Interpretations of skill and skill that only few people have, but all Essay

Interpretations of skill and skill that only few people have, but all people can master - Essay Example These skills are so common that they always go unnoticed most of our life. On the other hand there is the functionality of voluntary skills. Voluntary skills are those skills that can be judged as specialized skill and had to be acquired by an individual with the dint of time management- noted or unnoted. It is this voluntary skill that gave birth to the concept of division of labor and ignited a spark to get the ball of civilization rolling. Picture this: the setting is somewhere in Southern France and the time is around the end of the last Ice Age. You will find a group of hunter-gatherers busy with their daily life. The men folks are coming back from the hard days hunt to their temporary settlement and the women of the tribe are separating the findings of the days work. And out in a corner there is an aged man busy with his Paleolithic tools- working hard to shape and sharp their jagged edges. Now, all the hunters are skillful huntsman and all the women are worthy gathers and this is almost inbuilt quality of the tribe simply because without these skills the tribe would seize to exist. It is but obvious that the sense of hunting and the eye for finding the needful elements scattered all around you requires a specific amount of skill and it should be learned to master them. Some of the women are better gatherer and some of the men are more skillful hunter than the other or average tribal. This could be termed that they have got a talent for hunting or gathering but the focal point of the skill is that this is not any specialized skill to mention as because the other members of tribe are attributed with the same skill, but the other maybe more or less skillful to their task. Thus, these skills could be termed as involuntary skills. On the other hand, the elderly person busy with his 'modernized' primitive tools is an example of the voluntary skill. It is not that he is not able to hunt but he has specialized himself into an occupation that no other in the tribe can share. It is not that this elderly Cro-Magnon is an Einstein of his tribe but it is this specialization that keeps him apart. Thus, this could be safely stated that "there are, however, certain skills that only a limited number of people have, which allow them to be more effective in areas that the average person is not. Even though only a small percentage of the population has mastered these skills, their benefits are too great to be kept to themselves. Conquering them requires time, dedication and patience. Devotion is challenging for the average person due to our busy lives." (Lamb, 87-88) In today's context, the job of a software programming professional is completely 'Greek' to a general person and the skill of a rocket engineer is completely unknown to a software programming professional. This is because these are completely specialized occupations and thereby absolutely voluntary in nature. But for both the software programming professional and rocket engineer driving is a common skill and they both are skillful in it in respective ability. Therefore we can summarize that driving is a involuntary skill that these two specialized persons share commonly. It is such a

