2000 Problem

2000 Problem Fiction, Fantasy, and Fact:'The Mad Scramble for the Elusive Silver Bullet . . . and the Clock Ticks Away.'The year 2000 is practically around the corner, promising a new era of greatness andwonder . . . as long as you don't own a computer or work with one. The year 2000 is bringing aPandora's Box of gifts to the computer world, and the latch is slowly coming undone.The year 2000 bug is not really a 'bug' or 'virus,' but is more a computer industrymistake. Many of the PC's, mainframes, and software out there are not designed orprogrammed to compute a future year ending in double zeros. This is going to be a costly 'fix'for the industry to absorb. In fact, Mike Elgan who is the editor of Windows Magazine, says ' . .. the problem could cost businesses a total of $600 billion to remedy.'IBM Portable Personal Computer :: Retrocomputing o...(p. 1)The fallacy that mainframes were the only machines to be affected was short lived as industryrealized that 60 to 80 million home and small busin ess users doing math or accounting etc. onWindows 3.1 or older software, are just as susceptible to this 'bug.' Can this be repaired intime? For some, it is already too late. A system that is devised to cut an annual federal deficit to0 by the year 2002 is already in 'hot water.' Data will become erroneous as the numbers 'justdon't add up' anymore. Some PC owners can upgrade their computer's BIOS (or completeoperating system) and upgrade the OS (operating system) to Windows 95, this will set them upfor another 99 years. Older software however, may very well have to be replaced or at the veryleast, upgraded.The year 2000 has become a two-fold...

Free Essays on Broken Fjords

EXPOSITORY TEXT – BROKEN LIVES Broken Lives by Estelle Blackburn is a relevant expository text that through research has lead to a solid argument; 19 year old John Button was wrongfully convicted of killing his 17 year old girlfriend in a hit-run. In her efforts to influence her readers of such views, Blackburn has entered into the world of a serial killer, presenting a credible, solid account of these events and their surrounding matters. In result the reader accepts the book as a genuine explanation of an increasingly explicable miscarriage of justice. The reader now feels obliged to adopt Blackburn’s views. The notion of justice is Blackburn’s principal value, and her attitudes express the unfairness of Buttons imprisonment. Together they underline the purpose of the book; to convince the public of buttons innocence and Cooke’s guilt in the death of Rosemary Anderson, and hopefully have Button pardoned. Blackburn makes it clear that there were inconsistencies throughout the police investigation and a failure of justice in the High Court etc. The police are seen as incompetent. Being an expository, non-fiction text, credibility is essential if the reader is to share such attitudes with the author. This credibility is primarily established by a list of sources in the preface and acknowledgments sections of the book. For example the police files of Eric Edgar Cooke and John Button. Photographs of the involved and maps of the city of Perth are also included. A sense of credibility is created using times, dates, streets and names mentioned internally in the text, demonstrating the extent of Blackburn’s investigations. The reader is now in a position to seriously consider all information presented. Example of such detail: â€Å"Cooke left home at 12:30 p.m., driving his 1956 FJ Holden to Adelaide terrace and parking outside Fairlanes.† Broken Lives is a book where a strong audience appeal is desired, and the book ... Free Essays on Broken Fjords Free Essays on Broken Fjords EXPOSITORY TEXT – BROKEN LIVES Broken Lives by Estelle Blackburn is a relevant expository text that through research has lead to a solid argument; 19 year old John Button was wrongfully convicted of killing his 17 year old girlfriend in a hit-run. In her efforts to influence her readers of such views, Blackburn has entered into the world of a serial killer, presenting a credible, solid account of these events and their surrounding matters. In result the reader accepts the book as a genuine explanation of an increasingly explicable miscarriage of justice. The reader now feels obliged to adopt Blackburn’s views. The notion of justice is Blackburn’s principal value, and her attitudes express the unfairness of Buttons imprisonment. Together they underline the purpose of the book; to convince the public of buttons innocence and Cooke’s guilt in the death of Rosemary Anderson, and hopefully have Button pardoned. Blackburn makes it clear that there were inconsistencies throughout the police investigation and a failure of justice in the High Court etc. The police are seen as incompetent. Being an expository, non-fiction text, credibility is essential if the reader is to share such attitudes with the author. This credibility is primarily established by a list of sources in the preface and acknowledgments sections of the book. For example the police files of Eric Edgar Cooke and John Button. Photographs of the involved and maps of the city of Perth are also included. A sense of credibility is created using times, dates, streets and names mentioned internally in the text, demonstrating the extent of Blackburn’s investigations. The reader is now in a position to seriously consider all information presented. Example of such detail: â€Å"Cooke left home at 12:30 p.m., driving his 1956 FJ Holden to Adelaide terrace and parking outside Fairlanes.† Broken Lives is a book where a strong audience appeal is desired, and the book ...

Property Rights and Estates (Finance Real Estate) Essay

Property Rights and Estates (Finance Real Estate) - Essay Example On the other hand, anything that is not real property is termed personal property that includes everything else. It is made up of two general classes: tangible and intangible. Examples of tangible personal property are cars, household items and furniture, clothing, jewelry, even pets and season baseball tickets. Intangible properties or assets cannot be seen but is represented by paper, such as securities, bank accounts, wages, insurance policies, trade secrets, copyrights, patents, trademarks, and goodwill. Personal property may also be called in modern civil law systems as personal effects, personalty, and chattel. It is also called temporary, moveable property or movables that indicate any property that can be moved from one location to another. Generally, an estate describes the degree, quantity, nature, and extent of the interest that a person has in real property. It is an ownership interest in real estate and denotes the quantity of rights in property. The process by which an individual or family arranges the transfer of assets in anticipation of death is called estate planning. It aims to preserve the amount of wealth possible for the intended beneficiaries and flexibility for the individual prior to death. There are further divisions within the real property classification. Traditionally, there are two types of estates: freehold and non-freehold. However, concurrent estate is also considered in the real property category. Others are future interests, specialty estates, and incorporeal interests). (Figure 1 shows the outline of the real property classification) FREEHOLD ESTATES are those in which an individual has ownership that continues for an indefinite period of time or until the occurrence of some event. An individual who is in possession of a freehold estate has seisin, which means the right to immediate possession of the

Does Having a Strong Defense Make you an NBA Playoff Teams Essay

Does Having a Strong Defense Make you an NBA Playoff Teams - Essay Example Data have been obtained from the website, EPSN.com (http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/year/2010). According to this paper, a strong defense is equated to registering lower scores against for the respective teams, while entering the NBA playoffs is measured based on the percentage of wins registered by a team. For the purposes of this research, it will be assumed that a team qualifying for the play is supposed to win at least 60% of its games. However, this assumption will only be used for the purpose of developing descriptive statistics to use in this research. The descriptive statistics in relation to the percentage of wins registered by the respective teams are provided below. Although the table provides descriptive statistics for both variables, this section will focus on the variables relating to percentage of wins registered by the respective teams. This is considered a key determinant of any team that managed to make the playoffs. See the table below for the descriptive stat istics on this matter. Descriptive statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Variance Skewness Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Std. ... Considering that the results used in this study came from one season, they cannot be conclusively said to represent all seasons. For this reason, a t-test is performed to evaluate the results of a larger sample at various confidence intervals. One-Sample Test (95% confidence) Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .4400 .5600 From the table above, at a 95% confidence level, the average percentage of wins is expected to be within .4400 and .5600. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 90% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .4502 .5498 At a 90% confidence level, it is expected that the mean will be within the range of .4502 to .5498. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 99.9% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .3927 .6073 At a 99.9% confidence level, it is expected that the mean will be located between .3927 and .6073. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 99% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .4191 .5809 At a 99% confidence level, it is expected that the mean will fall within .4191 and .5809 Testing hypothesis At the hypothesis stage, it was presumed that teams that made the playoffs recorded at least a winning percentage of 60% within a season. The hypotheses described below are therefore based on this assumption. These include:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H0: 40     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H1: 40   The test for this hypothesis is based on 30 teams. According to the findings, the mean

