Positive Replacement Behaviors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Positive Replacement Behaviors - Essay Example 1). For fortifications to viably work, it was stressed that understudies should be denied of whatever instrument is wanted to be utilized by instructors as reinforcers. The critical job of hardship was at first idea of suggested in early fortification hypotheses, yet as Bourbon uncovered, â€Å"if a kid has the entirety of the consideration the individual needs or needs, at that point an educator can't utilize thoughtfulness regarding strengthen the child’s conduct. No hardship, no control of conduct. No control of conduct, no order program† (Bourbon: Deprivation and Positive Reinforcers, 1997, standard. 6). Uplifting feedback was, accordingly, characterized as â€Å"a process in which an upgrade is introduced following a specific conduct, in this manner reinforcing that conduct. The boost is alluded to as a ‘reinforcer’ and is generally equivalent with the word ‘reward’† (JRank Articles, 2012, standard. 2). Basically, encouraging feedba ck is a procedure that instructors could actualize in instructing understudies to act with a certain goal in mind and compensating the understudies for showing right conduct. Then again, negative fortifications were depicted as â€Å"a process that includes the evacuation or decrease of a negative or undesirable upgrade after a conduct happens, along these lines fortifying that conduct. ... For instance, understudies who are surveyed to be delicate to uproarious clamors or instructional materials that could divert their consideration could be given progressively favorable and obliging learning situations, for example, sitting them away from boisterous zones, giving calm learning spaces, and in any event, giving a few understudies headphones which limit commotions and interruptions and help with concentrating on the current exercises. Plan for Students with Emotional Disabilities 1. Issue Behavior: Student An is distinguished to show uninvolved forceful conduct by looking for consideration and irregularly communicating outrage in a roundabout way using manipulative conduct, for example, displaying savageries, obstinate refusals to coordinate, being too much noisy with vicious inclinations or displaying latent tuning in and being consistently out of the student’s seat. 2. Potential Explanations: Lack of help from individuals from the family unit; segment profile (s ocial foundation, salary level, social help); history of misuse or brutality; injury from past occasions; scholarly disappointment; peer pressure; dissatisfaction. 3. Substitution Behavior: to properly manage aloof forceful conduct by: (1) asking help from an instructor or friend when he feels maladjusted conduct; (2) he will concentrate on unmistakably characterized positive learning objectives to help with creating hopeful discernment throughout everyday life. 4. Objectives: to apply uplifting feedback through (an) evaluating the indications of detached forceful conduct along with Student A; (2) to perceive that positive conduct would be displayed by helpful learning, undivided attention and centered consideration regarding learning exercises; (3) to understand that there are bolster gatherings (instructors, peers) who she can tap in situations where maladjusted conduct tends to

Human Resources Management in Health Care Assignment - 2

HR Management in Health Care - Assignment Example As indicated by Exhibit 3 this outcomes to ADR of around $340, and the soonest this can be accomplished is March to June, most likely during May. There are numerous reasons why I don't suggest upgrading the preparation procedure. In the first place, the 7-day commencement is a Ritz-Carlton convention that has been demonstrated through time to set up its new representatives to turn into a pleased piece of the acclaimed inn network. Actually, there have been no reports that the lodging network have below average workers. Second, there are numerous different approaches to build inhabitance, for example, giving bundles to occasions members, making a faithfulness card for visit visitors, expanding publicizing, and so forth. Human asset is an indispensable piece of administration business. This makes testing progressively troublesome, on the grounds that in addition to the fact that it should be obliging of the customers’ satisfaction, yet additionally of the employees’ government assistance. Not at all like machines that solitary need capacity to drive it, head servants, chiefs, and other faculty need more than food and dress, they additionally need professional stability, feeling of accomplishment, and great work