Bilingual Education Essay Example for Free

Bilingual Education Essay Bilingual Education isn’t an issue that’s been short lived. The programs have existed as far back as the late eighteenth century; Immigrant students were then instructed in their first language. Ohio became the first state to adopt an actual bilingual education state legislation in 1839. Other states soon followed, although the variation in language was somewhat broader (Lipka n.p). Controversy has been constant over what methods are actually effective, and what methods need to be retired. Since we are a nation that doesn’t have a national language and requires every child to obtain an education, the responsibility to provide one, becomes ours. With more and more immigrants coming from Mexico, the need for a successful bilingual education method is exploding. Educating any student in a language foreign to their own seems ridiculously absurd. One that doesn’t understand the language well can’t obtain anything taught in the foreign language. Although many approaches of bilingual education are used throughout the United States, they all vary in theory and in teaching style. The students have to be thoroughly taught English before joining an English speaking classroom making Immersion the most successful method. During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, bilingual education became an issue, making legislation necessary to help resolve the problem that had been affecting students and families so harshly (Lipka n.p). â€Å"In January 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Bilingual Education Act, which incorporated native-language instruction into the curriculum (Lipka).† Although the Bilingual Education Act was signed, the discrimination didn’t stop. A few years it was found in the court case Lau vs. San Francisco School District that the Bilingual Education Act wasn’t being carried out in their school. The law suit represented 1,800 other students; eight-year-old Kenny Lau sued the San Francisco School District over English-only instruction in a school where most students spoke only Chinese. These students couldn’t learn in the English, because none of the students understood English. â€Å"The Supreme Court ruled that schools without special provisions to education language-minority students are not providing equal education and violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Federal government publishes new materials in nearly seventy languages and allocates sixty-eight million dollars for bilingual education† (PBS n.p). After the Supreme Court hearing things still weren’t better for minority speaking students. Help was needed then, and remains the same today. There are many different methods that educators choose to use in their classrooms, although some are controversial. â€Å"The bilingual programs of today are mostly a product of the Bilingual Education Act (Title VII) passed in 1968† (ECS n.p). Some states have mandated laws that enforce a strict bilingual program that is taught in all public schools in their state, while others aren’t as strict. Some states need the programs more than others. According to ProEnglish, â€Å"15 states account for 94% of students who speak languages other than English in their home.† Therefore, we know that in these fifteen states we must teach English efficiently. These students all speak a native language in their homes, so on the contrary to some beliefs, these students are not easily going to pick up on a native language. Today we know more about educating students of a minority language then we did in the past, but we are still struggling with it today. Some people even believe we should completely throw bilingual education out. If that happens, there wouldn’t be opportunity for those native speaking students. We would have much larger number of non-English speaking Americans, and a lot more citizens that couldn’t find jobs. Lastly, it would be breaking the Civil Rights Laws. There are countless misconceptions about bilingual education. Some even believe that it’s simply a lost cause, but statistics show other wise. â€Å"In 1990, only three percent of U.S. residents reported speaking English less than well or very well. Only eight-tenths of one percent spoke no English at all (Crawford n.p)†. There are many effective methods to teaching these students. Some argue that if taught the native language, it can’t be transferred to the one learned, while this may be difficult for some, it is possible (Crawford n.p). Students would have an easier time transferring their knowledge from their native language opposed to being taught in a language that isn’t understandable at all. Critics complain about the tax dollars we spend to teach these non-English speaking students, but they also complain about all the minorities that have to live on welfare. Maybe if they were better educated it wouldn’t be quite the case. Critics also believe that bilingual education programs aren’t promoting English, but merely teaching students only in their native language. Most every program in the United States promotes the teaching of English in one form or another. Although, they are not trying to remove ones culture and linguistic heritages, they are just preparing them for success in the public school systems and in the English speaking nation we live in. â€Å"According to one study, school districts reported that 28% of limited English proficiency (LEP) elementary school students receive no native-language instruction. Among those who do, about a third receive more than 75% of their instruction in English; a third receive from 40 to 75% in English; and one third of these receive less than 40% in English (Crawford n.p). Hispanic dropouts continue to remain high. There is multiple factors associated with these statistics, such as; family poverty, English proficiency, some simply never even enrolls in school (NCES n.p). â€Å"In 2005, more than one-fifth (22.4 percent) of Hispanics 16 through 24 years of age were dropouts, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES n.p)†. The Hispanic dropout rate can be lowered with good bilingual education plans for teaching those who can’t speak English. The rate is especially high in Mexican immigrants. â€Å"In fact, the status dropout rate of 44.2 percent for Hispanic 16- through 24-year-olds born outside the 50 states and/or the District of Columbia was more than double the rate of 16.1 percent for Hispanic youths born in the United States (NCES n.p)†. These individuals don’t have the education that is necessary to succeed in the United States, which is not fair according to Civil Rights laws. There are multiple causes for the high dropout rate, but their understanding of the language is a leading cause. So, to be equal to all students, we must provide the same opportunity to native-speaking students. Methods are plentiful to educating students whom don’t speak the dominant language, but most generally only a few methods are currently used in public schools in the United States. First, the submersion method, in a submersion program the native speaking student is placed in the classroom right along with the English speaking students (Queen n.p). Students are expected to learn what the other students are being taught even though they may not fully understand the language. You could basically consider this method a â€Å"sink or swim† type of education. It sounds absurd for one to expect another to learn something in a language they cannot even decipher. This method may not be considered Bilingual Education to some because only one language is being used. Even if this is the case, students are still being educated in a language unfamiliar to them. Students cannot understand something they aren’t familiar with. If they seem they are picking up on the language conversationally, they still may not register thoughts in English to actually learn material that is being taught in the classrooms. This method will not work for most students; native speaking students will continue to fall behind. Eventually students won’t be able to catch up with other students their age. Submersion is therefore, no one way for a student to learn anything. Students that fall behind could potentially add to the high statistics in the high dropout rates. Many schools today have English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, such as the Scott County School district uses today. This is when a non-English speaking student is placed in English speaking classrooms for part of their classes, while for others they go to an ESL classroom. When in the ESL classroom they concentrate on learning English to succeed in their English speaking classes. This method can be very effective if the student’s participate, but if they fall behind there is going to be many hardships catching up. Some students will never catch up to their age group in school and won’t finish their education (Queen n.p). Students in ESL programs aren’t given enough time to learn the language well enough to succeed; therefore the time they spend in English speaking classrooms could be considered useless to some. If they’re not understanding of the language, this seems like a waste of the student’s time. It can also be an imposition to the English speaking students in the classroom. Special time and attention would have to be given to these native-speaking students. That time would then take away from the English-speaking student’s education. Students aren’t actually taking in anything they’re learning, other than picking up on a few English words, then this is a waste of time to not only the teachers that aren’t qualified to teach them, but to the English speaking students in the classroom as well. Minority students must receive intensive instruction, since the drop out rate of non-English speaking students in the public system is so high, measures must be drastic. â€Å"The General Accounting Office reported in February 2001 that out of 70 studies reviewed; only three focused specifically on how long it took students to attain English proficiency. General estimates ranged from four to eight years (ECS n.p).† Therefore we know that learning a foreign language enough to learn isn’t easily done and it isn’t necessarily a speedy process. We have to give intensive instruction, and we must not give up on these students. This method isn’t effective enough though, it takes years to learn English in ESL programs as researchers have found. Being as this method takes so long, there is not time for students to keep up with their classes. Many students will not succeed, and will never accomplish what is required to graduate high school. One of the biggest controversies schools and state legislators are facing is the argument with immersion versus Bilingual Education. The ESL method is used a frequently in the U.S, but many ESL supporters are starting to follow the new immersion trend, because it doesn’t take students as much time to learn English. Immersion method of teaching students are intensively taught English for a period of time, for example one school year. After they have learned English well enough to understand, and to actually have the chance to learn English. They are placed back again in English speaking classes and that’s where they will continue their education. Immersion can stop students from dropping-out and falling behind. Critics argue this is just a loss of time, but with ESL they are in the long run loosing even more time. â€Å"At a leadership meeting a participant decided to speak up, she was an ESL teacher. She said, Research shows that it takes five to seven years for a student to master English well enough to succeed in a mainstream classroom, she said, adding that this finding was only for children who were already proficient in their first language. For kids without good language skills of any kind, it takes 10 years, said the teacher† (Triangle Business Journal N.P). Students that don’t speak well enough English get thrown into English speaking classrooms that they are not ready to be. Upon this happening students continue to fall behind and could be accounted for such high dropout rates in native speaking students, especially in the Hispanic students. Native-speaking students will have a hard time understanding material in English when you present it before they truly understand enough but, if you make sure they understand the English first, teaching them in English is going to be much more effective and that should be a given. Bilingual Education will be effective in different ways for all different students. Any language students learn differently, some like more visual aide, while others like lots of verbal explanation. That being said, there is no difference in teaching students of another language. Every student has similar basic needs, therefore there should be a basic method used everywhere. We can’t expect these students to sink or swim; a good method must be used. Since most of these students don’t have any sort of an English background at home, then educators can’t expect them to receive any help from the home. So, all the English has to come from the school. Since every student is going to learn at their own pace, we must teach them extensively, without doing so understanding English will not come quick enough. Teaching them English isn’t taking them away from any of their native culture; it’s preparing them for success in the United States. Preparing students for success in English educators will be abiding the civil rights law, and offering each student the same education. If parents don’t want their child speaking two languages or learning English, they should take their child to a private school that will only teach their child in their native language. Although, most native-speaking parents want their children to be fluent in English as well as the language they speak at home. There are also so many advantages to being bilingual today. When traveling foreign countries one could commute with others. It also leads to exposure to both cultures, and one will become more culturally diverse. If one wanted to move to another for another country for any different reason they would have an easier time adjusting. The United States today there are many different language being spoke all over, all the time. Employers look for multi-lingual speaking employees so that they can meet everyone’s needs. Places such as the hospital, multi-language speaking employees are essential, because not only do English speaking patients come in, as well a lot of other native-speaking patients. Scott City and surrounding areas there are a lot of Spanish speaking people, whom need the same things English speaking people do. Therefore, offering one who is bilingual on the job is going to help tremendously. Since the United States has no official language, I suppose we can’t expect everyone to speak English. According to ProEnglish, over 30 states have adopted English as their official language. Some federal legislation implicitly standardizes English (Wikipedia n.p). Knowing English could almost be considered essential to survive and succeed in this English speaking country. â€Å"According to the 2000 census, the United states has 215 million that are speaking English. While only 28 million speak Spanish, and next a Chinese language who has about two million speaking in the United States (Wikipedia n.p). This should be enough proof to any educator or legislator that knowing English is essential. If one is bilingual in English and Spanish, then even better. English is most essential to be successful in the United States. There are endless reasons that knowing English in the United States that would be essential to anyone. The United States is the â€Å"land of the free†, so there is not law stating one must speak the most commonly spoken language: English. To be exact about ninety-six percent of Americans speak English (Wikipedia n.p). To be successful, one will want to understand the language. Most colleges in the United States are all taught in English, although you could go to a school speaking your language, the majority will be teaching in English. Students that want to succeed and go to state colleges they’re going to need to understand English. The opportunity is available for all students, but some might have it harder with the different method that’s used in schools across the United States. All methods can work in teaching students; some are just more successful than others. We must educate these native-speaking students so that they have the equal opportunity that English-speaking students do. The need for bilingual education is astronomical; it’s simply what’s right. Students need to learn English to have the same opportunity for success as others. Some might even have more opportunity once they are fluent in more than one language. The point is we need a good program that works efficiently to educate every native-speaking student in the United States. All the methods have their perks, but we need the most effective and efficient program to teach these minority students. The submersion method doesn’t help any student that is struggling with English, they simply sink or swim. The method might be cheaper, but it will not help any student with the need for Bilingual Education. The only advantage some consider is budgeting. The English as a Second Language program defiantly is a step-up from the Submersion program, but it shows many weaknesses as well. The program wastes time with students in English-speaking classrooms, that don’t even understand the language. Although they are being taught English, and have an instructor also teaching in their native language, the teaching of English, simply isn’t intense enough. That’s why Immersion is the best way to educate these minority students that cannot speak English, although they may loose a year of education, they are not going to fall behind anymore than that. When they finish the program, they will be able to understand and speak English. When they are put into English-speaking classrooms they will understand everything being taught. This is what we need for these native students to keep up with the English speaking students. This will minimize minorities’ falling behind; dropout rates, and maximizes English understanding. Immersion is the best way to teach these students, and will in turn help these students succeed to fullest of their potential. Immersion makes Bilingual Education is faster and more successful. When structured English immersion plans were used in California, â€Å"after two years of instruction, students made significant gains in reading and writing in English as well as math, relative to students’ nationwide taking the Stanford 9, most of whom are native English speakers (NCPA n.p)†. This seems proof enough, that immersion is the way to teach our minority students English successfully. Citations: 1. National Center for Educational Statistics. Student Effort and Educational Process.n.d. 2006. 10 April 2009 . 2. Education Commision of the States. n.d. 11 April 2009 . 3. Queen, Robin. Bilingual Education. 2005. 12 April 2009 . 4. Jones, Madison and Renee Bou-Waked. School Choice and Hispanic Dropouts. 12 November 2007. 8 April 2009 . 5. Crawford, James. Ten Common Fallacies about Bilingual Education. November 1998. 7 April 2009 . 6. Hood, John. Immersion vs. bilingual education.†Triangle Business Journal (1997): n.p. 7. Lipka, Sara. The Battle Over Bilingual Education. The Atlantic Online (2002): n.p. 8. PBS. Master Time Line. n.d. 10 April 2009 . 9. ProEnglish. The status of bilingual education in America. n.d. 8 April 2009 . 10. Wikipedia. Languages of the United States. n.d. 9 April 2009. .

Neural Cells as Harmony Detectors :: Neurology Brain Essays

Neural Cells as Harmony Detectors The issues of harmony have notably low profile in the current AI research. Meanwhile, when it comes to brain architecture, harmony plays the central role. As we hope to demonstrate in this essay, neural cells act primarily as local harmony detectors. On a less local scale, the consensus is that perceptions correspond to certain stable periodic patterns of neuron firing. A harmony-based architecture would probably be more successful than current AI paradigms. It would help here to recall the basics of neuron firing theory. In the rest state neuron membrane typically has electrochemical polarization potential of 70 millivolts. When the firing impulse comes to the neuron from another neuron via the corresponding synapse (the site of their connection), this polarization potential changes, typically by 1-2 millivolts or less. If the polarization potential decreases beyond the threshold of approximately 60 or 55 millivolts, the neuron fires, otherwise the polarization potential tends to rapidly relax to the original rest level of 70 millivolts. Hence, when the reception of an impulse via a synapse decreases the membrane polarization potential of the receiving neuron, we call this synaptic connection excitatory, because the decrease of the polarization potential makes it easier to fire for our neuron. Otherwise, the synaptic connection is called inhibitory. Because the reception of an impulse changes the polarization potential by at most 2 millivolts and because the polarization potential tends to rapidly relax back to 70 millivolts, the neuron can fire only if it receives several (from 4 to more than a dozen) impulses via excitatory connections simultaneously or in a very quick succession. Hence the neuron works as a detector of several excitatory impulses coming almost simultaneously. So we can say that the neuron detects the harmony between its incoming impulses. Now we shall turn to learning mechanisms in the brain, and observe that the local learning (on the level of one neuron) is directed towards detecting this harmony even better. As we have noted, the reception of an impulse changes the polarization potential usually by 2 millivolts or less. The actual value of this change is usually called synaptic strength. This value is not constant, but changes with time. This ability of synaptic strength to change is the key mechanism of neural learning and is called synaptic plasticity. The most typical rule of synaptic plasticity for excitatory connection works approximately as follows. If a neuron fires shortly after receiving an excitatory impulse (i.

