Metallic Minerals free essay sample

MATALLIC MENIRALS ROLL NO: 07 Metallic Minerals On an auspicious day, sometime around a million years ago, a member of the Homo habilis species stood erect and walked steadily on his two feet and his two hands became totally free. A new species – Homo erectus—began its journey on a new evolutionary track. This great change took around four million years after his ancestors – the hominids — broke free from the lineage of  apes and chimpanzees. But , perhaps for the next seven to eight hundred thousand years, the descendants of that first Homo erectus kept wondering about what to do with the two free hands apart from holding bones and logs of wood. That was till someone picked up a stone and threw it to some animal – probably because he was scared and was trying to defend himself, or because he was hungry and wanted to get some flesh to eat. But unconsciously, he began the gainful use of a mineral, and unconsciously again, began the evolution of a new  species –Homo sapiens, the modern man. We will write a custom essay sample on Metallic Minerals or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Evolving down the generations, man learnt to be choosy in picking up the stones; he realized that all stones are not good for his needs; he tried and erred, and through innumerable trials and errors spanning over tens and hundreds of thousands of  years, finally he zeroed in on a sharp-edged hard mineral that we have named flint. With the sharp edges of flint, he could tear animals for hide and flesh; and much later, he could make knives and axes and spear heads. Flint became the backbone of economy. He began digging the earth, taking out new treasures and burning them. Thus was produced, some 6000 years ago, a new mineral, and from that a new material to which, much later, we have given the name copper metal. And that day began the Copper Age. In fact, this was the beginning of both mining and metallurgy. Not satisfied with copper any longer than a few hundred years, he began experiments with other metallic ores like tin, zinc and lead, and with a stroke of metallurgical genius, produced bronze. In the next two thousand years, by now, he knew about gold and silver also — not so  much for industrial usage, but more for ornaments and amulets. Then came that wonder metal called iron. Man entered not only the Iron Age, but also what is known as the New World. Iron continues to be the backbone of economy even today, supported not just by copper, tin zinc, lead, gold and silver, but by a host of other metals. Although flint has survived the ages and still lives today — in name at least — in some cigarette lighters, we no longer use it for getting energy. Coal, petroleum, natural gas and uranium are the sources of energy now. But compared to the thousands of years of history of copper, lead, zinc tin, gold, silver and iron, the oldest amongst these energy minerals i. e. , coal, has come to our life in a big way, only within the past 400 years or so. And we must not forget that for mining and using these energy minerals — and, in fact, all the minerals that we use today – we need machines, we need metals, we need metallic minerals – in America, in Europe, in China, in India. Even if we do not mine the metals, they still enter from soil into plants and through plants into the cells, tissues and organs of human bodies, to help the humans live healthily. Such is the importance of  metals and metallic minerals in industry, in economy and in human life. From any mineral we do not get a metal. The minerals, from which we get metals, are called ores. Amongst the ores, there are many which are used only for extraction of metals, and there is no other use of them. There are also a few ores which have multiple uses. Of course the most important use is to extract their metal contents, but they can also be used straightaway for making industrial products. As a matter of convention, these are called metallic minerals in economic and statistical circles, to distinguish them from energy minerals and industrial minerals, which are not at all used for extraction of any metal. Examples of such metallic minerals are bauxite, hematite, chromite etc. The importance of these metallic minerals in Indian economy can be gauged from the fact that during the financial year ending March 2006, the total value of production of such minerals was 89. 3 billion rupees i. e. , about 12% of the total value of production of all minerals which was 751. 22 billion rupees and this despite the fact that the value of the metals has not been accounted for in these statistics. But again, the value of metals cannot just be  measured in terms of  rupees; we should also think what would have  happened without the metals. The re would not have been any industry, there would not have been any agriculture, and there would not have been any civilization. What are the uses of some Metallic Minerals? Metals such as nickel, copper and zinc are fundamentally important to modern society since they are used for an endless variety of purposes. A few examples are listed below: * Copper: Copper Pipe, Electrical Wires, Canadian Penny * Nickel: Stainless Steel, Cars And Trucks Frames, Batteries * Titanium: Artificial Joints And Surgical Instruments, Airplane Structures * Iron: Bridges, Car And Truck Frames, Axes, Tools, Steel Girders * Platinum: Petrochemical Industry To Make Gas And Purify Oil, Catalytic Converters On Cars And Trucks To Reduce Emissions * Zinc: Galvanized Nails And Cars Lead: Wet Cell Batteries * Gold: Jewellery, Electrical Wiring Why is a particular metal or a metallic mineral used to perform a particular function or to make a particular product? That is because every metal possesses a unique combination of physical and chemical properties, and in this respect no two metals or two minerals are exactly the same. So a particular use of a metal or a mineral can be best und erstood if the use is linked to the particular set of physical and chemical criteria. Now, gone are the days when all the rich near-surface deposits of metallic minerals were there asking to be dug out and processed for extraction of their metal contents. Those deposits are all finished during the last thousands of years. Today, we are left with only the poor grade minerals from deep-seated deposits for our needs of metals. Can we use any grade of a mineral for recovering its metal value? The answer is yes and no. The answer is yes, because firstly, man is not the producer of the mineral. The mineral was produced by nature hundreds of millions of years ago and stored in safe custody within rocks of  the earth; what man does is only draw some quantity from nature’s store house; and so, he has to accept whatever grade nature has created and whatever, out of the nature’s treasure house, his forefathers have left for him. Secondly, recovery of metals from its minerals depend not on the grades alone, but on an interplay of four factors namely grade of the mineral, grades of other input materials for its processing, technology and prices of the final products based on the metal. Out of  these, the price is determined by the market forces of demand-supply on which the producer has no control. But the other three factors are in the  domain of the producer; he may mine a high  grade mineral at a high cost, and use low grades of other input materials and employ low level technology to recover only a part of its rich metal value, or he may choose to mine an easily available low-grade mineral at low cost, and use high grades of other input materials and employ high level technology to recover almost the whole of whatever metal values are contained in the mineral. The answer is no, because at a given point of time there is a particular technology developed, and only one particular set of input materials with fixed qualities are available for processing a mineral. So, only one particular grade of the mineral can be processed with that technology and with those input materials, and only that particular grade has to be used at that point of time. The story does not, however, end with processing a mineral, recovering its metal values and using those metals for producing various consumer products. Nature has not given us minerals containing all metals, and nothing else. In exceptional cases, some pure gold nuggets were found, but they have all been taken away by our forefathers. As it stands today, though there are some metallic minerals like hematite with more than 65% of metal value, there are others that contain less than one percent. What happen to the huge quantities of material that are left out after the metal values are recovered? Such material may, in some cases, be even up to 99% or more of what is mined. Those are generally referred to as waste materials. Then there are wastages at the stage of manufacturing the consumer products out of the metals and the consumers themselves waste a lot of those products during and after their use. In fact, wastes generate at every stage of  economic activity, but it has been the experience that yesterday’s waste is today’s asset and today’s waste will be tomorrow’s asset. This happens because the developments in technology are not only about recovering the metals, they are also about utilization of the so called wastes. After all, technology is for minimizing the costs at every level starting from mining of the mineral down to the final consumption, so that at every stage the cost is less than the market price. There is another dimension of the usage of metals and minerals – substitution. Though there are some metals which are indispensable in certain uses, there are also some which can be replaced by some other material in a use. This happens if the cost advantages of using a metal vis-a-vis its performance are lost and a cheaper and/or better material becomes available. A metal can be substituted either by another metal (e. g. , copper by aluminium in electrical transmission wire) or by a non-metallic substance (e. g. , aluminium by plastics in construction material). Distribution of Metallic Minerals World Mineral Map (Metallic) Indian mineral map (metallic)

