Saturday, October 26, 2019

Part of the Neuron Affected, Inhibitory or Excitatory Potential Changes

Part of the Neuron Affected, Inhibitory or Excitatory Potential Changes and Ion Channels Affected by Psilocybin Psilocybin belongs to the classification of drugs called hallucinogens. Hallucinogens typically act by stimulating serotonin receptors at different times or for longer durations than serotonin itself would (Kalat 2004). When psilocybin enters the brain, the enzyme alkaline breaks down one of its phosphate groups through hydrolysis. It then becomes psilocin, an even stronger hallucinogen (Psilocybin 2003). It is particularly potent due to the position of its hydroxyl group (Jacobs 1984). Psilocin is a postsynaptic serotonin receptor agonist. In other words, its similar structure allows it to mimic serotonin, fitting into some types of serotonin receptors and producing the same effect as endogenous serotonin (Merriam Webster 2003). Specifically, psilocin activates the 5HT2A and 5HT1A receptors. Stimulation of 5HT1 receptors is associated with an inhibitory response while stimulation of the 5HT2 receptors is associated with an excitatory response. Soma of the serotonergic neurons are located in the midline raphe nuclei of the pons and in the medulla oblongata. Axons extend to the basal ganglia, hypothalamus, limbic forebrain, parts of the cerebral cortex, and to the spinal cord (Kruk and Pycock 1979). Functions believed to be moderated by serotonin include sleep, mood, arousal, control of motor activity, hunger, thermoregulation, and some neuroendocrine control mechanisms in the hypothalamus. (Powell 2004, Kruk and Pycock 1979). One theory states that effects caused by psilocin result from stimulation of receptors in the raphe nuclei. According to this theory, the... ...ocal Net Common Molecule. (2003) Reciprocal Net Site Network. http://www.reciprocalnet.org/recipnet/showsample.jsp?sampleId=27 344568 Rabin, Richard A., Regina, Meridith, and Doat, Mirielle J.C. 5- HT2A Receptor-stimulated Phosphoinositide Hydrolysis in the Stimulus Effects of Hallucinogens. (2001) Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. Volume 72, 2002. (pp 29-37) Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. Vollenweider, Franz X, M.D., Vontobel, Peter, PhD., Hell, Daniel, M.D., and Leenders, Klaus, M.D. (1998) 5HT Modulation of Dopamine Release in Basal Ganglia in Psilocybin Induced Psychosis in Man: A PET Study with [11C]raclopride. Neuropsychopharmacology 1999, Volume 20, Number 5. (pp 424-431) New York, New York: Elsevier Science Inc.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Analytical study of the artwork by Anupam Sud Essay

The art of printmaking, as we know it today, is an artistic method appreciated for its unique technical qualities and its immense vocabulary as a specialized field of fine art. Printmaking is the process with which a wide range of materials and diversity of techniques are associated, which offers the artist varied possibilities for experimentation. Anupam Sud was born in 1944 at Hoshiarpur in Punjab. She passed her Diploma in Fine Art from the College of Art, Delhi and an advanced course in printmaking from the Slade School of Art in London on a British Council scholarship. She headed the printmaking department at the Delhi College of Art for several years. She has been a teacher and a mentor to many young artists of today. She is also known for her fine drawings and paintings. Her work breathes a unique freshness- with traces of sculptural contours in some and hints of warmth of oils in others. Though her work features both men and women and often in the nude, her sympathies are fem inist and the oeuvre introspective and somewhat brooding or haunting, concerning itself with common human predicaments of ambiguity and hypocrisy. As an educationist and founding member of the printmakers guild and subsequently the mini prints exhibition that she had curated which toured several Indian cities, she has been able to win for graphics a place within the folds of recognized art forms. Anupam works at her home-studio in village Mandi, isolated by verdure and green fields, several miles away from the churning of Delhi’s streets. When we compare the work of Anupam sud with the great printmaker of the past, like Albert Durer, Daumier, Kathe kollowitz who used print-making for its monochromatic power of statement, Anupam, on the contrary, uses its language of metaphor. Sud’s art consolidates her humanistic leanings over her feminist ones, reflecting upon the nature of humanity in all its forms. She works, one might say, with a social and political consciousness that may not be radical, but affects a subtle intervention by speculation rather than statement. Her deep knowledge of past artistic traditions, of the cultural dynamics that prevail in the Indian context and topical events is the trigger that ignites her imagination. The sweet bitter taste of life that occurs in the wider world of everyday experience engages this artist. The themes of manipulation, the relationship of power to predicament, of powerlessness and temptation, human fallibility and trappings, the masked existence of urban people, the inertia of government structures, are some of the recurrent themes that engage Anupam’s thought process. When encountering Anupam’s work, what strikes one immediately is her ‘sensuality of seeing’. Whether humans or objects, they are represented in their full-bodied corporeality- their skin and flesh, texture and volume captured most effectively by well-delineated contours and in the black and white (light and dark) ambiance of etching. It is her