Thursday, November 28, 2019

Who Is to Blame free essay sample

The turmoil in Afghanistan is getting worse with each passing day. Terrorists control many parts of the country. As a result, the Afghani people live in constant fear. In efforts to assist this struggling nation, the US and NATO have tried to strengthen the Afghani national forces. Unfortunately, very little real progress has been made toward securing a solid Afghani government. This paper analyzes two editorials that discuss the current situation in Afghanistan, and who is to blame for the current disarray in the country. One editorial is from a liberal publication (The New York Times), while the other is from a conservative publication (the Washington Times). Both editorials provide valuable arguments, but neither is effective enough to persuade someone to change their mind about the situation by reading one or the other. The New York Times’ editorial (â€Å"Unfinished Business in Afghanistan† published on June 20, 2008), attempts to persuade their readers that the reason the situation in Afghanistan remains unchanged is because of a lack of action on President Bush’s part. We will write a custom essay sample on Who Is to Blame? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The editorial opens with â€Å"Five years after President Bush largely dropped the military operation against the Afghan-based Taliban and Al Qaeda so he could invade Iraq, American and NATO troops are needed as much as ever in Afghanistan to hold back a resurgence of those forces. Yet Washington and its European allies still do not have an effective and comprehensive strategy to combat the threat. † By making such a claim right away, the author automatically tries to persuade readers that President Bush has basically ignored Afghanistan while spending five years in Iraq. The audience of the New York Times consists of upper-middle class urban readers, who are politically liberal. They would not be hard to persuade in this situation. They already have a distrust of President Bush and the situation in Iraq. In terms of trying to persuade someone who is more conservative, the opening paragraph does a good job of shifting blame onto the President and his European allies. It is an effective use of pathos because the writer’s tone is accusatory and self-righteous – a fact that is mitigated by the use of a casual style of writing. The editorial goes on to describe the dire situation in Afghanistan, and how it is another example of President Bush’s lack of effort and persistence in this situation. It states that the country’s troops are far from being able to defend themselves or the country from terrorist attacks. The editorial directly says that, â€Å"Despite the presence of more than 50,000 NATO troops — most of them American — and some 140,000 Afghan troops and police, the Taliban and Al Qaeda have gotten stronger over the past two years. Once again, the editor believes that the genesis of the problem can be linked back to President Bush and his inability to create a comprehensive plan that utilizes the United States’ resources in combination with those of NATO to achieve optimum results. So, the liberal New York Times believes that President Bush is to blame for the failures in Afghanistan. The writer does admit that: â€Å"NATO allies must also beef up their forces – as Britain has promised to do. But, the clear conclusion is that failures in our government’s policies have led to failures in Afghanistan. The Washington Times editorial (â€Å"Fissures on Afghanistan† published on June 25, 2008), attempts to persuade readers to blame NATO for their failure to invest more resources in Afghanistan. This viewpoint shifts the blame away from President Bush and his administration. In fact, this editorial stresses how much money the Unites States has invested in Afghanistan’s national defense and laments how little they accomplished. The conservative audience that subscribes to the Washington Times would most likely agree with this writer’s opinion. The writer, like the New York Times’ writer, used a serious and accusatory tone to further persuade their readers. They are very direct about their opinion, and said, â€Å"The current anti-terrorist offensive that NATO is waging in Afghanistan should be a wake-up call for two U. S. allies in the war against al Qaeda and the Taliban. † The two allies they refer to are Pakistan and NATO. The editor blames Pakistan for allowing their country to become â€Å"a sanctuary† for terrorists. He accomplishes an effective, persuasive argument by saying that â€Å"Much of the violence and terrorism enveloping Afghanistan has its roots in Pakistan, where Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has made peaceful engagement with the Taliban a top political priority. † By stating that the Prime Minister himself is supporting this behavior, our editor illustrates just how serious the situation there is. It is the editor’s opinion that as long as Pakistan continues its current behavior nothing will be accomplished in Afghanistan, and this conclusion is very effective. NATO will have a slim chance of accomplishing anything productive if this situation still exists. There is no doubt that something needs to change in Afghanistan in order for progress to be made. Both liberals and conservatives have an idea of what the main cause of the problem there is (and why progress is being delayed). Liberals believe that President Bush’s concentration on invading Iraq stalled progress, while conservatives believe that Pakistan’s harboring of terrorists is causing the major delay. Both editorials argued their sides effectively, using effective language and literary techniques to persuade their readers. They also both used persuasion and tone to try and sway people over to their side. However, because both points were argued so effectively, neither editorial is effective enough to persuade someone to change their mind about the situation by reading one or the other.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Enhanced ACT Writing Test

