Tuesday, December 24, 2019

United States Of The Middle East During World War II

Since World War II, the United States of America, in an attempt to further their own interests, has gravely affected the historical development of the Middle East using their resources (economic aid, military aid, technology) and Israel as their instruments of war. The overall impact of US involvement in Middle East politics has ultimately caused the formation of inter-Arab rivalries, forcing countries to take sides and creating an â€Å"us vs. them mentality. When analyzing US involvement in the Middle East since World War II, it is impossible to not talk about the impact Israel has had on the region. In the international community Israel is widely considered an â€Å"expansionist arm† of the United States in the Middle East. The US and Israel’s†¦show more content†¦Israel responded to these threats in a fashion that would make national hero and founder, David Ben-Gurion, proud—they used their air force to completely destroy the air forces of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt before they could even leave the ground. Israeli forces, using their complete control of the sky, advanced to the Sinai Peninsula and easily defeated the Arab coalition forces. US involvement comes into play because in 1965 the US began clandestinely selling arms and fighter jets to Israel via West Germany, which had the affect of making their military vastly superior to any Middle East countries’ armed forces. Had the US not sold these ar ms and fighter jets to Israel then the outcome of the war would not have been nearly as decisive and it could have completely changed history. The Six Day War of 1967 had far reaching consequences that drastically changed the landscape of the Middle East. Israel’s complete domination gave them â€Å"an aura of invincibility† and took away any desire they had to negotiate with the Arab countries who opposed them. Israel took over the oil fields of the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, which was a major source of their country’s revenue. Jordan was forced to surrender the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to Israel. The West Bank was a major agricultural area for Jordan, and the loss of these two holy sites was not

Monday, December 16, 2019

What Do You Look Forward Free Essays

I look forward to getting the best out of this program and come out a better nurse equipped and seasoned with sound knowledge and skills necessary to meet up with challenges in the healthcare system. However my greatest fear is time management Time management is very important in any area of life as success and failures are built upon it. It is my fear here as I have to juggle School, Work, family at the same time and meet up with the demands of each, allotting quality time to each section. We will write a custom essay sample on What Do You Look Forward? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Language barrier on the other hand possess a little bit of challenge to me as I have to advance my writings from undergraduate level to graduate level. My plan to overcome this fear is to be organized from day one which entails knowing my schedule, plan and stream line my activities via time table format. Make effort to follow my time table, remove procrastination from it but allow flexible time for any unforeseen circumstances that might come up along the way. Specific educational experience I encountered was when I started school here in a traditional class room, it was very difficult for me to comprehend what my instructors was teaching and also for them to understand me because of my accent. My fear was how to succeed in my education when I don’t understand the classroom lectures. I am even too afraid to ask questions fearing that they will not understand me or even laugh at me. I am fine studying my textbook at home but it is not enough as major and important points are highlighted in the lecture notes. So my first step in addressing this fear was to meet with my instructors after class and tell them my problem. Second step was to use the learning resources available at the college and attended series of passport classes for international students. This tutoring classes and one on one session with most of my instructors took all my spare and family time but it did pay off at the end of the semester with good grades. These resources helped me to overcome my fear, understand my instructors, and ask questions in class, improved on note taking skills and above all good grades. Read also: Time Management – Work File How to cite What Do You Look Forward?, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Leadership Underpinning Proposals