Architectural Detailing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Architectural Detailing - Coursework Example This partnership will ensure that the Centre does meet its objectives and goals. Below is figure 1 of the plans for first and ground floors of the Centre: Shakespeare House Community Centre was established in the year 2007. After its establishment, the Centre strived to offer sustainable services because of the onset of the Credit emanating from the capital to the voluntary sector were terminated drastically. However, Shakespeare House was capable of leveraging the Centre to offer its finance via Centre-based services. There has been little improvement of the metropolis due to the funds invested. The insufficient funds made the Centre’s facilities develop gradually although organically (Allen & Rand, 2006). However, the underlying trustees have agreed on a new 5-year lease with the owners who predict a long-term utilization of the Centre by the community. Advancement Plan was adopted by Trustees of Shakespeare House Community Centre at the Trustee meeting offering a mandate for the construction of the mosque (Allen & Rand, 2006). The University of Sanford’s Council is committed to the project for the long-term. Moreover, the focus is mainly to ensure that the Centre provide high-quality complete services that replicate the requirements of the local Centre. The Kitchen within the old design has been altered from 29 m2 to 32 m2, which is adequate for the kitchen counters. Kitchen counters are to be fitted around the kitchen. The kitchen has to have a food storage room. The kitchen also has to have adequate space for the movement the kitchen staff. The new design garden is fitted with a walking path all around the house to enable guests to walk around the house quickly and easier for wheelchair users to go outside. The food growing area has a tool room for keeping the tools and equipment’s safe. The multipurpose space will have a new extinction of 106-m2 room. Three rooms will separate the multipurpose space. These three rooms will be next to

