Small Pox and Population Growth free essay sample

Smallpox spread like wildfire through the surrounding areas. In 1519, smallpox developed in the Aztec Empire. The outcome of this event is the population declined ninety percent within one hundred years, and it almost killing one of the most powerful empires. The Seven Years War marked another important incident dealing with smallpox and its effects. Smallpox was the major disease spread during the war, and left a severe population decline in its wake as it spread. In conclusion, smallpox was one of the leading killers of people during the 1500s and on. This powerful disease almost killed some of the most dominant empires only because their immune systems weren’t prepared, and brought a strong decline to population growths to the people of the Americas. The Relationship Between the Spice Trade and Missionaries The spice trade was an excellent opportunity for missionaries to spread their religious messages. Missionaries would leave their homes to travel to foreign countries, in order to futher their religion, by spreading their message. We will write a custom essay sample on Small Pox and Population Growth or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The spice trade was the commercial activity of ancient origin which involved the merchandising of spices and herbs. The first dated movement of missionary activity on the spice trade was through the Dutch United East India Company. The Dutch’s objective was to concentrate on the spice trade in Indonesia. While there, surprisingly, there was less missionary action. The next movement was the Russian expansion in Asia. Even though they tried, there was little success with missionary efforts. This is because of the Russian’s relationship with Siberia. The trade between Russian people and Siberian ones were scarce. Therefore less missionaries would see that route as successful for carrying their message. Russia’s only use of Siberia was the location in which to place criminals. The thirteenth century was very flourishing for missionaries traveling on the spice trade routes. The arrival of merchants from Islamic lands were the cause of this. Following the Islamic merchants were the missionaries spreading Islam along with them. Once the europeans arrive on the spice trade scene, the battle began. This battle of course was between Christian missonaries and Islamic ones. Both religions spread drastically thanks to the development of spice trade routes.

Where Have They Gone essays

Where Have They Gone essays For many reasons the human race could be called a blessing. Great advanced in technology, medicine and even the fact we are the most sophisticated species on the planet. Are we a gift to planet Earth, or far from it? With cast amounts of pollution and destruction of the planet, not to mention unthinkable acts of violence and hate that has been going on since the beginning of time. Are we really as sophisticated and important as we have led ourselves to believe? Are we any better than any other creature because we are more technologically advanced? Is the human race a blessing? Humans have destroyed and endangered more species on our planet than any other species or group, with our continuous pollution and lack of respect for out own environment. One area of the world affected by our careless habits is our coastlines and the marine habitats that vast amounts of species rely on. These particular areas of the world are being destroyed because humans dont seem to care as long as they make a couple of dollars in the process. Oil spills like the one in the Prince William Sound on the coast of Alaska and Hawaiian sea turtles and their many troubles with humans are just some examples of human carelessness and the consequences that the environment, particularly marine wildlife incur, which often are fatal. I chose this particular subject because I find the ocean and its unique and rare inhabitants to be interesting. Every coastline has its one unique species and no two areas are the same. I wanted to learn more about how humans are destroying the habitats of these unique creatures. I found that all species are in someway being threatened by human dominance and carelessness. From the common flounder or sea star you can find when you walk across the beach to a rare fish like the coelacanth (prehistoric fish that was believed to be extinct until one was caught off the coat of Madagascar by a local commercial fisherman until in ...

