Risk Management model for Mitigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk Management model for Mitigation - Essay Example However, there is an effective method of developing a records management system: first, it is crucial to determine the risks associated with the system. After identifying them, then determine the probability of the risk’s occurrence. After the risk’s occurrence capability, the potential impact of the risk should be analyzed. Next, each risk should have a response (mitigation) to counter it, if it occurs. This will lead the management to establish risk controls that can apply in suppressing the occurrence of risks, and finally, it is important and critical to keep track of the risk controls through measuring effectiveness, and monitoring them closely (Rush & Vednere, 2014). Taking the U.S. Department of Education as a case study, the following steps can apply in reducing the risks associated with records management (â€Å"Module A1: School Records†, 2014). There should be: Some records management projects collapse due to ignorance of the managing parties to figure out signs that indicate danger. Such include poor scoping of duties, roles and objectives, improper communication within the project, lack of a strong project manager, failure to weigh input and output metrics, a weak contingency or assessing plan, and losing track of the overall objectives (Haughney, 2014). These signs, if put into consideration, are a sure way of avoiding failure in a data management project. This is in regards to your recent letter requesting for an insight into the importance of our risk-based approach to effective record management. We are interested in advising our clients on quality services. Our model of records management works by highlighting the risks that your company might face in the practice and comes up with means of preventing, countering, or minimizing their potential effects. In addition, it comes with a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, hence enabling prediction of oncoming events (cite). This

Planet feedback Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Planet feedback Assignment - Essay Example For example, in the top five comments, the trending is associated with faulty products and customer value. Customers could actually forward these concerns to customer service department, especially that all of them are actually negative comments about the products and services Dell offered to its prospective and potential customers. In the case of some concerns about faulty products, based on the top five letters, a customer tries to bring the topic about defective product that is cheaply made and comment on expensive repair for it. As a result, the customer has come to decide buying another brand in the future. At the last part of the letter, the customer tries to recommend and address it to the company not to make their products so cheap and even to apply them better warranty. The customer also has a preconceived idea, those products that are cheap and with no better warranty must have come from China or made in there. This is a negative feedback on the part of Dell and remarkably needs serious response on the part of the management. The mentioned concern of this specific customer possibly threatens the kind of image Dell would create in the market. This would eventually try to make possible customer erosion or even loss of chance of purchase on Dell’s product offerings from those who are still searchi ng for the best brand. They are the ones most likely looking for the best brand feedback as they would want to maximize the value for their money. So this is actually the next concern of the other letter sent to Dell at Planetfeedback. Another customer expresses bad experience with Dell products. This customer seems to have high level of loyalty for Dell brands from the start. This customer used to patronize Dell’s offerings for four years, but not until having bad purchase with defective product. This fails the customer’s expectation, leaving the idea it is not worth to buy products from Dell again. The bottom line of this

Proactive and Reactive MANET Protocols Analysis

Proactive and Reactive MANET Protocols Analysis Ad hoc network Abstract A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is consisting of wireless mobile nodes. The communication of these mobile nodes is carried out without any centralized control. Routing is a critical issue in MANET. The focus of this thesis is on the performance of routing protocols. We compare three routing protocols in MANET i.e. AODV, DSR and OLSR. OPNET is the simulation tool. These routing protocols performance are analyzed by three important metrics: delay, network load and throughput. All the three routing protocols are explained in a deep way with metrics. The comparison analysis will be carrying out about these protocols and in the last the conclusion will be present. That which routing protocol is the best for mobile ad hoc network. Introduction MANET stands for Mobile Ad hoc Network. A decentralized autonomous wireless system which consists of free nodes. MANET sometimes called mobile mesh network. MANET is a self configurable wireless network. A MANET consists of mobile nodes, a router with multiple hosts and wireless communication devices. The wireless communication devices are as transmitters, receivers and antennas. These antennas can be of any kind. These nodes can be fixed or mobile. The term node referred to as, which are free to move arbitrarily in every direction. These nodes can be a mobile phone, laptop, personal digital assistance, MP3 player and personal computer. These nodes located, might be in cars, ships, airplanes or with people having small electronic devices [59]. Nodes can connect to each other randomly and forming arbitrary topologies. Nodes communicate to each other and also forward packets to neighbor nodes as a router. The ability of self configuration of these nodes makes them more suitable for urg ently required network connection. For example in disaster hit areas where there is no communication infrastructure. It is greatly desired to have a quick communication infrastructure. MANET is the quick remedy for any disaster situation. The word Ad hoc means For a special purpose. So MANET a spontaneous network is useful when dealing with wireless devices in which some of the devices are part of the network only for the duration of a communication session and the need for a dynamic network topology is prominent. The MANET working group (WG) within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working specifically on developing IP routing protocols topologies. In order to improve mobile routing and interface definition standards for use within the Internet protocol suite [59]. After huge research work on MANET, still MANET does not have complete formed Internet based standards. The identification of experimental Request For Comments (RFCs) since 2003 [1] is used. In these RFCs the questions are unanswered concerning of implementation or deployment of these routing protocols. But these proposed algorithms are identified as a trial technology and there is a high chance that they will develop into a standard [1]. Extensive research work in this area has continued since then with major studies on different routing protocols such as Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Temporarily Ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA) and Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) [1]. Also on the standardization of routing and interface solutions for mobile networking support through Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mobile Ad hoc network (MANET) Working Group WG [59]. Aims and Objectives There are two groups of routing protocols. Proactive MANET protocol, Reactive MANET Protocol, and the third are derived from both called Hybrid MANET Protocol. The Proactive MANET protocol is generally called table driven protocol. It detects the network layout periodically. It tries to maintain the routing table at every node. From which a route to the destination from the source can be detected with less delay. Proactive MANET protocols provide good reliability and low latency for deciding a route. Proactive MANET protocol is not suitable for the node moving with high speed. The routing information in the routing table cannot be updated in the routing table. If a node is not moving, then its routing table information is updated continuously. It makes much traffic overhead and also waste network resources as bandwidth [21]. Proactive MANET protocol is also not suitable for large scale MANETs. Whereas Reactive MANET Protocol is called on-demand routing protocol. Reactive MANET Protocol finds the route when a source node requests to communicate with the other. On-demand approach is suitable for the nodes with high mobility. Nodes that transmit data rarely. The main drawback of reactive routing protocols is that the source node broadcasts the routing requests in the whole network. Then it waits for the responses. This route discovery procedure produces significant delay [21]. Hybrid MANET Protocol integrates the merits of Proactive MANET protocol and Reactive MANET Protocol. Zone routing protocol (ZRP) and two zone routing protocols is the example of hybrid of MANET protocol. Research Question Our goal in this Masters thesis is to evaluate the performance of Proactive and Reactive MANET protocols. These protocols have different behaviors for wireless routing aspects. The main problem is to choice the correct and efficient routing protocol for MANET. The main questions arise for the evaluation of these problems. First question is which routing protocol provides a better performance in Mobile Ad hoc Networks? This will give the overall performance of each routing protocol. Second question is what factors influence the performance of these routing protocols? Finally we address the main key differences in these routing protocols. To answer all these questions, we will model some of MANET scenarios with different parameters. To evaluate the performance of Proactive MANET protocol and Reactive MANET Protocols as, AODV, DSR and OLSR with respect to some parameters as delay, network load and throughput. In simulating these scenarios we come to know that no single routing protocol among Proactive MANET protocol and Reactive MANET Protocol is superior in terms of overall network performance. For example one protocol is good in average delay while other is best in network load and throughput. The performance of these routing protocols greatly depends on network load and delay. So the best protocol can give low delay and high throughput. Scope of the thesis As we know the two categories of routing protocols. Reactive, proactive, and the derived one from reactive and proactive protocols are referred to as hybrid routing protocol. The hybrid protocol is a combination of both reactive and proactive routing protocols. In this thesis, we considered three routing protocols. Two of them are reactive protocols i.e. AODV and DSR. One of them is proactive protocol i.e. OLSR. In this thesis we evaluate the behavior of these routing protocols when implemented in the network. We look that how these protocols affect the network performance, and how the routing protocols behave in these networks. There is no need to go in depth the design of these routing protocol algorithms. But we will give a detailed explanation of these routing protocols. That we are able to explain their effects on the network. We did not consider the effects of varying pause time of the mobile nodes in our simulations. These pause time will be kept constant in all the scenarios. Energy consumption of the routing protocol algorithms was also not considered in the thesis. Thesis structure The thesis is mainly divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the topic. In this chapter we discuss the MANET with detail, and also the research question. Chapter 2 presents the background of our work. Types of wireless networks and some part of related work with example. Chapter 3 gives the state of the art. It gives the full theoretical background and concepts of the ad hoc mobile network routing protocols i.e. reactive MANET protocols and proactive MANET protocols. Chapter 4 is about the performance metrics: delay, network load and throughput and also about the simulation tool OPNET Modeler 14.5. Chapter 5 gives the results and an analysis of all the routing protocols simulated. In chapter 6, the conclusion and future work is presented. Chapter 2 Background and Related Work In this chapter we present the background of our work. Types of wireless networks and some part of related work with example. MANET have a dynamic nature, a large number of