What I Did in High School

What I Did in High School My high school was this tiny sort of dinky-looking building on the campus of a community college, forty-five minutes from my house. It was a public science and engineering magnet high school that runs an annual admission exam and accepts the top scoring kid(s) from each town in our suburban New Jersey county. I applied mostly because a friend was applying, but I got in, and he didn’t. When MIT hopefuls ask what an MIT student did in high school, they tend to mean “what went on their application.” There is obviously a lot of your high school self that is conveyed when you apply to college, but that filtered projection of an imperfect person isn’t nearly representative of “what you did in high school,” so it’s not what I wanted to write about. Instead, here’s a genuine account of one way to be a living human person in high school and end up at MIT. Maybe I’ll write about my application some other day so we can like compare the two for fun. But anyway! During high school, I: Didn’t always consider that college was a thing. I remember sometime during freshman year a classmate was whining about his grades. He mentioned something about colleges, which confused me, because I was under the impression that your college application was literally entirely based on your junior year. On another freshmany occasion, a classmate was whining about having to do community service, which confused me because our school didn’t have any such requirement. When I asked why he was doing it, he said it was to get service hours to qualify for National Honor Society come our junior year. I think I teasingly called him a nerd, because I still didn’t understand. It took a bit of time for me to start working as hard as I did in the end. I was never a bad student, but initially more the type to go hard learning things I wanted to and leave Algebra II studying for the lunch period before the test. I sometimes got Bs, and I sometimes got Cs, and it wasn’t the end of the world. Learned that college Was in Fact a Thing I think it’s somewhat silly to contend that there are teenagers who innately want to learn about everything they study in high school kids who simultaneously care about titrations and ancient civilizations and every important historical figure and his cousin. I mean, maybe they’re out there, but I won’t pretend to be one of them, and I doubt most MIT hopefuls are either. I started getting serious about studying these things when I learned you need good grades for college. My GPA jumped from a lowish A to a solid A to an even more solid A from my freshman to junior year. It felt good to me to get good grades because good grades are pretty important. But please don’t believe for a second that they’re the most important thing. Made “”“art””” What I did spend a lot of time doing that first year of high school (and all of the other years too) was messing around with my totally legal copy of Adobe Creative Suite to make ridiculous creations for fun. Here is the first GIF I ever made, feat. Robby circa early 2011. wow. Amazing (at that point I hadn’t yet figured out how to infinitely loop GIFs, so to preserve the historical integrity of the piece, you’ll have to reload the page if you want to watch it over and over again.) Made art Eventually I got somewhat better at the design software I was using and procrastinated on my schoolwork by making these single-afternoon art projects. Most of them are sitting away on my old computer, but I started uploading a few on YouTube in junior year for the world to see. random stuff like this: and this and this. Spent an ungodly amount of time on Tumblr In hindsight, I am positive that signing up for a Tumblr account was actually a terrible idea. I don’t know if I can think of any other activity that’s so consistently effective for distraction. On the flip side, I now have an Internet archive of rambly thoughts and writings (and teenage angst) from my high school days, which I think is maybe worth something. Worked at a daycare my sophomore summer My mom told me she heard about a daycare in the town next to ours that had job openings for teenagers. I super love little kids and I thought that sounded like fun, plus a good opportunity to practice my Spanish, since that’s what most of the staff and kids spoke. I don’t think I’ve ever been closer to physically melting into a puddle than when I made a two-year-old stop crying by sitting her on my lap and reading to her. Or more intimidated by another human being than by the belligerent five-year-old Carla… like, I was just trying to be nice and help the kids with their game when she told me I was too old to play with them. :( Joined the school play Basically I’m horrible at any skill potentially related to being in a play (speaking loudly, memorizing lines, not being terrified of the audience, acting) which totally didn’t stop me from being in a play in sophomore year. I think I was pretty awful, but I got to play the granddaughter of this girl I thought was really cute and our characters hugged at the end. Also a girl who I think realized I was feeling nervous told me afterwards that her mom commented that my character was very believable, which made me feel a bit less unconfident. After the last show, the upperclassmen who gave funny superlatives to the participants sarcastically named me “loudest.” Was involved in research One thing that was great about my high school was that we had to take classes about how to do research and then each do a project ourselves. My project was about the effect of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) on the drought stress of Solanum Lycopersicum (tomato) plants, which I grew from seeds then deprived of water then chopped up at the stems like the sadistic maniac I am. Heh heh. Anyway, it was a pretty basic high school thing without any fancy equipment, but I landed first place in my category at the tristate level science fair. “Great project,” said the judges on the scoring sheet, “but work on your presentation skills.” (I was also super nervous to present.) I definitely enjoyed doing research that year, though I was never invested in it enough to go to ISEF or anything. The following summer I arranged a research internship at Rutgers University, for which I pretty much functioned as a data analysis slave. I was okay with grunt work, though, since I could listen to music and hang out with the cool big college kids at lunchtime and my professor was really cute and old. “Creatively interpreted” school projects Another thing I did for fun in high school was filming dumb movies and then putting bad special effects on them. I would also usually try to find ways to make school assignments more interesting by incorporating the things I enjoyed. As a result, my teachers were often confused. A lovely gem I put together for an English project. If you want just a few seconds to summarize it, I suggest 1:33 or 0:40 when I wave to a ten-year-old kid in the park laughing at us from afar. For Digital Electronics literally I just had to submit a raw video of the thing working, but I noticed that the unedited videos didn’t have a satisfactory amount of flying CGI skeletons in them, which resulted in masterpieces like this. Hung out with Robby and his family You might be asking “who exactly is this Robby fellow?” which might then prompt descriptions of a boisterous, fluffy-haired boy who talks about neuroscience and has a good/crazy/confusing sense of humor, depending on who you’re asking. Robby and I have been dating for four years now and we’re both rising sophomores at MIT and I think we’re maybe cute. We used to walk to the Dunkin Donuts after school to hang out before going home. Gradually that turned into us usually both going to his home, where we watched like every episode of The Office and I got to know his family. Robby’s dad went to MIT, and he talks about it sometimes. They still have the McCormick Hall sign that he stole as an undergrad as a decoration in their house. Hung out with Bill Robby and I and a couple of other friends got to know our janitor after school, who was cool and funny and occasionally gave wise life advice. Robby would do a screechy voice and yell “BILL!” and Bill would yell “wahhhsahhhhp” and I would laugh at them for their antics. One day after school he said he needed a haircut, so Robby helped shave his head. Made bad puns Somehow my friends and I got it in our heads that terrible puns should be made as often as possible (of course not to imply that I have at all stopped believing this). We used to amuse/enrage each other by thinking of some garbage wordplay for every situation. Occasionally we would utilize these “skills” in our classes. In perhaps my proudest moment, I presented a project in chemistry class about the family of elements we were assigned carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, lead. Gertrude Germanium was the mother in the family who loved instrumental music. There was this compelling back story I wrote about her: she was a stay-at-home mom who was finally following her passion by taking music classes at our local community college, and training to lead an orchestra one day. But as she wasn’t yet a full conductor, she was only a semi-conductor. (ba dum tish. sorry.) Played a lot of League and Minecraft On League of Legends, my favorite role was top lane and my favorite champion was a mad chemist who poisoned enemies and wore bandages for pants. On Minecraft I would stay up till 5 a.m. on school nights building tunnels and a sponge-dungeon and an Omar Hotel on my friend Omar’s server Omarville. My mom is really sweet and would come into my room like “here, I poured you a cup of coffee, you’ve been in your room so long… you must have a lot of work today.” ._. Not exactly. Took AP tests without taking the classes AP self-study was a surprisingly big thing at my school, where we had the option to sign up to take any AP test we wanted. Robby and I saw it as a way to motivate ourselves to learn material for interesting classes (economics, psychology, comparative government..) that weren’t offered in our limited curriculum. I self-studied ten of them in total, and got mostly 5s and some 4s. Robby is I guess more hardcore than I am and self-studied 16 (?) and got 5s on all but two… that nerd. Entered like, a ton of random contests competitions Here’s a friendly step-by-step guide to being Junior Year Michelle, i.e. a high school kid with some interests that were not even vaguely touched upon by anything in her high school’s class offerings, but who wanted some formal way to practice them. Sooo step one, you go on to Google dot com and type in “animation for high schoolers.” When nothing relevant comes up, you get sort of discouraged, but you keep going “animation contests for high schoolers,” “video contests December 2012,” etc, etc. Eventually, you’ll find something along the lines of “NASA Aura Communications Contest” or “High School Video Contest Explain any neuroscience concept in a viewer-friendly format.” It’s due in two weeks, and you know some people who like biology, so you team up with them and decide to give it a go. You do the animating, your friend does the script-writing and audio, and two weeks later you’ve got a super adorable new animation in which smiling neuroglia tell you what they do for the brain. D’Awww. Another science visualization contest, starring… stars. Baby ones: (If you want to make me happy you can watch this video and exaggeratedly comment about how much you liked it because I honestly spent like 10 hours getting the stupid gas cloud to spin properly and we only got 2nd place and I need validation from the Internet for my efforts.) Uhh. But yeah! I entered 15 or 20 of these over the span of a year and won at least some award or mention (or $$$$) in I think 11 of them. I had a lot of fun making cool videos and pursuing a passion and crushing the brittle skulls of the competition between my hands. (????) Also there was one video contest held by the United States Treasury and the grand prize was getting to meet Treasurer Rosa Rios, whose signature you’ll find on any recent US paper money and who seems to be up to some interesting stuff now re: women on currency. We had this 40 minute conversation in which she told me about her job and life. She also told me that her family calls money with her signature on it “Rosie bucks.” Connected Four One day I was sitting in class when my friend sitting next to me drew a little rectangle on a piece of graph paper and made an “o” in a cell at the bottom. She asked if I knew how to play Connect Four, to which I responded with a countermove, which ended with the graph paper being covered in rectangle game boards after we’d played like 10 times that period. Soon I started playing the game with whomever was sitting next to me and they started playing the game with whomever was sitting next to them and before long it infected a reasonably sized group of students, which culminated in a Connect Four club meeting after school with every member as the co-president. We wrote up an elaborate set of by-laws and devised a ranking system and I made an advertisement (see below) for new members that we mass-mailed out to the school. Quit the National Honor Society I joined NHS because someone told me colleges liked that kind of thing, and I quit for a similar reason. If you come from a high school where a lot of students are interested in going to top colleges, you’ll know what I mean when I say that often high school involvement in service activities can be bull..uh…stuff. Not all of it, of course. But maybe you know at least one or two people who are half-heartedly volunteering so they can write their college essay about the glimpse in the poor child’s eyes that changed their entire perspective on life, and how they’re a really, really good person, like seriously. How could MIT reject someone who definitely totally cares about poor people? Does MIT hate poor people?… should we anonymously troll the blogs with this accusation? I think yes. And okay, you might point out that even apathetic volunteering can have positive effects on communities, which is true, but beside the point. I got volunteer hours for NHS through school club participation and counting my Rutgers internship (I didn’t get paid so.. sort of counts?) and by volunteering at this community-funded thrift shop where I cleaned and organized clothing. I even sometimes exaggerated the number of hours I spent cleaning so I could uphold my membership in an organization for students who were honest, morally upright, examples for their peers… which I thought would help me get into MIT. eugh. I never wanted to be that person, and cleaning never felt so dirty. But then… cawwwlege. But dreams. But ends, not means. It doesn’t seem like an easy dilemma when you’re standing right in the midst of the mania, where so many of my peers in NHS were standing alongside me. There’s this crazy culture of 8% acceptance rates and SAT prep and CollegeConfidential that compels high-achieving kids to feel like this superficial stuff is necessary, and so I don’t think it’s their fault for having this misconception. But let me repeat that it is a misconception. I had a friend whom I told I was going to quit NHS. He’s this friendly absent-minded genius type who does physics and is MIT ’17. He was never eligible to join NHS in the first place because I think he had the record for the most lates and/or detentions (from accidentally breaking silly rules) out of anyone in our high school. The first time I saw him he was actually sitting diagonal from me in detention and working on some math thing. I don’t remember exactly what he said when I told him I was quitting NHS, but it was something like “Congratulations, man.” He was so against the institution of kids feigning interest in community service (and recognized that it wasn’t actually necessary for college) that he was at one point trying to talk to as many underclassmen as possible about it to start a mini-revolution in the way people think about admissions. Do something if it’s meaningful to you, essentially, and don’t do it if it’s not. Here, I dug this up for you guys. Helped classmates with homework I have always been somewhat uneasy with individualist attitudes. For me it’s utilitarian: if someone is struggling with something you can do, you help them out, save them some struggle, and feel happier yourself knowing that. I often tried to find little ways to steer classmates in the right directions. In junior year a close friend was dealing with hard things that made it more difficult for them to work than for me, so I would say like “I’ll do half of this English homework for you if you do the other half.” I think maybe a lot of people would view that as a bad thing, but I personally didn’t agree. Hung out with Madame Robby loved his French class. In addition to purely enjoying the class, he thought the French teacher (called Madame) was a cool and wonderful person. I never personally took French, but I ended up getting to know her because Robby would always bring me along when he went to her room during lunch and after school to hang out and talk about random stuff. Had mixed relationships with my teachers I think I overall had positive relationships with my teachers. I mean, I was a good student in most classes, didn’t talk too much, and often had fun with their projects. I definitely wasn’t like a “favorite student,” but I was rarely troublemaking either. Rarely, as in, not never. There were a few teachers who I wasn’t on great terms with. The one that comes to mind is this teacher who I guess I found to be arrogant, and would express old-fashioned opinions that really upset me on principle. I didn’t like him, and I didn’t care whether he liked me either. I once was sitting in the first row of his class drawing a cute picture of my friend Joanna (MIT ’18, actually) when he started talking about how if you start a company, you have to make sure that all your employees are working and there aren’t any lazy “bad apples” drawing pictures all the time. Tee hee. I would sometimes write dumb stuff on my homework assignments and he would write “not funny.” I was, on one occasion, defiant. People have different opinions about how important respect for authority is; most people believe it’s a good idea to respect the authority of your teachers, even if you don’t much respect the teacher themself. But I don’t know. I’m presenting without comment the fact that I occasionally didn’t. On the other hand, I had notably positive relationships with some of the teachers that I liked. For example, I remember in sophomore year there were two physics teachers who I thought were the coolest ever. One of them would write and sing silly physics songs in class which made me sooooo happy, so my friend Matt had her record one of them for me over an instrumental track as a gift for my birthday. The song was called “Delta P” to the tune of “Let it be.” ~When I find myself in a collision, Isaac Newton comes to me…. speaking words of wisdom, Delta P, Delta P. ~ :’) The next year, as per a friend’s (probably joking) suggestion, I asked this same teacher if she thought it would be a good idea if I threw a surprise 70th birthday party for the other physics teacher, whom I had the previous year for my engineering class. She said (enthusiastically) yes, so I invited the whole school and organized food and decorations and everyone yelled “surprise” then sang a cute birthday song written by my Biology teacher for the event.     *obligatory party horn noise* Was clearly the best dressed at my senior prom One thing that I tried to never do in high school was to take anything too seriously, and to follow the wisdom of (my crush) Aubrey Plaza to “Make all your decisions based on how hilarious it would be if you did it.” Here are some cute pictures of Robby and me at prom.     Co-wrote a graduation speech ..about how important it is to collaborate with peers, to mutually believe in outlandish goals, to do instead of think about doing. To be a bit crazy, and a little bit silly; to always go out of your way. A lot has changed in my life since then, and I think that I’ve learned a lot too. But I hope I never learn to do things that I dont find meaningful or enjoyable. I think that’s the bottom line.