Teenagers Using Social Networking Sites Information Technology Essay

Teenagers Using Social Networking Sites Information Technology Essay ICT in personal communication affects many people in the community; they affect a wide range of people including the elderly, young and adults. Everyone use computers as the pin point of their lives; every day they can do: homework, watch TV on demand, listen to music and follow personal interests which may be video editing, composing music and surfing the web, even new jobs are based on ICT, so ICT is becoming a major part of everyday live. Teenagers Using Social Networking Sites Social networking sites have been around from the beginning of 1997, the first social networking site was known as SixDegrees.com which lasted from 1997-2001. There are many new social networking sites and many users use them. Social networking sites affect many teenagers lifes because many teenagers spend a lot of time updating their profile everyday. Some teenagers update their profile every 10 minutes while others just update every week. Social networking sites have been named as problems, as fight for nothing occur within them. People believe that fights occur as people dont like other peoples groups or if two people like the same person. So fights would break out. This would be dangerous as many people would jump to conclusion and would just encourage you to fight them even if you might get seriously hurt. Teenagers who are active in social networking sites will go online frequently and check their page to see if they have received any comments or messages. They can then reply to the comments or just leave it like that. Then they can visit their friends pages and check if there is anything new which They then might visit the sites of their best friends to see if anything new is happening on their friends sites, such as new photos, blog postings, or comments posted by others. They are likely to leave a comment on friends profiles as they cruise by. If they are active in any discussion groups, they also will check out any new postings in these groups. They might add some new materials to their own profile or blog. Positives and Negatives Apart from the social benefits, social networking sites can be used to document school research, promote artistic talents and experiment with other forms of content creation. They provide a way to interact with others who share the same interests and to get constructive feedback on ongoing projects. Most social networking sites are open to all, especially MySpace, which means that your teen could be exposed to harassment, bullying. Cyber-bullying and harassment are most often done by other teens and tend to happen to older girls and to teens of either gender who have a strong online presence. It may take several forms: posting threatening messages posting photos that will cause embarrassment Spreading rumours. Elderly People Using Mobile Phones A mobile is a handheld device which can be used to communicate with. It is wireless as it uses radioactive waves. This means when it receives reception, you can call anyone with it as long as you know their number. Mobile phones have been around for 60 odd years. They advanced from being bricks to very small devices. Mobile phones have many uses: You can contact people Use it as a Sat Nav, to see the location Pass time by playing games on it You can check emails while on the move. Elderly people can use their mobile phones when they are lost and dont know their way home, they can contact relatives and tell them where they are and they can be picked up without any trouble. Elderly people can call up their relatives or friends while they are alone and they can meet up to arrange a party or a reunion. For many years there has been a blank market for mobile phones for the elderly but this is changing, new phones are emerging which have been specifically built for the elderly. These phones do not have all the high-tech functions which new phones have. These phones are plain and simple. Some have an emergency button and these phones are targeted for the elderly. A good example of this type of phone is the Clarity of Live C900. This phone is big, simple and sturdy. This phone is a breakthrough for mobiles for the elderly. It is the starting point of simple phones for the elderly. The advantages of having a mobile phone are that elderly people: Can stay in touch effortlessly Not feel alone in an emergency Being able to appreciate the outdoors and still be connected or available to answer your phone Can let others know where you are so that they are not worried or concerned about you. Disadvantages of Mobile Phones Symptoms caused by the radiation of mobile phones are one of the most argued problems. Many scientists believe that the radiation from the mobile phones may cause the users to have different symptoms such as headache, earaches, blurring of vision and even causing cancer. Though, these problems are still under early research, but we still have to consider this. Research says that, the effects of radiation may affect the elderly more than people in their 30s. The elderly person wouldnt be able to pay for the fee of the contract, so his/her relative has to pay the bill which may be expensive or inexpensive. Male Adult Users of the iPhone and Blackberry The iPhone is the next level of smart phones. It is the first cell phone made by Apple and very high expectations were expected from it; but when it was delivered, the expectations were broken as the iPhone was even better than it was thought to be. The iPhone has a multi-touch display, which means no cramped up keyboard is needed. The iPhone can make calls, play music, navigate the Web, edit photos, and play movies and text message, among many other capabilities. Although many of the iPhones functions can be found in other devices, the iPhone appears to be unique in that it seamlessly blends these abilities together, while also throwing a pack of originality into the mix. The iPhone is ideal for male adult users as it has some very brilliant ideas packed into it. Some of the features the iPhone has: The multi-touch display knows what to do You can surf the net on the iPhone iPhone will offer music, streaming video, podcasts, movies, YouTube, and more You can download music from iTunes and listen to them. The Disadvantages: No video camera; normal camera has no flash Battery might run out quick and is hard to replace No java support Sim card will only work if it is activated for the iPhone. BlackBerry A BlackBerry is a handheld PDA device that is engineered from the ground up for email. If email has become a vital part of your business or personal life, then you would no doubt benefit from using a BlackBerry. Most models now come with a built-in mobile phone, making the BlackBerry an obvious choice for users with the need to access their email from somewhere besides the comfort of a desk chair. BlackBerry smart phones allow you to stay in touch with everything that matters to you while youre on the go: Email, phone, maps, organizer, applications, games, the Internet and more. Advantages of BlackBerry: Supports Java Push emails Blackberry uses standardized MicroUSB connector for synchronization/charging. iPhone has a much larger proprietary 30-pin connector. Most Blackberries have keyboards, so you can actually type fast and with no errors. Blackberry can be synchronized to multiple computers simultaneously, if you have multiple computers. Really neither phone is that much better than the other. The Bold is the best BlackBerry up until now, and it is great for business use. The iPhone is a consumer device, and most of the original problems have already been addressed. It all comes down to what you like and what you really want in a phone. Each phone is great in its own right. Sky + Users The Sky + box incorporates an internal 80Gb hard disc which enables you to pause live TV or record one programme while watching another. You can even instruct the receiver to record episodes from your favourite series, all this without the use of videotapes. The onscreen menu is very easy to use, simply highlight the channel you wish to record and press the record button. It will automatically record at the time the programme starts, plus if you have instructed it to record several other programmes at different times it will record those as well. Advantages: Simple Straightforward to use Able to pause, record, stop and rewind Brilliant picture Disadvantages: Can be expensive Everything you do is recorded onto your database Privacy of information Small children may buy something that they didnt want to; they may have accidently bought it. How ICT has Affected People with Special Needs Disabled people often have great ICT skills that could be used in industry. However, people are often reluctant to employ them because of the fact that they have a disability. People often dont realise that just because somebody has a disability, they are still fully able to work on a computer or in ICT. 20% of the British working age population are disabled so it would be wasteful not to consider their expertise in work. This expertise could be used rather than left to do nothing; even if it is working from home. . The Visually Impaired Visually impaired or blind people cannot do normal tasks, such as read the paper. By being visually impaired or blind, you will not know what you are doing or where you are going. In the old days you could only trust your other senses to work and guide you around, but nowadays there is new technology that will help you. Blind people or the visually impaired can use, something known as, Braille to communicate with other blind or visually impaired people. It was created by Louis Braille and it uses dots as the alphabet. You can also get Braille translations software on computers which will translate Braille and read it out loud and clear in your chosen language, so this makes life easier for you. People who are visually impaired can use screen magnification. This allows you to zoom in on the page and lets you read what it says, as it is much clearer, a monitor that is larger may be helpful. Also, if the person has certain problems with colours then the contrast can be changed on new monitors to specify your needs. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can also be used to scan documents and then converted into Braille or it can be read out by your computer. This is very useful as letters received by post can be scanned and then read to you. Also there is voice recognition programs which allow you to talk to the computer and the computer would do what you want and it will also automatically word process the speech. There is also speech output software which can read a document from a word processor and will dictate it out. Speech output software can also be used to read websites, menus and other things related to the computer. Technology is always improving and now there is something called the video magnifier. They allow you to place anything on them and it will be automatically magnified and show on a monitor so you can clearly see what it is and what it may say. You can zoom in onto it and read it; if it is a document or book. Hearing Impaired Hearing impairment could affect your everyday life and the things you are able to do. You may not be able to: hear people properly. Hearing impairment affects many old people and also young. Many deaf people can now text and e-mail even if they cant hear. The use of text messages and e-mailing has opened up a new way for deaf people. This gives deaf people or the hearing impaired a new way of communicating with the outside. Deaf people can see so they are able to text as it only involves reading and typing only. Interactive whiteboards can be used for teaching in schools with deaf pupils, interactive whiteboards can be used to show what the pupils have to do and also instructions can be written in as well without needing to listen to the instructions. This allows even deaf pupils to learn in special schools for the deaf. At home new technologies allow the deaf to know when the door bell or phone is ringing. There are extra loud devices, flashing lights, or if on the person then, vibrating alerts, to ensure the deaf that someone is ringing the bell or the phone is ringing. This allows you to respond to the doorbell, without these devices you would not know if the doorbell or phone is ringing when you are at home alone. Transmitters can be placed near to the phone to be notified about so when the transmitter picks up a sound it will activate the flashing lights or vibrating alerts. Special telephones can be used which make the incoming or outgoing speech louder or adjusts the pitch for people with hearing impairment. BT has launched videophones which allow deaf people to communicate with each other using sign language through video. These can be connected to a TV for a larger picture. People with hearing difficulties may find it hard to hear in public places and large rooms such as classrooms. This is caused by poor room sounds. Infrared systems are used to overcome hearing difficulties in larger rooms. Infrared systems replace the sound between the source and the listener with an infrared signal which is not affected by sounds. Mobility Difficulties Computers and ICT can improve the way of life for people with disabilities, giving them independence without having to have help off other people looking after them. It also gives them employment opportunities, and a new way of life which will help them a lot. There is a lot of help available through the internet as it allows many things to happen. Online shopping helps people with a physical or mobility disability to do their weekly shopping and much more through the internet without even having to move out of a seat let alone their own home, the items they purchased would be delivered to their footsteps. Home banking allows people to pay bills and look after their finances from home without having to go down to the bank in person. Computers can be adapted for people who have a physical disability. Using sticky keys the response time of keys pressed be adapted to ignore shaking. Predictive text can be used to predict which word is being typed which can speed up typing of a physically disabled person. You can also get mouth sticks and head pointers for people who can only move their head and they use their head to press keys on the keyboard. You can also get infrared head pointers which can be used to move the screen curser. If somebody has difficulty using a mouse then they can use a roller ball or a joystick as an alternative or a specified keyboard which can control the pointer on the screen. The most effective thing to use, instead of a keyboard, is a touch screen which allows physically impaired people to press buttons directly through the monitor and in some cases even type on the monitor. People with Reading Difficulties Many people with dyslexia find that they have problems with the mechanics of writing which can make them slow and unwilling writers. The effort required will often distract them from thinking about the content of the work and final checking will be harder if their writing is hard to read. Some people find that when using a keyboard and screen they can devote more attention to the content and spelling of their writing. They also find it much easier and less depressing to read and correct their work on the screen. Adaptations and alterations can be made to the standard computer and software to give additional support if this is required. Using spreadsheets, they can give visual aid to pupils with dyslexia as they can be taught visual methods of laying out their work and this means they are less likely to get lost in the process of calculation. ICT in the Community ICT has affected the community in many ways. It has changed our surroundings and what we see. Nowadays we can shop online, book holidays online, search where the landmarks of a country is. We can even communicate with each other within a community online. We can create a forum just for one community and discuss about topics we would like to. Cyber Cafà ©s The idea behind the Cyber Cafà ©s is to provide a public access point where a user can indulge in some surfing of the Internet. Customers are encouraged to stay for as long as possible . . . the longer they stay, the more food/drink they buy and most importantly the more they pay for the use of the Internet. People can go to cyber cafes and use the Internet relatively cheaply. The Internet they use is broadband, which is fast, and people can enjoy tea, coffee, other drinks and food whilst they enjoy the Internet at the same time. Cyber cafes share many of the disadvantages, as libraries such as time restrictions, lack of privacy etc. The cyber cafes are a bit more lenient when it comes to restrictions comparing cafes to the libraries. Hardware is also available in cyber cafes as it is in the libraries. Cyber cafes have their good and bad points. The bad points include the cost. Even though its cheap, in libraries its free to use ICT facilities. Cyber Cafes are a good invention and a re helpful. They are a lot more popular than libraries and seem to becoming a trend. Cyber cafà ©s are often busy places, with many people using the computers and others roaming the grounds. A total lack of privacy becomes difficult to check E-mails, enter passwords or even look at preferred sites. Well, basically, if you need some privacy, then cyber cafà ©s arent very highly recommended. Libraries Public libraries arent just shelves full of books anymore. They are fast becoming the focal point of the local community. Many libraries offer, amongst other services: Internet access for free Again, access is restricted, but at least it doesnt cost a single penny! Search engines to locate books Based on a similar technology to that of online search engines, a database of books is searched across the numerous local libraries. Facilities to host political meetings Due to the facilities to host political and community meetings, many MPs are holding their surgeries at local libraries. Members of libraries can use the ICT facilities there to access Internet and e-mail or even programs such as Microsoft office, which includes PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Access and FrontPage. Using the Internet at libraries can be a waste of time because sometimes the computers maybe slow or busy. When using e-mail it can be frustrating because some of the domains have been blocked, this only affects children mostly. Other computer hardware is available, for example, speakers, scanners or printers. Most libraries also give free access to their ICT equipment. When using the libraries computers, most of the websites for children have been blocked. This is to stop misuse of the computers and noise in the library from children coming in and being noisy talking to each other while on the computer, playing games. There is also not enough privacy on what you maybe doing, for example, when logging on to certain websites someone could see you type in your password. You are also restricted to using ICT because of the times that the library is open and in most libraries time slots of 1-2 hours are given. Libraries ICT equipment is not used to the best of its ability because some of the staff havent been fully trained. This could affect the way some people are put off going to the libraries. Online Forums Online discussion forums are increasingly common in the community. Such forums are usually set up by just a few people. Once the forum becomes more popular, hundreds of people are often found discussing issues of all kinds. You can ask anything you want and somehow people will find an answer and they will reply to your post. Forums can be used for revision. You can ask people what you should revise and they would tell you what you should. There are millions and millions of forum users in the world. Usually, a topic is posted by one person and then replies are posted by other people who visit the forum centre often. As a result, an online community has surfaced, where people can discuss issues with people from all around the world. This type of technology is still new but it is becoming vastly popular. Many people nowadays research their homework and general conceptions of ideas on online forums rather than going to find record books and going to libraries, like people did in the past. Online forums have brought us more together online but separated us from the outside world. We believe in ICT far too much. Some forums may be misleading and wrong, so you have to be careful on which forums you trust and want to research on. CCTV CCTV security cameras are a step up in technology. They are great to help companies protect their businesses and keep safety levels high in the community. CCTV security cameras are a quick and easy way to make the community safer. There are many security cameras everywhere in the community and they make the public feel safer. It also cuts crime down. But they also can cut your privacy down as would be caught on tape without knowing. CCTV security cameras come in all shapes and sizes and picture quality, some these days are able to zoom in and out up to a few miles away. If an incident takes place, its easy enough to check the tapes and find information need for the police. The police then have evidence; which they can use to take action if needed and make the community a safer place to live in. The problem with having CCTV security cameras is it costs a lot of money to capture the whole community, if there are no CCTV cameras then people would take advantage of the areas that are not see able on camera. Another problem with CCTV security cameras in the community is that people think their privacy is being invaded. At the end of the day its only for our safety the CCTV security cameras have been installed. Positioning is crucial though because for example, there is a tree in the way of the camera; it would be pointless having the camera there. The good points about CCTV security cameras are they are great for doi ng their job on catching criminals and warning people there being watched and makes some people feel safer. By Visnu