Question: Describe about the Leadership for Underpinning Proposals. Answer: Introduction There are various ways and means that leaders can use to lead the people. In this case, the following leaders are going to be used in the analysis (Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs). It is considered vital to learn the impact of leadership styles indicated by the above leaders in order to develop individual approach on leadership, this will make one a productive and effective leader. Leadership is considered as one of the success stories that had made significant changes for the betterment of the society. Various scholars have deduced that leadership is a learned behavior, while others have dismissed such claims and considered leadership as a born behavioral trait. Chaudhry and Javed (2012) on the other hand depicts that, the failures of similar organizations are also attributed to poor leadership. Leadership is a behavioral practice that has to be cultured in order to meet the needs and demands of the people. We cannot shy away from good leadership, but we can corre ct or amend our bad leadership styles to conform to better and well-known leadership traits that meets modern or contemporary needs and demands (Chemers 2014). The purpose of this paper is to discuss leadership theories as well as factors that attributed to bad and good leadership (limitations of theories). The above three leaders are known to offer the best in leadership hence able to influence their people to the best. For example, Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader from India was leading concept was based on situational leadership concepts and ideology (John and Taylor 2014). According to situational leadership theory, leaders in this type of category are viewed as changing their leadership tactics based on the level of task ahead of them. This type of leadership can be attained by using participatory style whereby ideas are shared among followers. This leadership style also allows delegation of duties (Shriberg, A, Shriberg and Lloyd 2002). According to Mahatma Gandhi, his leadership was full of selling style-all the decisions taken by the leader are explained to others. Moreover, Preston (2012) illustrated that Mahatma Gandhi used telling style-specific concerns are shared with specific individuals while undertaking their chores and responsibilities. The other leader is Steve Jobs. He is considered as a transformational leader. Under this type of leadership, he was able to use creativity and innovation amid his employees at Apple to drive his leadership style (Susanj and Jakopec 2012). In addition, he used rewarding system to attain the best performance among his employees or followers. Lastly, Martin Luther King was a transformational leader that incorporated charismatic and inspirational values to manage his followers. The key ideology behind this type of leadership is to foster motivation to create or boost performance. It can be deduced that leaders such as the ones discussed above used several leadership style, hence their success in leadership (Preston, 2012) Leader Analysis Steve Jobs To start we are going to examine the leadership qualities, styles, and achievements comparatively and analytically of a man named Steve Jobs, who started small in a garage, in 1976, become separated in 1985 but returned to find it almost bankrupt and in ruins in 1997. By the time he passed away in October 2011 the company became the globes most valuable business entity, and in his life cycle at the helm of apple he changed the world with tablet computing, personal computing, animated movies, mobile phones, digital publishing not to mention retail stores and the huge success they derived. This revitalizing seven industries along the way, IE, communication, software and computer rendering, Pixar to name a few. This places him in midst of giants like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Walt Disney, all using their innovation and intelligence to make a better world. The value of interpersonal connections in solidifying a relationship, organizational culture, or business deals, Social capital conveys the notion that strong relationships have a tremendous value of goodwill. Great multicultural leaders are able to generate this goodwill across cultures and inspire strong interpersonal relationships, not only between people very much like themselves, but also among people who may be quite different from them. Steve jobs achieved this through vision and inventiveness of products and systems, which made the world more connected and dissimilar. This created enhanced understandings of cultures and their different ways of seeing each other, according to (Hamm 2006), CEOs who fail to communicate, clarify and relate their vision, will fail to impress upon people the importance of this and create meaningless cultures. Some keys to his success according to Walter Isaacson (2012) viewpoint were that in 1997 taking back an array of computers and peripherals. Moreover, at least a dozen differing Macintosh clones, screaming stop and it is explained how they were going to concentrate on just four computers, by doing this saved the company from bankruptcy, stating what to do is as important a decision as what not to do, thats true for products as well for companies. Simplification strategies like, taking responsibility end to end, whereby he knew the best method to gain simplicity was to guarantee seamless integration of peripheral devices, hardware and software. IE, a Mac with iTunes connected to an iPod allowing problem free, smoother and simpler synchronizing between the devices. Analyzing Steve Jobs effectiveness, Steves early mentor, wrote him a memo urging three basic principles, empathy, focus, and impute. The last being a little awkward but became a key for jobs, he knew people form opinions on companies and products on structures of how it has presented and packaged, that taught him people do judge a book by its cover. These and the hunger for integrating a world with the success of his ingenuity, and vision while being very successful made him a very effective leader that unified and shrunk the world a little more, also saving lives through knowledge sharing genius and inventiveness. Leader Analysis Martin Luther King An example of a modern leader who transformed life, as we know it for many in the USA and for many around the world was Dr Martin Luther King Jr (MLK). Dr King in his journey to racial equality and justice displayed many of the traits the modern study of leadership deems necessary in order to lead a company or be successful in leadership in everyday life, these traits include but are not limited to ethics, multicultural leadership, the psychology of leadership. Through Martin Luther Kings leadership we can also see an example of the four characteristics of a transformational leader (Burns 1978 ), similar to that of Gandhi who transformed the way people thought and acted about social justice and race in India years earlier. In order to properly determine if Dr Martin Luther King would be would be the ideal candidate from Mr Jobs and Gandhi we must first analyses these key traits and behaviors. Trust is the strongest form of currency in leadership (Brunicardi et al. 2007, Shriberg and Shriberg 2011), you cannot have trust without ethics, therefore it is the strength of MLKs ethics that when examined can help explain the strength of his transformational abilities. MLK born into a family of Baptist ministers in Atlanta Georgia was always certain of his convictions, he was a strong moral person and a strong moral manager (Shriberg and Shriberg 2011), this birthed his understanding of life and his value system. The most outstanding of which was to love your brother, MLK believed that he must match hate with love in order to change the opinions of white Americans. On top of this unwavering belief MLK opposed all the trappings of wealth and success, he lived a modest life in order to stay true to himself and stay a part of the community he was fighting for (Clayborne 2005). Such strong morals and ethical convictions made believers out of many people, both black and white. MLKs power to change the opinions and gain leadership over many was displayed most prominently when he matched on the nations capital, he enlisted the help of Caucasian to stand with him and fight the injustice they see around them. This ability to understand other cultures makes MLK, by definition, a multiculturalist; he has transitioned through the stages of acceptance to be able to understand all fellow men. The only other prominently documented example of this is Dr Kings respect for Ghandi (McGuire and Hutchings 2007) and his teachings; he drew from men of all cultures and faiths because of his respect for them, therefore, if MLK was a leader today he would thrive as a leader in a globalized world. Further evidence of MLKs ability to outperform any other leader in todays globalised world is shown when we look at MLKs self doubt and questioning character, he was keenly aware of his limitations. This level of self-understanding along with his ability to understand all other manner of people makes him a person with incredibly high EI, something that is more valuable than intelligence in the work place. Dr King is perhaps one of the best examples of a Transformational leader alongside Ghandi. The philosophy of non-violent protests for social change uplifted people to a higher motivational and moral level in order to create real and lasting change. He did this by utilizing the four key characteristics of transformational leadership (Burns 1978), namely: -Idealized influence: MLK was an upstanding person and someone to model yourself by, because of this influence he achieved this first characteristic (Clayborne 2005). -Inspirational motivation: MLK had the enviable skill of being able to eloquently articulate the change he wanted to see in a clear and systematic way, this allowed for a clear mission statement for people to get behind (Stone et al. 2004). -Intellectual stimulation: MLK held services and talks to inform African Americans of their oppressions; however, he also encouraged his community to take hold of the information, educate themselves to expand their own understanding (McGuire and Hutchings 2007). -Individualised consideration: MLK cared and valued his followers, he personally attended funerals of those who he lost and grieved as one of the community, this personal attachment to his clan allowed for a deep emotional connection to his devotees (Clayborne 2005). It is all the qualities, traits and behaviors combined in the one entity of Dr Martin Luther King Jr that made him one of the greatest transformational leaders in the western world. Those traits would also make him one of the greatest leaders of the globalised business world today. Leader Analysis Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi is commonly credited with leading India to its independence from British occupation (Shriberg and Shriberg), (Barnabas and Clifford). However, he was not necessarily a natural leader in his younger years and only shaped his true leadership ambitions following successful litigation in South Africa where he practiced law. It was also, where he experienced personal discrimination and perhaps more importantly fashioned his own personal philosophies. Of particular interest in terms of leadership is the style of opposition Gandhi employed against the British. Prior to Gandhi joining the Indian National Congress Indians had several violent clashes with British soldiers resulting in bloodshed and little progress. Gandhi looked to adopt a strategy of non-violence thus empowering all Indians in their struggle against occupation. In describing Gandhis form of leadership the literature is varied and considers him an ideal representative of servant (Barnabas and Clifford 2012), transformational (Shriberg and Shriberg 2011) and democratic (Ray and Ray 2012) leadership. Servant leadership refers to the concept where a leader has to have experience of acting as a servant (Spears 1996) or experience of his followers challenges. Barnabas and Clifford (2012) argue that Mahatma Gandhi personified the model of servant leadership as a result of him exhibiting qualities such as seeing himself as a servant of the people; acting in service of his followers; displaying integrity and interestingly using moral reasoning to influence others (Barnabas and Clifford 2012). As Shriberg and Shriberg note (2011) transformational leadership results in mutually beneficial relationships between leaders and followers whereby the leader is seeking to promote growth and real change. Thus, transformational leadership is focussed on the growth of both leaders and followers. Of particular interest is the crossover between transformational and servant style leadership styles as described by Shriberg and Shriberg (2011) stating that both transformational and servant leadership are about power to rather than power over. The term democratic leadership is also used to describe Gandhi and refers to a very open and collegial style of running a team (Ray and Ray 2012) and describe Gandhi as an ideal model of democratic leadership in democratic movements (Ray Ray 2012). This assertion is made on the basis that Gandhi worked hard to deliver democracy to India and was focussed on human rights. It can be argued that it is appropriate to describe Gandhis leadership style as servant, transformational and democratic. In terms of servant leadership Gandhi acted like a common man and was seen as a common man by his followers. They were able to relate to him. He acted in service of them, understood the difficulties of the common person and as such can be described as a servant leader. Gandhis concept of non-violent opposition and ability to motivate millions of Indians in this action represents true elevation of both follower and leader. It also required sacrifice by both follower and leader and is a powerful example of transformational leadership. Both India and Gandhi grew and matured as Gandhi led and India followed. The argument for Gandhi as a democratic leader appears less compelling and whilst it is true Gandhi truly symbolizes servant and transformational leadership all three can be used to describe his leadership. Individual Feedback 1 There is nothing good like undertaking a task in a group. We were able to integrate the course materials as well as come with better understanding of the assignment because of the efforts that each member of the group contributed. It is also evident that the group was split into further groups, this made efforts towards undertaking the task an easy one. I was given a task to undertake in the group. This is one of the added advantage that come with group work. I can deduce that there were various merits related to group work, which I was part of. The below are example of the merits: All the work that was done individually was evaluated by other members of the group, as a result, the group was attained the best results ever. During the group was an added advantage in several ways such as timely delivery of the assignment done and that the work did meet the needs and the demands expected. I consider that group work was the best thing that ever happened in my academic life. I was able to understand all the coursework as well as undertake our group work assignment as a team. Lastly, I conclude that if it were not of the teamwork sprit vested in us, we could not have completed the assignment on time, not to say even doing it better than we did as a team. Individual Feedback 2 I consider leadership is the ability of a superior person to introduce to its subordinates the roles and responsibility in confidence and power to handle their chores (Chemers 2014). The group process was able to guide and influence the work of others in order to meet the needs and the demands or to attain certain goals (Herrmann and Felfe 2014). It may also be defined as the position held by group of people or an individual that offers him or her a chance to participate interpersonal influence on others members in order to direct and mobilize their efforts towards attaining certain goals and objectives. The leader is supposed to manage the group, promote group cohesion and move others to attain the goals of the group and to maintain the pace or momentum of the group or team. The leader may arise in the team or group because of his or her personal values and qualities or by the virtue of common consent by other group members. In this case, the leader is able to drive his or her will and power from others team or group members. He is considered to go ahead with the leadership position at will or the team in a collective manner (Herrmann and Felfe 2014). It is considered that leadership exists in most team or group setting regardless of the size of the group. Individual Feedback 3 I consider that there are various theories states that good leaders or effective leaders have a common interest on some of the personalities such as traits and characteristics. According to early trait theories, leadership is innate, it has instinctive qualities that you may or may not have. Thanks to the new values of leadership that denote leadership, qualities can be learned. It is clear that trait theories help to identify the best leadership traits and qualities. However, it is clear that none of the traits or even a combination of the theories will be able to offer or support the success of leadership. The theories also state that traits are external behaviours that come up from our minds. It is clear that the theories are considered as an internal and external processes and beliefs that are vital of effective leadership (Lam and O'Higgins 2012). Therefore, it is ideal to note that the facets of trait theories are there to support of clarify the traits that are related to the ethical systems of a group or an individual when it comes to support of better leadership. It is ideal to note that trait theories have offered better understanding of the values that have to be on board to create a better leader. Leadership is considered as a behavior or values that is developed or created in order to support leadership success (Preston, 2012). Likewise, behavioral theories have limitations as trait theories. First it does not explain the causes of bad leadership especially in the contemporary world, knowing that most of the leaders are known to have better leadership. Lastly, it does not pin the values that are considered important when it comes to provision of best leadership traits (Roueche, Baker III and Rose 2014). Thus, it is clear that behavioral theories, do not explain the facets of leadership, for instance, it does not explain the best leadership styles that should be adopted but rather it offer a list of many leadership styles. References Anderson, D., and Johnson, R., 2013. Ideas of leadership underpinning proposals to the Carrick Institute. Occasional Paper. Andreas, S. (Ed.)., 2012. Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century Lessons from around the World: Lessons from around the World. OECD Publishing. Bachellerie, I. J., 2010, October. Knowledge creation and diffusion: the role of UAE universities. In presentation to the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations Twentieth Congress: Leadership for Innovation, Dubai, UAE, October 1314. Barnabas, A., Clifford, P., 2012. Mahatma Gandhi An Indian Model of Servant Leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol 7. Iss. 2 Bolman, L. G., and Gallos, J. V., 2010. Reframing academic leadership. John wiley sons. Brunicardi, C.F, Cotton, R.T, Cole, G.W and Martinez, G., 2007, The leadership principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and their relevance to surgery, Journal of the national medical association, Vol. 99, No. 1, pp. 7-14. Burns, J.M., (1978), Leadership, Harper and Row, Harper Row, New York. Carnes, M., Morrissey, C., and Geller, S. E., 2008. Women's health and women's leadership in academic medicine: hitting the same glass ceiling?.Journal of Women's Health, 17(9), 1453-1462. Cawthorne, J. E., 2010. Leading from the middle of the organization: An examination of shared leadership in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(2), 151-157. Clayborne, C., 2005, Paradoxes of King Historiography, Magazine of History, Vol 19, No.1, pp. 7-10. DeMets, D. L., and Califf, R. M., 2011. A historical perspective on clinical trials innovation and leadership: where have the academics gone?. JAMA, 305(7), 713-714. Dugan, J. P., and Komives, S. R., 2010. Influences on college students' capacities for socially responsible leadership. Journal of College Student Development, 51(5), 525-549. Eddy, P. L., 2010. Community College Leadership: A Multidimensional Model for Leading Change. Stylus Publishing, LLC. PO Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605. Fulton-Calkins, P., and Milling, C., 2005. Community-college leadership: An art to be practiced: 2010 and beyond. Harvey, L., and Williams, J., 2010. Fifteen years of quality in higher education. Herrmann, D. and Felfe, J., 2014. Effects of leadership style, creativity technique and personal initiative on employee creativity. British Journal of Management, 25(2), pp.209-227. John, M.C. and Taylor, J.W., 2014. Leadership style, school climate, and the institutional commitment of teachers. In International Forum Journal (Vol. 1, No. 2). Lumby, J., Crow, G. M., and Pashiardis, P. (Eds.)., 2010. International handbook on the preparation and development of school leaders. Routledge. Mark, S., Link, H., Morahan, P. S., Pololi, L., Reznik, V., and Tropez-Sims, S., 2001. Innovative mentoring programs to promote gender equity in academic medicine. Academic Medicine, 76(1), 39-42. McCaffery, P., 2010. The higher education manager's handbook: effective leadership and management in universities and colleges. Routledge. McGuire, D. and Hutchings, K., 2007, Portrait of a transformational leader: the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Leadership Organisational Development Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 154-166. McNair, D. E., Duree, C. A., and Ebbers, L., 2011. If I knew then what I know now: Using the leadership competencies developed by the American Association of Community Colleges to prepare community college presidents. Community College Review, 39(1), 3-25. Morrill, R. L., 2010. Strategic leadership: Integrating strategy and leadership in colleges and universities. Rowman Littlefield Publishers. Onsman, A., 2011. It is better to light a candle than to ban the darkness: Government led academic development in Saudi Arabian universities. Higher Education, 62(4), 519-532. Preston, T., 2012. The president and his inner circle: Leadership style and the advisory process in foreign policy making. Columbia University Press. Ray, S., Ray. I., 2012. Understanding Democratic Leadership: Some key issues and perception with reference to Indias freedom movement. Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences. Vol. 3. No.3.1 Rodriguez, A. L., Guido-DiBrito, F., Torres, V., and Talbot, D., 2000. Latina college students: Issues and challenges for the 21st century. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 37(3), 167-183. Shriberg, D and Shriberg, A., 2011, Practicing Leadership, John Wiley Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Sowmya, D. V., Majumdar, S., and Gallant, M., 2010. Relevance of education for potential entrepreneurs: an international investigation. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 17(4), 626-640. Spears, L., 1996. Reflections on Robert K. Green leaf and servant-leadership. Leadership Organisation Development Journal, 17 (7), 33-35 Stefani, L., 2010. Evaluating the effectiveness of academic development. London: Routledge. Stone, G.A, Russell, R.F and Patterson, K., 2004, Transformational versus servant leadership: a difference in leader focus, Leadership Organisational Development Journal, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 349-361. Susanj, Z. and Jakopec, A., 2012. Fairness perceptions and job satisfaction as mediators of the relationship between leadership style and organizational commitment. Psihologijske teme, 21(3), pp.509-526. Taleb, H. M., 2010. Gender and leadership styles in single-sex academic institutions. International journal of educational management, 24(4), 287-302. Yaseen, Z., 2010. Leadership styles of men and women in the Arab world.Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 3(1), 63-70. Zhao, Y., 2010. Preparing globally competent teachers: A new imperative for teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(5), 422-431.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Long Days Journey Into Night Essays - Long Days Journey Into Night