eye, and an acute sense of the ‘optic’ that guides her hand in shaping the physical reality of things. Anupam remains a committed realist, even to the extent of sometimes being photographic. This sense of realism is not reduced to a sterile function of flawless copying, but refined by an intuitive vision of the perceived object in the pictorial construction. The narrative itself is packed with telling details which provide important clues to the social satire, the wit and the clever ridicule infused in the infinite oddities of human situations. Anupam, I think intentionally confounds both the subjective and objective worlds, where the obscure is sighted, the uncanny revealed and the incomprehensible called to account. Sud operates outside the narrow boundaries of ‘art for art’s sake’. The dual nature of reality fascinates her and is seen in her interest in polarized situations. Disqualifying traditional iconography as unsuitable to her expressive goals, she frequently attempts to divest the human form of all cultural markers -caste, creed, clothing and nationality, to represent a universal symbol. Reflecting her own personal nature, her figures dismiss confrontation and direct retaliation. In self-absorption, they are ‘set apart’ from the familiar daily environment to fully allow the effects of emotional and aesthetic experience. Anupam uses humorous ways of representing otherwise serious concerns. Perhaps in view of the disharmony of gender relations, Anupam juxtaposes the fragmented images of female foeticide and highlights an alternate biological choice with erotic forms and men applying lipstick, suggestive of a possible future homosexual world. In the work ‘Dialogue’, one version has two men in communion, characterized more by their gentle touching than speech. While the men are located in an open, public space, the dialogue between two women in another version takes place in a dark, domestic and private space. As it happens in life all the time, there is suspicion also when persons of the same sex become companions. Anupam expects the viewer to read or misread the relationships in multiple ways, validating their power to make meanings. In her work Anupam Sud regularly uses the strategy of literal solidness where object makes the content familiar. Her work ‘Don’t Touch My Halo’ has the overwhelming centrality of a heroic male figure in a ri gid statuesque pose, holding the fruits of his success, and the dancing apsaras with their sensual body rhythms, as glories of his life. In contrast to the powerful handsome exterior (his temporary facade), the skull under the seat is a metaphor for his hidden inner self and hollow structure. . ‘The Shifting Halo’ is antithetical to this, where with the abrupt collapse of power the halo has already shifted from the dead man towards the virility and power of youth. The cold, ice-slab architectural space, the hard rendering of the face, the cropped body and the exact nature of its placement, the strong sense of shadows and silence make for a harsh visualization of the theme. There are other works dosed with concerns for pollution, hazards of industrialization, barrack-like structures, erratic electricity nuisance- all familiar stories, but invested with personal and collective meaning. ‘Dining with the Ego’ holds mystery in spite of a material sumptuousness. A sharp contrast in image is visible, with the man hogging merrily and the woman with an empty plate. The irreconciled situation creates a kind of visual discomfort in spite of the table with its luring spread. Similarly, some of the other works represent a feminine concern, where empathy and a pained compassion pervade the imagery. Women seem to be framed, however obliquely, in a man-centered world of marriage, physical violation and invasive medical techniques. ‘The Ceremony of Unmasking(1990)’ problematizes the predicament of human relationship. There is an ambiguity about the act, whether the woman is being unmasked or masked again. Overpowered by the two men with their terrifying masks, the woman, still uncertain about her feelings flings her hands up in reflexive stance. While central panel introduces the dog as a symbol of loyalty. Locating the work in a mysterious space Anupam secludes the ritual and the characters involved, to live with the secret of the act. ‘Wee Hour’ shows a woman in a crouched position, shaped almost in human shell form that sym bolizes protection, yet she is vulnerable, not guarded from her dreams and latent desires. The incompatibility of the mind and the body is sensitively etched out in many of Anupam’s work. Her recent prints quite regularly feature the intentional visual demarcation of mental and material reality; the body and the accessories are separately juxtaposed with meanings implicit in circumstantial relationships. As an artist and as a person, Anupam is critically discerning, with a self-analytic ego secure in its self doubt. She is a thinking artist who never works with a set pattern but invites fresh challenges and seeks new discoveries with each work. Her print collages, for instance, are abstracted bits from several of her prints that make up a pictorial pseudo script. She enjoys the variety of blacks that emerge as a result of different papers used in her prints. One observes that in a rigorous medium like etching, Anupam has shown courageous preference for large formats. In fact, her zinc plates are getting larger and larger. She explains, â€Å"With drawing, the journ ey of the mind begins and webs stories around the theme that demand space to accommodate the monumental scale of the characters.