Understanding Stroke Essay -- health

Understanding Stroke Diagnosis and Clinical Features of Stroke Several researchers have attempted to determine the general public's knowledge about stroke risk factors and warning signs. The most commonly cited risk factors were hypertension and stress; the most frequently identified warning signs were dizziness, severe headaches, and unspecified weakness. Knowledge about warning signs may prompt early recognition of strokes and, hence increase the speed and aggressiveness with which people seek medical attention. The five stroke warning signs identified by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and stroke include: (a) sudden weakness of the face, arm, or leg on one side of the body; (b) sudden dimness or loss of vision particularly in one eye; (c) sudden difficulty speaking or trouble understanding speech; (d)sudden severe headache with no known cause; and (e) unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness, or sudden falls. These symptoms are seen especially in conjunction with other warning signs. Facts about Stroke Strokes are the most common cause of disability and leading cause of death in the United States. Estimates of the number of stroke survivors in the United States exceed 3 million, and nearly 150,000 Americans died from stroke in 1995. The frequency with which strokes occur and the devastating effects they can have on survivors and their families make provision of general information about prevention and management an essential element of public health education. Previous researchers have found that between 14% and 40% of adults cannot name a single risk factor associated with stroke. This is reason for concern among the medical community. Neuropathology/Neurochemically speaking Ischaemic str... ...rain. Glutamate antagonists have been successful in treating various animal models of epilepsy and by effectively protecting against epilepsy brain damage. Works Cited Albers, MD, Gregory W. (1997). Rationale for Early Intervention in Acute Stroke. The American Journal of Cardiology. 80:4(3); 4D-10D. Atkinson, R. P.; & DeLemos, C. (2000). Acute Ischemic Stroke Management. Thrombosis Research. 98:3; 97-111. Koroshetz, W. J.; & Moskowitz, M. A. (1996). Emerging treatments for stroke in humans. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences. 17:6 (Jun); 227-233. Lees, K.R. (1991). Therapeutic interventions in acute stroke. Brit J Clin Pharmacol. 34; 486-493. Rothman, S.M.; & Olney, J.W. (1986). Glutamate and the pathophysiology of Hypoxic-Ischemic brain damage. Ann Neurol. 19; 105-111. For information Stroke: http://www.caregiver.org/factsheets/stroke.html

Information About Strategic Teaching, Strategic Learning and Thinking Skills Essay

Teachers, whether brand new to the classroom, or veterans of many years of service, are always looking for ways to make what they do more effective and more efficient. That even goes for students in teacher preparation programs, as well it should. Efficiency is a measure of what is obtained (results) in relation to what was expended (resources). Effectiveness is a bit more elusive. To be sure, effectiveness in anything, including teaching, can be difficult to describe and to measure. The following is a discussion about some fundamental principles that may lead to actual improvement of instruction. Please read on. In order to use any instructional technique effectively, anyone who teaches must, of necessity, understand the fundamental principles and assumptions upon which the specific technique is based. There is certainly no shortage of descriptions or labels for activities that may be classified as pertaining to instruction. From the ever-popular lecture method to complex student-teacher, student-student interactions, instruction encompasses a broad range of teacher behaviors. At one end (the lecture method) the teacher is an imparter of information, and the students are the intended recipients of the information the teacher imparts. At the other end of the range of teacher behaviors are methods in which teachers interact with students in vastly more complex ways. Most researchers and experts in the field are in agreement that the most permanent and meaningful learning takes place at this end of the range. Strategic teaching, and, concomitantly, strategic learning are techniques in which significant student-teacher interaction and resultant learning and thinking are at the high end of the scale. To learn strategic teaching techniques, and to foster the ability of students to engage in strategic learning, it is important to define some terms. In fact, one of the principles of strategic teaching is to define terms. Below are terms that are relevant to this process. Strategic teaching describes instructional processes that focus directly on fostering student thinking, but goes well beyond that. Strategic teaching and strategic learning are inexorably linked. A strategic teacher has an understanding of the variables of instruction and is aware of the cognitive requirements of learning. In such an awareness, comes a sense of timing and a style of management. The strategic teacher is one who: 1. s a thinker and decision maker; 2. possesses a rich knowledge base; 3. is a modeler and a mediator of instruction. Variables of instruction refer to those factors that strategic teachers consider in order to develop instruction. These variables, as the name implies, change, and therefore the teacher must be aware of the nature of change as well as the actual variables themselves. These variables are: 1. characteristics of the learner; 2. material to be learned (curriculum content); 3. the criterial task (the goals and outcomes the teacher and learner designate); 4. earning strategies (goal directed activities in which learners engage). In teaching content at the elementary, middle, or secondary level, the strategic teacher helps guide instruction by focusing on learning strategies that foster thinking skills in relation to the content. In connecting new information to what a student already knows, learning becomes more meaningful, and not simply retained for test-taking purposes. There are numerous strategies that teachers can develop that accomplish this purpose. To give one information is not difficult, but to help one be able to develop the tools to both know what information is relevant and the means to acquire it, is perhaps the most important function of any social studies teacher. There are numerous techniques for engaging students in thinking about content. Besides thinking skills, there are such practical matters as how best to present a lesson on weather, teaching map and globe skills, helping students work together in groups, how to question effectively, and how to answer student questions. The first and foremost criterion is that the teacher thoroughly know the content, the second criterion is that the teacher have a set of rules for classroom management that are understood and implemented, and the third criterion is that the teacher have the resourcefulness and knowledge to rehearse unfamiliar techniques, and more importantly, have the capacity to adjust any lesson plan to maintain academic focus. Many of these tasks are learned on-the-job. Nothing you can learn in any course is more valuable than learning what to do when you don’t know what to do. When you can do that, you are well on your way to becoming a great teacher. Strategic Learning Strategic learning is, in effect, a highly probable outcome of effective strategic teaching. Reduced to its essentials, strategic learning is learning in which students construct their own meanings, and in the process, become aware of their own thinking. The link between teaching, thinking, and learning is critical. As a teacher, if you are not causing your students to think about what you are presenting, discussing, demonstrating, mediating, guiding, or directing, then you are not doing an effective job. You must be more than a dispenser of information. You must create conditions and an environment that encourages thinking, deepens and broadens it, and which causes students to become aware of how they think. The process of thinking about how we think is referred to as metacognition. In helping students create knowledge, it is useful to think of knowledge as occupying space that can be thought of as a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid is declarative knowledge, or knowledge of â€Å"what is. † Declarative knowledge is akin to awareness. One step up on the pyramid is procedural knowledge, or knowledge of â€Å"how something works, or functions. † At the top of the pyramid is conditional knowledge, or knowledge of â€Å"when or why† a particular procedure will work. Conditional knowledge is closely related to the predictive function of knowledge. When students develop a broad and deep system of conditional knowledge, they are able to predict more accurately, solve problems more efficiently, and in a sense, are more free because they can identify and articulate more options from which to choose. Strategic learning is a valuable system to help your students develop conditional knowledge. Content Connections The creation of knowledge is, in the most practical and profound sense, a primary and direct result of learning. As teachers, we must strive to assist our students to develop intellectual tools by which they can create knowledge. Any knowledge, once created, becomes a part of a larger system that enhances learning and is capable of integrating and accommodating new information with greater efficiency and reliability. Each person creates knowledge in similar, yet uniquely distinct ways. Connecting information provided or described by others in novel and personal ways is a key to learning and developing knowledge. The more one â€Å"knows,† the more one can know. The idea of content links or connections is not exactly new, but offers some unique opportunities to chart your own course, learn, and add to your knowledge system. Enter the idea of Constructivism. Constructivism is a philosophy as well as a psychology of education. Constructivism is about how knowledge is created.

Opposition to the New Deal essays

Opposition to the New Deal essays Why was there opposition to the New Deal? In many ways the New Deal turned out to be a success. It clearly stopped the Depression from getting worse; gave hope and confidence to the American people at the worst tome in their history; and saved American democracy. But why did it face so much opposition and criticism. Firstly, many people believed that the New Deal went against the basic principles of the American constitution. Many people, including the Republicans, thought that the government should not interfere with the economy or help the poor, i.e. there should be policy of laissez faire. However, Roosevelt defied this by setting up social welfare systems and by setting up the National Industry Recovery Act. Later on, however, the Supreme Court decided that several of Roosevelts laws were unconstitutional and they were subsequently vetoed. Moreover, after Roosevelts victory in the 1936 election, Roosevelt grew so confident that he felt he could replace members of the Supreme Court with people chosen by himself. However, this did no go down well with the American public and as a result many people began to oppose Roosevelt and his policies. Secondly, the New Deal meant that the rich were taxed more in order to pay for the schemes to help the poor. Many business leaders also opposed Roosevelts support for trade unions and employee rights. Wealthy business organisations, such as the American Liberty League, opposed Roosevelt. As they did not like the way the New Deal interfered with business. Thirdly, more serious opposition came from radicals, such as Louisiana state senator Huey Long, who believed the government and the New Deal had not done enough to stop poverty and unemployment. Long called for taxation of the rich and the total confiscation of all fortunes over $5 million. His Share our Wealth scheme, Long claimed, would give each American family $6,000 to spend. T...