Long Days Journey Into Night It is understandable that so many people in our class did not find the last act of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night a satisfying one; there is no tidy ending, no goodbye kisses or murder confessions; none of the charaters leave the stage with flowers in their hands or with smiles on their faces and none of the characters give explanatory monologues after the curtain falls, as we've become accustomed to by reading so much Shakespeare. O'Neill, though, isn't Shakespeare and Long Days Journey Into Night is as different from, say, A Midsummer's Night Dream or Twelfth Night than a pint of stout ale is from a glass of light chardonney. It is because of the uniqueness of the play that the final act is so fitting a conclusion, and it is because of the essence of the play that there is closure in the final scene and it is because of hte nature of hte play that the final act carries upon its shoulders as powerful an impact as any other ending put upon an American stage. The reason that many people did not find the end of hte play a real conclusion is because of the fact that Long Day's Jounrey Into Night is not a play of action, like almost all other plays are. It is set within a single room during the course of a single day, and it consists mainly of long monologue and bitter banter rather than movement or plot development, but there is a reason that O'Neill does this; his play is not one where characters move from place to place and experience various dilemnas and need to work their way out through the course of a beginning, middle and end. LDJIN is a play of introspection, a play of confession, understanding and ultimately, a play of understanding, and it is in the final act of the play that all of these elements are worked out. The Tyrone family is, as Edmund describes them, a family of fog people; through the first three acts of hte play we see them hiding their true feelings and emotions from each other from not each other but from themselves through a stammering which has developed from many years of holding things back. Even Jamie, who is berated time and time again for his loose tongue, stammers, as he has things that he has left unsaid and that no one is really aware. In many ways, the first three acts of the play are little more than just this - four characters stammering, letting emotions build themselves up inside of them; the first three acts are a prelude to the drama that unfolds in the final act of the play. In the beginnings of the play we are given the extreme circumstances surrounding the family that day: Edmund is to be diagnosed with consumption, Mary is to fall deeper and deeper into an addiction from which she supposedly recovered, and each of the characters is to unravel under the strai n that all the stammering has placed upon them. We are given the impression that the events of the fourth act has never happened before; for example, even though he has lived with his father for more than twenty years, Edmund has never heard him speak the way he speaks to him in his final act, when his father tells him of how miserable he is now and how he was so muh happier as a struggling, young actor than as a commerial success. Up until the final act, Edmund has gone with Jamie and fancied Tyrone as little more than a crabby old miser. It is in his saying, I'm glad you told me that papa. I understand you much better now. that the essence of the final act, and of the play, is best illustrated. This is a family of people once filled with promise, ambition and hope but who now move along the stage like the emaciated phantoms of hteir former selves. And none of them really understands why. Part of the reason that Edmund has never heard his father speak of this is because his father himelf never really realized the

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Nominations to the Supreme Court essays

Nominations to the Supreme Court essays When nominating a justice to the Supreme Court the President must take a variety of factors into consideration, the main factor that the President must take into account is the nominee's ideology since it influences how the Senate will react to the confirmation. The Senate is less likely to confirm a justice who is ideologically distant from the majority of senators of from the senator's constituencies. The President must also take into account several other factors, many of which will be discussed in this essay. Research shows that the President takes five majors factors into account when choosing a nominee for the Supreme Court: the ideology of the nominee compared to the President and Senate; the makeup of the Court; the background of the nominee, including race, gender, geographic location, and religion; the qualifications of the nominees; and the political power of the President. A President is more likely to choose a nominee that he feels has ideological similarities to himself. Presidents nominate those who have consistent conservative, if the president is a Republican, or liberal views, if he is a Democrat, in order that the future decisions of the nominee on certain issues may be ascertained beforehand. Simply, a Republican President will nominate a more conservative justice that shares his views on certain issues, and a Democratic President will nominate a more liberal justice that shares his views. However, the President must also take into account the ideological makeup of the Senate. Therefore, most justices confirmed are considered moderate because of compromise the President must make between his ideology and the ideological makeup of the Senate. The President also takes into account the makeup of the Court at that time. The President may attempt to move the Court in one direction or the other to make it further reflect his and his administration or party's views. However, if the Senate majority is not of the same...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Custom Essay Paper Writing (Page 17)