† Overcoming all repressive barriers, she comfortably etches the male and female body in its stark nakedness. Technically, her attraction for the unbroken line and contour heavily compounds with her perceived human form. While shaping her narratives on the zinc plate, she indulges spiritedly in the aquatint process, often darkening the entire field and then reclaiming the whites in a most painstaking (and challenging) way. Anupam’s final print makes a ‘gradual emergence’ after a sequence of improvisations and remedial measures perceived by the artist while pausing amidst the spaced acts of executing prints. Working with the reverse image and visualizing its ‘positive’ side requires special insight. Also, drawing and scraping need the plate to be positioned flat on the table but at intervals the plate needs to be placed on the board to register distortions and incongruous working. Her hand, that transfers human touch and energy, varying in pressure, forc e and feeling, remains undoubtedly her most important tool of working, fine tuned with her entire being. If we compare the art work of Anupam Sud with her female contemporaries, like Nilima sheikh, Anjelina Ela Menon, Gogi Saroj Pal, her style is uniquely prosaic, even masculine. Her recent work. ‘All Paths Lead to Me’ was done before the passing of her father, as if etching a premonition. There are men standing visibly in memorial stones with the mythological reference to words of Lord Krishna inscribed on the stones. The lower area, a separate plate, depicts a man in (eternal) repose on the wooden cot that carries him on his final journey. Again the contradiction in Anupam, wherein the man in the centre above, though captured in a posture of certainty, expresses uncertainty – not knowing where to go (or perhaps where any of us will go). Her earlier work ‘Of Walls’ is based on recollections of childhood memories – the walls of the ancestral ‘kothi’,(home in Hoshiyarpur, now sold) covered with graffiti, that were so difficult to jump over in childhood and now seem to have shrunk. The faceless presence of time is personified in the woman’s image while the recumbent male figure, legs folded on one another, is reminiscent of the very familiar sight of her grandfather resting. More than anything, it is the mystery of time, its being there and yet not there, this loss of patrimony is most acutely felt by the women of the family who are not a legatee of this former haven of childhood pleasure. ‘In Search of Two Years from the Past through First and Second Class Mail’ is a break from Anupam’s easily recognizable works. These are large colourful silk-screens in the magnified format of a posted envelope while at the Slade. They carry the spontaneous handwritten imprint of names and addresses by many of her teachers and colleagues. The monochrome human images are symbolic of people walking through time, in some subtle way their anatomies distinguish them from one another. To her credit, without adequate infrastructure and an advanced equipped environment for printmaking, an artist like Anupam Sud has made a mark both at the national and the international level. She proudly believes this to be a unique Indian trait – â€Å"†¦to be able to strive so hard with so little in hand.† As printmakers update and go all electronic, Anupam Sud in many ways is an old-fashioned, slow but steady mover who after four decades is passionately continuing to refine her skills at etching. The long tedious hours of physical labour, studio confinement amidst chemicals, machine presses, heavy rollers, metal plates, burners and innumerable tools have become a way of life for her – with no substitute. â€Å"She believes nothing worthy can emerge in the absence of perseverance†. She is firm on her lifetime commitment to printmaking, especially etching. As a single woman who has given her life a purpose, Anupam indulges in art, sourcing it through her contact with life and its innumerable shades. She acknowledges people who influenced her on the way – her parents: her father who loved body building, read detective stories and loved Punjabi theatre; her mother who adored classical music and read the Upanishads; her mentor and teacher, Jagmohan Chopra who reinforced her strengths and determination as an artist; and the presence of Somnath Hore in Delhi, whose work she closely related to. Anupam Suds’ work has been exhibited widely with over a dozen solo shows and many more group exhibitions in various Indian cities and elsewhere including the USA, UK, Italy, Korea and Switzerland. She has won numerous national and international awards for her printmaking and conducted workshops in Canada and Japan. Her work is held in many private and public collections including NGMA Delhi. It was the subject of a major publication and a retrospective organized recently. She lives and works in Delhi.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Helping the Needy Essay