Precycling The Essence of Conservation essays

Precycling The Essence of Conservation essays Precycling: The Essence of Conservation As we shift into a new millennium, our society must face the pressing environmental issues that we have ignored for so long. The earths resources have dwindled tremendously and unnecessarily in recent years. People need to start saving our precious resources through precycling. Precycling, a fancy word for waste reduction, is any activity that prevents or minimizes the toxicity or quantity of waste. This would include product reuse, increased product life, reduced material and energy use in product design, and changing purchasing and waste producing habits. Toxicity reduction includes changes in product and packaging designs, and purchasing reusable toxic items rather than disposable ones. Precycling should be a higher priority than any of the other waste management methods, including recycling. Waste reduction is the most environmentally friendly form of waste management because, unlike other methods, there is no need to process or transport materials. As a result energy and resources are saved. Source reduction is hardly an issue with companies and consumers. It seems like a contest of who can put the most excessive packaging on their products. The good news is that the decisions we make every day can support precycling in a big way. Schools can be role models for precycling and plant a seed for students to take action. At Ashland High School, the back side of paper should never be wasted. Printers (with available technology) should print on both sides as well. On assignments done at home, homework could be put on a disk and given to the teacher to view, rather than be printed out for one-time viewing. Reusable plates and utensils should be used in the cafeteria rather than wasting hundreds of paper plates every lunch hour. While precycling can be accomplished at AHS, students need to be informed on what they can do in their own lives to save our resources. It’...

Orca (Killer Whale - Orcinus orca) Facts

Orca (Killer Whale - Orcinus orca) Facts The killer whale, also known as the orca, is one of the most well-known types of whales. Killer whales are commonly the star attractions at large aquariums and due to these aquariums and movies, may also be known as Shamu or Free Willy. Despite their somewhat derogatory name and large, sharp teeth, fatal interactions between killer whales and humans in the wild have never been reported. (Read more about fatal interactions with captive orcas). Description With their spindle-like shape and beautiful, crisp black and white markings, killer whales are striking and unmistakable. The maximum length of killer whales is 32 feet in males and 27 feet in females. They can weigh up to 11 tons (22,000 pounds). All killer whales have dorsal fins, but the males is larger than females, sometimes reaching 6 feet tall. Like many other Odontocetes, killer whales live in organized family groups, called pods, which range in size from 10-50 whales. Individuals are identified and studied using their natural markings, which include a grayish-white saddle behind the whales dorsal fin. Classification Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaOrder: CetaceaSuborder: OdontocetiFamily: DelphinidaeGenus: OrcinusSpecies: orca While killer whales were long considered to be one species, there now appear to be many species, or at least subspecies, of killer whales. These species/subspecies differ genetically and also in appearance. Habitat and Distribution According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, killer whales are second only to humans as the most widely distributed mammal in the world. Even though they range across temperate areas of the oceans, killer whale populations are more concentrated around Iceland and northern Norway, along the northwestern coast of the U.S. and Canada, in the Antarctic and Canadian Arctic. Feeding Killer whales eat a wide array of prey, including fish, sharks, cephalopods, sea turtles, seabirds (e.g., penguins) and even other marine mammals (e.g., whales, pinnipeds). They have 46-50 cone-shaped teeth that they use to grasp their prey. Killer Whale Residents and Transients The well-studied population of killer whales off the western coast of North America has revealed that there are two separate, isolated populations of killer whales known as residents and transients. Residents prey on fish and move according to the migrations of salmon, and transients prey primarily on marine mammals such as pinnipeds, porpoises, and dolphins, and may even feed on seabirds. Resident and transient killer whale populations are so different that they dont socialize with each other and their DNA is different. Other populations of killer whales are not as well studied, but scientists think that this food specialization might occur in other areas as well. Scientists are now learning more about a third type of killer whale, called offshores, which live in the area from British Columbia, Canada to California, dont interact with resident or transient populations, and are not usually seen inshore. Their food preferences are still being studied. Reproduction Killer whales are sexually mature when they are 10-18 years old. Mating seems to take place throughout the year. The gestation period is 15-18 months, after which a calf about 6-7 feet long is born. Calves weigh about 400 pounds at birth and will nurse for 1-2 years. Females have calves every 2-5 years. In the wild, it is estimated that 43% of calves die within the first 6 months (Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, p.672). Females reproduce until they are about 40 years old. Killer whales are estimated to live between 50-90 years, with females generally living longer than males. Conservation Since 1964, when the first killer whale was captured for display in an aquarium in Vancouver, they have been a popular show animal, a practice that is becoming more controversial. Until the 1970s, killer whales were captured off the western coast of North America, until populations there began to decrease. Subsequently, since the late 1970s, killer whales captured in the wild for aquariums have mostly been taken from Iceland. Today, breeding programs exist in many aquariums and that has lessened the need for wild captures. Killer whales have also been hunted for human consumption or because of their predation on commercially-valuable fish species. They are also threatened by pollution, with the population off British Columbia and Washington state having extremely high levels of PCBs. Sources: American Cetacean Society. 2004. Orca (Killer Whale). (Online). American Cetacean Society Fact Sheet. Accessed February 27, 2010.Kinze, Carl Christian. 2001. Marine Mammals of the North Atlantic. Princeton University Press.Mead, James G. and Joy P. Gould. 2002. Whales and Dolphins In Question. Smithsonian Institution.Perrin, William F., Bernd Wursig and J.G.M. Thewissen. 2002. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press.

Summarize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Summarize - Essay Example Thus, much of the first chapter of her book is structured as justification for her research. The first focus of justification is proving that the research is new and necessary. Scully supports this claim by pointing to an androcentric bias in the sciences and the need for feminist research within the world of the men. According to Scully, the science behind this topic has traditionally been conducted from the perspective of men, focused on what men feel to be important and revealed what men understand to be the issues. When all of the studies on the rapists and their motivations is conducted by men, the female perspective remains lost, there remains a lack of understanding and the feminist literature risks the same glaring mistake made by the male literature in that the case of the other gender is kept mysterious. Having proven to her satisfaction that the research is required, Scully then justifies her choice of subject. She openly acknowledges the difficulty of accurately determining the size and characteristics of the male population that rapes, the low proportion of convicted perpetrators to probable actual perpetrators and the difficulty of finding rapists who have never been convicted to interview. From this point, she moves on to discuss why convicted, imprisoned rapists are the best candidates for her research because they are the most likely to disprove her theory. This section closes with her sampling strategy for choosing candidates for the research study. As she talks about her personal experience within the prisons, Scully reveals the conditions she found within, how that affects the prisoners on a psychological level and how that made her feel while she was visiting. She uses existing literature to support her hypothesis that the men would be more willing to talk with her because she was a woman and

Individual Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Individual Assignment - Essay Example The company chose to deal with water, a vital commodity over which, because of public interest, they could not raise prices too high without becoming the target of negative sentiments. This means that MIBW4A will be trapped perpetually in narrow profit margins. Underreporting is a real concern, because there is no way for MIBW4A to oversee sales. The revenue sharing agreement, where water vendors receive 20% and MIBW4A 80%, in unrealistic, given that the water which comprises the product is provided by water vendors, the cost they shoulder. MIBW4A will be more justified to charge a flat rate for rental. There is no reason why the vendors could not purchase their own filters and get 100% of their own sales, instead of turning over 80% to MIBW4A. Slow Sand Filtration is inferior to the 10-stage, or other multistage, standard water filtration system. There are more strategic, technological, and operational weaknesses in the business plans for MIBW4A, that there is greater reason to beli eve that it shall be more unfeasible than feasible. 2. What conclusions can you draw from your analysis of the financial statements? The financial statements are not realistic projections of the likely financial performance of the proposed business. On the following pages, the ratios of the pro forma financial statements, and the horizontal and vertical analysis of the balance sheet and income statement, are presented. Since the company shall not rely on short-term or long-term borrowings or liabilities, there are no liquidity or solvency ratios to speak of. All financing will be by equity (Atril & McLaney, 2008). This in itself is financially unsound, because the business does not explore the profit magnifying power of financial leverage. Fixed asset and total asset turnovers appear rosy, but this not being a manufacturing concern, reliance on these ratios is not significant. The firm has no major fixed assets directly related to its production except the filters, its contract, and its vehicles. Of these, only the vehicles are of real, tangible value, because the filters and contract are only as valuable as their perceived usefulness allows. Obsolescence and lack of market interest could drive the value of these assets to almost nothing very quickly. There being no cost of goods sold, there is no gross profit margin. The net profit margin is high at 59% and 61%, while the ROI (which is also the ROE since equity financed all the assets) is high for the second year at 96% but drops by 30 percentage points to 60% for the third year. Again, these ratios could not be relied upon because there appear to be significant elements which were not considered in the forecasting of revenues and costs. (Sources: Paramasivan, et al., 2008; Shim, et al., 2008) The common-size balance sheet (vertical analysis) on the next page shows each account as a ratio of total assets. A huge proportion of the assets are in cash, indicating that the company is under-invested. Keeping huge amounts of cash is unproductive; where these funds are not needed to be invested in the company’s business, it should be put in marketable securities such as safe government bonds or treasury bills. The horizontal analysis points to the

