances in nanotechnology, lightweight energy-absorbent materials, and micromechanics had made the flying microbots a reality. The true breakthrough had come from the new field biomimics – copying Mother Nature. Miniature dragonflies, as it turned out, were the ideal prototype for these agile and efficient flying microbots. The PH2 model Delta-Two was currently flying was only one centimeter long – the size of a mosquito – and employed a dual pair of transparent, hinged, silicon-leaf wings, giving it unparalleled mobility and efficiency in the air. The microbot's refueling mechanism had been another breakthrough. The first microbot prototypes could only recharge their energy cells by hovering directly beneath a bright light source, not ideal for stealth or use in dark locales. The newer prototypes, however, could recharge simply by parking within a few inches of a magnetic field. Conveniently, in modern society, magnetic fields were ubiquitous and discreetly placed – power outlets, computer monitors, electric motors, audio speakers, cellphones – it seemed there was never any shortage of obscure recharging stations. Once a microbot had been introduced successfully into a locale, it could transmit audio and video almost indefinitely. The Delta Force's PH2 had been transmitting for over a week now with no trouble whatsoever. Now, like an insect hovering inside a cavernous barn, the airborne microbot hung silently in the still air of the structure's massive central room. With a bird's-eye view of the space below, the microbot circled silently above unsuspecting occupants – technicians, scientists, specialists in numerous fields of study. As the PH2 circled, Delta-One spotted two familiar faces engaged in conversation. They would be a telling mark. He told Delta-Two to drop down and have a listen. Manipulating the controls, Delta-Two switched on the robot's sound sensors, oriented the microbot's parabolic amplifier, and decreased the robot's elevation until it was ten feet over the scientists' heads. The transmission was faint, but discernible. â€Å"I still can't believe it,† one scientist was saying. The excitement in his voice had not diminished since his arrival here forty-eight hours ago. The man with whom he was talking obviously shared the enthusiasm. â€Å"In your lifetime†¦ did you ever think you would witness anything like this?† â€Å"Never,† the scientist replied, beaming. â€Å"It's all a magnificent dream.† Delta-One had heard enough. Clearly everything inside was proceeding as expected. Delta-Two maneuvered the microbot away from the conversation and flew it back to its hiding place. He parked the tiny device undetected near the cylinder of an electric generator. The PH2's power cells immediately began recharging for the next mission. 6 Rachel Sexton's thoughts were lost in the morning's bizarre developments as her PaveHawk transport tore across the morning sky, and it was not until the helicopter rocketed out across Chesapeake Bay that she realized they were heading in entirely the wrong direction. The initial flash of confusion instantly gave way to trepidation. â€Å"Hey!† she yelled to the pilot. â€Å"What are you doing?† Her voice was barely audible over the rotors. â€Å"You're supposed to be taking me to the White House!† The pilot shook his head. â€Å"Sorry, ma'am. The President is not at the White House this morning.† Rachel tried to remember if Pickering had specifically mentioned the White House or whether she had simply assumed. â€Å"So where is the President?† â€Å"Your meeting with him is elsewhere.† No shit. â€Å"Where elsewhere?† â€Å"Not far now.† â€Å"That's not what I asked.† â€Å"Sixteen more miles.† Rachel scowled at him. This guy should be a politician. â€Å"Do you dodge bullets as well as you dodge questions?† The pilot did not answer. It took less than seven minutes for the chopper to cross the Chesapeake. When land was in sight again, the pilot banked north and skirted a narrow peninsula, where Rachel saw a series of runways and military-looking buildings. The pilot dropped down toward them, and Rachel then realized what this place was. The six launchpads and charred rocket towers were a good clue, but if that was not enough, the roof of one of the buildings had been painted with two enormous words: WALLOPS ISLAND. Wallops Island was one of NASA's oldest launch sites. Still used today for satellite launches and testing of experimental aircraft, Wallops was NASA's base away from the spotlight. The President is at Wallops Island? It made no sense. The chopper pilot aligned his trajectory with a series of three runways that ran the length of the narrow peninsula. They seemed to be heading for the far end of the center runway. The pilot began to slow. â€Å"You will be meeting the President in his office.† Rachel turned, wondering if the guy was joking. â€Å"The President of the United States has an office on Wallops Island?† The pilot looked dead serious. â€Å"The President of the United States has an office wherever he likes, ma'am.† He pointed toward the end of the runway. Rachel saw the mammoth shape glistening in the distance, and her heart almost stopped. Even at three hundred yards, she recognized the light blue hull of the modified 747. â€Å"I'm meeting him aboard the†¦ â€Å" â€Å"Yes, ma'am. His home away from home.† Rachel stared out at the massive aircraft. The military's cryptic designation for this prestigious plane was VC-25-A, although the rest of the world knew it by another name: Air Force One. â€Å"Looks like you're in the new one this morning,† the pilot said, motioning to the numbers on the plane's tail fin. Rachel nodded blankly. Few Americans knew that there were actually two Air Force Ones in service – a pair of identical, specially configured 747-200-Bs, one with the tail number 28000 and the other 29000. Both planes had cruising speeds of 600 mph and had been modified for in-flight refueling, giving them virtually unlimited range.