Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Research studies free essay sample

James Watson: An American scientist man who has an examination about the DNA. For me, James Watson from the start was somewhat peculiar person on account of the manner in which he gazed and took a gander at individuals around him. He is a secretive person and somewhat devious to the women he has seen. As one of the character stated, he is the â€Å"boy-wonderer†. He is additionally an extremely anxious to know the exploration and perceptive. Francis Crick: He does likewise explore with Watson, they are the two partners. He is additionally anxious to recognize what is in DNA and the relationship of it with the twofold helix. Rosalind Franklin: A French lady who do a similar examination as Watson and Crick. She is delicate and wishes to work without the assistance of Watson and Crick. Maurice Wilkins: I thought he wasn’t significant in the introduction. Analyze the examination draws near/styles/mentalities of Watson and Crick with those of Franklin. The exploration style of Watson and Crick is route unique in relation to Franklin. The two men of their word are more in a watching style. They typically go together and investigate the realities that they have and attempt to converse with others. They additionally watch and ask a few people who know their examination and attempt to make sense of the result. They do experimentations and read a few books to make a response to the issue. While Franklin, she is to a greater degree a quiet specialist. She does her own examination without the assistance of Watson and Crick, however with her colleagues. She is normally in the research facility to do experimentations and studies well the article which has DNA. She is more centered around the examination than the two men. Do you figure Franklin ought to have shared her data all the more uninhibitedly with the others? Do you figure she ought to have worked all the more intimately with Wilkins? Why? Why not? For my conclusion, truly, she ought to have shared her data all the more uninhibitedly with the others. Likewise truly, she ought to have worked all the more intimately with Wilkins so they could share their considerations and thoughts of how the DNA functions. It is simpler to think of an answer from the individual who realizes the examination well. What's more, I think, in the event that the two of them do the examination, they might be the person who will win the Noble Prize. Do you figure Watson may have had an admirable statement when he revealed to Rosalind that a â€Å"fresh look† at her work might be what was required? It might be yes. Since he has his own explanation unto what he methods for it. What significant connection between DNA nucleotides did Watson and Crick find? What techniques did they use to achieve this? Watson and Crick have found the DNA nucleotides in the model they built. The DNA takes the state of a winding flight of stairs (twofold helix,), with the means made out of sets of atoms known as bases, and the framed by chains of sugar and phosphate particles. Since similar kinds of bases consistently pair together (adenine with thymine, guanine with cytosine), one portion of the DNA flight of stairs (the succession of bases connected to either sugar-phosphate chain) contains enough data to repeat the whole structure (the reason for organic generation). In addition, the arrangement of bases along the sugar-phosphate tie makes up a code of hereditary data. A letter set of just four letters, A, T, G, C (the underlying letters of the names of the bases), creates enough varieties in hereditary data to represent the incredible assorted variety of every single living thing, including people. Whenever Franklin at long last had the chance to take a gander at the DNA twofold helix model built by Watson Crick, what was her reaction? (Compose two or three sentences summing up what she felt and what she said) Whenever Franklin at long last had the chance to take a gander at the DNA twofold helix model developed by Watson Crick, she straightforwardly asked Watson and Crick where the water was and that it doesn’t appear to be right of the manner in which they did the twofold helix. She proceeded with that the model doesn’t bode well. What was Wilkins’s reaction? Wilkins’s responded, glanced back at Franklin and grinned a piece. What were your later impressions of the primary characters? James Watson: Watson has the mind and abilities to do the exploration he is doing. When he needs to accomplish something, he wishes and awards to complete the examination generously. He is one of the awardees of the Noble Prize. Francis Crick: Similar with Watson, Crick is likewise anxious to complete the examination at the earliest opportunity. He is likewise one of the awardees of the Noble Prize. Rosalind Franklin: She needed to do the exploration all alone. She concentrates alone and makes it well. She likewise added to the finding of the twofold helix however kept the examination herself. Maurice Wilkins: He is one of the awardees of the Noble Prize. What's more, he likewise contributed his past investigates to Watson and Crick. Why this film is called â€Å"Race for the Double-Helix†? Do you figure logical exploration ought to be a race? Why? Why not? As I would like to think on for what reason was the film called â€Å"Race for the Double-Helix†, on the grounds that at the center of the introduction, in spite of the fact that Franklin and Wilkins think that its hard to cooperate, the chance of their coordinated effort warms up the race to disclosure, as Watson and Crick see it. Watson and Crick realized that there was somebody who is likewise doing the finding for the Double-Helix, the American scientific expert Linus Pauling, whom is surrounding an answer. They attempted to rush and do the examination as quick as could reasonably be expected. It is additionally on the grounds that they needed to have an honor of Noble Prize. Who was granted the Nobel Prize for the disclosure of DNA structure? The awardees of Noble Prize for the revelation of DNA structure are Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins. As you would like to think, were the Nobel Prize granted reasonably? Why? Why not? As I would see it, yes the Nobel Prize were granted reasonably, in light of the fact that these tree respectable men, Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins, made theirâ efforts and have duties when they were doing the exploration. They required significant investment and strictly completed the examination with the appropriate responses given. On account of Rosalind Franklin, she was not considered for that prize in light of the fact that the guidelines necessitate that beneficiaries be inhabiting the hour of the honor, and Franklin had kicked the bucket five years after the disclosure of the structure of DNA as a result of disease. Which individual do you think assumed the most significant job in the disclosure of DNA structure? Clarify your answer. As I would like to think, the entirety of the significant characters put forth their attempts for the disclosure of the structure of the DNA, yet Watson and Crick made loads of studies in doing the exploration. They attempted to counsel the notable individuals, talked with people and even reached Franklin on their examination. Which individual do you think assumed the least significant job in the revelation of DNA structure? Clarify your answer. As I would see it, Rosalind Franklin has the least significant job in the revelation of DNA structure in generally speaking premise. She by one way or another got indistinguishable outcomes from Watson and Crick, yet she would not do it along with the men of honor. It just demonstrates that she doesn’t need to have, if alive on the granting function, a similar honor as the three refined men have. The introduction may have publicized or communicated without the assistance of Franklin, as what I have watched. Which character did you like the best? Why? For me, James Watson has the best character. It is in such a case that he needs to accomplish something he needs to have, he legitimately explain for it and not simply trust that others will make it for him. He is the sort of single word man and genuinely makes an answer for the issue. In spite of the fact that he might be somewhat exhausting on the initial segments of the introduction, at the later part, he fairly changed and went to be the primary character in the introduction. Which character did you like the least? Why? As I would like to think, the least character would presumably be J. Randall, Franklin’s lab accomplice. He didn't advise Franklin to cooperate with Watson, Crick and Wilkins. On the off chance that he attempted more, she might need to team up with the men, and the arrangements would be simpler. Randall ought to speak progressively concerning why Franklin should get together with the men of their word. What did you gain from the film that you didnt beforehand know? I discovered that there are truly answers to each felt that we consider. It might require some investment to fathom it yet in the event that an individual needs to demonstrate something, he/she will without a doubt find the solutions entirely. For example, in illuminating troublesome scientific conditions, it might be difficult to settle it without persistence and steadiness, however with difficult work, nothing is incomprehensible. What's more, therefore you’ll be flabbergasted of what you have done en route. It might carry you to something more noteworthy accomplishments.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Marriage versus Living Together Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Marriage as opposed to Living Together - Essay Example For a certain something, both marriage and living together include two individuals in a serious relationship living respectively for a distinct or boundless timespan with shared understanding. While a couple live respectively subsequent to regarding the estimation of marriage, the two accomplices live respectively in dwelling together likewise with complete concordance and significant serenity. Living together individuals live without the nearness of a legitimate bond called marriage so there are no lawful conventions to be taken care of if any issue in the relationship ever happens. Interestingly, a wedded couple as a rule begins confronting numerous issues not long after living respectively as marriage may not be the correct sort of thing for everybody which is actually why â€Å"some couples decide to live respectively without the advantage of a legitimate union† (FindLaw). In any case, both marriage and living respectively are comparable in this feeling in the two patterns , individuals share a close connection, there is a considerable measure of affection, responsibility on the two sides, sexual intrigue, and trust on each other. Both wedded and living together individuals regularly appreciate intense connections however contrasts may exist contingent upon the circumstance. Both wedded and living together individuals need to share fund or if nothing else, they need to lose something should the relationship get rough and come up short. In the two sorts of connections, accomplices share lease and each is required to pay half of it. Essentially, it possibly relies on the two individuals living respectively if the extremely noteworthy contrasts among marriage and living respectively show up on a superficial level or not and which may incorporate separation or basically leaving each other.â â