Custom Essay Paper Writing (Page 17) Report Writing Help is Here for You Report writing is an integral part of studying process of any person, and unfortunately, this task is not simple to accomplish. In order to fulfill this task, you have to possess definite writing skills. If it is not difficult for you to write the report, you are a lucky person; however, far not all the people have such a talent. Writing the report is a real torment for the majority of students, and at this point, report writing help is here to save their Continue reading Psychology Papers Psychology Papers: How to Make Them Good? There may be different kinds of psychology papers that you may be provided with if you study psychology. But whether you have to write an essay or a research paper or some other assignment paper in psychology, you should take into account the following points:Any of psychology papers should contain the deep analysis of the issue it is written on; It is should be written clearly and have the logical structure; A psychology paper should be Continue reading Process Analysis Case Study Process Analysis Case Study: Let Us Cope with It In order to start writing your process analysis case study, it is essential to get acquainted with the notion of case study first. Thus, if you do not know what case study is, you are welcome to read its definition and a brief explanation of the notion of case study below. Case study is a method of research widely used in social science. The main aim if this very case study is to define the main principles of the notion. This method is Continue reading Problem and Solution Essay Problem and Solution Essay Problem and solution essay should include an analysis of the problem and offer effective and relevant solutions to the identified problems or areas of concern.   Thus, in addition to excellent writing skills, you need to have profound analytical and creative skills.   If you need help with starting or writing your problem and solution essay, do not hesitate to request individualized writing assistance at .com. Our team of writers is online 24/7 Continue reading Police Performance Term Paper Police Performance Term PaperIf you need to write police performance term paper, you will find this article useful. Firstly, there is a good sample term paper on police performance. You may use this sample to write your own term paper, to get ideas for writing, or to focus your research topic. Secondly, you may also try our custom term paper help and get original term paper on police performance written from scratch! Our term paper writers are experienced and educated; they can write an Continue reading Merchant of Venice Critical Essay Merchant of Venice Critical Essay Merchant of Venice is of the most popular plays written by Shakespeare. Undoubtedly, every literature teacher includes this play into the syllabus. Below is a short sample Merchant of Venice critical essay written by our writer. This sample essay is a good example of professional writing. Our essay blog has numerous free sample essays on plays by Shakespeare. One of the main disadvantages of the free samples is lack of originality and unrestricted access. If Continue reading Market Analysis Report Market Analysis Report: What should You Know about It? Whether you are going to start new business, launch a new product or enter a new market, first of all, it is very important to make market analysis in order to find out the results of such actions. Other words, market analysis helps you forecast whether you will be successful or not. One should stress that your business future often depends on such study. That is why it is necessary for you to be able to make good market analysis. Thus, Continue reading Little Prince Reaction Paper Little Prince Reaction Paper: The Process of Writing Have got an assignment to write a reaction paper on the Little Prince but do not know what to begin with? Reading of this article will help you to put your thoughts together! So, in what way can you write a good little prince reaction paper? Lets split your work into 3 main steps: preparing, writing and checking. There is no doubt that the first stage in the preparation for writing of the little prince reaction paper is reading of Continue reading Jane Eyre Essay Jane Eyre Essay Writing a Jane Eyre essay you have several options.   For example, you can write about the famous book written by Jane Eyre or explore the biographical essays about her life. Please take a look at the below sample essay on Jane Eyre. If you want to write a unique Jane Eyre essay, you may look through our essay writing tips.   If you are interested in individual essay writing help, try our professional essay custom writing services.   Our help is affordable and we guarantee Continue reading Human Rights Law Business Essay Essay Writing and Samples The following free essay sample is posted here with the hope to give you some ideas on essay writing. You may also take a look at academic tips on research paper topic ideas, term paper format, narrative essay writing and management coursework writing in our blog. Human Rights Law BusinessIt has become evident in recent years that human rights violations occur not only from states, but also from various other actors such as transnational corporations (TNCs) Continue reading First Previous 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next Last

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Criminal Justice - Essay Example Prior to the arrest, a magistrate who has no interest in the case has to have given permission for the warrant to be issued. This ensures that the arrest is supported on a legal foundation. The next step after the arrest is booking the suspect. In this process, the individual is fingerprinted, photographed, and expected to provide personal information. In cases where th charges include the abuse of alcoholic substances, the suspect can be allowed to enroll in a suitable diversionary program like that of alcohol rehabilitation (Spano, Freilich, & Bolland, 2008). In such cases, the suspect has to abide by the regulations of the program or continue to the following criminal justice system stage for the continuation of the process of booking. After booking, the suspected person will be given a definite date on which he or she I scheduled to appear before a judge in court. Usually, this will happen in a couple of hours after the arrest. During this process, the suspect is informed of his or her right to be released, prior to the trial date, on his or her individual recognizance. A suspect could also be released when he or she posts bail. It is up to the judge to determine the amount that will be requested in the bail. This decision is often based on the brutality of the crime as well as the suspect’s potential to escape. The judge also considers the criminal background of the suspect before deciding on the amount for bail. In cases where bail is posted, the suspect will be required to provide the court with his or her passport. In the next stage, there is an arraignment hearing in which a judge will determine if a crime was actually carried out and if the accused person could be responsible for it. If it is found that the accused could have committed the crime, there will be an indictment (Spano, Freilich, & Bolland, 2008). On his or her next arraignment in court, the suspect has to enter a no contest, guilty, or not guilty plea. In cases where

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The different types of buisness in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The different types of buisness in the UK - Essay Example Else, they do not run the day-to day operations of their businesses. The latter approach has the owners of the businesses simply as shareholders. In this case they own business shares. Salaried directors see to the operations of the business and further, still the organisations of businesses may be publicly run by the state. There are two major sectors in the U.K; private and public sectors. However, most business organisations are owned privately in U.K .The individual owners are usually referred to as entrepreneurs and all the risks associated with running the businesses lay on these individuals. Often, the most popular types of private-business ownerships include; partnerships, sole proprietors, public and private limited companies. There are also less common kinds of business that also fall under this category of private businesses (These are; cooperatives and franchises). Partnerships have two or more persons being in a joint ownership of the business organisation. Sole proprietorship, on the other hand is the smallest business type and it’s owned and run by a single person. Public limited companies is the biggest type of privately owned organisation and private limited companies consist of the most minute incorporate business enterprises. Cooperatives emanate from a group of persons together operating as well as sharing gains and the losses of the enterprise. Franchises refer to a situation where big business organisations let a trader to dispose their commodities and utilise their name at a cost and also a share of gains. ( Carysforth, et al, 2000 p 124) The public sector is a constitution of local and central governments. Here the government owns these businesses. The last two decades have had the magnitude of government-business ownership shrinking a great deal. As a matter of fact there are very few kinds that can be cited (For example; the Royal

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The Secret Operations Executive Essay Example for Free