Remember those precious moments of sitting around and trying to comfort; hearing the soothing, slow, and experienced voices. It is time consuming to sit and hear such stories, but a smile spills acrossed your face as you listen to their never ending stories, sometimes it is the same story that you heard yesterday or an hour ago. Each time you attempt to talk your words are abruptly cut off and the story continues. Some are filled with wisdom others too delirious to take serious. With time, listening and helping them, a bond of friendship is made. The days seem to go by fast and your friendship becomes stronger as you spend each day serving these types of people, and sharing experience with them as well. In one day it all comes to an end, they are no longer there to be assisted. Life appears to be like that in the every average day at the Avalon Care center. In a training session from Avalon Care Center Annie Wayment became a qualified Certified Nursing Assistant to help others as they make an end to the journey in their lives. Depending on the state where you are at, the training course to become such a person can take six to eight weeks. Where you are trained to up lift people. What will you do, â€Å"working closely with patients, you are responsible for basic care services such as bathing, grooming and feeding patients, assisting nurses with medical equipment, and checking patient vital signs. CNAs give patients important social and emotional support and also provide vital information on patient conditions to nurses. † For Annie the training was a long, hard jammed packed four weeks. She stated, â€Å"I almost died (Annie Wayment, personal communication, May, 22, 2013). In the course there are plenty of hands on experience and memorization. Then after passing all tests and training satisfaction you are qualified to assist people. She takes Avalon’s statement to heart â€Å"we embrace a reverence for life, and a heart for healing. † After going all through this and then actual helping people Annie continues with an energy that most people do when they are doing what they enjoy. While on a high school job shadow Annie was introduced to the field of helping and then made the decision that was her future job, helping someone. She began her work at Avalon Care Center aiding those who can on loner help themselves. Confused like most people in their first job experience she floated about for a couple of weeks but slowly understood her role. Distressed, frustrated, and irritated to not be able to do what they use to do all their lives this group accepts help from others. They tell them of their problems, and their long life experiences. They don’t only need physical assistance but also mentally. Being a good listener, with a caring heart is part of the job. Though Annie cannot see herself doing this particular work all her life she still goes about with a smile on her face enjoying every minute. Those moments of doing all you can, and then seeing a face of gratitude for what you have done gives you that extra step to do another good deed. A swelling of an inexplicable satisfaction fills you up. Working in this nursing home Annie has gained many new friends. They share all their joyous moments with her and she helps them through their moments of pain and frustration. As time goes on she becomes more than just a friend to these people with all the time she has spent with them. â€Å"When working in a nursing home, as an aide, you spend 1/3 of your day with these residents and you become part of their families (Annie Wayment, personal communication, May, 22, 2013). † Even at times when she thinks she is aiding someone she receives help in return from these this time worn people. A piece of advice here and there and a phrase that sticks in your mind. They just seem to grow on you as the time passes and an inner connection is made with them. She recalls one of the many residents of the caring center in which she helped. The elderly woman was sick for some time. She knew how the woman wanted her room to be organized and helped her daily. The woman got better and was later discharged from the care center. They kept in contact even afterwards. The job like most other jobs also has its down side. After spending quality time in helping, listening, and strengthening people and being strengthened by them, it all seems to be lost in a moment. Sometimes the question of why is asked in most of these circumstances. This woman who Annie kept in contact with became sick again and was hospitalized. She was informed that she would be returning back to the care center back under her care. Excited to see again her room was prepared and fixed up the way the patient liked it. Later on Annie was told that she would no longer be coming. In most incidents Annie has to be the one who needs to get over her grief first and fast. After the passing of those who she has helped she then needs to face the family of the person who she lost, but she is happy for having the knowledge that the church has given her about life. She understands the purpose of why we are here and gives yet another comforting hand to the families of those who have passed on. With the knowledge of the gospel she can comfort and ease the pain of the family members that do not have this knowledge. Hard at times and good at others this is what Annie Wayment does. The good seems to outweigh the bad and she continues on her way of assisting others who are in need. It is what she finds the most enjoyable thing to do.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

How to Get the Most Realistic ACT Practice Test Experience 8 Steps to Follow

How to Get the Most Realistic ACT Practice Test Experience 8 Steps to Follow SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The same way that musicians practice their concerts before going in front of a live audience and athletes have scrimmages before a game, it’s important to practice taking the ACT before you sit down for the real exam. There are many free ACT practice tests available that you can take in your own home, however; it can be difficult to simulate real test-taking conditions.The closer the conditions of your practice test are to the real ACT, the more useful and accurate your results will be. Read this guide to learn ways that students and parents can create realistic test conditions in order to achieve the most accurate results from ACT practice tests. This guide will give you all the information you need to create realistic testing conditions for a practice ACT exam. There are eight recommendations to follow in order to have an ultra realistic practice test: Take a complete test Have the required materials Have a set starting time Simulate a classroom environment Have an â€Å"official test† mindset Keep strict timing on each section Use only official breaks Review your exam results Benefits of Realistic Practice Testing As with other methods of preparing for the ACT, taking ACT practice tests can help students become more familiar with the types of questions that are asked on the exam and identify subject areas they need to strengthen. Taking a practice test in a realistic setting is even better because it gives you the most accurate sense of how you're scoring and helps you feel comfortable with and prepared for the test day proceedings. Let's go over the benefits of realistictesting in more depth so you know why this extra hassle is worth the effort. More Accurate Scores The closer your practice ACT is to real test-taking conditions, the more accurate your scores will be because your practice tests will take many variables into account, such as if you were able to finish each section before time ran out and how well you were able to concentrate with only limited breaks. Having more accurate scores gives you a better estimate of what your total ACT score would be, as well as how well you would do on each separate test section. This will let you more accurately determine what your strengths and weaknesses are and make your future studying more effective. Better Understanding of How the Length of the Test Affects You ACTs are long: with the optional essay and breaks included, the entire test takes 3 hours and 40 minutes. While taking a few practice questions here and there can help you improve your score, it is important to also take full-length exams to learn how well you manage to hold up after several hours of testing. You may learn that your accuracy drops after the first two hours, which gives you something to work on that you probably would not have discovered if you’d never taken a full-length practice test under realistic conditions.Taking multiple full-length practice tests with only the officially designated breaks will also increase your test-taking stamina, so you are less likely to run out of energy during the real ACT. Less Anxiety About the Test The more familiar you are with something, the less worrisome it becomes.By making your practice ACT exams as close to the real test as possible, you will become more comfortable with the exam and its format, so that when you take the ACT for real, you will have a better idea of what to expect and will likely be more confident and prepared. Image source: YSU How to Make Practice Testing as Realistic as Possible Below are eight steps you can take in order to make your practice ACT as close to the real test experience as possible. You don't have to follow all of the recommendations, but doing so will give you a highly realistic test experience. 1. Take a Complete Test In order to make your practice test as realistic as possible, you should take a complete practice test.You can get old ACT tests here. If there is any chance that you’ll be applying to a school that requires the ACT essay, it’s recommended that you include the writing section as well. (Wondering whichschools require ACT writing? We have a complete list available!) Take the sections in the order you will take them for the real ACT: English first, then Math, Reading, Science, and the essay if you are including it.Before you begin the test, print off the entire exam and its instructions so that you are ready to go.For your practice test, you should bubble in the answers on the answer sheet, just like you would for the real ACT. To help manage your time, know that real ACT tests begin at 8:00am, and generally finish at 12:15pm, or around 1:00pm if the student is taking the optional essay. 2. Have the Required Materials The ACT has strict rules on what you must bring with you on test day and certain things you are forbidden to bring. Learn these rules ahead of time and follow them during your practice test. The ACT requires you to bring: A photo ID (such as a driver’s license or school ID) Your ACT admission ticket with your photo printed on it Even though you won’t need either of these things for a practice exam, you should have them with you at your practice test (using a blank sheet of paper that represents your admission ticket), so that you get used to remembering to bring them. You should also have: No. 2 pencils: bring several in case one breaks and NO mechanical pencils. Make sure they have good erasers as well. A calculator:try and use the same calculator you plan to use for the real ACT, and make sure it meets the ACT’s calculator requirements. A watch: this will help you keep track of your time because you can never be sure if there will be a visible clock during the test. Make sure your watch doesn’t beep though, because that is grounds to get you dismissed from the exam. Snacks and water: the ACT is a long test and having something to eat and drink during the break can help keep your energy up. Don’t bring pens, highlighters, or additional scratch paper to use during the practice test, since none of these things is allowed for the real ACT. 3. Have a Set Starting Time You and the parent who is proctoring you should establish beforehand a starting time foryour ACT.In order to simulate a real ACT as much as possible, this practice test should