Miniaturization Of Computing Technology Information Technology Essay

Scaling down Of Computing Technology Information Technology Essay The insurgency of electronic scaling down started during World War II and is proceeding to change the world till now. Scaling down of PC innovation has been the wellspring of an apparently unending fight between innovation monsters over the world. The market has become so serious that the organizations that create chip are continually moving in the direction of raising a littler microchip than that of their rival, and therefore, PCs become out of date nearly when they are put out available. The idea that underlies mechanical scaling down is the littler the better; littler is quicker, littler is less expensive, littler is increasingly beneficial. It isn't simply organizations that benefit from scaling down advances, yet whole countries receive benefits through the capitalization of new turns of events. Gadgets, for example, PCs, cell phones, compact radios, and camcorders have made gigantic markets through scaling down, and carried billions of dollars to the nations where they were pl anned and constructed. In the 21st century, pretty much every electronic gadget has a PC chip inside. The objective of scaling down is to make these gadgets littler and all the more impressive, and in this way made accessible all over. It has been stated, in any case, that the ideal opportunity for proceeded with scaling down is restricted the littler the PC chip gets, the more troublesome it becomes to contract the parts that fit on the chip. Gadgets made of semiconductors, strikingly silicon, are fundamental segments of most electronic circuits. A procedure of lithography is utilized to make hardware layered over a silicon substrate. A transistor is a semiconductor gadget with three associations equipped for enhancement notwithstanding correction. Scaling down involves expanding the quantity of transistors that can hang on a solitary chip, while contracting the size of the chip. As the surface territory of a chip diminishes, the undertaking of planning more up to date and quicker circuit structures turns out to be progressively troublesome, as there is less room left for the parts that make the PC run quicker and store more information. Gordon E. Moore presented the idea known as Moores law in 1965, and it has been utilized in the semiconductor business to control long haul arranging and improvement. The law predicts a drawn out pattern wherein the quantity of transistors cheaply puts on a coordinated circuit would twofold roughly at regular intervals. His unique proclamation showed up in his distribution Cramming more segments onto incorporated circuits, Electronics Magazine nineteenth April 1965: The intricacy for least segment costs has expanded at a pace of approximately a factor of two for each yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Certainly over the transient this rate can be required to proceed, if not to increment. Over the more drawn out term, the pace of increment is more unsure, despite the fact that there is no motivation to trust it won't remain almost consistent for at any rate 10 years. That implies by 1975, the quantity of parts per coordinated circuit for a base cost will be 65,000. I accept that such a huge circuit can be based on a solitary wafer (Appendix 1) The first articulation made reference to one year, however was later changed to two years. Moores law depicts a main thrust of mechanical change in the late twentieth and mid 21st hundreds of years. The turn of events and capacities of a few computerized gadgets are connected to Moores law. A portion of these incorporate handling speed, memory limit, and sensors. These devises are as yet improving at an exponential rate and have significantly expanded the convenience of computerized gadgets in each portion of the world economy. One such section is that of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This sort of innovation permits clients to take an interest in a quickly changing world in which work and different exercises are progressively changed by access to shifted and creating advancements. ICTs sway on a few zones of the economy, including efficiency and development, just as advances in science and innovation. They are the main factor in improving advancement and innovativeness, and in that capacity, an incredible part of the profitability gains in the economy are because of the effect of ICTs on items and administrations. In science and innovation, they change the manner in which specialists lead their exploration. Attributable to expanding financial and social requests, innovation must be carried nearer to individuals and authoritative needs. This involves making innovation useful and easy to utilize, reasonable and accessible, just as meeting new inclinations and requirements. This interest r equires the expansion of scaling down which brings about the rise of another flood of advances. The Benefits and Challenges of Miniaturization Scaling down is one of the quickest evolving megatrends. In spite of the fact that it tends to be an incredible advantage for society, it likewise has its drawbacks. The difficulties incorporate cost-costly, information incorrectness, programming trickiness, data over-burden and may result in: Intrusion of Privacy and Identity Theft In favor of issues, one of the greatest developing violations in America is brought about by the effects of scaling down. Intrusion of individual protection and wholesale fraud are two exceptionally hazardous violations that can humiliate you, yet can cause monetary issues also. A report formed by the news association PRWeb states that 10 million customers in the US become fraud casualties consistently and those individuals invest an endless measure of energy and cash to address these assaults. Not each of the 10 million are brought about by scaling down related gadgets, however with the headway in innovation, scaling down has significantly assisted with expanding the quantity of wholesale fraud casualties. Scaling down assumes a job in this wrongdoing since it has made the innovation of smaller than usual covert agent cams which help voyeurism. Voyeurism is a training wherein an individual gets sexual delight from watching other peopleâ [1]â . A few types of voyeurism are lawful, however on the off chance that the individual being seen is uninformed of the activity, at that point it is illicit and thought about an intrusion of security. Loss of Electronic Devices Another issue with the pattern of scaling down, due to modernized gadgets to turn out to be amazingly increasingly compact, is the expanded capacity to lose your electronic gadgets or have them taken. As expressed in the Apple patent, Current versatile electronic gadgets, for example, PCs, held gadgets, for example, cell phones and individual media gadgets, for example, the Ipod from Apple Computer, and even gadgets, for example, smaller plate players, are adequately minimal and lightweight as to make them effectively mobile. Sadly, such simplicity of transport likewise infers simplicity of burglary. While the legitimate proprietor of a versatile electronic gadget may helpfully ship it anyplace, so can a hoodlum. (MacNN.com: Apple Patent,2007) Hearing Loss A third issue with scaling down is the development being used of versatile MP3 players. These players have caused physiological harm in view of the all-inclusive utilization of the ear buds and playing the players music amazingly loudâ [2]â . Clamor instigated hearing misfortune includes people losing the capacity to hear higher frequencies, prove now and again by mellow ear-ringing or inconvenience following discussions in uproarious situationsâ [3]â . This consultation misfortune is legitimately identified with the utilization of the MP3 players. What are a portion of the gadgets that have been affected by scaling down? There are different models that reflect scaling down, yet maybe the most notable scaled down gadget is the wireless. The hypothesis of cell phones was conceived in the mid 1900s in the United Kingdom and the United States.  They were resulting from inquire about on versatile vehicle telephones, and determined out that by constraining the scope of transmitters, they could reuse a similar radio frequencies. This permitted them to speculate the likelihood that with this innovation, numerous clients would have the option to have a similar system. They couldn't assemble a creation framework to demonstrate this hypothesis, because of the constraint of accessible innovation. In the mid 1970s, ATT and Bell Labs proposed the principal business cell, cell phone arrange.  The proposition was for a phone network,â which was to comprise of numerous little communicated towers, covering a little region (named a phone), a couple of miles in sweep.  As the cell phone moved over this system, th e call would be given from tower to tower. The main completely programmed, original cell organize (1G), was created by Nordic Mobile Telephone in 1981.  1G was as yet dependent on simple radio signs. The appearance of Second era (2G) was in 1991.  High speed, third era (3G) cell systems turned into a reality when the Japanese organization NTT DoCoMo revealed its business WCDMA arrange. In 1986 expense between $2,500 to $3,500 and weighed just shy of 3 pounds (Appendix 2). Today, they are razor slender, weighing somewhere in the range of 4 and 6 ounces and can cost from JMD$1,000 to JMD$60,000. Probably the most noticeable incorporate Nokia and Motorola. Different models are the iPod Nano, Motorola Razor V3 and Dell Inspirion 700m. Ipod Nano The Ipod Nano, produced by Apple Computer, Incorporated, is an advanced pressure music player that conveys up to 1,000 tunes. It includes an exceptionally thin and reduced plan with measurements of just 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches and 1.5 ounces and supports a shading LCD screen, the Apple Click Wheel, plays persistently for 14 hours, and holds other data other than music records. It additionally contains 2 gigabytes of memory that holds 500 melodies. The Ipod Nano can be utilized for some reasons when you can't utilize a CD player or in any event, for supplanting a CD player. A couple of models are working out, going on excursions, among others. Likewise in late news, Apple discharged another type of scaling down with the Ipod Video. This gadget will supplant the more established

