2017 2018 Full Review of Every SAT Test Date

2017 2018 Full Review of Every SAT Test Date SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Deciding when to take the SAT can be stressful because the best test dates aren't the same for everyone. Levels of preparation, goal scores, and other academic conflicts should all be considered in devising the most logical testing schedule for each student. The following is a full description of the pros and cons of each SAT test date in the 2017-2018 school year for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. You can use this guide to come up with a game plan that works for you! 2017 Test Dates These fall dates are usually best for juniors taking the test for the first time or seniors trying to improve those last few points to reach their goal. August 26, 2017 Sophomores This is probably too early for incoming sophomores to start taking the SAT. You most likely won't have learned all of the concepts that are being tested. Additionally, you probably won't know what your college goals are yet. It's better to hold off until you have a clearer idea of what colleges you are aiming for and thus what scores you are targeting. However, this is a great time to start preparing for the test. Junior This is a good first test date for juniors. You will know pretty much all the concepts that are tested and you will have time to prep over the summer. Plus, you'll have plenty of potential dates to retake the test later if you want to improve your score. Seniors If you're hoping to retake the test one last time before application season gets in full swing during your senior fall, this is a solid test date choice. You will also be able to devote time in the summer to studying so you can really improve your scores.This is also a good choice if you haven't taken the test at all because then you will have time to study and retake in November or even December if you need to. October 7, 2017 Sophomores Sophomore fall is too early for most students to begin taking the SAT because you may not have learned all the concepts that are tested.You can feel free to begin preparing at this point by doing practice questions or getting review books, but you should hold off on taking the test for realuntil you know exactly what you’re dealing with and what your score goals are.Most sophomores haven’t yet begun their college search, and knowing where you plan on applying is important in nailing down a target score. Juniors This is a good date for juniors to take the SAT for the first time. You will have learned pretty much all the concepts that are tested. Plus, You'llhave plenty of time after you get your scores back to study for test dates later this year if you’re still unsatisfied with your performance. Seniors If you want one last shot at the SAT after preparing over the summer, this is a good date to take it if you can't make the August 26 date.It’s before you’re too stressed out about college applications, and if you’re applying early decision you’ll still have plenty of time to send colleges updated score reports. QAS is offered on this test date! QAS is short for Question-and-Answer Service, which is a completeguide to your scores that will help you review them in more detail. It can be very useful in preparing for future retakes because you'll be able to see all the original questions, their difficulty levels, their types, and which you answered correctly and incorrectly. This can tell you a lot about the nature of your mistakes and how you might be able to avoid them going forward. QAS is offered for the October, MARCH, and May test dates. For the other dates, you'll be able to order the SAS, or Student Answer Service, which is a less comprehensive version of the QAS. PSAT Test Date: October , 2017 It's important to keep this date in mind if you're a sophomore or junior and plan to take the PSAT in preparation for the real test. You might shift your test-taking schedule forward or backward to accommodate the PSAT if you're worried about getting testing fatigue. Spending too many weekend mornings filling in little circles in unfamiliar classrooms could make anyone go crazy. November 4, 2017 Sophomores I’d say this is too soon to take the test as a sophomore unless you’re extremely well-prepared.It’s tough to know what your score goals are at this point because you probably haven’t started seriously looking at colleges.If you’re concerned about the SAT already, just take a practice test or the PSAT to get a better idea of what you’re expected to know and how much you need to prepare before you take it for the first time (ideally junior fall). Juniors This is another solid date for juniors to take the test for the first time.If you miss the October date, it’s a pretty good option unless you're taking the PSAT in late October and are worried about getting overwhelmed with too much standardized testing at once. If you take the SAT in November, you’ll still have a pretty solid buffer between getting your scores back and the test dates in spring 2018. Seniors This is the latest date for seniors who are applying to college early decision to take the SAT.Most schools still allow scores from the November test date to be submitted along with early decision applications even though the deadline has technically passed, but check the policies at your chosen colleges before signing up for this test date.If you’re applying regular decision this is a decent test date for you, although you might be busy preparing other components of your application.In general, I’d aim for August or October instead. December 2, 2017 Sophomores This is, again, a bit early, but there’s nothing wrong with taking the SAT at this time if you feel confident in your abilities.Don't stress yourself out too much about the SAT yet, though.If you’re curious about where you stand score-wise, I’d suggest just taking a timed practice test so you can see what you need to work on before you attempt the real test for the first time. Juniors This might be a tough time to take the SAT if you have big mid-year tests coming up or are distracted by the holidays.Still, if you didn’t get a chance to take it earlier in the fall, this could be a decent option.It’s well before the test dates in late spring and summer, so you’ll have time to look at your scores and study constructively before a potential