Chemical Safety In Schools Environmental Sciences Essay

Chemical Safety In Schools Environmental Sciences Essay Chemistry plays an important role in human civilization. It enables us to formulate substances important for disease treatment, fertilize plants and provide fuel for transportation ( ). For many years, chemistry has been considered the central science due to its significant connections and overlap with other sciences. If a scientific discipline involves matter, chances are that chemistry plays an important role. Therefore, we will always need people who have a good knowledge of chemistry. As expressed by Beach and Stone (1988) â€Å"chemistry education without laboratory is like painting without colors and canvas or learning how to ride a bike by reading its operating manual† (Tezcan and Bilgin, 2004). The study of chemistry in schools equips students with knowledge in the classroom and skills of conducting experiments in laboratories during practical sessions that are scheduled once a week for a period of two to three hours (MOH, 2001). 2.1.2 Hazards Chemical in the School E xperiments The teaching of chemistry at secondary school includes the use of hazardous chemical, which is essential for the understanding of chemistry fundamentals. Example of hazardous chemicals that are available at school chemistry laboratory are hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, natrium hydroxide, hydrogen sulfate, ammonium sulfate, hydrogen peroxide, ethanol, propanol and acetone (MOH, 2000). These chemicals are classified as hazardous chemicals to health under the Malaysia Occupational Safety and Health (Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemical Hazardous to Health) Regulations 2000. In view of their hazardous characteristics, the government through the Department of Occupational Safety and Health regulates labelling and packaging of these chemicals. A specific law pertaining to these hazardous chemicals, the Occupational Safety and Health (Classification, Packaging John Kiesswetter et al., 1994; Medinsky et al., 1995). Malaysian Occupational Safety & Health (Ac t 514) and Occupational Safety & Health Regulation 2000 (Use and Standard of Exposure to Chemicals Hazardous to Health) specify the permissible exposure level (PEL). The PEL is the maximum time-weighted average concentration of hazardous chemicals in the air of working area that workers can be exposed without the need to wear personal protective equipment and the PEL for acetone, ethanol and formaldehyde are 1187.0, 1880.0 and 0.4 mg/m3, respectively (MDC, 2005). 2.1.3 Safety Precautions In view of the physical and health hazards of the chemicals, there is requires the implementation of safety precaution and hazard control to reduce the risk of exposure to the chemical hazards. Safety precaution differs based on the type of the chemical hazards. Safety precautions differ based on the type chemical hazards. General safety precaution is personal hygiene whereby the user as advice:

The War on Drugs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The War on Drugs - Essay Example r on Drugs is a combined effort at the prohibition and stoppage of drugs into the United States, involving various military operations, financial expenditures, and propaganda initiatives to change the social attitude regarding the acceptability of drug consumption. Such programs include the renowned Just Say No campaign, most familiar from the 1980s, which involved teaching children the dangers of drug use (Rogers & Blackstone, 2003). Further, as part of the international initiative to halt drug trafficking in the U.S., the military implemented Operation Just Cause which involved the 1989 invasion of Panama due to alleged reports that Panamas leadership was heavily responsible for drug movements into the United States (Rogers & Blackstone). However, outside of the activities being conducted every year by the government to prevent drug use, it is important to identify that despite these high financial expenditures, drug use and drug-related problems continue to escalate in the U.S. One sociological professional argues that the War on Drugs campaign has provided illegal drugs with heavier, however unintended, marketing and promotion, allowing society to become far too knowledgeable about drug movements thus they are more apt to consume them (Henslin, 2003). Engraining the existence of drugs, according to the author, into the social consciousness is what is believed to be the reason as to why drug use continues to climb domestically. Of course, Henslins viewpoint on the War on Drugs only represents a singular opinion, however statistics illustrate that drug convictions related to the movement and consumption of illegal substances has risen by nearly 20% since 2001 (Rogers & Blackstone). This should raise the question in the minds of the American populace as to whether these state and federal billions are being spent appropriately, as it appears that the War on Drugs is not making any significant impact on drug trafficking and consumption. Further, it is estimated