Week 7 didcussion 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 7 didcussion 1 - Essay Example The lower level sexual offenders register for short periods, while more violent sexual assault offenders register for life. Many states have stiffened the punishments regarding sexual offenses, where some have attempted evaluating the death penalty for particular sexual assaults. Enforcement and convictions might be improved through capacity of the DNA analysis within the public crimes laboratories. Provide finances to local and state crime labs to help eradicate casework backlogs. The funding should abolish the database of the convicted offender and initiate aggressive programs to amass exhibits from the convicted offenders. Failure to comply with the requirements of registration should result in the filing of new charges. The sexual battery or sexual assault information should be posted online to enhance publicity (Buzawa, 2002, p. 78). The use of sexually explicit materials such as films, photographs, computer, videos, and other visual depictions is sexual abuse, which can cause psychological or physical harm to the minors involved. Besides shielding individual minors, regulating the child pornography, which gets produced by self, helps the state and congress to regulate child pornography to protect society and children (Zhang, 2010, p. 257). The fact is that, sexting of minors via any form of pornographic images affect all children deleteriously through a perception that children are sex objects. This can lead to further sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Sexting of minors generates an unwholesome atmosphere. The mental, emotional, and psychological development of children gets affected, thus destabilizes the parent’s efforts to encourage the sound, emotional, moral, and mental development of

Research Report - Esprit Holdings (Management Accounting) Essay

Research Report - Esprit Holdings (Management Accounting) - Essay Example We consider the lifestyle and home division to analyze the costing method that is used in this division. This division produces such products as jewels, eye wear, umbrellas, baby carriage, toys and stationery. The most appropriate costing method used in this division is the job costing method, this is due to the fact that each of the above named products produced undergo different activities to achieve the quality and product desired. For example the activities involved in making of jewels are different from the activities involved in the making of toys, for this reason therefore the most appropriate method is the job order costing method that allocates appropriate overheads to the products produced. In the production of lifestyle and home products a number of department are involved, these include the production departments and the support departments. Production departments include the manufacturing department and the quality control department. Support departments include the human resource department, the administration department and the marketing and sales department. These entire departments are important in the smooth running of the company. All companies have costs that are incurred in the production of products, the lifestyle and home division has these costs which include the variable and overhead costs. Some of the major costs include electricity and power costs which are incurred through lighting and the running of machinery in the manufacturing department. The other cost is labor cost which includes direct and indirect labor costs; the production process requires labor while indirect labor costs are evident from the administration and human resource department. Material cost is also a cost incurred by the division and the material costs depend on the product being produced, example material used to make jewels are more expensive than he

Teaching Philosophy Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Teaching Philosophy Statement - Essay Example Due to this, I believe that education should be handled specifically and not generally. This does not necessarily mean that each student should have his or her own teacher, but it simply means that each student should be given attention by the teacher individually depending on their learning capability. I believe that my duty as a teacher entails steering my students on how to gain education by guiding them on how to be knowledgeable by emphasizing that the only way they will be triumphant in their school life is if they accept that the teacher will only guide them through their education and he or she is not he actual source of education. In order to gain knowledge, students need to acquire information through research and practicing what they have learnt. The young generation is the hope for a better tomorrow. Due to this, I believe that rectifying past mistakes in education will see to it that everyone has a better future. Perspectives in the past where teachers are viewed as authority figures should not exist anymore. I aim at creating a personal relationship with my students, where they will view me as a friend who is there to guide them into a bright future. This relationship will ensure that students aim at excelling in their school work in order to have a successful future and not as a result of the punishment they expect from me if the do not. One major function of education is to promote peace and harmony. I believe that as a teacher, I should promote unity and understanding among my students. This means that I will ensure that all my students have tolerance with each other irrespective of ones ethnicity, nationality, gender and race. I will do this by using methods such as group assignments. I will give my students group assignments which must be done as a group. I will ensure that these groups are composed of students from different backgrounds, hence embrace diversity. This will be a vital

Research Report - Esprit Holdings (Management Accounting) Essay

Research Report - Esprit Holdings (Management Accounting) - Essay Example We consider the lifestyle and home division to analyze the costing method that is used in this division. This division produces such products as jewels, eye wear, umbrellas, baby carriage, toys and stationery. The most appropriate costing method used in this division is the job costing method, this is due to the fact that each of the above named products produced undergo different activities to achieve the quality and product desired. For example the activities involved in making of jewels are different from the activities involved in the making of toys, for this reason therefore the most appropriate method is the job order costing method that allocates appropriate overheads to the products produced. In the production of lifestyle and home products a number of department are involved, these include the production departments and the support departments. Production departments include the manufacturing department and the quality control department. Support departments include the human resource department, the administration department and the marketing and sales department. These entire departments are important in the smooth running of the company. All companies have costs that are incurred in the production of products, the lifestyle and home division has these costs which include the variable and overhead costs. Some of the major costs include electricity and power costs which are incurred through lighting and the running of machinery in the manufacturing department. The other cost is labor cost which includes direct and indirect labor costs; the production process requires labor while indirect labor costs are evident from the administration and human resource department. Material cost is also a cost incurred by the division and the material costs depend on the product being produced, example material used to make jewels are more expensive than he

Homeland Security HLSS311 Forum 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homeland Security HLSS311 Forum 5 - Assignment Example Sometimes, immigrants are not those good people you expected to be. In the case whereby the immigrants have some unfinished business with the host nation, they might come and cause insecurity in the host nation. They come expecting to kill and perform acts of terrorism. In such cases, illegal immigration should be made a priority in dealing with a countrys security. Sometimes, when the illegal immigrants are running away from their country because of certain contagious and infectious diseases, they will pose the host country at a risk of spreading the diseases. This will not auger well with the welfare of this country (Peter, 2000). The enemy is that person who comes illegally into another country with the intention of doing some arm there. The enemy might come to conduct illegal business, cause insecurity or cause war. We are, therefore, supposed to protect our borders from such illegal immigrants who come in the form of an enemy. Through protecting our borders, we will be able to control spread of diseases, prevent illegal trade, prevent human trafficking and other illegal activities that immigrants might want to perform in the new country. A terrorist is one of the enemies that were protecting our boarders from. Therefore, being an enemy cannot be categorized as being more than terrorism since all cause us harm as a country. Terrorism, therefore, causes destruction just the same way enemies can cause destruction (David, 2008). Border enforcement enhances health concerns. This is to say, when we take good care of our boarders, we can prevent transmission and spread of some transnational diseases, hence making a country remain safe from such kind of diseases. Therefore, it is important to improve border enforcement in order to improve public health and safety concerns (Marc, Jerome, & Kristin,

The Russian Civil War Essay Example for Free

The Russian Civil War Essay The Russian Civil War remains one of the more brutal wars in Russia’s history. Considering the brutal combat that the Russian army faced in the horrid conditions of World War One and World War Two, to refer to the Russian Civil War as a more brutal endeavor is a grand claim; however, when one considers the cost of lives and the tearing apart of the homeland, it is not a stretch to lay that claim on the shoulders of the Civil War. What complicates the Bolshevik involvement in the Russian Civil War is the fact that the Bolsheviks prescribed to a state central authoritarian system of government. In other words, the Bolsheviks believed that the state was the center of all authority and that it should be comprised of one political party. In short, the Bolsheviks were fighting for totalitarianism. Needless to say, this does not paint a picture of a faction that had universal appeal among the public. In order to centralize any problems with competing political factions, the Bolsheviks outlawed other political parties. Such an action shows that there was possible belief that perhaps the Bolsheviks ability to maintain popularity in the hearts and minds of the population was on shaky ground. By firmly establishing an authoritarian rule, the Bolsheviks were ‘surviving’ as opposed to winning both on the battlefield and in the court of public opinion. Therein lays the central problem: if the Bolsheviks were to win the Civil War, they would need to defeat the huge volume of people in the nation who were greatly opposed to the system of government that the Bolsheviks represented. In winning, the defeated factions would have to be integrated into the Russian society and, in some cases, subjugated. Is this really a win or is it the case of the Bolsheviks using military force to impose their rule on a society that did not want them. To a certain degree, the Bolshevik victory was a matter of the party surviving (it would have been dissolved in the face of a loss in the same manner the opposition parties were dissolved by the Bolsheviks) and the ability to rule was performed by subjugating all opposition and suppressing any pretext of freedom or democratic socialism. (Keep in mind, socialism could have been instituted without totalitarian authoritarianism, but the militaristic approach was the one preferred by the Bolsheviks) When examining the Soviet Union and its place in history, one needs to ask the question as to what was the Soviet Union’s legacy. To a great extent, the Soviet Union was a colossal failure that squandered the minds and the will of a great people. The Soviet Union was little more than a military-industrial complex that invaded, conquered and occupied nations that despised being under the Soviet sphere of influence. Furthermore, the concept of the utopian socialist fantasyland was exactly that, a grim fairy tale fantasy where over sixty-million people living in nations that prescribed to the philosophy of communism died from famine. When it comes to the Bolshevik’s success in the Russian Civil war, what was it that the Bolshevik’s accomplished other than the establishment of a failed military-industrial complex state? To that degree, winning the Russian Civil War was hardly a win in the sense of, say, a former colony winning independence. Ultimately, the survival of the Bolsheviks after the Russian Civil war is hardly celebratory as the eventual establishment of the Stalin regime and the advent of the long and hard Cold War hangs a dark cloud over any perceived victory the Bolsheviks could claim.