Mesopotamian Society Ancient Egypt And Greece - 1207 Words

Civilizations like Egypt and Greece have received their due acknowledgment by society, it is however Mesopotamia that often does not get there just recognition for their contributions to civilization as we know it. In this paper, we will reflect on Mesopotamian society in hopes to illuminate its significance to the constructs of western society. In order to fully appreciate what Mesopotamia has contributed, it should be understood how exactly it was formed. Years before any dynasty, people lived in small groups as hunters and gatherers. As time progressed, so did ideas of functionality and order. At this time most people relied on religion to explain why certain things occurred. Thus, cities were built around religious shrines†¦show more content†¦They often traded with other regions to gain resources like stone from Greece or wood from Egypt. The climate, weather varying between a dry and wet season, had much to do with the success of the crop, but it also posed issues for the inhabitants. Because of this vulnerability people often look to gods and priest-like figures to stabilize the climate. Their religious and created larger communities with designated tasks that would benefit the entire community banded people together. Wheat was in abundance and this gave the people food security. Developing farming and storage techniques the reliable food source eventually leads the once nomadic people to opt for a more sedentary lifestyle. For these people, the idea of settling in one place was a new concept and they did their best to exploit this living situation. They soon understood that the seeds of wheat had the ability to be stored. Storage became vital to their survival. The ability to store food made it so that they would not have to search for food within a couple of days of a hunt. Unlike animal meat that spoils quickly, wheat was able to be stored for months on end. Realizing the value in the crop, they remained where it was in great supply. From then onward communities grew, as there had been more food to go around. The sedentary life afforded the Mesopotamians the time to develop skills. This allowed them to create better technology that ultimately made their lives easier than before.Show MoreRelated Exploring The Four Ancient Civilizations- Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Israel1009 Words   |  5 Pagesthe same time having features in common. Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Israel are all important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. In the first civilization, both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on a hunter-gatherer economic system, during that time, every country in the world strived on it. Mesopotamia had rich soil for agriculture, but experiences floods. For the Mesopotamians, these floods would destroy major cities, but for theRead MoreEssay on Compare and Contrast Egypt and Mesopotamia901 Words   |  4 PagesEgypt developed around the Nile River, while Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt and Mesopotamia grew into complex civilizations. Politically, both Egypt and Mesopotamia had a government with one main ruler, but Egypt had a centralized government with a pharaoh, while Mesopotamia had a decentralized government with a king. Socially, both civilizations were patriarchal, but Egypt was more lenient towards women while Mesopotamia was stricter. The political and socialRead MoreEssay on Egypt, Mesopotamia and Ancient Greek Civilizations1810 Words   |  8 Pa gesMichael Jones 10/5/2012 Cabrera Egypt, Mesopotamia and Ancient Greek Civilizations The Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamia, and Greeks were some of the oldest complex societies, although similar in many aspects. Mesopotamia is located in the Fertile Crescent, land in and between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers usually known as modern day Iraq and Eastern Syria.(24) In Egypt, the Nile River creates a fertile valley which is rich in nutrients and essential to their survival. The Nile flows fromRead MoreEgypt And Mesopotamia Similarities984 Words   |  4 PagesPaper 1 In what ways were the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt alike? In what ways were they different? What accounts for these similarities and differences? Mesopotamia and Egypt were the first known civilizations in history. While maintaining separate identities, they still managed to have a vast number of similarities. Differences that go beyond general location were also very prevalent between the two civilizations. One of the biggest similarities between the two civilizations isRead Morehis112 r3 Ancient Civilizations and the Greek World Matrix1457 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿University of Phoenix Material Ancient Civilizations and the Greek World Matrix Complete the matrix by entering cultural, political, and economic developments that had lasting effects or that are significant of each civilization. The table includes one example. Civilization Cultural Developments Political Developments Economic Developments Mesopotamian Developed the beginnings of astronomy and mathematics Believed in many gods not just one. Emergence of Kings, exercised distinct political ratherRead MoreThe Myth Of The Universe1565 Words   |  7 PagesIt is human nature to have questions, questions about how the world came to be and questions of where mankind came from. In almost all societies and religions there are stories told of how the world began, these stories are known as creation stories or creation myths. Creation myths can give those reading them a better understanding of the values within the culture that they were created. The myth of creation explains the origin of the universe, describing how the world and its animate and inanimateRead MoreThe Evolution Of Music Throughout Ancient Egypt And Mesopotamia2480 Words   |  10 Pagesalmost all ancient civilizations share basic features. For example, most civilizations develop things such as a class system, a common religion, or a system of writing. Another mark of a successful civilization is the evolution of music. Since music is not essential to survival, its development is usually within a large established society. The purpose of music varies from civilization to civilization, era to era. In some cultures, music accompanied religious rituals, as one sees in Ancient Egypt and MesopotamiaRead MoreThe Similarities And Differences Of Greek And Egyptian Civilizations1068 Words   |  5 PagesTwo widely known ancient civilizations in history are those of the Greeks and the Egyptians. Both are famous in their history and favored by many. Each of these civilizations were built from the ground up, and they developed their own culture, practices, religions, and architectures. Although these two civilizations are similar in having this development, they differ significantly in each of these aspects of life. In this essay, we will observe the similarities and differences of Greek and EgyptianRead MoreMesopotamian Literature : The Civilization1005 Words   |  5 Pagesthis age. In early Mesopotamia, the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians had a communal outlook on religion. Although their religious outlook was the same, they viewed the world in many different ways that in fact affected their thoughts, art, and literature. The Mesopotamians had a very basic pessimistic belief on their world and viewed the gods as a way to win at life and to handle their desires. Mesopotamian literature was written very severely harsh. Mesopotamian literature was written to accentuateRead MoreAncient Greek Architecture : The Doric Style And The Ionic Design Essay1610 Words   |  7 PagesThere are three types of columns found in ancient Greek architecture but two of the three columns are: The Doric style and the Ionic design The Doric style is rather sturdy and its top (the capital), is plain. This style was used in mainland Greece and the colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. The Ionic style is thinner and more elegant. Its capital is decorated with a scroll-like design (a vo lute). This style was found in eastern Greece and the islands. 2). The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti

Market Structure A Monopoly And A Perfect Competitor

Abstract Market structures are either imperfect competition or perfect competition, referring to the environment in which a firm competes in. These are monopolies, oligopolies, monopolistic competitions, and perfect competitions. A monopoly is one market in which there are no substitutes and entry is difficult into the market. There are four variables for a monopoly to occur. An oligopoly is a market structure that has only a few sellers but the products are either differentiated or homogeneous. Monopolistic competition has elements of both a monopoly and a perfect competitor. With multiple sellers and differentiated products, a monopolistic competitor is able to produce with these advantages of both market structures. The final market structure is perfect competition. Perfect competition occurs when there are many sellers and buyers, identical products, mobility of resources, and complete knowledge of the market. Overall, a firm must decide which market structure is best to involve themselves in. A pure monopoly is not legal in the United States, but a natural monopoly or one enabled by the government is. An oligopoly is uncertain in the long run analysis. A monopolistic competitor must make sure it’s price strategy is suitable for the industry or they will stand to lose profit. Perfect competition, however, â€Å"has never really existed† (Salvatore, 2012, p. 374). Therefore, a firm faces a difficult task in deciding which market structure to produce in and mustShow MoreRelatedEssay on Four Market Structures in Australia865 Words   |  4 PagesIndividual Essay Four Market Structures in Australia. NAME: LKHAGVASUREN KHURELBAATAR ID: EMV 20110 ------------------------------------------------- Individual Essay Four Market Structures in Australia. Introduction Market structure reflects all the most important aspects of the market - the number of firms in the industry, the type of product produced, the possibility to enter and exit of firms, number of customers, the ability of a single firm to influence the market price. The lowerRead MoreBusiness Analysis : Perfect Competition1466 Words   |  6 Pagesat the various market structures. Your role is to provide analysis and answers to these important questions that will help the mayor understand the structures of many of the businesses in his city: Describe each market structure discussed in the course (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly) and discuss two of the market characteristics of each market structure. Perfect competition describes a marketplace that no one participant can set the market price of an exchangeableRead MoreWhat Model Of Market Structure1455 Words   |  6 Pagesdeveloped and incumbent by the market structure it abide by. The wisdom of crowds is based on the assumption that valuable knowledge in social systems frequently exists only as dispersed opinions, and that aggregating dispersed information in the right way can produce accurate predictions. A prediction market provides a vivid illustration of the power of the wisdom of crowds. (Qiu, L., Rui, H., Whinston, A. B., 2014) This outline will break down the various market structures and will clarify all questionsRead MorePerfect Competition : The Market Price Of An Product1394 Words   |  6 PagesPerfect competition describes a marketplace that no one participant can set the market price of an exchangeable product. This is generally considered an ideal, rarely found in markets today. There are some approximations, such as online auctions, such as eBay. Such firms’ demand curves are perfectly elastic. These markets are theorized to have an unlimited number of buyers and sellers. There are likewise no barriers to entry or exit. Monopolistic competition describes a marketplace offering differentiatedRead MorePerfect Competition : The Market Price Of An Product1391 Words   |  6 PagesPerfect competition describes a marketplace that no one participant can set the market price of an exchangeable product. This is generally considered an ideal, rarely found in markets today. There are some approximations, such as online auctions, such as eBay. Such firms’ demand curves are perfectly elastic. These markets are theorized to have an unlimited number of buyers and sellers. There are likewise no barriers to entry or exit. Monopolistic competition describes a marketplace offering differentiatedRead MoreMarket Structures1479 Words   |  6 PagesBetween Market Structures ECO/365 April 13, 2015 Benjamin Zuckerman Differentiating Between Market Structures Coca-Cola Company is one of the world’s leading soft drinks manufacturers. Since its creation, the company has been growing constantly. Today Coca-Cola manufactures more than 500 brands of products sold in more than 200 countries all over the world. Coca-Cola’s main competitor is Pepsi. Therefore, the two companies make up a duopoly where only two companies dominate the market. BothRead MoreEveryone Knows Coca-Cola Essay867 Words   |  4 Pageswinning its market share of the soft drink industry as evidenced by a report that states, the drink is reportedly recognized by 94 percent of the worlds population (Hartlaub, n.d.). In an expansion of the typical market, Coke took its place in history by becoming the first soft drink to be consumed in outer space (Hartlaub, n.d.). This paper discusses the market structure in which the Coca-Cola product is offered. The different market structures are analyzed and implications of the market for theRead MoreAllocative Efficiency and Dynamic Efficiency1114 Words   |  4 PagesEfficiency is to fulfil the needs and wants of consumers by making optimal use of scarce limited resources. There are several meanings of efficiency and all are linked to how well a market shares scarce resources to satisfy consumers. The two of the terms within efficiency going to illustrate are allocative efficiency and dynamic efficiency. Allocative efficiency Allocative efficiency looks into the goods and services that match the changing consumers’ needs and preferences, reflecting on the priceRead MorePerfect Competition and Monopoly1722 Words   |  7 PagesQuestion 3 Perfect Competition and Monopoly (a) I. Explain perfect competition and monopoly market structures, and identify the key factors that distinguish them. Perfect Competition Market In economic theory, the perfect competition is a market form in which no producer or consumer has the power to influence prices in the market. According to the website wordIQ.com, in order to classify the market is a perfect competition market, the market must match below criteria: 1. ThereRead MoreDifferent Types Of Market Structures1413 Words   |  6 PagesMarket Structures A market is defined as an institution that brings together buyers (demanders) and sellers (suppliers) of a particular good or service. A Market structure is the relationship among the buyers and sellers of a market and how prices are determined through outside influences. There are four different types of market structures. Two on opposite extremes, and two comfortably in the middle. On one end is perfect competition, which acts as a starting point in price and output determination

Redken vs Wen Free Essays

Staci Pritchett Eng 101-011 03/05/13 Try This Out Homework Assignment Redken products and Wen hair care system have some similarities . The both have products aimed for colored, oily, or dry hair. Redken is different from Wen because all of its hair cleaning products have sulfate in them ,whereas , Wen is sulfate free. We will write a custom essay sample on Redken vs Wen or any similar topic only for you Order Now Wen is different from Redken because it is a cleaning conditioner . Redken does not have any of their cleaning products as a cleansing conditioner. Redken has been a well known hair care company for the past fifty years . This hair care line has developed several products lines like the moisturing, fresh curls, and get it pump volumizing systems. Wen is a fairly new hair care line that was developed seventeen years ago. Wen has only a few products in it hair care line like the sweet almond mint, lavender, and pomegranate cleaning conditioner. Wen also only has one styling product and deep conditioner. Redken and Wen are both hair care lines. They have a cleansing system, deep conditioning, and styling products essay writer online. Redken and Wen hair care companies have both been around for many years. Not a lot of people know that Redken hair care was invented by an actress and her hairstylist. Wen was invented by a hairstylist that did hair for many years but was never happy with using salon products cause his clients hair still looked damaged and dry. So he decided to develop his own hair care line for his clients but eventually went worldwide with his products. How to cite Redken vs Wen, Papers

The dawn of the net Essays - , Term Papers

The dawn of the net The dawn of the net video is a video which explains how email and the internet works. In th is video , the w orkings of accessing the internet is described, the devices which the information uses in the form of packaged data, and how this came to be. This video explains in detail the process of sending and receiving email s, how the emails are routed, the way the internet is used, and the security of encryption whether using the internet or not. When someone enter s a web address on a web browser, this address is to be considered as a package in which all the information is contained . P ress ing the enter button , the pack age d data travels to the local area network , or " LAN ", where the pack ag ed data is sent through to the router or intelligent switch. A router is a device which transfers data from one network to another. Then the data is sent to the n etwork in terface. From the network interface , the pack ag ed data is then sent to the proxy which serves the purpose of sending the data to the internet . This data package looks for a URL and transmitted the respective server that is the destination . Once there, data then comes upon a firewall which performs the main purpose of blocking unsecured data let ting through the desired data allowing it to reach the designated port. A nother router or switch receives the packaged data and moves it over to the band width , which performs the purpose of transferring data from one place to another . Finally , the pack ag ed data continues out to the internet or world wide web. Once it travels and reaches its destination, the data package is re - opened and the reverse process ensues. This requires a response that is sent back to the original location from where the data package was sent. The info rmation in the se packages contain information the sender was emailing to a recipient. The response is then verified after reaching security protocols, unencrypted and the email can be opened and read by the recipient. This process is used each time an email is sent and received by anyone and done over and over again .