retake in May, June, or August. Seniors For some schools, this is the last date that you can take the SAT and still submit your scores with a regular decision application.If you took the SAT in October as a senior and still are not happy with your scores, this might be your last chance to retake.Don’t focus on improving slightly on the SAT over completing the rest of your application, but if you wantone last chance this date is your best bet. Make the most wonderful time of the year even more so by taking the SAT! Can you say comfort and joy 2018 Test Dates Spring and summer dates will be too late for most seniors, but they are ideal for juniors and ambitious sophomores. March 10, 2018 Sophomores This is the earliest I would suggest taking the SAT as a sophomore. Some concepts that come up on the SAT are typically taught sophomore year.It’s best to wait until you’re more than halfway through the year so you’ll know what you’re doing on most of the questions even if you haven’t prepared much.If you take the test on this date your sophomore year, you’ll have a solid five months to review your scores and study for upcoming junior year test dates. Juniors This is actually a pretty good time to take the test as a junior because it won't conflict with most mid-year tests and finals.You’ll also have enough time to review your scores from fall test dates and make meaningful progress.You will get back your scores far in advance of senior year, and you can even retake the SAT in May, June, or even August if you’re hoping to finish up standardized testing this year. Seniors It’s too late by this point for seniors who applied to college this year to take the SAT.Make sure you get in your last chances earlier in the year if you’re still not satisfied with your scores. QAS is offered on this test date! May 5, 2018 Sophomores If you want to get started early and feel you are up to speed on all of the topics covered by the SAT, this could be a good date for you to take the test for the first time.You’ll get back your results in June and be able to use them to prepare for your first retake in August or in junior fall.At this rate, you could finish with standardized tests before you even start filling out college applications. Juniors This is a good time to take the SAT as a junior because it will probably happen before your finals, and you’ll get your scores back right at the beginning of the summer.You’ll have the whole summer to review your results and continue studying if necessary.The only issue with this date is that it might conflict with AP tests.If you’re in AP classes and are worried that you’ll be overwhelmed, I’d suggest taking the SAT in March, June, or August instead.Ideally, this will be your second time taking the SAT after your first attempt junior fall. QAS is offered on this test date! June 2, 2018 Sophomores Like the May test date, this might be a reasonable option for sophomores who feel prepared and are hoping to use this as a jumping off point for a retake junior fall.The main issue is that as a sophomore you’re more likely to take fewer AP classes and more regular classes that have finals that conflict with this test date.If you plan on taking the test sophomore spring, I’d suggest May over June. If both dates conflict, you could also do the August date. Juniors This is another reasonable testing option for juniors, especially those who feel confident about the test and have already prepared extensively.Sometimes, this can be better than the May test date because it doesn’t conflict with AP tests.However, it may conflict with regular in-class finals. You could also do the August test date if both dates conflict. August 25, 2018 Advice for this date is similar to advice for the 2017 August date: if you're a sophomore, this is too early. But this is a great choice for a junior taking the test for the first time or a senior who is taking the again before application season. After the test, you can get back to sitting around bonfires with your friends and being mad when someone else steals the seat right next to your crush so you can't wallow in one-sided sexual tension for hours (high school was a tough time for me). When Should You Take the SAT? There are seven SAT test dates offered over the course of the 2016-2017 school year, so you have lots of choices, particularly if you're a sophomore or junior. If you plan on taking the SAT as a sophomore, you should probably wait until the second half of the year. The top three dates for sophomores are May 2017, June 2017, and March 2017 in that order. As a junior, you could choose to take the test at any time during the year. You'll have to make an informed decision based on how prepared you are. The best strategy for most people is to take the SAT in August, October, or November, study from the results, and go for a retake in either May, June, or the following August. You might fit in a third test date in the winter, but only if you feel that you have the potential to improve substantially from your fall scores. If you'll be a senior and want to take the test one last time, your best bet is the August test date followed by the October date, which come before the hectic application season. November is also a possibility. I'd try to avoid taking the test as late as December, but if one of this datesis the only one that works for you and your schools will accept scores from tests taken that late in the year, then those are acceptable last-resort options. It's a great idea to plan out your testing schedule in advance so you don't forget to sign up for an important date. Consider the advice in this article and your college plans to come up with the best way to structure your standardized testing over the course of the upcoming school year! What's Next? Still not sure whether you should take the SAT or the ACT? Read our guide to choosing the best test based on your strengths and weaknesses as a student. Setting practical goals is a huge part of the process of standardized testing. Learn how to calculate a target score for the SAT based on where you plan on applying to college. If you're a junior or senior, you may be trying to decide whether or not to retake the SAT. Follow this three step process to figure out the best course of action. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

MIT Acceptance Letter Real and Official