The Secret Operations Executive Essay The Secret Operations Executive played an important role in the Asian region during the Second World War. This intelligence agency was crucial in supporting the British war efforts in Asia by inspiring the local people to oppose their occupation by the Japanese forces. They obtained valuable information in Asia and passed this information to the British military administration, which increased the strength of the British in the region. The Secret Operations Executive or SOE was the British agency, which was supposed to promote sabotage and subversion in the occupied areas. This function of SOE can be seen in the region of Asia and other parts of the world. At one point of time SOE had nearly six hundred employees and it used various weapons and instruments such as ships, air crafts, and radio communications. These instruments were used to infiltrate the agents, arms, and explosives of the enemies who were found in the regions beyond the control of the British administration. These operations can be seen in the region of Asia during the Second World War period. SOE, during the Second World War, emerged as one of the most popular intelligence gathering agencies due to the use of various techniques of obtaining information and supporting the local people to resist their subjugation by the Japanese forces. It has been argued by some scholars that SOE did not achieve that great of a success, as it failed to maintain close relations with British military and other intelligence operations. It is interesting to note, in this context, that although SOE performed various intelligence related tasks, originally it was not intended as an intelligence organization. It was also not intended to inspire anti-Japanese movements in the Asian countries. This indicates that the managers of this organization decided, in the middle of war, to change the function and aims of SOE in order to obtain support for the British war effort. SOE played an important role in inspiring the local people to resist against Japanese aggression in Burma, Siam, and Malaya. This local resistance against the Japanese forces assisted the British in getting extra time to obtain men and materials necessary to protect their colonies in Asia from the Japanese aggression. The fact that the British had to depend on the co-operation of their erstwhile colonies also indicates that Britain had become weak during this period. By using SOE, the British were able to resist their enemies including the Japanese in Asia. This organization was able to achieve success particularly in Burma due to the co-operation given by the anti-fascist organizations, influenced by communist ideology, and the Burma National Guard. With the participation of the local people, SOE was able to protect the lives of many British people in the region. This allowed the British to obtain control of Rangoon by the end of Second World War. However, the British failed to bring all the intelligence organizations under the banner of SOE, which was established in 1940 to sabotage and destroy the enemy power in the occupied countries. By November 1940, SOE had prepared a plan for the South East Asian region including China, Manchuria, French Indochina, Siam, the Philippines, Burma, Malaya, and Hong Kong. This plan was named Oriental Mission (OM), indicating the interest of Great Britain in South East Asia. The main aim of this mission was to create and develop a spirit of resistance in these countries, so that the British army could invade them and occupy them without taking greater risks. However, the fall of Singapore and Burma resulted in a need to change the original plan of this mission. Now, OM became known as the Indian Mission and concentrated on Afghanistan, India, and Ceylon. SOE leaders provided training and weapons to the members so that they could resist the Japanese in their regions. SOE faced delay problems due to the official policy, which postponed the operations of this organization in Siam and Burma. It has been claimed by SOE officials that due to this delay, these regions were invaded and occupied by the Japanese forces. With greater co-operation from the British administration, SOE would have claimed greater achievements. However, it is important to note that in spite of official delays, SOE was able to achieve at least part of its objective of destroying enemy power in the occupied regions. Nevertheless, when compared to other regions, the Chinese operations were not successful as this agency had to suffer many reversals in China. SOE played an important role in the recovery of prisoners of war in the region of Burma and Thailand. However, usually this task is given to the International Committee of the Red Cross. In this case, SOE was asked to recover the prisoners in order to achieve humanitarian and strategic aims of the British military. The Japanese administration decided to construct the railway line connecting Burma and Thailand. For this, the Japanese used local labour as well as the prisoners of war. By using white labour, the Japanese attempted to prove the racial superiority of the Asians. However, in the process of railway line construction, nearly 12,000 prisoners of war, and 90,000 local people died. Many prisoners of war died because of the difficult working conditions they were forced to endure. This included long hours in the rain without obtaining any medical attention. The British administration decided to take action against the Japanese, but it did not want to give publicity to these measures. Therefore, SOE was asked to move to this region. During this time SOE had maintained close contact with the Thai resistance movement, which allowed them to obtain the information regarding the movement of Japanese forces in the region. SOE was in the best position to gather necessary intelligence information in order to help the prisoners of war in Asia. SOE was given this task because â€Å"†¦only an organisation that was experienced in local intelligence gathering and working with resistance groups would be would be able to cope with the urgent demands of the task†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It was realized that SOE was the sole organization capable of handling this task, as it had prior experience working in the region. It was also important to achieve success against the Japanese within a short time span, which could not have been accomplished by conservative agencies. The Red Cross was not in a position to achieve the task of liberating prisoners of war because Red Cross simply did not possess ability to carry prisoners of war liberation exercise. The British government was also interested in keeping this mission a secret since it did not want the public to react to news of the worse working conditions the prisoners of war faced, especially considering many of them were British. SOE was considered an intelligence gathering agency. In order to release the prisoners of war in Asia there was the need to obtain information regarding the Japanese army’s movement. In 1941, it was decided to send SOE agents to Thailand in order to gather information regarding the activities of the Japanese troops in the region. Information was obtained by interviewing the prisoners of war who were given small microfilm questionnaires. These questions provided information concerning Japanese morale during the war period. SOE was able to obtain information regarding technological capabilities of the Japanese. For example, they could learn that Japanese had installed wireless stations every thirty miles along the Railway. While some regions were heavily guarded, remote regions were not given that much importance by the Japanese forces. SOE was able to give information concerning the state of the prisoners, and thereby the government could send the goods that were demanded by the war prisoners in the Japanese camps. This facilitated the relief work of the government, and saved the lives of a large number of prisoners. Another important reason for the keen interest showed by SOE to achieve success in the Burma-Thailand region was its rivalry with the U. S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The Americans were suspicious of the British interest in Thailand. This compelled the British intelligence agency to use its full energy in order to achieve success in this mission. This competition between the US and British agencies resulted in the lack of co-ordination between these two agencies as they competed to achieve their missions in these regions. SOE also noticed the problems that were faced by the prisoners of war. These problems were lack of proper food, malnutrition, lack of financial power to buy food in the market, and lack of medicines. Humanitarian concerns also forced this agency to take active part in this mission. Through its relationship with Thai national leaders, SOE was able to obtain evidence to prove that Japan had begun transportation of the war prisoners to Japan. This information allowed the British government to make right kind of decision while dealing with the Japanese threat in Asia. This implied that Great Britain could send its army to capture those regions where the Japanese had become weak. It was feared that war prisoners would be taken to Japan, and there they would be killed. SOE maintained close relationship with leaders of Free Siam Movement, and assured them its help in their struggle against the Japanese in Thailand. This agency was able to obtain the help of nearly 90,000 guerillas who played an important role in rescuing the prisoners of war from the Japanese camps. After the end of war, SOE maintained direct contact with the prisoners of war and obtained information regarding their problems, their personal details, and their immediate needs. Relief was given to the prisoners of war by conducting operation ‘Mastiff’. These details show that SOE was able to protect the lives of a large number of prisoners of war, many of whom had come close to death due to lack of medicine and malnutrition. In spite of the above achievements, SOE suffered from various internal problems such as competition with Secret Intelligence Services (SIS) which lost its dominant position after the emergence of SOE. This resulted in lack of co-ordination between SOE and SIS. In the end SIS had to concede its defeat at the hands of its sister intelligence agency, as the SOE proved its superiority in Asia.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Benefits of Guide Dogs Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Benefits of Guide Dogs and the Process of Obtaining Them If you are 16 or older, legally blind, and have the ability to love and take care of a dog, you may be a candidate for a guiding eyes dog. Guide dogs help blind or visually impaired people get around the world. In most countries, they are allowed anywhere that the public is allowed, so they can help their handlers be any place they might want to go. To do this, a guide dog must know how to: keep on a direct route, ignoring distractions such as smells, other animals and people, maintain a steady pace to the left and just ahead of the handler, stop at all curbs until told to proceed, turn left and right, move forward and stop on command, recognize and avoid obstacles that the handler won’t be able to fit through (narrow passages and overheads), stop at the bottom and top of stairs until told to proceed, bring the handler to elevator buttons, lie quietly when the handler is sitting down, help the handler to board and move around buses, subways, and other forms of public transport ation, and finally, to obey a number of verbal commands (Fueoco, 2001).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Additionally, a guide dog must know to disobey any command that would put the handler in danger. This ability, called selective disobedience, is perhaps the most amazing think about guide dogs – that they can balance obedience with their own assessment of the situation. This capacity is extremely important at crosswalks, where the handler and dog must work very closely together to navigate the situation safely. When the team reaches the curb, the dog stops, signaling to the handler that they have reached a crosswalk. Dogs cannot distinguish the color of traffic lights, so the handler must make the decision of when it is safe to proceed across the road. The handler listens to the flow of traffic to figure out when the light has changed and then gives the command, â€Å"forward.† If there is no danger, the dog proceeds across the road in a straight line. If there are cars approaching, the dog waits until the danger is gone and then follows the forward command.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a handler – guide dog team, the guide dog doesn’t lead the handler and the handler doesn’t completely control the guide dog; the two work together t... ...to the puppy - raisers if they are thinking of one day owning a dog but are unaware of the responsibility that comes along with it. Puppy – raisers are also just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, which is a great thing, in my eyes. I believe that the process in which these dogs go through is necessary, and extremely important if there is expected success. Success, of course, is the ability of a blind person and dog to work together and live happily. The dog serves as eyes for the owner, and the owner is a companion to a dog that is required to have much socialization during training. It is not difficult to see how wonderful this practice of guide dog training can be, and the substantial benefits that develop once the training is completed. Works Cited: Fueoco, Linda. â€Å"Guide Dog Educates Students, Gives Owner Mobility.† Pet Tales. 1.2 (October 2001). Oct. 2001. http://www.post - gazette.com/pets/20001025spet.asp http://penny.myriad.net/chosen.html http://www.guidedogs.com.au/faq/faq_dog.html http://www.guiding-eyes.org/info/getdog.html http://thepuppyplace.org/page19.html http://www.guidedogsofamerica.org/pupraise/about.html

Monday, November 11, 2019

Two Kinds Paper Amy Tan

Josh A. Robertson Prof. Villarreal 1302 4/8/13 Paper 3 â€Å"Two Kinds† Amy Tan In Amy Tan’s short story â€Å"Two Kinds† Jing-Mei, the story’s main character, takes a stand against her mother. The story opens as she describes her childhood, which was full of pain and resentment caused by never becoming the â€Å"prodigy† that her mother desperately wanted her to be. Despite her best intentions, Jing-Mei always fell short of her mother’s expectations and one night, she made a pact to herself that she would never allow her mother to try to change her.After her mother saw a young Chinese girl play the piano on  a television show she decided that Jing-Mei should take lessons from the neighbor. The neighbor, Mr. Chong, Jing-Mei discovered was deaf, and that she easily could get away with playing the wrong notes. Months later, Mr. Chong and her mother entered Jing-Mei in a talent contest. She believed that her inner prodigy would surface and all ow her to play well, but the performance proved to be an utter disaster. Two days later, while being urged to go to practice an argument of devastating proportions began.Her mother never spoke of piano lessons ever again. Decades later, she received the family’s piano as a present for her thirtieth birthday. Months after her mother’s death, she plays it and realizes the truth about her mother’s intentions. The central idea in Tan’s story is, parents cannot control or dictate their children’s lives but only try to guide them in the right direction. Tan’s main character Jing-Mei was self centered, bratty and very inconsiderate of the effects of her behavior had on the people in her life.She is buried so deep in her ways that it is not until she is an adult that she recognizes how messed up she is. Her mother’s character was forceful and pushy it was only natural that Jing-Mei rebelled against her. If she had only been gentle with her th e results may have been different. To say the least both characters were deeply flawed and made for a catastrophic relationship. â€Å"It was not only the disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations† (Tan, 48).That regretful rant she went on about her shortcomings in life proves that she remained too stubborn to change her ways and not give her mother the satisfaction of being great at something. The point of view of Jing-Mei is crucial to the central idea of the story. The story is written in first person, told by Jing-Mei as she recounts the events of her child hood. The reader is able to understand from her perspective the relationship between her and her mother and the revelations she had after her mother’s death.The first hand style only allows us to see Jing-Mei;s perspective where as her mother may have recalled her childhood differently. The writing style of omniscient narration from the point of view of the child adds depth to the central idea of the story. The reader experiences first hand it being brought to life through the eyes of the child as the plot progresses. The reader can relate from this view-point and recall their childhood as Jing-Mei narrates her own. The progress of the protagonist seemed to be cut short by her stubborn behavior to remain true to her ways well into her adult life.Jing-Mei doesn’t grasp the meaning of her mother’s intentions until her demise making for an ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ ending, but serves the purpose in putting her in the static character category for the majority of Tan’s story. Had Jing-Mei come to the realization early on in the story, the outcome would have varied differently. Her mother, the antagonist, was only a mere muse for Jing-Mei to have someone to blame for her not trying. Her mother ultimately wanted the best for her daug hter and to surpass her like every other parent would want for their child. â€Å"You have natural talent.You could been genius if you want to. †(Tan, 48) Jing-Mei’s mother’s words were attempts to make peace with her daughter. Jing-Mei’s real enemy was herself who denied her to exceed at everything and finally she came to terms with it. The conflict was external between the heated relationship between Jing-Mei and her mother, which is for the majority of the story. In closing, â€Å"Two Kinds† was a well-written story with meaning and purpose, a great plot and a great alternative ending that the reader doesn’t see coming. The reader feels that the little girl will eventually repair what is broken in her relationship with her mother.Seeing that not happen until her mother’s death is devastating to the reader; even more so Jing-Mei is unable to apologize to all these facts after she realizes what she has done. This cold fate could very well insight feelings of anger within the heart of the reader upon the story’s ending. The central idea remains true through out the story’s entirety only to be confronted, regretted and digested by Jing-Mei. Works Cited Tan, Amy. â€Å"Two Kinds. † Literature Craft & Voice. Vol 1 1st. Cheuse Alan. Ed 40-47. McGraw Hill. New York 2010. Print.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Cellphones and Digital Networks