Friday, August 21, 2020

Pest Analysis of KfC Essay

1.0: presentation Kentucky singed chicken additionally knows as KFC, the world generally huge and surely understands drive-through joint that have in excess of 10 thousands areas worldwide in excess of 80 nations. Individuals from more youthful age to more established age additionally know the motto of KFC, which is â€Å"Finger lickin’ Good†, and the elderly person with white suits hand holding a dark shading bolster. These days, we can see KFC in any strip mall, or some famous area. We can get administration or their item effectively, it extremely advantageous. I need to lead a PEST examination of this organization. First I need to cover the historical backdrop of KFC, and cap administrations and items that KFC give. History of KFC KFC, Kentucky singed chicken is conceived at year 1950 at an exceptional pace from one street side café into a universally prestigious eatery network. KFC is established by Harland Sanders in Corbin, Kentucky. He was conceived on a little homestead in Henryville, Indiana, America, in 1890. Sanders open his first café in a little receiving area of a service station in Corbin, Kentucky. He had names the eating region as â€Å"Sanders Court and Cafã ©.† In year 1936, Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon makes Sanders a privileged Kentucky Colonel in acknowledgment of his acknowledgment of his commitments to the state’s cooking. Sanders additionally built up an interesting, brisk technique for spicing and weight †fricasseeing chicken. At long last, the business development surpassed until he can't deal with, so he offered it to a gathering of individuals framed the Kentucky Fried chicken. In 1964 Sanders offered Kentucky Fried Chicken to a speculator bunch headed by John Y. Earthy colored, Jr. furthermore, Nashville agent John (Jack) Massey that Colonel Sanders despite everything was Kentucky Fried Chicken Goodwill Ambassador for aiding and giving recommendation. Sanders Colonel kicked the bucket in 1980 he was multi year old. Despite the fact that he is no longer with us, his ways of thinking of difficult work and magnificent help we give to our clients will consistently be a piece of KFC custom. Items and administrations The fundamental result of KFC of cause is the first seared chicken. After this, the hot singed chicken is coming up straightaway. With the exception of these items, KFC likewise give a wide range of sort of cheap food. For instance, servings of mixed greens, sides, huge box feast, dinner for children, treats, and vastly different sort of plated suppers. Presently the most recent item is twister, it helps KFC increment many benefit. Individuals can arrange relies upon their needs. It extremely helpful for clients. KFC additionally give a lot of sort of administrations, for example, 24 hour administration, free conveyance for some chose area, web based requesting, open air providing food, kid play territories, unique eating office for business clients and that's just the beginning. It can spare clients time and expenses. That why individuals like to have dinner at KFC. 2.0 Company PEST Vermin represents political, financial, social, and innovative. It is significant for a business since it will impact the ecological effect of the business. Acknowledgment is a valuable method of nuisances, and anticipates the outer condition of business activity. The vital that KFC use is segment, the accompanying components are remembered for the demographical of the PEST of KFC. The first is age, there is no age limit is center by KFC, and they just objective on each age of the general public. Be that as it may, I believe that KFC will focus on more youthful more than the more established. The second is family unit size, KFC will more objective on an entire relatives, that why KFC have give numerous family bundles dinners. The following one is populace. Populace have assumed a significant job in KFC. The light of populace they can make their technique. 2.0.1 Political variables Political is the primary component of PEST, it will impact the business in many sort of way. Political can make numerous favorable circumstances and open doors for a business. For instance, in government approaches. KFC need to comply with the approaches of the administration in the area they maintain their business despite the fact that KFC is a remote organization. KFC have taken care of this strategy well overall and comply with the approach of the administration, so as to maintain this kind of business in that specific area. The following approach is value arrangements. KFC keep up the value arrangement by the method of keeping in the perspective on salary dispersion of the individuals who living in the nation. This is the motivation behind why KFC had focused on all theâ classes. 2.0.2 Economic components Monetary is the second component of PEST, all the association is influenced by the national and worldwide financial variables. The first is salary. Salary is significant factor for KFC; it is on the grounds that wages will chooses which class KFC is going to target. In the early year of KFC, they just powers on the high society. Following scarcely any years, KFC begin to present a few dinners that focus on the center and the upper level. The following financial factor is installment techniques. KFC will do some examination on what installment techniques is helpful for their clients, at that point just check whether gather cash as money or plastic cash. 2.0.3 Social elements The third component of PEST is society. It focuses powers on family, companions, neighbors, associates, and media. The primary factor is social class. Social class separate into 3 classes, there are high society, white collar class, and lower class. As I state early, KFC had focused on all the classes to expand the benefit of the organization. The following two variables are culture and religion. Despite the fact that the way of life of KFC is extraordinary, however KFC likewise attempt to embrace the distinctive culture from various area. For instance, KFC had received the Pakistani societies. KFC isn't just receiving the way of life, yet in addition the religion too. KFC offer Halal food to the clients, this is imply that they acknowledged the Muslim religion. 2.0.4 Technological components The last component of PEST is mechanical variables. This is the advancement of innovation has been incredibly changed the manner in which they work together. The principal factor of technologic is pace of progress. It is same importance of pace of progress. KFC had make a procedure, on the off chance that they believe is a great opportunity to present the new technologic, they just will out the technologic. The following two elements are innovative work, and capital development. These two elements are significant variables of technologic. KFC bolster crafted by innovative work so as to present the new innovation. KFC likewise has a load of hardware to maintain their business exercises. 2.1 data of PEST Irritation is use to personality outer powers influencing the business. This is someâ example that demonstrated the business’s political, conservative, social and innovative condition. To indentify nature, the organization need to contend in future, it need to comprehend the force advertisement shape variety. In the PEST investigation, it will consider each factor is engaged with the whole business condition. There are a few instances of PEST: Political Political components impact associations from various perspectives. Political components can make points of interest and open doors for associations. It had incorporates the legitimate and administrative, races, business law, client insurance, condition guidelines, charges, political pattern and then some. Affordable Affordable elements included financial development patterns, buyer certainty file, government spending levels, trade rates, tax assessment, extra cash, joblessness, duties, swelling, creation levels and the sky is the limit from there. Social It included socioeconomics, wellbeing, expectations for everyday comforts, lodging patterns, style, way of life changes, decent variety, migration/displacement, mentalities to work, relaxation exercises, occupations, populace shifts, patterns, trends and acquiring limit. Innovative It included bio-tech, wellbeing, investigate, correspondences, innovations, web, data innovation, transportation, paces of outdated nature, fabricating progresses, hereditary qualities, squander expulsion/reusing, etc. 3.0 The impact of PEST Vermin will impact the organization acquire, there are some case of the impacts of PEST factors that I need to demonstrated as follows: The main component of PEST is political. Political is a significant piece of PEST, it will influence the value change of the organization. For instance, if government need to expand the expenses, business need to pay more duties along these lines, the cost will increment. Much the same as mixed beverage, the expansion of the expense rate impact the particularly diminished. On another hand, work law additionally assume a significant jobs is political, it ensure the advantage of representatives, be reasonable for workers. The subsequent component is monetary. On the off chance that the monetary swelling is low, it will make the organization cut cost and lessen the overall revenues. It will influence theâ company difficult to give to the buyer. Another impact is, the interest is buyout, the expense of capital is low, and it will pull in speculation and development of the organization of being beneficial. Albeit a discouraged economy will for the most part be a treat which brings about various associations leaving business, it can give chances to a few (Robinson and et al., 1978; Thompson, 2002). The third component is social. It influences the populace wellbeing, way of life change and the sky is the limit from there. For instance, social had powers KFC to change menus on account of the wellbeing cognizance. The changing of the socioeconomics will influence the organization, for instance, the anchoring of the number of inhabitants in age, districts, quantities of working and more can impact the interest for the item or administration. This is the effect of the social on PEST. The last component of PEST is mechanical. Innovative will influence the vitality use and the expense. For instance, the organization use machine to create the item, it will spare more vitality and time contrast with laborers. These days, innovation is well known of association a business. They use web to advance their item, it had increment the advantageous of individuals. New innovation can expand the benefit of organization, however before utilize the innovation, organization need to send a few representatives to go to the preparation. 4.0 Conclusion The PEST examination is significant for each business. It is critical to have PEST control in all food

Friday, August 14, 2020

While You Wait

While You Wait… For those who dont yet know, two important, possibly life-shattering announcements: 1. MIT decisions will be released online at noon this Saturday, March 15 (Pi Day + 1). Best of luck to all of you! 2. Super Smash Brothers Brawl, possibly the most anticipated game of 2008, came out today. Can I just say w00t? In commemoration of this momentous event, with a nod towards MIT gamers everywhere, late last night hackers hung iconic symbols and emblems from the Super Smash Brothers series throughout Lobby 7. Although Ive yet to see the hack for myself, as Ive been working in my room all morning (having an 8.022 p-set due tomorrow will do that to you), photographer-extraordinaire Eric Schmiedl 09 was on the scene as usual and has graciously agreed to let me share his photos with you. With no further ado Poke Balls, Item Boxes, and Heart Containers oh my! I can has banana? Mario greets those entering the Infinite Corridor. I can has banana! On a related note, Ive received word that some of my fraternity brothers have acquired not just one but TWO copies of Brawl. Perhaps Ill be taking a break from my p-set later onuntil then, you can find me solving problems of current density, dielectrics, RC circuits, and all sorts of other physics fun. Just remember six more days! While You Wait… Like robotics? Like the Rubiks Cube? Check out this video that someone sent me. Discuss. (Sorry for the short post! Back to selection)

Thursday, June 25, 2020

2014 SAT Score Data †Males Trump In Maths Females in Verbal

The College Board has put up 2014 SAT score data on its website. If you look at the SAT percentile ranks for males and females, we get some interesting insights. Here’s a table which lists the mean scores of males and females in critical reading, mathematics and writing. SAT Sections Average Male Scores Average Female Scores Critical Reading 499 495 Mathematics 530 499 Writing 481 492 Here are some key takeaways from the 2014 SAT score data: The biggest gender gap exists in the SAT mathematics section. And that’s been a trend for many years now. College-bound males outperform college bound females by 31 points. While this number is one point lower than the last year, it still indicates a wide chasm. Now, let’s look at the top of the pile. While 9,835 males scored 99 percentile+ in the math section in 2014, less than half (4842) the number of females scored that number. The difference becomes even more significant when you see that the number of boys taking the exam (783,570) is less compared to the number of girls taking the exam (888,825). This means a much higher percentage of boys did better in the mathematics section of SAT. As a slight consolation for the girls, they did outperform boys in the writing section of the SAT by a good 11 points. While it is not as significant as the math numbers, it still goes to show that girls have a healthy lead in the writing section. Moreover, the difference is consistent since last year. If you look at the overall numbers, 3428 males scored above 99 percentile in writing while 3,980 females scored above that mark. The critical reading section is pretty even-steven with only a 4-point difference between male and female SAT scores. Again, this difference is one point lower than last year’s numbers. While 5330 males scored above 99 percentile, the corresponding number for female test takers is 5019. The gender gap in the mathematics section has existed since a long time. This is even more surprising when you consider the fact that more girls secured A+ and are in the highest tenth of the school ranks. This fact shows that girls have the ability to excel in the mathematics section of SAT and have better representation in traditionally male-dominated fields such as engineering. However, the numbers speak a different story! Prepare for SAT Free!!! with QS-LEAP 30 MinPrep Classes Attend Free GMAT/GRE Prep Classes Everyday Learn more Virtual One-to-OneMeetings On-demand online meetings with Admissions Teams for free Learn more