applications make them ideal to use. Quick deployment and minimal configuration of MANET in emergencies such as natural disaster makes them more suitable. The growth of technology makes increase in Wi-Fi capable laptops, mobile phones, MP3 players and other small portable devices. Hence a reason for MANET popularity. Extensive research work has been done on the performance evaluation of routing protocols using NS2 network simulator. Different methods and simulation environments give different results for MANET routing protocols performance. We need to look in a broader view for the effects of these routing protocols which are not considered in a specific environment. The theme of this project is to evaluate the performance of Proactive MANET protocols (PMP) and Reactive MANET Protocols (RMP) in OPNET Modeler 14.5 under varying network load [2]. For all these comparisons we will use FTP traffic to look the effects of the ad hoc network protocols. The project goal is to give an extra source of comparison statistics in the research field. In our simulation we have wireless routing protocols carrying FTP traffic. These simulations performed will have a strong link with the theoretical concepts and also with the expected performance in practical implementations. This study work will give a great benef it in the future research work. Related work Extensive research works has been done in the field of MANET routing protocols. Different routing protocols were simulated in different kind of simulators. Here we will discuss different research papers on the performance of MANET routing protocols. In this thesis work we simulate three MANET routing protocols in the OPNET modeler 14.5. AODV, DSR and OLSR were simulated against three different parameters i.e. delay, network load and throughput. The results show that OLSR is best in network delay than AODV and DSR. The protocols best in the network delay must be the finest in the network throughput. Below we will study now different simulators with different routing protocols and their performance. These routing protocols DSDV, AODV, DSR and TORA were simulated using NS2 [3]. Analysis gives different results for every parameter differently. In finding shortest path between the source and destination nodes, delay, DSDV performs well than AODV, DSR and TORA. DSR perform well in network load balancing than DSDV, AODV and TORA. DSDV has good jitter than AODV, TORA and DSR respectively. The results given in [5] analyse DSR and DSDV in idealized and realistic simulation environments on their performance. Another paper in reference [4] gives conclusion in mobile ad hoc network that reactive protocols i.e. AODV and DSR perform well when the network load is moderate. In reference [4] the reactive protocols are saving much resource like energy. It analyse that the proactive protocols perform well in heavy network traffic load. In [6] there are different conclusions about the MANET routing protocols. DSDV, AODV and DSR were simulated in NS2. The reactive protocol AODV outperforms than DSDV and DSR in maintaining connection by sequentially exchange of information for TCP based traffic. The packets are delivered when the node mobility is low and failed to deliver at high mobility. DSR perform well than DSDV at all mobility. In [6] DSR perform well than DSDV and AODV for packet dropping rate (PDR), delay and throughput. DSR generates less network load than AODV. In reference [7], the simulation was done in QUALNET simulator. The author wrote that AODV shows best performance in low and medium node density. Where as in high node density both OLSR and DSR outperforms. The author wrote in [7], that DSR is selected for file transfers where delivery and throughput are critical factors. OLSR performs well in both low and high node density. It is stated in [7] that OLSR is best suited in application oriented traffic e.g. streaming traffic, voice and video traffic. In application based traffic delay is a critical factor. Types of Wireless Networks Before we discuss the wireless networks types, a small difference between wired and wireless network is discussed. A network that sends data from one point to another point with cable or wire is called wired network. The data sent over a network which uses wireless medium from one device to another device is called wireless network. In wireless network data is transmitted from one point to another through wireless links. For communication the devices have to be in the transmission or radio range of each other. Wireless networks are divided into two main groups. First infrastructure wireless network and second is Ad hoc or infrastructure-less network. Infrastructure Networks Fixed network topology is deployed in infrastructure network. These deployed, fixed networks have base stations or access points from which wireless nodes can get connected. All the base stations or access points are connected with the main network through wired links (fiber optic, twisted or coaxial cable) or wireless link. The base station or access point is one of the important units of infrastructure networks. All of the connections will have to pass from the access point. A wireless node can connect to anyone of the access points in its range. Ad hoc Networks An Ad hoc network is deployed where wireless network infrastructure is not available. This kind of ad hoc network is called infrastructure less network. In ad hoc network each node is connected through wireless links. These nodes connected to each other and also act as a router, by forwarding data to other nodes. There is no restriction on these nodes to join or leave the network. Thus the network has no vital infrastructure. Ad hoc networks have two forms; one is static ad hoc networks (SANET), the other is called mobile ad hoc network (MANET). Commercial implementation of ad hoc network becomes possible due to the development of new technology such as 802.11 [5]. The main reason to deploy this kind of network is the flexibility and easiness of deployment. A suitable network for emergency and surveillance use. But with all these qualities, ad hoc network operation is very difficult to handle. Each and every node is responsible for its operation to maintain its routing table and also forwarding packets to its neighbors as routers. MANET has different topology changes while deployed. So ad hoc network need an efficient routing protocol. To construct an efficient routing protocol is a tough and tedious task. Mobile Ad hoc Networks As mentioned before an ad hoc network is a wireless network, which do not have a centralized and fixed infrastructure. MANET is referred to a wireless ad hoc network. In which nodes are free to move arbitrarily. In a MANET, mobile nodes transmit and receive the traffic. Also mobile nodes can act like routers by forwarding the neighbors traffic to the destination. As the routers are mostly multi hops [60]. MANET does not need base stations of wired infrastructure. The mobile nodes in wireless network range can communicate with each other. MANET is self organized network. The mobile nodes form a network automatically without a fixed infrastructure and central management [60]. The mobile nodes have transmitters and receivers with smart antennas, which enable the mobile nodes to communicate with other mobile nodes in the network. The topology of the network change every time by getting in and out of the mobile nodes in the network. In the beginning MANET was designed for military use but now the MANET is used in many areas. Such as in disaster hit areas, data collection in some region, in rescue missions, virtual classes and conferences [60]. This concept with ad hoc network makes the full name of mobile ad hoc network (MANET). By growing the network, combined with the node mobility. The challenges of self configuration of the network become more evident. Security in the MANET is a very important issue. Many techniques were defined for the security of MANET. Intrusion detection technique is investigated in reference [60]. Mobile nodes in the network waste much energy by joining in and out with connection to wireless network. This connection and reconnection create energy limitation in the network. The main purpose of developing the ad hoc routing protocols to cope with the dynamic nature of MANET. The routing protocols efficiency can be determined by the battery power consumption. Energy is consumed during participation of a node in a network and also in routing of traffic. The routing protocol which adapts to the connection tearing and mending is also considered vital. Such routing protocols are AODV, DSR and OLSR, TORA, Wireless Routing Protocol (WRP), Zone Routing Protocol, and Two-Zone Routing Protocol (TZRP) [21]. We will discuss reactive and proactive routing protocols i.e. AODV, DSR and OLSR in chapter 3 respectively. The internet engineering task force (IETF) MANET working group (WG) was dedicated to standardize the routing protocols in MANET. RFC 2501 specifies the charter of the working group [8]. An Example of MANET Application The versatility and self configuration of MANET makes them a best choice for a wide range of applications. MANET can be used in natural disaster areas, pre planed strategic event like surveillance, data collecting in some regions, conferences and virtual classes. In such areas where the fixed infrastructure is not available before. Like earthquake hit areas where the fixed infrastructure has been destroyed, in flooded areas, fire or explosion hit areas, train or air plane crash [21]. A very common use of MANET is during business conferences. The only and key attribute that make MANET ideal is their self configuration and low cost of deployment. Here we will present one practical example. In a virtual class, a WiMAX radio link may be established. Then a MANET access network can be established to give coverage to those areas that is difficult to cover. The nodes far away from the base station rely on midway nodes for communication. Thus provide a best communication network in such hostile situation. Above in figure 1, a deployed MANET over WiMAX backbone is shown. In this figure the mobile nodes and the WiMAX_WLAN Router form a MANET. These nodes are connected to the WiMAX_WLAN router and the router is further connected to the WiMAX network. The router is working like a boundary between the MANET and the WiMAX. The WiMAX_WLAN router is capable of translation between the MANET protocols and the WiMAX network protocols, and also the backbone protocols the WiMAX is connected with. The figure 1 is shown above. Chapter 3 Ad hoc Networks Routing Protocols The theoretical concepts of ad hoc routing protocols are discussed in this chapter. The behaviors of proactive and reactive routing protocols will be analyzed. Routing Routing means to choose a path. Routing in MANET means to choose a right and suitable path to the destination from the source. Routing terminology is used in different kinds of networks. In telephony technology, electronic data networks and in the internet network, the term routing is used. Here we are more concern about routing in mobile ad hoc networks. Routing protocols in mobile ad hoc network means that the mobile nodes will search for a route or path to connect to each other and share the data packets. Protocols are the set of rules through which two or more devices (mobile nodes, computers or electronic device) can communicate to each other. In mobile ad hoc networks the routing is mostly done with the help of routing tables. These tables are kept in the memory cache of these mobile nodes. When routing process is going on, it route the data packets in different mechanisms. The first is unicast, in which the source directly sends the data packets to the destination. The second is broadcast; it means the source node sends messages to all the near and far nodes in the network. The third is anycast, in this the source node sends data packet to anyone which is not in the node group. Routing types Routing has two basic types, which are as under Static Routing Dynamic Routing Static routing is done by the administrator manually to forward the data packets in the network. Static routing is permanent. No any administrator can change this setting [29]. These static routers are configured by the administrator, which means there is no need to make routing tables by the router. Dynamic Routing is automatically done by the choice of router. It can route the traffic on any route depend on the routing table. Dynamic routing allows the routers to know about the networks and the interesting thing is to add this information in their routing tables. This is shown in the figure 3.1 below. In dynamic routing the routers exchange the routing information if there is some change in the topology [61]. Exchanging