The Corruption Of Power :: essays research papers

The Corruption of Power The United States Constitution reads: ".congress shall make no law respecting...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press;..." (1st Amendment, 1791). The declaration gives one reason to believe that they are free in a country such as this, with "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," (Declaration of Independence, 1776) otherwise known as property. However, there is more behind freedom than just rights; there is also responsibility which can be distorted by certain individuals. This distortion may appear under power, which may corrupt the things we say and do, and in many ways, limit our rights. The rights we are granted by the First Amendment of the Constitution, guarantee the basic freedoms of speech, religion, petition, press, and assembly. By exercising these rights, freedom can be discovered, and can also be costly. The corruption for power is a popular factor in the decay of American rights. The use of certain rights can be twisted and made to be wrong by powerful forces being targeted. For example, if the underdog wishes to attack the wrong doings of leaders, the underdog's accusations may be twisted undermine the real issue. The power to distort is often give the assistance of higher authority, the government perhaps, and often lead to victory, therefore losing rights that they have originally been given. Recent problems have occurred involving the Cincinnati Reds owner, Marge Schott. By exercising her freedom of speech and her opinion, she was forced to lose her property, being her Major League Baseball team the Cincinnati Reds. She stated that what Adolph Hitler did in World War II to the Jewish people was right. To most people, this statement has many arguments that are very different from her opinion. Given the fact that out of all Americans today, two percent are millionaires, and fifty percent of this number happen to be Jewish people; this might reinforce her belief that the persecution lead the Jewish to become a strong entity that would no be defeated. America's leaders seem oblivious to the corruption that they are leading, by denying the rights of one to support the powerful. "Money is the root of all evil, and a man needs roots." (Anonymous) Money, a primary reason that leads to corruption, comes from those who have power.