Cell phones have been around for nearly 15 years and are now everywhere you look. Over a quarter of Americans and a half of Europeans own cell phones and the numbers have been increasing exponentially. With the continuing increase in technology cell phones have become smaller, cheaper, and thanks to the move from analog to digital the calls are much clearer. They offer a great amount of convenience, and can be very economically for the busy businessman on the go. Advancements in cell phones are always being made, giving a clearer sound and lighter feel, as well as a longer life. The cell phone industry has been one of the fastest growing in the world. The electronics are fairly simple, but they are so small that they are truly and engineering marvel. This paper will discuss in depth the many different components of the average cell phone, and talk about how it converts your voice into something that can be sent through a digital network. The paper will also look at how the inner workings allow for a phone to act as a microcomputer, with Internet access, address books, and even games. Finally, it will review the many exciting ideas for this growing market and look to the future of the industry, and how the industry plans on overcoming various limiting factors. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, 18 years later Guglielmo Marconi created the first radio. It was only natural that these two great technologies would eventually be combined to create the cellular craze. In the 80's few people used radiophones, these phones were the precursor to cellular, but they had several limiting factors preventing them from every becoming a major part of everyday society. In the radio telephone system, there was one central antenna tower per major city, and no more than 25 channels available on that tower. Each phone needed a powerful transmitter, big enough to transmit 40 or 50 miles. It also meant that not many people could use radiotelephones due to the lack of channels. With the current cellular system any none adjacent cell can use the same frequency, so the amount of phones that can be used are nearly limitless. These cells also mean that each phone does not need a strong transmitter, so the phone can be a lot smaller. With the innovation of digital phones, many great features are now available, such as caller id, Internet access, and several other new features. It also meant that the phone would need a microprocessor to convert from analog to digital, this complicated the circuitry, but left it with new technology available the industry was able to make the phone as small as possible. The only restriction in size became the user-input devices, and the screen size. Usefulness of the Digital Cell Phone The digital cellular phone offers many advantages to today†s society. The conveniences that it offers over simply not having one are obvious and they vary from person to person. But there are many advantages over other types of phones as well. The cellular phone not only allows people to communicate with others while they are on the go, but it also offers many other features to help people. With the services that digital provides, people can access email and find information almost anywhere in the world for a reasonable fee. In the future, as the integration of phones and computers grow, people will be able to access tutorials in the field, and use them to communicate with specialists saving a great amount of time for many researchers. Today digital cell phones, such as the one shown in Appendix C figure 1, can process millions of calculations per second in order to compress and decompress the voice stream. In order to do this each phone is equipped with a circuit board that contains many different chips. The circuit board of a common phone is shown in Appendix C figure 2. Two chips described earlier are the Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog conversion chips that translate the outgoing audio signal from analog to digital and the incoming signal from digital back to analog. There is also a Digital Signal Processor that is highly customized processor designed to perform signal manipulation calculations at high speed. The microprocessor controls the keyboard and display and deals with command and control signaling with the base station, it also coordinates the rest of the functions on the board. This microprocessor is as powerful as the super computer of the 70's that took up whole rooms, but is now the size of a finger. By using its arithmetic/logic unit or ALU it can perform all mathematical operation that run many of today features in phones. It is also responsible for the transfer of data throughout the phone. It will also make decisions and then run a new set of instructions. In Appendix C figure 3 a very simple microprocessor is shown. Cell phones use microprocessors that are much more complex, but the use the same idea. The ROM and flash memory chips provide storage for the phone's operating system and customizable features, such as the directory and various simple games. (Appendix C figure 4) The RF and power section handles power management and recharging, and also deals with the hundreds of FM channels. Finally, the Radio Frequency amplifiers handle signals in and out of the antenna. The Radio Frequency amplifier is the same device as you would find in your car's radio. The display has grown considerably in size as the number of features offered by cell phones has increased. Most phones currently available offer built-in phone directories, calculators and even games. It some new products that will be discussed later, cell phone counter as PDA's offering very large screen and offer all of the benefit you would find in today's hand held computers. The display is a liquid crystal display (LCD). It is made of thousands of tiny crystals with two possible colors. They have recently announced that they will be offering color screens on some new phones that work like the display of a laptop computer. Very small speakers and microphones, about the size of a dime, amplify the analog waves. These devices are just like that of a portable radio and the microphones used on television talk shows. They are both wired to the microprocessor. In order for digital cell phones to take advantage of the added capacity and clearer quality, they must convert your voice into binary information. This means that it must break it down to 1's and 0's. The reason that this is so advantageous is that unlike analog, digital is either on or off, 1 or 0, instead of oscillating between the two. For the conversion, the device must first record an analog wave, such as the one in Appendix B figure 1. To create the highest fidelity possible, it records number to represent the wave, instead of the wave itself as represented in Appendix B figure 2. The cell phones analog-to-digital converter, a device that is also found in a CD player, does this process. On the other end a separate digital-to-analog converter is used for playback. The quality of transfer depends on the sampling rate, that controls how many samples are taken per second, and the sampling precision. The precision controls how many different levels are possible in the sample. The better these two are the clearer the sound, but it takes a higher speed processor and requires a greater amount of data transfer. In Appendix B the benefits are shown in figure 3. Most common digital cellular systems use Frequency Shift Keying to send data back and forth. This system uses one frequency for 1's and another for 0's and rapidly switching between the two. This requires optimal modulation and encoding schemes for recording, compressing, sending, and then decoding without loss of quality. Because of this digital phones contain an amazing amount of processing power. The cellular network is web of towers covering areas, generally thought of as hexagonal cells as shown in APPENDIX A Figure 1. The genius of the cellular system is because cell phones and base stations use low-power transmitters, so the same frequencies can be reused in non-adjacent cells. Each cell is about 10 square miles and has a base station that consists of a tower and a small building containing the radio equipment. As more people join the cellular world, companies are quickly adding more towers to accommodate them. Every digital carrier is assigned different frequencies, an average carrier may get about 2400 frequencies per city, and this number is about three times the amount as analog. The reason that more channels are available is because digital data can be compressed and manipulated much easier than analog. Each tower uses one seventh of the available frequencies, so none of the surrounding 6 towers interfere. The cell phone uses two frequencies per call, called a duplex channel. The duplex channel allows one channel to be used for listening and the other for talking, so unlike a CB or walkie-talkie, both people can talk at the same time. This system currently allows for about 168 people to talk in each cell, for each system. The cellular approach requires a large number of base stations in a city of any size, but because so many people are using cell phones, costs remain low per user. Every cell phone has a special code associated with it, called an electronic serial number (ESN). It is a unique 32-bit number programmed into the phone when it is manufactured. When the phone is activated another five digit code called a system identification code (SID), a unique 5 digit number that is assigned to each carrier by the FCC, is imprinted in the phones memory. When you first power up a cell phone, it checks a control channel to find the SID. If the phone cannot find any control channels to listen to, it knows it is out of range, and displays a no service message. After finding the SID, the phones check to see if it matches the SID programmed in the phone, and if it does not match it knows that the phone is roaming. The central location that the cell phone is registered to keeps track of the cell that your phone is in, so that it can find you when someone calls the phone. When the phone is turned on it sends its ESN to the control channel. If the phone goes out of range, it will take a short while to locate your phone when it enters back into service. This can cause loss of calls, even though the phone is in service, but this problem is very temporary. When someone does call your phone it is sent to the central tower called the Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). This office is continually communicating with the cell phone. It sends and receives the calls, as well as telling it what frequencies to use. This is all done through the control channel, so it does not impair any calls. As you move toward the edge of your cell, the cell's tower will see that your signal strength is diminishing. At the same time, the base station in the cell you are moving toward, which is listening and measuring signal strength on all frequencies, will be able to see your phone's signal strength increasing. The two base stations coordinate themselves through the MTSO, and at some point, your phone gets a signal on a control channel telling it to change frequencies. There are three common technologies used by cell phone providers. These are Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In FDMA every call is done on a separate frequency. FDMA separates the spectrum into distinct voice channels by splitting it into uniform chunks of bandwidth. This is very similar to the way that radio stations operate. Each station is assigned a signal at a different frequency within the available band. FDMA is used mainly for analog transmission, so it is slowly being phased out. It is capable of carrying digital information, but it is not considered an efficient method for digital transmission. Time Division Multiple Access gives each call a certain amount of time on a frequency. The Electronics Industry Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association use TDMA. In TDMA, a narrow bandwidth that is 30 kHz wide and 6. 7 milliseconds long is split time-wise into three time slots. (Appendix D, figure 1) Each conversation gets the radio frequency for one-third of the time. This is possible because voice data that has been converted to digital information is compressed so that it takes up significantly less transmission space. Therefore, TDMA has three times the capacity of an analog system using the same number of channels. TDMA systems operate in either the 800 MHz or 1900 MHz frequency bands. Some phones have the ability to switch between bands. This function is called simply Dual-Band, and is important when traveling between different band frequencies. TDMA is also the access technology for Global System for Mobile communications. The Global system uses different frequencies in different areas of the world and is not compatible with other TDMA systems. GSM operates in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in Europe and Asia and in the 1900 MHz band in the United States. GSM systems use encryption to make phone calls more secure. GSM is the international standard in Europe, Australia and much of Asia and Africa. In covered areas, cell-phone-users can buy one phone that will work anywhere else the standard is supported. To connect to the specific service providers in these different countries, GSM-users simply switch SIM cards. SIM cards are small removable disks that slip in and out of GSM cell phones. They store all the connection data and identification numbers you need to access a particular wireless service provider. Unfortunately, the 1900 MHz GSM phones used in the United States are not compatible with the international system.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