MIT Acceptance Letter Real and Official SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Each year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology receives nearly 20,000 applicationsfrom high school hopefuls. Only 8% of them get a MIT acceptance letter.For example, in 2014, MITaccepted 1,447applicants from 18,356 candidates. That’s a small 7.9% admission rate.Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of applicants get a rejection letter. â€Å"I'm very sorry to inform you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ When I was in high school, I was one of the lucky few to apply to MIT and receive an acceptance letter in the mail. This validated years of hard work, especially in the sciences and research. It was inspiring to know that they wanted me to be a part of their amazing community.Here’s my complete, official MITacceptance letter. Want to learn what it takes to get a MITadmit letter yourself? Read my How to Get Into Harvard, MIT and the Ivy League guide. I'll take you through the philosophy behind how to become the world-class student that schools like MIT, Harvard, and Princeton are looking for. You'll learn what it means to develop an application Spike, why being well-rounded is the path to rejection, and how to craft a compelling application yourself. Read this guide now before it's too late. Here's a scan of the original admissions letter sent to me by theOffice of Admissionsat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Even though I attended Harvard as an undergrad, MIT holds a special place in my heart because I attended Research Science Institute as a high school student at MIT. I also later joined the MD-PhD program at the Health Sciences and Technology program run between Harvard and MIT. You can learn more about RSI in my complete college application. Afterward, I'll give you tips on what it takes for you to get an acceptance letter like this for yourself. Dear Allen, On behalf of the Admissions Committee, it is my pleasure to offer you admission to the MIT Class of 2009. You were identified as one of the most talented and promising students in one of MIT’s most competitive applicant pools ever. Your commitment to personal excellence makes you stand out as someone who will thrive within our academic environment as well as contribute to our diverse community. At MIT, you join kindred spirits: scholars, builders, entrepreneurs, and humanitarians. We believe that you and MIT are very well matched for each other. You’ll our have offers from many fine schools, but we hope that you’ll choose to enroll at MIT. The deadline to accept our offer is May 1, and there’s a reply form enclosed in this packet. Between now and then, though, we look forward to building our relationship with you so you can get to know us better. Over the next several months, we’ll be in touch by email, over the phone and via your MyMIT portal account (http://my.mit.edu). Many of our students believe that the campus visit experience was the deciding factor in their choice to enroll at MIT. Therefore, we’d love to have you be our guest for Campus Preview Weekend (CPW), held on the MIT campus from April 7 through 10, 2005. CPW is an excellent way to experience MIT student life firsthand. You will go to classes, eat the food, listen to hallway conversations, and meet your future classmates. We encourage your parents to attend as well. Please see the enclosed CPW invitation for all the details. If you can’t come to CPW, please try to visit campus before May 1. To make arrangements to stay overnight with an undergraduate host, complete the online request form on the MyMIT website or just call the Office of Admissions at (617) 258-5515. If you are unable to visit the campus at all but are eager to get to know MIT, you’ll have the chance to speak with a current undergraduate soon; an MIT student will be calling you in April. I hope this letter is the one you were expecting and that it brings you the exhilaration you deserve to feel. I also hope that you will take the night off to celebrate with your loved ones. But as a mother, I expect you to get right back to work and finish up the year with top grades, since we don’t admit slackers to MIT and this offer of admission is contingent upon your successful completion of the school year. No senior slump allowed! Finally, I hope you’ll agree with us that MIT is the perfect place to prepare you for your future role in a world that badly needs you. Congratulations and welcome to the MIT Class of 2009. I look forward to seeing you on campus. Sincerely, Marilee Jones Dean of Admissions Compared to the Harvard acceptance letter, this is a lot more casual and informal, which I like. The second to last paragraph is pretty funny. OK....so now what? You probably have a reason forlooking at this acceptance letter. Let me try to help you out. If you just received a rejection letter from MIT, I'm sorry. When admissions officers say rejecting students is a gut-wrenching decision, they're being sincere. The good news is that you're in command of your future. There are MIT graduates who end up aimless and frustrated, and there are graduates from many othercolleges (and even people who never went tocollege) who make amazing achievements throughout their lives. You're in control of your own fate. So if you're disappointed about a MIT rejection, I hope you pick yourself up and excel from this point forward. Here's a guide on how to study effectively in collegeand prepare yourself for the future. If you're in high school and plan to apply to MIT, I hope this acceptance letter inspires you to work hard to get your own. Make no mistake, it took a lot of hard work to get to the point where I felt I was likely to pass MIT'stough admission requirements. I knew it was a very technical school, and my math and science game had to be on point. I had tostrategize carefully and spend my time effectively so I could balance a high GPA, the toughest AP science coursework,hightest scores, and challenging extracurricular activities. To help you out,I've written everything I know about succeeding in high school and college admissions. If you want your own Stanford acceptance letter, these are must-read guides: 1) How to Get Into Harvard, MIT,and the Ivy League This is the most fundamental guide to help you understand what top colleges