Ccontemporary Epistemological Research in Education Essay

ABSTRACT. In this article the authors challenge contemporary epistemological research within educational settings. After a reconciliation of the current models which treat epistemological beliefs as static and mechanical, the authors present a teaching experience to illustrate their enactivist view that epistemological beliefs should be conceptualized as fluid and dynamic constructs, emerging in web-like configurations. Answers to epistemological questions unfold within the interstices and mutual interactions between people and their environment. Boundaries between student–teacher, individual–community, cognition–bodily experience are becoming blurred. From this enactivist perspective the researcher’s role changes considerably. Instead of determining teachers’ personal traits and epistemological make-up, the researcher should sensitize teachers to the subtle ways epistemological beliefs are enmeshed within their day-to-day professional lives, focusing on the complex fabric of the teaching practice. KEY WORDS: contemporary epistemological research, education, enactivism, lived experiences, personal epistemology. We rehearse information, but perform meaning. Information is like the web of links in a wire fence; Meaning is like the cascade of waves on a mountain stream. Cliff Crego (2002)  © 2002 picture-poems. com THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY Copyright  © 2008 Sage Publications. VOL. 18(1): 27–45 DOI: 10. 1177/0959354307086921 http://tap. sagepub. com Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 28. THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY 18(1) What is the true nature of knowledge, and how does a person come to know? These questions first became subject of psychological investigation in the late 1960s through the seminal work of Perry (1968). Today, these questions are studied under the umbrella of research on personal epistemology (Hofer & Pintrich, 2002). Personal epistemology has come to be seen as the common denominator for research done within this field and as a term signifying individual conceptions of knowledge and knowing. These conceptions are referred to by many disparate labels, of which the most commonly used term is ‘epistemological belief’. Other labels are: epistemological posture, epistemological resource, and ways of knowing (Niessen, Vermunt, Abma, Widdershoven, & van der Vleuten, 2004). Because the term ‘(epistemological) belief’ is already more broadly used within (educational) psychology and thus easy to associate with, we will use this term throughout the article when referring to issues of knowledge and knowing. Within this article we provide a cognitive psychological and an enactivist account of epistemological beliefs and claim that the differences between both are ultimately reflected in Crego’s distinction between the rehearsing of information and performing of meaning. We will apply the enactivist perspective to an interview segment to enable deeper understanding of teaching practice. The application of the enactivist account to this case has the character of a hermeneutic circle. This means that the enactivist account provides us with a background view that enables us to understand teachers’ experiences more fully. At the same time, the process of application is also a practice of opening up and being caught by new insights while interpreting. These insights might alter our epistemological perspective. This study is part of a larger ongoing investigation to understand the phenomenon of resistance by teachers to a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment using the epistemological perspective as our interpretive framework. PBL, in short, is an instructional method that, contrary to frontal teaching, chooses not to instruct students directly, but to facilitate the process in which students themselves and in collaboration with each other learn the necessary knowledge and skills by working on real-life problems. The role of the teacher is paramount to the success of this method. This is why the example used throughout this article highlights a teacher (Josie) who is situated within a PBL course. In the following we will first present the fragment taken from the interview with Josie. In this fragment she talks about her struggle to introduce a group of new staff members to ProblemBased Learning. We will also provide a more in-depth linguistic, methodological, and ontological characterization to contemporary epistemological research. Finally the contours of the enactivist perspective will be drawn in more detail. Josie’s Case Interviewer (I): How would you describe yourself as a trainer? Josie (J): I always try to get the group excited about PBL. Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. NIESSEN ET AL.: EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION 29 I: How do you do that? J: By trying to get everybody involved. At the same time, this is a potential pitfall. For instance, in a training session last week there was a group of student tutors and this group was really very critical, because they had attended other PBL courses. That was when I found myself trying to create more structure—that’s where I felt inadequate, because there were so many people with so much experience. In these instances it’s important to offer students guidelines and structure. You should be able to deviate from this structure—but only in those cases when it’s possible. Some teachers see this very clearly. Personally, I tend to create structure together with the group—on the spot. With some groups this works out just fine and with other groups it would have been better if I had provided a clear structure from the start. We would have come further. I: Students get restless? J: No, yes, well, there’s too much input and too few conclusions. I think that’s a major thing in PBL—it’s a major issue that too often, maybe, no actual conclusion is reached. That’s really what I think is probably my own shortcoming, something that as a student I thought was missing in the system. That structure—the framework in which you work. I: What does this framework look like—what is it made of? Do you know what I mean? J: A connecting thread. I: You say that on the one hand you’re trying to find this thread —and you want to connect it with the experiences of the participants—but that’s difficult because their experiences are so diverse and a common theme is hard to discern. J: Well, maybe that’s because there just isn’t one single thread and because PBL is based on the assumption that the available knowledge is relative. So you cannot say there’s one single solution to a particular problem. The important thing is that you are working towards a solution. Josie (a pseudonym) is a junior teacher trainer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. She was one out of a group of 10 teacher trainers and 9 new staff members of Maastricht University in the Netherlands who were interviewed about their experiences with PBL, their concerns and unresolved issues. The participants we interviewed came from different departments of Maastricht University and differed considerably in experience with PBL, general attitude towards teaching, general teaching experience, and opinion about the value of PBL for student learning. Despite the marked differences in background and experience among the interviewees, Josie was not the only one who presented a complex and multilayered experience. Looking at other participants’ day-to-day teaching experiences, we similarly encountered varied and multilayered stories. This phenomenon is neither strange nor new. Studies by Perry (1968) and Lyons (1990), but also more recently from Phillion and Connelly (2004), show us that when researchers turn their attention to actual teaching experiences, the presented picture of teaching and epistemological beliefs is more textured and complex. The Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 30 THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY 18(1) selection of this particular segment has been guided by the potential to learn from it about the role of epistemological beliefs in teaching. According to Stake (1994), ‘the potential for learning is a different and sometimes superior criterion to representativeness’ (p. 243). The fragment shows how Josie is struggling with the question: ‘How do these students come to know? ’ In the interview, Josie as a teacher trainer talks about her ideas and ideals of student involvement within her courses. She says that in some situations she finds it difficult to realize these ideals. She refers to her attempts to structure group sessions. She thinks that in order to do so, she has to develop ‘a connecting thread’ that will enable the group to achieve a sense of closure. This metaphor nicely illustrates Josie’s narrative approach to teaching. Her goal is to develop, together with the group, a storyline with a beginning, middle, and an ending. She expects that this jointly developed plot will enable the group to close the session in a satisfactory way. Josie’s ideas and strategy implicitly characterize her epistemological approach to one of the key questions in epistemology: ‘How does a person come to know? ’, or ‘How should this group of students come to know? ’ We can see an answer emerging from the confrontation between her ideals, her self-image, and the group with its characteristics. When she says ‘It’s in these instances that it’s important to offer students guidelines and structure’, she refers to her failed attempt to provide guidance, which, to her, was necessary to give the group a satisfactory sense of closure. This experience appears to have triggered a slight change in her epistemological outlook. Instead of her a priori assumption that students should be regarded as knowledgeable others, who will work together with the teacher to create a common thread, she now thinks that the group process also depends on her ability accurately to estimate the amount of prior experience that students bring to the course and her own experience and skills. Josie’s rapport with the group of students is coloured by her ideals about student involvement. It is also with this particular group of students, who have so ‘much experience’, that she discovers the failure of her usual strategy, i. e. developing a structure ‘on the spot’ together with the group. In her own words: ‘Their experiences are so diverse and a common theme is hard to find. ’ As a result she is confused and forced to reassess her epistemological