Sunday, May 24, 2020

How Was Archaeopteryx Discovered

Fittingly for a creature that most people consider to be the first bird, the story of Archaeopteryx begins with a single, fossilized feather. This artifact was discovered in 1861 by the paleontologist Christian Erick Hermann von Meyer in Solnhofen (a town in the south German region of Bavaria). For centuries, Germans have been quarrying Solnhofens extensive limestone deposits, which were laid down about 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period. Ironically, though, this first, wispy hint of the existence of Archaeopteryx has since been downgraded by paleontologists. Von Meyers discovery was quickly followed by the unearthing of various, more-complete Archaeopteryx fossils, and it was only in retrospect that his feather was assigned to the Archaeoteryx genus (which was designated in 1863 by the worlds most renowned naturalist at the time, Richard Owen). It turns out that this feather may not have come from Archaeopteryx at all but from a closely related genus of dino-bird! Confused yet? Well, it gets much worse: it turns out that a specimen of Archaeopteryx had actually been discovered as early as 1855, but it was so fragmentary and incomplete that, in 1877, no less an authority than von Meyer classified it as belonging to Pterodactylus (one of the first pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, ever to be identified). This mistake was rectified in 1970 by the American paleontologist John Ostrom, who is famous for his theory that birds evolved from feathered dinosaurs like Deinonychus. The Golden Age of Archaeopteryx: London and Berlin Specimens To backtrack a bit: Shortly after von Meyer discovered his feather, in 1861, a near-complete Archaeopteryx specimen was unearthed in another part of the Solnhofen formation. We dont know who the lucky fossil-hunter was, but we do know that he gave his find to a local doctor in lieu of payment and that this doctor then sold the specimen to the Natural History Museum in London for 700 pounds (a massive amount of money in the mid-19th century). The second (or third, depending on how youre counting) Archaeopteryx specimen suffered a similar fate. This was discovered in the mid-1870s by a German farmer named Jakob Niemeyer, who quickly sold it to an innkeeper so he could buy a cow. (One imagines that Niemeyers descendants, if any are alive today, deeply regret this decision). This fossil traded hands a few more times and was eventually bought by a German museum for 20,000 goldmarks, an order of magnitude more than the London specimen had fetched a couple of decades before. What did contemporaries think about Archaeopteryx? Well, heres a quote from the father of evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin, who had published the Origin of Species only a few months before Archaopteryxs discovery: We know, on the authority of Professor Owen, that a bird certainly lived during the deposition of the upper greensand [i.e., the sediments dating from the late Jurassic period]; and still more recently, that strange bird, the Archeopteryx, with a long lizard-like tail, bearing a pair of feathers on each joint, and with its wings furnished with two free claws, has been discovered in the oolitic slates of Solnhofen. Hardly any recent discovery shows more forcibly than this how little we as yet know of the former inhabitants of the world. Archaeopteryx in the 20th Century New specimens of Archaeopteryx have been discovered at regular intervals throughout the 20th century--but given our much-improved knowledge of Jurassic life, some of these dino-birds have been relegated, tentatively, to new genera and sub-species. Heres a list of the most important Archaeopteryx fossils of modern times: The Eichstatt specimen was discovered in 1951 and described almost a quarter-century later by the German paleontologist Peter Wellnhofer. Some experts speculate that this small individual actually belongs to a separate genus, Jurapteryx, or at least that it should be classified as a new Archaeopteryx species. The Solnhofen specimen, discovered in the early 1970s, was also examined by Wellnhofer after it had been misclassified as belonging to Compsognathus (a small, non-feathered dinosaur that has also been found in the Solnhofen fossil beds). Once again, some authorities believe that this specimen actually belongs to newly designated contemporary of Archaeopteryx, Wellnhoferia. The Thermopolis specimen, discovered in 2005, is the most complete Archaeopteryx fossil discovered to date and has been a key piece of evidence in the continuing debate about whether Archaeopteryx was truly the first bird, or closer to the dinosaur end of the evolutionary spectrum. No discussion of Archaeopteryx is complete without mentioning the Maxberg specimen, the mysterious fate of which sheds some light on the seamy intersection of commerce and fossil-hunting. This specimen was discovered in Germany in 1956, described in 1959, and owned privately after that by one Eduard Opitsch (who loaned it out to the Maxberg Museum in Solnhofen for a few years). After Opitsch died, in 1991, the Maxberg specimen was nowhere to be found; investigators believe that it was stolen from his estate and sold to a private collector, and it hasnt been seen since. Was There Really Only One Species of Archaeopteryx? As the above list demonstrates, the various specimens of Archaeopteryx discovered over the last 150 years have created a tangle of proposed genera and individual species that are still being sorted out by paleontologists. Today, most paleontologists prefer to group most (or all) of these Archaeopteryx specimens into the same species, Archaeopteryx lithographica, though some still insist on referring to the closely related genera Jurapteryx and Wellnhoferia. Given that Archaeopteryx has yielded some of the most exquisitely preserved fossils in the world, you can imagine how confusing it is to classify the less well-attested reptiles of the Mesozoic Era!

Monday, May 18, 2020

The Constitution Of The United States - 940 Words

If the United States was a house, the Constitution would act as its framework. It was built by the trusting Founding Fathers who were given the task of ensuring that the structure was sturdy enough to withstand anything from attacks to overpopulation. Little did they know, America would grow expediently in size, population and diversity impacting the house they created. But as that home has changed, the framework has remained a building block for prosperity welcoming amendments and expanding in interpretation. The Founding Fathers were afforded with the luxury of planting the seeds of a system which would develop overtime into superior governmental authority greatly contrasting the feudal order which they fought against. The Constitution†¦show more content†¦In contrast to the vast authority given to states in the Articles of the Confederation, the Farmers wanted to give the federal government some practical authority in order to ensure a sound base. Federalism has transfor med since then but remains consistent in its goal of balancing state and national power. Today the cooperative relationship between the two can be described as more fiscal federalism. By way of categorical grants and block grants, national government works with state governments to ensure economic and political stability. The benefits of the Federalist system set up by the Founding Fathers are rampant. It allows for the practice of pragmatism and pluralism in a diverse and vast country via the linkage of local and state officials to their population granting them the ability to choose policies to solve local problems without the input of a broad national government. (Campbell) Additionally the system works towards the separation of powers by ensuring that state governments function independently even if the national government is fraudulent, states would still be able to operate. Moreover, Federalism favors political stability by taking power away from the national level in some an tagonistic issue areas and giving it to the local level also acting as a safeguard against tyranny. The Farmers Federalist ideology was and still is pertinent in

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The Invention and History of the Altimeter

The altimeter is an instrument that measures vertical distance with respect to a reference level. It can give the altitude of the land surface above sea level or the altitude of an airplane over the ground. French physicist  Louis Paul Cailletet  invented the altimeter and the high-pressure manometer. Cailletet was the first to liquefy oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and air in 1877. He had been studying the composition of gases given off by iron in the blast furnace of his fathers ironworks. At the same time, Swiss physician Raoul-Pierre Pictet liquefied oxygen using another method. Cailletet had an interest in aeronautics, which led to developing an altimeter to measure the altitude of an airplane. Version 2.0 AKA the  Kollsman Window In 1928, a German-American inventor named Paul Kollsman changed the world of  aviation with the invention of the worlds first accurate barometric altimeter, which was also called the â€Å"Kollsman Window.† His altimeter converted barometric pressure into the distance above sea level in feet. It even allowed pilots to fly blind. Kollsman was born in Germany, where he studied civil engineering. He emigrated to the United States in 1923 and worked in New York as a truck driver for Pioneer Instruments Co. He formed the Kollsman Instrument Company in 1928 when Pioneer didnt accept his design. He had then-Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle conduct a test flight with the altimeter in 1929 and was eventually able to sell them to the United States Navy. Kollsman sold his company to the Square D Company in 1940 for four million dollars. The Kollsman Instrument Company eventually became a division of Sun Chemical Corporation. Kollsman also went on to file hundreds of other patents, including those for converting salt water into fresh water and for a slip-resistant bathroom surface. He even owned one of the earliest ski areas in the United States, Snow Valley in Vermont. He married actress Baroness Julie Luli Deste and purchased The Enchanted Hill estate in Beverly Hills. The Radio Altimeter   Lloyd Espenschied invented the first radio altimeter in 1924.  Espenschied was a native of St. Louis, Missouri who graduated from the Pratt Institute with a degree in electrical engineering. He was interested in wireless and radio communications and worked for telephone and telegraph companies. He eventually became the director of high-frequency transmission development at Bell Telephone Laboratories.   The principle  behind how it works involves monitoring a beam of radio waves transmitted by an aircraft and their time to return as reflected from the ground to calculate altitude above the ground. The radio altimeter differs from the barometric altimeter in showing altitude above the ground below rather than above sea level. That is a critical difference for improved flight safety. In 1938, the FM radio altimeter was first demonstrated in New York by Bell Labs. In the first public display of the device, radio signals were bounced off the ground to show pilots the altitude of an aircraft. Besides the altimeter, he was also the co-creator of the coaxial cable, an important component of television and long-distance telephone service. He held over 100 patents in communications technology.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow - 2025 Words

