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What is traffic reach? How do I calculate it and what is it telling me?

I will respond to the question from an advertising point of view.

In advertising, reach is the total number of people exposed to the advertising medium/advert at a specified time. Reach has often been confused with the actual number of individuals who consume the advert or promotional communication. The term traffic reach is mostly synonymous with paid online advertising. Online advertising engines such as Facebook ads, Google Adwords, and Twitter ads have traffic reach as one of the metrics determining the cost of the advert. Traffic reach in online paid advertising is mostly an estimate of the number of people who will be accessing the platform at the time when the advert will be running. For instance, Facebook will determine the number of individuals exposed to the advert at the time when it will be live and running. The estimate will also be based on the target selected by the advertiser using available demographics such as gender and geographical location.

Online advertising engines use an algorithm that forecasts the number of people based on the advertiser's targeting and the system's historical data. However, an exact figure can be determined by counting all individuals exposed to the advert. Thus, traffic reach provides information that is essential in determining the effectiveness of the advert with regard to how many people are likely to consume the advert.

Compare the theme of manipulation in Orwell's 1984 and Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Manipulation occurs in George Orwell's 1984 when the government, also called Big Brother, inundates society with misinformation. News is manipulated for effect, there is no free press. When the government can control production and dissemination of the news, citizens cannot benefit from a free exchange of ideas. It makes people a lot easier to control.

The government actually does even more than that—it actively changes history, going so far as to rewrite news articles from...

The government actually does even more than that—it actively changes history, going so far as to rewrite news articles from the past to support actions taken by the government in the present.

In Macbeth, most of the manipulation is perpetrated on the character of Macbeth. He is a great warrior, but not very bright when it comes to understanding the motivations and actions of others. His wife, Lady Macbeth, is actually the more ambitious of the two, and she skillfully persuades him to do the unthinkable—kill King Duncan, so that he can become king himself. She does this by attacking his ego, suggesting that he is not really a man if he cannot stomach the idea of killing Duncan. She also behaves as though he would be disloyal to her if he did not kill Duncan.

Macbeth is also manipulated by the witches, who show him prophecies that entice him to gain power, then commit violence to keep it.

Left to his own devices, Macbeth would probably have passed on killing Duncan and seeking the throne. At one point he has decided forgo the whole thing, but Lady Macbeth talks him out of it.

What is Gladwell's claim in Chapter 5?

Gladwell's claim in Chapter Five is that a successful entrepreneur is the product of his place and relevance in a specific time period.

Gladwell cites the example of the New York Jewish lawyer. He claims that 1930 was the perfect year for a Jewish lawyer to be born:

Just as there is a perfect birth date for a nineteenth-century business tycoon, and a perfect birth date for a software tycoon, there is a perfect birth date for a New York Jewish lawyer as well. It's 1930, because that would give the lawyer the benefit of a blessedly small generation.

Gladwell cites the example of successful and influential Jewish lawyers born during this period. The Black Rock law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, and Katz perfectly exemplifies Gladwell's points. During their childhood years, most of these Jewish lawyers had parents or grandparents who worked in the world-class garment industry in New York City. In their youth, these lawyers also attended exclusively New York City public schools, then the envy of the world where public schools were concerned.

In fact, Gladwell cites the typical profile of the successful New York lawyer: he must have been born in the early 1930s, he must have had parents who worked in the "economically vibrant" garment industry in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he must have, on account of his "antecedents," been an outsider who was able to grasp the opportunities afforded him in the time period he lived.

"There is no doubt that those Jewish immigrants arrived at the perfect time, with the perfect skills," says the sociologist Stephen Steinberg. "To exploit that opportunity, you had to have certain virtues, and those immigrants worked hard."

To come to New York City in the 1890s with a background in dressmaking or sewing or Schnittwaren Handlung was a stroke of extraordinary good fortune. It was like showing up in Silicon Valley in 1986 with ten thousand hours of computer programming already under your belt.

If you want to be a great New York lawyer, it is an advantage to be an outsider, and it is an advantage to have parents who did meaningful work, and, better still, it is an advantage to have been born in the early 1930s. But if you have all three advantages—on top of a good dose of ingenuity and drive—then that's an unstoppable combination. That's like being a hockey player born on January 1.

As Gladwell claims, "Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities." So, aside from intelligence, perseverance, and courage being necessary ingredients for success, Gladwell maintains that one's background and demographic luck matters very much in determining whether one is ultimately successful or not.

Why do plants in waterlogged soil have to use anaerobic respiration?

Let’s start with some definitions. Anaerobic respiration means to perform respiration without air. If there is no oxygen available for the plant to survive it still needs to be able to do respiration. Respiration is the process of releasing energy from the breakdown of glucose. Aerobic respiration is respiration with oxygen. Under normal circumstances plants take in carbon dioxide through the stomata in their leaves, produce food by performing photosynthesis, and then release oxygen. At the same time photosynthesis is happening, so is respiration. During the day photosynthesis happens at a faster rate than respiration and at night respiration only takes place. Here, oxygen will enter through the stomata. If the soil gets waterlogged, the oxygen supply to plants can run out and the plants have to perform anaerobic respiration. The anaerobic respiration equation is glucose -> ethanol + carbon dioxide + energy. To sum this up, all cells need to perform respiration to produce the energy they require. In plants, if oxygen is present they will perform aerobic respiration but if it is not they still need to be able to produce energy. Producing energy without oxygen is done by anaerobic respiration.