96 Essays - Organelles

Essay of Eukaryotic Organelles 10/1/96 Essays - Organelles Essay of Eukaryotic Organelles 10/1/96 The mitochondria has an eggshape structure. The mitochondria consists of an inner and outer membrane. The outer membrane is what shapes the organelle to its egglike shape. The inner membrane which folds inward makes a set of "shelves" or cristae that allow the reactions of the mitochondria to take place. The more the mitochondria makes these reactions the more the inner membrane folds. This happens because the mitochondria now has more surface area connecting it to its surroundings. The processes that the mitochondria make are to break down the high energy organic molecules into smaller more useful packages. The endoplasmic reticulum is a network of tubes and channels that transport and with the help of ribosomes produce proteins. The rough endoplasmic reticulum contains ribosomes which are not present in the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The rough endoplasmic reticulum allows the cell to produce proteins. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum is used in the detoxification processes in the cell and the transitional endoplasmic reticulum is used to breakdown glycogen to glucose. The endoplasmic reticulum is versatile and grows and shrinks according to the cell's activities. Chloroplasts which are found in plant cells are used in the process of photosynthesis. They fall into the category of plastids but they are differentiated in that they contain chlorophyll. These organelles produce chemical reactions from the energy that the sun gives them. The Golgi complex's structure is made up of many flattened membranes sacs that are surrounded by tubules or vesicles. These are called the cisternae. The golgi complex accepts vesicles from the endoplasmic reticulum and modifies them for usage in the cell. The golgi complex is used to distribute materials which help form the cell membranes. They also assemble the membranous material by producing glycolipids and glycoproteins. The golgi complexes also hand their vesicles materials for secretion. The golgi complex could not do its job without the help of vesicles. Vesicles bring and send the organelle its materials.

