Technology And Its Effects On Our Lives - 1402 Words

Everyday technology is manipulated and used by many people around the world. Technology describes the usage of technical means to interact with life, society, and environment, through an electronical device that is applied by science. Many people are slowly becoming attached to technology and relying on more of these resources because it makes their life easier. However, technology is slowly hurting a ton of people by being smartphone dependent, reducing our communication skills and disabling people from being productive. Many people are dependent on their smartphones. First of all, various who uses these cell phones are regularly on it twenty four- seven. These problems arise on ignoring the people nearby and not paying attention to the surroundings while they are moving from one place to another. Additionally, smartphones are slowly transitioning to a life where everyone will have a need for them and rely on them for any problem that arises in their life. People will stop relying on other people’s opinion, but depend on their smartphones for answers. Also, smartphones are becoming more advanced with the limitless supply of better quality phones, accessibility to Internet, different apps, and other entertainment. As a result, the numerous commodities present in the technological development of smartphones is a distraction to everyone who uses one. The evolution from the first cell phone called the handheld Motorola to the unbreakable Nokia then the flip phones and theShow MoreRelatedTechnology And Its Effect On Our Lives1199 Words   |  5 PagesTechnology is helping us to advance in the world. When we talk about technology, most people’s first thoughts would be about phones, laptops, the internet etc. This is because every single argument I found against technology is talking about how we waste so much time on devices and how it is ruining human interactions and real life communication. What they don’t know is that while it does do all of these things, there are some good things that technology has brought upon us. Some examples are thatRead MoreEffects Of Technology On Our Lives1065 Words   |  5 PagesWe live in an age where technology is practically unavoidable if you live in a developed area. We don’t realize how much we really rely on technology in almost every facet of our lives. It’s a known fact that it is almost inevitable it will keep advancing, which is imperative to our development; but what about its social effects? There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that technology has definitely helped keep people in better contact than ever before, but the in-person interaction has actually hadRead MoreTechnology And Its Effect On Our Lives864 Words   |  4 Pages Technology We live in a society that is completely obsessed with the invention of technology, which has both a negative or positive effect on our lives. Technology has taken over the twenty first century, showing us how powerful it actually can be. Coming in contact with the invention of technology every day, it is hard not to excel in how to operate it. Once we have accomplished how to properly perform the duties on certain technology, we may become more addicted to it although most of usRead MoreTechnology And Its Effects On Our Lives Essay1792 Words   |  8 PagesEveryday technology is manipulated and used by many people around the world. Technology describes the usage of technical means to interact with life, society, and environment, through an electronic device that is applied by science. Many people are slowly becoming attached to technology and relying on more of these resources because it makes their life easier. However, technology is slowly hurting a ton of people by being smartph one dependent, reducing our communication skills and disabling peopleRead MoreTechnology And Its Effects On Our Lives1499 Words   |  6 PagesNeuroimaging technology Madeline Johnson 242015 ECH 2025 001 As time has advanced so has technology; the world has watches that along with telling what time it is the watch also tells us who is calling us and how we slept at night. Along with so many other amazing inventions for our daily life there have been miraculous milestones with our neuroimaging inventions; scans range from being able to tell us where our brain is functioning during a task to allowing us to catch diseases such as cancerRead MoreEffects Of Technology On Our Lives1679 Words   |  7 Pagespeople use technology eleven hours of the average waking hours of sixteen to eighteen. That is sixty one to sixty eight percent of waking time on technology. Overuse of any thing is unhealthy, especially overuse with so many adverse effects. Technology has three main categories of unhealthy effects. Physical, Mental/Emotional, and Social/Environmental. Because of its wide range of unhealthy effects on several aspects of life its use should be limited. Technology has unhealthy effects on many aspectsRead MoreTechnology And Its Effect On Our Lives1756 Words   |  8 PagesI. INTRODUCTION In this day and age, advanced innovation changes so quickly and incorporates into our general public at such a quickened rate, it is difficult to stay aware of it, not to mention consider the impacts it has on our lives. In spite of the fact that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter did not exist a simple decade prior, they are presently pervasive types of media and correspondence in our way of life. Today s era of young people, conceived in the 1990s, apropos named the iGenerationRead MoreThe Effects Of Technology On Our Social Lives1166 Words   |  5 PagesOur generation is one defined by technology. Every day advances in cellphones, computers, cameras, medical technology, and much more are being made. Because of technology, the way we live our lives, and the way the world functions is vastly different than it used to be. One might argue that all of this technology is making our lives easier, and therefore, better. However, people do not realize all that we are losing, as we gain techn ological knowledge. In the eighties having a cellphone was a luxuryRead MoreEffects Of Technology And Media On Our Lives958 Words   |  4 PagesEffects of Technology and Media in our lives With the advancement in media and technology, almost anything is possible nowadays. Looking back a couple years ago, people did no have cellphones, computers or televisions to occupy and make their lives easier. With the development of these products and more, people are able to communicate and do work much faster and more efficiently. Society has come a long way with technology and media and to say that there are no negatives to them would be falseRead MoreThe Effects Of Media And Technology On Our Lives1828 Words   |  8 Pagesyou can to survive. Notice, I stressed the word â€Å"seem†, because I want us to explore the current generation of growing African American males and the effect of media and technology in their lives. Studies show that media images have a large impact on perceptions when the viewers have less real world experience with the topic. In an age where technology brings together different ideals, cultures and belief systems through the Internet and soc ial media, one can assume that accurate stories are being

The Polio Vaccine Through The Eyes Of Its Creator

Academy of Achievement. â€Å"The Calling to Find a Cure.† Academy of Achievement. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/sal0int-1 (accessed November 18, 2009) â€Å"The Calling to Find a Cure† provided an informative interview with Jonas Salk. It told the story of the creation of the polio vaccine through the eyes of its creator. Salk also describes his childhood and the events that lead up to his medical breakthrough. Latour, Bruno , Steve Woolgar, and Jonas Salk. Introduction. Laboratory Life. 1986.Reprint. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. 11. Print. It showed the way that Jonas Salk studied polio and how he came to the conclusion that the vaccine was correct. He also taught that it is a life taking job and that polio vaccine was a difficult task but a successful one. Salgado, Sebastiao. The End of Polio: A Global Effort to End a Disease. Illustrated edition Ed. New York: Bulfinch, 2003. Print. This shows pictures of the terrifying times that many went through with polio. It brings in reality by putting a visual image on the subject. After understanding these photos, it is known that polio was and is completely preventable. Secondary Sources â€Å"Albert B. Sabin.† American History. ABC-CLIO, 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2009. The article â€Å"Albert B. Sabin† expands the history of the polio vaccine and provided more information about the man who created the oral, live- virus vaccine. This is important because without Albert B. Sabin’sShow MoreRelatedPolio Is Made From The Pigs Of Monkeys1336 Words   |  6 Pages In 1976, Dr. Jonah Salk, creator of the killed-virus vaccine used in the 1950s, testified that the live-virus vaccine (used almost exclusively from the 1960s-2000s in the U.S.) was the â€Å"principle if not sole cause† of all reported polio cases since 1961 in the United States. Polio is made from the kidneys of monkeys. Mostly, they use wild caught Green Monkeys, the primate choice for making the polio vaccination. It was discovered that the monkeys had a virus called SV-40, a simian virus, was rampantRead MoreInnovators Dna84615 Words   |  339 Pagestraction in the market. But the better you are at asking the (continued) 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go.qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 10 10 INTRODUCTION right questions, engaging in the right observations, eliciting ideas and feedback through networking with the right people, and running experiments, the less likely you are to fail. Third, we spotlight different innovators and innovative companies to illustrate key ideas or principles, but not to set them up as perfect examples of how