The 5 Ethical Considerations in Sociological Research

The 5 Ethical Considerations in Sociological Research Ethics are self-regulatory guidelines for making decisions and defining professions. By establishing ethical codes, professional organizations maintain the integrity of the profession, define the expected conduct of members, and protect the welfare of subjects and clients. Moreover, ethical codes give professionals direction when confronting ethical dilemmas or confusing situations. A case in point is a scientists decision whether to intentionally deceive subjects or inform them about the true risks or goals of a controversial but much-needed experiment. Many organizations, such as the American Sociological Association, establish ethical principles and guidelines. The vast majority of todays social scientists abide by their respective organizations ethical principles. 5 Ethical Considerations in Sociological Research The American Sociological Associations (ASAs) Code of Ethics sets forth the principles and ethical standards that underlie sociologists professional responsibilities and conduct. These principles and standards should be used as guidelines when examining everyday professional activities. They constitute normative statements for sociologists and provide guidance on issues that sociologists may encounter in their professional work. The ASA’s Code of Ethics contains five general principles and explanations. Professional Competence Sociologists strive to maintain the highest levels of competence in their work; they recognize the limitations of their expertise; and they undertake only those tasks for which they are qualified by education, training, or experience. They recognize the need for ongoing education in order to remain professionally competent; and they utilize the appropriate scientific, professional, technical, and administrative resources needed to ensure competence in their professional activities. They consult with other professionals when necessary for the benefit of their students, research participants, and clients. Integrity Sociologists are honest, fair, and respectful of others in their professional activities- in research, teaching, practice, and service. Sociologists do not knowingly act in ways that jeopardize either their own or others professional welfare. Sociologists conduct their affairs in ways that inspire trust and confidence; they do not knowingly make statements that are false, misleading, or deceptive. Professional and Scientific Responsibility Sociologists adhere to the highest scientific and professional standards and accept responsibility for their work. Sociologists understand that they form a community and show respect for other sociologists even when they disagree on theoretical, methodological, or personal approaches to professional activities. Sociologists value the public trust in sociology and are concerned about their ethical behavior and that of other sociologists that might compromise that trust. While endeavoring always to be collegial, sociologists must never let the desire to be collegial outweigh their shared responsibility for ethical behavior. When appropriate, they consult with colleagues in order to prevent or avoid unethical conduct. Respect for People’s Rights, Dignity, and Diversity Sociologists respect the rights, dignity, and worth of all people. They strive to eliminate bias in their professional activities, and they do not tolerate any forms of discrimination based on age; gender; race; ethnicity; national origin; religion; sexual orientation; disability; health conditions; or marital, domestic, or parental status. They are sensitive to cultural, individual, and role differences in serving, teaching, and studying groups of people with distinctive characteristics. In all of their work-related activities, sociologists acknowledge the rights of others to hold values, attitudes, and opinions that differ from their own. Social Responsibility   Sociologists are aware of their professional and scientific responsibility to the communities and societies in which they live and work. They apply and make public their knowledge in order to contribute to the public good. When undertaking research, they strive to advance the science of sociology and to serve the public good. References CliffsNotes.com. (2011). Ethics in Sociological Research. cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26845.html American Sociological Association. (2011). asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm

Search and Seizures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Search and Seizures - Essay Example In Mapp V Ohio,2 the court held that this constitutional duty applies against both the state and the Federal government. It does this by prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures from being conducted by federal and state law enforcement agencies. A search is an infringement of the right to privacy while seizures interfere with the possessory rights of the individuals, including right to property ownership. The Fourth Amendment permits reasonable searches and seizures. For a search to be legally carried out, it is subject to the proviso that a search warrant has to be issued by a judge. An application for search warrant has to be supported by an oath or affirmation, and to specifically state the place to be searched or the things or persons to be seized. For the judge to issue a search warrant, he must satisfy himself that there is a probable cause, that is, reasonable cause to believe that the law enforcement agencies can find evidence of commission of a crime. Nevertheless, suc h a search has to be individualized, targeting individuals and not generalized. There are exemptions for the warrant requirements as far as entry into private residences by police is concerned. To begin with, if the owner of the residence consents, such entry shall not be illegal under the fourth amendment because of absence of a warrant. However, such warrant must be given voluntarily, and be unequivocal and specific. Consequently, consent obtained by duress or coercion fails this criterion. The person who gives the consent has to be the owner of the residence. Similarly, a third party can give the consent for the law enforcement agencies to search a house or premises subject to the proviso that they own or lawfully occupy such premises. In Georgia v. Randolph,3 the court held that where the residents are two and both are present, if one of them objects to consent while the other consents, the objection by one of them shall override the consent. To add, an officer can enter a priva te house or residence without warrant, in times of emergency. The search however shall be subject to the existence of exigent circumstances and the law enforcers must have a probable cause. Such a circumstance shall exist where a law enforcement agent needs to take a compelling action but lacks the required time to acquire a warrant. In Mincey V Arizona,4 the court stated that, â€Å"we hold a reasonable, and warrantless search of the scene of a homicide, or of a serious personal injury with likelihood of death where there is reason to suspect foul play-does not violate the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution where the law enforcement officers were illegally on the premises in the first instance†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Nevertheless, for such a search to be reasonable within the Fourth Amendment it has to be limited to the purpose of only determining the circumstances of death and the scope must never exceed what is necessary to fulfill that purpose. In addition, it must commen ce within reasonable period following the time when the officials learn of the murder. Evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendm

Health history and discharge. (Alterations in Pulmonary and Kidney Essay

Health history and discharge. (Alterations in Pulmonary and Kidney Function) - Essay Example This has caused her health to decline significantly as evidence by her steep loss of weight within a short time. Though Sallie has most of the medicine she is required to take. The visit revealed that she was missing crucial medicine which she only got some time back. As this medicine was also crucial for her recovery, the absence of it could show why her state of health was deteriorating over time. Sallie lacks somebody to take care of her at home. To ensure she eats well and takes her medication as and when it is to be taken. Her daughter works long hours so is unable to do this. This problem is evidenced by her missing some important medication that she ought to have had from the beginning. Sallie is lonely in her house where she lives alone, her daughter, Thelma Jean is a full-time employee in town and rarely visits. She also misses her late husband who she describes as a jolly man who used to love and make her