Run-on Sentences and Fragments in ACT English Grammar Rule

Run-on Sentences and Fragments in ACT English Grammar Rule SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You may think that of all the grammatical concepts you will encounter on the ACT English, recognizing a correct sentence will be one of the easiest ones. But did you know that this is actually one of themost commonly-tested subjects because it can bevery tricky? Do you know what you need to have in order to have a complete sentence? Can you reliably tell the difference between a subordinate clause and an independent clause? Do you know how to use semicolons and conjunctive adverbs? Read this guide to see how the ACT manages to trick so many students with this seemingly easy concept. In this guide I will show you: What grammatically constitutes a complete sentence How prepositional phrases, appositives and relativeclauses can make sentences more difficult to understand How to recognize and fix fragments How to recognize and fix run-on sentences Strategies to attack these kinds of questions Examples of this kind of ACT question Test Yourself Can you recognize which of the following are correct sentences, and which are fragments and run-ons? My dog, Angel, barksat squirrels in the front yard. Angel, who is part greyhound and part rottweiler. After owning Angel for eight years, we got another dog, her name was Elsa. Elsa, who is a puppy, does not enjoy taking baths. Although she hated taking a bath, but she loved playing in the rain. Elsa licking Angel all over her face. Angel would become angry. Because the puppy would never leave her alone, Angel, who would growl and snap at her. At first Angel avoided her, soon she started to enjoy the puppy's presence. Answers: 1. Sentence; 2. Fragment; 3. Run-on; 4. Sentence; 5. Fragment; 6. Fragment; 7. Sentence; 8. Fragment; 9. Run-on What Is a Sentence? You may have heard in your English class that a sentence needs to have a subject and a verb. More specifically, a correct, complete sentence has to have at least oneindependent clause. The ACT will not test you on any of the grammatical terms we cover, but understanding the ideas is important. A simple sentence made of oneindependent clause has three main characteristics: A subject (a person or thing that is doing an action) A verb that is correctly conjugated to match the noun It expresses a complete thought and makes sense on its own Let's look at one of the above sentences and see if it matches this description. My dog, Angel, barksat squirrels in the front yard. The subject - the person or thing doing the action - is "dog." The verb, or action word, is "barks." The verb is correctly conjugated in the 3rd person singular to match the subject of the sentence, my dog. If you wanted to, you could get rid of the rest of the sentence and it would still technically make sense! My dog barks. There are some rare circumstances in which you will see a complete, correct sentence where you cannot as easily pick out the subject:direct commands. Stop! Help! Give me an umbrella! Though you can easily spot the action words in these sentences, it's less clear what the subject is. In commands, thesubject is always understood to be "you." This is because you are always telling someone else what to do when you give a command! This is the only time that it's ok to have a sentence without a clear subject. The ACT will rarely test this, but it's good to know just in case. You now know everything you need to know about simple sentences! But did you know that sentences can also becompound orcomplex? Let's go over these concepts next to see how the ACT might try to trick you. Compound Sentences A compound sentence is a sentence that hasmore than one independent clause - meaning two subjects and two verbs. This kind of constructioncan start to get tricky, because you have to make sure that they're joined together correctly. If they aren't, they're calledrun-on sentences.We'll discuss these more below. There are several different ways that you can join independent clauses together correctly to make a compound sentence. Join the sentences with a comma and a coordinating conjunction Coordinating conjunctions are probably the conjunctions you're most familiar with, includingand, but,andor.You can remember all of them with the acronym FANBOYS: F for A and N nor B but O or Y yet S so As an example, let's look at the following independent clauses: Ben and Kate always enjoyed eating Chinese food. They began to prefer Japanese food after traveling to Japan. Here is how you could join these two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction: Ben and Kate always enjoyed eating Chinese food, butthey began to prefer Japanese food after traveling to Japan. Remember that when using a coordinating conjunction to join two sentences, you mustalways use a comma. Join the sentences with a semicolon A semicolon is grammatically identical to a period. As such, you canjoin two sentenceswith a semicolon and nothing else. Ben and Kate always enjoyed eating Chinese food; they began to prefer Japanese food after traveling to Japan. Join the sentences with a semicolon (or period) and conjunctive adverb. There are several different conjunctive adverbs, but some of the most common ones are: however, nevertheless, therefore, moreover, and consequently. You can pair one of these words with a semicolon or a period toshow the relationship between the two sentences you are joining. Notice that the different adverbs show different relationships. However and nevertheless show a contrast. Thereforeandconsequently show a cause-and-effect relationship. Moreover adds emphasis and expand on information. Ben and Kate always enjoyed eating Chinese food; however, they began to prefer Japanese food after travelingto Japan. Remember when using this construction that you shouldalways have a commaafter the conjunctive adverb. Make one of the sentences a dependent clause We will talk more about dependent clauses in a moment, but this is how this tactic would look: Though Ben and Kate had always enjoyed eating Chinese food, they began to prefer Japanese food after traveling to Japan. Once again, note that the dependent clause is separated from the main clauseby a comma. You will also often find that you need to add a word or two when using this method in order to have the sentence make more sense, or rearrange the order of the words. Because of the many variables involved, this approachcan be one of the more difficult options for joining two sentences together. Let's look more into how dependent clauses are formed and how they are used. Sentences with Dependent Clauses So what is the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause? Unlike independent clauses, which can stand on their own, adependent clause must be attached to an independent clause. Though dependent clauses have asubject andverb, theydon't make sense on their own. Instead, a dependent clause is usually used toexplain something about the independent clause that it is attached to.The dependent clause may tell background details about the independent clause, or where or why the independent clause is happening. Dependent clauses will begin with asubordinating conjunction that gives you a signal that it cannot stand on its own. For more on subordinating conjunctions, see this article. Although he loved his country, he moved abroad to find new opportunities. In this example, the independent clause is "he moved abroad to find new opportunities." This is able to stand on its own and makes perfect sense without any more information. In contrast, look at the dependent clause, "Although he loved his country." This gives background informationfor the independent clause that follows, butit does not make sense on its own.The reader is left wonderingwhat did he do? Remember that if you encounter a dependent clause on its own on the ACT, it will always be incorrect. I will discuss this in more detail below in the "Fragments" section. Sentences with Prepositional Phrases, Appositives, and RelativeClauses Prepositional Phrases Prepositional phrases can be added almost anywhere in a sentence to add more detail about how, where, or by whom something is done. You can find a list of the most common prepositions in the English language in this article.A prepositional phrase consists of (at least) a preposition and a noun that's called the object of the preposition. Let's look at some examples of how these are used: The young manin that coffee shop enjoys eating cake. (Prepositional phrase tells where man is) The young man enjoys eating cakein that coffee shop.(Prepositional phrase tells where he likes to eat cake. Remember that you should always be able to completely delete a prepositional phrase and still have a full sentence left over. If you don't, then your sentence is incorrect! The young man enjoys eating cake. CORRECT Like a dependent clause, a prepositional phrasecannot stand alone as a sentence. In that coffee shop. INCORRECT RelativeClauses Some sentences also haverelativeclauses. These clausesaren't necessary for the sentence to make sense; instead, they add extra information. Non-essential clauses will begin with arelative pronoun, such asthat, which, whoseor where.Since they'reclauses, theyshould always includeasubject and a verb. Let's look at an example: The young man, who was sitting in the cafe and eating cake, dreamed of getting a PhD. In this sentence, the subject of the relativeclause is "who." The verb is "was sitting." Relativeclauses can be completely removed from the sentence and you'll still have a complete sentence left over. The young man dreamed of getting a PhD. Note that this means that if you remove the non-essential clause and something doesn't seem right with the remaining sentence, you have a fragment on your hands! I'll discuss this more below. Appositives An appositive is a word or phrase that consists ofa noun or a pronoun and its modifiers that is placeddirectly next to another noun or pronoun that it's describing. The point of an appositive is to add more information about a noun in a sentence. Appositives should be surrounded by commas. Jeff, the young man, sat in the cafe and ate cake while he studied. In this sentence, "the young man" is an appositive fodescribing the noun "Jeff." As you may have guessed,you should be able to remove an appositive and have a complete sentence left over. Jeff sat in the cafe and ate cake while he studied. But what if you cross out an appositive, prepositional phrase, or non-essential clause, and the sentence you have doesn't seem quite right? Now that we've learned the correct ways to form sentences, let's look at some of the most common mistake sentences you will see on the ACT -fragments. What Is a Fragment? A fragment is an incomplete sentence. There are 6 main mistakes that can make a sentence a fragment: A â€Å"sentence† that lacks a verb A â€Å"sentence† that has an -ingor non-past tense -ed verb without a helping verb A â€Å"sentence† that lack a subject A â€Å"sentence† that begins with a subordinating conjunction and has no main clause A â€Å"sentence† that adds details to the main clause, but is separated from it A â€Å"sentence† that has a nonessential clause or prepositional phrase and incomplete main clause Let's look at each of these individually. Sentences That Don't Have a Verb How to recognize these fragments:ask what the subject of the sentence is doing. If you can't answer that question, it's most likely because there isn't a verb! Lewis, after driving two hundred miles.What did he do? Two pairs of trousers and three shirts.What about them? On Saturday this week.What is on Saturday? How to fix these fragments:you must add a verb to show an action or a state of being. Lewis, after driving two hundred miles,neededa drink. Hepacked two pairs of trousers and three shirts. On Saturday this weekis the wedding. Sentences with an -ing verb or non-past tense -ed verb and no helping verb How to recognize these fragments:whenever you see an â€Å"-ing† verb, or an â€Å"-ed† verb that doesn’t seem to be describing the past tense, there MUST bea helping verb with it or another verb somewhere else in the sentence. If it has neither, the sentence is a fragment. The man driving through the countryside. Lewis tired from his journey. The children watching television. There are three waysto fix these fragments:add a helping verb, or change the verb to another form if it's appropriate. The manwas driving through the countryside. OR The mandrovethrough the countryside. Lewiswas tired from his journey. The childrenwere watching television. OR The childrenwatched television. You can also fix this type of fragment byusing the -ed or -ingword as a an adjective (called a participle) and adding another verb. The mandriving through the countryside enjoyed the views. Lewis,tiredfrom his journey,slept. The childrenwatching televisionlaughed. Sentences That Lack a Subject How to recognize these fragments:ask yourself who is doing the action. You may notice that some of these examples have multiple issues, like the ones mentioned above - in that case, it's important to make sure that you have fixedall of the errors in the sentence. Parked the car.Who parked the car? Wanted to visit the historic town center.Who wanted to visit it? Thinking about buying a gift for the wedding.Who was thinking about it? To fix these fragments,add a subject and make sure the verb is present in a correct form. Lewis parked the car. He wanted to visit the historic town center. He wasthinking about buying a gift for the wedding. Dependent Clause Fragments How to recognize these fragments: the sentence has a subject and correctly conjugated verb, but begins with a subordinating conjunction and isn't attached to another main clause. The following words are common subordinating conjunctions. If the sentence begins with one of these, make sure it's attached to an independent clause. If not, it's a fragment! after although as because before ever since if in order just as since so that though unless until when whenever where whether whereas whichever while Let's look at some examples of this errors: After he parked the car. Since he wanted to go to the carnival. Becausehe was late. One way to fix these fragments is toconnect them to an independent clause. After he parked the car,he went into the hotel. Since he wanted to go to the carnival, he took a day off work. Because he was late,he missed the first part of the movie. You can also fix them bygetting rid of the subordinating conjunction.This turns them intoindependent clauses that can stand on their own. He parked the car. He wanted to go to the carnival. He was late. Added Detail Fragments How to recognize these fragments: look for words like "such as," "including," and "for example" that start a sentence, but explain something in a previous sentence.If this kind of constructionisn't attached to an independent clause with asubjectand averb, then it's a fragment. He likes exploring new places.Such asold towns and big cities. She likes a lot of different kinds of movies.For example,horror and comedy. I know many different dances, such as: the salsa, the polka, and the waltz. In orderto fix these fragments,add the detail fragment to the main sentence it is describing. He likes exploring new places, such as old towns and big cities. You can also turn the fragment into a complete sentence by adding a subject and a verb: She likes a lot of different kinds of movies. For example, she enjoys both horror and comedies. Finally,make sure that anything that comes before a colon can stand on its own as a sentence: I know many different dances:the salsa, the polka, and the waltz. Non-essential clause, appositive, or prepositional phrase fragments How to recognize these fragments:cross out the non-essential clause, prepositional phrase, or appositive.Do you have a complete sentence left over? If not, you have afragment. James,my cousin.→James, my cousin. MISSING VERB On my head.→ On my head. MISSING SUBJECT AND VERB. The girl, who was the best artist in the class.→ The girl, who was the best artist in the class. MISSING VERB Julia, my younger sister.→ Julia, my younger sister. MISSING VERB How to fix these fragments: Add a subject or verb as needed. Make sure that if you eliminate the prepositional phrase or non-essential clause, that there is a complete sentence left. James, my cousin, ate the whole pie.→ James, my cousin, ate the whole pie. CORRECT The bird sat on my head.→ The bird sat on my head. CORRECT The girl, who was the best artist in the class, won another award.→ The girl, who was the best artist in the class, won another award. CORRECT Julia, my younger sister,lives in Idaho.→ Julia, my younger sister, lives in Idaho. CORRECT What Is a Run-on? A run-on is when two or more sentences run together and are not separated by the correct punctuation. There are three main types of run-ons: Comma splices Fused sentences Sentences joined by a conjunctive adverb and commas Comma Splices A comma splice is when two complete independent clauses (full sentences) have been joined together by a comma and nothing else. A comma can never join together two complete sentences on its own. He had worked for the government for several years, he now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. How to recognize these run-ons: when you see a sentence with a comma in the middle, check to see if there is a coordinating conjunction (see this article for more info) that joins the sentences together, or if one of the clauses is a subordinate clause that begins with a subordinating conjunction. If not, the sentence is a run-on. Fused sentences A fused sentence is when two or more sentences run right into each other, with no punctuation at all. He had worked for the government for several years he now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. How to recognize these run-ons: look to see if you have two unconnected subjects and verbs, with no indication of more than one independent clause (see above the correct ways to join two independent clauses). Conjunctive adverb and a comma The final type of run-on is a bit trickier. Conjunctive adverbs are used with periods or semicolons to connect two independent clauses, so if they're paired with two commas instead, it creates a run-on: He had worked for the government for several years, however, now he wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. However, conjunctive adverbs that are connecting two complete sentences punctuated with a period or semicolon are sometimes moved into a sentence. This is perfectly acceptable: He had worked for the government for several years. Now, however, he wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. How to recognize these run-ons: when you see a conjunctive adverb (however, moreover, nevertheless, therefore, consequently, etc.) withcommas on either side of it,make sure it's being used to transition from a previous sentence and not to connect two independent clauses. To fix run-ons ...you will need to use the rules outlined in the first sectionto correctly join two sentences. #1: Create two separate sentences. He had worked for the government for several years. He now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. #2: Use a comma and a FANBOYSconjunction He had worked for the government for several years, but he now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. #3: Use a semicolon Remember that a semicolonis grammatically identical to a period -this concept is something the ACT tests a lot. He had worked for the government for several years; he now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. #4: Use a semicolon and a conjunctive adverb He had worked for the government for several years; however, he now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. #5: Make one of the clauses dependent Althoughhe had worked for the government for several years, he now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. #6: If the two clauses have the same subject, re-write as a sentence with one subject and two verbs. Note that when you fix a sentence this way, you should notuse a comma with your FANBOYS conjunction. He had worked for the government for several years but now wanted to try a job in a small start-up company. Specific Strategies for Fragment and Run-onQuestions As you're reading through the different passages on ACT English, if you come across a question that you think may be about fragments or run-ons,use the following steps: Step 1 Carefully read the prompt if there is one. Sometimes the ACT will ask you to correct an error, and other times they will ask you to find the only answer that does NOT work. Step 2 After reading the sentence, does a mistake jump out at you? If not, look for the following telltale signs of a fragment or run-on: -ed or -ing verbs. Check for appropriate helping verbs. Clause that begins with a subordinating conjunction. Check if it is connected to a main clause. A separate sentence describing a previous sentence, with words like â€Å"for example.† Conjunctive adverbs like â€Å"however† surrounded by commas A semicolon followed by a FANBOYSconjunction A single comma in the middle of the sentence - often a sign of comma splice According to the ACT, not all mistakes are created equal.There are a few concepts they like to test more than others, andthey have some obvious markers. If the underlined section has acolon or semicolon, be on the lookout for afragment on either side. If the underlined section has acomma, it will very likely be acomma splice. Immediately cross out any answer choices that make the above errors. Step 3 If you are still uncertain about the correct answer: you can immediately eliminate anything that is grammatically identical. For example, a semicolon (;) is grammatically identical to a period and a new sentence. If one is incorrect, they will both be incorrect. Step 4 Select a final answer choice that follows the above rules and also follows the standard style rules used on ACT English: #1: No unnecessary prepositions or articles#2: Pronouns must have clear antecedents#3: Use fewer gerunds and participles if possible#4: No dangling or misplaced modifiers#5: No unnecessary commas#6: Choose the most concise option that is also grammatically correct. Old school...literally Let’s try one together†¦ Benjamin’s grandmother taught him to read, and he attended a one-room Quaker school when the farmwork slowed down during the winter. Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would NOT be acceptable? read; he read, and he also read he read. He From reading the prompt, I can see that the given sentence is correct as is, and so are three of the answer choices. This is a â€Å"backwards† question that asks us to find the only incorrect answer instead of the only correct one. I can see that there is a comma in the underlined portion, so I need to see how it’s being used. It’s pretty obvious that the comma is being used together with the FANBOYS conjunction â€Å"and." This is one of the correct ways of joining two independent clauses, as detailed above. From double checking I can see that I have two independent clauses with their own subjects and verbs: â€Å"Benjamin’s grandmother taught him to read† and â€Å"he attended a one-room Quaker school when the farmwork slowed down during the winter.† So which of the answer options also show correct ways to join two independent clauses? (A) has the independent clauses joined by a semicolon on its own. This is a correct way to join two independent clauses, so (A) is not the answer. (B) joins the two independent clauses together in the same way that the original sentence does, with a comma and a FANBOYS conjunction. The only thing that is different is that it adds an extra adverb, â€Å"also," which is unnecessary but not incorrect. (C) does not do anything to join the two clauses together - this is a classic example of a â€Å"fused† run-on sentence. Therefore, (C) is the correct answer as it is the only option that does not join the clauses together correctly. But what if you aren’t sure? Just to check†¦ (D) separates the two independent clauses with a period, which is another correct way of dividing two independent clauses, so (D) is not the answer. Now time to try some on your own! Practice ACT Questions 1. Joe realized the extent of the problem when his manager, Diane Watson, who had collated the material from the committee members present at the conference, began muttering, "It's all over now," this made him worry. NO CHANGE now" that now." This now," 2. The product manufacturer begins by creating a flexible steel grate. Across each opening, a wire mesh, evenly perforated, able to accommodate exactly one hook. NO CHANGE perforated, by being able perforated, which is able perforated, is able 3. It is a tribal dance that performed at weddings, births, and funerals. NO CHANGE dance in which it is performed dance, performing dance, performed 4. Around this time, the Glagolitic alphabet introduced by St. Cyril; became further integrated into the culture. NO CHANGE St. Cyril St. Cyril: St. Cyril, 5. To ensure the safetyof the drug, the pharmaceutical company had it tested in several trials, however, they found no evidence of averse side effects. NO CHANGE which who he 6. Peter the Great, who founded St. Petersburg to be Russia's "window to the West" and indirectly named the city after himself. NO CHANGE West," indirectly naming West," indirectly named West" and Answers: 1. C; 2. D; 3. D; 4. B; 5. B; 6. C What’s Next? Now that you’ve mastered one of the trickiest concepts on ACT English, time to check out some others! Read about how the ACT will test you on pronoun agreement, punctuation, and wordiness and redundancy. Need to review some of the basics before moving forward? Brush up on the fundamentals of grammar with our parts of speech guide. Want to make sure you have the right method of attack for this section? Read our guide about the best way to approach ACT English questions. Aiming high? Read this article for top tips for a 36 on ACT English from a perfect scorer. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English 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:

History of economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of economics - Essay Example Before the evolution, slave trade was the only trade that people knew and they considered it an economy. During the sixteenth century, people were uncivilized and war was known to be the main economic activity (Canterbery 18). Many economists have come up with many theories to explain the history of economics. The western history of economics is divided into four theories (Deane 1). 1. Classical Greek: This period is also referred to as the feudalism (survival for the fittest). This is a time when political philosophy focused on ethical problems of the Aristocratic slave based. This was a time when people stopped slave trade and there was no economy and people only produced the necessities like food, clothing, and shelter. 2. Mediaeval Scholastic: During this era, economics was a clerical monopoly and the mediaeval economic ideas were essential. Individual economy behavior was relevant in the market economy rather than exchange economy which actually worked. 4. Modern: During the eighteenth century, Adam Smith, a French physiocrat, came up with the study of economics as a distinctive discipline, a science and a technique of analysis, and it was a time when economics was introduced to the people and everyone understood the essence of the economy. The two economic ideologies (classical Greek and mediaeval) which came up were mainly historical. The Greek and Mediaeval was based on political and theological interest and the approaches had little to do with modern economics. The mercantilist theory was developed during the seventh century. Mercantilists described economics as the art of managing a state, and they had created the element of demand and supply. They developed theories of interest rate, which had factors like yield of investment in the capital stock and the supply of loanable funds (Deane 3). The main focus was on external trading relationship on nations,

Analysis the Effects of Globalization in Life Essay

Analysis the Effects of Globalization in Life - Essay Example Throughout the academic semester, for example, I have been able to learn numerous things which have enriched my life immensely. Though some occurred subconsciously, others were instigated by the class assignments I undertook. The English class has offered me numerous opportunities to improve my life through the learning experience. The exchange of materials written by myself and others has profoundly enhanced my perspective of sharing. Sharing can be used as a way of analyzing oneself to find the strengths and weaknesses that exist. Finding the weaknesses in oneself can be an extremely difficult task to achieve. Through the criticism, and comments of other people on can be able to analyze himself or herself in a very objective manner. Objectivity in analyzing oneself reduces the probability of becoming paranoid. Critical analysis of oneself can make an individual substantially appreciate the positive and negative comments made by others concerning one's personality or activity. Throughout the semester, I have been exchanging my articles with other students so that they can present to me their views on the articles. The criticisms I received from my colleagues have been essential in developing my writing ability. New ideas have come to my attention through the reviews offered by friends concerning my writing. I have also been able to offer my reviews of others’ style of writing. Through reading their articles, I have been able to get their line of thoughts. This has helped develop my own ability to generate ideas presented in articles I normally write. While interviewing one of my friends called Gideon Park, I came across an intriguing issue which he raised. He believed that structures for essays limited the ideas and creativity of a writer.

Effect of DDT on the Environment

Effect of DDT on the Environment Effect of DDT to This Environment Pesticides became a bad forebode in agriculture since mid-twentieth century. In agriculture, pesticides are an important element to control the major vector-borne diseases such as malaria and visceral leishmaniasis. There are 4 major groups of pesticides: insecticides, rodenticides, herbicides and fungicides. Although pesticides are vital to protect the crop and also human health in the whole world, but due to their detrimental effects on natural ecosystems more deaths are cause by the pesticide poisoning than infectious diseases. Hence, we should focus more on the short and long term harms of pesticides on the environment. Most of the pesticides are highly toxic and will have immediate adverse effects on human health and also wildlife. Besides that, pesticides which spray on the plant at ground will easily contaminate the soil, water and air. The chronic consequences cause by pesticide including neurotoxic, carcinogenic, immunotoxic, hormonal and reproductive effects. One of the hig hly problematic pesticides is the insecticide dichlorodiphenlytrichoroethane also known as DDT. 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis-(p-chlorophenyl)ethane is the scientific name of DDT and the chemical formula is C14H9Cl5. DDT is build up by 14 carbon, 9 hydrogen and 5 chlorine atoms (Figure 1). Figure 1. Molecular structure of DDT. In its nature form, DDT is crystalline powder with odorless to slightly fragrant in white color. The melting point is at 108.5ËÅ ¡C, and boiling point at 185ËÅ ¡C. DDT is highly insoluble in water but is soluble in most organic solvents. This molecule is lipophilic and partitions readily into the fat of all living organisms. Biomagnification and bioaccumulation in the food web make this molecule become more negative impact to the organisms. When the DDT break down the product will be 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDD or TDE) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene)(DDE). These two compounds are actually also present everywhere in the environment and are more persistent than the parent compound (Ritter, Solomon, Forget, 1996). DDT is an organochlorine insecticide and is considered a persistent organic pollutant (POP) (PAN Germany for PAN International, 2009). According to Turusov et al. (2002), in year 1874, DDT was first synthesized but until year 1943 its insecticidal properties just discovered and in 1943 large-scale industrial production are started. DDT is contributed to worldwide use and widely accepted by people because of its low price and effectiveness to control malaria and typhus during and immediately after World War II. In order to control the agriculture and forest pests, much more DDT was used after 1945. About 400,000 tons of DDTs were used yearly in this world at 1960s, and 70 – 80% was used for agriculture (Turusov et al., 2002). DDT is a persistent, widespread environmental contaminant that causes significant anatomical, behavioral abnormalities and physiological in humans and also wildlife (Iwaniuk, et al., 2006). In January 1970, the first country – Sweden had banned the use of DDT. In the same year, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R) was prohibited all DDT and DDT-based products for use as pesticides because of their destruction and persistence effect by bioaccumulation and the carcinogenicity. The production and use of DDT in agriculture were banned too in 1981, but the use for public health purposed was still allowed. In year 1972, most uses of DDT were banned in other countries. The use of DDT has been banned in 34 countries and severely restricted in 34 other countries. Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, Mozambique, Lebanon, Switzerland, Norway, and USA are the countries that have banned DDT. The countries that have severely restricted its use include Thailand, Israel, Panama, Kenya, Mexico, Belize, India, Ecuador and the EU (Ritter, Solomon, Forget, 1996). DDT is not very strong toxic like most of the organochlorine insecticides, but this chemical is widely use and spread (Ritter, Solomon, Forget, 1996). In Turusov et al. (2001) study showed that the process of biodegradation of this chemical is very slow and it will persists for a long time in the environment. DDT will likely to accumulate in the food chain and in the tissues of living organisms. When expose to DDT and digest it, this molecule will store in all the tissues, especially in fat. Bioaccumulation occurred by accumulate the DDT from small concentration to high concentration in the food web. Due to it widespread, uncontrolled, and intensive use, this chemical has resulted in worldwide pollution. In the body of all birds and fishes analyzed in the study of Turusov et al. (2001), DDT residues are found even in those living in desert areas or in the depths of the oceans. Human are most likely to be exposed to DDT from the food they eat. Almost all the meat, fish, and dairy products are contaminating with DDT. Hence, by eating, breathing or touching the products which contaminated with DDT, this chemical will easily absorbed into our body. After ingested, DDT will convert into several breakdown products called metabolites that included DDE and stored in the fatty tissues. For the pregnant women, DDT and DDE can be passed to the fetus by breast feeding (Centers for Disease Control and Preventation, 2009). If human expose to high concentration of DDT, the symptoms like vomiting, tremors or shakiness, and seizures will occur. Besides that, DDT also considered a possible human carcinogen. Birds usually played a major role in creating awareness of pollution problems. Birds are most probably believed to expose to DDT by ingestion (Enrlich, et al. 1988). The pesticide can be swallowing by the birds directly or the birds eat the contaminated prey. Besides that, they may also ingest pesticide residues off feathers while preening, or they may drink or bathe in contaminated water. When the birds expose to aerially spread DDT, the chemical will absorbed through the skin or inhaled into the body (Edwards, 2004). DDT and DDE are persistent as they tend to concentrate as they move through the food chain (Figure 2). In the marine communities, the contaminated planktons are eaten by small fishes, and then bigger fishes will consume small fishes. DDTs are passing from a small concentration in planktons to bigger fish. DDT will store in the fatty acid of fishes, when fish-eating birds consume the fish, all the bio accumulated DDT will pass into the bird’s body. Most of the DD T from numerous fishes ends up in the body of few birds. Bioaccumulation of DDT in birds high on food chains occurs not only because there is usually reduced biomass at each step in those chains, but also because predatory birds tend to live a long time. DDT take in only a little per day, but when they keep most of what they get and they live many days (Deinlein, n.d.). Figure 2. Bioaccumulation of DDT. DDT with high concentration does not usually kill the bird outright. However, DDT and its relatives will alter the bird’s calcium metabolism in a way that results in thin eggshells (Edwards, 2004). Since the eggshells are too thin and are unable to support the weight of the embryo of bird, heavily DDT-infested Brown Pelicans and Bald Eagles tend to find omelets in their nests. DDT resulted in the decimation of the Brown Pelican populations in much of North America and the extermination the Peregrine Falcon in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Shell-thinning caused lesser declines in populations of Golden and Bald Eagles and White Pelicans, among others (Enrlich, et al. 1988). Fortunately, the scientists are able to figure out the cause of the breeding failures in time, and the use of DDT was banned almost completely in the US at 1972. The Arctic, polar bears also become one of the victims of DDT. Chemical pollutants are carried towards the Arctic Ocean by the great continental rivers of Russia and Canada. DDT that in the sea are wafted northwards by the currents. Even the DDT molecule in the air will be carry by winds to the Arctic, where they condense in the cold and fall to the ground in snow or hail. The most direct and effective way to bring DDT that will cause an effect to polar bear and its offspring is biomagnification. DDTs are biomagnify as they move up the food chain from the small plankton to polar bear. As polar bear is the carnivores, it accumulates the most concentrated amounts of them. Before the hibernation, polar bear will consume large amount of fish to store as fat. DDT which accumulates in the fish will then store in the fatty tissues. When the polar bear start to use the fat during hibernation, DDT is being release and causes the death. In addition, DDT will also reduce the polar bear capacity to bread and lower their immune system (Polar bears: Walking on thin ice, 2006). The available epidemiologic and scientific data indicate that the presence and persistence of DDT and its metabolites worldwide are still problems of great relevance to public health. It has been debated at the United Nations Environment Program whether DDT should have been totally banned together with 11 other persistent organic pollutants. However, the total ban of DDT was sharply criticized in South Africa. This is because, a temporary total ban on the use of DDT for indoor spraying resulted in a sudden increase in malaria. Now, 11 countries in Africa, 7 in Asia, and 5 in Latin America still use DDT for vector disease control (Turusov et al., 2002). There is a general consensus that limited and strictly controlled use of DDT should be allowed for public health purposes, in particular where other effective, safe, and affordable alternatives are not available, and the benefits are clearly far superior to possible risks. In conclusion, to solve the problem of DDT an efficient pestici des that do not have the negative properties of DDT and its metabolites should be sought with the goal of replacing DDT completely. References Centers for Disease Control and Preventation (CDC), (2009). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/pdf/DDT_FactSheet.pdf Deinlein, M. (n.d.). Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. When it comes to pesticides, birds are sitting ducks. Retrieved from http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/fact_sheets/fxsht8.pdf Edwards, J. G. (2004). DDT: A case study in scientific fraud. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 9, 3, 83-88. Ehrlich, P. R., Dobkin, D. S., Wheye, D. (1988). DDT and birds. Retrieved from https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/DDT_and_Birds.html Iwaniuk, A. N., Koperski, D. T., Cheng, K. M., Elliott, J. E., Smith, L. K., †¦, Wylie, D. R. W. (2006). The effects of environmental exposure to DDT on the brain of a songbird: Changes in structures associated with mating and song. Behavioural BrainResearch, 173, 1-10. Polar bears: Walking on thin ice. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/polar-bears-walking-on-thin-ice-523207.html Ritter, L., Solomon, K. R., Forget, J. (1996). Persistent organic pollutants. Retrieved from http://www.chem.unep.ch/pops/ritter/en/ritteren.pdf Turusov, V., Rakitsky, V. Tomatis, L. (2002). DIchlorodiphenytrichloroethane (DDT): Ubiquity, persistence, and risks. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110, 2, 125-128.