Computer Security Regarding the Submarine

Question: Describe about the Computer Security for Regarding the Submarine. Answer: Part A: Computer Security Breach leads to leakage of Sensitive Submarine Information This report critically analyses the incident of security breach that has resulted in leaking of sensitive information about the Scorpene submarine that has been designed by France (Can French keep a secret?, 2016). There is no more serious incident than disclosure of the stealth secret of a country. Hence the report will focus on the questions like how did the incident occur, why did it occur and the possible solutions to the leak. A.1) The Problem The author Cameron Stewart discuss in The Australian about the latest security breach which has made sensitive information regarding the Scorpene submarine public. A submarine technology is as effective as the amount of stealth and secret it can maintain. The leaked DCNA (Direction des Constructions Navales) documents carry bolt to bolt details about the submarines capability and combat abilities along with the weaknesses (Scorpne data leak: Who is responsible for the massive information security breach? - Firstpost, 2016). The major victims of the leak are India, Malaysia, Chile and Brazil who operate the Scorpene submarine. The breach will compromise the security of the six submarine fleet that is maintained by India. This incident will further deteriorate the security condition of the country. The project that has been valued more than 3.5 billion USD was being built at Mumbai docks. The deal was inked in 2005 and leaked document shows a detailed technical specification which wil l make it easier to detect the Scorpene submarine (Joseph, 2016). A.2) How and Why did the breach happen The data and the documents that reached The Australian via mail did not contain any detail regarding the submarine. The Australian made the news public as Australia has contracted DCNS for building Shortfin Barracuda Submarines. The leak happened at the DCNS side as it contained sensitive information about other frigates and amphibious ships which have been planned to be sold to Chile and Russia. The document that has been leaked is the year 2011 document that has been used as framework for building the submarines. The leak not only have created security risk for the buyers but has also defamed the suppliers and its subcontractors. The latest leak has been attributed to lesser awareness of the contractors about the IP (Intellectual Property) protection. DCNSs leak is an eye opener that IP in this modern world of connectivity is hard to maintain and should be taken seriously (French submarine maker data breach highlights challenges of IP security, 2016). DCNS also claim that it has be en a victim of economic warfare, and it is for sure that after this incident there are few people who will trust company with their sensitive information. Various reasons have been attributed to the security breach like lack of awareness about the IP protection and data classification and protection. Intellectual Property (IP) protection is a very difficult task as it involves various stages of security involved for the protection and maintenance. Since today due to interconnectivity everything is connected to every other thing maintaining the security has become tougher. Maintaining IP is more difficult compared to other data because these data are extremely unstructured (French submarine maker data breach highlights challenges of IP security, 2016). Apart from being unstructured the work upon it is done in various segments so the full value of the data often goes unrealised by the individual working upon it. It should also be understood that the failure to understand the importance of data classification and its protection too gives rise to security breaches. If the data is not classified according to its importance and security implication, it is bound to be grouped with lesser important files which will result in access to data by unwanted personnel or hackers thus leading to leakage of information (Barile, 2014). A.3) The possible solutions There is no definite outcome for internet security breaches as the hackers and personnel do evolve with the increasing security. But the task for them can be made harder. One possible solution for the problem could be restructuring architecting the security from the very beginning. So that the security is designed to be hard to crack, easy for upkeep and recovery is smooth (StjepandiĆ¡ Liese Trappey 2015). The segmented approach will go a long way in preventing the data. Alarms can be embedded into the system to show any movement of data. The importance of data should be well understood and the classification and segmentation should be for a better understanding of security. Hence, the various aspects of the computer security have been discussed. The recent incident related to a computer security breach in France which has resulted in the release of sensitive information about submarines has been analyzed. The questions like how and why were answered and solutions were pro vided for restricting such breaches. Part B: The Anthem Medical Data Breach B.1) Problem Statement An American healthcare company Anthem Inc. which was founded in the 1940s was hacked in 2015. Anthem Inc. on 4th, Feb 2015 disclosed the fact about the network security breach that has led to the theft of 37.5 million records containing user information from its server. On a later day in February, the company further increased the number, of records that were stolen, to 78.8 million. According to the information provided by the organization the security breach compromised records of various brands of the company like Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shields, etc. The company further confirmed that the breach didn't compromise with the financial data and the medical information of the members and patients. But other details like names, e-mail IDs, medical IDs, birthdays, social security numbers, income data, employment information, have been compromised and according to the report in The New York Times' could be used for identity theft. To prevent victimization, the firm has asked the persons to be careful regarding their accounts as vigilance might help to reduce the damage of identity theft. B.2) Affected People According to the data released by the company 78.8 million people have been affected by the theft. If the data USA Today are to be believed, then the number of affect mass could increase to 80 million. The data that has been compromised include every data needed for identity theft like name, social security number, etc. The stolen data of 80 million people could be used for identity theft hence making a large populace vulnerable to identity cloning. Identity theft is a deliberate use of others identity to gain financial advantages. Hence it can be easily understood that people whose details have been compromised are living in fear. The organization Anthem Inc. also maintains thousands of HighMark customers whose information was compromised. The CEO of the company addressed the sufferers of the incident and apologized for the same, thus creating a lot of fuss about the issue. The breach has shaken the investor confidence, and the company has been struggling to maintain the market share that it previously had. The customers too have been skeptical about the security policies of the company and fears investing with it. Although no incident of identity theft has been recorded till now due to the security breach but the possibility and the impact of the breach has been profound. B.3) Details of Attack Carried Out The company was on its way to implementing two-tier securities before which the breach totally took the IT expert of the company by shock. As per the report by J. K. Wall, as soon as the security breach was found all the system with a single level of safety was shut down. Before the attack, only individual level authentication was done by recording the username and password, so hackers acquired the combination of two and started the breach for weeks. Although at final stages hacker had all the information needed for accessing the sensitive data, the company is still not sure about the source of the initial breach. Every company makes a trade-off between the ease of handling system and the involved security for making the system both easy to use and user-friendly. This can result in minor challenges for the system which the hackers use to gain access to the network. The data about the patients constituted around 35 GB of disc space and was moved in small chunks to avoid unwanted attention and had been done for weeks to before the breach was noticed. B.4) Possible Solution to Prevent the Attack It had been mentioned in the previous section that the IT experts were just a few weeks away from implementing a two-tier security system. Once the system was in place, the hackers might not have been able to breach the security. So it can be easily understood that single level security is unsafe, and a multi-level security is the need of the time. Apart from multi-level security, the IT professionals should be more proactive to stop any attack on the system. According to The LA Times initial attempts of hacking were detected and deflected, but the final one went unnoticed for six weeks. It is estimated that the hacker was extremely persistent and might have gained access to the system using phishing on of the IT managers. References Anthem data breach could affect affiliate customers, including Highmark. (2016).Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.post-gazette.com/business/tech-news/2015/02/06/Anthem-data-breach-could-affect-affiliate-customers-including-Highmark/stories/201502060059 Barile, I., Wootton, B., Kessler, D., Upadhyay, R. (2014).U.S. Patent No. 8,695,090. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Can French keep a secret?. (2016).Theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/itll-be-50bn-down-the-gurgler-ifthe-french-cant-keep-a-secret/news-story/535be2819009eb7180b468ef5751f7fb Data Breach at Health Insurer Anthem Could Impact Millions Krebs on Security. (2016).Krebsonsecurity.com. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/02/data-breach-at-health-insurer-anthem-could-impact-millions/ Details of Anthem's massive cyber attack remain in the dark a year later. (2016).Modern Healthcare. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160330/NEWS/160339997 Forbes Welcome. (2016).Forbes.com. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2015/12/31/data-breaches-in-healthcare-total-over-112-million-records-in-2015/#43f5c8937fd5 French submarine maker data breach highlights challenges of IP security. (2016).ComputerWeekly. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.computerweekly.com/news/450303120/French-submarine-maker-data-breach-highlights-challenges-of-IP-security Goldstein, R. (2016).Millions of Anthem Customers Targeted in Cyberattack.Nytimes.com. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/business/hackers-breached-data-of-millions-insurer-says.html?_r=0 Joseph, J. (2016).Scorpene data leak Not a tight ship, submarine project leaked like a sieve.The Hindu. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/scorpene-data-leak-not-a-tight-ship-submarine-project-leaked-like-a-sieve/article9027165.ece Riley, C. (2016).Insurance giant Anthem hit by a massive data breach.CNNMoney. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://money.cnn.com/2015/02/04/technology/anthem-insurance-hack-data-security/ Scorpne data leak: Who is responsible for the massive information security breach? - Firstpost. (2016).Firstpost. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.firstpost.com/world/scorpene-submarine-leak-who-is-responsible-for-the-massive-information-security-breach-2976018.html StjepandiĆ¡, J., Liese, H., Trappey, A. J. (2015). Intellectual property protection. InConcurrent Engineering in the 21st Century(pp. 521-551). Springer International Publishing. The massive breach at health care company Anthem Inc.. (2016).USA TODAY. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/02/04/health-care-anthem-hacked/22900925/ Times, L. (2016).Anthem is warning consumers about its huge data breach. Here's a translation..latimes.com. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mh-anthem-is-warning-consumers-20150306-column.html