ideal of student involvement in light of the concrete situation. Looking back on this experience, she reflects on the epistemological perspective underlying PBL and in doing so realizes that there isn’t just one single solution to a problem and that all knowledge can make a contribution. The lived experiences of Josie as a teacher are interpreted as an indication that the epistemological questions can only be meaningfully understood when they are placed within the context of the story that defines the situation as a whole. To put it in more general terms, in order to assess a situation epistemologically or Downloaded from http://tap.sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. NIESSEN ET AL. : EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION 31 make sense of teachers’ experiences epistemologically, we need to take account of the circumstances that constitute each new teaching situation. In Josie’s case these circumstances included her conviction that a common thread had to be identified, her skills to get the group to do this, the group size and group members’ varied experience. We would assert that her epistemological belief is essentially ‘indexical’ (Roth, Lawless, & Tobin, 2000), meaning that it is significant only as seen from within the concrete circumstances in which it arises. In the following section we will focus on the contrast between this view of epistemological beliefs and the prevailing views in contemporary epistemological research. Contemporary Epistemological Research Although the term ‘contemporary epistemological research’ suggests that there is a unified research domain, there are in fact different movements to which researchers within the domain of personal epistemology may turn. These movements may be referred to as ‘trait-oriented’, ‘theory-minded’, and ‘resource-oriented’. This means that researchers typify epistemological beliefs respectively as traits, theories, or resources (Hammer & Elby, 2002). Although we agree with Hammer and Elby that there are some important differences among these movements, we also discern an important mutual characteristic: all are rooted in cognitive psychology. This seems to offer an interesting perspective for an analysis and characterization of the field as a whole, because it would go to the very heart of research on epistemological beliefs regardless of the particular movement. In our view, Crego’s phrase ‘rehearsal of information’ very aptly captures the essence of contemporary epistemological research in relation to three interrelated angles: language, methodology, and ontology. Linguistic Idiosyncrasies of Contemporary Epistemological Research A striking linguistic characteristic of the cognitive psychological discourse about the foundations of thinking and believing is a marked preference for the use of nouns (Saljo, 2002). Since contemporary epistemological research is grounded in cognitive psychology, this characteristic is also discernible in epistemological research. The phenomenon addressed within epistemological research can be denoted by different labels: epistemological belief (Duell & Schommer-Aikins, 2001; Hofer, 2000; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997, 2002; Schommer, 1994, 1998b), epistemological position (Perry, 1968, 1988); epistemological theory (Hofer, 2000; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997, 2002), epistemological standard Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 32 THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY 18(1) (Ryan, 1984a, 1984b), epistemological resource (Hammer & Elby, 2002), epistemological style (Martin, Silva, Newman, & Thayer, 1994), epistemological reflection (Baxter Magolda, 1992, 1994, 1996), epistemological posture (Desaultes & Larochelle, 1997), epistemological orientation (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986), epistemological antecedent (Powell, 1996), and ways of knowing (Belenky et al. , 1986). The worrisome aspect of the predominance of nouns as the building blocks for thinking and believing is that it creates the impression that people’s capacities and ideas should be conceived of as unchanging objects (Saljo, 2002). Nouns distract our attention from the processes in which epistemological constructs can be seen to emerge. Nouns denote a final state as opposed to a process in which actions and thoughts are continuously taking shape and modifying each other. The idea of stability is reinforced by the tendency to represent epistemological beliefs as stable cognitive traits or theories (Hammer & Elby, 2002). Epistemological beliefs are seen as trait-like or theory-like features which are stored and acted upon inside the brain. From an epistemological trait perspective, individuals’ beliefs and ideas about epistemology tend to cohere into stable ‘positions’ or ‘levels’, ‘phases’ or ‘stages’, which can be distinguished from other ‘levels’ and ‘phases’ with regards to organization and quality. They are seen as declarative knowledge to which a person has conscious and articulate access. In epistemological theories, beliefs are perceived as being structured in this way (Hofer & Pintrich, 1997, 2002). Congruent with the tendency to see epistemological beliefs as stable and object-like traits or theories stored within the individual mind, most researchers tend to refer to epistemological beliefs in terms of ‘individuals having them’ (Pehkonen & Torner, 1999). Another feature within Western society that reinforces thinking about epistemological beliefs as objects and unchanging is the linguistic tendency to typify mental phenomena dichotomously, i. e. as belonging to either–or categories (Amstutz, 1999; Davis & Sumara, 1997). Examples of such dichotomies are: mental–physical, internal–external, individual–collective (Davis & Sumara, 2001; Heft, 2001). Membership of one category precludes membership of the other one of the pair. This divisive either/or mode of thinking reinforces the image of people as unchanging. Something or someone is or is not of some category. According to Langer (1989, 1997), divisive thinking has this effect when people take categories or opposites literally or without mindful attention. She calls for heedful and critical thinking in which mindless acceptance of categories is regarded as the opposite of powerful learning. We think that a contemporary interpretation with a language that treats epistemological beliefs as stable and trait-like or object-like has trouble interpreting the epistemological picture that arises from teachers’ concrete perspectives. When we analyse Josie’s account and realize that she tunes into the situation as a process that unfolds in interaction with the group, we realize Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. NIESSEN ET AL. : EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION 33 that the boundaries between individual–collective, self–other, and internal–external are not clear-cut. They are fuzzy, blurred, and overlapping, and we see no clearly outlined either/or distinctions. We think epistemological beliefs should be better conceived of as emerging characterizations within a process of mutual adaptation, such as in Josie’s attempts to tune in to the ideas of the group and to her own and reconcile them. Because this process unfolds concurrently with the teaching process, it cannot be fully anticipated a priori or even as it is being enacted. To us, this view is compatible with a concept of epistemological beliefs as continuously unfolding processes, like waves cascading down a mountain stream. Just as the water and the mountain are being shaped and reshaped in their continuous interaction, so is the answer to the epistemological question ‘How do these students come to know? ’ being rephrased under the influence of interaction in a concrete teaching situation. Particularities Regarding the Methodology within a Contemporary Epistemological Perspective Characterizing the methodologies that are used in contemporary epistemological research, we see an equally differentiated array of instruments: production-type tasks, open-ended interviews, vignettes, observations, illstructured problems, and Likert-type questionnaires (Duell & SchommerAikins, 2001). What is striking to us is that despite this diversity, epistemological beliefs research is exceptionally unitary in its preference for using the individual and his or her beliefs, knowledge, desires, and attitudes as the unit of analysis (Lyons, 1990). We think this preference is congruent with the predilection for nouns emphasizing the object-oriented way of thinking; it seems to us that an orientation towards epistemological beliefs as object-like has been (tacitly) operative in the development of instruments that are used to study them as personal and stable traits or theories. We notice that an orientation to the individual is especially recognizable in questionnaire (Likert-type) studies and standardized interview studies. Despite growing criticism of questionnaire studies, they have been and continue to be an important method in studies of epistemological beliefs (Duell & Schommer-Aikins, 2001). Part of their popularity seems to be attributable to their easy and quick administration. Nevertheless, Hammer and Elby (2002) reveal a fundamental problem when they point out that item formulation is often far removed from day-today teaching practice while at the same time it is assumed to pertain to these contexts (see, e. g., Schommer, 1998a; questionnaire: ‘Nothing is certain but death and taxes’). According to Hammer and Elby, this is neither true nor Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 34 THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY 18(1) viable when made explicit. Most epistemological studies ask participants direct questions about their beliefs, often by presenting epistemological statements and asking them to rate their agreement/disagreement on a Likert scale. For example, students may be asked whether they agree or disagree that ‘the best thing about science courses is that most problems have one right answer’ (Schommer, 1990, p. 499); ‘the science principles in the textbooks will always be true’ (Songer & Linn, 1991, p. 769); or ‘knowledge in physics consists of many pieces of information, each of which applies primarily to a specific situation’ (Redish, Saul, & Steinberg, 1998, p. 217). It is only by a presumption of unitarity that the results of these studies may be considered to apply to all contexts of learning (Hammer & Elby, 2002). However, the item formulation must be