like MIT and the Ivy Leagues are looking for. Here you'll learn: what kinds of students are most attractive to MITand why why being well-rounded is the path to failurein selectivecollege admissions what a Spike is and why an effective Spike will get you admitted to every college, including MIT how you can develop your own compelling Spike Make no mistake: this isn't easy.But in my experience with thousands of high school students across the country, far too many have the wrong idea about what colleges actually want. In the process, most studentswaste far too much time on things that aren't important and do nothing to raise their admissions chances to MIT. Even worse, they feel miserable and hopeless. That's why I wrote this guide. Read it before it's too late - it mighttotally change your high school strategy and get you into MIT. 2) My Complete Successful Application, including Common App and Supplement To complement my "How to Get Into Harvard" guide, I share my entire college application, page by page, word for word. You'll see the exact application that the admissions committee at Harvardsaw, including the Common Application, my personal essays, letters of recommendation, and transcript. Even though MIT uses its own application form, the elements of the application are pretty much the same. Even more importantly, my Spike was deep achievement in the sciences. I ranked #6 in the US National Chemistry Olympiad as a junior, and I participated in Research Science Institute at MIT. Both those things made me a very attractive candidate to MIT admissions. I discuss all these details and how I achieved them here. I've never seen anyone else provide this level of analysis and detail,so I believeyou'll get something out of it. 3) How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades Your coursework is a critical componentof your college application. Not only do you need great grades, you need great grades in what MITsays is "the most stimulating courses available to you." For MIT, you especially need strong grades in the toughest AP science and math courses. Thus it's no surprise that a lot of high school students are stressed out and anxious. The biggest problems I see in the students I work with are in mindset, habits, and strategy. ThusI've written a complete guide onhow to excel in high school coursework. I take you through three levels of detail, from high to low: Mindset and Psychology: Do you have the confidence to know you can even improve? Are you prepared to work hard? Overall Planning and Habits: Do you make the most out of every hour? Do you understand what teachers care about, and how to give them what they want? Do you know how to avoid procrastination? Individual Class Strategies: How do you excel in English classes? How is this different from math and science classes? I learned a lot of these lessons the hard way, throughout high school and college. This is the guide I wish I had before starting high school. Take the time to read it and you might get better grades while saving hundreds of hours of study time. 4) How to Get a Perfect SAT Score/ How to Get a Perfect ACT Score Besides GPA, theother critical number on your application isyour SAT/ACT score. This score isso important because it compares you to high school students across the country on a level playing field. Top schools like MIT expect you to be in the top 1 percentile of the country. You especially need near-perfect scores in math and science (for the ACT). If you don't show this, MIT will doubt whether you can really thrive in their super tough academic environment. In my perfect SAT scoreand perfect ACT scoreguides, I share the major strategies to boost your score above a 2100 on the SAT and 32 on the ACT - and edge closer to a perfect score. Also, check out my series on getting perfect scores in each of the sections on the SAT/ACT: SAT 800 Series: Reading | Math | Writing- Learn important strategies to excel in each section of the SAT. ACT 36 Series: English | Math | Reading | Science - Learn how to get a perfect 36 on each section of the ACT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The culture( Values & norms) and the artifacts culture of United Essay

The culture( Values & norms) and the artifacts culture of United Nation Environment Program (UNEP ) - Essay Example UNEP documented the "Cultural and Spiritual Values of Diversity" in 1999 in which the organization put forward that biodiversity must be recognized in terms of employee diversity since different people and cultures view and appreciate it exclusively because of their unique experiences and heritages. Every employee in UNEP must put in mind that, for the organization to conserve the natural gifts, he or she must learn more about it and how best to interact with the same environment. In addition, the faith of employees play a major role in promoting responsible behavior, encouraging individual discipline, maintaining high morals, that supersede the need for instant gratification with no self-interest and responsibility in order to achieve comprehensive and long-term benefits for the environment as well as for humanity. Ethical values, solidarity, justice, tolerance, equality, respect for human rights, and protecting the environment are the building blocks for UNEP. Some norms and values give guidance in the daily operations of UNEP. Communication activities must respect the charter of the organization and its core values of professionalism, integrity, and diversified respect. All stakeholder needs such as regionalization must be fully integrated into the whole process of communications delivery and planning, which ought to be service-oriented. In one spirit, UNEP members should support all the strategies and policies laid down and offer cross-divisional support and collaboration towards achieving a conducive environment. Most importantly, UNEP aims at attaining the highest quality of editorial levels, accessibility and relevance for all its members, thus all member states should corporate through having ethical values regarding the surroundings. It is against the policies of UNEP for any staff member or nation to be unresponsive, lack knowledge and information, or fail