Research project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Research project - Essay Example There are some organizational structures which propagate discrimination in workplaces and employees at lower status positions suffer the most from this social problem. From the 2008 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC statistics, the US posted a 15% increase in complaints related to workplace discrimination (Hammond, Gillen & Yen, 2010). Even so, these figures are much lower than the exact occurrences because minority group members always minimize such experiences and would be reluctant to file formal complaints. Therefore, workplace discrimination is a rampant social problem that needs critical understanding so as to determine effective solutions. America has a poor historical background on discrimination at workplace. As late as 1865, businesspeople were allowed to have slaves that they would use to run their business ventures, this being the period around the Industrial Revolution. As late as the mid twentieth century, no laws were in force to deter prejudice and harassment in workplace (National Archives, 2015). However, 1964 saw the turning point to such treatment with the civil rights legislation which required that workplaces be open to all their employees regardless of their race. This gave birth to the regulation of all the other forms of discriminations at workplace. With the changes on laws against discrimination at workplace, the discrimination practice in workplace has arguably dropped than it was during the Industrial Revolution. According to the National Archives (2015), the Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241) passed by the Congress in 1964 prohibited discrimination at workplace based on race and sex. This was later expanded to include color, religion and national origin. In Title VII of this Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created to realize the law. The role of EEOC was subsequently expanded and now includes enforcement of federal statutes which prohibit all discriminatory practices at

The study of design research methodology Essay Example for Free

The study of design research methodology Essay Abstract Studies on design research methodology are infrequent, although there is a consensus that more e ort is needed for improving design research quality. Previous calls for exercising better research methodology have been unsuccessful. As numerous studies reveal, there is no single scienti c methodology that is exercised in science or in any other research practice. Rather, research methodologies are socially constructed. Since some constructions are better than others for di erent purposes, it becomes valuable to study di erent methodologies and their in uence on research practice and results. Proposals for such studies are overed. 1 The state of design research methodology In many disciplines, research methodology is seldom discussed by researchers. Such neglect may result from several attitudes towards research methodology including indi erence or ignorance. Researchers may be indi erent because their research is well received by the community therefore they need not change or worry about it; or researchers may perceive their practice as science and wish to adopt as their methodology what they perceive to be the methodology used by scientists, henceforth referred to as the received scienti c methodology. Roughly, the received scienti c methodology consists  of several steps: (1) observations or preliminary studies, (2) hypothesis formation, (3) hypothesis testing, (4) hypothesis evaluation, and (5) hypothesis acceptance or rejection. It is asserted that results of research discovered by this methodology lead to applied research and subsequently, to practical impact. In contrast to this assertion, it is proclaimed that the goal of this methodology is to advance knowledge for its own sake and not address practical needs nor be responsible for delivering practical results. Most researchers would rarely question this methodology, but since it is impossible to follow or even hard to approximate, researchers who would claim to have adopted it, would not practice it.  Indi erence may be caused by ignorance; often researchers are not familiar with the details  of, and the controversies about, the received scienti c methodology. They are unaware of the alternatives of this methodology that we brie y mention later, their practice, and consequences. In fact, most researchers interpret methodology as a fancy synonym for method, while methodology is (or attempts to approximate) a compatible collection of assumptions and goals underlying methods, the methods, and the way the results of carrying the methods out are interpreted and evaluated. The ability to validate the attainment of research assumptions and goals through the evaluations is a critical factor in making the above collection compatible. The di erence in meanings assigned to the term methodology can be illustrated through an example from structural optimization. One research method of structural design involves the development of optimization procedures and their testings on benchmark problems. Most researchers will call this method \research methodology. However, the assumptions underlying such work (e.g., that optimization is a good model of structural design) and its testing (e.g., that simple benchmark problems are representatives of the complex structural designs performed by designers), or the believe that such research advances practice (e.g., that designers use optimization programs developed in research and that designers practice bene ts from them), are rarely articulated thus  rarely validated. If these issues would be addressed, the conclusions would probably contradict those implicit assumptions. First, independent