FePt Nanoparticle Films Under in-situ Applied Magnetic Field

FePt Nanoparticle Films Under in-situ Applied Magnetic Field Synthesis and characteristics of FePt nanoparticle films under in-situ applied magnetic field Mo-Yun Gao, Xu Qian, Ai-Dong Li*, Xiao-Jie Liu, Yan-Qiang Cao, Chen Li, Di Wu Abstract FePt nanoparticle with L10-phase has extremely high magnetocrystalline anisotropy, good chemical stability, and resistance to oxidation, and has been considered as the most promising candidate for untra-high-density magnetic recording media. In this work, in-situ magnetic field was applied during the synthesis of FePt nanoparticles via a chemical solution method. FePt nanoparticle films were prepared by a dropping method. The effect of in-situ applied magnetic field on the structure, morphology and magnetic properties of FePt nanoparticle films was characterized. Under magnetic field as-synthesized FePt nanoparticles are monodispersed and can be self-assembled over larger area by a dropping method. The chemically ordered L10-phase FePt can be obtained after annealing at 700  °C for 60 min in forming gas (7% H2+93% Ar). It is revealed that applied magnetic field during the synthesis of FePt nanoparticles not only significantly improves the nanoparticles’ c-axis preferred orientation with the larger perpendicular c-axis preferred orientation degree D(001) of 3.47, but also benefits the phase transition of FePt nanoparticles from fcc to fct structure during the annealing process. The FePt nanoparticle films synthes ized under magnetic field also shows some magnetic anisotropy. Keywords: L10-phase FePt; Chemical solution synthesis; Applied magnetic field; C-axis oriented; Magnetic anisotropy 1. Introduction With the rapid development of magnetic recording technique, the superparamagnetic effect becomes the bottleneck to further increase magnetic storage density. The ferromagnetic L10 FePt assemblies with face-centered tetragonal (fct) structure has extremely high magnetocrystalline anisotropy, good chemical stability, and resistance to oxidation [1-3], considered as the most promising candidate for ultra-high-density magnetic recording media. Chemical solution method has become an attractive route to obtain FePt nanoparticles (NPs) with the controllable size, well-defined shape, and ordered monolayer assemblies since Sun et al. made great success in preparing monodisperse FePt NPs [4]. Based on this, a lot of studies have been conducted to explore and optimize the synthesis of FePt NPs, such as modifying fabrication methods [5-13], optimizing assembly methods [7,14-21] and fabricating FePt one-dimensional nanorods /nanowires [22-28] and so on. As-prepared fcc-FePt NPs need to be transformed to ferromagnetic fct-FePt, high temperature annealing will produce severe grain growth and particle aggregation, leading to the decrease of the particle positional order [29]. Great efforts have been made to suppress the unfavorable phenomenon upon annealing and worked. For example, element such as Ag [30], Au [31], and Sb [32] with low surface energy is doped into FePt NPs to abstain from the influence of annealing by decreasing the phase transition temperature of FePt. However, one defect is that the phase transition temperature is too high to avoid particle aggregation, another is that the morphology of FePt nanoparticle will become uncontrolled and self-assembled array over large area are destroyed after Sb doping. In addition, the core-shell structure of inorganic substance such as ZnO [33,34], MnO [35], NiO [36] and SiO2 [37] covering on FePt NPs solves the problem of sintering and aggregation of NPs. However, as the thickness and morphology of core-shell structure is uncontrolled and there exists strong magnetic dipole interaction between FePt magnetic NPs, making it difficult for self-assembled of NPs and orderly array over large area fail to form. Recently it reported that nonmagnetic films like Al2O3 deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) upon FePt NPs self-assembly array can improve the stability of FePt NPs under high temperature, preventing NPs from sintering and aggregation [38]. Other work like dispersing FePt NPs into the TiO2 substrate by sol-gel is a good way to protect FePt NPs during annealing [39], but element Fe of FePt will be lost in acidic TiO2 sol. In this work, we reported that in-situ magnetic field was applied during the synthesis process of FePt NPs and the dip coating process to form FePt NPs films. The FePt NPs were prepared via chemical reduction of Pt(acac)2 and thermal decomposition of Fe(CO)5 under different magnetic conditions in the presence of oleic acid (OA) and oleylamine (OAm) at 220à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. The prepared FePt NPs films were than annealed at 700 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ for 60 min in forming gas (7% H2 + 93% Ar) to form the L10 phase of FePt. It is revealed that applied magnetic field not only significantly improves the c-axis preferred orientation, but also benefits the phase transition of FePt NPs from fcc to fct structure. The FePt NPs thin film synthesized under magnetic field also shows some magnetic anisotropy. Under magnetic field as-synthesized FePt NPs are monodispersed and can be self-assembled over larger area by a dropping method. 2. Experimental 2.1 Synthesis of FePt NPs FePt nanoparticles were synthesized through a standard polyol process with a modified synthetic condition using standard airless procedures under a gentle flow of pure nitrogen (N2) [12,39]. Typically, the FePt nanoparticles were prepared via chemical reduction of Pt(acac)2 and thermal decomposition of Fe(CO)5 under different magnetic conditions in the presence of oleic acid (OA) and oleylamine (OAm) at 220à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. In a typical procedure, 0.125 mmol of Pt(acac)2 was mixed with 20 mL of phenyl ether under the gentle nitrogen gas flow. The mixture was heated to 50 °C, and stir until the platinum source dissolved completely in the solvent. After that the mixed solution was heated to 150 °C and 40 ÃŽ ¼L of oleic acid (OA),42.5 ÃŽ ¼L of oleylamine (OAm), and 80 ÃŽ ¼L of Fe(CO)5 were added step by step under different magnetic conditions with continuous stream of nitrogen. After that, the solution was heated up to 220  °C at the rate of 10  °C per minute., and refluxed for 30 min under the nitrogen protection. After the prepared black solution cooling down to the room temperature naturally, 50 ÃŽ ¼L of oleic acid (OA), 50 ÃŽ ¼L of oleylamine (OAm) and absolute ethanol were added into the mixture to a total volume of 80 mL. The black products were then precipitated by centrifugation (8000 r/min for 10 min) and the solution supernatant was discarded. The precipitate was then dissolved in 10 mL of hexane and precipitated again in 40 mL of absolute ethanol by centrifugation. The black FePt NPs were synthesized by repeating the separation process for 2~3 times. The magnetic NPs were dispersed in 6 mL of octane and stored in brown glass bottle under the nitrogen conditions. 2.2 Preparation of FePt NPs films Assembled FePt NPs on the HF-treated n-Si (100) substrates (1.0Ãâ€"1.0 cm2) were prepared by droping a drop of 2 mg/mL FePt solution (FePt NPs dispersed in octane) including a small amount of OA and OAm. As the organic solvent on the surface of FePt NPs was dried under the protection of N2 at room temperature, the FePt NPs were then heated to 120  °C and maintained for 2h in the baking oven to remove the organic solvent completely. In-situ magnetic field was applied in a patr of the samples during the dip coating process to form FePt NP films and another part were in nonmagnetic field for comparison. Three kinds of samples with different external magnetic field applied during the synthesis process and the dip coating process were listed in Table 1. The prepared FePt NP films were than annealed at 700 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ for 60 min in forming gas (7% H2 + 93% Ar) with a rising speed of 5  °C/min to form ordered fct-FePt before characterization. 2.3 Characterization The structure and crystalline phase were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD, D/max 2000, Rigaku) using Cu KÃŽ ± radiation (ÃŽ » = 1.5406 Ã…) operated at 40 kV and 40 mA. The morphology and microstructure of various samples were characterized using a transmission electron microscopy (TEM, Tecnai G2 F20 S-twin, FEI) operating at 200 kV. The compositions of all samples were analysed by the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) attached to a field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM, Zeiss). Magnetic properties of the fct-FePt were measured by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID, MPMS XL-7, Qauntum Design) with a maximum field of 35 kOe. 3. Results and discussion Figure 1 (a) and (b) show the XRD patterns of unannealed and annealed FePt NPs films under different magnetic conditions. In Fig. 1 (a), the emergence of two broad peak at 40.3 o and 46.9 o of all samples which represent the Bragg peaks (111) and (200) illustrate the fcc-FePt NPs of average grain size of 4.1 nm calculated by Scherrer equation were obtained. It is obvious that in sample 2# and 3#, the peak (200) are stronger and closer to the highest peak (111) where diffraction is most likely to occur compared with sample 1# without magnetic field applied, indicating that in-situ magnetic field applied during the synthesis process exhibit the trend for FePt NPs to align perpendicular to the (100) crystal plane. While magnetic field applied during dip coating process make no obvious effect before anneal via comparing sample 2# with 3#. High temperature annealing make the phase transform from fcc to fct as indicated by the emergence of the Bragg peaks of (001), (110), (002) and (201) a s shown in Fig. 1 (b). The Bragg peak (001) and (002) are much stronger with the magnetic field applied during the synthesis process among which the intensity of peak (001) has been ahead of main peak (111) and peak (002) split from peak (200) are higher than peak (200) apparently. It means that the fct-FePt NPs films with the magnetic field applied during the synthesis process after high temperature annealing exhibit c-axis preferred orientation that is fct-FePt NPs align along the c-axis perpendicular to the surface of films which is the easy axis of magnetization [40]. Magnetic field applied during both during the synthesis process and the dip coating process has slightly improve c-axis preferred orientation, inferior to sample 2#. We define the degree of c-axis preferred orientation D(001) of fct-FePt in direction [001] as follows [41]: D(001)= (I(001)/I(111))measure/(I(001)/I(111))standard where (I(001)/I(111))standard=0.3 is got in diffraction patterns of fct-FePt powder with random orientation, while (I(001)/I(111))measure can be calculated from the XRD patterns of annealed sample 1#, 2# and 3#. Degree of the chemical ordering parameter S was introduced to illustrate the degree of order of FePt NPs films quantificationally. It is defined as follows[42,43]: S2=[1-(c/a)measure]/[1-(c/a)standard] where c and a are the lattice constants for the fct-FePt, evaluated from the (001) and (110) Bragg peaks of the XRD patterns and the axial ratio (c/a)measure for the partially ordered phase can be calculated then. For the fully ordered-phase FePt, (c/a)complete = 0.9657. Some data of samples under different magnetic conditions are listed in Table 2, including unannealedI(200)/I(111), annealed I(001)/I(111), degree of the chemical ordering parameter S and degree of c-axis preferred orientation D(001). It is easily seen from Table 2 that samples 2# and 3# with external magnetic field applied have a certain degree of [200] preferred orientation before anneal, making [001] preferred orientation more obvious after anneal. Comparing the degree of the chemical ordering parameter S of all samples, we can see that applied magnetic field during the synthesis of FePt nanoparticles not only significantly improves the NPs’ c-axis preferred orientation with the larger perpendicular c-axis preferred orientation degree D(001) of 3.47, but also benefits the phase transition of FePt NPs from fcc to fct structure during the annealing process. The reason for obvious c-axis preferred orientation may attribute to the anisotropy induced by external magnetic field during the nucleation of FePt for that applied magnetic field changed the barrier of nucleation in different orientation ,making the ratio I(200)/I(111) bigger in superparamagnetic particles and a-axis orientation enhanced, which is mor e likely to be transformed to c-axis orientation during the process of films formation and high temperature annealing. 4. Conclusion Acknowledge This project is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51202107), a grant from the State Key Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2011CB922104), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. Ai-Dong Li also thanks the support of Priority Academic Program Development in the Jiangsu Province and the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 20120091110049). References [1] S. H. Sun, Adv. Mater. 18 (2006) 393. [2] H. Zeng, J. Li, J. P. Liu, Z. L. Wang, and S. H. Sun, Nature. 420 (2002) 395. [3] D. Weller, A. Moser, L. Folks, M. E. Bet, W. Lee, M. Toney, M. Schwieckert, J. U. Thieleand, and M. F. Doerner, IEEE Trans. Magn. 36 (2000) 10. [4] S. H. Sun, C. B. Murray, D. Weller, L. Folks, A. Moser, Science 287 (2000) 1989. [5] B. Jeyadevan, K. Urakawa, A. Hobo, N. Chinnasamy, K. Shinoda, K. Tohji, D. D. J. Djayaprawira, M. Tsunoda, M. Takahashi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Part 2 42 (2003) L350. [6] M. 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Kenneth Branaghs Loves Labours Lost :: Kenneth Branagh Love Labour Lost Essays

Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost In our teaching of Shakespearean film adaptation to undergraduates, one of the issues that frequently arises in class discussions is the question of how the visuality of the cinematic medium is constructed in tension against the verbal nature of Shakespeare's dialogue. The tension between the visual and verbal dimensions of filming Shakespeare is created on two levels: firstly, where the poetry of Shakespeare, functioning as word pictures that stimulate and enhance the imagination of the spectator is set against the capacity of film to show rather than tell; and secondly, where the adaptation negotiates with the canonicity of the Shakespearean text through the mode of the popular.[1] One recent example is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) in which the play was made to compete radically with what has been called Luhrmann's 'MTV'-inspired editing, pacing and styling. [2] Another is Branagh's Hamlet (1996), where the concentrated effort to retain every single line of the play created its own burden of visualisation.[3] The creative energy of a Shakespearean film adaptation is often sustained by the dynamic of creating a visual track to 'match' the play's dialogue; in other words, by the question of what images can be used to animate or do 'justice' to Shakespeare's text. Where Shakespeare on film had once been expected to retain the traits of 'high' theatre and art, complete with 'authentic' period costumes,[4] recent adaptations have become more adventurous, liberally adopting popular idioms and surprising expectations of 'Shakespeare' by visual styles drawn from contemporary entertainment.[5] Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost (2000), the focus of this paper, adapts Shakespeare's play to the American movie musical, but it depends less on creating a contemporary visual track that runs parallel to the text than on interpolating an aural one which intercepts and weaves another lyric and melodic text into it. Samuel Crowl argues that the musical is a 'very American' genre, which he surmises accounts for the relative lack of success of the film (40). In our analysis, we will discuss the conversion of Shakespeare's poetic form into the musical form, and explore how the engagement of the spectator's aural experience (i.e. through the music and songs) is as important as the visual, if not more so, in negotiating the transfer of Shakespeare to the screen. We have identified three strategies of adaptation which we will discuss in the three sections of this essay firstly, the exchange of poetry with popular song; secondly, the construction of spectatorship and listenership as recovery and recollection; and finally, the performativity that mediates between the poetic and musical forms.

Hugh Prathers Notes to Myself :: Notes to Myself Essays

Sometimes mankind has to ask the question ‘what is it that makes up the actions and determines the type of interaction that we display when around other people?' Notes to Myself is the contemporary world's way of questioning the value of putting on facades. The novel also questions things we know as ‘ trivial' such as watching a cat sleep on our belly or staring at clouds in the sky. The author used an interesting form for writing his collection, omitting page numbers and leaving no indication as to what subject the reader should expect to be encountering upon reading sections. His views are interesting to say the least. Focusing on self meditation and self reliance, he proceeds to describe human interaction and what he really is thinking when exposed to different situations. For instance, he describes a conversation with a young lady in which she wanted to ‘just be friends' while he being ‘male' can do nothing about the fact that he may be sexually aroused by her whether they were ‘just friends' or not. This type of unconventional expression of human emotion is the color of all of the selections. The author does not wish to conceal feeling nor put on different faces in different situations but be himself and be happy being himself at all times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Interesting stands on happiness are also expressed. Boredom is vaguely related to happiness by the rationalization that one can be happy simply by picking lint off of the floor. While his thoughts are genuine, one can almost comprehend the randomness of human thought. There is a wrinkled cellophane wrapper on my desk and it reflects my image just as water does. Randomness is definitely one of this books strong points. (That random sentence beforehand was a personal example of the wandering mind).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is the type of book that you would not want to read between commercials but one that warrants a good hour and a half (at least) of quiet Hugh Prather's Notes to Myself :: Notes to Myself Essays Sometimes mankind has to ask the question ‘what is it that makes up the actions and determines the type of interaction that we display when around other people?' Notes to Myself is the contemporary world's way of questioning the value of putting on facades. The novel also questions things we know as ‘ trivial' such as watching a cat sleep on our belly or staring at clouds in the sky. The author used an interesting form for writing his collection, omitting page numbers and leaving no indication as to what subject the reader should expect to be encountering upon reading sections. His views are interesting to say the least. Focusing on self meditation and self reliance, he proceeds to describe human interaction and what he really is thinking when exposed to different situations. For instance, he describes a conversation with a young lady in which she wanted to ‘just be friends' while he being ‘male' can do nothing about the fact that he may be sexually aroused by her whether they were ‘just friends' or not. This type of unconventional expression of human emotion is the color of all of the selections. The author does not wish to conceal feeling nor put on different faces in different situations but be himself and be happy being himself at all times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Interesting stands on happiness are also expressed. Boredom is vaguely related to happiness by the rationalization that one can be happy simply by picking lint off of the floor. While his thoughts are genuine, one can almost comprehend the randomness of human thought. There is a wrinkled cellophane wrapper on my desk and it reflects my image just as water does. Randomness is definitely one of this books strong points. (That random sentence beforehand was a personal example of the wandering mind).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is the type of book that you would not want to read between commercials but one that warrants a good hour and a half (at least) of quiet