The Effects Of Social Media On Teenagers Essay Sample free essay sample

As parents. we strive twenty-four hours in and twenty-four hours out to supply healthy repasts. drive our childs to soccer pattern. cheer at the games ; go to parent-teacher meetings at school and learn them to state â€Å"no† to drugs and other bad wonts. While we are busy covering all the rudimentss of being a good parent. we can be far excessively unmindful of the effects the societal media is holding on kids. Childs today are as technologically connected as anyone on the planet has of all time been. They have entree to societal media like Facebook and Twitter and they can be able to chew the fat in existent clip with their friend who are a 1000 stat mis off. Assorted studies suggest that about 83 per centum of American youth use their phones for electronic mail. nomadic cyberspace and texting. The study further provinces that these American teens send and receive text messages 144 times a twenty-four hours. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effects Of Social Media On Teenagers Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If the teens are non texting. they are normally on societal networking sites like Facebook and Twitter where they chat. portion exposures and picture and take part in gambling. The negative effects of being this â€Å"plugged in† is get downing to take tremendous consequence on childs. Because societal interaction comes overpoweringly on-line instead than face to face. American young person are demoing terrible deficiency of societal accomplishments. They are frequently more comfy with engineering than they are with speaking to people. They have non learned the proper communicating and conversation accomplishments. how to cover with interpersonal state of affairss and how to day of the month and acquire to cognize other people behind the screen. Research workers have found that the middle-school. high school and college pupils who used Facebook at least one time during a 15 minute period acquire lower classs overall. Many teens normally spend insomniac darks on societal media without the cognition of their parents. The break of slumber has had inauspicious effects on the teens. It has led to instances of insomnia. temper swings. attending shortages at school and increased fleshiness merely to advert a few. These are some of the serious negative effects of societal media on adolescents and issues that are originating with childs frequently addicted to Facebook. With such overpowering grounds of the negative effects of societal media on our kids. why so. are many parents non taking more action to protect their kids? There possibly are three major grounds: 1 ) Parents are incognizant of the issues involved in the on-line connexions. While childs are plugged in to societal media. merely approximately 40 % of parents are involved themselves. Parents may non be cognizant of their children’s â€Å"pages† and don’t to the full understand privateness policies and they don’t recognize what sorts of public posters are taking topographic point. affecting their kids. 2 ) Parents don’t want to interfere in their children’s societal lives. Most parents want their kids to be popular. accepted and bask a happy societal life. Parents sometimes concern themselves with children’s â€Å"rights† – their right to privateness and their right to interact in today’s popular forums. Parents want to let their kids to be every bit connected as the other childs they associate with. and so they tell themselves that everything is ok. 3 ) Parents are afraid to take a base. Many of â€Å"modern† parents are going apathetic to the existent dangers that excessively much societal media can show to their kids. They don’t want to force their teens off and so they allow their engagement in societal media to travel unbridled instead than do a â€Å"big deal† out of it. The jobs this new on-line society creates are non traveling off and will go on to turn. Parents must acquire off the out of boundss and acquire involved! Parents have the duty to protect their kids and be cognizant of what is trave ling on in the on-line universe. Investigate and assist your kid adjust privateness scenes. Be cognizant of who can see what they post. and what is being posted about them. Take with them about online safety. Make certain your teens have plentifulness of offline clip as good. Restrict the times and frequence of on-line interaction. * Place all phones in the moorage station at dark where they are required to remain until everyone foliages for work and school in the forenoon. * Consider leting siblings to portion a phone they can â€Å"checks out† from ma or pa. * Create family-determined â€Å"unplugged† hours when kids can take part in other activities such as out-of-door games. reading. speaking. playing together. etc. Social media has a enormous consequence on us today. but with parental engagement and kids’ cooperation. the effects can be positive for everyone. hypertext transfer protocol: //johnlusher. com/the-negative-effects-of-social-media-to-teena The Negative Effectss of Social Media to Adolescents Do you hold a adolescent? Do you patrol their usage of societal media or restrict how much clip they spend on societal sites? We are pleased to supply this invitee station by Agnes Embile Jimenez. a blogger that does work with The Family Compass. The Negative Effectss of Social Media to Adolescents Whether we choose to acknowledge it or non. societal media may bring forth a overplus of negative effects on adolescents today. With the Internet and smart phone. they have changeless entree to societal media webs. Although many parents dismiss their teenager’s issues as portion of the adolescent phase. they need to accept the fact that their teens may be traveling through more than they let on. Here are a few of the possible inauspicious effects that societal media may do on teens. Image courtesy of Flickr via Creative Common License.Covetousness and GreedRandy is a adolescent from an upper-middle category household. He invariably uploads a exposure of his new acquisitions online for the universe to see. Mike is from a low category vicinity. He follows Randy’s web log and looks up to him. He is bombarded daily by all the nice things that Randy has. These are things that he can non afford. and he knows that his parents have other things to worry approximately. He is apprehended go forthing a shop one hebdomad subsequently seeking to steal a brace of places merely like the 1s Randy has. While some teens may non make what Mike does. they see other adolescents who have more. This creates a sense of dissatisfaction in them. They are less likely to speak about it to their parents unless the subject is brought up. Negative Influence Kim watched her favourite world show on Television. The lead character is promiscuous. cattie and prone to violent pique fits. She does disgraceful things on the show and dresses fashionably. Kim idolizes her and attempts to emulate the character’s manner sense and behaviour. She gets suspended from school for get downing a battle with another miss over a cat. Some teens may believe that certain behaviour is acceptable because they see it on world shows. They tend to follow what their favourite Television personality does. They fail to recognize that these shows are scripted. Unfortunately. many do non recognize it until it is excessively late. Self-Hate Marcy wants to be a theoretical account when she grows up. She is witting of her fittingness and attempts to stay slender like the theoretical accounts she idolizes. She looks for tips online about how to remain thin. Marcy read about eating upsets and decided to go anorectic. A twelvemonth subsequently. she looks so bony and hebdomad. Her household tries to acquire her to see a counsellor. but she refuses. Many misss forget that their favourite famous persons have personal trainers and that most of their figures are airbrushed to flawlessness. They take on drastic steps to look like the misss they see on societal media sites. Bulimia and anorexia are eating upsets that require intense guidance. Many parents may non be cognizant that their kid has an eating upset until it is excessively late. While societal media has many positive effects. it is of import to be wary about what your teens have entree to. Bing a parent to a adolescent might be a dashing undertaking. However. with entre e to sites like The Family Compass – assisting Teens find their manner is easier than it was earlier. hypertext transfer protocol: //cbexpress. acf. Department of Health and Human Services. gov/index. cfm? event=website. viewArticles A ; issueid=142 A ; articleid=3729 Impact of Social Media on Teens’ Well-BeingA study by Common Sense Media’s Program for the Study of Children and Media nowadayss informations from a quantitative survey focused on understanding American teens’ perceptual experience of societal media. The survey examined adolescent perceptual experiences of societal media’s function in their lives and its consequence on their societal and emotional wellbeing. Harmonizing to the study. 90 per centum of American teens use some signifier of societal media. In early 2012. study informations were gathered from a nationally representative sample of 1. 030 13- to 17-year olds to obtain a snapshot of teenage societal media usage. Survey consequences were extended. but four cardinal findings stood out: * The huge bulk of adolescents in the United States are devouring. day-to-day societal media users. * Teenss are more likely to describe that utilizing societal media has a positive influence on their societal and emo tional lives than a negative 1. * Despite societal media’s pervasiveness. most teens prefer face-to-face communicating. and many young person recognize that societal media hinders this interaction. * A big figure of teens expressed a desire to unplug or â€Å"unplug† more frequently and understand that others near to them experience the same manner. This emerging phenomenon has deductions in the kid public assistance sphere. The study reveals that: * Most teens believe that their societal networking sites have small impact. positive or negative. on their societal and emotional public assistance. Approximately 70-80 per centum of respondents reported that their usage of societal media does non by and large act upon their dignity. assurance. how popular they feel. or their degree of empathy felt for others. * Fifteen to 30 per centum of teens stated that societal networking did hold a positive consequence on their societal and emotional well-being—they reported experiencing less diffident. more outgoing. more self-assured. more popular. more sympathetic to others. and better about themselves. * A much smaller per centum of respondents. about 5 per centum. reported t hat societal media made them experience more down. less popular. less confident. and worse about themselves. Research workers besides examined the perceptual experiences of heavy societal media users with those of other teens less active in societal networking. Overall. both groups of teens reported a high degree of societal and emotional wellbeing.