information between these dynamic routers learn to know about the new routes and networks. Dynamic routing is more flexible than static routing. In dynamic routing it have the capability to overcome the overload traffic. Dynamic routing uses different paths to forward the data packets. Dynamic routing is better than static routing. Routing protocols There are several kinds of routing protocols for wireless ad hoc networks. These routing protocols are categorized as reactive or proactive routing protocols [8]. The ad hoc routing protocols which have both proactive and reactive merits, is called hybrid routing protocols. The first kind of protocol is proactive or table driven routing protocol. The second kind of protocol is called reactive or on-demand routing protocol. The first kind of protocol is simply called Proactive MANET Protocol (PMP). Proactive routing protocol detects the layout of the network actively. A routing table can be maintained at every node. From which a route can be determined with less delay. The proactive routing protocols provide good reliability on the current network topology [21] and low latency for deciding a route. The OLSR is a proactive routing protocol. The second kind of protocol is simply called Reactive MANET Protocol (RMP). In these kinds of protocols the communication is only possible when the source node requests to communicate with the other node. Reactive MANET Protocols are mostly suited for nodes with high mobility or nodes that transmit data rarely. There are some reactive routing protocols which we will consider here. These reactive routing protocols include AODV, DSR and TORA. An ad hoc routing protocol is a standard. That controls the decision of the nodes that which route the nodes have to take to the destination from the source node. When a node wants to join a network, it discovers the topology by announcing its presence, and listening to broadcasts from other nodes in the network. This routing discovery is performed differently according to the routing protocol algorithm implemented in the network. Proactive Routing Protocols The routing information about all the nodes is build and maintained by the proactive protocols. The proactive routing protocols are independent of whether or not the route is needed [62]. Control messages are transmitted with periodically intervals. Even if there is no data flow still control messages are transmitted. Because of these control messages proactive routing protocols are not bandwidth efficient. There are many advantages and disadvantages of proactive routing protocols. One of its advantages is that the nodes can easily get routing information, and it easily starts a session. The disadvantages are, too much data kept by the nodes for route maintenance, when there is a particular link failure its reform is too slow. OLSR (Optimized Link State Routing) It is a proactive routing protocol in MANET. It is also called as table driven protocol because it permanently stores and updates its routing table. OLSR keeps track of routing table in order to provide a route if needed. OLSR can be implemented in any ad hoc network. Due to its nature OLSR is called as proactive routing protocol. MPR nodes are shown in the given figure 3.2. All nodes in the network do not broadcast the route packets. Just Multipoint Relay (MPR) nodes broadcast route packets. These MPR nodes can be selected in the neighbor of source node. Each node in the network keeps a list of MPR nodes. This MPR selector is obtained from HELLO packets sending between in neighbor nodes. These routes are built before any source node intends to send to a specified destination. Each and every node in the network keeps a routing table. This is the reason the routing overhead for OLSR is minimum than other reactive routing protocols and it provide a shortest route to the destination in the network. There is no need to build the new routes, as the existing in use route does not increase enough routing overhead. It reduces the route discovery delay. Nodes in the network send HELLO messages to their neighbors. These messages are sent at a predetermined interval in OLSR to determine the link status. Here we can understand this by Figure 3.3. If node A and node B are neighbors, node A sends HELLO message to B node. If B node receives this message, we can say the link is asymmetric. If now B node sends the same HELLO message to A node. This is the same as first case, called asymmetric link. Now if the two way communication is possible then we can call it symmetric link, as shown in Figure 3.3. The HELLO messages contain all the neighbor information. This enables the mobile node to have a table in which it has information about all its multiple hop neighbors. A node chooses minimal number of MPR nodes, when symmetric connections are made. It broadcast TC messages with information about link status at predetermined TC interval [62]. TC messages also calculate the routing tables. In TC messages MPR node information are also included. Reactive Routing Protocols Reactive routing protocols are called on-demand routing protocols. These routing protocols are called when they are required. So the routes are built when they are needed. These routes can be acquired by sending route requests through the network. Disadvantage of this algorithm is that it offers high latency in searching a network. We will consider AODV and DSR in this report. But the analysis will be of AODV and DSR in the fifth chapter. AODV (Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector) AODV is an on-demand routing protocol. The AODV algorithm gives an easy way to get change in the link situation. For example if a link fails notifications are sent only to the affected nodes in the network. This notification cancels all the routes through this affected node. It builds unicast routes from source to the destination. The network usage is least. Since the routes are build on demand so the network traffic is minimum. AODV not allowing keeping extra routing which is not in use [63]. Two nodes wish to establish a connection in an ad hoc network. AODV is responsible to enable them to build a multihop route. AODV is loop free. AODV uses Destination Sequence Numbers (DSN) to avoid counting to infinity. This is the characteristic of this algorithm. When a node send request to a destination, it sends its DSNs together with all routing information. It also selects the most favorable route based on the sequence number [11]. There are three AODV messages. One is Route Request (RREQs), Route Replies (RREPs), and Route Errors (RERRs) [1]. By using UDP packets, the sources to destination routes are discovered and maintain by these messages. For example the node which request, will use its IP address as Originator IP address for the message for broadcast. It simply means that the AODV not blindly forwarded every message. The number of hops of routing messages in ad hoc network is determined by Time-To-Live (TTL) in the IP header. When the source node wants to create a new route to the destination, the requesting node broadcast an RREQ message in the network. In the figure 3.4 the RREQ message is broadcasted from source node A to the destination node B. The RREQ message is shown by the black line from source node A to many directions. The source node A broadcast the RREQ message in the neighbor nodes. When the neighbor nodes receive the RREQ message it creates a reverse route to the source node A. This neighbor node is the next hop to the source node A. The hop count of the RREQ is incremented by one. The neighbor node will check if it has an active route to the destination or not. If it has a route so it will forward a RREP to the source node A. If it does not have an active route to the destination it will broadcast the RREQ message in the network again with an incremented hop count value. The figure 3.4 shows the procedure for finding the destination node B. The RREQ message is flooded in the network in sea rching for finding the destination node B. The intermediate nodes can reply to the RREQ message only if they have the destination sequence number (DSN) equal to or greater than the number contained in the packet header of RREQ. The intermediate nodes forward the RREQ message to the neighbor nodes and record it in their routing table. The addresses of the neighbor nodes from which it get the RREQ message. This information will be used to make a reverse path for RREP message from the destination node. When the message reach to the destination node. It calculates the shortest path to the source. In the figure 3.4 it is shown. The destination node B replies with RREP message denoted by the dotted orange color line. From node A to node B the shortest path is the lower one shown with dotted line. These nodes routes information were saved in the routing tables and were used to build a reverse route from destination to the source node with the message RREP. The request reach to the destinat ion and then RREP has reached to the originator of the request. This route is only available by unicasting a RREP back to the source. The nodes receiving these messages are cached from originator of the RREQ to all the nodes. When a link is failed an RERR message is generated. RERR message contains information about nodes that are not reachable. The IP addresses of all the nodes which are as their next hop to the destination. All the routing information about the network is stored in the table. The routing table have these route entries; (i) destination IP address, (ii) Destination Sequence Number (DSN), (iii) Valid Destination Sequence Number flag (iv) other state and routing flags (e.g., valid, invalid, repairable being repaired) (v) network interface (vi) hop count (number of hops needed to reach destination) (vii) next hop (viii) the list of precursors and lifetime (Expiration time of the route). DSR (Dynamic Source Routing) Dynamic Source Routing Protocol is a reactive routing protocol. DSR is on demand routing protocol. It is a source routing protocol. It is a simple and efficient protocol. It can be used in multi hop wireless ad hoc networks [64].

Funny Short Story :: essays research papers

The Scourge Of The Galaxy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The pretty researcher walked up to the shack where he supposedly lived. Wendy had heard many stories about the scourge, but she had never seen him for herself. He was a local legend, and she had decided to do her thesis on this obese male. She knocked on the cheap wood door of the shanty, and the door fell off. Wendy anxiously tried to pick the door up, but before she could pick it up, a high-pitched bark came from the dark corridor of the hut. â€Å"It’s alright, girlie. Just leave it and come inside.† She complied quickly, stepping inside. The stench was almost unbearable, a mixture of rancid sweat, rotten food and flatulence. She tried to hold back a small moan, but failed utterly, as she stepped cautiously across the floor strewn with garbage. The scourge was reclined in a La-Z-Boy, his face cloaked in shadow. He spoke again, and the girlish voice was a shock. â€Å"Have a seat, beautiful. I suppose you’re that girl from the brothel that I called for three months ago. I’d almost given up on you, baby.† Wendy quickly decided not to contradict the huge man. She figured that it’d be more interesting for her paper, if she let him think she was a prostitute. She could always run out, she reasoned. She nodded quickly, and he shifted in his recliner, sending vibrations resounding around the hovel. â€Å"Sweet thing, come closer so Herbie can see you, honey.† Wendy gulped uncomfortably and moved closer to the scourge, which was a bad idea. It was sickening, being this close. The scourge was wearing just a red sequined thong, which was protruding dangerously tight in the front, threatening to split at any moment. He had exactly four long greasy hairs on the top of his bald head, and hair grew in oddly shaped patches on his legs and chest. His nipples were pierced with safety pins, and rolls of fat hung off his body. He weighed three hundred pounds. He had a long sparsely haired goatee in the Fu Manchu style. Bits of moldy food were hanging at various places on the goatee. His eyes were beady and calculating. He had thin wet lips, which he licked constantly. He also wore a pair of shocking pink and dirty brown argyle socks pulled up to his calves. His nose was more of a pig snout than a nose, and he had exactly seven brown, crooked teeth in his mouth.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional vertigo

Benign Paroxysmal Positional vertigo (BBPV) or ‘cupololithiasis’ is a common condition in which the individual experiences episodes of recurrent and brief postural vertigo and nystagmus (rhythmic rotation of the eyeballs) that tends to occur in clusters. The exact cause of the condition is not understood clearly, but the displaced remnants of the utricular otocania (which is a membranous structure present within the ear). The condition is also said to arise due to abnormalities in the posterior semicircular canal.It may be provoked by altering the position of the head relative to gravity during lying down, rolling the head in the bed, bending, titling the head backwards, sleeping or sitting up. The episodes of vertigo usually last for about 10 to 30 seconds. BPPV can involve either the posterior semicircular canals or the lateral semicircular canals or both. The condition can occur on one side or on either side of the skull. A Posterior canal BPPV can be converted into a lateral BPPV following repositioning maneuvers. The episodes of vertigo may take a few months or even years to resolve.The remission and recurrence is often considered to be unpredictable. BPPV is one of the most common disorders in which vertigo is experienced. The incidences may be about 17 % when a study was conducted in a vertigo clinic. In Japan, the occurrence of BPPV is about 10. 7 to 17. 3 per 100000 new cases every year. However, the actual incidence rates may be much higher as the condition can spontaneously resolve. The condition occurs more often in females compared to males. However, in younger individuals who often develop the condition following trauma, the male to female ratio is almost equal.The condition more frequently occurs in middle aged and elderly individuals between the ages of 40 to 65 years. In a study conducted in the elderly population, it was observed that about 10 % had unrecognized BPPV. Today, BPPV is one of those conditions which can be promptly di agnosed using a specific diagnosis process and treated using advanced techniques. Physiology A lot of studies have been conducted to determine the exact mechanism by which BPPV. In the inner ear, a small organ known as ‘vestibular labyrinth’ is present. Within this, a small structure known as ‘semi-circular canals’ is present.The semi-circular canals are nothing but loop-like structures, containing fluid and hair-like projections. They help to determine the movements of head in a three-dimensional direction. The Otolith also helps to determine the movement of the head relative to the body. In the otolith, certain crysltals of calcium carbonate are present. In certain conditions, these crystals may get dislodged into the semi-circular canals. When these crystals get dislodged, it makes the head very sensitive to positional changes. In conditions it is normally not required to respond, a dizziness-like sensation is perceived.BPPV are of two types, primary or idiopathic and secondary. In primary BPPV, the cause is not known and it accounts for 50 to 70 % of the cases. Secondary BPPV account for 7 to 17 % of the cases and is usually associated with head trauma. When the head is traumatized, otoconia crystals are released into the endolymph. The otoconia crystals are actually calcium carbonate crystals that get embedded in the utricle and the saccule. This occurs bilaterally, resulting in BPPV occurring on both sides. Studies have demonstrated that in 0. 5 to 3. 1 % cases, BPPV is associated with Meniere’s disease.Recently, it has been found that migraine is also closely associated with BPPV. Studies conducted on patients suffering from migraine when the patients were positioned in certain postures, BPPV tended to occur. The exact mechanism between migraine and BPPV is not known, but it is supposed to occur due to spasm of the inner ear. BPPV may also occur following surgery of the inner ear. Once the otoconia crystals get displaced , they begin to stimulate the hair cells present in the posterior semicircular canals. Once this promotion occurs, the individual constantly feels that he/she is in motion.There may also be other etiological factors for BPPV including degeneration of the otoconia membranes, concussion of the labyrinthine, middle ear infection, viral infections of the ear (such as viral neuronitis), taking bed rest for long periods of time (lying supine for long time), blockage of the anterior vestibular artery, anesthesia administration, administration of certain drugs, etc. Symptoms The symptoms of BPPV usually occur following a period of latency during which the condition initiates, but the symptoms are not felt.An individual suffering from BPPV would develop several symptoms including brief attacks of horizontal and/or vertical vertigo, dizziness, light-headedness, unsteadiness, a sense of loss of balance, blurring of vision which develops in association with the vertigo, nausea vomiting, etc. th e vertigo is usually felt following rolling on the bed or extending the head backwards. The individual may develop the vertigo when moving the head towards the left or the right or both. Whichever side the vertigo develops, that particular side is involved in the vertigo process. The attacks of vertigo usually last for about half a minute or thirty seconds.On repeated testing of vertigo symptoms, it usually diminishes. In some patients, this duration may get extended for about one minute. About 50 % of the patients suffering from BPPV experienced a kind of floating sensation. Following he vertigo sensations, the individual also experiences bouts of nausea and loss of static equilibrium. The frequency of the vertigo attacks vary from one individual to another, ranging from a several episodes in a day to a few episodes in a week or month. Some individuals may also be sensitive to movement of the head in any direction.Along with the symptoms, the individuals may also develop several me ntal symptoms including anxiety, depression, cancer phobia, etc. In certain situations, the vertigo attacks may be life-threatening. Take for example a high-rise building construction worker, can put himself in danger of losing his life in case he develops a vertigo attack related to BPPV. Even driving whilst suffering from BPPV is a danger, as the visual field is impaired. The episodes of vertigo can in fact disappear during the course of the disease and suddenly recur. Abnormal eye movements (nystagmus) are also common in BPPV.Serious complications arising from BPPV are rare. One of the potential complications includes dehydration due to constant vomiting which may develop from vertigo. Tinnitus and hearing loss are rarely associated with BPPV. Diagnosis The diagnosis of BPPV is made based on the history, symptoms, signs, physical examinations and diagnostic tests such as your electronystagmography (ENG), videonystagmography (VNG) and Magnetic resonance scans (MRIs). One of the co mmonest signs of BPPV is dizziness that occurs when the head or the eye is moved, that tends to occur for duration of up to one minute.One of the diagnostic examination procedures utilized to determine BPPV is Dix-Hallpike maneuver. It is utilized especially to diagnose posterior BPPV. The patient is made to sit upright on the bed with the chin/head facing downwards. Then the patient is slowly moved backwards and is taken into a lying position on the bed, with the chin/head moved backwards. Once the patient is taken into this position, nystagmus develops after one to five seconds and lasts for about 30 seconds. The nystagmus has initially a light vertical component and then a strong torsion component.When the patient is moved from the lying with head facing backwards, to the sitting position with the head bend downwards, then the two components of the nystagmus also beings to appear in reverse order. An associated sign with the nystagmus is vertigo which varies depending on the inte nsity of the nystagmus. The procedure should be repeated with the head facing the right side and the left side to determine the involvement of the posterior canal on either side. In order to determine for lateral BPPV, the patient is made to lie supine on the bed with head upright.Then the head and the entire body are turned to the suspected side of involvement quickly. A nystagmus appears which is horizontal in nature which has very short latency periods and becomes more and more oblivious when the test posture is maintained. The individual may get fatigued when kept in the lateral position for a long time. In some patients, the Dix-Hallpike maneuver may be positive, but may not in fact experience the symptoms of vertigo. These patients need to be tested again by repositioning. Electronystagmography and videonystagmography is utilized to determine the abnormal eye movements.ENG is enabled by using electrodes whereas VNG is enabled using cameras. The individual may feel dizziness du ring certain maneuvers, and this is studied using ENG and VNG. MRI scans are basically done to determine any brain tumor or lesion present within the skull that could be causing dizziness and vertigo. Gadolinium-enhanced MRI scans can help to determine of any lesion within the skull more closely. Several other conditions such as labyrinthitis, vestibular neuronitis, Meniere’s disease, etc, need to be ruled out through the process of differential diagnosis. TreatmentBPPV can remit spontaneously within a few months or weeks without any treatment. Drug treatment is usually not recommended, as the symptoms can reduce only temporarily and it offers no permanent solution for the condition. In some individual, the adverse affects of certain drugs may worsen the vertigo. One measure that can be applied in order to treat vertigo is exercises or provocative maneuvers. The individual needs to perform certain exercises in the morning which would cause fatigue and ensure that the symptoms for the remaining portion of the day are within control.Surgery and the canalith repositioning procedure (CRP) seem to the most effective forms of treatment for the condition BPPV. In the CRP procedure, the physician or the audiologist would be performing a series of maneuvers in order to reposition the canalith into the utricle. In the Epley’s maneuver, the patient is sedated and mechanical skill vibration is utilized to move the head into 5 different positions. The otolith debris would then be influenced by gravity and would move from their position in the semicircular canals into the utricle. The particle repositioning procedure is done by using a 3 stage maneuver.The physician or the audiologist should have a clear understanding of ear anatomy and the mechanism in which BPPV occurs. The prolonged position maneuver is utilized to treat BPPV that arises due to involvement of the lateral canals. Studies conducted by Blakley (1994) demonstrated that there were no significant changes in the outcome when the patient was treated with CRP or with nothing. This is because the brain may adapt to the vertigo. Surgery is usually recommended if the BPPV does not respond to maneuvers nor has a multiple recurrence rates.Singular neurectomy involves sectioning the ampullary nerve that transmits nerve signals from the posterior semicircular canals to the brain. However, there are also chances that the patient could become deaf. Posterior semicircular canal occlusion involves causing blockage of the semicircular canal lumen in order to prevent endolymph from flowing. When the individual performs any movement, the cupula does not respond. References: Epley, J. M. (1992). â€Å"The Canalith repositioning procedure: For treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. † Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 107(3).Gordon, C. R. Et al (2004). â€Å"Repeated vs single physical maneuver in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. † Acta Neurol Scand, 110, 166–169. Mayo Clinic Staff (2008). Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) – Introduction, Retrieved on June 3, 2008, from Mayo Clinic Web site: http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/vertigo/DS00534/DSECTION=1 Oghalai, J. S. (2007). Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, Retrieved on June 3, 2008, from The Merck Manual Web site: http://www. merck. com/mmpe/sec08/ch086/ch086c. html# Parnes, L. S. , Agarwal, S. K. , & Atlas, J. (2003).â€Å"Diagnosis and management of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). † CMAJ, 169(7). Nunez, R. A. Et al (2000). â€Å"Short- and long-term outcomes of canalith repositioning for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. † Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 122(5). Seo, T. Et al (2007). â€Å"Immediate Efficacy of the Canalith Repositioning Procedure for the Treatment of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. † Otology & Neurotology, 28: 917Y919. Woodsworth, B. A. , Gillespie, M. B. , & Lambert, P. R . (2004). â€Å"The Canalith Repositioning Procedure for Benign Positional Vertigo: A Meta-Analysis. † Laryngoscope, 114, 1143–1146.

How Effectively an Organization Meets the Wants

Competitiveness How effectively an organization meets the wants and needs of customers relative to others that offer similar goods or services Business compete using MARKETING 1. Identifying consumer wants and/or needs is a basic input in an organization’s decision making process, and central to competitiveness. The idea is to achieve a perfect match between those wants and needs and the organization’s goods and/or services. 2. Price and quality are key factors in consumer buying decisions. It is important to understand the trade-off decision consumers make between price and quality. 3.Advertising and promotion are ways organizations can inform potential customers about features of their products or services, and attract buyers. Business compete using OPERATION 1. Product and service design should reflect joint efforts of many areas of the firm to achieve a match between financial resources, operations capabilities, supply chain capabilities,and consumer wants and needs . Special characteristics or features of a product or service can be a key factor in consumer buying decisions. Other key factors include innovation and the time-to-market for new products and services. 2.Cost of an organization’s output is a key variable that affects pricing decisions and profits. Cost-reduction efforts are generally ongoing in business organizations. Productivity(discussed later in the chapter) is an important determinant of cost. Organizations with higher productivity rates than their competitors have a competitive cost advantage. A company may outsource a portion of its operation to achieve lower costs, higher productivity, or better quality. 3. Location can be important in terms of cost and convenience for customers. Location near inputs can result in lower input costs.Location near markets can result in lower transportation costs and quicker delivery times. Convenient location is particularly important in the retail sector. 4. Quality refers to material s, workmanship, design, and service. Consumers judge quality in terms of how well they think a product or service will satisfy its intended purpose. Customers are generally willing to pay more for a product or service if they perceive the product or service has a higher quality than that of a competitor. 5. Quick response can be a competitive advantage. One way is quickly bringing new or improved products or services to the market.Another is being able to quickly deliver existing products and services to a customer after they are ordered, and still another is quickly handling customer complaints. 6. Flexibility is the ability to respond to changes. Changes might relate to alterations in design features of a product or service, or to the volume demanded by customers, or the mix of products or services offered by an organization. High flexibility can be a competitive advantage in a changeable environment. 7. Inventory management can be a competitive advantage by effectively matching s upplies of goods with demand. . Supply chain management involves coordinating internal and external operations (buyers and suppliers) to achieve timely and cost-effective delivery of goods throughout the system. 9. Service might involve after-sale activities customers perceive as value-added, such as delivery, setup, warranty work, and technical support. Or it might involve extra attention while work is in progress, such as courtesy, keeping the customer informed, and attention to details. Service quality can be a key differentiator; and it is one that is often sustainable.Moreover, businesses rated highly by their customers for service quality tend to be more profitable, and grow faster, than businesses that are not rated highly. 10. Managers and workers are the people at the heart and soul of an organization, and if they are competent and motivated, they can provide a distinct competitive edge by their skills and the ideas they create. One often overlooked skill is answering the t elephone. How complaint calls or requests for information are handled can be a positive or a negative. If a person answering is rude or not helpful, that can produce a negative image.Conversely, if calls are handled promptly and cheerfully, that can produce a positive image and, potentially, a competitive advantage. Key EXTERNAL factor 1. Economic conditions. These include the general health and direction of the economy, inflation and deflation, interest rates, tax laws, and tariffs. 2. Political conditions. These include favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward business, political stability or instability, and wars. 3. Legal environment. This includes antitrust laws, government regulations, trade restrictions, minimum wage laws, product liability laws and recent court experience, labor laws, and patents. . Technology. This can include the rate at which product innovations are occurring, current and future process technology (equipment, materials handling), and design technology. 5 . Competition. This includes the number and strength of competitors, the basis of competition (price, quality, special features), and the ease of market entry. 6. Markets. This includes size, location, brand loyalties, ease of entry, potential for growth, long-term stability, and demographics. Key INTERNAL factors 1. Human resources. These include the skills and abilities of managers and orkers; special talents (creativity, designing, problem solving); loyalty to the organization; expertise; dedication; and experience. 2. Facilities and equipment. Capacities, location, age, and cost to maintain or replace can have a significant impact on operations. 3. Financial resources. Cash flow, access to additional funding, existing debt burden, and cost of capital are important considerations. 4. Customers. Loyalty, existing relationships, and understanding of wants and needs are important. 5. Products and services. These include existing products and services, and the potential for new produ cts and services. . Technology. This includes existing technology, the ability to integrate new technology, and the probable impact of technology on current and future operations. 7. Suppliers. Supplier relationships, dependability of suppliers, quality, flexibility, and service are typical considerations. 8. Other. Other factors include patents, labor relations, company or product image, distribution channels, relationships with distributors, maintenance of facilities and equipment, access to resources, and access to markets. PRODUCTIVITY MEASURE Productivity measures are useful on a number of levels.For an individual department or organization, productivity measures can be used to track performance over time. * This allows managers to judge performance and to decide where improvements are needed. * For example, if productivity has slipped in a certain area, operations staff can examine the factors used to compute productivity to determine what has changed and then devise a means o f improving productivity in subsequent periods. Productivity measures also can be used to judge the performance of an entire industry or the productivity of a country as a whole.These productivity measures are aggregate measures. In essence, productivity measurements serve as scorecards of the effective use of resources. Business leaders are concerned with productivity as it relates to competitiveness: If two firms both have the same level of output but one requires less input because of higher productivity, that one will be able to charge a lower price and consequently increase its share of the market. Or that firm might elect to charge the same price, thereby reaping a greater profit.Government leaders are concerned with national productivity because of the close relationship between productivity and a nation’s standard of living. High levels of productivity are largely responsible for the relatively high standards of living enjoyed by people in industrial nations. Furtherm ore, wage and price increases not accompanied by productivity increases tend to create inflationary pressures on a nation’s economy. Improving Productivity A company or a department can take a number of key steps toward improving productivity: 1.Develop productivity measures for all operations. Measurement is the first step in managing and controlling an operation. 2. Look at the system as a whole in deciding which operations are most critical. It is overall productivity that is important. Managers need to reflect on the value of potential productivity improvements before Okaying improvement efforts. The issue is effectiveness. There are several aspects of this. * One is to make sure the result will be something customers want. * For example, if a company is able to increase its output through roductivity improvements, but then is unable to sell the increased output, the increase in productivity isn’t effective. * Second, it is important to adopt a systems viewpoint: A productivity increase in one part of an operation that doesn’t increase the productivity of the system would not be effective. * For example, suppose a system consists of a sequence of two operations, where the output of the first operation is the input to the second operation, and each operation can complete its part of the process at a rate of 20 units per hour.If the productivity of the first operation is increased, but the productivity of the second operation is not, the output of the system will still be 20 units per hour. 3. Develop methods for achieving productivity improvements, such as soliciting ideas from workers (perhaps organizing teams of workers, engineers, and managers), studying how other firms have increased productivity, and reexamining the way work is done. 4. Establish reasonable goals for improvement. 5. Make it clear that management supports and encourages productivity improvement. Consider incentives to reward workers for contributions. . Measure impr ovements and publicize them. Other factors that affect productivity include the following: * Standardizing processes and procedures wherever possible to reduce variability can have a significant benefit for both productivity and quality. * Quality differences may distort productivity measurements. One way this can happen is when comparisons are made over time, such as comparing the productivity of a factory now with one 30 years ago. Quality is now much higher than it was then, but there is no simple way to incorporate quality improvements into productivity measurements. Use of the Internet can lower costs of a wide range of transactions, thereby increasing, productivity. It is likely that this effect will continue to increase productivity in the foreseeable future. * Computer viruses can have an immense negative impact on productivity. * Searching for lost or misplaced items wastes time, hence negatively affecting productivity. * Scrap rates have an adverse effect on productivity, signaling inefficient use of resources. * New workers tend to have lower productivity than seasoned workers. Thus, growing companies may experience a productivity lag. Safety should be addressed. Accidents can take a toll on productivity. * A shortage of information technology workers and other technical workers hampers the ability of companies to update computing resources, generate and sustain growth, and take advantage of new opportunities. * Layoffs often affect productivity. The effect can be positive and negative. Initially, productivity may increase after a layoff, because the workload remains the same but fewer workers do the work—although they have to work harder and longer to do it.However, as time goes by, the remaining workers may experience an increased risk of burnout, and they may fear additional job cuts. The most capable workers may decide to leave. * Labor turnover has a negative effect on productivity; replacements need time to get up to speed. * Design of the workspace can impact productivity. For example, having tools and other work items within easy reach can positively impact productivity. * Incentive plans that reward productivity increases can boost productivity.

1984 Essays - Fiction, Literature, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Politics

1984 Essays - Fiction, Literature, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Politics 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four is a compelling novel, written in the period just after W.W.II. It details the life of one man, Winston Smith, and his struggles with an undoubtedly fascist government. The book is set approximately in the year 1984, in which Winston's society is ruled by a governing force known as The Party. At the head of this government is a fictional figure known as Big Brother, to whom all citizens must love and respect. In this society, privacy and freedom do not exist. People are constantly monitored by telescreens, and subjected to a constant barrage of propaganda. Any devious thought or action is dealt with by cruel and deadly punishment. Winston is a worker in one of the government agencies. His job: to rewrite the past so that The Party, specifically Big Brother, appears to be omnipotent. From as long as he can remember, he has despised The Party and what it stood for, although he doesn't reveal his true feelings to anyone around him. When Winston begins a torrid love affair with one of the young women in his agency named Julia, he finds someone else who shares in his beliefs. The two have several meetings throughout the book, in which they discuss their hatred for the government. They join a secret alliance called The Brotherhood, who's specific purpose is the end of The Party. Through the literature of The Brotherhood, they learn about the inner workings of The Party and how it accomplishes its stronghold on the people. The world as Winston knows it comes crashing down when he and Julia are arrested by the thought police, a faction of the government which deals with those who do not agree and abide by the ways of The Party. They are taken to a prison unlike any other. Winston is constantly tortured and beaten, until he confesses to crimes which he didn't commit or never even happened. If the party just killed Winston right away, they might run the risk of making a martyr out of him. Instead they re-educate him with the morals of The Party, using such techniques as pain, starvation, and using Winston's greatest fear against him. Once re- educated, he is introduced back into society. But he is not the same person, just a hollow shell. Winston had once said in the novel that if he could die hating Big Brother, then he would have won. But when Winston is finally killed, the only thing he can think is that he loves Big Brother. As this book was written just after the reign of Hitler in W.W.II, one can easily guess where Orwell got the basis for it. The world was in a general state of disbelief and panic after the atrocities that Hitler had committed. It was hoped that nothing like this would ever happen again. Nineteen Eighty- Four is a good reason why. The novel shows what could have happened if Hitler was able to continue upon his quest for power. The novel can also apply to the present era, as the novel was actually set in more modern times. Not only does the novel apply to Hitler's way of thinking, but also to Stalin. Even though both are at opposite sides of the political spectrum, they both established totalitarian governments. The Party also ran a totalitarian government but on a much larger scale. A large part of the novel deals with the relationship between The Party and society. Many of the techniques used by The Party are similar to those used by Hitler or any controlling government for that matter. One of these ways is by propaganda. With telescreens in everyone's homes, it was very easy to broadcast the views and beliefs of The Party. Also, as this was the only form of broadcasted media, the government could easily control what the people watched and listened to. Another form of propaganda was by means of posters and slogans. In this society it was impossible to go anywhere without seeing a poster of Big Brother and reading slogans such as BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU and War is Peace...Freedom is Slavery...Ignorance is Strength. Hitler was a big fan of propaganda and used it a great deal. Also, The Party controlled all written media, and therefore could write and re-write anything it chooses to. During his reign, Hitler realized that he needed to get younger people involved in

The 18 Hardest ACT English Questions Ever

The 18 Hardest ACT English Questions Ever SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’ve been hard at work studying for the ACT, you’ve mastered the basics of the test. But are you ready to tackle the hardest grammar, punctuation, syntax, and writing logic questions that ACT English will throw at you? Read this article to try your hand at 18 of the toughest, most confusing challenges ACT English poses. Then check out the detailed explanations of what makes each question tick, how to solve it and others like it, and what to watch out for when faced with similar questions on the real test. Why Should You Care About the Hardest ACT English Questions? Of course it is good to be able to answer all the questions you'll see on the ACT. But, how deeply you should be concerned about acing the hardest questions depends on what yourtarget score is. Are you trying to get as close to aperfect ACT score as possible?Getting above a 33 on ACT English leaves almost no room for error, so if you’re aiming for the highest scores, these are the questions you need to be able toanswer correctly. If you’re lessconcerned with getting the best possible score, then it’s good to know what the toughest questions look like because your strategy may be to skip some of them. What Makes ACT EnglishQuestions Hard? Surprisingly, questions aren’t hard because they test new or more complex material.Instead, what makes the hardest questions so challenging is that often, they ask you to do several types of thinking at the same time. Often, questions propose counterfactual ideas, where you have to keep in mind both the original and a completely different version of the text. For example, a regular reading comprehension question would ask what the main point of a passage is. Meanwhile, a difficult reading comprehension question would first present a scenario where the passage was altered in some way, and then ask how its main point would change as a result. (See Question 8 below for how this works in practice.) Also possible are questions that test several different grammar, punctuation, and style issues at once. For instance, each suggested answer choice for a hard grammar-based question could be completely plausible rather than obviously wrong. You would have to comb the sentence for meaning and style, not just grammatical information, in order to answer correctly. (Question 5 does this particular trick.) Finally, questions can add a layer of complexity byswitching from a detail-oriented to a big-picture focus. You could be asked to correctly complete a sentence in a passage - and then realize that your answer changes depending on how you interpret that passage! (Question 7 is an example ofthis.) Complexity is created when many simple things are layered on top of each other. Spoiler Warning! Before I show you the actual hardest questions, I think it's only fair to warn you. These questions are all fromthe official ACT practice tests(the PDF tests, not the online oneon the ACT website)! If you’re the type of person who will see them once and remember them forever, maybe wait to read the rest of the article till after you’ve taken the practice tests in test-day conditions. The Hardest ACT English Questions Since ACT English is an entirely passage-based section, all of these questions come from long passages, which I mostly haven’t included. Try to answer each question in about 35 seconds – that’s how long you’ll have on the test. Once you're done, check out theanswer and explanation that follows each question. Question 1 The county cleared this path and paved it with packed gravel, so they would have a peaceful place to hike and bike. Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would NOT be acceptable? path, paving path and then paved path before paving path paved The Challenge This question is hard for two reasons. First, because your brain is trained to assume that most answers are wrong, so this reverse question format - where most of the answers are correct - is challenging. And second,because each suggested option tests your knowledge of a different piece of grammar. Answer: D Explanation To find the unacceptable alternative, let’s first figure out the meaningof the original sentence. Two things happened: first the county cleared the path, and then the county paved it. So any answer choices that express this sequence of events would fit the sentence, and thus not be the "wrong" answer that we are looking for here. Answers A, B, and C all express the same idea in slightly different ways,creating perfectly grammatical phrases. Now let’s see what happens when we plug in answer J. We get this weird sentence: â€Å"The county cleared this path paved it with packed gravel†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This is clearly arun-on sentence, so answer J is our odd man out. Question 2 The first train took twenty-six minutes to complete the route, which ran from City Hall to West 145th Street in under a half an hour. NO CHANGE in the completion of its route. in twenty-six minutes. DELETE the underlined portion and end the sentence with a period. The Challenge Redundancy is sometimes tricky to spot. Especially when, like here, the repeating thing is a concept rather than a word used more than once, and is placed far away in the sentence from whatever it’s duplicating. Answer: D Explanation You first have to realize that 26 minutes is the same thing as "under a than half hour."Once you see this, you know that the question is testing editing out repetition. The original (answer A) doesn’t work, since it’s repeating the route length already described in the beginning of the sentence.Answer C has the same problem – it’s repeating the route time exactly as already expressed.Answer B takes one type of redundancy and replaces it with another, since it’s just a variant of the words â€Å"to complete the route† already in the sentence. So, the only answer that fixes all the redundancies is D. Question 3 The fresco is a dynamic work because, by capturing the energy, humanity, and collective achievement of the Detroit workers, celebrates all working men and women. NO CHANGE that, while, that was, The Challenge By interrupting the sentence with a long aside, the question breaks your concentration and makes it hard to see that although â€Å"because† fits the meaning and logic of the sentence, it isn't grammatical. Answer: B Explanation If you realize that the sentence is being broken in half by a long descriptive phrase, then you can simply take it out! Without the phrase"by capturing the energy, humanity, and collective achievement of the Detroit workers," our sentence simply reads: The fresco is a dynamic work because celebrates all working men and women. That clearly doesn't work, so answer A is out. Now you can simply plug the other answers in to see which of them makes sense. C and D also create nonsense sentences. Answer B is the only choice that gives us a functional sentence with orwithoutthe long descriptive phrase. Question 4 We talked just as easily as we had in the past, when we would sit in the field behind Joan’s house atop the rabbit hutch and discuss our friends and our hopes for the future. NO CHANGE in the field atop the rabbit hutch behind Joan’s house atop the rabbit hutch in the field behind Joan’s house behind Joan’s house in the field atop the rabbit hutch The Challenge This question is all about figuring out how to fixmisplaced modifiers. It's hard because there’s a confusing jumble of three different prepositional phrases that you have to sort into the right order. Answer: C Explanation Let make a mental image of what’s happening, and then zoom out to do the correct placement of bodies. Imagine a movie camera literally zooming out from the conversation to show us where these two people are: There are two people. They are sitting on top of the rabbit hutch (basically a small shed). The hutch is in a field. The field is behind Joan’s house. OK, so now let’s go through the answers to see which describes that reality. The original text (answer A) says, basically: There are two people. They are sitting in a field. The field is behind Joan’s house. Either the field or Joan’s house is on top of the rabbit hutch. That makes no sense. Answer Bgoes: There are two people. They’re sitting in a field. The field is on top of the rabbit hutch†¦ ok, that’s also wrong. Answer Dhas: There are two people. They are sitting behind Joan’s house. They are in a field. The field is on top of the rabbit hutch. That’s the same problem again. Only answer Cfits our mental image of the scene. Don't picture the rabbits in your mental movie, though. Their cuteness is too distracting. Question 5 In some agricultural parts of Japan, for instance, these three stars are commonly referred to as Karasuki and represent a three-pronged plow. Given that all the choices are true, which one provides a detail that has the most direct connection to the information that follows in this sentence? NO CHANGE distant populated historic The Challenge Questions where there is no logically â€Å"wrong† answer are hard because you can’t easily eliminate answers by a quick glance. Here, you have to extract the correct information from the sentence and fit it to thevocabulary offered. Answer: A Explanation Since the question asks us to connect anadjective to what the sentence is about, let’s first figure out what is being described. The bits of information we have are: Something about stars A foreign word for the stars The stars look like a type of plow Now, let’s see whichword choice connects with one of these pieces of information. â€Å"Distant† means far away. Certainly the stars are far away, but in this sentence â€Å"distant† would modify â€Å"parts of Japan† and nothing in the sentence discusses geographic distances of any kind. â€Å"Populated† means inhabited, or where people live. That doesn’t go with anything else in the sentence. â€Å"Historic† means important because of past events that happened there. Again, this doesn’t connect with anything in the sentence. The original word â€Å"agricultural† means having to do with farming. And that goes directly with the fact that the stars represent a â€Å"three-pronged plow,† a type of farming implement. Question 6 Unbricking a kiln after a firing is like a person uncovering buried treasure. NO CHANGE someone a potter OMIT the underlined portion. The Challenge Illogical comparisons can be very tough to spot unless you are familiar with what to look for. Answer: D Explanation The basic rule is that you can only compare things that are alike in some way. For example, you can compare pears and plums (both fruits!), but you can’t compare a pear to a person eating a plum. One trick to spotting illogical comparison questions is to look for words like â€Å"than† or â€Å"is like† that signal that something is about to be compared to something else. This something else needs to immediately follow the words â€Å"than† or â€Å"is like.