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 24-29

CHAPTER 24 Silas gazed upward at the Saint-Sulpice obelisk, taking in the length of the massive marble shaft. His sinews felt taut with exhilaration. He glanced around the church one more time to make sure he was alone. Then he knelt at the base of the structure, not out of reverence, but out of necessity. The keystone is hidden beneath the Rose Line. At the base of the Sulpice obelisk. All the brothers had concurred. On his knees now, Silas ran his hands across the stone floor. He saw no cracks or markings to indicate a movable tile, so he began rapping softly with his knuckles on the floor. Following the brass line closer to the obelisk, he knocked on each tile adjacent to the brass line. Finally, one of them echoed strangely. There's a hollow area beneath the floor! Silas smiled. His victims had spoken the truth. Standing, he searched the sanctuary for something with which to break the floor tile. High above Silas, in the balcony, Sister Sandrine stifled a gasp. Her darkest fears had just been confirmed. This visitor was not who he seemed. The mysterious Opus Dei monk had come to Saint- Sulpice for another purpose. A secret purpose. You are not the only one with secrets, she thought. Sister Sandrine Bieil was more than the keeper of this church. She was a sentry. And tonight, the ancient wheels had been set in motion. The arrival of this stranger at the base of the obelisk was a signal from the brotherhood. It was a silent call of distress. CHAPTER 25 The U. S. Embassy in Paris is a compact complex on Avenue Gabriel, just north of the Champs-Elysees. The three-acre compound is considered U. S. soil, meaning all those who stand on it are subject to the same laws and protections as they would encounter standing in the United States. The embassy's night operator was reading Time magazine's International Edition when the sound of her phone interrupted. â€Å"U. S. Embassy,† she answered. â€Å"Good evening.† The caller spoke English accented with French. â€Å"I need some assistance.† Despite the politeness of the man's words, his tone sounded gruff and official. â€Å"I was told you had a phone message for me on your automated system. The name is Langdon. Unfortunately, I have forgotten my three-digit access code. If you could help me, I would be most grateful.† The operator paused, confused. â€Å"I'm sorry, sir. Your message must be quite old. That system was removed two years ago for security precautions. Moreover, all the access codes were five-digit. Who told you we had a message for you?† â€Å"You have no automated phone system?† â€Å"No, sir. Any message for you would be handwritten in our services department. What was your name again?† But the man had hung up. Bezu Fache felt dumbstruck as he paced the banks of the Seine. He was certain he had seen Langdon dial a local number, enter a three-digit code, and then listen to a recording. But if Langdon didn't phone the embassy, then who the hell did he call? It was at that moment, eyeing his cellular phone, that Fache realized the answers were in the palm of his hand. Langdon used my phone to place that call. Keying into the cell phone's menu, Fache pulled up the list of recently dialed numbers and found the call Langdon had placed. A Paris exchange, followed by the three-digit code 454. Redialing the phone number, Fache waited as the line began ringing. Finally a woman's voice answered. â€Å"Bonjour, vous etes bien chez Sophie Neveu,† the recording announced. â€Å"Je suis absente pour le moment, mais†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Fache's blood was boiling as he typed the numbers 4†¦ 5†¦ 4. CHAPTER 26 Despite her monumental reputation, the Mona Lisa was a mere thirty-one inches by twenty-one inches – smaller even than the posters of her sold in the Louvre gift shop. She hung on the northwest wall of the Salle des Etats behind a two-inch-thick pane of protective Plexiglas. Painted on a poplar wood panel, her ethereal, mist-filled atmosphere was attributed to Da Vinci's mastery of the sfumato style, in which forms appear to evaporate into one another. Since taking up residence in the Louvre, the Mona Lisa – or La Jaconde as they call her in France – had been stolen twice, most recently in 1911, when she disappeared from the Louvre's† satte impenetrable† – Le Salon Carre. Parisians wept in the streets and wrote newspaper articles begging the thieves for the painting's return. Two years later, the Mona Lisa was discovered hidden in the false bottom of a trunk in a Florence hotel room. Langdon, now having made it clear to Sophie that he had no intention of leaving, moved with her across the Salle des Etats. The Mona Lisa was still twenty yards ahead when Sophie turned on the black light, and the bluish crescent of penlight fanned out on the floor in front of them. She swung the beam back and forth across the floor like a minesweeper, searching for any hint of luminescent ink. Walking beside her, Langdon was already feeling the tingle of anticipation that accompanied his face-to-face reunions with great works of art. He strained to see beyond the cocoon of purplish light emanating from the black light in Sophie's hand. To the left, the room's octagonal viewing divan emerged, looking like a dark island on the empty sea of parquet. Langdon could now begin to see the panel of dark glass on the wall. Behind it, he knew, in the confines of her own private cell, hung the most celebrated painting in the world. The Mona Lisa's status as the most famous piece of art in the world, Langdon knew, had nothing to do with her enigmatic smile. Nor was it due to the mysterious interpretations attributed her by many art historians and conspiracy buffs. Quite simply, the Mona Lisa was famous because Leonardo Da Vinci claimed she was his finest accomplishment. He carried the painting with him whenever he traveled and, if asked why, would reply that he found it hard to part with his most sublime expression of female beauty. Even so, many art historians suspected Da Vinci's reverence for the Mona Lisa had nothing to do with its artistic mastery. In actuality, the painting was a surprisingly ordinary sfumato portrait. Da Vinci's veneration for this work, many claimed, stemmed from something far deeper: a hidden message in the layers of paint. The Mona Lisa was, in fact, one of the world's most documented inside jokes. The painting's well-documented collage of double entendres and playful allusions had been revealed in most art history tomes, and yet, incredibly, the public at large still considered her smile a great mystery. No mystery at all, Langdon thought, moving forward and watching as the faint outline of the painting began to take shape. No mystery at all. Most recently Langdon had shared the Mona Lisa's secret with a rather unlikely group – a dozen inmates at the Essex County Penitentiary. Langdon's jail seminar was part of a Harvard outreach program attempting to bring education into the prison system – Culture for Convicts, as Langdon's colleagues liked to call it. Standing at an overhead projector in a darkened penitentiary library, Langdon had shared the MonaLisa's secret with the prisoners attending class, men whom he found surprisingly engaged – rough, but sharp. â€Å"You may notice,† Langdon told them, walking up to the projected image of the MonaLisa on the library wall,† that the background behind her face is uneven.† Langdon motioned to the glaring discrepancy. â€Å"Da Vinci painted the horizon line on the left significantly lower than the right.† â€Å"He screwed it up?† one of the inmates asked. Langdon chuckled. â€Å"No. Da Vinci didn't do that too often. Actually, this is a little trick Da Vinci played. By lowering the countryside on the left, Da Vinci made Mona Lisa look much larger from the left side than from the right side. A little Da Vinci inside joke. Historically, the concepts of male and female have assigned sides – left is female, and right is male. Because Da Vinci was a big fan of feminine principles, he made Mona Lisa look more majestic from the left than the right.† â€Å"I heard he was a fag,† said a small man with a goatee. Langdon winced. â€Å"Historians don't generally put it quite that way, but yes, Da Vinci was a homosexual.† â€Å"Is that why he was into that whole feminine thing?† â€Å"Actually, Da Vinci was in tune with the balance between male and female. He believed that a human soul could not be enlightened unless it had both male and female elements.† â€Å"You mean like chicks with dicks?† someone called. This elicited a hearty round of laughs. Langdon considered offering an etymological sidebar about the word hermaphrodite and its ties to Hermes and Aphrodite, but something told him it would be lost on this crowd. â€Å"Hey, Mr. Langford,† a muscle-bound man said. â€Å"Is it true that the Mona Lisa is a picture of Da Vinci in drag? I heard that was true.† â€Å"It's quite possible,† Langdon said. â€Å"Da Vinci was a prankster, and computerized analysis of the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci's self-portraits confirm some startling points of congruency in their faces. Whatever Da Vinci was up to,† Langdon said,† his Mona Lisa is neither male nor female. It carries a subtle message of androgyny. It is a fusing of both.† â€Å"You sure that's not just some Harvard bullshit way of saying Mona Lisa is one ugly chick.† Now Langdon laughed. â€Å"You may be right. But actually Da Vinci left a big clue that the painting was supposed to be androgynous. Has anyone here ever heard of an Egyptian god named Amon?† â€Å"Hell yes!† the big guy said. â€Å"God of masculine fertility!† Langdon was stunned. â€Å"It says so on every box of Amon condoms.† The muscular man gave a wide grin. â€Å"It's got a guy with a ram's head on the front and says he's the Egyptian god of fertility.† Langdon was not familiar with the brand name, but he was glad to hear the prophylactic manufacturers had gotten their hieroglyphs right. â€Å"Well done. Amon is indeed represented as a man with a ram's head, and his promiscuity and curved horns are related to our modern sexual slang' horny. â€Å"No shit!† â€Å"No shit,† Langdon said. â€Å"And do you know who Amon's counterpart was? The Egyptian goddessof fertility?† The question met with several seconds of silence. â€Å"It was Isis,† Langdon told them, grabbing a grease pen. â€Å"So we have the male god, Amon.† He wrote it down. â€Å"And the female goddess, Isis, whose ancient pictogram was once called L'ISA.† Langdon finished writing and stepped back from the projector. AMON L'ISA â€Å"Ring any bells?† he asked. â€Å"Mona Lisa†¦ holy crap,† somebody gasped. Langdon nodded. â€Å"Gentlemen, not only does the face of Mona Lisa look androgynous, but her name is an anagram of the divine union of male and female. And that, my friends, is Da Vinci's little secret, and the reason for Mona Lisa's knowing smile.† â€Å"My grandfather was here,† Sophie said, dropping suddenly to her knees, now only ten feet from the Mona Lisa.She pointed the black light tentatively to a spot on the parquet floor. At first Langdon saw nothing. Then, as he knelt beside her, he saw a tiny droplet of dried liquid that was luminescing. Ink? Suddenly he recalled what black lights were actually used for. Blood. His senses tingled. Sophie was right. Jacques Sauniere had indeed paid a visit to the Mona Lisabefore he died. â€Å"He wouldn't have come here without a reason,† Sophie whispered, standing up. â€Å"I know he left a message for me here.† Quickly striding the final few steps to the Mona Lisa, she illuminated the floor directly in front of the painting. She waved the light back and forth across the bare parquet. â€Å"There's nothing here!† At that moment, Langdon saw a faint purple glimmer on the protective glass before the Mona Lisa. Reaching down, he took Sophie's wrist and slowly moved the light up to the painting itself. They both froze. On the glass, six words glowed in purple, scrawled directly across the Mona Lisa's face. CHAPTER 27 Seated at Sauniere's desk, Lieutenant Collet pressed the phone to his ear in disbelief. Did I hearFache correctly?