Big Picture Questions in SAT Reading Strategies and Tips

Big Picture Questions in SAT Reading Strategies and Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Of the many question types on SAT Reading, "big picture" questions are the ones that require the most thorough comprehension of large amounts of text. You'll be asked to discuss and examine the main claim or purpose of a paragraph, passage, or even multiple passages. But how do you identify these "big picture" questions on SAT Reading? And what are the best ways to approach answering them? Below, I’ll discuss the three primary types of big picture questions you’ll encounter on the SAT, along with common ways the SAT will ask you about each. I'll also give you expert SAT Reading strategies to answer these questions, illustrated with examples from real practice questions. Secret Bunker Turn Right and My Garden_in The Big Picture by Amanda Slater, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped and rotated from original. Big Picture Questions: A Brief Intro On SAT Reading, there are three kinds of questions that require you to read large amounts of text and distill them down into answers. At PrepScholar, we call these "big picture" questions. In contrast to "little picture" questions that ask for specific details, big picture questions tend to ask about big ideas found in large chunks of text, which can be anything from a paragraph or a series of paragraphs up to an entire passage (or multiple passages, if it's a paired passage question). Learning to answer these sorts of questions will prove very useful for college or university, where professors will expect you to do exactly this with even more dense and academic writing. Type 1: Main Point, Perspective, and Author Attitude On the SAT, you'll rarely get asked questions about the main point of a passage outright like this: "The main idea of the passage is that the author..." "Over the course of the passage, the main focus shifts from..." Instead, questions are far more likely to ask you about the author’s attitude or perspective towards something discussed in the passage. Here are a few examples of ways I’ve seen these questions asked, all modified from actual SAT questions: "This passage is written from the point of view of a..." "The author's attitude toward narrative structure is best described as one of..." "Which of the following best characterizes Staffaroni's attitude toward 'today's digital technologies' (lines 42-43)?" "Which best reflects the perspective of the "narrativists" (line 42) on aleatoric music? "The authors of both passages agree that Valve’s Portal..." "With which of the following statements about the role of music in games would the author most likely agree?" In some ways, these perspective questions are just inference questions that are only focused around the point of view of the author (or narrator). What makes these questions big picture questions, rather than inference questions, is that the perspective of the author or narrator inevitably affects what is written in the whole passage. Being able to answer these kinds of perspective questions is not only important for your SAT score, but an important skill for you to have going into post-high school life: if you can figure out where someone’s coming from and what their attitude is, you can use that to inform how trustworthy you should consider their information. Type 2: Primary Purpose These questions ask what’s the point (vs. what’s a point, which would be a detail question). Is the cited text describing an issue or event? Is it trying to review, inform, prove, contradict, parody, or hypothesize? Primary purpose questions are almost always asked in this way: "The primary/main purpose of the passage(s)/paragraph/X paragraphs is to†¦" On occasion, there's a little variation in the wording: "The sixth paragraph (lines 67-68) is primarily concerned with establishing a contrast between†¦" "The passage primarily serves to " Sometimes questions asking about purpose are function questions, rather than big picture questions; which type of question it is depends on the answer choices. More specific answer choices that include information about what the point of the paragraph is indicate a big picture question, while vaguer answer choices point to questions asking about the paragraph's function (what does the paragraph do). For example, if the question was "The primary purpose of the paragraph is to†¦", answer choices like "analyze a faulty assumption" or "disparage an opposing viewpoint" would indicate this is more of a function question. If, on the other hand, the answers choices were more like "discuss findings that offer a scientific explanation for the Venus flytrap’s closing action," "describe Nawab’s various moneymaking ventures," or "convey the passage’s setting by describing a place and an object," then it would be safe to assume it is a big picture question. Type 3: Rhetorical Strategy Rhetorical strategy questions are more commonly asked about, but not limited to, paired passages. Rather than asking why something happens in the passage (an inference question), these questions ask how something happens/happened in the passage(s). In contrast to primary purpose questions, which have relatively specific answer choices (eg. "The primary purpose of this paragraph is to...explain what rhetorical strategy questions are"), rhetorical strategy questions sometimes require generalization. Like the answers to primary purpose questions, however, the answers to rhetorical strategy questions are usually in the form of "verb a noun" (or more often, "verbs an X of Y," as in "explaining the appeal of a discredited tradition"). Abstract answer choices can be tricky, because they can require some degree of analogy/inference skill (you have to take the answer choices and see if they apply to the passage). How do you get around this? Answer the question in your own words first, then see which answer aligns with yours (we’ll show an example later on). Here are some examples of questions you might be asked that fall into the rhetorical strategy category: "Which best describes the overall relationship between Passage 1 and Passage 2?" "Which choice identifies a central tension between the two passages? "Which best describes the overall structure of the passage?" Notice that the wording of some of these questions is similar to that of little picture/detail questions. Again, just as with primary purpose questions, the answer choices are what turn the question into rhetorical strategy. Here's a specific example: In the context of each passage as a whole, the questions in lines 25-27 of Passage 1 and lines 67-69 of Passage 2 primarily function to help each speaker (A) cast doubt on the other's sincerity. (B) criticize the other's methods. (C) reproach the other's actions. (D) undermine the other's argument. This is a rhetorical strategy question because the answer choices are relatively abstract. If the answer choices were more specific (eg "relate Maguire's study of mental athletes to her study of taxi drivers"), then this would be a detail question, and you would need to use little picture skills to find this specific detail in the passage. A Brief Warning: Big Picture Questions ≠  Function Questions Caution Tape by Eugene Zemlyanskiy, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped from original. Big picture questions are different from function questions because they ask what the author said (not asking why the author wrote a thing). The wording of the questions sometimes makes it difficult to clearly see this, so I wanted to hash it out here. Questions about the author’s purpose (function question) ask "why is the author writing this?" rather than "what is the perspective the author is saying/arguing?" (which would be a big picture question). Questions about the paragraph’s function ask "how does this paragraph function?" or "what is the purpose of this paragraph in the context of the passage as a whole?" rather than "The main argument of this paragraph is," "what is the primary purpose of this paragraph" or "The author develops her argument by†¦" Read more about what exactly goes into answering SAT Reading function questions in this article. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! Strategies For Answering Big Picture Questions Naturally, part of your strategy depends on how you read the passages. If you have enough time to read each passage all the way through, then you should be trying to figure out the main point and author perspective as you read. You can do a quick check to see if there will be any questions about it first (usually they're among the first few questions on the passage), but even if there aren’t any questions that directly ask you about the main point, knowing it can be helpful in answering other questions (more on that later). If you read the questions first before going back to the passage, you may be able to get a sense of what the big picture is just by the various questions that are asked- for instance, if all the passages are asking about food in the UK, you can be pretty sure that the main point of the passage isn't going to be about the Mayan calendar. This is also the one case where I recommend answering detail questions first- those are much easier to answer with just line numbers, and their answers (as well as the questions themselves) may give you even more clues about the main point/primary purpose/rhetorical strategy of the passage. If you skim the passage, then attack questions, you should focus on just the key information the first time skimming through and answer the big picture questions first. But how do you know what the key information is? Read on for three strategies to help you out with that. #1: Check The Introduction and Conclusion When it comes to nonfiction passages, chances are that if the author’s done a good job, the main point and perspective should be clear in the conclusion (if not also in the introduction). This can be true for fiction passages as well, but since having a clear thesis isn’t as essential to the construction of a successful piece of fiction, the author doesn’t always structure her writing that way. When finding the main point of a single paragraph, however, this rule gets a little fuzzy, because sometimes there will be direction-changing words in the middle of the paragraph that are essential to understanding the main point. In addition, last/conclusion sentences often try to take the argument a step beyond what has been discussed in the article, placing it in a broader context. Still, reading the introduction and conclusion can be helpful as a place to start. If the introduction and conclusion seem to contradict each other, that is a clear sign that you need to go even deeper into the passage/paragraph to find the main point/primary purpose/rhetorical strategy. #2: Use Key Words as Clues If you're looking for key words in a passage or paragraph, it makes sense that you’d want to note where the author says things like "important" or "significant"- those things probably are important (or even significant). What isn't as obvious, however, is that you should also pay attention to words that signal changes of direction to help uncover key information. Words like "in contrast," "while," "however," and so on, indicate important, contrasting information, while words like "again," "still," and "similarly" indicate the information is the same (or comparable to) what was just written. Spotting key words and reading the sentences around them can help you get to the meat of the issue and also help you avoid the trap of just reading the first sentence of a paragraph and assuming that's what the paragraph will be about. Let's take a look at this strategy in the context of a sample of my own writing: This paragraph is excerpted from the paper "‘This was a triumph:’ Narrative and dynamic uses of music in Portal" by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2013 by Laura Staffaroni). This paper was written as the final assignment for a Research and Materials class. In general, because Portal is a puzzle game, it might be expected to lack a strong narrative; this, however, is not the case. While the gameplay is focused on the solving each level’s puzzle, you are also provided with tantalizing bits of story in the form of dialogue spoken to you by GLADoS, the AI directing the "tests." Bits of the story are revealed over the course of the game in this way, picking up with the introduction of secret rooms with writing on the walls and the adorable but deadly turrets. The beginning sentence seems to start with "Portal doesn’t have a strong narrative," which might cause you to stop reading- after all, you've found the author's argument, right? Not so fast! The word "however" in that sentence should catch your eye, as should the following sentence that starts with "While", because they indicate that something in contrast to the opening statement is being presented.  ©2013 Laura Staffaroni Don't just read the first part of a sentence or paragraph and walk away- look out for key words as well! #3: Answer In Your Own Words First If you come across a question that asks you a big picture question, try to formulate the answer using your own words before you look at their answer choices. When doing this, it's important that you rely only on what you read in the passage or paragraph, not on things that could be true but aren’t supported by the passage. After you've answered the question in your own words, when you go to look at the answer choices you can simply see which one best matches your own answer and choose it. You must be careful, however, not to oversimplify with this strategy. Remember, the central argument and primary purpose are asking about the specific point the author is making, not a general topic or theme. Also, since you're not being directly scored on your "own word" answers, you should use as few words as possible to write them down- you don’t want to waste too much time on something that won’t be graded. Putting SAT Reading Strategies To Use: An Example Before I set you loose on big picture practice questions, I've written out a walkthrough of an example from an actual SAT to find the primary purpose of a paragraph. Here's the relevant paragraph for the purposes of this question (fifth paragraph, lines 45-56 of the passage): This passage is adapted from Ian King, "Can Economics Be Ethical?"  ©2013 by Prospect Publishing. There is yet another approach: instead of rooting ethics in character or the consequences of actions, we can focus on our actions themselves. From this perspective some things are right, some wrong- we should buy fair trade goods, we shouldn't tell lies in advertisements. Ethics becomes a list of commandments, a catalog of "dos" and "don'ts." When a finance official refuses to devalue a currency because they have promised not to, they are defining ethics this way. According to this approach devaluation can still be bad, even if it would make everyone better off. Here's the question: The main purpose of the fifth paragraph (lines 45-56) is to (A) develop a counterargument to the claim that greed is good. (B) provide support for the idea that ethics is about character. (C) describe a third approach to defining ethical economics. (D) illustrate that one's actions are a result of one's character. Where should I start with figuring out the main purpose of the fifth paragraph? Step 1: Check out the introduction and conclusion (sentences, in this case). Introduction: There is yet another approach: instead of rooting ethics in character or the consequences of actions, we can focus on our actions themselves. Conclusion: According to this approach devaluation can still be bad, even if it would make everybody better off. What do these sentences reveal about the main purpose of the paragraph? My thinking: Both these sentences call whatever's being discussed in this paragraph an "approach", so the main purpose probably has something to do with whatever this approach is. Since both the intro and conclusion tie back into this approach, maybe the main purpose of the paragraph is to explain it? Not enough information just from this to be sure, though. Step 2: Look for direction words The next step is to look within this paragraph for words that indicate the author might be presenting information that either contrasts with or matches what he already wrote about. Direction words in this paragraph: "yet another", "instead", "even if" My thoughts: Wow, there are a lot of direction words in this paragraph, most of them in that first sentence: "There is yet another approach: instead of rooting ethics in character or the consequences of actions, we can focus on our actions themselves." So "yet another" is interesting because it implies that there were at least two other approaches before the one described in this paragraph; if it were just one other approach, the author wouldn't bother with the "yet" and would just say "another". The word "instead" also backs this up, because it implies that in previous paragraphs at least one alternate approach was taken. Plus, two alternate approaches (rooting ethics in character and rooting ethics in consequences of actions) are listed in the same sentence. What about "even if"? Does that add or change anything? "According to this approach devaluation can still be bad, even if it would make everybody better off." Hmm, not much more here. It further fleshes out the idea that doing a thing that some might see as good (devaluation) can be bad under the approach described in this paragraph, I guess. Step 3: Answer the question in your own words The final step is to answer the question in my own words before looking at the answer choices. My thoughts: The main thing this paragraph talks about is the ethical approach of focusing on actions themselves, rather than on their character or consequences, which means the main purpose of the paragraph is probably something like "describe the action-focused ethics approach?" maybe? let's check how it fits into the rest of the passage to see if that changes everything- nope, that seems pretty accurate. Here's the question, once more: The main purpose of the fifth paragraph (lines 45-56) is to (A) develop a counterargument to the claim that greed is good. (B) provide support for the idea that ethics is about character. (C) describe a third approach to defining ethical economics. (D) illustrate that one's actions are a result of one's character. Okay, now that I've gone looked at the first and last sentences, key words, and answered it in my own words, let's consider the answer choices one by one. (A) develop a counterargument to the claim that greed is good. Not really? I guess it kind of has a counterargument to the other two ethics approaches, but it doesn't really say one thing or another about greed being good. Oh and plus there's that thing about this approach seeing devaluation as bad even if it technically is better for everyone, which doesn't seem greedy. I'm going to put this one as a probable nope. (B) provide support for the idea that ethics is about character. This one is a definite no- in the very first sentence of the paragraph it says that the approach being discussed in this paragraph is an alternative to ethics being about character ("instead of rooting ethics in character"). And the rest of the paragraph follows through on ethics being about actions, not character. (C) describe a third approach to defining ethical economics. Yep, this is pretty much what this paragraph does. The author talks about "yet another approach" which is at least the third approach based on wording, definitely the third approach based on reviewing the rest of the passage and counting the other approaches mentioned. And this answer lines up with my "answer in my own words" answer, which was "describe the action-focused ethics approach." This answer's certainly more correct than choices (A) or (B). I'll double check that the last choice isn't an even better answer, though. (D) illustrate that one's actions are a result of one's character. For one thing, no, it doesn't do that; for another, isn't that basically the same as (B)? I guess not exactly, but either way, it's still wrong. The main purpose of this paragraph is to say that in yet another approach, you could say that ethics is about the actions we take. It doesn't say anything about whether or not those actions are a result of one's character in particular. Looking back over the answers, (C) is clearly the one that discusses the main purpose of this paragraph, which is to talk about "yet another" way to define ethical economics. Boom! The answer is (C). August 25th "The Big Picture We've Done It_I'm a World Record Holder!" by Amanda Slater, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original.Huge success! Try It Out on Your Own! Below, I've provided three questions on short paired passages from an official, publicly available SAT practice test. As a bonus, these questions also involve paired passages (for more on paired passages, read my article about how best to attack paired passages on the SAT). Want more practice tests? Check out our list of official practice SATs, complete with links to free content! Questions 1-3 are based on the following passage. This passage is adapted from Henry W. Blair's statement to the United States Senate during the 1886 "Debate on Woman Suffrage" in Washington, D.C. There is no escape from it. The discussion has passed so far that among intelligent people who believe in the republican form- that is, free government- all mature men and women have under the same circumstance and conditions the same rights to defend, the same grievances to redress, and, therefore, the same necessity for the exercise of this great fundamental right of all human beings in free society. For the right to vote is the great primitive right. It is the right in which all freedom originates and culminates. It is the right from which all others spring, in which they merge, and without which they fall whenever assailed.This right makes, and is all the difference between, government by and with the consent of the governed and government without and against the consent of the governed; that is the difference between freedom and slavery. If the right to vote be not that difference, what is? No, sir. If either sex as a class can dispense with the right to vote, then take it from the strong, and no longer rob the weak of their defense for the benefit of the strong.It is impossible to conceive of suffrage as a right dependent at all upon such an irrelevant condition as sex. It is an individual, a personal right. It may be withheld by force; but if withheld by reason of sex it is a moral robbery.But it is said that the duties of maternity disqualify for the performance of the act of voting. It can not be, and I think is not claimed by anyone, that the mother who otherwise would be fit to vote is rendered mentally or morally less fit to exercise this high function in the state because of motherhood. On the contrary, if any woman has a motive more than another person, man or woman, to secure the enactment and enforcement of good laws, it is the mother. Beside her own life, person, and property- to the protection of which the ballot is as essential as to the same rights possessed by man- she has her little contingent of immortal beings to conduct safely to the po rtals of active life through all the snares and pitfalls woven around them by bad men and bad laws which bad men have made. And she has rightly to prepare them for the discharge of all the duties of their day and generation, including the exercise of the very right denied to their mother.I appeal to you, Senators, to grant this petition of woman that she may be heard for her claim of right. How could you reject that petition, even were there but one faint voice beseeching your ear? How can you deny the demand of millions who believe in suffrage for women, and who can not be forever silenced, for they give voice to the innate cry of the human heart that justice be done not alone to man, but to that half of this nation which now is free only by the grace of the other. By our action today we indorse, if we do not initiate, a movement which, in the development of humankind, shall guarantee liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious Constitution already grants the su ffrage to every citizen without distinction of color or race. #1: The central claim of the passage is that (A) the United States Senate should extend suffrage to women. (B) both sexes should have all of the same roles and responsibilities. (C) members of the Senate wish to enslave women by denying them the vote. (D) the female vote will lead to improved laws and better politicians. #2: The second paragraph is primarily concerned with establishing a contrast between (A) the interests of men and the interests of women. (B) politics before and after slavery ended. (C) governments in different countries. (D) having and not having suffrage. #3: With which of the following statements about the right to vote would the author most likely agree? (A) It is unrelated to the protection of other privileges (B) It is essential to the preservation of liberty (C) It is difficult to institute and execute in society. (D) It is unnecessary to some social groups. Answer key (scroll down when ready): 1. A 2. D 3. B In Conclusion Big picture questions require being able to read through a text and sum up "what’s the point," "what's the author's point of view," or "what does the author do here?" Knowing the answers to these questions can be useful for answering other types of questions, like function and author technique questions, that rely on you understanding the "big picture" of what's going on in the passage. No matter how you approach the passage, use the strategies of checking the intro/conclusion, looking for key words, and coming up with the answer in your own words to help you answer big picture questions What’s Next? Want more in depth guides like this? Our ultimate study guide for SAT Reading is a fantastic index of all of our SAT Reading strategy articles, including ones on Inferences, Words in Context, Analyzing Data Graphics, and many more. What if you can't finish Reading section before time's up? Learn strategies to improve your time management and stop running out of time on SAT Reading here. What are the other types of questions you’ll find on the SAT Reading section, and what’s the best way to read the passages to answer them? Check out our article on the three best ways to read the passage on SAT Reading. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