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Business Ethics - Essay Example It is now again trying to sell itself inviting offers from Qwest and Verizon, both of who are also recovering from debts. They are trying to outbid others and making promises which they may not be able to maintain as business deteriorates. This is again a matter of concern because ethics are compromised under such circumstances. The Corporate Governance norms were violated at WorldCom, which is unexpected of the Directors and the CEO. Over ambitiousness of the CEO to acquire several companies with the stocks of WorldCom led him to boost the company’s profits artificially by as much as $3.9 billion (Bhattacharya, 2004). Costs were considered as capital investment which helped the company to sustain its apparently smooth and rapid earning growth. They even claimed depreciation of the ‘capital investments’. The behavior of the CEO and the CFO were the driving forces behind the unethical conduct. The CEO utilized the company loan of $400 million to buy ranches and other personal properties, which is unethical. He used the services of the CFO to ensure rising stock prices so that his personal stake would provide the security for the loan. They hid the information from the external auditor. Additionally, the big names in auditing and accounting have failed to detect the irregularities or to gu ide the firms. This would amount to hidden complicity between the auditors and WorldCom. The audit committee did not have a financial expert. Besides, they had the sole authority to appoint, retain, compensate, evaluate and terminate the company’s independent auditors (Petra, 2006). WorldCom had crumbled because of its unethical practices. MCI on the other hand was reputed for its â€Å"integrity, innovation and value† (Thurston, 2007). WorldCom’s name was changed to MCI as a part of the reorganization plan filed in the bankruptcy court in US. According to the executive vice-president, they wanted to re-establish

Solving the Redundancy Allocation Problem using Tabu Search

Solving the Redundancy Allocation Problem using Tabu Search Efficiently Solving the Redundancy Allocation Problem using Tabu Search Abstract The redundancy allocation problem is a common and extensively studied program involving system design, reliability engineering and operations research. There is an ever increasing need to find efficient solutions to this reliability optimization problem because many telecommunications (and other) systems are becoming more complex while the development schedules are limited. To provide solutions to this, a tabu search meta-heuristic has been developed and successfully. Tabu search is a perfect solution to this problem as it has a lot of advantages compared to alternative methods. Tabu search can be used for more complex problem domain compared to the mathematical programming methods. Tabu search is more efficient than the population based search methodologies such as genetic algorithms. In this paper, Tabu search is used on three different problems in comparison to the integer programming and genetic algorithm solutions and the results show that tabu search has more benefits while sol ving these problems. INTRODUCTION of Articles Redundancy allocation problem(RAP) is a popular and a complex reliability design problem. The problem has been solved using different optimization approaches. Tabu search(TS) has more advantages over the other approaches but has not been tested for its effectiveness. In this paper a TS is used to solve a problem, called TSRAP, and the results are compared to the other approaches. The RAP is used for designs that have large assemblies and are manufactured using off-the shelf components and also have high reliability requirements. Solutions to the RAP problem has the optimal combination of component selections. Mathematical programming techniques have proven to be successful in finding solutions to these problems. Unfortunately, these problems have some constraints which are necessary for the optimization process but not for the actual engineering design process. Genetic Algorithms have proven to be a better alternative to the mathematical programming technique and has provided excellent results. Despite this, genetic algorithms is a population based search requiring the evaluation of multiple prospective solutions because of which a more efficient approach to this problem is desired. TS is an alternative to these optimization methods that has been optimized by GA. Its a simple solution technique that proceeds through successive iterations by considering neighboring moves. In this paper the TS method is used on three different problems and the results are compared with the alternate optimization methods. TS is not like GA, which is population based, instead it successively moves from solution to solution. This helps increase the efficiency of the method. The most commonly studied design configuration for RAP is the series parallel problem. The example of the design is shown below. Nomenclature R(t, x) = system reliability at time t, depending on x; xij = quantity of the jth available component used in subsystem i; mi = number of available components for subsystem i; s = number of subsystems; nmax,i = ni à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ nmax,ià ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€š ¬i; C(x) = system cost as a function of x; W(x) = system weight as a function of x; C, W, R = system-level constraint limits for cost,weight, and reliability; k = minimum number of operating components required for subsystem; ÃŽÂ »ij = parameter for exponential distribution, fij(t) = ÃŽÂ »ij exp(à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ »ijt); Fj = feasible solutions contained on the tabu list; Tj = total number of solutions on the tabu list; à Ã‚ j = feasibility ratio, à Ã‚ j = Fj/Tj . Explanation of the work presented in journal articles The RAP function can be formulated with system reliability as the objective function or in the constraint set. Problem(p1) maximizes the system reliability and problem(p2) maximizes the system cost. The TS requires determination of a tabu list of unavailable moves as it successively proceeds from one step to another. For the series parallel system, the encoding is a permutation code of size à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi=1 s nmax, I representing the list of components in each subsystem including nonused components. The tabu list length is reset every 20 iterations to an integer value distributed uniformly between [s, 3s] and [14s,18s] for Problems (P1) (s = 14) and (P2) (s = 2), respectively. TSRAP is done through four steps. The first step involves generating a feasible random initial solution. S integers are chosen from the discrete uniform distribution, representing the number of components in parallel for each subsystem. Using this procedure, a solution is produced with an average number of components per subsystem. It becomes the initial solution if feasible, else the whole process is repeated. The second step checks for possible defined moves for each subsystem in the neighborhood. The TSRAP that allows component mixing within the subsystem allows for its first move to change the number of a particular component type by adding or subtracting one. The TSRAP that does not allow component mixing involves changing the number of components by adding or subtracting one for all individual subsystems. These moves are advantageous as they do not require re-calculation of the entire system reliability. The best among the two types of moves that are performed independently are selected. The selected move is the best move available, hence it is called best move. If the solution is TABU and the solution is not better than the best so far solution then it is disallowed and step 1 is repeated, else it is accepted. The third step involves updating the Tabu list. To check for the feasibility of an entry in the Tabu list, the system cost and weight are stored with the subsystem structure involved in the move within the tabu list. The fourth and the final step is checking for the stopping criterion. It is the maximum number of iterations without finding an improvement in the best feasible so far. When reached at a solution, the search is completed and the best feasible so far is the is the TSRAP recommended solution. An adaptive penalty method has been developed for problems solved by TS as they prove to give better solutions. The objective function for the infeasible solution is penalized by using subtractive or additive penalty function. A light penalty is imposed on the infeasible solutions within the NFT region( Near Feasible Treshold) and heavily penalized beyond it. The penalized objective function is based on the unpenalized objective function, the degree of infeasibility and information from the TS short-term and long-term memory. The objective function is for problem 1: Rp(to;x) is the penalized objective function. The un penalized system reliability of the best solution so far is represented by Rall and Rfeas represents the system reliability of the best feasible solution found so far. If Rall and Rfeas are equal or close to each other in value then the search continues, else if Rall is greater then Rfeas, there is a difficulty in finding the feasible solutions and the penalty is made larger to filter the search into the feasible region. Similarly, the objective function for problem 2 is: Cp(x) is the penalized objective function. Call is the unpenalized (feasible or infeasible) system cost of the best solution found so far, and Cfeas is the system cost of the best feasible solution found so far. Discussion of Contributions The most important contribution is that as a result of this paper it is now proved that the Tabu search is a more efficient method that the mathematical programming technique and the genetic algorithms. The penalization method was used which proved to give better results too. As a result of this paper, complex problem domains can now be optimized better using the Tabu search. As a result of this paper, weve come to realize that TSRAP is better in performance and results in greater efficiency than GA although they are almost similar in procedures. Due to the short schedules to find the optimal solution for complex redundancy allocation problems, Tabu search is found to be the most efficient approach. Discussion of Dificiency and Potential Improvements Although an unexploited approach to find the optimal solution has been tried and tested to be efficient, there is potential for future scope. In this paper , the TS approach used is rather simple in a way that few factors that could have been were not incorporated. Features that are normally used such as candidate lists and long term memory strategies which prove to be more effective were not used. The use of these features can prove to be more efficient in complex problems. There are opportunities for improved effectiveness and efficiency by considering the addition of these features to the TS devised  here. Summary TS has previously been demonstrated to be a successful optimization approach for many diverse problem domains. So, TS approach , as a result of this paper has been tried and tested to be more efficient approach to the complex problems domain of the redundancy allocation problem. The use of penalty function in this research has promoted the search in the infeasible region by changing the NFT. In this paper, TS has been tested in three different problems and has provided more efficient results than the other alternative methods. When compared, the TS produces better results than the genetic algorithm method. In spite of this, the use of features such as candidate lists and long term memory strategies could have been to be more effective in complex problem domains. References Bellman, R.E. and Dreyfus, E. (1962) Applied Dynamic Programming,  Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Bland, J.A. (1998a) Memory-based technique for optimal structural design.  Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 11(3), 319-  325. Bland, J.A. (1998b) Structural design optimization with reliability constraints  using tabu search. Engineering Optimization, 30(1), 55-74. Brooks, R.R., Iyengar, S.S. and Rai, S. (1997) Minimizing cost of redundant  sensor-systems with non-monotone and monotone search  algorithms, in Proceedings of the Annual Reliability and Maintainability  Symposium, IEEE, New York, pp. 307-313. Bulfin, R.L. and Liu, C.Y. (1985) Optimal allocation of redundant components  for large systems. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 34, 241-247. Chern, M.S. (1992) On the computational complexity of reliability redundancy  allocation in a series system. Operations Research Letters,11, 309-315.  

Mother and Daughter, a Heavenly Relationship Failed Essay

Daughter and mother relationship is an endless topic for many writers. They are meant to share the bond of love and care for each other. In the real world, however, their relationship is not as successful as it ought to be. The stories â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† and â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† are the examples of this conflict. Lorrie Moore is distinguished for the clever wordplay, irony and sardonic humor of her fiction. â€Å"How to Talk to Your mother† is a short story in her collection Self-Help. It is about a failed relationship of a daughter and her mother over time. Similarly, Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† portrays powerfully the economic and domestic burdens a poor woman faced, as well as the responsibility and powerlessness she feels over her child’s life. Both stories have the same theme, but each has different technique, and the conflicts from the characters are opposite. Poor communication over time is the theme both stories share. In â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother,† Ginny, the author, faded the relationship with her mother as time goes and things changed from 1939 to 1982. In 1952, Ginny started to break away by slamming the door and say â€Å"Don’t I know it† (Moore 105) when her mother asks about her crush in junior high. Then, she becomes a young adult with a new life and would not come home for holidays. However, it is not until her mother called her by her sister’s name that makes she feels uncomfortable. â€Å"Learn that you have a way of knowing each other which somehow slips out and beyond the ways you have of not knowing each other at all† (Moore 103). The simply â€Å"How to† title belies the complexities of broken communication between mother and daughter. Ginny attempts to communicate with her mother throughout decades, but it never works. In â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing,† the mother faced the same problem with poor communication. Readers feel deeply sorry for the mother as she is economically alone, lonely, overworked and tired. The mother is always busy and preoccupied with other children. â€Å"I was working, there were four smaller ones now, there was not time for her† (Olsen 191). She has little or no time to talk to Emily, the daughter. The only time they met each other is at night, when Emily is struggle over books and the mother be ironing, or do other house chores. In both stories, the mothers and daughters have really  poor communication. Each character has her own life and stared to ignore their love ones. Ginny lives her wild life with romance. On the other hand, the mother in â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† is so busy with her low-class life. As a result, their relationship failed as time rolls. Although both stories share similarity, each story was written with different styles, point-of-views, and languages. Lorrie Moore presents â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† in reverse chronological order, from latest to earliest. This technique supports her main idea by illustrating the broken communication pattern existing since the narrator’s childhood. With this style, readers find it amusing as they can read forward or backward. Moreover, this kind of writing is very rare in literature. Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† was written in a traditional flashback. It started with the mother blaming herself for Emily’s outturn. Then, she remembered all the life events that result in bad decisions she made for Emily. Both stories also have different point-of-view. â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† is told in second-person, using â€Å"you,† instead of â€Å"I.† The second-person narration distances the narrator from the pa in inflicted by her mother, father, and lovers. This is Moore’s clever choice. Readers can relate and sympathize with Ginny. On the other hand, â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† is told in first-person. The mother is telling readers about her faults and her attempts to help Emily through difficult years. Readers can see the hardship the mother faced and understand her situation. Nevertheless, Moore writes the story like one would write in her diary, very informal. The full title is â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes),† and the language is not very aesthetic. On the contrast, Olsen writes her story in formal, literature language. In response to her story, Helen Pike Bauer writes: â€Å"Olsen’s story is a dialogue between circumstances and desire, constraint and love, absence and presence, silence and speech, power and helplessness.† The conflicts of each character are opposite. The primary conflict in â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† is between Ginny and herself. She feels like she has her own life and her mother becomes annoying. In 1971, she wrote: â€Å"Go for long walks to get away from her. Walk through wooded area; there is a life you have forgotten† (Moore 103). Throughout the story, readers can see the  broken relationship is resulted from the external events of her life. She has three abortions and involving many relationships with men that she don’t even like. â€Å"Sometimes you confuse her with the first man you ever love, who ever loved you †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Moore 102). Ginny almost blamed herself for their relationship. Her mom is always there, in her house since 1967. A year before death, her mother tells her: â€Å"Is that any way to talk to your mother (Moore 101)?† While Ginny experienced the external conflict of her life, the mother in â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† faced an internal conflict involving Emily. She makes a very meaningful statement at the end of story: help Emily to know that â€Å"she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron† (Olsen 193). The mother constantly referred to the bad decisions she had made for Emily during her childhood. She sent Emily to live with her relatives as a toddler and came back with â€Å"all baby loveliness gone† (Olsen 188). Then, she sent her off again to a convalescent home. These decisions caused the mother to constantly nag at her internal self. Emily turned to a comedic teen is the result of the mother’s ignorant and poor relationship, which makes the mother blaming herself. She feels like the conflict is caused by her and Emily deserved a better life. Thackeray says, â€Å"God cannot be everywhere and therefore he made mother.† Parents are the caretaker of their children. From their experiences, they know what is best and they would never mean ill for them. â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† and â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† are short stories that remind readers to cherish their relationships with parents. Both stories have the same theme of communication, but each has different technique, and the conflicts from the characters are opposite. Their situations are very difficult: poverty, low-class, and early motherhood. Lorrie Moore writes â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† to mock the popular â€Å"How-to† style. She marks off each stage of the plot by repeated works and ideas of heart, babies, containers, and unsuccessful talks between mother and daughter. Tillie Olsen writes â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† with many symbolisms. For example, the iron is the torment, outside pressures. The dress is her problem, or Emily. The mother is ironing out the problem from inside her heart. Both stories carry the same message of mother and daughter relationship that most people faced the same path. In the society right now, there are many children experienced  child abuses. As for many parents, they could not get their kids to listen to them. The heavenly relationship failed as lives go on.

Criticism and Reflection of the Color Purple by Alice Walker

Criticism and Reflection of the Color Purple by Alice Walker Criticized as a novel containing graphic violence, sexuality, sexism, and racism, The Color Purple was banned in several schools across the United States. Crude language and explicit detail chronicle the life of Celie, a young black woman subjected to society’s cruelties. Although immoral, the events and issues discussed in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple are prominent in today’s society, and must be public and conversed rather than unknown and silenced. If each person is given the right to raise her voice, express herself, and tell her tale, who holds the authority to brand a book unfit for society? Literature encompasses the details of life thus, enabling the†¦show more content†¦Itemized by fathers and husbands before meeting her friend Shug, Celie was unable to love and feared expressing herself. Open and uncompetitive, Celie and Shug’s relationship nurtures each character’s livelihood. Together the two express themselves simply by enjoying the other’s opinion and company â€Å"Us lay with our arms round each other. Sometimes Shug read the paper out loud. The news always sound crazy. People fussing and fighting †¦never even looking for no peace. People insane, say Shug. Yeah, I say but some things pleasant† (Walker 217). Sharing both physical and emotional love, the two characters explore each other’s emotions and develop feelings for one another. However, the current society fails to recognize the growth the characters undergo because they fail to accept that each character feels love for someone of the same gender. Lacking possessive qualities common to relationships with men, each woman pursues creativity. Enlivened by sense of self Shug awakens, Celie defies the time period’s restraints on gender by crafting pants anybody can wear â€Å"in every color and size under the sun.† (Walker 218) while it is said â€Å"only men spose to wear the pants.†(Walker 218) Merely a feature of female friendship estranged to current society, the characters’ physical love is compassionate but unaccepted by most of society. Among the many arguments in favor of banning Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the most contended is the novel’s brutalShow MoreRelatedAlice Malsenior6001 Words   |  25 PagesAlice Walker: Peeling an Essence As an African- American novelist, short–story writer, essayist, poet, critic, and editor, Alice Walker’s plethora of literary works examines many aspects of African American life as well as historical issues that are further developed by Walker’s unique point of view. Writers like Alice Walker make it possible to bring words and emotions to voices and events that are often silenced. Far from the traditional image of the artist, she has sought what amounts to aRead Moreâ€Å"Alice Walker’s Depiction of Female Characters in ‘the Color Purple’ Is Intended to Act as a Stark Contrast to How Many Female Characters Have Been Portrayed Throughout Literature† Discuss This Statement with Reference1780 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"Alice Walker’s depiction of female characters in ‘The Color Purple’ is intended to act as a stark contrast to how many female characters have been portrayed throughout literature† Discuss this statement with reference to the critical anthology Throughout literature there has been an array of female portrayals, most prominently those in 19th century fiction, who didn’t work unless driven to it by necessity. Instead, the focus of interest was on the heroine’s choice of marriage partner, which wouldRead MoreAnalysis Of Barbara Bushs Speech2033 Words   |  9 Pagestrue colors.† Her purpose was to impart wisdom onto her audience. Barbara Bush’s speech was an inspiration to the Wellesley Class of 1990 and continues to serve as a beacon of light for their daughters. Like any great speech by a political figure, there was controversy surrounding the arrival of Bush to Wellesley. Prior to inviting a commencement speaker, the senior class voted on their top choices. Barbara Bush came in second and was asked after first choice Alice Walker, author of The Color PurpleRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesCulture 525 Creating a Positive Organizational Culture 527 Spirituality and Organizational Culture 529 What Is Spirituality? 529 †¢ Why Spirituality Now? 530 †¢ Characteristics of a Spiritual Organization 530 †¢ Achieving a Spiritual Organization 531 †¢ Criticisms of Spirituality 531 Global Implications 532 Summary and Implications for Managers 533 S A L Self-Assessment Library What’s the Right Organizational Culture for Me? 512 glOBalization! Face Culture, Dignity Culture, and Organizational Culture