A Synopsis of the Documentary Regret to Inform Essay Example

A Synopsis of the Documentary Regret to Inform Essay Example A Synopsis of the Documentary Regret to Inform Paper A Synopsis of the Documentary Regret to Inform Paper Essay Topic: Cry the Beloved Country â€Å"Our deaths are not ours they are yours; they will mean what you make them. †- Regret to Inform â€Å"The terrible price of that nobility is one that nobody should have to pay†- Barbara Sonneborn In 1968, the director Barbara Sonneborn was informed that her husband, Jeff Gurvitz, had been killed in a mortar attack in Vietnam. The words â€Å"We regret to inform you† appeared on the telegram, and the message arrived on her 24th birthday. Sonneborn is the director, writer, and producer of the notable documentary film Regret to Inform. Although she remarried and has a lovely new life, she was haunted by the lost of her beloved husband and had strong, begrudging feelings about the war. After twenty years, on the date of Jeff’s death anniversary, she decided to follow her ex-husband’s footsteps in Vietnam and film a documentary about the influence of the Vietnam War on American and Vietnamese women. Through the film, the memory of the loss is relived by her again. This film was an Academy Award nominee in 1998, and won the Independent Spirit Award in 1999. It also won Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Feature Documentary awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999, and several others prestigious awards. 1 The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indo-China War, is also called the American War by the Vietnamese. It had its beginnings in 1957, subsequent escalation in 1960, and finally ended in 1975. The war was fought between the North Vietnamese government and US-supported South Vietnam. It concluded with the defeat and dissolution of South Vietnam. A total of 1,230,000 Vietnamese died in the conflict, and 330,000 people were reported missing. On the American side, a total of 58,209 Americans died, and about 2,000 American were missing in action and never accounted for. 2 A critic from the New York Times Magazine stated, â€Å"Every documentary film has an agenda, and the interviews that make up the bulk of Regret to Inform add up to a damning indictment of war in general and in particular the Vietnam War, which it portrays (without actually coming out and saying it) as a disastrous miscalculation. 3 Elsewhere, Anthony McCosham wrote of Regret to Inform: â€Å"A common complaint about filmic representations of the Vietnam war, particularly those produced in Hollywood, is that the films tend to focus too narrowly on the personal relationships of the characters involved, ignoring not only the political context of the war but also the viewpoint of its Vietnamese participants. † 4 McCosham criticized commercial films of the Vietnamese War without reservation, and at the same time he pointed out that Regret to inform presented a key point, the women’s point of view. Moreover, Lindsay Anderson commented that Regret to Inform shows the personal truth about war, and one comes away with the conviction that the only way to really understand war is on this personal, experiential level. No one who really knows this truth can ever mouth platitudes about glory and honor in war again, or advocate the necessity of war without a grave and conscientious acknowledgment of its devastating cost. 5 This critique enhances Regret to Inform’s argument and appeal against the war. In other words, the commentator also provides a sincere advice for the people who have ever been to the war because only the people who really came through from the war can really understand its destructive influence. Sonneborn’s Regret to Inform is a documentary that argues against war by presenting the personal stories and grief experienced by women on both sides of the conflict. She focuses on women, unlike so many other war films, and provides a uniquely feminist take on the Vietnam War. She effectively employs interviews, letters home, Jeff’s notification, Jeff’s reflection, music, and historical portraits to convince the audiences to rethink their support of war. In the beginning of Regret to Inform, Sonneborn introduced herself to the viewers and gives the reason for her journey to Vietnam. She wondered how and where did her husband died; therefore, she decided to find out the truth by herself. During the journey, she also interviewed many war widows who were influenced by the war and shared the same experienced. The interview is one of the key elements of this film, and those heart-wrenching stories bring the audience to re-inspect the war and find no difference in the pain experienced by both sides’ war widows. For example, Xuan Ngoc, a war victim and the director’s translator, recalled the bombing of her village in South Vietnam when she was 14. She witnessed her 5-years-old cousin being shot to death by an American solider when he went out from their hiding place in search for water. During the war, she also witnessed her neighbor dying without helping him. She also took her girl friend’s food in order to live since her friend was seriously injured. Terrifyingly, during the war she had to decide who was going to live or die. On screen she was choking up and tearful when she spewed out those bitter memories. Then, she continued stating that she fled from her village and survived for a time by prostituting herself to American soldiers sometimes half-a dozen a night. Some of them were just yelling at her, crying in front of her, and sometimes hitting her. Subsequently, she explained that at that time she was only 14 years old and why she had to face that choice. The director did not use simulation and dramatic narration to present the Vietnam War; instead, she revealed the physiological harm and plight on the war widows by interviewing from female standpoint. From Xuan Ngoc’s facial express and statement, the viewers can understand she is still suffering for those memories after the war ended. She revealed that she was prostituting herself in order to earn money and live; indeed, she also stated that she used marijuana a lot otherwise she could not have taken off her clothing in front of strangers. Asian culture is conservative about sex, and women are told that they should not have sex before they marry. Therefore, Xuan Ngoc was not only facing physiological suffering but also conflicts with her moral code. In addition, she was forced to decide who would live and die, which is against all human morality since she wanted to stay alive. Xauan Ngoc asks how we could have allowed such conditions to occur why we did not try to prevent it. Here, the viewers can see the interviewee’s emotional and mental anguish. Above all, from her expression, Xuan Ngoc challenges the audience so they can rethink about their support of the war. In another interview, we meet one American widow who said her husband left her a note to tell her that he loved her so much, but he could not take the flashbacks anymore, and then he went into garage one day and shot himself after he returned from the war. Sorrowfully, in another interview, a Vietnamese widow relates how she watched nine members of her family herded out and killed. Many Vietnamese women revealed the same experiences that during the war they were afraid of being raped, so they hid themselves in order to avoid the danger. Another Vietnamese woman stated, If you werent dead, you werent safe. Everything that moved was murdered. 6 Vietnamese women revealed some ruthless torture at the hands of South Vietnamese and American soldiers not only for men but also for women. In addition, both side’s children questioned their mothers why their fathers had not come home yet. By facing those painful situations, the widows expressed their hopeless and powerless feelings toward the war. The widows of both sides were given a fair voice to express their feeling and thoughts about the war. Many widows suffer for the war even after the war. There have been many movies that tried to investigate the Vietnam War, but most of them were made by marketing purpose since they are exciting and interesting. However, they are fiction after all. In Regret to Inform, there were no scenes of heroic deeds and no citation for soldiers’ bravery, only thing the presentation of the widows’ heartbreaking experiences. Indeed, even though women may not have a major role in the battlefield those who lost their families or suffered during the war were as profoundly influenced by the war as the men were. Xuan Ngoc concluded that she knows she is a good person. Because if she had another choice, then she would not have done what she did. From those statements and recollections, the movie uncovers the truth of the war and provides the audiences another angle on the war, and thus they could resist the war. Gadamer writes, â€Å"Language is the universal medium in which understanding occurs. Understanding occurs in interpreting. †7 Through the interviews, the widows’ descriptions of truth help the audience interpret the war, and by revealing their own wounds, the audience gains a batter understanding of how the war forces people to do things they normally would not do. Their stories keep those important memories alive. â€Å"Truth† is always more elusive then we think it is. When seeing the widows’ struggles, the audience would objectively realize that deep grief caused by the war happened to both Americans and Vietnamese. In the film, some American widows questioned the justification of the war and did not understand the necessity of war since those people did not threaten their country. They also stated that they do not consider their husbands to be murderers, but at the same time people need to look at it for what it is and it is murder. From the question of justification, the viewers would start to think about â€Å"is the war justifiable? † Indeed, from those information the audience would realize that the war is an illegal activity because it would only take innocent lives, cause people’ suffering, and test human moralities. Above all, once the viewers become aware that an American widows and the director could listen, interview, and truly record those Vietnamese widows’ voice and not treat them as enemies, they would be deeply moved and feel sorry for the victims. Fairly reporting both sides’ dilemmas, Sonneborn used those interview as a vehicle to move the audiences into the forgotten history and re-interpret the psychological impact for war victims. The interviews also increase this film’s reliability, validity, and persuasiveness. In addition to the interviews, Sonneborn used much different scenes as the evidence to argue and reveal the influence of the war such as letters home from both sides, Sonneborn’s husband’s notification, and the tape which records Jeff’s voice to reveal the brutality of war. Due to the war, most of women were using mail to communicate with their husbands, and through the mail they would know if they husbands were still alive. Sonneborn presents letters home through scenes to the audience, and these letters contain many moving sentences to express their feelings of loving and missing family members such as, I love you or I miss you. These letters were written in the Vietnamese language and English, and these scenes again demonstrate that even though Americans and Vietnamese have different races and cultural backgrounds, their sufferings and grief were all the same. Also, both sides’ victims loved their husbands and families profoundly; indeed, this love no difference on either side. Similarly, the director offered her husband’s notification in the film and showed the points where gunfire entered Jeff’s body. By seeing the scene, the viewers could imagine what it looks like and how it feels when someone you love is killed by war. â€Å"Mutilated†, †blast damage fractures†, and several other words appear on the notification, and those words present a concept for the viewers about what kind of price they would have to pay once the war occurs. Moreover, Sonneborn provides us with an opportunity to hear Jeff in his own words, when she plays an audio cassette he recorded. She was able to bring herself to play a tape that arrived in the mail shortly after twenty years of Jeff’s death. Jeff reflects, â€Å"I feel I were a bystander at my own life, calmly watching myself to things that I never expected or desired to. † He felt suffering toward to the war because he might have to do something that he did not want to do, perhaps burying dead bodies or killing people. During this scene, the voice was along with Vietnamese landscape to present Jeff’s testimony. From the tape, he expressed his feeling to Sonneborn, and it is clean that he was suffering for his moral code. It exactly pointed out that the soldiers feeling go unsaid. The scenes in the film provide the audience a chance to look at the war from different perspectives, and the sound effects enhance the movie’s persuasiveness and help people to engage in their sorrowful stories and experiences. In fact, music is an inseparable element to express and emphasize the film’s main idea. In Regret to Inform, a lot of string and percussion instruments were used to create a sorrowful atmosphere that would help the viewers engage with this film emotionally. The music plays an important role in portraying the tragic truth of the war, and the composer, Todd Boekelheide, combined numerous Vietnamese instruments with Western instrumentation. 8 Otherwise, the directors also uses Vietnamese folk songs and ambient noise in the film. The Vietnamese folk songs were used throughout the whole movie to express the pain of losing their beloved ones. Also, the director used ambient noise to present along with different portraits to the audience such as noise of train or Vietnamese women’s chatting voice. Therefore the audiences would feel like that they had experiencing the same trip along with the director. Moreover, string instruments, particularly the viola and cello, produced a variety of sounds with passionate vibrato and glissando. For instance, when the women recalled the time that first they met their husbands, the cellos played the dance-like duet and expressed their happy times together through repetitious simple melodies. In contrast to that, when women recollected the unpleasant memories of the war, then the instrumentation changed. During this time, the gong joined to announce the tragedy. Most melodies were presented along with historical, responsive photographs with a strong musical track that combines traditional Vietnamese songs and the instrumentation. All of these musical elements create the feeling of catastrophe and making the movie more touching; therefore, even after the film the viewers would still feel the widow’s pain and grief. It is obvious that Sonneborn uses music to persuade. Further, the music also opens a space for the audience quietly to catch on different messages from the film. Indeed, the musical track created a space for people to imagine if they were in those victims’ shoes and engaged the audience in their bitter memories. Additionally, Sonneborn uses many historical, cruel portraits to show how war really is. Many different pictures were presented to the audiences, such as photos of young dead children’s bodies, American soldiers searching for innocent civilians, and U. S. soldiers tossing bombs from airplanes. In fact, she employs many photographs of American soldiers spraying chemical defoliants in the South Vietnam, and these chemicals continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain in Vietnam. Abusing the use of defoliants hurt not only Vietnamese but also American soldiers. One American widow revealed that her husband suffered for seven years and declined in health. Eventually, he died from multiple cancers after he returned from the war. Besides, some of the images presented many hopeless children bloody and crying. Some children were sitting on the ground around with defenseless innocent eyes. Some children were hurt with blood, and some of them were being hold by the Vietnamese women or soldiers. Those pictures showed most of the victims as children and women. In addition, photos of U. S. soldiers tossing the bombs from the airplanes in addition to the number of bombs are shocking. Since bombs lead to huge fatality, many innocent people were harmed. Some photographs are presented in black and white and some are in color, and the similarity of these photos shows the afflictive situation of the war, which is very difficult for the audience to imagine. At the same time, it is an effective way to evoke the viewers’ great sympathy for those children and women. Those pictures were presented along the music, and those pictures become a language that enables the audiences to perceive and interpret the war. By those portraits, the audiences realize these war victims’ hardships and heartaches that resulted from the war. Sonneborn manipulates her thoughts effectively by employing interviews, letters home, Jeff’s notification, Jeff’s reflection, music, and historical, responsive photographs to convince the audience, to move them to believe her antiwar concept, and to act on that opinion. This documentary highlights the ruthless truth of the war, reports widow’s plights, and tells us how the war change people’s lives thereafter. In fact, the director did not drastically express antiwar concepts in the film, but the audiences still could detect the metaphor of negative feeling of the war. Most importantly, this film points no fingers at specific policymakers. This film does ask question that foreground the war not as an inevitable event, but a conflict that resulted from policies centered around of inhuman and callous ideologies. The film left us to wonder if the war would only result people’s anguish, then why people choose to do so. This film is accessible and engages people to respond the war concept that the film spoke to us in powerful way. Baker stated, â€Å"We must listen closely to men and women who became both the victims and the perpetrators of the war, if we want to learn something real about this particular conflict, something real about the human spirit, something real about ourselves. 9 The film talks back to the people who support the war, and it shows both widows’ gut-wrenching pain thought its factual interviews within personal narratives and memories, evidence, sorrowful music, and stunning historical photographs. However, the film is a great lesson to those people who supported in the war, and they shoul d know better that there is no winning when it comes to war. In fact, this documentary is not about one side or the other. This documentary clearly points out that the war is the really enemy. Hopefully, people will start to heed the lectures of the dead and endeavor to cease war that makes no light injury.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