Political Cartoon Essay

In this cartoon Luckovic shows how President Barrack Obama holds only one piece of candy only for a huge crowd of kids outside of his house. In this case the piece of candy is catalogued as a job opportunity. All the kids appear to have a worried face, doubting that they will get something for this Halloween night. On the other hand, president Obama looks like he is frustrated and not satisfied by only having this one piece of candy for all the disappointed kids.It is also good to mention that all the kids have their candy bag open as if they are expecting to receive something even though there is only one piece of candy, even though it appears that only one kid is going to be fortunate enough to receive a treat that occasion. This cartoon shows how difficult the employment situation is at the moment due to the economic recession. It also reflects on the amounts of people that has lost their jobs and are waiting for a miracle from president Obama.Obviously Luckovic is disappointed wi th the government because it has been 10 months since president Obama took charge in January and there hasn’t been a real big improvement on the economy. In the cartoon Luckovic how president Obama holds a big bowl with the purpose of showing how years ago that bowl was big because there were actually jobs available. Obama’s ears are also big and open in this cartoon, trying to demonstrate how the president is very attentive when it comes to the people.In the crowd you might see characters such as a cowboy, a football player and Mickey mouse, all of these being important economic powerhouses struggling nowadays. Another important character in the back is Santa Claus with a worried face, demonstrating how Christmas time is rapidly approaching and there is a lack of funds available that are not going to be able to fulfill people’s wishes this December. Cartoon cited Luckovich, Mike. Cartoon. 7 Oct. 2009. 27 Oct. 2009. . Valzania, Gilberto MW 7am

A risk that paid off

The greatest and most accomplished men in any age are those who launch out boldly into the unknown, not fearing what the untried paths ahead held in store for them, but believing, even beyond belief, that there was a great prize awaiting them at the end of their endeavors.The journey of life itself is about taking risks and I have never been afraid to press towards my own uncertainties in the hope that the result, though undefined, would either make or break me. There was one considerable risk that I took in my life that turned out to be quite profitable and which has contributed significantly to my development.Some years ago I took on the challenge to invest in some real estate in the hopes that I could reap some financial benefits in either the short or medium run. It was a bit difficult for me deciding to invest my personal resources into purchasing a house that was in need of significant amounts of repairs.When the opportunity presented itself I at first considered that I was not in a very secure financial position at the time that would allow me to recover if I encountered losses as a result of the investment I was contemplating. I weighed the odds and had considerable input from my closest of friends and family in helping me to arrive at a decision.The situation was going to be a challenge to me and I have not been known to back down from a challenge. However, launching out into real estate investment was an uncharted path for me and I therefore feared that things wouldn’t go as well as I desired.In situations like these, when contemplating whether or not to take on risk, Wee and Morse (2007) advise that the equation between the possible successes and failures be weighed carefully. Whatever option I examined in making my decision was a great challenge for me. I feared that if I purchased the property and did the improvements I   would end up losing considerably at the end of the day.On the other hand I also feared that this project was the breakt hrough that I have been begging for for so many years and that I would miss out on a wonderful opportunity. It was Collin Powell who had said â€Å"You never know what you can get away with until you try† (as cited in McGowan, 2007, p. 105) and I wasn’t about to miss out on potentially my only chance by shying away from the challenge. Therefore, my reservations aside, I decided to purchase the property.McGowan (2007) suggests that once prudence is exercised in critical risk-taking situations and once proper planning is in place then the prospect of failure, in any endeavor, is significantly minimized. My attack plan with the real estate investment, was therefore to undertake the improvements to the property I purchased at as minimal a cost as possible so that if the returns on sale were not favorable I would not have lost too considerably.In order to ensure that the improvements remained within budget I had to undertake all of the work on my own. The property needed si gnificant amount of work in terms of tiling, painting and landscaping and I undertook these tasks independently. Of course it was taxing on my energy, time and resources to undertake this on my own. However, each day when I saw the improvements I was comforted that my efforts were not being wasted.Gradually I was able to accomplish all the repairs and produced my own work of art. I was really impressed with the way I was able to face up and kept focus on the task during this critical stage of my investment. My motivation was the prospect that the returns I obtained would be considerable and my efforts would not have all been in vain.The long and short of the story is that I was able to double my investment on the property. When I placed the property on the market it was not long before I got calls from eager customers willing to pay me way above what I had initially invested in the project. The improvements I had undertaken really made a significant difference to the point where I w as able to double the money I spent on the property. Indeed the success of my venture proved to me that, according to Wee and Morse (2007), those who are wiling to launch out and try something new, are the ones that achieve in life.Had it not been for this risk-taking activity my life would have been significantly different to date. For me, aside from the financial gains from the investment, the most important benefit of that single venture is being able to take some time off from work and return to college.For some time I had been considering going back to college but given my work situation I knew I would not have been able to afford the tuition and additional costs any time soon. I am where I am today because of the opportunity afforded me by that single venture.

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 32

Business - Essay Example The future of being an Educator is great as it provides ways to get involved in the field of study directly, a direct interaction with the students helps to gain awareness about the perspective of the young generation and how the future of the world is going to change according to their mindsets. Now coming to the challenges faced. Professional careers aim is to provide the best of the services one is specialized at without any issues. A decade ago education was not considered a professional job but in today teachers are appreciated to prepare themselves before entering a class. Similarly in coming 4 to 5 years, the level of studies would enhance and a simple explanation won’t be enough to clear the doubts of students. A teacher has to face such challenges and give a logical reasoning and prove his point of view with examples to convince the students. The greatest strength of being a teacher is his knowledge, being a specialized teacher in the field of economics particularly is a benefit in itself. Development is needed in every profession, but specifically for an educator, knowledge of new advancements and discoveries are a must to deliver it to the students. To be a successful educator, a clear way of talking that is easily understandable for all students. Secondly knowledge and skill to teach needs a constant revision. Where as in the coming year I need to enhance few areas to participate and develop professionally. Firstly an educator has to continue his studies as well a professional masters degree in my field of study, secondly adopting the latest way of teaching i-e through presentations and multi-media and lastly to prepare oneself before a particular lecture. All these areas need development to enhance the present as well as future jobs as an educator. The graph of success in a professional career faces sets backs

Hobbes (15 88-1679) on the right to all Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hobbes (15 88-1679) on the right to all - Essay Example And therefore, as long as this natural right of every man to everything endureth, there can be no security to any man (how strong or wise so ever he be) of living out the time which nature ordinarily allowith men to live." (Leviathan, Chapter XIV). Hobbes supposes that liberty is a matter of political self-government. For Hobbes liberty and equality was connected with non-obstruction, and with some form of sell-mastery. Liberty and equality is described as that a personal reedom is a matter of the range of things a person may do without being stopped or punished by others. Hobbes supposes that "I find yet a greater equality amongst men than that of strength. For prudence is but experience, which equal time equally bestows on all men in those things they equally apply themselves unto (Leviathan, Chapter XIII). Someone who does not engage in elaborate calculations before acting may be said to be excessively irrational. Irrationality of value to the pursuit of self-interest is prudence, which is similarly a virtue that it is possible to have too much of. Each has the right to all because, according to Hobbes, there was nothing natural about the state; in the 'state of nature' men lived without law, without authority, and without any means of curbing one another's aggression. Each man is a self-governed and can do anything. In "Leviathan" Hobbes describes that it is irrational of anyone to lay down the means of his own preservation unless he can be sure others will do so too. The state of nature is also is the state of war which means absence of established agreement for peace. For Hobbes force is the main quality during war and people are foolish to expect anything better from foreign states. The state of nature is a social and developed state. It can be characterized as war of all against: "war...of every man, against every man" (Leviathan, Chapter XIV). Each will be an enemy to all the rest. Human beings as they were not equipped with speech, with reason, with a sense of time, with any morality; they were lonely. In the Chapter XIV Hobbes claims that there was one fundamental right of nature, and one equally fundamental law: the right was 'the Liberty each man hath, to use his own power, as he will himselfe, for the preservation of his own Nature', while the law was 'every man, ought to endeavour Peace, as farre as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it... he may seek, and use, all helps, and advantages of Warre' (Leviathan, Chapter XIV). The concept of subjectivism is closely connected with individuality. Hobbes emphases qualitative variation among uniqueness, a conception of the cumulative and permanent, but not predetermined, development of larger contexts as a source for development, and an insistence on the irrationally founded subjective designs of historically particularized human actors as the principal plane upon which variation and development take place (subjectivism). Knowledge of the reality must be concrete and descriptive hermeneutic, It will avoid the search for universal natural laws, and it will recognize itself as an historical occurrence. Also subjectivism for Hobbes means obligations in individuality. Hobbes supposes that Irrationality can be predicated in the first instance of human beings and of human beliefs and actions. Absence of rationality is taken to warrant a diminution of legal