of any discipline, optimization is a very restricted view of design (even with respect to Simons (1981) restricted view). Second, results obtained on simple benchmark problems do not necessarily transfer to real design problems nor do they re ect performance on other benchmark problems (Haftka and Sobieski, 1992); simple benchmark comparisons provide little understanding of the relative merit of di erent optimization procedures (Burns, 1989). Third, practitioners are very reluctant to use optimization procedures (Adelman, 1992; Haftka and Sobieski, 1992). This reluctance contradicts the implicit or stated research goals of improving structural design practice. Indi erence or ignorance towards research methodology relieve researchers from addressing such contradictions or exercising informed choices between methodologies in their research. Many researchers simply follow the method of their close senior peers without questioning or even knowing the assumptions that underlie it. In most cases, only the method|the actual research activity|is transferred to research apprentices. Thus, driven by social proximity, research assumptions become part of the implicit unarticulated research culture. Infrequently, this state of a airs had called the attention of researchers. In 1987, two representative papers critical of the state of design research practice were published, one by Antonsson (1987) and the other by Dixon (1987). Both papers advocated adopting the scienti c methodology in design research either for improving research quality or for improving design practice. These and other related papers elicit almost no response from the research community. Since their publication, the state of design research methodology has remained virtually unchanged. Such reaction raises at least two questions: what may have caused this response and if this is an expected reaction, is the state of research methodology worth additional discussions? Two plausible answers that originate from two di erent interpretations of Dixon and Antonssons papers justify further discussions. First, Dixon and Antonssons positions may have been interpreted as criticizing the intellectual de ciency of research and demanding from researchers to exercise a methodology di erent from the one they actually use and one that requires additional e ort. In particular, the methodology Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  proposed demanded researchers to seriously test their hypotheses. It might have been expected that such requests would be opposed to or, worst, be ignored. Second, researchers who are familiar with current views in the philosophy of science may have treated Dixon or Antonssons positions as being too simpli ed if they interpreted these positions as advocating for the received scienti c view. Since the stated goal of science is creating knowledge for the sake of knowing, but not necessarily knowledge that is relevant to practice, the received scienti c methodology may hinder improving practice by detaching the products of research ( i.e., design theories) from actual practice (Argyris, 1980; Reich, 1992). According to this interpretation and its limitation, previous calls for improving research methodology could not have impacted design practice even if researchers had adopted them. If design practice is indeed a goal of design research, di erent methodologies may be needed to establish a connection between research and practice (Reich et al, 1992; Reich, 1994a; Reich, 1994b). These methodologies can evolve in various ways including studying researchers activities and the way these activities correlate with research progress, thereby identifying the relationships between di erent assumptions, methods, and consequences. I have no intention to select between these two interpretations or to develop others but to explain how to improve research practice without assuming a xed methodology. To start with, we must acknowledge that there are di ering views about scienti c methodology (Kourany, 1987). In addition, we must  acknowledge studies on science and technology demonstrating that scienti c progress is in uenced by social, cultural, and political factors. Researchers in various sciences are increasingly acknowledging that knowledge is socially constructed (Pickering, 1992), and knowledge of design, in particular (Konda et al, 1992; Monarch et al, 1993). Moreover, the social in uence on research practice includes aspects such as: shaping research goals according to available grants or unarticulated interests; publishing papers to receive tenure or to justify traveling to conferences; and fraud (Bell, 1992; Broadbent, 1981). The rst studies on the social dimensions of science analyzed the progress of the \hard sciences such as chemistry or physics (Feyerabend, 1975; Kuhn, 1962). More recently, historical or re ective studies in science and engineering have begun addressing the social aspects underlying research and the need for di erent methodologies if practical impact is sought. These disciplines include: management science (Argyris, 1980), education (Guba, 1990), public policy (Palumbo and Calista, 1990), information systems (Bjerknes et al, 1987), cell biology (Grinnell, 1982), design in general (Broadbent, 1981), structural design (Addis, 1990; Timoshenko, 1953), solid mechanics (Bucciarelli and Dworsky, 1980), and even mathematics (DeMillo et al, 1979). Moreover, the social aspects manifested themselves