generic to preserve internal congruence throughout the whole study. It would be incongruent to perceive of epistemological beliefs as stable traits or theories but apply highly context-specific or dialogical research methods. A generic item formulation makes perfect sense given the a priori position that epistemological beliefs are stable phenomena. Epistemological beliefs are seen as tangible features and measured congruently. They can therefore be conceived of as entities that impact on teaching behaviour linearly, i. e.cause exists as an inherent constituent of epistemological beliefs. Contemporary cognitive epistemological research is concerned with the search for explanations of the epistemological perspective in order to predict and control students’ and teachers’ behaviour. Using standardized (correlational) measuring techniques, researchers are able to identify these linear and law-governed patterns. The role of the researcher in this process is merely to uncover these relationships objectively, with validity and reliability (Guba & Lincoln, 1989, 1994; Lincoln & Guba, 1985, 2000). In interpreting Josie’s segment, it is true that Josie shows an epistemological preference to create a common thread together. At the same time we also see that this preference becomes ‘active’ and is questioned while interacting with this specific group. Her experience of the situation she describes has led her to acknowledge that in this instance—given her own and the group’s experience—a different approach might have been more successful. Confronted with this new experience, a breach is made within otherwise customized behaviour. These breaches provide opportunities for change and revision of ideas to suit local circumstances. We interpret Josie’s ultimate handling of the situation as the result of reciprocal dynamics between different personal and situational elements, whose influence can be seen from a holistic point of view, but which cannot be reduced to any element or correlation in particular. Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. NIESSEN ET AL. : EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION. 35 The Particularities Regarding the Ontology within a Contemporary Epistemological Interpretation Ontology is the subdivision within metaphysics that deals with the nature of being. More concretely, ontology is revealed in the question: What is real? We might thus ask whether epistemological beliefs are real. According to Baptiste (2001), one of the most troublesome questions surrounding the issue of ontology is the distinction between the facticity and the quality of a thing. Facticity refers to the question of whether a thing exists. In our case we might ask if epistemological beliefs do exist. Departing from a realist perspective (Heron & Reason, 1997), the answer within contemporary epistemological research is that epistemological beliefs do indeed exist as theories, traits, or resources. For realists, epistemological beliefs are just as real and tangible as observable objects. The quality of a thing refers to the form of a phenomenon or the nature of an object. Within contemporary epistemological research, epistemological beliefs are thought of as psychological and physical phenomena. They are psychological because they reside in a person’s mind. They are also (presumably) physical on the basis of the default assumption that epistemological beliefs correspond to cognitive units in the brain (Hammer & Elby, 2002). Finally, there is the question of whether it would be possible for epistemological researchers to claim that epistemological beliefs exist without reference to cognitive psychology or cognitive science. Contemporary epistemological research, although not explicitly referred to, heavily draws on cognitive science and cognitive psychology as its foundational precursors, meaning that these strands are the background theories they implicitly build on. Varela, Thompson, and Rosch (1997) have pointed to the reifying effect of cognitive science on cognitive psychology when describing the centrality of the computer metaphor and similar language use. This computer-oriented language is also apparent within educational research in general and epistemological research in particular (Davis & Sumara, 1997). It depicts humans as disenchanted, cerebral beings who receive and process information from events and objects to establish representations (beliefs, desires). These representations in turn govern and give meaning to their own behaviour and that of others. In Josie’s interview, but also in the other interviews we conducted, we see from an enactive viewpoint first and foremost acting persons (Packer & Winne, 1995) who stumble and haphazardly manage to guide their classes through the course. Josie’s hesitation to infer definite conclusions about the preferred course of action in this particular situation is hard to interpret as an image of information rehearsal, the picture we see framed within contemporary epistemological research. As we see it, in this particular situation her answer to the question ‘How do these students come to know?’ is embedded within a network of concrete relations and a process of mutual attunement. Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 36 THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY 18(1) In our view, Josie’s hesitation to draw definite conclusions should not be deplored but welcomed, because it may open up opportunities that may lead to epistemological attunement, which may guide students and teachers to the most appropriate end. The interview excerpt with Josie illustrates the existential dialogical nature or ontology in which it is hard to dissect the knower from the known, mind from body, student from teacher, teacher from context, et cetera (Hosking & Bouwen, 2000). Josie’s teaching might be viewed as a responsive choreography in which her behaviour and beliefs co-evolve within a relational web of individual inclinations or cognitions, her skills as a teacher trainer, the characteristics of the students she teaches, and the dialogue between these elements altogether. In the final section of this paper, we will explain and illustrate our enactive or dialogical world orientation. An enactivist world orientation is grounded in the assertion that people form complex fabrics of fundamentally and inextricably intertwined relationships with everything else—physically/biologically and experientially/phenomenologically (Davis & Sumara, 1997). From this viewpoint, epistemological beliefs are not primarily or solely cognitive features, but they are temporarily crystallized enactments in ever-changing webs of mutually defining elements. An Enactive and Dialogical Perspective on Epistemological Beliefs So far, we have focused on a passage from Josie and characterized contemporary cognitive epistemological research from a linguistic, methodological, and ontological point of view. The enactive epistemological perspective takes into account many elements, such as the group experience, the group size, and her own (in)abilities to provide a common thread (structure). In this final part of the discussion, we take up the challenge to sketch and explain more thoroughly the contours of an enactivist interpretation that enables us to take into account these elements to which Josie refers. Although we typify our interpretation as enactivist, we will also draw on theoretical notions derived from philosophical hermeneutics (Gadamer, 1990; Widdershoven, 1999) and narrative psychology (Abma, 2000; Josselson & Lieblich, 1999; Lyons & LaBoskey, 2002). Enactivism is an emerging worldview that lingers in between and draws from different domains, including philosophical phenomenology (Varela, 1999), complexity theory (Waldrop, 1992), and evolutionary biology (Bateson, 1979, 1987). Although this worldview is of reasonably recent date, it is receiving more and more attention within the domain of education (Davis & Sumara, 1997, 2001, 2002; Davis, Sumara, & Kieren, 1996; Sumara & Davis, 1997). Within the domain of contemporary epistemological research, enactivism has been largely absent, although the work by Belenky et al. (1986) and Lyons (1990) shows strong similarities. In the following we will Downloaded from http://tap. sagepub. com at Universiteit Maastricht on August 6, 2008  © 2008 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. NIESSEN ET AL. : EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION 37 first explain enactivism as it is defined by Davis and Sumara in the field of education (Davis & Sumara, 1997, 2000, 2002; Davis et al., 1996). Although not directly translated to the educational or the epistemological field, we will also be using some of the terms (eclectically) used by Varela et al. (1997) since they are eminent in the field of enactivism. To ‘enact’ means ‘to work in or upon’ or ‘to act or perform’. ‘Enactivism’ refers to the idea of knowing in action. People come to know and believe about the world by interacting with it bodily, experientially, and cognitively. This means that individuals are simultaneously biological and social beings who experientially embody both cognitive and physical dimensions within their actions. Because continuous interaction is such an important feature of enactivism, one could claim that it holds a relational ontology meaning that all social realities and all knowledge of self, others, and things are viewed as interdependent or co-dependent constructions existing and known only in relation to each other (Hosking & Bouwen, 2000). When we review Josie’s story again, we see a rather inexperienced teacher trainer who struggles with the epistemological question: ‘How should these students come to know? ’ Her commonly used approach to create a common thread together is rather problematic given her own (in)abilities within a large group of experienced students. As a consequence of this inexperience she adjusts her epistemological outlook to include the notion that when faced with a rather experienced group she needs to hold more control. Interpreting her account enactively, we would claim that her final outlook to this particular situation is the result of the interaction between her ideal to create a common thread together and her communication skills, her self-image, the group’s size, and the amount of experience of the group. It is the confrontation of these elements within the concrete enactment that sets the stage for this particular response to arise. The enactive paradigm as exemplified by Varela et al. (1997) emphasizes the relev.

