Directions: You will have 90 minutes to write an essay of at…
Directions: You will have 90 minutes to write an essay of at least 500 words responding to ONE of the prompts below. Read each prompt carefully, read it more than once, and make sure you understand what is being asked of you. The first part of each prompt provides context for the question or task that follows. In crafting your essay, make sure to clearly state your position and support your argument. You may want to take a few minutes to outline your response before you write. I also recommend allowing time to edit/revise after you write. Regardless of which option you choose, make sure to present all sides of the issue and clearly articulate and support your own viewpoint. Make sure you answer the “Question.” The “Other questions to consider” are meant to help you but should not be the focus of your answer. Option 1: Context: In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot hopes to bring attention to Henrietta Lacks as a person and to the struggles the Lacks family has had with the medical community and the media. In many ways the book is an act of recovery—recovering stories that have been lost and ethical concerns that should be voiced. Skloot’s own story of researching and writing is also one of the main threads that runs throughout the book. By including herself, Skloot emphasizes the research process and her credibility as the storyteller. But, it could be argued that by including herself, Skloot focuses attention away from the Lacks family. Question: Should Rebecca Skloot have included her own story in this book and why/why not? Other questions to consider: Does Skloot’s story “steal” attention away from the Lacks family? What benefits does including herself as a “character” have? Option 2: Context: There are many mentions in the book of events or experiences that can’t be proved. Skloot includes references to Henrietta’s thoughts and feelings, and it is not always clear how she knows those things. Further, there are mentions of spiritual occurrences and interpretations that involve supernatural elements. Skloot explains that she herself is an atheist, but includes mentions of the family’s faith. Some would say that none of this belongs in a book of non-fiction. Question: Do elements that can’t be proven as true/fact belong in works of non-fiction? Other questions to consider: Where is the boundary between fact, fiction, creative non-fiction, truth, belief, etc.? What can unverifiable events add to works of non-fiction? Note: You do not have to respond using HL as the example. You may use other texts or your own experiences if you like. Option 3: Context: Before and after Rebecca Skloot’s work, HeLa cells and the Lacks family have been depicted in different “texts.” For example, we’ve watched a documentary covering some of the same information as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The book was also turned into a movie with Oprah Winfrey playing Deborah. There have also been articles, TED Talks, podcasts, and other depictions of the book specifically and the medical use of HeLa cells more generally. Each genre or type of “text” offers different strengths and weaknesses in depicting the same information. Question: What is the best genre/”text” for the subjects covered in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and why? Other questions to consider: Which audiences are being addressed? What are the goals of different genres? What components (i.e., visuals, length, sources, etc.) are most important to successfully depicting human, scientific, and ethical concerns?
Read DetailsA binary classifier was tested on 100 patients for detecting…
A binary classifier was tested on 100 patients for detecting a disease. The results are shown in the confusion matrix below: Actual Positive Actual Negative Predicted Positive 30 10Predicted Negative 20 40 Please calculate the following metrics, rounding each result to the nearest whole percentage:(a) The Accuracy of the classifier is _______ % (b) The Recall (Sensitivity) for the positive class is _______ %(c) The Precision for the positive class is _______ %
Read DetailsI collect a set of data (n = 100 observations) containing a…
I collect a set of data (n = 100 observations) containing a single predictor and a quantitative response. I then fit a linear regression model to the data, as well as a separate cubic regression, i.e. Y = β0 + β1 X + β2 X^2 + β3 X^3 + ε. Suppose that the true relationship between X and Y is linear, i.e. Y = β0 + β1 X + ε. Now consider the test residual sum of squares (RSS) for these two models. Which of the following statements is most accurate?
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