begin when real ACTs do: at 8:00am on a Saturday.This is early, but taking your practice test at that time will help you be better prepared for the real ACT. If you stayed out late the night before and spend your practice test exhausted and half-asleep, that will be a strong incentive to be more prepared and better rested for future practice tests, as well as the real ACT. Regard this start time as unchangeable. You cannot push it back or change it, even if you accidentally ended up staying out with your friends late the night before, decide you want to go for a run first, or find something really good on television. You won’t be able to delay the start time of the real ACT, so don’t do sofor the practice ACT either. Get up early enough so that by 8:00am, you are sitting at the desk or table where you’ll take the exam, with all your materials ready. 4. Simulate a Classroom Environment Make the room where you’ll be taking your practice test as close to a classroom as possible.Don’t take your test while sitting on the couch or hanging out at the kitchen table where the rest of your family is eating. Pick a quiet room where you and your proctor you will be undisturbed. You should take your practice test at a desk or table.Only have necessary materials around you. Your workspace shouldn’t be cluttered with extraneous papers or other material not related to the test, and your phone should be turned off and put away, like it will be for the real exam. This is very important to rememberbecause having your phone on for the real ACT is enough to get you kicked out of the exam and your scores tossed out. Image source: York Libraries 5. Have an "Official Test" Mindset Both you and your proctor should have the mindset throughout the entire test that this a realistic practice exam and should be as close to a real ACT as possible.The person acting as your proctor (likely your parent), should act as much like an official proctor as possible.This means things like reading instructions aloud, not making jokes, and not watching TVor listening loudly to music while you’re taking the test. You should take this test as seriously as you would a real ACT. Don’t ask for extra time, don’t try and check your phone during the test, don’t skip questions just because you got tired and know this isn’t a â€Å"real† test.Say it with me: If you wouldn’t do it during the real ACT, don’t do it during this practice exam. Taking a practice test under realistic conditions can provide you with a very accurate example of how you’d score on the real ACT, which can significantly help your future studying and raise your score for the actual exam, so take the practice test seriously. 6. Keep Strict Timing on Each Test Section This is an important consideration to keep in mind and one of the most critical things you can do to make your practice test as close to the real ACT as possible. The ACT includes a lot of questions in each section, and taking the test under real timing conditions will help you get used to the time pressures of the ACT and improve your time management skills. Your proctor should follow the ACT’s time restrictions exactly: English: 45 minutes Math: 60 minutes Reading: 35 minutes Science: 35 minutes Optional essay: 30 minutes Have your proctor keep track of the time with a watch or timer, announcing when you have five minutes left in each section. You can also keep track of the time with your watch, if you’re wearing one. As soon as your proctor calls time, set your pencil down. Do not ask for or try to take any additional time. Even adding two extra minutes to a section can allow you to answer several more questions, which will give you an inflated and less accurate score.Also, if you finish a section before time is called, do not move onto the next section. Just like for the real test, review your answers for that section until time is called. 7. Use Only Official Breaks The ACT allows only 2 breaks: a ten-minute break after the Math section and a five-minute break after the Science section for those writing the essay. During your practice test, only take breaks at these times, and only for the specific amount of time allowed. Like strictly timing your sections, this will get you more used to the challenges of taking a long test and let you see if having few breaks affects your score. Taking multiple practice tests with limited breaks can help you manage long tests better over time and improve your score. During these breaks, don’t do things you wouldn’t be able to do during the real ACT breaks, like check your phone, go on the computer, or go outside.You can (and should) use these breaks to get up and stretch, sharpen your pencils, use the bathroom, and eat the snacks or drinks you brought with you. Optional: Take Your Practice Test with Others This isn’t a requirement, but if you have other friends studying for the ACT, it can be helpful to take your practice tests at the same time.Doing sowill make your practice test closer to the real thing because you’ll take the real ACT with other people in the room, and, when you do, you’ll be more used to noises other test takers can make, like rustling papers or tapping their feet. 8. Grade and Review Your Exam Once you have finished with the entire test, take a bit of a break before reviewing your answers. This can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Either you or your proctor should grade your multiple choice answers.If you included the writing section, try to have two other people grade it, following the ACT’s essay rubric.Also check out our guide on converting your raw score into a scaled score. Now you have your score for your practice ACT, but you’re not finished yet.You should review each question you got wrong, working to understand what mistake you made and how you can avoid making it again in the future.If you skip this step, your ACT scores likely won’t improve very much, no matter how many practice tests you take because you’ll keep repeating the same mistakes. We also have a ton of resources to help you study for the ACT and raise your score. Check some of them out below. ACT Study Resources Want to learn ways to boost your ACT score? Check out our guide on the 21 ACT tricks you should be using. Don't have a lot of time to study for the ACT?Learn the best last-minute study tips you should use. Wondering when you should start your ACT prep? We have a step-by-step guide that tells you how long you should study for the ACT What should you do when you get a question wrong on a practice test? Read our guide on the best way to review your ACT mistakes. Aiming for a 36 on the ACT? Check out our guide on how to get a perfect ACT score. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points?We have the industry's leading ACT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and ACT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Monday, October 21, 2019

The tender laws of England Essays

The tender laws of England Essays The tender laws of England Essay The tender laws of England Essay Dickens talks about a pauper old woman, who was rendered rather misty by an unwonted allowance of beer and a parish surgeon who did such matters by contract. Dickens is trying to say about the appalling and uncaring and inadequate medical attention in workhouses. Boards generally employed the cheapest doctors. Dickens refers to Oliver as A new burden imposed upon the parish. This seems to be not Dickens view but the view of those who managed the workhouses and society in general. Dickens explains that the nurse had been drinking from a green glass bottle, the contents of which she had been tasting in a corner with evident satisfaction. Dickens views of the people who were meant to be taking care of others were not high. He thinks they are inadequate for the job, are selfish and dont care about who they are meant to be looking after. Dickens writes about Olivers mother. He says, She imprinted her cold white lips passionately on its forehead. The use of the word passionately stands out at this point because it is the first positive image so far in the novel. Dickens is trying to show how badly unmarried poor mothers were treated in the mid 1800s. The doctor states that Oliver is likely to be troublesome. This is shocking to the reader, as it is doubtful that he is to be any more troublesome than any other newborn. At the end of the first chapter, Dickens expresses that Oliver s a parish child- the orphan of a workhouse to be cuffed and buffeted through the world- despised by all, and pitied by none. Poor orphans had a very bad status in the mid 1800s as people thought it was their own fault they were poor. Dickens is sarcastic when he says that Oliver was left to the tender mercies of church wardens because Christian officials should be kind and helpful towards poor people, yet these people were to punish them. In the opening of Chapter 2 it says, Oliver was the victim of a systematic course of deception Dickens is trying to give his readers the message that Oliver has been a victim from birth.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Biography of Than Shwe, Burmese Dictator

Biography of Than Shwe, Burmese Dictator Than Shwe (born February 2, 1933) is a Burmese politician who ruled the country as a military dictator from 1992 to 2011. He was known for being a secretive, vindictive commander who showed no qualms about having dissidents, journalists, and even Buddhist monks beaten, jailed, tortured, and executed. Despite his absolute power, Than Shwe was so reclusive that most Burmese people never even heard his voice. Smuggled video footage of the sumptuous wedding thrown for the generals daughter sparked outrage across the country, as it provided a glimpse of the lifestyle of the very rich. Than Shwes regime was so brutal and corrupt that he is considered one of Asias worst dictators. Fast Facts: Than Shwe Known For: Than Shwe was the military dictator of Burma from 1992 to 2011.Born: February 2, 1933 in Kyaukse,  British BurmaSpouse: Kyaing KyaingChildren: 8 Early Life Very little is known about the early life of secretive general Than Shwe. He was born on February 2, 1933, in Kyuakse, in the Mandalay Division of Burma. At the time of Than Shwes birth, Burma was still a British colony. Few details of Than Shwes education have emerged, though some sources report that he attended public elementary school before dropping out of high school. Early Career Than Shwes first government job after leaving school was as a mail delivery clerk. He worked for the post office in Meiktila, a city in central Burma. Sometime between 1948 and 1953, the young Than Shwe enlisted in the Burmese colonial army, where he was assigned to the psychological warfare unit. He participated in the governments ruthless counterinsurgency campaign against ethnic-Karen guerrillas in eastern Burma. This experience resulted in Shwes several-year-long commitment to a psychiatric hospital for post-traumatic stress disorder. Nonetheless, Shwe was known as a merciless fighter; his no-holds-barred style brought a promotion to the rank of captain in 1960. He was promoted to major in 1969, and in 1971 he graduated from a military training program at the Frunze Academy  in the Soviet Union. Entry into National Politics Captain