† So, what’s being compared here? â€Å"Unbricking a kiln.† Even if you don’t know what that means, it’s clearly an action of some sort. The original text (answer A) compares this action to â€Å"a person.† An action is clearly not like a person, so that’s out.Once you realize this, you can see that answers B and C are also out, since all they do is replace the word â€Å"person† with alternate versions. Only answer D removes the illogical comparison, so that the sentence now compares â€Å"unbricking† to â€Å"uncovering† – two similar actions. Question 7 [1] Our son has started playing organized T-ball, a beginner’s version of baseball. [2] â€Å"Organized† is what parents call it, anyway. [3] Joe is seven, living in those two or three years when children can manage to throw a baseball a few feet but when what they’re really interested in are things closer at hand: bugs, butterflies, dirt (if they’re in the infield), grass (if they’re in the outfield). [4] Children of that age still think nothing of doing little dances in the outfield, often with their backs to home plate and, consequently, the batter. [5] It’s not as if the outfielders’ positions matter much, though- the ball never gets hit hard enough to reach there. The writer wishes to add the following sentence in order to emphasize the uncertainty already expressed about an idea in the paragraph: I still have doubts. The new sentence would best amplify and be placed after Sentence: 1. 2. 3. 4. The Challenge This question is hard because you have to recognizethe sarcasm in the sentence before you can figure out that the author doesn’t mean what is written literally. Answer: B Explanation This question is testing your ability to detectauthorial mood and voice. In this case, the sentence â€Å"I still have doubts.† has to back up something that the author disagrees with or doesn’t believe in.The best way to solve this is to go option by option to see which sentence is the one where skepticism is introduced. The first sentence (answer A) is completely factual. The author tells us about her son’s new activity, and explains that T-ball is a type of baseball. None of this is in dispute, so putting â€Å"I still have doubts† after this wouldn’t make sense. Sentence 3 is alsoquite fact-based. We learn the son’s age, and then get the author’s generalization about the inability of young kids to focus on the game. This is an opinion that the author clearly believes in, so putting â€Å"doubts† after this would be wrong. Sentence 4 continues the theme of distractibility, with a funny image of outfielders dancing around while the ball is in play. The author doesn’t doubt that this is the case – it’s clearly a description coming from personal experience. Sentence 2, on the other hand, is riddled with sarcasm and humor. We can tell because the word â€Å"organized† is now in quotation marks, separated out as being untrue. The phrase â€Å"what parents call it† signals that despite being called organized, T-ball is anything but. Finally, the adverb â€Å"anyway† signs the author’s shoulder shrug at the fact that other parents can see any organization on the field – a shrug that is followed by a bunch of evidence of how little attention the kids are paying to the game in progress. Right after sentence 2 is the perfect place to emphasize the author’s disagreement with the sentence â€Å"I still have my doubts.† Baseballs, tennis balls, a stuffed animal - just your basic T-ball chaos. Question 8 Banneker lived and worked on the family farm. After his father died in 1759, Banneker took over the responsibility of the farm and the care of his mother and younger sisters. In addition, he pursued scientific studies and taught himself to play the flute and violin. If the writer were to delete the last part of the preceding sentence (ending the sentence with a period after the word studies), the paragraph would primarily lose: support for the essay’s point about Banneker’s love of learning. a direct link to the previous paragraph. a humorous description of Banneker’s other interests. an extensive digression about music The Challenge The trick here is that it’s difficult to mentally process counterfactual information, like the question expects you to. The fact that answers B and C also sound plausible is an added challenge. Answer: A Explanation This question is checking to see how well you understand sentence-levelauthorial intention – why a writer includes or leaves out particular supporting details or examples. Another way to reframe this question is to ask: what purpose does the phrase â€Å"and taught himself to play the flute and violin† play in this passage?From reading it, we can see that it points to Banneker being interested in things other than just the farm and science.Now, let’s go through the answers to see which fits this description of the phrase. Answer D says that the section is an â€Å"extensive† discussion of music. Music is mentioned in the phrase, but only briefly and without any specific details. This answer is clearly wrong. It’s tempting to pick option C, since the phrase does deal with â€Å"other interests† – that’s what we noted in our own description – but there is nothing â€Å"humorous† about it. So, answer D is out. Answer B is also tempting – much of the longer passage dealt with Banneker’s various talents and skills. But we have an even better option to go with in this case. Answer A describes exactly what the phrase that question suggests cutting out does: it shows that Banneker loved to learn about all sorts of things. Question 9 The two principal types of kayaks are: the easily maneuverable white-water kayak and the largest sea kayak. NO CHANGE very biggest more large larger The Challenge You have to know that you are only comparing two things, so you can’t use thesuperlative form of the adjective. Answer:D Explanation When we compare a specific quality of several things, we can change the form of the adjective we use to show which object has more of that quality. For example, three tiny things can be ranked in size order: Small Smaller (the comparative form of the adjective â€Å"small†) Smallest (the superlative form of the adjective â€Å"small†) The rule is that if three or more things are being compared, then one of them can be labeled with the "-est"form of the adjective.But if only two things are being compared, then only the "-er"form of the adjective can be used. In this case, we are comparing two things: we are ranking the â€Å"white-water kayak† and the â€Å"sea kayak† in size order.Since there are only two things, we can’t use either â€Å"largest† or â€Å"biggest† to describe the sea kayak, so answers Aand Bare out. Some adjectives need the words â€Å"more† and â€Å"most† to indicate comparison. For example, you can’t say â€Å"this actor is woodener than that one,† you have to say â€Å"this actor is more wooden than that one.†But in this case, â€Å"large† does easily take the "-er"form, so answer Cis out, and answer Dis the right one. Question 10 Radioactive pools of toxic waste are okay for others to live in; even acid cannot kill them. NO CHANGE are all right for others to live in; are home to still others; suit others to a tee; The Challenge It can be hard toavoid overly colloquial speech and to modulate language level correctly. Answer: C Explanation Using words that are appropriately formal and avoiding diction that’s too slangy or casual is an important skill on the ACT. In this case, there is nothing grammatically wrong with the underlined phrase,but the sentence is clearly a piece of scientific writing, so this language is just too casual for this context.That means we have to find a version of the phrase that means the same thing, but uses more elevated language. The word â€Å"okay† in particular jumps out as being inappropriate here (so answer Ais wrong).Answer Bproposes changing â€Å"okay† to â€Å"all right† – this doesn’t really raise our diction in any way, so this answer is out.Answer Dreplaces the phrase with theidiomatic phrase â€Å"suit to a tee,† but this kind of folksy expression is still not the right fit. The most neutral and least casually inflected option is answer C, which creates themost compact and formal version of this description. Question 11 As the dancers step to the music, they were also stepping in time to a sound that embodies their unique history and suggests the influence of outside cultures on their music. NO CHANGE are also stepping have also stepped will also step The Challenge Some questions aboutmatching verb tenses are tricky because of the context of the sentence. Here, the words â€Å"time† and â€Å"history† can lead you down the wrong path, as can answer choice C. Answer:B Explanation Usually, verbs in the same sentence should be in the same tense: present, past, or future. Sometimes, though, when a sentence explains a shift in time, verb tenses shift along with it. For example: I think (now, so present tense) in the future we will be (later, so future tense) wearing utilitarian jumpsuits. In this question, the sentence seems to point to something about the dancing taking place in the past, as we connect the dancers dancing now to a â€Å"history.† But you have to realize that the dancing itselfis only happening in the present. This means that both forms of the verb â€Å"step† have to be in the present tense. The original verb (answer A) is in the past tense, whileAnswerDoffers us the future tense - both wrong. Answer Cis tempting because the helping verb â€Å"have† seems to be in the present tense. However, the full verb isâ€Å"have stepped† which is a past tense that'sused for actions that started in the past and are still ongoing. That’s not the case here, so answer Cis out. Answer Bsolves the problem by matching the present tense of the first verb, â€Å"step† with the present continuous â€Å"are stepping.† Question 12 To add to the confusion, every New Year’s Day a person according to this Korean counting system, becomes a year older, regardless of his or her actual birthday. NO CHANGE person, person; person who, The Challenge The many different commas in the sentence can easily throw you off track. You have to seethat the phrase â€Å"according to this Korean counting system† needs to be set off with commas. Answer: B Explanation This sentence is such a confusing jumble of phrases that it’s hard to make heads or tails of what goes with what and which punctuation is appropriate. First, let’s take the sentence apart and connect the pieces that actually go together. â€Å"To add to the confusion,† – prepositional phrase â€Å"every New Year’s Day† – prepositional phrase â€Å"a person† – subject â€Å"according to this Korean counting system,† – verb phrase â€Å"becomes a year older,† – verb â€Å"regardless of his or her actual birthday.