in unexpected circumstances and in resolving seemingly trivial issues such as the implementation of computer arithmetic (MacKenzie, 1993)|the most basic infrastructure for much engineering design re search and practice. The importance of the aforementioned studies is twofold. First, they reject the received scienti c view as the means for formulating theories and as a means for improving practice. Second, they acknowledge and demonstrate that research methodology is a subject of study and constant improvement, and that gaining insight into the procedures of doing research can improve research itself. Since science is a social enterprise, the study of research methodology is mandatory for providing guidance in the maze of methodologies and in monitoring the quality of research. In order to sustain credibility, researchers must use and demonstrate that the techniques they develop in design research have some relevance to practice. Moreover, since funding  agencies Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in  press researchers to work towards improving design practice (National Research Council, 1991), researchers need to understand what kinds of studies are useful in practice, how are such studies conducted within budget limits, and which factors account for the di usion of studies results into practical engineering. 2 Studying research methodology Researchers may nd it fruitful to study: the objectives or goals of engineering design research; how can these objectives be ful lled through research; how can progress towards research goals be tested; and how can this overall process be improved. Such study will evolve a repository of methods with their assumptions, interpretations, successes and failures. This is the essence of studying engineering design research methodology. This view does not advocate for nor lead to anarchy. Furthermore, the evolving nature of methodology does not empty the usefulness of some principles for evaluating scienti c theories (e.g., such as those acknowledged even by Kuhn, 1987), nor does it mean that methodology is merely an art (Beveridge, 1957) that is not amenable to systematic study. It only acknowledges that the assumptions underlying methodologies and their potential e ectiveness and drawbacks for conducting certain types of research projects must be studied. We now illustrate the study of research methodology by elaborating some issues related to Antonssons six-step methodology (1987, p. 154). Each of the steps raises issues that need further study. These issues are not startling; some are familiar while others are not. Unfortunately, most of them are neglected all too often. (1),(2) Propose/hypothesize that a set of rules for design can elucidate part of the design process and develop those rules. Several questions arise about the actual execution of this activity. What is a good source of such rules? Are (un)successful designs (Petroski, 1989; Suh, 1990), patents previously issued (Arciszewski, 1988) or design textbooks (Aguirre and Wallace, 1990) good sources? Is studying human designers useful (Subrahmanian, 1992)? The answer is obviously a rmative; nevertheless, rarely are these sources consulted. If studying human designers is useful, how do di erent ways of studying a ect the usefulness of the rules hypothesized? Inarguably, such studies bring to bear research methods from psychology and sociology into play in design research. For example, how are designers activities being coded in observational studies? Is the coding scheme tested for reliability by using at lease two coders? Are the results statistically valid? Which criteria may be used for selecting candidate hypotheses for further testing? Can the subjective bias in th is selection be reduced? Note that the above questions raise a related question. Consider trading the quality of the design rules proposed with the resources to nd them. What kind of information is needed for making a sensible trade o and how can this information be collected and organized? (3) Have novice designers learn the rules and apply them. How is the above learning process taking place? Are the designers being taught thus introducing teachers bias? Or do they learn the rules on their own, potentially by solving Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  other design problems, thereby excluding the exercise of some measure of control? How are problems selected such that novice designers can solve them yet such that they are relevant to real practice. For that matter, how relevant is any laboratory experiment to real design? This critical question leads researchers in other disciplines as well as in design to use different  methods such as ethnography and participatory research while studying designers. See (Reich et al, 1992; Subrahmanian, 1992; Reich, 1994a) for additional details. Are benchmark problems used by di erent researchers to allow for the replication of results? Is performance on benchmark problems indicative of performance on other problems or on real design? Is it possible to replicate results relevant to real design? Can rules for multidisciplinary design be hypothesized and tested in the same manner? If the common view of science is adopted, this study must be controlled to be valid. One minimal requirement is that another group of designers participate in the study, potentially novice designers that did not study the new design rules. Note, however, that since the rst group