Article Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Article Report - Essay Example The sequential, evolutionary aspect of experiences over time attaches the notion of a "moving perspective" on careers. Thus, not only does it transcend organizational dynamics in the new economic, technological and social realms, but goes beyond systemic boundaries. As it is, therefore, a person’s career is a key life constituency evolving around work and time. Apart from the provision of income, work offers a sense of purpose, challenge and self-fulfillment. It is a source of interactive life challenges via social networking that often powers on creativity with a sense of identity as an end result. Quite simply, career is a life journey with either the choice of a beaten path or another to navigate (Baruch, 2004). Andolsen’s article entitled â€Å"Six Steps to Your Successful Career Path† is an informative career guide that engenders navigation principles of self-assessment, decision making and life planning towards a successful career path for RIM professionals . Notably, the multifaceted approach of the modern career training is pushing the employer to the periphery out of the mainstream control of employee-skills (Baruch, 2003). The circumstantial phenomenon leaves â€Å"expertise† as the most treasured and sought-after strategic resource by the employer (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 2002; Andolsen, 2008). With a background of â€Å"a dusty filing system†, the scarcity of the prized resource has informed a structured career path for RIM practitioners aimed at attaining relevance in an era of a digitized managerial control. In a bid to start off RIM practitioners towards the foregoing painstaking journey, Andolsen provides a useful six-step career planning framework fully fitted with self-evaluative mechanisms for a dynamic career prospects (Andolsen, 2008). Six Steps to a Successful Career Path Self-Assessment Career is essentially a vehicle for the realization of the self. More accurately, it is a vehicle through which the individu al begins a constructive conception of the self in the sense of the world (Adamson, 1997). It is no wonder, therefore, that the interrogation of the self begins Andolsen’s six-step career planning framework for the actualization of a successful career in the field of Records and Information Management (RIM) (Andolsen, 2008). Accordingly, understanding oneself entails a thorough dissection of the inner strengths and weaknesses, which includes but is not limited to personality and attitudes, skills and achievements, knowledge and learning style, values, interests and entrepreneurism. Essentially, this crucial step lays bare the physical, emotional, intellectual, motivational characteristics that define the individual and personality. Occupational Research The above mentioned traits have a direct relationship with an individual’s work competencies. It is, therefore, imperative for personal, career interests and skills profile to have a matching relationship with positions available in the job market (Andolsen, 2008). Notably, such positions surface and disappear with the trending economic and technological shifts. Thus, to prevent false starts, career seekers should remain realistic in their career pursuits by updating their jobs skills through a fast, hands-on approach to valuable information. From simple web search to job shadowing, aggressiveness may prove a valuable resource in investigating options available in line with the personal traits. Decision