4 Tips for Completing Your Homework On Time

4 Tips for Completing Your Homework On Time Homework, a necessary evil according to many teachers, has a lot of students tied up in knots. Some students can never seem to get things turned in on time. In fact, many students do not even realize that they  have  homework  until a friend from class texts them or they overhear someone in the halls talking about Ms. So-and-sos terrible, no-good, awful, horrifying worksheet for Chemistry that is due the next day. These five tips for completing your homework on time, however, should help you get that homework finished on time.   Tip 1: Rely On a Planning System Most of you by now are well acquainted with a homework planner. It has the dates, the school subjects you are taking, and a whole lot of blank space to write down your homework assignments. Use these planners if you have them. Writing with an actual pencil or pen may seem almost archaic what with technology virtually doing everything for us, but the kinesthetic movement of writing down an assignment into one of those little squares (Language Arts test tomorrow - STUDY TONIGHT), will actually help solidify that homework in your brain. Plus, when you are packing up to go home at the end of the school day, all you have to do is open up that planner to see which books, folders, and binders need to go home with you so you will not miss out anything that you need to do that evening. Some people  hate  using planners. Theyd rather walk on a pile of crushed glass than actually write something down in a planner. Thats quite all right. One student kept a wadded up piece of paper in his pocket where hed scrawl his assignments. It worked for him, so it was fine. For those of you not keen on planners or crumpled up notes,  your phone can come in really handy. Just download a productivity app and type your assignments in there. Or, keep track of all the work due in the notes section of your phone. Or, snap a picture of the homework board in each teachers class before you head out into the hallway. Or, if you are really dead-set against anything planner-related, then just send yourself a text after each class with your homework assignments for the night. No matter which planning system you prefer, use it. Check off each item once you get it in your backpack. Your brain can only process so much information at a time, so you absolutely must write your homework down if you plan to complete it on time.   Tip 2: Prioritize Your Homework Assignments All assignments are not created equal. Its strongly recommended you use a prioritizing system when you sit down at home with your homework. Try a system a little  something like this: A 1 assignment is of primary importance. Severe negative consequences will occur if this assignment is not completed tonight.Examples: Studying for a major test coming up tomorrow. Finishing a major project due tomorrow. Writing an essay worth a LOT of points that is due tomorrow.  A 2 assignment is important. Some negative consequences will occur if this assignment is not completed tonight.Examples:  Studying for a quiz coming up tomorrow. Completing a homework sheet that is due tomorrow. Reading a chapter that is due tomorrow.  A 3 assignment needs to be finished by the end of the week.  Examples: Studying for a spelling test that will occur on Friday. Writing a blog and posting it on the class board by Friday. Finish a book upon which you will take a quiz on Friday.A 4 assignment is ongoing and needs to be finished by test day or the end of the quarter.  Examples: Reviewing chapters for the midterm exam. Working on an on-going project, research paper, or long assignment due at the end of the quarter. Completing a packet that isnt due for two weeks.   Once youve prioritized the work you have to do, complete all the 1s first, then the 2s, moving down as you go. That way, if you find yourself pressed for time because Great-Grandma decided to stop over for family dinner and your mom insisted you spend the evening playing bridge with her despite the fact that you have hours of homework ahead of you, then you will not have missed anything vitally important to your grade.   Tip 3: Get the Worst Assignment Over With First So, maybe you absolutely hate writing essays (But, why, though when all you have to do is follow these essay tips?) and you have a major essay staring you in the face that  must  be completed before tomorrow. You also have to study for a major math test, complete a social studies blog by Friday, study for the ACT  next month,  and finish up your science worksheet from class. Your 1 assignments would be the essay and the math test. Your 2 assignment is the science worksheet, the 3 assignment is that blog, and the 4 assignment is studying for the ACT.   Ordinarily, you would start with the science worksheet because you  love  science, but that would be a big mistake. Start with those 1 assignments and knock out that essay first. Why? Because you hate it. And completing the worst assignment first gets it off your mind, out of your homework cache, and makes everything that comes after it appears to be really, really easy. It will be an absolute  joy  to complete that science worksheet once you have written the essay. Why rob yourself of joy?   Then, once youve completed the stuff due first, you can focus on putting in a little bit of time on the ACT. Easy peasy. Tip 4: Take Planned Breaks Some people believe that sitting down to complete homework means that you literally park your behind in a chair and you dont move it for the next four thousand hours or so. That is one of the worst study ideas in history. Your brain only has the capacity to stay focused for about 45 minutes (maybe even less for some of you) before it goes on the fritz and starts wanting to make you get up and dance the Roger Rabbit. So, schedule your study time with breaks actually built in. Work for 45 minutes, then take a 10-minute break to do whatever it is people your age like to do. Then, rinse and repeat. It looks a little something like this: Homework Time: 45 minutes: Work on 1 assignments, starting with the absolute worst.10 minutes: Get a snack, play Pokemon Go!, surf Instagram45 minutes: Work on 1 assignments again. You know you didnt finish.10 minutes: Do some jumping jacks, dance the Macarena, polish your nails.45 minutes: Work on 2 assignments and maybe even finish with any 3s and 4s. Put everything in your backpack. Completing your homework on time is a learned skill. It requires some discipline and not everyone is naturally disciplined. So, you have to practice checking that you have everything you need for homework when you are still at school, prioritizing your work, plunging into the assignments you loathe, and taking planned breaks. Isnt your grade worth it? You bet it is.

Code Of Silence among police officers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Code Of Silence among police officers - Essay Example Second, members are expected to observe a certain way of life in which they find emotional identity. Third, the tribe needs an enemy. An enemy provides strong motivation, with emotions going deeply to the level of survival, that keep the tribe in existence. A police officer said to me, "Ninety-eight percent of the people in the world are sorry S.O.B.'s and the two percent that are good are cops." He didn't include anyone above the rank of sergeant in the two percent and only about half of them were included. An extreme statement Yes! A unique attitude No! That officer succinctly stated a common conclusion of a prevalent value system in police-the tribal value system. Ethics in law enforcement has become a popular topic in police literature and courses, and I am glad. Ethical behavior by police is important-more, it is crucial. But I am concerned about the approach taken in the articles I have read and the seminars I have attended. The approach has followed a legal model. Authorities make pronouncements about how officers "shall" or "will" behave and what they "shall not" or "will not" do. The language is in the imperative voice with an expectation that officers will follow these ethical imperatives because they have been officially stated. The motivation for following is similar to obeying the law (Morrison 2001). Laws must be obeyed and ethical principles should be heeded, but the two are not the same. The legal model assumes that there is only one system of values, the authority based system, and that assumption is false. Notice the change in wording from "ethics" to "values". The two are not the same, but they can't be separated. People's ethics reflect their values. There are several value systems by which people decide right and wrong, and the authority value system is only one means by which people build ethics. Each system exists in all people at varying degrees in different circumstances and times in their lives. For example, one system may predominate at home and another at work. Likewise, the values most affecting a rookie are not the same as the predominant values in an officer of ten years. The concept of values emphasizes a living process through which people come to their ethical conclusions. The things important to people change throughout their lives, and as a result, their ethical understandings change. The legal model of ethics assumes a static authority value system in all officers in all phases of their careers and is weak because officers do in fact change. Authoritative pronouncements will not and cannot determine the ethical standards and behavior of officers. If the current dialogue in ethics is going to have any real effect, we must deal with the realities of police-who they are and where they live. I want to focus on the tribal value system-the one that allows an officer to believe that almost all people are bad, as expressed in the first sentence. This system dominates in almost all officers at some point in their careers. Keep in mind that very few people are aware of different value systems in them vying for dominance. They are just aware of struggling with right and wrong without being able to articulate the process going on in them (Pinker 1994). The National Institute of Ethics has concluded the most extensive research ever conducted on the police Code of Silence. Between February, 1999 and June, 2000, 3,714 officers and academy recruits from forty-two different states were asked to participate in the

Ethical Issues of Genetic Testing in Pediatrics Research Proposal

Ethical Issues of Genetic Testing in Pediatrics - Research Proposal Example has traditionally necessitated that future parents be presented with detailed information and then be permitted to select which genetic diagnostic screening or test to use. Because of high opinion for reproductive decision-making and confidentiality in the area of genetics, and to put off misuses and exploitations such as efforts at eugenic control, practically every genetic counselor promotes the principle of value-neutral counseling and self-determining decision making. This framework is theoretically interesting, and in operates finely in contexts where knowledgeable and experienced counselors are available and inexpensive, and where counselors and patients have a common cultural context (Heyman, 2001). However, the demands of regular prenatal care make it problematic basically to reverse this ethical perspective into the obstetric care clinic. The population of patients is quite large; there is insufficient time as it is to address patients’ physical and psychological requirements, and there are oftentimes quite obvious discrepancies between the social and cultural contexts of pediatrics health care specialists and their patients. Furthermore, genetic counselors have traditionally commonly been able, on the basis of particular clinical suggestions, to concentrate their mind on one health disorder or symptom at a time, whereas in the future, decision-making will most probably embrace a broad scale of circumstances for which future parents may be at no specific elevated risk. In the expression a public health professionals, the issue will hence be related to screening rather than the testing itself (Kolker, 1994). There are also ethical issues of substance that assert in favor of a fresh framework for presenting counsel to future parents. Most significantly, the gains of extensive screening have yet to be acknowledged, and there are possible troubles that as well demand examination, including elevated levels of anxiety regarding the pregnancy of regarding