Enhanced ACT Writing Test The people behind the ACT organization are definitely always striving to improve the test they administer. They make continuous improvements without making radical, all-encompassing changes. Once of the changes coming to the ACT exam is an Enhanced ACT Writing Test. It replaced the old ACT Essay in the fall of 2015. Enhanced ACT Writing Test Basics 1 prompt that provides a statement and three different perspectives on the statement.40 minutes6 different scores The Prompt When you receive your test, youll get a test booklet with a prompt inside which will look quite different from the ACT prompts from the past. Youll read a paragraph that introduces a controversial issue and provides some background for the issue. Then, below that, youll read three different perspectives on the idea presented. Then, youll receive your writing task. Your Essay Task After you read, its time to plan and write. Youll get two pages of planning space in the test booklet and thought-provoking questions to help guide you to deeper meaning in your essay like these: What insights do the different perspectives offer, and what do they fail to consider?Why might they be persuasive to others, or why might they fail to persuade?What is your perspective on this issue, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?How will you support your perspective in your essay? The graders are expecting you to do the following three things in your essay: Evaluate and analyze the given perspectivesState and develop your own perspective on the topicExplain the relationship between your perspective and those presented Writing Prompt Samples Want to practice those writing skills? Here are some prompts to get you going:   Enhanced ACT Writing Prompts Enhanced ACT Writing Scoring Considering youll get six different scores for this essay, it stands to reason that you might want to know what they are. The first score will be a number between 1 and 36, which is just your standard ACT subject level test score. This will not be averaged into your overall composite ACT score, however, as the Essay exam is considered optional. The second score will be a new one. This score, again between 1 and 36 will be a combined score with the English and Reading exams. Its called the ELA score. Again, this will not affect your composite score. The last four scores – domain scores - will cover the content of your writing, giving you a much better idea of your strengths and weaknesses in the writing craft. The domain areas are these: Ideas and Analysis: These scores will show you how well you understood the issue presented, created productive responses, thought critically about your writing task, evaluated and analyzed the three different perspectives on the issue, and used rhetorical strategies like logic, emotional appeals and ethical appeals. Development and Support: These scores will show how well you explained and substantiated your claims, ideas and arguments. High scores will go to students who discuss and elaborate on ideas, making certain that they are relevant with detailed persuasive examples and careful, thoughtful reasoning. Youll see where youve used strong evidence from both your own experience and knowledge base.Scores in this category reflect a student’s ability to illustrate, explain, and substantiate claims and Organization: The scores for this domain will demonstrate your ability to build an argument logically, string your ideas together strategically and write clearly in an organized manner. Language Use and Conventions: The scores for this section will show your ability in written English, specifically as its used for persuasive writing. High scores will show control over grammar and conventions, syntax, word choice, spelling, voice, tone and mechanics. Improve Your Writing Whether youre taking the ACT  this year or next,  you can improve your writing with just a few simple tricks. Want to know more? How to Write a Top-Scoring Essay on the Enhanced ACT Writing Test.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Introduction to Welding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Introduction to Welding - Essay Example This causes the metal to melt and on subsequent application of pressure, the liquid regions undergo a process called coalescence. When cooled, this coalesced liquid metal mixture undergoes solidification and the weld is complete, thus giving us one continuous piece of metal. The heat energy required for the process may be obtained from a number of sources. Some options that can be used are gas flames, electric arcs and ultrasound. Most often carried out in an industrial environment in open air, there may arise certain situations where the welding is required to be carried out marine or even in space. The sources of energy will have to be selected accordingly, since certain sources may not work well in certain environments. For instance, an open oxyacetylene flame in a vacuum or even underwater, is obviously impossible. The quality of a weld, its strength and durability are largely dependant on the base metals used in the welding process. Some of the major base metals which can be joined by using the process of welding are The suitability of alloys such as steel to welding depend on the contents, which may be a diverse collection. Steel, or more accurately, plain carbon steel is chosen as a reference material for this. To judge alloys made up of many distinct materials, we make use of a factor called the equivalent carbon content. This is used to compare the relative weldabilities of different alloys by comparing their properties to plain carbon steel. Considerable effects are seen on the weldability of a metal alloy which contains elements like carbon, chromium and vanadium, while copper and nickel have only negligible effects. As the equivalent carbon content rises, the weldability of the alloy decreases (Lincoln Electric, 1994). But this can't be helped, because plain carbon and low-alloy steels have unacceptably low strength levels, especially from an industrial perspective. High strength, low-alloy steels which contain a very small percentage of carbon and include additive elements like manganese, phosphorus, sulphur and small amounts of copper, nickel, niobium, nitrogen, vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, silicon, or zirconium(Schoolscience.co.uk, 2007) were developed especially for welding applications during the 1970s. The high chromium content of stainless steel makes it less preferable for welding. Those varieties which may have been deemed weldable are susceptible to distortion due to their high coefficient of thermal expansion, and hence are prone to cracking and reduced corrosion resistance. Aluminum The chemical composition of aluminum alloys, as with any alloy, decides the weldability. Hot cracking of the alloy on welding is prevented by preheating. This reduces the temperature gradient across the welding area. However, this can reduce the mechanical properties of the base material. Another alternative is to alter the design of the joint, with a more compatible filler alloy to decrease hot cracking. Aluminum alloys should also be cleaned prior to welding, with the goal of removing all oxides, oils, and loose particles from the surface to be welded. This is especially important because of an aluminum weld's susceptibility to porosity due to hydrogen and dross due to oxygen(Lincoln Electric, 1994) Residual stresses Stresses caused in a rigid structure as a result of internal strains are referred to by the term Residual Stresses. These strains are usually of a permanent nature and may have its origins at any stage in the component life cycle. Welding is one of the most significant causes of residual stresses and may cause large tensile stresses whose maximum value is approximately equal to the yield