Throughout the United States, the story of the Headless Horseman, described in â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† is well-known in American folklore. It is a scary story that many children tell around the campfire in an attempt to scare one another, saying that if someone is not careful, the Headless Horseman will come for them. However, many Americans do not realize that this legend originated from a story that appears in Washington Irving’s book, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Washington Irving was born to a Scottish immigrant family on April 3, 1783, in New York City. Later that year, The Treaty of Paris was signed, signaling that America had at long last won her independence from Great Britain (Irving, Norberg, and Stade iii). From that point on, the United States of America began the journey to find an identity to call its own. Before, when these people were a colony of Great Britain, they identified themselves as a part of the greatest empire on Earth. H owever, by the time of the Revolution many of the colonists were questioning their identity and position within the British Empire. Through gaining their freedom, this new nation was able to create a new identity, generating what was thought to be a purely American culture. Living through this time of change, Washington Irving wrote about the emerging society from a critical standpoint. Although Irving lived through the times of change, he was critical of how these changes, specifically those of capitalism andShow MoreRelatedThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow895 Words   |  4 Pagestime that â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† was written, Capitalism was the dominant mode of production, and capitalist markets were spreading rapidly. This became especially true in the United States of America, which was heavily influenced by the British in matters of economy. Since capitalism was born in England, the influence of capitalism bled over into America while they were still under British rule (Wolf et al. 2670). However, by 1820, the year that â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† was publishedRead MoreThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow1179 Words   |  5 PagesOn October 12th, 2017, the Averitt Center produced â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† at the Black Box Theatre in Statesboro, GA. â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† is based on the story by Washington Irving and was dramatized by Kathryn Schultz Miller. â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† was directed by Bathany DeZelle. Main actors were Zac Davis, Edward Preble, Grace Jarrell, John Parcels, Edy Kaleta, Aubrey Roberts, Sofia Costantini, Kenzie Cannady, Kian DeVine, and Ernesto Moina. Other actors included were XavierRead MoreThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow800 Words   |  4 PagesThe narration in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow functions as a way to give authority to the women of Tarry Town. This power of feminine is elicit by Washington Irving who gives respect and superiority to women indirectly, but yet evidently through third person narration. Furthermore through Katrina he parallels the power of Tarry Town’s women by illustrating their agency to beget the downfall of Ichabod. Irving draws out Katrina Van Tassel only in relation to the farm not to demean her, but rather toRead MoreThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow920 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† Sleepy Hollow is a small Dutch town in rural New York. The women of these Dutch communities sit around their spinning wheels telling each other folklore and legends. One of these legends is about a Hessian soldier who got his head shot clean off by a cannon-ball in the Civil War. Every night he goes out to look for his head. This is what a female story looks like during the 1800’s. Focuses on legends and myths that the women can talk about during their gossip. HoweverRead MoreThe Legend Of The Sleepy Hollow1413 Words   |  6 PagesThe Legend of the Sleepy Hollow â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† is a rather intriguing story about an American man Ichabod Crane who relocates to the small town of Sleepy Hollow. It is a town that is quite superstitious and seems to be haunted by the ghost of a headless horse-rider. In the town, Crane falls in love with a girl Katrina and is held in a twist with another suitor Brom. However, as Brom has been able to intimidate all other potential suitors, he is unable to scare Ichabod away physicallyRead MoreThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow2024 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction Washington Irving, is the author of the tale â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,† that was written in the nineteenth century (Baym 25). Irving was born in New York City on April 3rd, 1783 and was the last of eleven children. At home, Irving read a wide range of English literature and delighted in many other writers, including Shakespeare, Oliver Goldsmith, and Laurence Sterne. In 1830 Irving bought and began refurbishing a house along the Hudson River near Tarrytown (Baym 25). The beginningRead MoreThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow886 Words   |  4 PagesWashington Irving wrote â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† in 1820. It tells the story of a man named Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster who persistently frightens himself with supernatural beings he supposes he sees and hears on his way home from school. Later in the story, Crane threatens to take away the love of a lady from a man named Abraham Van Brunt. This man, known as Brom Bones to the townspeople, took advantage of Ic habod Crane’s credulousness to scare him out of town through a prank in whichRead MoreThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow1026 Words   |  5 Pagesassociate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. In Washington Irving â€Å"The Legend of sleepy Hollow,† setting, characterization, and Irony affect the protagonist in several ways. The night setting is important because it further emphasizes the superstitious theme. A somnolent, illusory effect appears to be dangling around the surroundingRead MoreThe Legend Of The Sleepy Hollow944 Words   |  4 PagesWashington Irving became the first American writer of the nineteenth century to achieve an international literary reputation .One of his greatest tales is â€Å"The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow† is set in a village on the Hudson River (Tarry Town), in which the author created two important characters throughout the story. Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones compete against each other in order to get a woman’s hand in marriage. Although they both want the same girl does not mean that they share more in commonRead More Comparing Sleepy Hollow and The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow Essay979 Words   |  4 PagesComparing Sleepy Hollow and The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow Over time, a change has occurred from the typical horror story to a violent and bloody legend. The original short story The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow is an example of a simple, yet mysterious fable in which Ichabod Crane acts as the protagonist. Ichabod becomes the victim of the feared headless horseman after believing the superstitious tales of this spirit preying in the night. The film that is supposedly based upon the

Pocket Money Should Be Given to the Teenagers or Not Free Essays

With the development of our modern society, peoples living conditions become much more comfortable. But along with intense competition, parents have less time to consider children needs in all-round. One method to solve this contradiction is to give children some pocket money. We will write a custom essay sample on Pocket Money Should Be Given to the Teenagers or Not or any similar topic only for you Order Now Pocket money is useful to children. But whether the children are considerable enough to make correct use of these money. There are two viewpoints about the pocket money. Some people think that giving children pocket money will make them become luxurious. Others think that will not lead to such disadvantage. In my opinion, both of them are partially reasonable. Nowadays teenagers are moving to independence and it will help them if they have some practice in managing money. Giving pocket money teaches teenagers to manage money while they are still young and parents can still guide them. Also, it help teenagers to make choices and to see that sometimes people have to wait and save up some money to get what they really want. The important predicament of pocket money must have certainly flashed your mind either during your childhood or as a parent now. Of course, the dilemma is always much more grave if you are a parent. Parents extensively differ in their perspectives of upbringing children in a system of granting pocket money to take care of their petty expenses. At first, the definite expenses that should be termed as petty is pretty much subjective in nature and needs to be well-defined to start with. The second question you need to ask is what is the extent to which a child be given freedom to spend money which is deemed as pocket money? While lot of parentaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s concerns revolves around promoting unhealthy competition amongst children on the amount of money they get and loss of control on a childaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s spending habits, there are also some positive lessons for teenagers such as inculcating money management skills and making tough decision regarding spending desires that offer less value to their lifestyle. Some peoples believe that giving children pocket money really has many advantages. With pocket money, children can buy their daily necessities such as pencils, little toys, and snack food they like. It will give children a certain freedom to select what they want, make them aware rules of the equivalent exchange. Since time to parents is very precious, giving pocket money to children help them to save time spent in shopping, but used in busy working and earning money. Children can get the value of the money when they are responsible to pay for their purchases and they will become more responsible with money matters. It can also lead the children pay for their things from their pocket money itself, so that they get to know how grownups set up a budget when salary comes and pay for living expenses. Some parents think that giving pocket money to their children can saves a lot of time for grownups to buy small things for them. Parents can utilize this time for other important tasks. Once start giving pocket money to children, they have to begin make important decision regarding spending money themselves, this will gives them the sense of purpose and achievement. Besides that, children feel a sense of independence and responsibility towards spending the money in the right way. They learn to understand the value of money. Children will get into the habit of planned income and expenditure. They also learn about saving budgeting. Giving pocket money to children makes them feel an important part of the family since they know that they get a part of the family’s monthly income. Therefore, the way of giving pocket money will develop a sense to children of how much has to be done to earn money, learn that ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’, learn what money can buy, how much they need to buy and what they need to buy. They can have their own money to spend and helping them develop self control and understanding the value of money, and learn to save money. Others insist that there are undoubtedly some disadvantages in spending pocket money. First, young children do not know how to use pocket money appropriately, they possibly consume all the money to buy expensive merchandise that they like, and then ask for extra money from their parents. Some parents cosset their children, and always give them a large amount of pocket money. Such conditions will make children become more and more prodigal. Second, since adults do not supervise the procedure of shopping, children could probably buy something that is not suitable for their age, such as adult magazines. The aâ‚ ¬? Current Pocket Money Trends in Malaysiaaâ‚ ¬? survey has cited that metropolitan children in the 12-20 ages group get as much as RM500 to over RM1500 a month of pocket money to spend on apparels, physical appearance, cell phone and other lifestyle products. A child may not be cautious in spending money, he or she can easily spend on frivolous unnecessary items. Children are not expected to know the value of money so they are never expected to make a wise decision regarding money. A child can easily get into trouble if there is no supervision with regards to money matters. He or she can be the prey to the bullies at school or play area if they are carrying lots of pocket money. Children may always think they will get paid for everything they do to help, you have to find the money to pay them regularly, it is hard to know what the pocket money is supposed to pay for and there will always seems to be something more. Although children learn to understand that amount of money is limited and they need to always choose between their various desires to ensure correct use of their pocket money. Some parents believe that pocket money should not be given since that will make the child feel that ‘parents money is not his/her money’, it could lead to unhealthy competition amongst children on the amount of pocket money they get, and they will loss of control on where children spend the money. By judging these two viewpoints above that I mentioned, I think that parents should give their children a limited amount of pocket money and there must always exist some preconditions such as the amount of pocket money must be finite; parents should instruct their children how to use the money moderately and what is suitable to them; for a costly merchandise, parents themselves should take children to buy it. With these preconditions, pocket money will do no harm to their children. Parents need to explain to them where the money is to be used. For example when you first give the amount to your daughter, you need to explain that this money is to cover her school special lunch; candies or soft drinks requirements for a week. If the child is given money without any direction, you could run the risk of the child using the money is a way that does not agree with you. In such cases, parents need to be very careful in not micro- managing where the child spends the pocket money, else the child will get irritated and will not get the aâ‚ ¬? sense of independenceaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ that parents want to instill in the child. Once children start spending, sometimes away from their parents in going to school, sports classes, tuitions, and they need to carry some amount of money on them. In the beginning, the amount of money should be small and should be periodically reviewed as the child grows. For example parents could decide that every birthday, they will give an increment to your childaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pocket money. If your child excels in academics or sports, they could get higher pocket money increments! How much is the best as the pocket money? Parents must always ensure that they give comparable pocket money to their children. It should neither be too much or too little compared to friends. Giving more pocket money than friends will make your child spend more and consider money as frivolous and easily available. If your child gets less pocket money than his/her friends, it will lead to an inferiority complex and the child might start resenting you. An idea might be to give your child a set amount each week, putting half in a savings account. At the end of a time agreed on by you both, perhaps three months and the child can spend the saved money exactly as they wish. If they choose to ‘waste’ it on lollies they can do so. However most children want something special and usually prefer to save for that particular thing and not waste it on a brief pleasure. This helps teach them the value of saving. Another way treat pocket money as a way of punishment. Parents must be careful not to use pocket money as a way of punishment to their children. Often, parents use aâ‚ ¬? suspension of pocket moneyaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ as an easy way of punishing their children. This format of punishment is not wrong to use but must be applied carefully. For example if the child has a broken a beautiful vase and you want him/ her to understand the value of the same, you can penalize the child by deducting/ taking away the monthaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pocket money. But you cannot start using pocket money as a weapon to get the child to abide by all your wishes. For example you might want your child to have two glasses of milk everyday which he may not want to; in such cases by incentivizing the child for more pocket money will be wrong to do since such a format of giving money is not pocket money but aâ‚ ¬? bribeaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Similarly, pocket money penalty cannot be used as a blanket punishment to all wrong-doings. If the child starts feeling that he/she will never really get pocket money due to some punishment, he/she might be tempted to steal money from parents. If you decide to give pocket money you need to work out, how much is reasonable, whether the money will be paid for doing chores, how much must be done to earn it, and how much is simply because aâ‚ ¬? you are a member of the familyaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, how much each job is worth, whether all children get the same amount or the older child gets more, how much control parents will have over the use of pocket money or do they have to save some, what can they buy with it, when you will pay? Because the children won’t learn about the responsibility of money if parents don’t honor the agreement. How to cite Pocket Money Should Be Given to the Teenagers or Not, Essay examples