Aristotle - Biography Essay Example for Free

Aristotle Biography Essay Raphael portrays two of Greeces great philosophers as the focal point of his masterpiece The School of Athens. Aristotle has his hand pointing straight out as if he is declaring to Plato that truth is found right here around us. Aristotle was an excellent teacher who is considered to be the prince of philosophy and one of the worlds most influential thinkers of all time. Aristotle was born in 384 B. C at Stragyra in Thrace, on the north coast of the Aegean Sea. This was fifteen years after the death of Socrates and three years after the founding of Platos Academy. His father was the court physician and friend of King Amyntas of Macedonia. It is likely that Aristotles great interest in biology and science, in general, was nurtured in his early childhood. At the age of seventeen, Aristotle moved to Athens and enrolled in Platos Academy as a student of philosophy. He studied for over twenty years at the Academy until Plato died in 348 B. C. Throughout his time at the Academy, Aristotle became one of the top scientist and philosophers, and though he studied under Plato, he was not a Platonist. In fact, he would later criticize Plato and his various doctrines. After the mourning of Platos death had subsided, Speusippus seized power of the Academy. At this time Aristotle quickly left Athens and lived for a time in Assos and Mytilen where he was able to write, research, and teach. He did return, for a time, to Macedonia to tutor Philips son Alexander at his request. By the age of forty-nine, Aristotle had traveled back to Athens to found a school. Many historians believe this is when Aristotle began the most productive period of his life. His school was named the Lyceum, named after the groves where Socrates went to think and which was the sacred domain of Apollo Lyceus. The Lyceum had a fine library, an extensive collection of maps, and a zoo where Aristotle preformed much of his zoological research. . The school was located close to a long covered walk called in the greek peripatos. Aristotle would take his students on this long covered walkway where he conducted much of his teaching as they strolled along pondering many philosophical questions. As a result of this method of teaching, the students of the Lyceum were commonly referred to as peripatetics. Aristotle was only in Athens for twelve years when it was necessary for him to leave for political reasons to save his life. In 322 B. C. Aristotle died and his library was passed on to his successor, Theophratus. Aristotle is regarded as the first truly cosmopolitan thinker. He was interested in a plethora of subjects and gave significant contribution to many of them. He composed major studies of logic, ethics, and metaphysics. Today he is best renown for his work the Metaphysics and the Nichomachean Ethics. In addition to these major studies he also wrote on epistemology, physics, biology, meteorology, dynamics, mathematics, psychology, rhetoric, dialectics, aesthetics, politics, and philosophy. Choose any field of research and Aristotle probably studied it, select an area of human reason and he probably theorized on it. If all of his writings were published today they would fill fifty large volumes in print. Unfortunately, over the last two thousand years many of his writings have been lost. Only one fifth of his writings have endured time. What has been preserved are what many believe are Aristotles lecture notes and notes of his students that were not meant to be printed. These rough notes have been edited in a cut paste fashion in order to try to make sense of Aristotles profound thought. Aristotle philosophy is a development of Platos philosophy. Aristotle respected Plato but rejected the dualism that Plato passionately embraced and taught his pupils. Platos primary reality of the unchanging world existed separately from the world of particular things. Aristotle believed he was able to avoid this ambiguous ideal of two worlds and still communicate all the necessary concepts that Plato did. Metaphysically, Aristotle believed that every living being, except God, is a composite of two factors called form and matter. In Aristotles system of epistemology, he believes that the forms that Plato held unattainable actually exist as essential parts of the things that we asses through our senses. He believed that a human being is a holistic unit of both the body and soul. Aristotle specialized in classifying the many different components in the universe: humans, animals, plants, inanimate objects, etc. His work Catergories was his flagship in the organization of the world. He believed that humans were certainly in a classification of their own, and that human beings could be divided up into three dimensions, or more specifically, three dimensional thinking. The first dimension is productive thinking and refers to man as a maker; the second is practical thinking and refers to man as a learner and knower. All of the books that Aristotle wrote can basically be divided into these three categories. For example his book on poetry would be in the category of productive thinking; ethics would be in the category of practical thinking; philosophy, science, and metaphysics would be in the category of theoretical thinking. Aristotle can be credited with the creation of both the science and the philosophy of biology. His work in science involved the discovery of interconnections between characteristics of organisms. This led to the biological specialties of taxonomy and systematics. This evidenced that he was able to adapt his metaphysical and logical thought to that of the area of zoology. His application of thought to the experimentation makes him one of the founders of laboratory research. Aristotle was the first to create the study of deductive inference. His theory of syllogism, simply put, is a discourse in which certain things having been stated, something else follows of necessity of doing so. Aristotle believed that the laws of logic apply to more than just human thinking. He believed that these laws of being allow the understanding of the logical structure of the world. The premise to his logical system is the law of noncontradiction. Aristotle states in his law that It is impossible for the same attribute at once to belong and not belong to the same thing in the same relation. More simply would be that (B) can not be both (B) and non(b) at the same time in the same sense. This law cannot be proven but it must not be ignored. It is a universal core principle of human thinking. However, a caveat is necessary because the absence of a contradiction doesnt necessary guarantee truth. The world is in a constant state of change. Aristotle believed that changes could be natural or could be a product of human art. The four causes that Aristotle articulated answer the four questions that can be asked about anything. The four questions are (1) what is it? (2) what is it made of? (3) by what is it made? (4) for what end is it made? Aristotle four responses are the four causes: (1) the formal cause (2) the material cause (3) the efficient cause (4) the final cause. The biologist in Aristotle affected the way he observed the world. He observed everything going through change happens to something that is a combination of form and matter becoming something different or new. Teleology is the notion that the present could be understood by reference to the future. The nature of anything is linked to its telos, meaning its goal or final end. The final end of an object reveals its nature and this nature drives it to its goal. This idea is what Aristotle thought could explain many things from a fetus in the womb to an acorn from a oak tree. These four causes are a significant contribution to science in explaining nature Within the dimension of practical thinking is Aristotles view on ethics and how it relates to us not only as individuals but to the world as a whole. His views are contained in basically his two works called the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics. The Nichomachean ethics is the better one of the two because it is clearer, it addresses more issues within the field of ethics, and it arguments are usually superior. Aristotle believes that everyone has an ultimate goal, and they pursue it by doing what they view as good. What a person views as good is ultimately what will bring them long-term satisfaction and happiness. He goes on too describe the soul of man and its various virtues. He believed that the soul could be divided into two characteristics: reason and desire. These two characteristics may conflict in the soul of a man when trying to make a decision. Aristotle believes that the more disciplined a man is the more reason will win when a decision is made. He believed that these virtues were innate in every man and not acquired in any fashion. Lastly, the way Aristotle viewed God was a product of how he viewed everything else. Aristotle was not a zealot when it came to religion. He believed there was a supreme being because he thought it would be impossible to explain some things. Aristotles view of God was more of a metaphysical necessity. Through his thought of telos he knew the world must have an ultimate cause and this cause must be God. Exposition I specifically like how Aristotle classified everything, and approached fields of study with common sense and practicality. He believed that humans are the highest classification, and I would certainly agree with that. I also agree that the three dimensions of man: productive, practical, and theoretical thinking, are basically the three main areas in life, but I also think that there are other areas on the side, and that everything can be categorized as concretely as he seeks to do. Aristotles ideas of the four different causes are very good. The hegemony of these causes communicate their fundamental value. His central idea that everything has a cause is true and very important. The deductive reasoning he used also helps to clarify things. I believe that the use of syllogisms should not be used to test if a belief is true. A worldview could pass a few tests but that doesnt prove that it is correct. Aristotles view of God is a disturbing product of his system. He is the victim of his own mind. He is a perfect example of how a philosopher may become trapped in his own system. He had made some presuppositions early on that had become the core of what he believed. As he progress in his thought he had to be consistent with what he had first believed and this necessitated him to plug everything into his presuppositions or mold that he had created. This resulted in God becoming an after thought of his life, instead of the focal point of his life. Aristotle had forgotten to place God into his system when it was in infancy. As a result of the complexity, he had to place his unknowable God in a box. Aristotle ethics of having an ultimate goal that provide your happiness is quite interesting. If your ultimate goal is to glorify God then you will find true happiness. John Piper would say that a Christian hedonist finds pleasure in being satisfied with the Lord to bring God the utmost glory. I do not, however, agree with Aristotles division of the soul. There are many problems in Aristotle system. In spite of the problems, his philosophy has affected just about everyone. I believe that the ideas of Aristotle not only influenced the ancient greeks, but also affected medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy. The prevalence of the contributions of Aristotle is ingrained in almost every discipline. Without the teachings of Aristotle the world would be years behind. We owe a lot to this man who gave his life in order to understand our existence and things that exist around us. Raphael painted Aristotle in the middle of his School of Athens for a reason. He must of known of the influence that Aristotle would posses on young minds for centuries to come. Works Cited Adler, Mortimer J. 1978. Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult thought made easy ,New York: Macmillian Publishing Co. Aristotle. 1980. Metaphysics I-IX, Harvard University Press. Barnes, Jonathan. 1996. Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, New York: Oxford University Press. Cottingham, John. 1996. Western Philosophy: An Anthology, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Fearn, Nicholas. 2001. Zeno and the Tortoise: How to Think like a Philosopher, New York: Grove Press. Honderich, Ted. 1995. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press. Lennox, James G. 2001. Aristotles Philosophy of Biology, Cambridge University Press. Nash, Ronald H. 1999. Lifes Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, Zondervan. Stumpf, Samuel E. and James Fieser. 2003. Philosophy: History and Problems, McGraw- Hill Higher Education. Wilson, Fred L. Science and Human Values: Aristotle, http://www. rit. edu/ flwstv/aristotl1. html. Accessed 6 October, 2004.

Abortion :: essays research papers

The word abortion by definition means, naturally or especially induced expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently, according to the American Century Dictionary. This is one subject that, when mentioned, completely polarizes individuals. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and sometimes violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and "pro-life". A person that is pro-choice would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers and that the state has no right to interfere. A person that is pro-life would say that from the moment of conception, the fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner 5)This is important because part of our society would have to carry the guilt of terminating a human life. This would be severe and almost unbelievable for a society as educated as ours to make this big of a mistake. How could the country that leads in individual rights be so ignorant? We are America where everyone is created equal and deserves a chance to pursue happiness. What if this fetus is not a human life, is this a question that we can really answer? These are questions that haunt our nations soul.Early in our nations history they had no means of measuring or telling if a fetus was alive in the womb. The colonies inherited English Common Law and operated under it until well into the 19th century. Abortion was illegal according to English Common Law. Abortion prior to quickening (feeling life) was a misdemeanor. Abortion after quickening was a felony. This type of punishment was inherited from earlier ecclesiastic laws. In the early 1800s it was discovered that human life did not begin when she "felt life," but rather at fertilization. As a direct result of this, the British Parliament in 1869 passed the "Offenses Against the Persons Act," eliminating misdemeanor charge and dropping the felony punishment back to fertilization. One by one, across the middle years of the 19th century, every then present state passed its own law against abortion. By 1860, 85% of the population lived in states that had prohibited abortion with new laws. These laws, preceding and following the British example, moved the felony punishment from quickening back to conception.