How Important Are AP Scores for College Admissions?

As college admissions become increasingly competitive, any possible edge can seem like it might be the difference between a coveted acceptance or a dreaded rejection. Grades, standardized test scores, extracurriculars, and more may all seem to be the highest of stakes. When it comes to AP classes, you might wonder if this is the factor that might tip the college admissions game in your favor. In this post, we’ll outline just how important your AP classes are in college admissions, and the answer may surprise you. Do admissions committees even look at your scores? How much do they actually matter? To learn more, keep reading. Typically, AP scores don’t go on your college application. Because they don’t count towards your GPA or become a part of your transcript, there isn’t actually any place on the application where they are required. There is, however, a place on most college applications where you have the option to report these scores yourself. This process is called self-reporting. In this section, you can self-report any scores from standardized testing, including AP scores. To learn more about this section of your college application, see our post Do I Have to Self-Report My Test Scores? . Since this section of your application is optional, you do not have to report AP scores. In fact, if you choose to do so, you can also choose specifically which scores you submit. If you want to report AP scores, you should definitely report tests on which you received a five. While a single score of five on an AP exam isn’t necessarily impressive, a string of fives might help to set you apart from other candidates. A score of four is less impressive, but it still shows a relatively strong understanding of the material. Fours are usually neither favorable nor unfavorable when you report them on an application. At less selective schools, a variety of fours and fives will set you apart. Scores of three or lower aren’t usually enough to give you any edge in admissions and might even have an negative impact on your application. These are best left off when you self-report your scores. Ultimately, you should be prepared for the admissions committee to review everything on your college application, including self-reported scores. While they may not be as important as other required portions of the application, they may sometimes serve to set you apart when admissions committees need to choose between two or more applicants. The weight given to your AP scores will vary depending on a number of different factors. In general though, you should not consider AP scores as a make it or break it factor in your admissions process. That being said, at very selective schools, admissions committees always receive applicants from far more qualified students than they have places for in the incoming class. Due to this high level of competition, successful applicants will need to distinguish themselves in highly recognizable ways. A series of perfect AP scores can be one example of your academic prowess. If you are applying to a general studies program, you can show your ability to achieve across multiple subject areas by scoring well on a variety of AP exams. Likewise, if you’re applying to a specialized program or under a specific major, you can demonstrate your level of knowledge in that field by submitting the corresponding AP scores. On the other hand, if you choose to report scores that are unimpressive, they could just as easily count against you in a competitive admissions process. Given the choice between two similar candidates, an admissions committee is probably more likely to select those who submit high scores or no scores at all, rather than students who submit dismal ones. Our Early Advising Program helps students in 9th and 10th grade discover their passions and build strong academic and extracurricular profiles to succeed in high school. AP test scores are not generally a highly weighted component of your college application, but if you choose to submit them, they will generally be reviewed by the admissions committee. The amount of weight they are given will vary by school, and in general the more competitive the admissions process is, the more these smaller factors might play a role in distinguishing between similar candidates. Just because AP scores are not necessarily a primary factor on college applications does not mean that AP classes are unimportant. In fact, at many selective colleges, you need to take the most challenging courses available at your high school in order to be considered a serious applicant. In many cases this means taking AP classes if they are available at your school. While your score on the AP exam might not be reported, your grade in these classes definitely is, and your GPA is generally a primary factor on your college application. Remember, AP classes are designed to be college level work, so your performance in them is indicative of your ability to perform at the college level. Furthermore, if you score well on your AP exams, you may be able to earn college credit or place out of lower level prerequisites when you start college. These policies vary from school to school but in general you can them available on the school website. Specific regulations can be found here . To learn more about AP classes and course selection in general, see these posts: If you want to ensure that you’re on track for college admissions success or would like some help with class selection, consider the benefits of the Near Peer Mentorship Program , which provides access to practical advice on topics from college admissions to career aspirations, all from successful college students.