Working Ethics of Human Resource Department

Question - Prepare documentation on working with the Human Resource department in an organisation? Table of Contents Executive Summary: Task 1:- Approving recruitment: Position Description: Advertising: Impact of legal, regulatory, and ethical considerations in process of recruitment and selection: Participation in the Selection Process: Evaluating personal contribution to the process of selection: Task 2:- Leadership Skills and Attributes: Contrast between different leadership types: Methods of motivating staff: Task 3:- Impacts of Team Work and Culture: Conclusion: References. Executive Summary: Human Resource is that department of an organization that looks after the welfare of both employers and employees. It is responsible for coordinating the activities of the organizational members. It is responsible for recruiting members or staffs to carry on with the organizational performance for better. An organization needs to maintain the process of recruitment, selection, training and retention in the most effective manner. As per the given scenario, XYZ Ltd is an organization that seeks for new staff to be recruited. The following tasks highlight on those aspects. They also focus on the concepts of leadership techniques, and assessment of organizational performance. Task 1: Human resource (HR) forms an integral part of an organization since the success of a business organization depends greatly upon the availability of innovative, skilled, committed, and creative workforce. Hence it is an essential requisite to pay greater attention to the human resource aspect of an organization (Johnson and Klee, 2007). With reference to the given case scenario of XYZ Ltd, it is required to develop a documentation to select as well as recruit a new member of staff(Jogulu, 2010). It is the responsibility of the human resource department of XYZ Ltd to create documentation for recruitment and selection of staff by abiding by all rules and regulations. The documentation is as follows: Approving recruitment: The process of recruitment must initiate with the approval from higher authorities of the organization. The concerned organizational department of XYZ Ltd who requires staff needs to send a draft specifying position description as well specifying required skills and qualification for the designation (Keyko, 2014). Once approved it is sent to the HR department. Position Description: Before giving advertisement, the company needs to describe the position of the new member. This also needs to be approved by the authority and it includes related roles and responsibilities of the individual. Advertising: This is an essential step and it requires approval of the executive director of the company. Advertisement is done in multiple ways like that of online advertisements, electronic media, print media, open advertisement, etc. Any particular mean is selected and detailed advertisement is given with details such as location, qualification, salary, work time, job specifications, etc. Impact of legal, regulatory, and ethical considerations in process of recruitment and selection: Thorough awareness of legal and ethical considerations would enable the company to minimize risks, interview question, job posting, checking job offers, etc. Some laws that are associated with the process of recruitment and selection are race relation act, sex discriminatory act, employment equality and regulation, etc. The firm XYZ Ltd is required to follow these laws. XYZ Ltd is said to maintain sex discriminatory act. It would not discriminate between male or female candidates. If a candidate meets all the criteria of a post, the firm would not consider whether the candidate is male or female. It would also abide by the race relation act. If any job advertisement demands for specific race or nationality, it would break the provision of race relation act (Hancock, 2002). Any individual having legal work permission in UK would be allowed to work. Besides, both young as well as old people would be given equal benefits. When the company is perceived to practice ethically and legally, it would hold a positive recognition in the minds of the people. This would in turn prove beneficial for the company. Participation in the Selection Process: The human resource manager of the company plays a significant role in this process. It includes a series of tasks. A suitable recruitment and selection panel is selected for appointment. The panel is responsible for taking interview of the candidates. On receiving applications from the candidates, the panel is required to shortlist few of the best candidates by some chosen method. This is followed by the interview. One done, the selected candidates are appointed by giving an official appointment letter (Kulkarni and Gopakumar, 2014). Evaluating personal contribution to the process of selection: As mentioned in this report, I have been engaged in preparing important documents required for employee selection on behalf of XYZ Ltd. I developed a suitable advertisement by specifying the required qualification, skills, and job details along with other important information. From the huge lots of applications, I had to shortlist few best candidates who match our given criteria suitably (Leban and Zulauf, 2004). I took part in the interview process and gave my opinions in selecting the best candidate. Thus, the whole process was an entirely different experience for me altogether. Task 2: Leadership Skills and Attributes: The concept of leadership is an important one with respect to organizational environment. A manager is supposed to be a leader who guides his entire team to the path of success. A leader is expected to exhibit effective leadership qualities to impact upon the overall outcomes of the team (Carter and Greer, 2013). The skills and attributes possessed by a leader distinguish him from the rest of the individuals. A successful leader is one who possesses the following attributes: Motivation - A leader is essentially required to be a source of constant motivation. He needs to encourage his team members to achieve great. Communication A leader needs to possess the quality of effective communication. He needs to have that skill of active listening, awareness of body language, and must ensure that he communicates with all his members adequately. Learning A leader needs to have a crucial role of learning ability. He must adapt his surrounding changes easily and positively. A leader is always on the path of learning because he knows that it is the most effective weapon to survive challenges. Analytical skills An effective leader is one who analyzes all given information so as to utilize these thoroughly for future progress. Organization skills An effective leader knows how to set expectations, delegate tasks, fixes deadlines, and evaluate alternatives. Leadership or management approaches are quite varied. These include autocratic, democratic, paternalistic, transformational, and laissez faire leadership style. As per personal opinion, democratic leadership is the best leadership style. Democratic leadership is one that allows increased level of participation of the organizational members in the process of managerial decision-making (Liakhovitski, Stone-Romero and Jaccard, 2008). Any final decision that is taken by a manager is approved by the senior authority. Here, the employees are quite responsible for their respective tasks. This approach of leadership brings about positive and desirable outcome. Although leadership and management are inter-related, these two concepts have some key differences. The main distinction amidst the two is that leaders who practice leadership have followers who walk on their defined path; whereas managers practice management and they have workers who work for them (Carter and Greer, 2013). A manager is said to administer but a leader innovates; a manager maintains but a leader develops. Leaders determine the goals as well as direction and lay challenges to both. They lead the team and encourage them to reach the new direction. On the other hand, managers maintain that all their workers to achieve their objectives and that of the organization. Contrast between different leadership types: Among various types of leadership styles, the democratic style is the most effective one since it involves participation of every organizational employee to participate in the decision-making process. This participative process keeps the employees motivated. Instead, if the organization would follow autocratic leadership, it would have led to adequate dissatisfaction amidst the employees (Ulver-Sneistrup, Askegaard and Kristensen, 2011). This is because only the manager is given the authority to make decision in this style. Paternalistic approach is also not desirable as this does not allow independence to the employees. On the other hand laissez faire approach is also not suitable since managers do not any role at all in the decision-making process (Melville, 2005). This often creates confusion and conflict among the employees. Methods of motivating staff: Leaders and managers adopt various motivating strategies to encourage employees to achieve objectives within the organization. Some of the mentionable methods are Maslows Hierarchy model, Herzbergs two factor theory, etc. This mentioned organization XYZ Ltd adopts Maslows hierarchy theory for encouraging its employees(Ahmad and Schroeder, 2002). The organization needs to ensure a fair salary structure for its employees. This acts the prime motivational source. Good salary structure keeps employees better off physically and psychologically(Schmid, 2006). The organization must treat all its employees with due respect. This is one of the most essential factors in bringing about positive work culture. Task 3: Impacts of Team Work and Culture: Team work and effort is considered to be one of the most important success factors of the organization. In team efforts, the skills of all members can be effectively shared to get the best output. At crucial situations, team members may rely upon each other to bring out the desired outcome. The members share their knowledge and skills and contribute to success in an extended manner. The concept of team work enables employees to work cohesively by sharing their skills, knowledge and competencies(Mumford, 2000). This team work not only benefits the organization to get the entire work done smoothly and with maximum productivity but also enhances the skills of the organizational members to work in the coordinative manner in accordance to organizational needs. Team work is regarded as a significant key for developing efficiency within the work organization (Rogers, 2012). It completes the whole work faster with optimum effectiveness. This is not possible on an individual basis. Share of w ork leads to reduction of workloads. The members can share their own ideas and responsibilities among each other to reduce individual pressure and stress. This in turn enhances the integrated performance for achieving sustainable growth. Team work is greatly needed to enhance employee relations within the organization. Within the work environment of XYZ Ltd, when employees work together it creates a better opportunity for them to bond with each other. Different projects are taken up by work teams to be completed effectively. This gives them a feeling of pride and respect (Mustafa and Gold, 2012). Working in a team gives them a feeling of team spirit, and they respect each other and support key decisions within the team. The concept of team effort increases mutual trust which is essential for enhancing employee satisfaction and employee relations within the organization. The organization XYZ Ltd has to face several challenging situations for accomplishing everyday tasks. They usually solve their issues in a cooperative manner. all members are quite goal-oriented and understand their responsibilities quite well. Within the organization, the coordinator is the individual taking up the role of a leader. He is responsible for every member and is quite committed to the organizational goals as well as objectives. He motivates the members to take up new jobs and responsibilities to accomplish all organizational tasks. He acts as a role model and a leader for all organizational members(Omisore and Okofu, 2014). Another identity is that of a shaper. He is mainly responsible to shape the team accomplishments. He is quite focused to achieve organizational objectives. His energy and enthusiasm is a motivational source for other team members. This individual often creates challenges, make arguments, and plan strategies to reach organizational goals (Politis, 2003 ). Other designators are resource investigator, implementer, monitor evaluator, team worker, and specialist. These individuals are equally responsible for organizational accomplishments. The team of XYZ Ltd is quite effective within the increased competitive business environment. To work in various environments they require diversity of knowledge as well as experience. The organizational team possesses diversity of knowledge that helps them to overcome various challenges that they face. Team effort requires effective ethical code of behavior while working with varies individuals within the team. The members must have mutual trust and respect for each other (Ahmad and Schroeder, 2002). This enhances the effectiveness of the team outcomes. Leaders and managers adopt various motivating strategies to encourage employees to achieve objectives within the organization. Some of the mentionable methods are Maslows Hierarchy model, Herzbergs two factor theory, etc. This mentioned organization XYZ Ltd adopts Maslows hierarchy theory for encouraging its employees. The organization needs to ensure a fair salary structure for its employees. This acts the prime motivational source. Conclusion: The concept of leadership is highly significant to accomplish new tasks in an entirely new environment. Some leaders exist in the organizational environment that brings about radical changes to bring about successful accomplishments of the organization to work competitively. Effective leaders face environmental challenges and motivate employees to achieve the desired organizational as well as individual objectives(Parrott, 2014). When employees follow the leaders and abide by the advices of the leadership styles, they become competent to accomplish organizational tasks. References Ahmad, S. and Schroeder, R. (2002). The importance of recruitment and selection process for sustainability of total quality management.Int J Qual Reliability Mgmt, 19(5), pp.540-550. Carter, S. and Greer, C. (2013). Strategic Leadership: Values, Styles, and Organizational Performance.Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 20(4), pp.375-393. Hancock, C. (2002). Effective Recruitment and Selection.LIM, 2(02). Jogulu, U. (2010). Culturallyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ linked leadership styles.Leadership Org Development J, 31(8), pp.705-719. Johnson, N. and Klee, T. (2007). Passive-Aggressive Behavior and Leadership Styles in Organizations.Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 14(2), pp.130-142. Keyko, K. (2014). Work engagement in nursing practice: A relational ethics perspective.Nursing Ethics, 21(8), pp.879-889. Kulkarni, M. and Gopakumar, K. (2014). Career Management Strategies of People With Disabilities.Human Resource Management, 53(3), pp.445-466. Leban, W. and Zulauf, C. (2004). Linking emotional intelligence abilities and transformational leadership styles.Leadership Org Development J, 25(7), pp.554-564. Liakhovitski, D., Stone-Romero, E. and Jaccard, J. (2008). Strategies for detecting joint dichotomous moderators in human resource management research.Human Resource Management Review, 18(3), pp.164-179. Melville, R. (2005). Human research ethics committees and ethical review: The changing research culture for social workers.Australian Social Work, 58(4), pp.370-383. Mumford, M. (2000). Managing Creative People: Strategies and Tactics for Innovation.Human Resource Management Review, 10(3), pp.313-351. Mustafa, M. and Gold, M. (2012). Chained to my work'? Strategies to manage temporal and physical boundaries among self-employed teleworkers.Human Resource Management Journal, p.n/a-n/a. Omisore, B. and Okofu, B. (2014). Staff Recruitment and Selection Process in the Nigerian Public Service: What is to be done?.ijhrs, 4(3), p.280. Parrott, L. (2014). Culture, Values and Ethics in Social Work.Ethics and Social Welfare, 8(4), pp.428-429. Politis, J. (2003). QFD: the role of various leadership styles.Leadership Org Development J, 24(4), pp.181-192. Rogers, R. (2012). Leadership communication styles: a descriptive analysis of health care professionals.JHL, p.47. Schmid, H. (2006). Leadership styles and leadership change in human and community service organizations.Nonprofit Management Leadership, 17(2), pp.179-194. Ulver-Sneistrup, S., Askegaard, S. and Kristensen, D. (2011). The new work ethics of consumption and the paradox of mundane brand resistance.Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(2), pp.215-238.