Than Shwe helped General Ne Win seize power in the 1962 coup that ended Burmas brief post-independence experience with democracy. He was rewarded with a steady series of promotions, rising to the rank of colonel by 1978. In 1983, Shwe took military command of the Southwest Region/Irrawaddy Delta near Rangoon. This posting close to the capital was to aid him enormously in his quest for higher office. Ascent to Power In 1985, Shwe was promoted to brigadier general and given the twin posts of Vice Chief of Army Staff and Deputy Minister of Defense. The following year, he was promoted again to major general and given a seat on the Burma Socialist Partys Central Executive Committee. The junta crushed a pro-democracy movement in 1988, leaving 3,000 protestors dead. Burmese ruler Ne Win was ousted after the insurrection. Saw Muang took control, and Than Shwe moved into a high cabinet position- according to one writer, because of his ability to bore everyone else into submission. Following the abortive elections of 1990, Than Shwe replaced Saw Maung as head of state in 1992. Supreme Leader Initially, Than Shwe was seen as a more moderate-style military dictator than some of his predecessors. He freed some political prisoners and released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in the late 1990s. (She won the 1990 presidential election despite being in prison.) Than Shwe also oversaw Burmas 1997 entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), signaling an openness to trade and increased market freedom. He also cracked down on some official corruption. However, Than Shwe became a stricter ruler over time. His former mentor, General Ne Win, died under house arrest in 2002. In addition, Than Shwes disastrous economic policies kept Burma one of the poorest countries in the world. Human Rights Abuses Given his early association with the brutal put-downs of the Karen independence and pro-democracy movements, its not surprising that Than Shwe showed little regard for human rights during his tenure as Burmas supreme ruler. Freedom of the press and free speech were nonexistent in Burma under his leadership. The journalist Win Tin, an associate of Aung San Suu Kyis, was imprisoned in 1989. (Aung San herself was also rearrested in 2003, and was under house arrest until late in 2010.) The Burmese junta used systematic rape, torture, executions, and disappearances to control the people and quell dissent. Monk-led protests in September 2007 resulted in a violent crackdown, which left hundreds dead. Personal Life While the Burmese people suffered under Than Shwes rule, Than Shwe and other top leaders enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle (apart from worries about being deposed). The opulence with which the junta surrounded themselves was seen in a leaked video of the wedding reception of Than Shwes daughter, Thandar, and an army major. The video, showing ropes of diamonds, a solid-gold bridal bed, and huge amounts of champagne, outraged people inside Burma and around the world. It was not all jewels and BMWs for Shwe, though. The general is diabetic, and some experts believe he may be suffering from intestinal cancer. He has spent time in hospitals in Singapore and Thailand. Than Shwe is something of a recluse, however, so this information has not been verified. On March 30, 2011, Than Shwe stepped down as the ruler of Myanmar and retreated further from the public eye. His hand-picked successor, President Thein Sein, has initiated a series of reforms and has opened Myanmar to the international community to a surprising extent since he took office. Dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi was even allowed to run for a seat in the Congress, which she won on April 1, 2012. Sources Myint-U, Thant. Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.Rogers, Benedict. Burma: a Nation at the Crossroads. Rider Books, 2015.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Future Threats to Public Safety and Success in the War on Terror Research Paper

Future Threats to Public Safety and Success in the War on Terror - Research Paper Example Antonio Maria Costa can be quoted saying (2008) â€Å"Your citizens indeed say that what they fear the most is not terrorism, not climate change, not a financial crisis. It is public safety. And in the Americas, the biggest threat to public safety comes from drug trafficking and the violence perpetrated by organized crime†. Furthermore, Mr Costa stated that violence, gangs, kidnappings, brutality, and insurgences happening in different parts of the globe are drug related. Countless lives have been lost within in this gruesome problem. To make matters worse, innocent lives fall victims to it. From 2001 up to this date, it is still uncertain if we have really achieved success on the war on terror. The capture and execution of Saddam Hussein and the successful assassination of Osama bin Laden can be considered two of the greatest successes in what we call the war on terror. Assessing the war on terror is complex. We get different opinions from different people. Some way that it is a success, others say it is a depressing failure. We can read lots of resources which give us mixed views of the war’s status. One would be the fact that since 2001 there were no further terror attacks on American soil (Dart, 2012). This may mean that the war has been successful or it means that a terrorist plan has not been brought out yet. Although the war on terrorism may be hard to calculate, we cannot ignore that many nations are invested in the war. In spite of criticisms or compliments, everyone is pushing talks to counter