How To Do the White Smoke Chemistry Demonstration

How To Do the White Smoke Chemistry Demonstration React a jar of liquid and an apparently empty jar to make smoke. The white smoke chemistry demonstration is easy to perform and visually appealing. Difficulty: Easy Time Required: Minutes Heres How Pour a small volume of hydrochloric acid into one of the jars. Swirl it around to coat the jar, and pour the excess back into its container. Place a square of cardboard over the jar to cover it.Fill the second jar with ammonia. Cover it with the square of cardboard, which will now be separating the contents of the two containers.Invert the jars, so the ammonia is on top and the apparently empty jar is on the bottom.Hold the jars together and pull the cardboard away. Both jars should immediately fill with a cloud or smoke of tiny ammonium chloride crystals. Tips Wear gloves and safety goggles and perform the demonstration in a fume hood. Both ammonia and hydrochloric acid can give nasty chemical burns. As always, observe safe lab procedure. What You Need Ammonia (NH3)Hydrochloric Acid (HCl)2 clean glass jars, both the same size, about 250 mlSquare of cardboard large enough to cover the mouth of the jar

A Catapult Investigation Essay Example

A Catapult Investigation Essay Example A Catapult Investigation Essay A Catapult Investigation Essay The aim of this experiment is to investigate how far a piece of block would travel using a catapult with different weights on the block and different force applied to the catapult.FrictionI know from text books and from lessons that friction will affect how far certain object travels. Since Im not going to change the friction or not going to change where I will do my experiment I dont need to worry about this factor.HypothesisMy hypothesis for this experiment is the more force you apply to the rubber band the further the wood will travel but the more weight you put on the block of wood the less distance its going to cover.Apparatus* A stool* Rubber band* Newton meter* Weights* A metre stickMethodI will do tests of 5, 10, 15 and 20 newtons force each with and without weights. I will put up to 3 weights on the block. I will do 5 repeats for each test. Firstly we had to set up the stool then we had to find a place to do the experiment but we made sure that we did the experiment in the s ame place throughout. We recorded our results on a book and put it on to a table.Fair testThe variables we didnt change in order to make this as fair test were the equipment and the place we did the experiment. We did this by writing our name in the equipment we used.DiagramSafetyWhen we were doing the experiment we made sure no one stood in front of the wood which was going to be released. We wore goggles so our eyes wont get damages if the rubber band flies at us.Other PrecautionsDuring the investigation we must make sure that we dont make any human error such as recording the distance wrongly or plotting the results wrong.These are the results(in cm)5N5N+1Weight5N+2Weights5N+3Weights161251151062161373159531775410N10N+1Weight10N+2Weights10N+3Weights796555387762494176595842767153367863474515N15N+1Weight15N+2Weights15N+3Weights13011091601551169864121119100711201159559118114945720N20N+1Weight20N+2Weights20N+3Weights205169132115267210134104250121135105230208130110200191121102Observati onsStandard DeviationI did standard deviation to find out how spread the collected data is. Here are the results:5NX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2160.20.0415-0.80.64160.20.0415-0.80.64171.21.44792.8Mean15.8Standard Deviation0.755N+1WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2121.83.2410-0.20.04132.87.849-1.21.447-3.210.245122.8Mean10.2Standard Deviation2.145N+2WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^25-0.60.3660.40.1671.41.965-0.60.365-0.60.36283.2Mean5.6Standard Deviation0.805N+3WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^21-1.62.562-0.60.3630.40.1630.40.1641.41.96135.2Mean2.6Standard Deviation1.0210NX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2791.83.2477-0.20.0476-1.21.4476-1.21.44780.80.643866.8Mean77.2Standard Deviation1.1710N+1WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2651162-2459-5257174963-1132080Mean64Standard Deviation4.0010N+2WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2552.66.7649-3.411.56585.631.36530.60.3647-5.429.1626279.2Mean52.4Standard Deviation3.9810N+3WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^238-2.45.76410.60.36421.62.5636-4.419.36454.621.1620249.2Mean40.4Standard Deviation3.1415NX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^21301.21.4 415526.2686.44121-7.860.84120-8.877.44118-10.8116.64644942.8Mean128.8Standard Deviation13.7315N+1WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2110-4.823.041161.21.441194.217.641150.20.04114-0.80.6457442.8Mean114.8Standard Deviation2.9315N+2WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^291-4.621.16982.45.761004.419.3695-0.60.3694-1.62.5647849.2Mean95.6Standard Deviation3.1415N+3WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^260-2.24.84641.83.24718.877.4459-3.210.2457-5.227.04311122.8Mean62.2Standard Deviation4.9620NX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2205-25.4645.1626736.61339.5625019.6384.16230-0.40.16200-30.4924.1611523293.2Mean230.4Standard Deviation25.6620N+1WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^2169-29841210121442121419620810100191-7499901330Mean198Standard Deviation16.3120N+2WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^21321.62.561343.612.961354.621.16130-0.40.16121-9.488.36652125.2Mean130.4Standard Deviation5.0020N+3WeightX(X-Mean)(X-Mean)^21157.860.84104-3.210.24105-2.24.841102.87.84102-5.227.04536110.8Mean107.2Standard Deviation4.71AnalysisFrom these results its clear that my hypothesis were right. My hypothesis was the more force you apply to the rubber band the further the wood will travel but the more weight you put on the block of wood the less distance its going to cover. As Newton said When an object gains force it will accelerate or decelerate the acceleration or deceleration is proportional to the resultant force. This explains that when the block of wood was released at 20 Newtons the force it gained was much greater than the friction; this is why it could go for greater distance. But when the same block of wood was released at 5 Newtons the block of wood didnt go far enough this is because the friction was greater than the force released by the piece of wood.EvaluationI think that these results are not good because we didnt check the elasticity of the rubber band.Elasticity of the rubber bandI know from the Internet that elasticity of a normal rubber band will change when you keep on stretching but there is a limit when the rubber band will not stretch furthe r. I put 50g weight on a new rubber band and measured how much it stretched. I then took the weight and stretched the rubber band 20 times and put 50g weight and measured it. I did this until I got the same result 3 times. These are the results:155mm179mm200mm200mm200mmThese results show that the elasticity of the rubber band will change but there is a limit to it. If I had done this and used the same rubber band then I can be sure that the results are not wrong. I think I collected enough results.

Seismic Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Seismic Studies - Essay Example A significant extent of advanced material and effort is required for this technique to be carried out. (Economides, p.1) This similar technique can be used discover any mineral deposits under the seafloors, that by carrying out the similar process in the ocean by means of a ship. In this case not the 'thumper truck' but the technical equipment called the air guns, shoot high pressure air into the water, due to which the energy waves travel to and into the ocean floor, as seismic event occurs when these vibrating wave go through rocks. Unlike the land case, the reflected waves aren't received by the geophones, but the hydrophones actually record and receive these waves. Sophisticated computerization is used to analyze the received waves. The computer application software can easily generate the behavior of these waves graphically and mathematically thus creating a graphical image of the rocks under the crust. A two dimensional figure can be created using the data from a single wave received this is the cross sectional image of the rock underground. A three dimensional figure can be easily generated by a number of two dimensional cross sections that can be produced when the hydrophones or the geophones from a boat or a truck respectively, sends number of vibrating waves through the ground as they move onwards on the sea level or on the ground. (Deffeyes, p. 77-79) The petrole Importance to the Industry The petroleum industry has revolutionized after the introduction of this technique. According to most of the engineers of the industry express that this techniques has substantially improved the success rate of oil drilling, as the highly detailed three dimensional images of the rocks have reduced the elements of uncertainty that maybe present at the oil drilling site. Furthermore the best sites and locations of the oil deposits underground can be located by the geologists and engineers using seismic models, thus also significantly reducing the number of wells that are actually drilled. Thus these advancements have actually raised the quality of the oil extraction processes in terms of precision, speed and productivity.. (Deffeyes, p. 71-72) Seismic reflection surveys have proved to be a hopeful expertise in reviewing the extended regions of entrenched marine sites quickly and accurately. Figure 2: Adopted from 'The National Methane Hydrates

Film Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Film Evaluation - Essay Example e tortured and abducted women, and quest of certain individuals, who benevolently wish to put an end to such heinous practice so that the world can be a better place to live. Casting of the film does not include giant names from the Hollywood film industry, however, collaborative and sincere acting efforts by Kevin Kline, Cesar Ramos, Paulina Gaità ¡n, and Alicja Bachleda-Curus have attempted to provide a realist impression of the horror of the situation that looms heavy over women even in the modern context of human civilization. This film speaks of a world, where women are subjects of sensual pleasure and financial benefit; where a mother does not hesitate to sell her innocent daughter to satisfy her monetary requirements; where believers of God are indulged in the business of human trafficking; where moral corruption is a regular and normal practice. The name of the film, Trade immediately gives a symbolic impression that every aspect of human life has become commoditized and the essential virtues, such as tenderness, emotion, humanity, and valuing relationship have been defeated in comparison to such commoditization. Despite the fact that in the end of the film, the protagonists have received the chance to get back to their dear ones, but the situation of crisis retains and it has also been made clear through the film that unless immediate actions are taken and human beings do not fight against the present situation, the process of denying human entity will continue and they will increasingly remain as the subjects of trade. Story: Story of the film revolves around lives and experiences of Adriana and Jorge, who are brother and sister in their relation. Residing in the Mexico City, while Jorge has become quite a ruffian due to his close association with wrong friends, on the other, he is very much caring towards his sister and loves her truly. However, in the very beginning of the film, it has been shown that the business of human trafficking for sexual slavery