Monday, May 4, 2020

Free Sample Notes For Research Methods For Business

Questions: 1. Comment on the following situation.The dilemmas of Dorothy DunningDorothy Dunning, Chief Production Manager, was on top of the world just two years ago. In her nontraditional job, she was cited to be the real backbone of the company, and her performance was in no small measure responsible for the mergers the institution was contemplating with other well-known global corporations.Of late, though, the products of the company had had to be recalled several times owing to safety concerns. Quality glitches and production delays also plagued the company.To project a good image to consumers, Dunning developed a very reassuring website and made sweeping changes in the manufacturing processes to enhance the quality of the product, minimize defects, and enhance the efficiency of the workers. A year after all these changes, the company continues to recall defective products!2. Given the situations below:a. discuss, with reasons, whether they fall into the category of applied or basic researc h;b. for Scenario 1, explain, with reasons, who will conduct the research.Scenario 1 To acquire or not to acquire: that is the questionCompanies are very interested in acquiring other firms, even when the latter operate in totally unrelated realms of business. For example, Coca-Cola has announced that it wants to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group in an effort to expand its activities in one of the world's fastest-growing beverage markets. Such acquisitions are claimed to "work miracles." However, given the volatility of the stock market and the slowing down of business, many companies are not sure whether such acquisitions involve too much risk. At the same time, they also wonder if they are missing out on a great business opportunity if they fail to take such risks. Some research is needed here!Scenario 2 Reasons for absenteeismA university professor wanted to analyze in depth the reasons for absenteeism of employees in organizations. Fortunately, a company within 20 miles of the campu s employed her as a consultant to study that very issue.Scenario 3 Effects of service recovery on customer satisfactionA research scientist wants to investigate the question: What is the most effective way for an organization to recover from a service failure? Her objective is to provide guidelines for establishing the proper 'fit" between service failure and service recovery that will generalize across a variety of service industries. Answers: Comment on the following situation Dorothy Dunning, the chief production manager for the company had taken every possible measure to correct the situation. The companys image had suffered a lot due to deteriorating quality of products. Dunnings efforts to enhance the image by launching an online campaign by launching a reassuring website. This step seemed to be correct as this is the fastest and the cheapest way to connecting with customers. Dunning seemed to be aware of the power of the power of the internet and its impact on the minds of the customers without incurring high costs of traditional marketing campaign. This was an innovative idea on rhe part of Dunning to start a positive campaign. The results of this campaign is however not very clear form the case study as it is not stated whether the company had been able to gain advantage from the online campaign. On the other hand the most critical problem was to plug the production of faulty products. Dunning took the usual steps that one would take to enhance quality assurance and quality maintenance. Dunning also tried to improve employee efficiency. But even after a year the steps seem to have not resulted in any positive result. It seems that Dunning had not been able to locate the actual problem as even after taking all the usual possible steps the situation did not improve. Hence it can be said that Dunning was unable to locate the actual problem in the production line. Secondly, even after not getting results using the usual steps taken for quality enhancement and assurance, Dunning needed to take some innovative steps to enhance and maintain quality of products. 2 (a) In the scenario 1 where Coca Cola wants to acquire Chinas Huiyun Juice Group by buying out much research is needed into the proposal. The research needed would be applied research about the actual market situations in China, which the Coca Cola Company is backing on the worlds fastest growing beverage market, China, for its increased sales from the acquisition. The theories of market research, risks theories of acquisitions and volatility of the global market need to be tallied with the actual on the ground situation in the Chinese market (Collier, 2003). In scenario 2 where the university professor wants to analyze the reasons for absenteeism has to employ applied research. Here the professor would have to find out from the factory workers where she has been offered employment as a consultant, their reasons for absenteeism and arrive at practical decision on the subject. The aim is to find out in-depth knowledge about absenteeism based on some basic knowledge about the subject already known and use the actual on the ground situation at the factory (Fields, 2002). As in scenario 1, here too the research aims to find out practical solutions to the problem. In the scenario 3, the researcher needs to conduct basic research where he would find solutions to a general problem. The researcher would not have access to practical situations. The researcher would depend on the researches already done. The aim of the research is to prepare general guidelines on the subject and hence basic research work is needed. 2 (b) In scenario1, the research should primarily carried out by market experts form the company. Some help can be sought from survey agencies who can do a survey among the customers in the Chinese market about beverages. The reason for conducting the research by in house representatives is that they are the best judge of the situation and are aware of the company objectives behind the research. Moreover there is also the question of integrity as the research is vital for the Coca Cola Company to take a business decision that would have far reaching consequences (Webster, 2004). References Collier, P. (2003).Accounting for managers. West Sussex, England: J. Wiley. Fields, E. (2002).The essentials of finance and accounting for nonfinancial managers. New York: AMACOM. Oldcorn, R. (1993).Accounting for managers. London: Routledge. Webster, W. (2004).Accounting for managers. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Why This School Secondary Essay Sample Is So Popular?