long-term memory systems of the human brain

long-term memory systems of the human brain Current knowledge is summarized about long-term memory systems of the human brain, with memory systems defined as specific neural networks that support specific mnemonic processes. In the late 19th Century, German Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus established that humans tend to forget most of what they learn in a class within thirty days. Without some aid to help us retain what we learn, massive amounts of crucial information are lost. This paper describes about the how to improve our memory, how repetition improves the efficiency of memory processing, by improving physical well-being how it helps improving memory, and ways to increase our depths of level of memory processing. Introduction In psychology, memory  is regulated by a constantly changing organization of consciousness or an organisms ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information. It has been hypothesized that three processes occur in remembering: perception and registering of a stimulus, temporary maintenance of the perception, or short-term memory; and lasting storage of the perception, or long-term memory. Two major recognized types of long-term cognitive memory are: Procedural memory-involving the recall of learned skills. Declarative memory-the remembrance of specific stimuli. For long-term memory to occur there must be a period of information consolidation. A conscious awareness in remember that they are recollecting something of the past. Some of what we experience day to day is stored away in our minds for future reference, but much of it is not. For example, you might describe in vivid detail the interior of a quaint ice cream parlor you visited last summer, but be unable to recall what flavor ice cream you had. On closer reflection, this is only the tip of the iceberg when we look at the full range of human memory capabilities. One of the interesting features of your memory system is that you dont control what is stored because much of our memory is submerged from conscious view. Memory is an integral part of our existence, yet it is only vaguely understood. When you want to remember something doesnt mean that you can remember the entire. Indeed, when you thinking, most of what you thinking is not stuff that you consciously try to store. You didnt try to commit the whole thing that you did to your memory. In this regard, you might be unable to remember a complete of the event. Its hard to grasp just how specific, or narrow of your thoughts and your memories. For example, suppose you passing your neighbors house, you encounter a barking dog. There are several aspects of the dog that you could think about. Perhaps you could think about the sound of the dogs bark, what the dog looked like, or the meaning of the bark like why its barking, whether its barking at you, the possible that a barking dog will bite, and so on. Each of these thoughts will lead you to different memories of the event the next day. If you think about the sound of the dogs bark, the next day youll probably remember that quite well, but not its appearance. To put this example into broader terms, even simple concepts have multiple aspects of meaning, which one of these you think about will determine what you remember. Literature Review Ways to Improve Memory There are 16 ways to improve our memory. The ways included convince ourselves that we do have a good memory that will improve, exercise your brain, exercise daily, reduce stress, eat well and eat right, take better pictures, give yourself time to form a memory, create vivid and memorable images, repeat things you need to learn, group things you need to remember, organize your life, try meditation, sleep well, build your memorization arsenal, venture out and learn from mistake and listening to binaural beats. (Ben Rubenstein, Theresa Mulligan Tom Viren, 2010) In the article Improving Your Memory-Tips and Technique for Memory Enhancement (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A., Amara Rose, Gina Kemp, M.A., and Suzanne Barston, 2007), they suggested the stages of memory foundation and maintenance. The stages are acquisition, consolidation and retrieval. Besides that, they stated the tips for memory improvements. They suggested that brain exercises can improve memory because memory is just like a muscular strength, the more we work out our brain, and the better we will be able to process and remember information. Furthermore, they also stated the general guidelines and mnemonic devices to improve memory. Healthy habits and nutrition also suggested by them to improve our memory. In Human Memory: What It is and How to Improve It suggested that there are many ways to improve our memory such as the use of certain mental technique, special care with nutrition and medicines (Silvia Helena Cardoso, 1997). For example, stimulate memory with using it to the utmost and challenge a novelty. Pay attention, concentrate and avoid all other thoughts can help us to improve our memory. Other ways which can improve our memory is relax, sleep and nutrition. Besides that, medication, alcohol, smoking and caffeine are believed that may interfere the memory function. Studies have shown that, when compared with non-smokers, individuals smokers of one or more packs of cigarettes a day had difficulties of remembering peoples faces and names in a test of visual and verbal memory (Turkington, 1996). We tend to forget things much easier as we age because the neurons in our brain responsible for memory lose elasticity over time. However, he suggested some methods to maintain a great memory for as long as possible. Sleep well is one of the methods he had suggested. Besides that, use acronyms and other mnemonic devices also help to improve our memory. Rest and eat brain super foods also suggested by him to improve our memory. (Todd ,2007) There are 7 mnemonic devices to improve our memory. First, pegword method that is useful for memorizing lists of unrelated items in order with create a visual image of each item in the list with a peg word. Second, method of loci which is useful for memorizing lists of unrelated items in order with commits a mental walk to memory. Third, use acronym method which creates an acronym using the first letter of each of the items. Fourth, use the acrostic method which creates a sentence in which the first letter of each provides a cue for the materials. Fifth, music or rhymes method can be use to set a familiar tune, rhythm or rhyme on the materials that we going to memorize. Sixth, mnemonic association is the method which associated to-be-remember materials with an aspect of the material that is hard to remember. Lastly, the keyword method can be use for foreign vocabulary words. (Daniel T. Willingham, 2009) Almost everyone would like to improve their memory. The temporal lobes of the brain are located behind the eyes and under the temples at the sides of head. The temporal lobes of the brain are associated with short-term memory and transferring memories to long-term storage. In addition, the temporal lobes are involved with language, reading social cues, understanding music and tone of voice, and mood stability. The hippocampus is another part of the brain located closer to the center and next to the temporal lobes. The hippocampus stores new information for several weeks and helps a person learn new skills. Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants are important in improving our memory. (Wendy Hodsdon, ND, 2006) A multitude of molecular, cellular, systems and behavioral findings have demonstrated the need for sleep after learning for the consolidation of memory. (Seung-Schik Yoo, Peter T Hu, Ninad Gujar, Ferenc A Jolesz and Matthew P Walker, 2007) Short-term memory Short-term memory-closely related to working memory-is the very short time that you keep something in mind before either dismissing it or transferring it to long-term memory. Short-term memory is shorter than you might think, lasting less than a minute. Its what allows you to remember the first half of a sentence you hear or read long enough to make sense of the end of the sentence. But in order to store that sentence (or thought, fact, idea, word, impression, sight, or whatever else) for longer than a minute or so, it has to be transferred to long-term memory. Short term memory (STM) is a limited capacity store that, for example, can be assessed with a digit span task. Most people can hold between five and nine items in STM, but by chunking items together can hold more information. Without rehearsal, this memory trace fades over the course of minutes. A current debate is about how much of this is due to decay alone or interference from subsequent stimuli. Recall for items often shows a J-shaped serial position curve where early and late items presented in a list are recalled better. Late item success is known as the recency effect and reflects short term memory fading, while early item success is known as the primacy effect and is tough to reflect a long term store (Matlin, 1996). Short-term memory allows one to recall something from several seconds to as long as a minute without rehearsal. Short-term memory is believed to rely mostly on an acoustic code for storing information, and to a lesser extent a visual code. Conrad (1964) found that test subjects had more difficulty recalling collections of words that were acoustically similar (e.g. dog, hog, fog, bog, log). This is the process whereby we can take advantage of prior knowledge to package information more effectively and hence to enhance storage and retrieval. For example, sequence of digits that comprised a number of familiar dates, such as 1492 1776 1945, would be easier to recall then the same 12 digits in random order. However, short-term memory has been an unexplainable phenomenon with certain individuals gifted to remember large amounts of information, quickly, and be able to recall that information in seconds. Short-term memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent on regions of the frontal lobe  (especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and the parietal lobe. The limited information which manages to pass the hurdle of selective filtering is not necessarily retained with any degree of permanence. It is placed in a temporary storage unit, where information is held just long enough for it to be analyzed and transferred to long term memory. Information received is held only for about five to twenty seconds, and if it is not attended to, either decays or is lost (Magill, 2001). Part of the process of registering the information in the STM is to transform or encode it so it is capable of being rehearsed or practiced and later stored. Emphasis should be on rehearsing the information. It is here that the learner understands the meaning, message, intent, value and the representation of the information in relationship to other information in the memory. In motor skill learning, it is important that coaches and teachers should take into account the capacity of the STM. If a lot of information of a particular skill is given at any one time, then it is impossible for most students to remember all the instructions. So instructions are best kept brief, or broken down into parts to the degree that attention is properly maintained. As we grow older with many cognitive conditions, our short-term memory span often becomes even shorter. This makes us more likely to have trouble keeping up with certain tasks, such as remembering which button to push in a banks phone menu. It also gives our brains less time to successfully move new information to long-term memory, which makes us more likely to forget details of recent events, such as a story our children tell us or instructions our doctors give us. Long-Term Memory Long-term memory, or LTM, is the storehouse for information that must be kept for long periods of time. But LTM is not just a more durable version of STM; the stage model of memory suggests its a different kind of memory altogether. The storage in sensory memory and short-term memory generally have a strictly limited capacity and duration, which means that information is available only for a certain period of time, but is not retained indefinitely. By contrast, long-term memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration. Its capacity is immeasurably large. Long-term memories, on the other hand, are maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the brain. The hippocampus is essential (for learning new information) to the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory, although it does not seem to store information itself. Without the hippocampus, new memories are unable to be stored into long-term memory, and there will be a very short attention span. Furthermore, it may be involved in changing neural connections for a period of three months or more after the initial learning. Types of Long-Term Memory Tulving (1987) has proposed the existence of three kinds of long-term memory stage, each with distinctly different properties, and each probably based on different brain mechanisms. The three type of Long-term memory: Procedural Memory -Memory for motor movement and skills -Knowledge about how to do something Semantic Memory -Memory for meaning without reference to the time and place of learning -Memories that recall a personal moment from our past Episodic Memory -Knowledge about the world -Memory for specific experiences that can be defined in terms of time and space -Stores as facts that make little or no reference to ones personal experiences These various parts of long-term memory do not operate in isolation from one another. While it is not clear how they work together, it is clear that they are related and overlap. (Tulving,1972) Storing Information for the Long-Term Memory To store information over the long-term memory, you need to produce elaborate and distinctive memory records. Focusing on the meaning of the input, relating to be remembered information to other things in memory, and forming visual images of the input all lead to distinctive memory records. Forming a visual image is particularly effective, and many memory aids, or mnemonic devices, are based on the use of imagery. Long-term memory also depends on how information is actually presented: Item presented near the beginning and end of a sequence are remembered well, are as items that have been repeated. Spaced or distributed practice turns out to be more effective than massed practice. Two major problems related to the use of long-term memory: To transfer the information accurately to long-term memory. To retrieve the information accurately. The primary strategy for transferring information from working memory into long-term memory is referred to as encoding or elaboration. These terms refer to the process of relating information to other information that is already stored in long-term memory. Piaget and other constructivists have developed detailed theories regarding how information is stored in long-term memory. Differences between LTM and STM in four major ways: The way in which information is recalled: The amount of information stored in LTM is so vast, we cannot scan the entire contents of LTM when we looking for a bit of information, as we do in STM. Instead, LTM has to be indexed. We retrieve information from LTM using cues, much as we use a call number to locate a book in the library. This retrieval can be an intentional act or an unintentional one, as when hearing a particular song brings back memories of a lost love. In either case, only information relevant to the cue is retrieved, rather than the entire contents of LTM. The form in which information is stored in memory: LTM differs from STM in the kind of information that is most easily stored. You will recall that information is usually stored in STM in terms of the physical qualities of the experience (what we saw, did, tasted, touched, or heard), with a special emphasis on acoustic codes. Although sensory memories can be stored in LTM, information is stored in LTM primarily in terms of its meaning, or semantic codes. The reasons that forgetting occurs: Unlike STM, where information that is not rehearsed or processed appears to drop out the system, information stored in LTM is not just durable but actually appears to be permanent. Not all psychologists agree that memories in LTM are permanent, but there is a great deal of evidence supporting this view. If memories in LTM are indeed permanent, this means that forgetting occurs in LTM not because the memory is erased buy because we are unable to retrieve in for some reason. The physical location of these functions in the brain: STM is primarily a function of the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex, whereas information that is stored in LTM is first integrated in the hippocampus and then transferred to the areas of the cerebral cortex involved in language and perception for permanent storage. Stages of Memory Foundation and Maintenance There are 3 stages of memory foundation and maintenance: acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval. At acquisition stage, new information enters our brain. The key to encoding information into our memory is concentration. Unless we focus on information intently, otherwise it goes in one ear and out the other. At second stage, that is consolidation, hippocampus sends a signal to store the information as long-term memory. When we need to recall the information, we reach retrieval stage. Our brain have to activate the same pattern of nerve cells used to store it. The more frequently you need the information, the easier it is to retrieve it along healthy nerve cell connections (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A., Amara Rose, Gina Kemp, M.A., and Suzanne Barston, 2007). How To Improve Memory A) Sleep Well Everyone in the world needs consistently 7-8 sleeping hours to increase our memory. While sleeping, the brain disconnects from the senses, proceeds to revising and storing memory. Besides that, the brain appears to firm up memories of newly acquired information during sleep. At day time, a quick nap can be the impetus for a solution to a problem you have been working (Todd, 2007). Sleep is necessary for memory consolidation. The amount of sleep will affect the brains ability to recall recently learned information. According to recent studies conducted at the Harvard Medical School, getting a good nights sleep may improve our short-term memory and long-term relational memory (Ben Rubenstein, Theresa Mulligan Tom Viren, 2010). Insomnia would produce a chronic fatigue and would impair the ability of concentration and the storing of information (Silvia Helena Cardoso, PhD, 1997). B) Nutrition Eat well and eat right are very essential to improve our memory. Roughly 50-60% of the brains overall weight is pure fat, which is used as insulation for its billions of nerve cells.   The better insulated a cell, the faster it sends messages and the speedier our thinking.   Therefore eating foods with a healthy mix of fats is essential for long-term memory.   Fish, especially wild salmon, mackerel and anchovies, and dark leafy green vegetables are excellent choices (Todd, 2007) B vitamins, especially B6, B12 and folic acid are good for our memory. These vitamins protect neurons by breaking down an amino acid, homocysteine, which is toxic to nerve cells. These vitamins also involved in making red blood cells, which carry oxygen. The best sources of B vitamins is spinach and other dark leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, melons, black beans and other legumes, citrus fruits and soybeans (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A., Amara Rose, Gina Kemp, M.A., and Suzanne Barston, 2007). Besides that, antioxidants like vitamins C, vitamins E and carotene are also essential in improve our memory. Antioxidants fight free radicals which are highly reactive and can damage cells that can occur with age. Antioxidants interact with them safely and neutralize them. Antioxidants also improve the flow of oxygen through the body and brain (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A., Amara Rose, Gina Kemp, M.A., and Suzanne Barston, 2007). Eating many colors of fruits and vegetables ensures a wide variety of antioxidants to nourish and protect the brain. The best sources of antioxidants are blueberries and other berries, sweet potatoes, red tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, green tea, nuts and seeds, citrus fruits, liver (Wendy Hodsdon, ND, 2006). Furthermore, Omega-3 fatty acids are a major component of the gray matter of the brain and can also improve brain activity. They count as healthy fats, as opposed to saturated fats and trans fats, omega-3 fatty acids protecting against inflammation and high cholesterol (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A., Amara Rose, Gina Kemp, M.A., and Suzanne Barston, 2007). The fat in the brain is essential to proper nerve function, in nerve membranes, and as a component of brain synapses. People who eat diets high in saturated fats or trans-fatty acids frequently will show signs of dementia earlier than people who eat fish regularly. Omega-3 fatty acids can found in wild-caught, deep sea fish like wild salmon, tuna, mackerel and herring. Fish oil supplement is good for the brain and memory (Wendy Hodsdon, ND, 2006). Moreover, water is also an essential source for our memory. Water help maintain the memory systems working, especially in older persons. According to Dr. Trukington, lack of water in the body has an immediate and deep effect on memory, dehydration can generate confusion and other thought difficulties (Silvia Helena Cardoso, PhD, 1997). C) Brain Exercise Memory, like muscular strength, is a use it or lose it proposition. The more we work out our brain, the better we will be able to process and remember the information. Regularly exercising the brain keeps it growing and spurs the development of new nerve connections that can help improve memory (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A., Amara Rose, Gina Kemp, M.A., and Suzanne Barston, 2007). By developing new mental skills we can keep our brain active and improve its physiological functioning. The mental skills can be puzzles and games like crossword and Sudoku which can practice on for several minutes per day. Novelty and sensory stimulation are the foundation of brain exercise. We can use our memory to the utmost and challenge a novelty and they can be fun. Almost any silly suggestion can work, says David Eagleman, PhD, neuroscientist and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. For example, if you work in an office, learn to dance. If you are a dancer, learn to deal with a computer. This could stimulate your brains neural circuits to grow. Besides that, we can try a neurabic exercise, which is an aerobic exercise for our brain. This will force us to use your faculties in unusual ways, like showering and getting dressed  with our eyes closed, take a course in a subject we dont know much about, learn a new game of strategy, cook up some rec ipes in an unfamiliar cuisine, drive home via a different route, brush teeth with opposite hand. Thats the most effective way to keep your synapses firing (Ben Rubenstein, Theresa Mulligan Tom Viren, 2010). D ( i) Repetition Priming Definition: the repetition effect: a repeated stimulus is processed better on the second occurrence than on the first. (Christophe Pallier , Nuria Sebasti ´an-Gall ´es and Angels Colom ´e, 1999) Repeated process of a stimulus often facilitates performance on a cognitive task. This facilitation is known as repetition priming and, because it can arise in the absence of conscious recollection of the original stimulus presentation, is often assumed to reveal an implicit form of memory. Repetition priming is a very reliable phenomenon and has been observed in numerous tasks for example, lexical decision (Scarborough, Cortese, and Scarborough, 1977) and word-fragment completion (Tulving, Schacter, Stark, 1982) The basic effect reported in numerous masked repetition priming studies is that manipulating the similarity of a briefly presented, pattern masked prime word and an immediately following and clearly visible target word produces systematic differences in target reaction time (RT; greater overlap = faster RTs). Such effects have typically been interpreted as reflecting processing that is started by the masked prime and then modified when the ensuing target is similar to or different from the prime along some dimension of interest (e.g., orthographic, lexical, or semantic). Because subjects are usually unaware of the identity of the prime, it is widely believed that this type of priming is predominantly sensitive to the fast feed-forward (automatic) components of word recognition (Forster, Mohan, Hector, 2003; Lamme, Zipsser, Spekreijse, 2002). Recently, several masked priming studies have reported that certain measures of neural activity are also sensitive to processes involved in visual letter and word processing (e.g., Dehaene et al., 2004; Grossi Coch, 2005; Holcomb Grainger, 2006; Petit, Grainger, Midgley, Holcomb, in press). In the late 19th Century, German Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus established that humans forget 90% of what they learn in a class within thirty days. Without some aid to help us retain what we learn, massive amounts of crucial information are lost. The most powerful and simple technique to improve retention is repetition. D (ii) Repetitive Learning Science and plain, old-fashioned observations have proven that humans learn massive quantities from repetition. Advertising is a primary example of this phenomenon with companies spending billions of dollars to present us with seemingly mind-numbing repeated messages. These messages work, even though they are basically passive. Repetition is even more effective when it is an active process and if repetition has meaningful results, then learning will take place. (Jarrett Thoms, 2001) Many studies have demonstrated strong positive effects of repetition on learning. Repeated presentation of items increases memory for those items (Cyndi McDaniel, 2003). Repeated retrieval is also reported to improve memory. By repeating important concepts and then forcing the learner to retrieve those concepts several times, you strengthen the neural pathways, making subsequent retrieval easier and retention more durable and long-lasting. In us, memories do not naturally sit still in cold storage. (John Sutton, 2004) As repeated stimulus is processed better on the second occurrence than on the first, this shows that working memory can be reinforced via repetition, for example, students who practice more in mathematics will have a better chance to solve mathematical question easily when a similar question came out. E) Mnemonic devices Mnemonics are clues of any kind that help us remember something, usually by causing us to associate the information we want to remember with a visual image, a sentence, or a word. (Daniel T. Willingham, 2009) Peg-word system. Peg-word system is a method which is useful for memorizing list of unrelated items in order as well as the specific numbers associated with the words. The key to success in using the peg system is visual association. We can create a visual image of each item in the list with peg word. The pegs provide cues to memory. This method using bizarre imagery helps to ensure that the cues are distinctive and unlikely to be confused with other cues. For example, pegs which is rhyme with numbers, one is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree, four is a door, five is a hive and so on. Next, match these items with the list of words we want to remember. It becomes a task similar to the imagery activity in which we had to remember word pairs using visualization. For example: If we have to write an entry in your journal for school, we also have a geometry assignment due tomorrow, we also have to read a chapter from our psychology text book. We could use either a mental image of our t extbook, or an image that represents the topic in history that we are studying. Lets say we also had to walk the dog. Perhaps leash would be a good keyword. Then, we also have to remember to feed the dog dog bowl. We also plan to eat supper with our friends perhaps a plate or the dining room table would be good for this. We dont want to forget to brush our teeth after dinner. After dinner, you put your pajamas on, drink a glass of water, and go to sleep. We can use the peg system to track our schedule. (Daniel T. Willingham, 2009) bun + journal shoe + geometry shapes tree + history book door + leash hive + dog bowl sticks + plate heaven + toothbrush gate + pajamas vine + water hen + sleep Method of loci. This method also useful for memorizing lists of unrelated items in order. We can commit a mental walk to memory that is a familiar route with separate and identifiable locations, and then create a visual image that associates each item on the list with a location on the mental walk. In order to use the method of Loci, we must first imagine a place with which we are familiar. There are several possible places we could use. We must be able to identify several locations within that one place. It is best if these locations can be given a logical order, such as clockwise, or top to bottom. As with the peg-word strategy, method of loci using bizarre imagery helps to ensure that the cues are distinctive and unlikely to be confused with other cues. For example, heres a mental walk from my front door to my driveway. The first location is my front porch, which has a birds nest by the door, the second is the sidewalk, which has a large crack, and the third is my asphalt driveway with a red paint stain. To memorize the list onion, duck, artist, I would associate onion with my front door, perhaps by putting onions in the nest instead of eggs. Then Id associate duck with the sidewalk by imagining the duck with its beak stuck in the crack, and artist with an artist admiring the paint stain on the asphalt. (Daniel T. Willingham, 2009) Acronym and Acrostic. Create an acronym using the first letter of the items that we have to remember, if we can remember the acronym, we have a good cue for the items. For example, the planets, in order of their distance from the sun: Mecurey, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. We can memorize using acronym method: MVEMJSUNP = My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles. The colors of the rainbow, in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. The acronym method used to memorize is ROY G. BIV (A made-up name). (Daniel T. Willingham, 2009) Music or Rhymes. The item that we have to remember is set to a familiar tune, set to a rhythm, or made into a rhyme. Rhymes are easier to remember because they can be stored by acoustic coding (a type of short term memory coding in which us remember information by the way it sounds). Music and rhymes are always use among young children as in learning alphabet with ABC song. If we forget the words, the melody can provide a cue to help us remember it. (Daniel T. Willingham, 2009) Keyword. This method is often used for foreign vocabulary words. When we would like to learn foreign language, we can find a word from any language we

Essay --

Terraforming Mars Project Terraform Mars is a difficult task that us as humans are trying to accomplish to fulfill the entirety of our speeches . There is a number of ways to achieve this task , but there are many questions that we do not have answers for. This paper will present my idea for how we could terraform Mars to successfully elongate the human speeches . According to Thefreedictionary. com terraforming is defined as transforming another planet into one having the same characteristics of landscape as earth. The terraforming process could take anywhere from 100 years to 20,000 thousand years to complete entirely, due to the tedious process of making Mars suitable for human life. I believe that it will take nearly 1,000 years to complete entirely my process of terraforming mars. What makes it so difficult to get to Mars is one the launch window time, which mean when Earth and Mars are nearest to each other. The time that we know of so far for the next launch windows is 2013 November -2014 January,2016 January- April , and 2018 April -May,2020 July - September according to wikipedia. This is why it is so difficult to get to Mars, there are only certain times that you can launch and it be such a short flight. This is one of the many reason that I believe that it will take 1,000 years to terraform Mars. As we arrive to Mars there are some resources already there, such as water and atmospheric 02. But the difficult part about these resources is that we have to transform them in a certain way so it can be used for humans. We would have to extract the water from the rich soil using a tool, therefore this would be our water source. We would also have to bring some sort of greenhouse so we could grow plants and give off mor... ... Viking 2 was also a orbiter and a lander that reached Mars August 1976, both were very successful and sent back many of images.The Pathfinder orbiter reached Mars July 1997 and lasted for total of 3 months, its major discoveries were measuring the atmosphere of Mars.The Sojourner was the brother of the Pathfinder but it was a rover. It reached Mars July 1997 , and had many discoveries of investigating of Mars soil and rocks. The Spirit lander landed on Mars in January 2004 using its air bag system. It was the longest successful rover as of yet lasting about 6 years . Opportunity rover is the sister to Spirit, which landed January 2004 and lasted for around 4 years, its main mission was to explore the Martian environment. Phoenix reached Mars on May 2008 near the north pole, and analyzed the soil receiving images and data, and with the major discovery of water ice.

Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Essay

Female protagonists are challenged to break the stereotype that women are weak, and to instead illustrate that women are just as capable as men in most if not all things. Marele Day’s, â€Å"The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender† is a text in which the protagonist, Claudia Valentine subverts and challenges the male centred conventions of the crime fiction genre. She does this by being strong, who not only does the work of men, but also manages to thrive in a harsh setting where women are not ordinarily found. Understanding her character, and the way that shapes her work, and where she lives is key to fully appreciating how Days’ text subverts the crime fiction genre. One of the significant ideas, explored by Marele Day is the issue of Gender. In the opening of the novel, Marele Day uses description to invite the readers to a whirlpool of â€Å"ash trays†, empty bottles of â€Å"Jack Daniel†, a nameless blond in the bed, a hangover and a messy flat s urrounded with scattered clothes. The use of imagery always the reader to understand this novel, is based upon a male protagonist. The supposedly male protagonist wakes up the nameless blond before going to a funeral. He refers the nameless blond as â€Å"him†. The readers are in a state of conundrum to whether the protagonist is gay or Day has subverted the main character as a female. It is then on page three, Day reveals the narrator’s name – Claudia Valentine – and on page five that the audience learns her profession. â€Å"People rarely come to private investigator with good news†, Claudia uses her familiar sardonic style to depict that the readers have been tricked the whole time on the issue of gender expectation. Through the opening novel, the readers understand how Day uses gender inversion and parody to combat the crime fiction conventions. The readers are able to understand that Claudia is a stereotypical hardboiled detective who fits the conventions of a typical Private Investigator. This is demonstrated when she visits the apartment of the deceased Mark Bannister in Bondi. Claudia belongs to a tough world of fighting crime as she is tough and cynical and possess a great deal of physical strength. This portrayed in the quote, â€Å"My legs are my best weapon. I don’t carry a gun like some of my cowboy colleagues†. Parody and symbolism are used in the term â€Å"legs† because in the traditional crime fiction genre, the female legs are symbolic of attraction and love. Claudia also teases and adds sarcastic humour when she makes fun of the  macho men. In addition, Claudia is a post – feminine version of the traditional Private investigator, who uses her intellectual power rather than her physique, â€Å"There’s more than one way of skinning a cat†. Here, she uses idiom and typical terse, and witty, colloquial language style to demonstrate women unlike men possess skills other than brute strength and weapons. The readers understand that Claudia avoids direct clashes and harsh violent methods when locating and fighting her enemies. She only expresses her tough, heroic and hardboiled character by using karate as a means of self-defence. Through these extracts, Claudia challenges and subverts these gender stereotypes and Claudia most certainly foliaged into a feminist hero whilst turning the traditional detective genre on its head. Furthermore, the setting of Sydney is profoundly explored when she steps into the corrupt environment of the video arcade. This is a typical crime fiction scene as merchandise are exchanged with a pay off. Day uses double entendre in the phrase â€Å"waiting for the developers to give them a new lease of life, or maybe just a new lease†. This emphasises the city as treacherous, where corruption is an underlying motif in the novel. The ‘stench’ of Sydney forces Claudia to equip many qualities and standards that showcases her hard-boiled detective nature. This is illustrated when Claudia ‘saunters’ over to the Maori (doorman), which implies that she is a confident, nonchalant, typical PI. Her communication with the Maori is terse and witty: the use of play on words â€Å"smack† and â€Å"score†, reveals Claudia’s usage of pun and humour. The readers grasp the notion that these qualities are associated with typical PI which adds further entertainment, humour to the story and appeal to Claudia’s character as she tries to understand the city of Sydney.Marele Day displays finer points of Sydney as a corrupted and powerful dwelling. After she is kicked out by the Maori, she goes to the hamburger shop. While eating, she mentions two opposite poles of Sydney; Macquarie St and George St. She personifies George St as â€Å"brash†, â€Å"bright lights† and â€Å"winking†. With the use of personification, Day was able to create a lively vivid character. The readers visualise the modern city with its lavish lifestyle, beaches and harbour. In contrast, she reflects upon the corrupt and colonial history of Macquarie’s Rum Corps which in 1980s was represented as a corrupt ‘old boy’s network’. This is where Sydney was  depicted as â€Å"crime capital† of the South Pacific. Claudia is dismayed that Sydney is changing â€Å"My city from the city she grew up with into a corrupted empire whose morals are obsolete and filthy. Finally, the use of first person voice in this arcade crime scene, creates suspense and action. This is portrayed when Claudia paces to the container terminal where she describes it as â€Å"strong, menacing and all seeing†. Claudia uses descriptive language and she puts a clear image into the readers mind about the double edged urban setting as dark and sleazy. To add to the misty and daunting surrounding, fighting and action takes place. Claudia, after observing what happened in the container terminal was eager to breakout:, â€Å"For the moment I had a more pressing task: to get back to the car without being†¦.Oh Christ!† (p.72). First person narrative emphasises the readers concern for Claudia’s safety and her vulnerability. Day employed many action verbs in one sentence; â€Å"poised†, â€Å"kick†, â€Å"rolled†, â€Å"swung† and â€Å"swept†. Day, crammed all these action verbs into one long sentence to inform the readers about the rapid, dangerous events unfolding in the crime scene as well as to create an atmosphere mingled with tense and anticipation. Claudia’s quick thinking and wise action enabled her to survive in the sleazy, dangerous underworld. In conclusion, Marele Day portrayed a hard-boiled detective character by exploring two key ideas: Gender and the setting of Sydney. Through these ideas, Claudia Valentine subverted the crime fiction genre by breaking the stereotype that females are weak beings. Likewise, Claudia Valentine was able to thrive in a corrupt and harsh setting of Sydney, illustrating the notion that female women are just as capable as men in most if not all aspects.

Can we know something that has not yet been proven true Essay Example

Can we know something that has not yet been proven true Essay Example Can we know something that has not yet been proven true Essay Can we know something that has not yet been proven true Essay Essay Topic: Religion In order to answer this question, we must first define how we can prove that something is true and it actually exists. Some think that seeing is believing and therefore if they see something with their own eyes, that precise object must exist. Others feel that if there is not a logical explanation to a certain event or to a belief, then that thing does not exist. Some might say that scientific proof is the only way to state that a certain thing is true. What happens when scientific proof is showed to someone who only believes in the seeing is believing principle, or what if a plain and simple picture is shown to a scientist? Will they believe that that object or theses exist or not? For us to know something, we must believe that the method used to prove this fact, is the most suitable and the most accurate. For example, not many people will believe that UFOs exist just because they have been showed a picture with a presumed flying spacecraft on it. This also goes for everything we are taught in life. If it comes from what we think is a reliable source (parents or teachers), then there is more of a chance that we will use this knowledge later on our lives. For scientists and mathematicians, the only medium through which the truth is separated from the imaginary world, is scientific facts and numbers. These facts and numbers, are later set up into an experiment or a certain method through which a predicted or less predicted outcome will be formed, and new facts and numbers released, formulating experimental results, which are the bases for scientific conclusions. These conclusions state what is true and what is not. We can also take into consideration, the fact that some people believe that seeing is believing. In general we can relate this also to our other four senses (hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching), therefore resulting in a method that uses our human senses to prove whether things are true or not. I have personally come across a discussion relating the seeing is believing theory, and this happened in religion class, where the students were asked to debate on the available evidence of Gods existence. One of the students asked the obvious question: has anyone ever seen God, has anyone touched him, has anyone talked to him? Another student replied with another quite similar question: has anyone ever seen your brain, has anyone ever touched it, has anyone ever talked to it? Obviously no one had, and realising the obvious, the class went quiet. Within the borders and the limits of the classroom, we knew something that we were not able to prove true. Arguments like these happen every day all around the world. Arguments, whos main point of discussion or of debate, is a certain fact, which is obviously true, but at that time no one would have the ability to produce some clear evidence that would be accepted by everyone as reliable and accurate. Religion is probably the most complicated and sensible subject dealing with what is real and what is not. How can so many people in the world follow a religion, which does not have some clear and recent proof? We do have eyewitness accounts, and holy books, but how can we explain all the miracles and the extraordinary events that characterise the life of a prophet. I am not here to criticise mine or other religious beliefs, but I am here to define the difference between knowledge and faith. Faith is another form of knowing something that has not yet been proven true, but it consists of something beyond science and beyond any sort of facts and figures. We can say that faith is a derivative of the seeing is believing principle. The only difference between the two is that, the religious belief is based on eyewitness accounts from over a millennium ago and not from your own observation. Faith could be interpreted as another method of knowing something that has not yet been proven true, if we do not consider how much time has passed since someone had the capabilities to prove that our beliefs and everyone elses, are true. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. 1 Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 1860) If we think about mans discoveries throughout history, we will see that most, if not all of them have followed the path suggested by the quote. Discoveries such as the roundness of the earth and the ability to overtake the speed of sound, perfectly match this sort of definition and so do other discoveries and theories, thought of by humans. Then what can be said about the existence of extraterrestrial beings, or about the life after death? Could the theories and the witness accounts be true? How can we tell the difference between someone who is lying and someone who is telling us what he really saw, felt, or heard? The only way we can resolve these mysteries, is to let time do the job for us. With the gaining of new and more advanced technologies, man will be able to reach limits never imagined before. In a couple of decades we could be all spending our winter holidays skiing on the, over twenty kilometre high, Olympus Mons, on Mars! Sometime in the future we will have the possibility to prove whether what we think of today as absolutely impossible and absurd, will be proven to be true, with the help of technology and other close encounters. The cause for this mass scepticism, is that some people might recognise certain witness accounts as absolute nonsense, but that is simply because they do not consider this as a reliable source of evidence for such an event. Therefore they conclude that this certain thing never happened, and therefore if has not been proven true. Therefore that witness knows something that has not yet been proven true. What a human being knows, is only a minute fraction, of the available knowledge of today. One must be able to preserve his or her knowledge, and pass it to later generations. This knowledge could be useless as it could be the key to our survival. It is obvious that in order to know something, one must first make sure it is true, and to do that, one must follow the best possible method, he or she regards as the most reliable. This is the very foundation of our knowledge. The proof of something being true, plays a vital role in the knowing or not knowing concept. What really matters is that, one must be able to prove to himself that his knowledge is correct, and in order to do so, one must follow the method chosen. There are more than one points of view concerning method used, and there will be some people who will think that the method u chose is the wrong one and rather inaccurate. But from your point of view, you would know that a certain thing is true, and according to your method, you have proven it true. But for those who do not believe the method you chose is the best one, they will bring up the argument that you have did not prove that that thing exists, even though they might believe it does. Therefore you would know something that has not yet been proven true.

theater visit essays

theater visit essays On April 4th, I made my way to the music building to see Megan Miskill perform her Junior Music recital. Her concert was shared with a violin player, Trevor Corneliusen, but for this paper, I will only discuss Megans performance. She sang three sets of pieces: Schubert, Faure and Mozart. Each set was contrasting, yet featured her lyric soprano voice beautifully. Nick Williams was her accompanist. The first section of her concert was the Franz Schubert pieces. Schubert, a romantic composer, wrote pieces that focus mainly on nature, love, and unrequited passion. Megan sang Im Fruhling, Die Sterne, and Heimliches Leiben. Im Fruhling and Die Sterne both have a lighter tone color than Heimliches Leiben does. The texture of the first two pieces were lighter and had a sooth melody and softer dynamics. Although they both are melodically and harmonically complex, they still maintained a very positive, happy, feel. Both the first and the second of the Schubert pieces are very cyclical. The form of the first is ABABAA and the form of the second is AAAA. In the second, the melody is exactly the same except for a few accidental notes that were either flat of sharp. The third piece in the Schubert section, Heimliches Leiben, contrasts the first two pieces greatly. It is rhythemically different, starting slowly and then gradually speeding up. The dynamics get louder as the piece gets more passionate. There are bigger, more emotional chords and by the end, the pianist was pounding on the keys. In the second and third verses there is a climax because that is where the most passion is. It is as if the singer has reached a point of complete desperation. It was interesting to hear some more Schubert because we had just studied him in class. One can really get a sense of what romantic composers are like when one looks at the translated lyrics to Schubert's songs. ...

Adverse Effect of Smoking Habit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Adverse Effect of Smoking Habit - Essay Example This is the most lethal smoking-related effects, it does this by creating a build-up of poisonous particles thus resulting to irritation and poisoning of the lungs clearing system, as a result, it leads to difficulties in breathing. It is approximated that, 12to 13 victims are likely to succumb to the effects of smoking in relation to the respiratory aspect. This is due to the permanent damage that nicotine impacts on the tracheal system of an individual. Smoking can also lead to several types of cancer, this includes; cervix, liver, trachea, bronchus, larynx and lung cancer. Cancer is the world deadliest disease after HIV disease. Smoking triggers cell receptors to develop abnormal growths in such organs continued smoking habit leads to permanent development of this growth which then spread to other parts of the body. This affects the victim fully thus leading to death. In the USA, one of every three cancer deaths is caused by the effects of smoking. This is due to the continued and excessive practice of smoking habits. Lastly, smoking habits cause increased chances of miscarriages among pregnant women. A Time pregnant women can also experience premature birth or stillbirths. This calls for an alarm on the population of a future generation. In case of successful births, low birth weight is always associated with the newborns, this has a long-term effect on the development and welfare of the infant as growth takes place. According to the statistics from US health sector, 8 of every 10 cases of miscarriages or premature birth are associated with the smoking habit.

Ernest hemingways failed relationships during his life greatly Research Paper

Ernest hemingways failed relationships during his life greatly affected the way that he wrote about women in his stories - Research Paper Example He always associated dark and negative powers with women. He has described time and again accomplished women in his short stories; most of these characters are the fictional representatives of the women he met in his real life. His second wife, Pauline and fourth wife Mary Welsh, worked for the Vogue and the Time magazines, respectively. His mother and wives were all accomplished women, but Hemingway could not sustain his relationships with them. â€Å"Hemingway’s initial need to see each of his four wives as an ideal figure contributed to the destruction of these marriages, for no real woman could always behave as such an ideal must†¦But after each failed marriage Hemingway began again his search for the Queen of Heaven, the ideal woman, a search that he justified by nostalgic reference to the golden age of his relatively brief first marriage with Hadley Richardson†¦Hemingway’s relationships with women thus see-sawed between chivalric adoration of the supposed ideal and subsequent contempt when the woman proved other than ideal†. (Moreland, 198) He believes that women are endowed with destructive powers: the power to annihilate the physical, mental and emotional aspects of men and of society in general. Women either got this negative energy and power from their wealth or beauty. He represents women as killers, bitches, cunning and manipulative beings. In ‘The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber’, Margot plays the role of a murderess that cheats on her husband unashamedly. She is drawn towards both men for different reasons: her husband, Francis because he provides her the luxuries of her life; and Wilson, the white hunter whom she thinks as very handsome and sexually attractive. She makes sexual advances on him in the presence of her husband by kissing him on his mouth, as a tribute to his bravery and skill at hunting. Earlier, her husband had behaved cowardly at shooting, and in order to insult him she admires the white