† – prepositional phrase Breaking everything down like this shows us that there is a descriptivephrase separating the sentence’s subject and verb, which are: "a person becomes a year older." This means that this separating phrase needs to be set off from the rest of the sentence by commas, so answers A and C are out.Answer D gives us the comma, but it also introduces a dependent clause subject (â€Å"who†). We only have one verb, so we don’t need two subjects, so this answer is wrong. Only B fixes the actual problem, adding a comma to set off the modifier. What if you were born on New Year's Day? Do you get to celebrate twice? No? OK, fine - how about just two slices of cake then? Question 13 Wearing Jeans in School In 1970, the school board in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, approved a dress code that prohibited students from wearing certain types of clothing. The school board members believed that wearing â€Å"play clothes† to school made the students lax and indifferent toward their school work, while more formal attire established a positive educational climate. When twelve-year-old Kevin Bannister wore a pair of blue jeans to school, he was sent home for violating the dress code. Kevin and his parents believed that his constitutional rights had been violated. The United States District Court of New Hampshire agreed to hear Kevin’s case. His claim was based on the notion of personal liberty- the right of every individual to the control of his or her own person- protected by the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. The court agreed with Kevin that a person’s right to wear clothing of his or her own choosing is, in fact, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The court noted, however, that restrictions may be justified in some circumstances, such as in the school setting. So did Kevin have a right to wear blue jeans to school? The court determined that the school board had failed to show that wearing jeans actually inhibited the educational process. Furthermore, the board offered no evidence to back up its claim that such clothing created a negative educational environment. Certainly the school board would be justified in prohibiting students from wearing clothing that was unsanitary, revealing, or obscene. The court remained unconvinced, therefore, that wearing jeans would actually impair the learning process of Kevin or of his fellow classmates. Kevin Bannister’s case was significant in that it was the first in the United States to address clothing prohibitions of a school dress code. His challenge initiated a review of students’ rights and administrative responsibility in public education. Suppose the writer’s goal had been to write a brief persuasive essay urging students to exercise their constitutional rights. Would this essay fulfill that goal? Yes, because the essay focuses on how Kevin encouraged other students to exercise their constitutional rights. Yes, because the essay focuses on various types of clothing historically worn by students as a freedom of expression. No, because the essay suggests that the right to wear blue jeans was not a substantial constitutional right in the 1970s. No, because the essay objectively reports on one case of a student exercising a particular constitutional right. The Challenge After spending time examining this passage on a sentence level for all the other questions associated with it, it's pretty challenging tohave to zoom out and think about what is actually being said here. Plus, the answers all hit plausible notes. Answer: D Explanation You’re being tested on how well you understand overallauthorial intention – what the purpose and point of a given piece of writing are. So what features would an essay urging people to act have in it? It might be organized around a bit of activism. It might tell the story of some protest or challenge to the order of the day. It would have a clear point of view of who/what is right and who/what is wrong in a given situation or problem. It would most likely either start or end with a directive to go out there and do something. Does this passage do those things?It does tell the story of a legal challenge to established order.But it doesn’t do any of those other things. And, even if you can’t immediately picture what an essay urging action would sound like, you can check out the descriptions of this passage in the answers to see whether any of them actually fit what you just read. Answer A is wrong because there is no mention of Kevin interacting with other students in any way. Answer B is wrong because aside from jeans, there is no mention made of any other self-expressive clothing choices made by students. Answer C is tempting because it agrees that the essay is not urging anyone to do anything, but the answer also says that the passage picks a side in the fight over whether jeans are a constitutional right. But the essay does no such thing, so this answer is out. Answer D is the only one that actually describes this essay: it’s a simple, chronological, fact-based, neutral account of one court case. Question 14 Some sixty years later, an elderly Frances Griffiths publicly admitted that her and her cousin had staged the photographs as a practical joke. NO CHANGE her cousin and herself she and her cousin her cousin and her The Challenge The question is asking you to correct what is a prettycommon mistake in spoken English, where we don’t pay careful attention to pronoun forms when we use compound nouns. Ifyou're used to hearing people speak this way, you might be caught off guard here. Answer: C Explanation One trick to use, when you’re looking a compound noun (two nouns or pronouns connected with the word "and"), is to take the noun away, leave the pronoun, andsee whether the sentence still works. Here, we would get: "Frances Griffiths admitted that her had staged the photographs,† which is clearly wrong.This means answers A and D are out – both use the â€Å"her† form of the pronoun. Using the trick with answer B, we would get: â€Å"Frances Griffithsadmitted that herself had staged the photographs,† which also doesn’t work. The only answer that works is C, which uses the subject form of the pronoun: â€Å"she.† Question 15 One significant aspect of this relationship was: that Susan was perhaps the only reader of Emily’s poems-in-progress. NO CHANGE was that Susan was, that Susan was that Susan, The Challenge The difficulty here is that there are two types of punctuation rules being tested at the same time. Answer:B Explanation This question is testing how well you know how to punctuate a modifying clause (basically, a part of a sentence that explains the rest of the sentence). The rule is that if the modifying phrase is necessary for the sentence to make sense, then it doesn't need any commas around it. In this case,the modifying clause explains the relationship between the two women-â€Å"that Susan was perhaps the only reader of Emily’s poems-in-progress." Without it, the sentence wouldn't work at all: One significant aspect of this relationship was. This tells us that the correct answer is the one that leaves out any punctuation -answer B. Question 16 A lot of people hate to ride the New York City subways, but I love them because I like to get places fast. A musician balancing a cello case, two Buddhist monks in saffron robes, and a group of stockbrokers in crisp, charcoal gray suits get on at Wall Street. A passenger placidly sews while the subway train flings and jolts. A teenager who’s holding a shoebox containing a kitten as tiny as a gingersnap smiles as a line of girls in frilly white communion dresses file by. About three and a half million people a day ride the subways, and I think maybe I’ve met them all. At this point, the writer wants to provide one reason why she likes to ride the subways. Which choice is most relevant to the information provided in this first paragraph? NO CHANGE I never know what I’ll see there. they are so much cheaper than taxis. they are places of enormous quiet and calm. The Challenge This question challenges you to find the common theme of the paragraph and then circle back to apply it to this sentence. It's easy to get it wrong because eachof the answers is a completely plausible way to end the sentence - if you don't connect it to the rest of the passage. Answer: B Explanation Each answer option would create a totally different topic sentence for this paragraph. Yourjob is to use the paragraph to find clues for what a relevant topic sentence would be here The passage that follows the sentence is basically a long list of different people that the author has seen riding the subway: a musician, monks, stockbrokers, someone sewing, a teenager, and girls. Let’s see whether one of the answer choices sets up this list. Answers A and C are about the advantage of the subway as a mode of transportation. They’re true, but they aren’t what this paragraph is about. Answer D actually is about the environment inside the subway, but the paragraph describes a crazy mishmash of people and things, while â€Å"quiet and calm† are adjectives better suited to a library than public transit. Answer B is the only one that gives us an intro to what is to come in the rest of the paragraph. Then we all took off one shoe and got on the subway together! Question 17 The Navajo language is complex, with a structure and sounds that makes them unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure to it. NO CHANGE makes it make it make them The Challenge Because this question is testing both subject/verb agreement and noun/pronoun agreement, it's easy to get tripped up by it. Answer:C Explanation We are asked here to figure out two things: whether the verb â€Å"make† should be singular or plural and whether the pronoun "them" should be singular or plural.Let’s take these one at a time. A verb has to match its subject. In other words,a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject makes the verb plural.In this case, to figure out the right form of the verb "make," you have to first determine what is doing the making. What is making Navajo language complex? The structure and sounds. So, since the subject is plural, the right verb is "make," eliminating answers A and B. Similarly, a pronoun has to match the noun that it's linkingback to. Here, you have to analyze: what is being made complex by the structure and sounds? The Navajo language. Since this noun is singular, the underlined pronoun should be too, making C the correct answer. Question 18 On each wing, all flighted birds have ten primary flight feathers, each one shaped slight different. NO CHANGE slight differently. slightly differently. slightly more different. The Challenge Here, you have to realize that you have to use anadverb to modify a verb and another adverb. Answer: C Explanation Choosing whether to usean adjective or an adverbdepends on what you want to that word to describe. The rule is: nouns can be modified by nouns or adjectives; butadjectives, adverbs, and verbs can only be modified by adverbs. In this case, it’s important to first figure out what function the underlined words are playing.The sentence is explaining that each feather has a different shape from those around it. That means that the verb â€Å"shaped† is being modified by the word explaining variations in form. Since it’s modifying the verb, it needs to be an adverb, so it has to be â€Å"differently.† This means answers A and Dare out. But the sentence also points out that the feathers aren’t all that different from one another – their shapes have mild, not extreme variance.So the adverb â€Å"differently† is being modified by the word expressing the degree of difference. Since it’s modifying an adverb, it has to be â€Å"slightly,† so answer Cis correct. Flight feathers in action. How to Tacklethe Hardest ACT English Questions Now that you've seen what the ACT English section is ready to dish out, how can you get ready to meet its most difficult challenges? TakeComplexity Step By Step. Most of the hardest questions are difficult because they layerseveral rules, ideas, or concepts into one pile. Whenever this happens, your best bet is to untangle each part of the question and solve it on its own. Not only are you less likely to make mistakes if you work in simple steps, but often, solving one part of the question will lead you to find the right answer for the other parts as well. Use the Process of Elimination. Another useful technique is to cross out the answers you know are wrong. After you've done this, look at what's different about the remaining answer choices. Often, you will realize what the question is testing by looking at these left-over answers and comparing the changes they suggest with the original text. Balance Your Time Wisely. Earlier in this article, I told you that you would have only about 35 seconds to solve each ACT English question. But that's only if you spend the same amount of time on each of the questions in this section of the test. A better approach is to do a first pass through the section to solve the easiest questions as quickly as you can while still being precise. Then, you will have more time left to devote to the questions that need extra attention and care. Trust Your Gut.If all else fails, trycovering up all the answer choices (including the underlined originaltext), and read the restof the passage. See ifyou can form your own opinion about: the logical progression of the passage structure the way the different sentences, or the different parts of one sentence, relate to one another how you wouldfill inthe blank space yourself Then, try to find the answer choice that most closely matches your own thoughts, rather than being distractedby the answer choices. The Bottom Line The most challenging questions on ACT English are difficult because they: Check your understanding of more than one grammar, editing, or punctuation skill at the same time. Have several answer choices that seem correct on first glance. Force you to flip between detail-oriented, sentence or phrase-level observation and passage-wide comprehension. Present counterfactual information. Some ways to tackle these hardest questions on the test are: Simplify multi-layered questions by solving each component by itself. Use the process of elimination to cross out obviously wrong answers, and then figure out what the question is testing by comparing the remaining answers to one another. Balance your time wisely to have more time to spend on the most difficult questions. Trycovering up the answer choices and rewriting the underlined piece of the passage yourself. What’s Next? Shooting for the top score on the ACT? Check out our article on 9 strategies to a perfect score on ACT English, our guide togetting a perfect ACT score, and a discussion of how many questions you can miss and still score a 36. Need to study more for ACT English? Check out our guides forthe best way to prepare for ACT Englishandboosting your overall ACT score in 10 days. Wondering how you’ll stack up when you take the test? We’ve gotan explanation ofwhat a good/bad/excellent ACT score looks like, and advice onfinding a target score. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. 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