Why This School Secondary Essay Sample Is So Popular?The purpose of this article is to assist you in answering the question why this school secondary essay sample is so useful and so famous. As a matter of fact, you will learn more about how to compose your essay without difficulty. However, we will also inform you about some other things that you will need to know before you start writing your own college essay.In the first place, you should learn how to write a complete cover letter and a short introduction paragraph. Next, you should read the information in 'Why this school secondary essay sample' and then write a basic essay. Thus, you will be familiar with some of the fundamental elements of college essays.Before you begin writing, you should have a definite final goal in mind. This may be to write a college essay or it may be to gain entrance to an institute. Whatever the reason, you should identify what is the end of your career in a suitable manner.The purpose of this article is to provide you with a basic idea about the benefits of using a school secondary essay sample for preparing your own college essay. In any case, you will find out how the college essay paper can be of immense help to you in attaining your primary objective.From here, you should understand that the essay samples are very helpful for students who are not very good in composing their own essays. The main reason behind this fact is that they are usually prepared by people who possess considerable writing skills. Therefore, these people spend little time for doing research and analysis.You should make sure that the college paper that you write reflects your personality. You should make sure that it is appealing to your peers. You should make sure that it is an inspiration to your fellow students. The goal of this article is to help you in attaining the status of writing a good scholarship application. If you keep this in mind, you will not face any difficulty in getting hold of schola rships from prestigious institutions and agencies.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Jacob Riis Jane Addams Essay on Progressive Era free essay sample

At the turn of the twentieth century the press received a great amount of credit for the success of the Progressive movement. Notable muckrakers Jane Addams and Jacob Riis showed determination towards there being a change; each made sure to use their abilities to aid in not only a social way, but ask economically and politically, even to this day what theyve done has made a massive impact. A native of Denmark, Jacob Riis moved to the US in 1870 to pursue work. Riis worked as a police reporter, but eventually became a social reformer. He fought to eliminate the devastating slum-like conditions that were present in New York Citys Lower East Side. With the use of his book â€Å"How the Other Half Lives†, Riis was able to open many of the wealthy residences eyes to how immigrants and the less fortunate lives during that era. Riis himself endured similar conditions when he first made the transition to the states; he struggled with being jobless, hungry and homeless, many nights he copes with thoughts of suicide. We will write a custom essay sample on Jacob Riis Jane Addams Essay on Progressive Era or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Three years later he acquired a job as a journalist working for the New York association. How the Other Half Lives† targeted the minds of wealthy citizens as a way to get them to open their eyes to what others just like them were forced to live through. Jacob Riis pointed out that there were single family dwellings that shared side walls with other houses, they were called tenements and were overcrowded and unsanitary. Riis was able to project a very concerned tone and empathize with the people that suffered with poverty, because he too himself knows what it feels like to experience such an battle. Through the pictures in his book, America was able to see what little the government did to help financially unstable people. Riis along with fellow muckrakers Upton Sinclair with his novel â€Å"The Jungle† which shed light on disgusting and filthy conditions surrounding the production of food products, and Jane Addams who created the Hull Houses as a way to provide shelter and better living conditions for Americans. Overall Riis was able to accomplish exactly what he wanted, he was capable of successfully accomplishing what he set out to, with the recognition â€Å"How the Other Half Lives† received, people from the outside looking in changed their mindsets and actually improve the living conditions for the poor, which at that time lessened the amount of diseases spreading. An advocate for immigrants, the poor and women, at the age of twenty-nine Jane Addams established the Hull House in 1889, which opened its doors to European immigrants, providing them with food and shelter. Located in Chicago, the Hull House became the first settlement house in the United States. As a social reformer, Addams became the spokesperson for organized labors and was determined to eliminate poverty. Through her writing and speeches, Addams left a lasting impression on the nation during the Progressive Era; her commitment to immigrant communities, and similar to Jacob Riis in her work with wanting to improve slum-like communities, helped change the way people view impoverished living conditions and the things they do to improve them. Both Jane Addams and Jacob Riis did whatever they sought necessary to improve the conditions that immigrants encountered during the progressive era, both worked and successfully got the wealthy and the government to make a change in the way they handled those specific situations, all while influencing modern day. With what theyve done during the Progressive Era, Jane Addams and Jacob Riis made a key point in empathizing the needs for more jobs for immigrants and shelters for the less fortunate.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Merriam-Websters 2018 Words of the Year

Merriam-Websters 2018 Words of the Year Merriam-Webster’s 2018 Words of the Year Merriam-Webster’s 2018 Words of the Year By Mark Nichol Toward the end of every calendar year, Merriam-Webster, like other major dictionaries, shares a list of the words most frequently searched for on its website. As usual, this search traffic is largely driven by public discourse, as people look up words they see and hear in the media and in conversations, seeking to learn definitions of unfamiliar words or to clarify for themselves the meanings of words they know (or think they know). This post discusses Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2018 and ten runners-up. The Word of the Year, justice, was newsworthy in several contexts. The primary sense is that of administration or maintenance of fairness and lawfulness, and increasing concern about social justice has brought the concept, and the term that represents it, to the forefront in our society. But justice is a job title as well as a concept, referring to a judge on a national or state supreme court or similar body, and the controversy over confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court also led people to check the definition. (The senior member of a supreme court is often titled â€Å"chief justice,† while the others are designated â€Å"associate justices.†) Finally, on a more trivial note, the Justice League is a team of superheroes created for DC Comics and appearing in various media, including a film released late last year. The runners-up include nationalism, which has figured prominently in the media as the concept gains traction throughout the world, including in the United States, where President Donald Trump recently unabashedly identified himself as a nationalist. However, he, like many people, appears to be unclear on the concept: Nationalism is often conflated with patriotism. However, while the latter term refers to pride in one’s country, nationalism denotes loyalty to a nation at the expense of international (and intranational) harmony. Nationalism is closely associated with fascism, a political philosophy that incorporates dictatorial control and centralization of authority and brutal suppression of individuals and groups deemed undesirable or resistant to fascists’ goals. In summary, to be called a nationalist is decidedly not a compliment, and to call oneself a nationalist does not invite compliments. Pansexual, incorporating a Greek prefix meaning â€Å"all,† refers to a conception of gender identity and sexual orientation as something that occurs along a spectrum, rejecting the idea of binary categorization. Lodestar, originally denoting Polaris, the North Pole Star, which for millennia has served as a navigational aid, now refers more broadly to a guide, inspiration, or model. (Lode is a Middle English word meaning â€Å"course† or â€Å"way; it’s seen also in the context of mining: A lode is a deposit of ore.) The term had a vogue this year after it was used in an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times purportedly written by a senior Trump administration official. Because Vice President Mike Pence is known to use the fairly obscure term, some people suspected him of being the author. An epiphany is an appearance or manifestation, but the term is most commonly employed to refer to a realization or revelation. Its popularity as a search term early this year likely resulted from the Christian holiday by that name, which on January 6 commemorates the visit of the Magi, or Three Wise Men, to where the infant Jesus lay; it derives from the Greek verb epiphainein, meaning â€Å"manifest.† Feckless, used by a television commentator to criticize Ivanka Trump for, in her role as adviser to her father, failing to criticize the Trump administration’s immigration policies, employs the root feck, of Scottish origin, meaning â€Å"value† or â€Å"worth.† Essentially, it is a rare synonym for worthless. Laurel, the word for a tree whose foliage was used to crown victors in athletic events in ancient Greece, became a hot search term when a debate erupted online about which of two words was being enunciated in an online dictionary’s pronunciation sound file. By extension of its original definition, the term came to apply to the celebratory object itself and to figurative honors; one idiom based on the term is â€Å"rest on (one’s) laurels,† which alludes to someone who, upon achieving an honor, refrains from attempting feats that bring further recognition. (Usage generally pertains to one who does not rest on one’s laurels, meaning that person does seek other honors.) Pissant was frequently looked up after a radio personality described a famous football player’s daughter with the word, which is a derogatory dialectal term formed from piss and ant. (This word is not to be confused with puissant, a rare term meaning â€Å"powerful† and etymologically related to power and potent. All three words derive from the Latin term posse, meaning â€Å"able,† which survives in English as the term for a group deputized to pursue a fugitive or, more loosely, to denote one’s entourage.) The death this year of Aretha Franklin, best known for her rousing rendition of the song â€Å"Respect,† prompted look-ups of that word, which literally means â€Å"look back.† (The second syllable of that word, meaning â€Å"look,† is also the root of spectacle, spectator, inspect, suspect, and so on.) Maverick is a term often applied to the late John McCain, a US senator and presidential aspirant, for his frequent opposition to party-line politics. The word, describing someone who often acts without regard for group or party loyalty, derives from the surname of a gentleman who, after taking a small herd of cattle as payment for a debt, neglected to brand them, rendering them vulnerable to appropriation by other ranchers, who rounded them up on the open range and applied their own brands to the livestock. Since then, the word has been a synonym for independent, though â€Å"stolen from a careless owner† would be a more appropriate association. The death of Marvel Comics mogul Stan Lee this year resulted in references to excelsior, the word with which Lee typically signed off in the columns he wrote for his company’s comic books. Though the primary meaning of the word is mundane- it was a trademark for a brand of wood shavings used as protective packing material and later a generic term- its origin is the Latin word meaning â€Å"higher†; excel, excellent, and so on are related. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Is Irony? (With Examples)Precedent vs. PrecedenceQuiet or Quite?