Home Alarm Case Essay

1) What is the LTV (looking 8 years out) of a customer who used auto-pay? The Life time value of a customer who used auto-pay is $1670.69 (LTV net of acquisition costs= $1373.69) 2) 2)What is the LTV (looking 8 years out) of a customer who did not use auto-pay? The Life time value of a customer who did not use auto-pay is $1361.87 (LTV net of acquisition costs= $1064. 87) 3) What is the maximum amount that Home Alarm could spend on customer and salesperson incentives to convert a residential customer to auto-pay? The maximum amount that could be spent should be the difference between the Lifetime Value of customers that sign up for non-autopay service ($1064.87) and the LTV for the ones who opted for an autopay service ($1373.69); which is $308,82. So far, Home Alarm doesn’t assign any budget for marketing at the time of sign up, so it could be a good idea to invest this amount ($308,82), or less, for a marketing campaign during the acquisition period, emphasizing the convenience of the automatic payment contract. 4) What new pricing strategies and services should Home Alarm consider to sign up new customers with auto-pay? One strategy to push new customers to sign up with autopay could be offering them the installation for free. In this case the cost of acquisition for each new customer who signs up for the autopay service would be $492 instead of $297. With this option, the lifetime value of each customer who opts for the autopay service will be $1178.69, lower than the amount that could have  been earned had they chosen this solution anyway, but higher than the $1373,69 that the company would earn had they not chosen the autopay. The main problem for this option is that we don’t have any information about the percentage of people that would choose the automatic payment without any incentive; indeed if we assume that 50% of the customer would choose the automatic payment in any case, we would earn 113,82 dollars (1178.69-1064.87) on average for each customer who decides to choose the automatic payment over the non automatic one, but we would lose $195 for each customer that would have chosen this method even without incentives. (Table 1) It could be worthwhile to offer just a reduction of the installation costs. For instance, offering a discount of 50% on the installation cost would increase the LTV of customers that choose autopay over non-autopay by more than $200 and would create a loss of only $97,5 per customer that would have opted for autopay without further incentive. Another strategy could be offering the new customers who opt for an automatic payment service a fixed price for the first three years (not increased by the annual 3% rate). In this case the LTV net of the acquisition costs would be $1305,5, still higher than the one the company would earn whether the customer opts for a not automatic payment. Moreover, offering 8 years of fixed price ($480) is still more profitable than the case in which the chose a not autopay method, but it is, in my opinion, not recommendable, because of the negative effect that it could have on the customer that chose this option before. Indeed they could decide to resign the contract and try to get a new one with the more convenient conditions. (Table 2) 5) What new pricing strategies and services should Home Alarm consider to convert existing customers to auto-pay? Taking in consideration the attrition rate during the past nine years, it seems to be more convenient try to convert the customers as early as possible; indeed the peak of the churn rate is between the third and the fourth year. One solution could be offering discounts for the customers that are willing to switch method, maybe offering them a reduction in the general rate. For example, the customers that opt for convert their payment method  could see their price increase just by 2% per year instead of the 3%. For instance, if the conversion happens during the first year, the LVT net of acquisition costs would be $1243.17 (the retention rate for the first year would be the same of the non autopay situation), significantly higher than the basic case. This numbers are obtained in the optimistic scenario where the attrition rate in case of switch would be exactly the same of the ones who initially chose for the automatic payment. (Table 3) Another option could be offering couple of years with a fixed price, as explained for the new customers.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration Essay

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an agency of the United Stated Department of Labor. OSHA is governed by Occupational Safety and Health Act. The agency will issue rules and regulations to maintain the safety and health at work place. Accordingly the employer should comply the standards to avoid work-related injuries including illnesses, deaths. The employer should make a set up for which the employees to report work-related injuries/illness. It is also responsibility of the employer to guide the employees so that they will be able to report work-related injuries/illness. The employees or former employees or their representative have right to access the OSHA injury and illness records with certain limitations. (1904. 35 (b) (1). Under 1910. 120 (b) (1), the employers should develop a written safety and health program for their employees who will be involved in hazardous waste operations. The program should be aimed to identify, evaluate and control safety and health hazards with a conclusion of a proper response for hazardous waste operations. Such safety and health program should include the details like organizational structure, comprehensive work plan, medical surveillance program, employer’s standard operating procedures for safety/health etc. Besides, the employer should notify to the employees with respect to the chemical, physical, and other toxicological properties that can be present on site. The notification should be present before when the employee is expected to perform functions at the site. (1910. 128 (c) (8). The supervisors and management responsible to give proper training to the employees where the hazardous substances, health hazards or safety hazards may expose and the employees supposed to receive the training under regulation of 1910. 120 (e) (1) (i). The employees are permitted to be engaged at hazardous substances, only after receiving training for which management/supervisors responsible to provide the training. The employees should also be trained to give emergency response where the hazardous substances may exist.

Chocolate - Compare the book to the movie

Chocolate - Compare the book to the movie Lasse Hallstrom displays the events of "Chocolat" effectively in the film version of the 1999 novel of the same name by Joanne Harris. Europe is renowned for its fine chocolates, so the title suits the French setting well. The main theme in both the film and the novel is social equity and many aspects of this theme are displayed in "Chocolat". There are a number of other themes represented such as domestic violence, community spirit (both good and bad), the church v witchcraft, racial discrimination, and the role of women in society, euthanasia and food.Joanne Harris' husband was the inspiration for Chocolat. Annoyed that he was watching the footy on TV Harris asked him what he thought was the female equivalent of football. His answer was "chocolate", which resulted in Harris writing a novel based around the theme of chocolate.The story is narrated by two of the characters.English: dutch singer anouk at festival mundial 20...Vianne Rocher a stranger in the town and Pere Francis Reyna ud town Mayor/Catholic Priest the both give their own version of events as they unfold.The novel and the film describe the stranger Vianne Rocher and her six year old daughter Anouk arrival in the village of Lansquent with the north wind on Shrove Tuesday. Tired of wandering, Anouk begs her mother to stay. Vianne and Anouk move into a shop across the road from the church and open a chocolate shop. Vianne is a single parent, who contrary to the rest of the village does not attend church. Everyone in the town is astounded by Vianne's actions and her way of life. She opens her own chocolate shop right in the middle of Lent a holy time of self-discipline for the Catholic Church. From the moment Vianne sees Reynaud you know there...

Free Exercise Clause Definition

Free Exercise Clause Definition The Free Exercise Clause is the part of the First Amendment that reads: Congress shall make no law ... prohibiting the free exercise (of religion) ... The Supreme Court has, of course, never interpreted this clause  in a completely literal way. Murder is illegal, for example, regardless of whether it is committed for religious reasons. Interpretations of the Free Exercise Clause   There are two interpretations of the Free Exercise Clause: The first freedoms interpretation  holds that Congress may restrict religious activity only if it has a compelling interest in doing so. This means that Congress may not, for example, ban the hallucinatory drug peyote that is used by some Native  American traditions because it has no compelling interest in doing so.  The nondiscrimination interpretation holds that Congress may restrict religious activity as long as the intent of a law is not to restrict religious activity. Under this interpretation, Congress can ban peyote as long as the law is not specifically written to target a specific religious practice. Interpretation largely  becomes a non-issue when religious practices stay within the confines of the law. The First Amendment clearly protects an American’s right to worship as he chooses when the practices of his religion are in no way illegal. It’s typically not illegal to confine a venomous snake in a cage at a service, for example, provided all wildlife licensing requirements are met. It might be illegal to turn that venomous snake loose among a congregation, resulting in a worshiper being struck and subsequently dying. The question becomes whether the worship leader who turned the snake loose is guilty of murder or – more likely – manslaughter. An argument can be made that the leader is protected by the First Amendment because he did not set the snake free with the intent of harming the worshiper but rather as part of a religious rite.   Challenges to the Free Exercise Clause   The First Amendment has been challenged numerous times over the years when crimes are unintentionally committed in the course of practicing religious beliefs.  Employment Division v. Smith, decided by the Supreme Court in 1990, remains one of the more noteworthy examples of a bona fide legal challenge to the first freedoms interpretation of the law. The court had previously held that the burden of proof fell to the governing entity to establish that it had a compelling interest in prosecuting even if it meant infringing upon the individual’s religious practices. Smith changed that premise when the court ruled that a governing entity does not have that burden if the law that was violated applies to the general population and does not target the faith or its practitioner per se.   This decision was tested three years later in a 1993 decision in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. This time, it held that because the law in question – one that involved animal sacrifice – specifically affected the rites of a certain religion, the government did indeed have to establish a compelling interest.