Who was Eli Whitney?

Eli Whitney was an American-born inventor who was known for the invention of the cotton gin. The cotton gin made it easier to separate the seeds from short staple cotton. This invention had a tremendous impact on the growing of cotton and the expansion of slavery in the United States.

Before the cotton gin, it was more profitable to grow long staple cotton. It was easier to remove the seeds from long staple cotton than...

Before the cotton gin, it was more profitable to grow long staple cotton. It was easier to remove the seeds from long staple cotton than from short staple cotton. However, long staple could only be grown along the coast. Thus, there was a limited area where this cotton could be grown and where profits could be made. With the invention of the cotton gin, cotton could now be grown anywhere. This opened up much of the South to the growing of cotton. As more cotton was grown, more slaves were needed. Thus, slavery expanded as a result of the cotton gin. More money could also be made by growing cotton. Cotton was a major export of the South.

Eli Whitney is also connected with the concept of interchangeable parts. He believed production could be increased if identical parts could be used when manufacturing products. He used the interchangeable parts concept when he made muskets for the U.S. government.

Eli Whitney’s inventions and ideas had a significant impact on our country.

Which side benefited the most from the new technologies during World War I?

Actually, both sides had access to the same technologies, but the main factor in the war would be their willingness and ability to use them. In terms of battlefield technology, I will have to say that the Central Powers (especially Germany) were quite innovative in terms of their technology. Germans were the first to use chemical warfare--actually, the first chemicals used were byproducts of industrial processes happening in German factories. The German submarine sank a lot of Allied merchant shipping, driving up insurance rates for merchants selling to Britain and France. German airplanes and pilots were often better during the war as well. Technology is great, but does not win wars, however.

In terms of overall technology, though, I have to say that the Allies had superior overall technology. Within the first few weeks of the war, Britain cut the trans-Atlantic cable between Germany and America--this led to only the Allied side of news getting through to Americans. Britain was able to use this by creating the story that Germans were massacring Belgians, thus creating anti-German sympathies in America. When American war correspondents went to Belgium, they found no evidence of war crimes. The Allies were also ultimately favored in naval technology, as the convoy system defeated the U-boat menace by 1918. The U-boat menace was a double-edged sword for Germany, as it is hard to imagine Americans becoming outraged enough to join the war over the invasion of Belgium--it was the unrestricted submarine warfare that ultimately led to American intervention. There is also the issue of Allied intelligence operations. Britain intercepted the Zimmerman note which promised a Mexican-German alliance in order to distract America from the European war. This intercepted telegram caught Germany off-guard, as they thought their diplomatic and military codes were top-notch.

Finally, and this is the most important part of all, the technology that ultimately gave the Allies the edge was the ability to harness their own natural resources and make weapons quickly and efficiently. American mass production techniques kept the Allies in machinery and ships as early as 1914. American synthetic fertilizers gave the Allies an edge in terms of food production, as by 1918 the Germans were suffering a shortage of nitrates for both explosives and fertilizer. The technologies of mass production and the ability to use faster, more plentiful ships to get product from America to Europe ultimately gave the Allies the edge, despite the innovations which came first from the side of the Central Powers.

Who is not among Malcolm's army in Macbeth Act 5?

Donalbain is not with Malcolm’s army.

Donalbain is somewhat of a mystery. He is not chosen as Duncan’s successor, since he is younger. He flees to Ireland when his brother goes to England to gather an army, and he doesn’t come back to Scotland to fight Macbeth. He is either a coward or incredibly self-centered.

When their father is killed, Malcolm and Donalbain flee. For this reason, they are suspected of complicity or of...

Donalbain is not with Malcolm’s army.

When their father is killed, Malcolm and Donalbain flee. For this reason, they are suspected of complicity or of being the ones who killed their father. This was all part of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s plan, of course. Donalbain seems to think that they will be better off separating.

DONALBAIN

To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer: where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody. (Act 2, Scene 3)

It actually makes sense for Malcolm and Donalbain to flee, even though they weren’t involved, because the person who killed their father clearly did not intend for either of them to be king. Whoever it was might come after them next. Macbeth makes no effort to kill them, but the plan works well because they flee after their father is killed.

We do not really know what is going on inside Donalbain’s head, but we do know for sure that he is not with Malcolm’s army, because Lennox tells us this.

CAITHNESS

Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?

LENNOX

For certain, sir, he is not: I have a file
Of all the gentry: there is Siward's son,
And many unrough youths that even now
Protest their first of manhood. (Act 5, Scene 2)

Malcolm, on the other hand, was very patriotic and kingly. He went to England, raised an army, recruited and tested Macduff, and came at Macbeth with everything he had. He was clever enough to hide the numbers of his army with tree branches. His army was liberating Scotland, and Macbeth’s was harboring a madman. Soon enough, Malcolm was victorious and took his rightful place as king of Scotland.