† A bar of soap? But how could Langdon have known about the GPS dot?† â€Å"Sophie Neveu,† Fache replied. â€Å"She told him.† â€Å"What! Why?† â€Å"Damned good question, but I just heard a recording that confirms she tipped him off.† Collet was speechless. What was Neveu thinking? Fache had proof that Sophie had interfered with a DCPJ sting operation? Sophie Neveu was not only going to be fired, she was also going to jail. â€Å"But, Captain†¦ then where is Langdon now?† â€Å"Have any fire alarms gone off there?† â€Å"No, sir.† â€Å"And no one has come out under the Grand Gallery gate?† â€Å"No. We've got a Louvre security officer on the gate. Just as you requested.† â€Å"Okay, Langdon must still be inside the Grand Gallery.† â€Å"Inside? But what is he doing?† â€Å"Is the Louvre security guard armed?† â€Å"Yes, sir. He's a senior warden.† â€Å"Send him in,† Fache commanded. â€Å"I can't get my men back to the perimeter for a few minutes, and I don't want Langdon breaking for an exit.† Fache paused. â€Å"And you'd better tell the guard Agent Neveu is probably in there with him.† â€Å"Agent Neveu left, I thought.† â€Å"Did you actually see her leave?† â€Å"No, sir, but – â€Å"Well, nobody on the perimeter saw her leave either. They only saw her go in.† Collet was flabbergasted by Sophie Neveu's bravado. She's still inside the building? â€Å"Handle it,† Fache ordered. â€Å"I want Langdon and Neveu at gunpoint by the time I get back.† As the Trailor truck drove off, Captain Fache rounded up his men. Robert Langdon had proven an elusive quarry tonight, and with Agent Neveu now helping him, he might be far harder to corner than expected. Fache decided not to take any chances. Hedging his bets, he ordered half of his men back to the Louvre perimeter. The other half he sent to guard the only location in Paris where Robert Langdon could find safe harbor. CHAPTER 28 Inside the Salle des Etats, Langdon stared in astonishment at the six words glowing on the Plexiglas. The text seemed to hover in space, casting a jagged shadow across Mona Lisa's mysterious smile. â€Å"The Priory,† Langdon whispered. â€Å"This proves your grandfather was a member!† Sophie looked at him in confusion. â€Å"You understand this?† â€Å"It's flawless,† Langdon said, nodding as his thoughts churned. â€Å"It's a proclamation of one of the Priory's most fundamental philosophies!† Sophie looked baffled in the glow of the message scrawled across the Mona Lisa's face. SO DARK THE CON OF MAN â€Å"Sophie,† Langdon said,† the Priory's tradition of perpetuating goddess worship is based on a belief that powerful men in the early Christian church ‘conned' the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine.† Sophie remained silent, staring at the words.† The Priory believes that Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever.† Sophie's expression remained uncertain. â€Å"My grandfather sent me to this spot to find this. He must be trying to tell me more than that.† Langdon understood her meaning. She thinks this is another code.Whether a hidden meaning existed here or not, Langdon could not immediately say. His mind was still grappling with the bold clarity of Sauniere's outward message. So dark the con of man, he thought. So dark indeed. Nobody could deny the enormous good the modern Church did in today's troubled world, and yet the Church had a deceitful and violent history. Their brutal crusade to† reeducate† the pagan and feminine-worshipping religions spanned three centuries, employing methods as inspired as they were horrific. The Catholic Inquisition published the book that arguably could be called the most blood-soaked publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum – or The Witches' Hammer – indoctrinated the world to† the dangers of freethinking women† and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture, and destroy them. Those deemed† witches† by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers, and any women† suspiciously attuned to the natural world.† Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth – a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God's rightful punishment for Eve's partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, thus giving birth to the idea of Original Sin. During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women. The propaganda and bloodshed had worked. Today's world was living proof. Women, once celebrated as an essential half of spiritual enlightenment, had been banished from the temples of the world. There were no female Orthodox rabbis, Catholic priests, nor Islamic clerics. The once hallowed act of Hieros Gamos – the natural sexual union between man and woman through which each became spiritually whole – had been recast as a shameful act. Holy men who had once required sexual union with their female counterparts to commune with God now feared their natural sexual urges as the work of the devil, collaborating with his favorite accomplice†¦ woman. Not even the feminine association with the left-hand side could escape the Church's defamation. In France and Italy, the words for† left† – gauche and sinistra – came to have deeply negative overtones, while their right-hand counterparts rang of righteousness, dexterity, and correctness. To this day, radical thought was considered left wing, irrational thought was left brain, and anything evil, sinister. The days of the goddess were over. The pendulum had swung. Mother Earth had become a man's world, and the gods of destruction and war were taking their toll. The male ego had spent two millennia running unchecked by its female counterpart. The Priory of Sion believed that it was this obliteration of the sacred feminine in modern life that had caused what the Hopi Native Americans called koyanisquatsi – â€Å"life out of balance† – an unstable situation marked by testosterone-fueled wars, a plethora of misogynistic societies, and a growing disrespect for Mother Earth. â€Å"Robert!† Sophie said, her whisper yanking him back. â€Å"Someone's coming!† He heard the approaching footsteps out in the hallway.† Over here!† Sophie extinguished the black light and seemed to evaporate before Langdon's eyes. For an instant he felt totally blind. Over where! As his vision cleared he saw Sophie's silhouette racing toward the center of the room and ducking out of sight behind the octagonal viewing bench. He was about to dash after her when a booming voice stopped him cold. â€Å"Arretez!† a man commanded from the doorway. The Louvre security agent advanced through the entrance to the Salle des Etats, his pistol outstretched, taking deadly aim at Langdon's chest. Langdon felt his arms raise instinctively for the ceiling. â€Å"Couchez-vous!† the guard commanded. â€Å"Lie down!† Langdon was face first on the floor in a matter of seconds. The guard hurried over and kicked his legs apart, spreading Langdon out. â€Å"Mauvaise idee, Monsieur Langdon,†he said, pressing the gun hard into Langdon's back.† Mauvaise idee.† Face down on the parquet floor with his arms and legs spread wide, Langdon found little humor in the irony of his position. The Vitruvian Man, he thought. Face down. CHAPTER 29 Inside Saint-Sulpice, Silas carried the heavy iron votive candle holder from the altar back toward the obelisk. The shaft would do nicely as a battering ram. Eyeing the gray marble panel that covered the apparent hollow in the floor, he realized he could not possibly shatter the covering without making considerable noise. Iron on marble. It would echo off the vaulted ceilings. Would the nun hear him? She should be asleep by now. Even so, it was a chance Silas preferred not to take. Looking around for a cloth to wrap around the tip of the iron pole, he saw nothing except the altar's linen mantle, which he refused to defile. My cloak, he thought. Knowing he was alone in the great church, Silas untied his cloak and slipped it off his body. As he removed it, he felt a sting as the wool fibers stuck to the fresh wounds on his back. Naked now, except for his loin swaddle, Silas wrapped his cloak over the end of the iron rod. Then, aiming at the center of the floor tile, he drove the tip into it. A muffled thud. The stone did not break. He drove the pole into it again. Again a dull thud, but this time accompanied by a crack. On the third swing, the covering finally shattered, and stone shards fell into a hollow area beneath the floor. A compartment! Quickly pulling the remaining pieces from the opening, Silas gazed into the void. His blood pounded as he knelt down before it. Raising his pale bare arm, he reached inside. At first he felt nothing. The floor of the compartment was bare, smooth stone. Then, feeling deeper, reaching his arm in under the Rose Line, he touched something! A thick stone tablet. Getting his fingers around the edge, he gripped it and gently lifted the tablet out. As he stood and examined his find, he realized he was holding a rough-hewn stone slab with engraved words. He felt for an instant like a modern-day Moses. As Silas read the words on the tablet, he felt surprise. He had expected the keystone to be a map, or a complex series of directions, perhaps even encoded. The keystone, however, bore the simplest of inscriptions. Job 38:11 A Bible verse? Silas was stunned with the devilish simplicity. The secret location of that which they sought was revealed in a Bible verse? The brotherhood stopped at nothing to mock the righteous! Job. Chapter thirty-eight. Verse eleven. Although Silas did not recall the exact contents of verse eleven by heart, he knew the Book of Job told the story of a man whose faith in God survived repeated tests. Appropriate, he thought, barely able to contain his excitement. Looking over his shoulder, he gazed down the shimmering Rose Line and couldn't help but smile. There atop the main altar, propped open on a gilded book stand, sat an enormous leather-bound Bible. Up in the balcony, Sister Sandrine was shaking. Moments ago, she had been about to flee and carryout her orders, when the man below suddenly removed his cloak. When she saw his alabaster-white flesh, she was overcome with a horrified bewilderment. His broad, pale back was soaked with blood-red slashes. Even from here she could see the wounds were fresh. This man has been mercilessly whipped! She also saw the bloody cilice around his thigh, the wound beneath it dripping. What kind of God would want a body punished this way? The rituals of Opus Dei, Sister Sandrine knew, were not something she would ever understand. But that was hardly her concern at this instant. Opus Dei is searching for the keystone.How they knew of it, Sister Sandrine could not imagine, although she knew she did not have time to think. The bloody monk was now quietly donning his cloak again, clutching his prize as he moved toward the altar, toward the Bible. In breathless silence, Sister Sandrine left the balcony and raced down the hall to her quarters. Getting on her hands and knees, she reached beneath her wooden bed frame and retrieved the sealed envelope she had hidden there years ago. Tearing it open, she found four Paris phone numbers. Trembling, she began to dial. Downstairs, Silas laid the stone tablet on the altar and turned his eager hands to the leather Bible. His long white fingers were sweating now as he turned the pages. Flipping through the Old Testament, he found the Book of Job. He located chapter thirty-eight. As he ran his finger down the column of text, he anticipated the words he was about to read. They will lead the way! Finding verse number eleven, Silas read the text. It was only seven words. Confused, he read it again, sensing something had gone terribly wrong. The verse simply read: HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER.