Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Project Management Professional Practice Test

The  Project Management Institute  is a global project management organization. The group offers Project Management Professional  certification  that shows competency in a variety of project management and other business-related areas. The PMP certification process includes an exam based on the groups  Project Management Body of Knowledge  guide. Below are sample questions and answers that you might find on the PMP exam. Questions The following 20 questions are from  Whiz Labs, which provides information and sample tests -- for a fee -- for the PMP and other examinations. Question 1 Which of the following is a tool used to secure expert judgment? B.. Delphi techniqueC. Expected value techniqueD.  Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Question 2 Based on the information provided below, which project would you recommend pursuing? Project I, with BCR (Benefit Cost ratio) of 1:1.6;Project II, with NPV of US $ 500,000;Project III, with IRR (Internal rate of return) of 15%Project IV, with opportunity cost of US $ 500,000. A. Project IB. Project IIIC. Either project II or IVD. Can not say from the data provided Question 3 What should be done by the project manager to ensure that all work in the project is included? A. Create a contingency planB. Create a risk management planC. Create a WBSD. Create a scope statement Question 4 What kind of a relationship is implied when completion of a successor is dependent on initiation of its predecessor? Choices:A. FSB. FFC. SSD. SF Question 5 What should a project manager do or follow to ensure clear boundaries for project completion? A. Scope verificationB. Complete a scope statementC. Scope definitionD. Risk management plan Question 6 An organization is certified to a stringent environmental standard and uses that as the key differentiator with its competitors. Alternative identification during scope planning for a particular project has thrown up an expeditious approach to achieve a project need, but this involves a risk of environmental contamination. The team evaluates that the likelihood of the risk is very low. What should the project team do? A. Drop the alternative approachB. Work out a mitigation planC. Procure an insurance against the riskD. Plan all precautions to avoid the risk Question 7 The following three tasks  form  the entire critical path of the project network. The three estimates of each of these tasks are tabulated below. How long would the project take to complete expressed with an accuracy of one standard deviation? Task  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Optimistic  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most likely  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PessimisticA  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  15  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  25  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  47B  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  22  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  35C  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  16  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  27  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  32 A. 75.5B. 75.5 /- 7.09C. 75.5 /- 8.5D. 75.5 /- 2.83 Question 8 After a study of the work processes on a project, a quality audit team reports to the project manager that irrelevant quality standards were being used by the project, which might lead to rework. What was the objective of the project manager in initiating this study? A. Quality controlB. Quality planningC. Checking adherence to processesD. Quality assurance Question 9 Which of the following provides the foundation for team development? A. MotivationB. Organizational developmentC. Conflict ManagementD. Individual Development Question 10 Which of the following is NOT an input to project plan execution? A. Work authorization systemB. Project planC. Corrective actionD. Preventive action Question 11 A project manager would find team development the most difficult in which form of organization? A. Weak Matrix organizationB. Balanced Matrix organizationC. Projectized organizationD. Tight Matrix organization Question 12 The project manager of a large multi-location software project team has 24 members, out of which 5 are assigned to testing. Due to recent recommendations by an organizational quality audit team, the project manager is convinced to add a quality professional to lead the test team at additional cost, to the project. The project manager is aware of the importance of communication, for the success of the project and takes this step of introducing additional communication channels, making it more complex, in order to assure quality levels of the project. How many additional communication channels are introduced as a result of this organizational change in the project? A. 25B. 24C. 1D. 5 Question 13 Once the project is complete, the complete set of project records should be put in which of the following? A. Project ArchivesB. DatabaseC. Storage roomD. Project Report Question 14 Which of the following is a common format for performance reporting? A. Pareto DiagramsB. Bar chartsC. Responsibility Assignment MatricesD. Control Charts Question 15 If the cost variance is positive and the schedule variance is also positive, this indicates the: A. Project is  under  budget and behind scheduleB. Project is over budget and behind scheduleC. Project is under budget and ahead of scheduleD. Project is over budget and ahead of schedule Question 16 During execution of a project, an identified risk event occurs that results in additional cost and time. The project had provisions for contingency and management reserves. How should these be accounted for? A. Contingency reservesB. Residual risksC. Management reservesD. Secondary risks Question 17 Which one of the following is the last step of project closing? A. Client has accepted the productB. Archives are completeC. Client appreciates your productD. Lessons  learned are documented Question 18 Who should be involved in the creation of lessons learned, at the  closure  of a project? A. StakeholdersB. Project teamC. Management of the performing organizationD. Project office Question 19 An organization has recently started outsourcing work to a low cost, high value, engineering center located in a different country. Which of the following should the project manager provide for the team as a proactive measure? A. A training course on the laws of the countryB. A course on linguistic differencesC. An exposure to the cultural differencesD.A communication management plan Question 20 While reviewing the progress, the project manager assesses that an activity has been missed out from the implementation plan. A milestone, scheduled to be achieved within another week, would be missed with the current implementation plan. Which of the following is the next best action for the project manager in this situation? A. Report the error and the expected delayB. Omit the status update on the milestoneC. Report the error and the planned recovery actionsD. Assess alternatives to meet the milestone Answers The answers to the PMP sample questions are from  Scribd, a fee-based information website. Answer 1 B - Explanation: The Delphi technique is a commonly used tool to secure expert judgment while initiating a project. Answer 2 B - Explanation: Project III has an IRR of 15 percent, which means the revenues from the project equal the cost expended at an interest rate of 15 percent. This is a definitive and a favorable parameter, and hence can be recommended for selection. Answer 3 C - Explanation: A WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project components that organizes and defines the total scope of the project. Answer 4 D - Explanation: A start-to-finish (SF) relationship between two activities implies that the completion of a  successor is dependent on the initiation of its predecessor. Answer 5 B - Explanation: The project team must complete a scope statement for developing a common understanding of the project scope among stakeholders. This lists project deliverables -- summary level sub-products, whose full and satisfactory delivery marks the completion of the project. Answer 6 A - Explanation:  The organization’s reputation being at stake, the threshold for such a risk would be very low Answer 7 B - Explanation: The critical path is the longest duration path through a network and determines the shortest time to complete the project. The PERT estimates of the tasks listed are 27, 22.5 26. Therefore, the length of the critical path of the project is 2722.526 75.5. Answer 8 D - Explanation:  Determining the  validity of quality standards, followed by the project is a quality assurance activity. Answer 9 D - Explanation: Individual development (managerial and technical) is the foundation of a team. Answer 10 A - Explanation: A Project plan is the basis of project plan execution and is a primary input. Answer 11 A - Explanation: In a functional organization, the project team members have dual reporting to two bosses -- the project manager and the functional manager. In a weak matrix organization, the power rests with the functional manager. Answer 12 A - Explanation: Number of communication channels with â€Å"n† members n*(n-1)/2. Originally the project has 25 members (including the project manager), which makes the total communication channels as 25*24/2 300. With the addition of the quality professional as a member of the project team, the communication channels increase to 26*25/2 325. Therefore, the additional channels as a result of the change, that is, 325-300 25. Answer 13 A - Explanation: Project records should be prepared for archiving by the appropriate parties. Answer 14 B - Explanation: Common formats for Performance Reports are, bar charts (also called Gantt Charts), S-curves, histograms, and tables. Answer 15 C -  Explanation: Positive Schedule Variance means the project is ahead of schedule; Negative Cost Variance means the project is over-budget. Answer 16 A - Explanation: The question is about correct accounting for risk events that occur and updating the reserves. Reserves are meant for making provisions in cost and schedule, to accommodate for consequences of risk events. Risk events are classified as unknown unknowns or known unknown, where â€Å"unknown unknowns† are risks that were are not identified and accounted for, while known unknowns are risks that were identified and provisions were made for them. Answer 17 B - Explanation: Archiving is the last step in the project closing. Answer 18 A - Explanation: Stakeholders include everyone who is actively involved in the project or whose interests may be affected as a result of the project execution or completion. The project team creates the lessons learned on the project.   Answer 19 C - Explanation: Understanding cultural differences is the first step towards an effective communication amongst the project team involving outsourced work from a different country. So, what is needed in this case is an exposure to the cultural differences, which is being mentioned as choice C. Answer 20 D - Explanation: Choice D, that is, assess alternatives to meet the milestone indicates confronting the issue with an attempt to resolve the issue. Hence this would be the best approach.

Monday, December 23, 2019

My Level Of Emotional Intelligence - 1975 Words

1. Evaluate your level of emotional intelligence and provide specific examples to support your assessment. Describe how your emotional intelligence could be enhanced and a strategy for doing so. I think I have somewhat average emotional intelligence. I am to a certain level able to perceive my feelings but I feel as though at times I can’t effectively identify my own strength and weaknesses. Also sometimes I tend to not think about the situational constraints. An example of this would be that I once accepted work for 15 days straight with no break, and by the end of the 15th day I was down with a fever. I assumed I could handle 9 hour workdays for 15 days straight without perceiving the stress and the hardship it would put on me†¦show more content†¦I am often the individual my friends come to with problems because I am often the most attentive to other problems in my group. I think my involvement with different community organizations has also helped me to gain understanding for different individuals perspectives. So I tend to be open to new ideas and am able to perceive other individuals body language and social cues very accurately. I often tend to know my friends are upset before they even tell me, even during a phone conversation or text conversation. I think I have certain ability to manage others actions and emotions towards me. An example of this would be my ability to change individuals mind about purchasing certain products from where I work. Some individuals come in quite certain that they will never buy the certain product but I usually am successful in selling these products to individuals especially instant credit. I think I need to improve on myself awareness and need to learn to understand my emotions and realize the limitations for myself instead of pushing myself over thresholds. A good way to improve this to be more mindful about my emotions and any physical cues I have. I think I also need to understand my weaknesses and my strengths. I think analysing someone’s emotions throughout the day could be an effective strategy for this but I think keeping a diary and going back and reading over emotions I had experienced and analysing them and

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Night Creature Blue Moon Chapter 36 Free Essays

I would have liked a shower, but I didn’t have the luxury. Instead, I threw on my uniform, retrieved my weapons, and was on my way out the door when the doorbell rang. Expecting Mandenauer, I could only stare stupidly at Clyde, â€Å"Where you goin’ in such a hurry?† â€Å"Um. We will write a custom essay sample on Night Creature: Blue Moon Chapter 36 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Uh.† I should tell Clyde everything, but I was in a bit of a rush. Besides, he hated Will already. He’d be thrilled to shoot him with silver and say â€Å"whoops† later. â€Å"Mandenauer,† I blurted. â€Å"T said I’d come over early.† â€Å"I was just there, and I woke him up. Definitely a ‘ don’t go away mad; just go away’moment. Heartbreak Ridge was on last night. Not exactly Clint’s words, but near ‘ nough. Mandenauer was going back to sleep. Since you’ve got hours yet before your shift, why don’t we have a little chat?† I glanced through my living room toward the window. I might have hours before my shift, but sundown was soon. It was then I saw my panties lying on the carpet in the middle of the room. Clyde sniffed, once, twice, and I turned to find him so close I leaped back. â€Å"What the hell?† I demanded, embarrassed, nervous, betrayed, and cranky. â€Å"I can smell him on you.† I didn’t know what to say to that. Luckily I didn’t have to say anything, since Clyde kept talking. â€Å"Jesus, Jessie, I’d have thought you of all people would be able to resist a pretty face. Have you no pride?† Apparently not. â€Å"Clyde, I’ve got to go.† â€Å"Where?† â€Å"None of your business.† â€Å"When you’re wearing that uniform, everything you do is my business.† I had a flash of what I’d been doing a few times in this uniform. Definitely not Clyde’s business. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. My cheeks heated in spite of myself. â€Å"I need to see Mandenauer,† I repeated. â€Å"I’ll just have to wake him up.† â€Å"Where’s Cadotte?† â€Å"Not here.† I stepped into the hallway and Clyde had no choice but to move back; then I closed the door firmly behind me. â€Å"I want to talk to him.† â€Å"Join the club.† I started down the hall. â€Å"He sneak out on you?† I turned. â€Å"Why are you so damned interested in Cadotte all of a sudden?† â€Å"I want to talk to him about the attempted murder of Edward Mandenauer.† â€Å"Have you lost your mind?† â€Å"Have you?† â€Å"What possible reason could Will have to shoot Man-denauer? He barely knows the man.† â€Å"Mandenauer and I had quite a chat when I stopped into the clinic earlier. I hear he was shot with a crossbow.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"Cadotte has a crossbow.† â€Å"So does every old man between here and Minoqua. That doesn’t make him guilty.† I turned and headed down the hall. â€Å"He’s got no motive.† Trust Clyde to fuck that up. â€Å"Wouldn’t a werewolf want to kill the wolf hunter?† I froze. â€Å"A what?† â€Å"Come off it, Jessie. Mandenauer told me everything.† Slowly I faced him. â€Å"And you believed him?† He shrugged. â€Å"I was raised Ojibwe. Just because I’ve had to play that down to get where I am doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the legends. I’ve seen things†¦ † He shook his head. â€Å"Let’s just say werewolves are the least of them.† I couldn’t quite get my mind around the fact that my boss believed in the unbelievable. Had everyone gone over to the dark side? I set my rifle against the wall. The weapon was getting too heavy to cart up and down the hallway. â€Å"So you know about the blue moon? The werewolf army? The wolf god?† â€Å"Everything.† He held out his hand. â€Å"Why don’t you give me that totem for safekeeping?† I stared at his palm, then lifted my gaze to his face. â€Å"I don’t have it.† Anger flickered in his eyes. â€Å"Jessie, you’re playing with something you don’t understand.† It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that Will had taken the stone, but he grabbed me by the upper arms and shook me. My teeth rattled, and I decided to keep the information to myself. I didn’t care for the way he was acting. â€Å"I don’t have the totem, Clyde. I swear.† â€Å"Only one way to find out.† He spun me around and patted me down. I was tempted to fight back, but Clyde was a lot bigger than I was. Besides, he wasn’t going to find anything, thanks to Cadotte. My boss released me with a little shove and a mutter of annoyance. I stepped out of his reach and nearer to my rifle. My fingers rested on the butt of my pistol. Clyde ran a hand over his face and sighed. â€Å"He’s been keeping an eye on you. Discovering what you know. Putting you off balance. If he’s got you in his bed, then you aren’t out doing your job, are you?† â€Å"I’ve been doing my job,† I snapped. â€Å"You’ve been doing him.† Clyde bit off a stub of chew and chomped ferociously for a few seconds. â€Å"I like you, Jessie, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings.† â€Å"Why stop now?† I muttered. Clyde ignored me. â€Å"I’ve seen the women Cadotte fucks. You don’t fit in.† What else was new? I never had. But I’d started to think that I might, with him. â€Å"Cadotte’s up to something,† Clyde continued. â€Å"I just can’t figure out what.† I wanted to say Cadotte loved me. He thought I was beautiful. Funny, sexy, special. Everything I’d ever wanted to be, I was to him. But I wasn’t so sure anymore. He had taken the totem. To protect me? Or to ruin me? Until I knew, I was keeping my mouth shut. â€Å"Did he tell you anything about the ceremony?† â€Å"No.† He hadn’t told me. I’d read it in a book. I frowned. But not all of the ceremony. There’d been a page missing. Which was more troublesome now than ever before. â€Å"What do you know?† I asked. â€Å"Blue moon. Werewolf army. Matchi-auwishuk totem.† Clyde knew about as much as I did. â€Å"Blood of the one who loves you.† I blinked. â€Å"The what of the who?† â€Å"Blood of the one who loves you,† he repeated slowly. â€Å"It’s needed for the ceremony.† I turned and headed for the door. â€Å"Jessie? Where you going?† I didn’t answer. I couldn’t very well tell the sheriff that I was going to kill someone. How to cite Night Creature: Blue Moon Chapter 36, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Andy Warhol Artistic Talent Essay Example For Students

Andy Warhol: Artistic Talent Essay Andrew Warhol born in 1928, known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement knows as pop art. At an early age, he showed an artistic talent and studied at the School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology. In 1949, he moved from Pennsylvania to New York City and began a career in magazine illustration and advertising. In the sass, he gained his fame, but during the sasss was Venn his first pop exhibits hit the galleries. Andy Whorls first New York solo pop exhibit was held at Eleanor Wards Stable Gallery in 1362. The show included the works, Marilyn Diptych, 100 Coke Bottles, 100 Dollar Bills, and 100 soup cans. During this time period, Warhol began to create paintings of iconic American Products as well as paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Elizabeth Taylor. Warhol painted a variety of paintings of the actress Marilyn Monroe after she committed suicide in 1362. He made it his goal to mass-produce his art by producing prints using the silkscreen method. He used a photograph by Gene Kormas and painted Marilyn Monomers paintings with one color: green, blue, yellow, and turquoise. He then silk-screened her face on top. In this way, he created different styles and depicted many different colors. For this piece of art he expressed his attestation of morbid concepts, except for this piece, the results were astonishingly beautiful, Andy Warhol had a struggle before he became successful. In the early asss Warhol tried to exhibit some of his artwork, but only to be turned down, In time, he became a very successful career as a commercial illustrator, but after he became famous working as painter, filmmaker, record producer, author, and public figure. He has also been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. As well as painting, Warhol worked in the areas of photography, drawing, and sculpture, but also a highly prolific filmmaker. Between the years 1963 and 1968, he had produced more than sixty films. Today, his work has shown in many galleries and museums like the Museum Of Modern Art. There is also a museum dedicated to him, called The Andy Warhol Museum. One would feel that Andy Warhol changed the way people looked at art. He took pieces of art and manipulated them into something so different but magnificent. Depending on ones point of view. Andy Warhol can e considered the greatest American artist of the second half of the 20th century. He can also be a cultural transformer. Even though he was the last of his kind to reach the galleries, he soon became better known than the artists before him. Personally, like his sense of style. It seems as if he grasped new, interesting, and different techniques. Its unique in a way that it stands out from the rest of the other artists. He draws people?s attention by creating multiple portraits of movie stars or basing some to his art on eye-catching images. For example, gruesome car crashes and electric chairs. His work can make people think and analyze his work in a way that completely different because of his focus on such dramatic events. Thats some of what people find interesting. Warhol doesnt stay in the comfort zone of what the viewers are used to. Andy Warhol died in 1987 _ Soon, the Andy Warhol Foundation released its 20th Anniversary Annual Report. The Foundation still remains one of the largest grant-giving organizations for the visual arts in the US. Throughout the decades, it has become more and more clear that there had been a profound change in the culture of the art world, and that Andy Warhol was at the center Of that shift.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Why Students Plagiarize 5 Reasons You Probably Ignored

Top 5 reasons why students plagiarize:Fear of failure.Lack of interest.Pressure.Hubris.Thrill.Academic plagiarism is the Achilles’ heel of most educators.You try hard to develop critical thinking and writing skills of your students, but they continue attempts to copy texts and ideas from others, claiming them as own. Its like a slap in your face or a kick in your well, any part of your body, isnt it?Despite devastating consequences of plagiarism and strong policies against it in most institutions, students dont seem to realize the problem. Numbers speak volumes:86% of students cheat in college.54% believe its okay and even necessary to cheat to stay competitive.76% copy others assignments word for word.42% purchase papers from custom writing services.Sounds unpromising, huh?Sure enough, educators have already mastered the art of plagiarism detection. (Oh, if only students knew how easy it is to spot duplications in their writings Who knows, the entire practice might disappear then!) New-generation plagiarism checker PlagiarismCheck.org updates its algorithms to find the trickiest manipulations with texts, so it takes few seconds to check for plagiarism with your eyes closed.The only matter easier than plagiarizing is finding the evidence for it, indeed.But stillThat ugly feeling of unappreciation and betrayal nibbles when you check mentees works and disclose their plagiarism, doesnt it?Why do your students plagiarize?Are they lazy to spend time on assignments? Are they poor writers? Or, maybe they dont know the topic you assign?Reasons vary, and most of them are psychological rather than material. Unveil them now to understand how to work with students so they wouldnt even think of plagiarism in academia.Fear of FailureA core reason for procrastination, fear of failure is what affects student motivation and learning strategies. It appears when students dread to disappoint expectations or arent sure of their writing skills and topic knowledge.Their words are better, they think.To get high grades, I need someone to write an essay for me, they suppose.I cant lose my status, they tremble and go online to plagiarize from available publications there.Scientists have examined the issue to see how this fear influences student behavior. Published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, the results raise eyebrows: fear of failure determines the methods your mentees choose to reach their learning goals. In particular, they adopt learning as a way to stroke own egos.So, they dont study to master the material but prove their superiority to others. With such motivation, its clear these students are more likely to cheat.Effects of this type of fear are far from pleasant, either:SourceLack of InterestFor some teachers, its hard to suspect students of disinterest in their subjects.But lets face it:They just dont care about the topic you assign. They dont think its worth their time and energy. So they choose plagiarism to complete it fast and get back to what they do like.PressureEnormous pressure from teachers and parents to complete assignments, compete for scholarships, and eventually place in the job market turns education process into the turf battle with a focus on results rather than acquired knowledge and skills.And here goes a paradox:The more intelligent your student is, the more pressure they feel upon them.High expectations and unreasonable demands from the public lead students to the impostor syndrome* and desire to be the best in everything they do. Feeling like they are stuck trying to handle that pressure, students struggle to manage it in all possible ways.* the impostor syndrome explained by The School of Life:And plagiarism appears one way to complete all tasks on time, prove competence, and win some time for a recharge.The stress your students experience because of that continuous pressure may lead to unintentional plagiarism, as well: they confuse citations, forget about references, fail to parap hrase their sources right, or decide to use ideas and statements from their already-published works, ignoring the fact of self-plagiarism.HubrisHeres something you can agree on:The ego of some students is so high that they think no one will catch them red-handed and they are above any consequences. Cynical about grades, they see nothing wrong with plagiarism.This story is as old as Adam:Back in 2002, CNN Online revealed some students view on cheating where they argued that they were almost completely judged on grades and a person who had an entirely honest life couldnt succeed.Hubris itself is not a reason why they plagiarize, but it explains why they continue doing it over and over again. Influenced by a false sense of security, such students dont understand the shattering impact of plagiarism on their well-being.ThrillDo you know that we all have a subconscious desire to steal from others? The mirror neuron system of a human brain makes us copy mimics, gestures, and deeds because we feel happy when doing that.And yes, the fear of penalty cant help to stop it.Everyone is doing that, a student exclaims and goes to copy peers writings.Evolutionary psychologists call this behavior a social glue facilitating connections and interpersonal bonding. When copying others, we feel social participation and trigger happy chemicals in the brain to satisfy our need for excitement.Dopamine rules when a person expects a reward. (Read: high grades)Serotonin makes us feel significant. (Read: recognition from a teacher and peers)Oxytocin takes the stage when we feel trust. (Read: escaping accusations of plagiarism)Endorphin gives a moment of euphoria as a survival mechanism. (Read: completing the assignment successfully)For some students, plagiarism is a kind of thrill. Its a challenge to cheat a professor, escape punishment, and, therefore, feed their happy chemicals.How to Minimize Plagiarism in Your InstitutionIs there anything teachers can do to prevent plagiarism issues in academia?Teach interpretation and analysis to students. Explain how to process the information they find in sources.To make them feel comfortable with writing, tell about the importance of personal writing style and tone of voice. Explain that you want to see how well they understand the topic rather than gobbledygook of sources they used for research.Debunk the myth on grades high importance for future success. Explain that As dont matter if a student dont have the skills to show for them.Divide assignments into parts: have students submit outlines or bibliographies before final drafts for better planning and time management. It will help to make tasks less overwhelming for your mentees.Teach them how to cite sources properly to avoid unintentional plagiarism.Allow students to choose topics and use real-life anecdotes in their essays to enhance their interest in writing.Explain the difference between plagiarism and paraphrase. Teach the obligatory compoments of paraphrasing and ex plain how to use them right.Unveil all, including the most unobvious, consequences of plagiarism for your students to realize the problem.Motives behind plagiarism are many, and yet none of them makes this issue acceptable. Students copypaste, see nothing wrong with plagiarism, believe they are untouchable and uncatchable, and even try to come up with tricks to delude plagiarism checkers.The good news is, you can handle it!In 2018, teachers are skilled and tech-savvy enough to enhance the quality of education in their institutions. Up-dated instruments, more study time spent on building productive relationships with your mentees, emotional intelligence as a must-develop skill in college – and a plagiarism-free academic world wont look like a never-never land anymore.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Definition and Examples of Marginal Modals in English

Definition and Examples of Marginal Modals in English In English grammar, a marginal modal is a verb (such as dare, need, used to, ought to) that displays some but not all of the properties of an auxiliary. The marginal modals all have meanings that are related to necessity and advice.  A marginal modal can be used as either an auxiliary or a main verb. Examples I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.(Franz Kafka, letter to Oscar Pollack, January 27, 1904)I used to live in a room full of mirrors.All I could see was me.(Jimi Hendrix, Room Full Of Mirrors)For Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. Its quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken.(Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time. Crown, 2002) Characteristics of Marginal Modals Neither the marginal modal nor any of the modal idioms form past or present participles (thus *I have oughted to work hard, *I am oughting to work hard). And although very few semi-auxiliaries participate in compound tenses, a few function adequately as perfects (I have been able/going to/obliged/willing to work hard, I have been about to work hard on several occasions, I have had to work hard) and only two are unquestionably acceptable as progressives (I am being obliged to work hard, I am having to work hard). As a general rule, semi-auxiliaries are reluctant to enter compound tenses.(Richard V. Teschner and Eston E. Evans, Analyzing the Grammar of English, 3rd ed. Georgetown University  Press, 2007) Dare and Need As Marginal Modals ​​As modal verbs, dare and need take a bare infinitive complement in negated and/or inverted structures. They do not have third person singular forms.(128) Or darent you ask?(129) You neednt read every chapter.(130) And dare I suggest that that is the match-winner?(131) Nor need I look further than my own city of Sheffield.As a marginal modal verb need has no past tense: we cannot say, for example *He needed read every chapter. It expresses necessity which is clearly a central modal meaning. Dare is not obviously modal from the point of view of meaning, though it is forward-looking, and is sometimes regarded as instantiating dynamic modality, due to the fact that the act of daring relates to the subject of the clause.(Bas Aarts, Oxford Modern English Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2011)The verb dare . . . is an odd little word. . . . Sometimes its called a marginal modal, but I prefer the description quasi modal. Either label, dare hovers between being an ordinary ga rden-variety verb meaning to challenge and one of these more abstract and grammatically complex verbs conveying a judgment about likelihoodand its this double life that gives rise to some fairly eccentric behaviour. Consider how it forms a negative. Do you say I darent (pronounced darent or dairnt), I dare not, or I dont care? T.S. Eliot might have chosen to phrase the question in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock as Do I dare to eat a peach? but some of you might prefer Dare I eat a peach? The word order is different, and its also variable whether or not you follow dare with to.Colloquial English is full of these quasi modals. The verb need is one, and so are contracted expressions such as gonna, wanna and halfta. But one of my current favourites is better as in I better do it.(Kate Burridge, Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further Observations on the Tangled History of the English Language. Cambridge University  Press, 2005) Used to As a Marginal Modal Used to occurs only in the past tense form, and always includes to. We do not say * I use to go or * I used go. In the negative form, some people prefer it as a main verb (but are often uncertain about the spelling): I didnt (use(d) to go. Others prefer it as an auxiliary verb: I usent/used not to go (especially in Britain).(David Crystal, Rediscover Grammar, 3rd ed. Longman, 2004)[T]here are a number of marginal auxiliaries (dare, need, ought to, used to) that share some of the characteristics of the auxiliaries and a larger group of semi-auxiliaries (auxiliary-like verbs) that convey similar notions of time, aspect, and modality (e.g.: be going to, have to, had better).(Sidney Greenbaum, Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University  Press, 1996) Also Known As: marginal auxiliary, marginal modal auxiliary, semi-modal, quasi-modal, semi-auxiliary

Friday, November 22, 2019

Service and the Security implication of VOIP Dissertation

Service and the Security implication of VOIP - Dissertation Example The use and importance of telecommunication in business cannot be overstressed. In some industries, it is even their source if not the most important infrastructure that drives the business processes. However, in order to use the technology efficiently and effectively, its limitations and security has to be assessed and determined. The anonymity of the internet provides an added complexity to the challenge since the prosecution and detection of perpetuators is not only hard but the detection of an actual eavesdropping is already hard in itself. This dissertation will provide the best infrastructure that is both resilient and redundant that will provide the basic security to basic security threats. As proof of concept this dissertation will also demonstrate how an actual VoIP system can be set-up and used, this dissertation has also confirmed how an actual attack on the security can be done and its potential effect on the user. This dissertation also provided a technical strategy on h ow to remediate the security vulnerabilities. However, as any technical security strategy goes, there will always be a hacker that is better at overcoming the best and the latest security system. A determined hacker will always find a way to overcome any security system thrown in front of him thus this dissertation will provide recommendation that will protect businesses from falling prey to opportunistic and disreputable shady characters. Acknowledgement This author would like to thank his love ones for providing him with the inspirations to stay on track for him to be able to finish this dissertation. This author would also like to thank his instructor for providing him the chance and opportunity to learn not only from his instructor’s knowledge but also from the wisdom his instructor imparts. The practical way this author’s instructor presents solutions to complex problems have inspired this author to be better than what he perceive can become. This author’s instructor made him realise that this author can be more than what he want to be or could become. Table of Contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgement 4 Table of Contents 5 1.0Introduction 5 1.1 Overview 6 1.2 Existing Problems 7 1.3 Aims and Objectives 8 1.4 Project Objectives 9 1.5 Research Methodology 10 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation 12 2.0 Literature Review 13 Chapter Summary 26 3. 0 Methodology 28 4.0 Voice over IP Implementation and Threats and Vulnerabilities Demonstration 30 5.0 Statement of Result 49 6.0 Analysis AND Discussion 51 7.0 Conclusion 53 8.0 Recommendation 57 Reference List and Bibliography 61 Appendices 67 List of Figures: 67 List of Tables: 68 Asterisk installation guide 68 CentOS/Linux installation guide 68 1.0 Introduction Asterisk was developed as a cheap alternative to PBX by Mark Spencer. Since then the face of VoIP has never been the same again. Since 1989 the development of VoIP as an alternative transport system for telephony signalling has progress to a po int that almost all of the telephone infrastructures all over the world are being used as data transporter along with voice channel. VoIP simply enabled telecommunication companies to maximize its infrastructure by making several channels available in a