of novice designers are trained with the new rules, the second group must receive similar training with default or irrelevant rules. Furthermore, members of the groups must not know which group was trained with the new rules. A better study may also include two groups of expert designers, one that learns the rules and another that learns the default rules. The latter may prov ide better indication about the relative merit of the new design rules with respect to existing design practice. In contrast, if the study follows a di erent methodology such as participatory research (Reich et al, 1992; Whyte, 1991), the nature of the study would change signi cantly into long-term case studies where real design problems are addressed. Exercising common scienti c methods in this methodology may damage research (Blumberg and Pringle, 1983). (4) Measure the design productivity of the rules. How is productivity being measured? Which criteria are included in the measurement: quality of design, time to design, or revenue of manufacturer? Do the measures used adhere to the principles of measurement theory (Roberts, 1979; Reich, 1995), or are they ad hoc and meaningless? Do independent designers than those who created the designs, or do potential customers, participate in this measurement?  Can the quality of design be assessed without manufacturing it and subjecting it to actual use? How relevant will abstract measurements be to practical  design? Is the measurement quantitative or is qualitative information being gathered as well? (5) Evaluate the results to con rm or refute the hypothesis. How is the measured data evaluated? What are the criteria that determine whether a hypothesis was con rmed or refuted? Are these criteria general or context dependent? Note that most philosophers of science including Popper and Kuhn reject the existence of such criteria (Weimer, 1979). Are the criteria correlated with real design? That is, could not researchers nd designers successfully employing design rules that were refuted by researchers? For example, Fritts et al. (1990, p. 478) describe engineers using theories that produce erroneous results with respect to experiments but that have a pragmatic utility of di erentiating between candidate designs. Are hypotheses really refuted or con rmed or are di erent hypotheses found to be useful Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  in different contexts? When is it possible to disregard experimental evidence in favor of keeping a hypothesis (Agassi, 1975)? When can experiments be harmful to progress (Truesdell, 1982)? Does a failure of a hypothesis constitute a failure of a research project or can it provide useful information worth reporting? Will archival journals publish such a report? (6) Re ne the hypothesis. The comments on items (1) and (2) apply here. Moreover, How does one diagnose a faulty hypothesis to accommodate empirical testing? When is re nement insu cient to address the failure of a hypothesis and a new \worldview must be adopted? The above expansion of Antonssons proposal re ects the complexity, richness, and necessity of studying research methodology. It illustrates that the design of a research activity is complex and di cult. It hints that  some activities that lead to research successes may fail other research and that some activities may not be compatible with some methodologies. Furthermore, research failure s (OR SUCCESSES) can lead to practical successes (or failures). Therefore, it is critical to identify where methods fail or succeed and in relation to which assumptions. Summary Science does not progress according to a distinctive methodology, nor could engineering design research; especially not if the goal is advancing design practice and not some abstract `understanding. Di erent research scenarios consisting of di erent goals, disciplines, and cultural settings, may call for di erent research methodologies for attaining the stated goals. Research involves design and therefore design researchers must be re ective continuously. This paper illustrated how researchers can be re ective upon their research methodology. If researchers object to such re ection, they risk losing credibility and, more importantly, lose the chance of discovering whether their work is meaningful. Acknowledgments The ideas expressed in this paper bene ted from discussions with Suresh Konda, Sean Levy, Shoulamit Milch-Reich, Ira Monarch, and Eswaran Subrahmanian. This work was done partly while the author was with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC. and the Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. References Addis, W. (1990). Structural Engineering: The Nature of Theory and Design, Ellis Horwood, New York NY. Adelman, H. M. (1992). \Experimental validation of the utility of structural optimization. Structural Optimization, 5(1-2):3{11. Agassi, J. (1975). Sciene in Flux, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  Aguirre, G. J. and Wallace, K. M. (1990). \Evaluation of technical systems at the design stage. In Proceedings of The 1990 International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED-90 (Dubrovnik). Antonsson, E. K. (1987). \Development and testing of hypotheses in engineering design research. ASME Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions, and Automation in Design, 109:153{154. Arciszewski, T. (1988). \ARIZ 77: An innovative design method. Design Methods and Theories, 22(2):796{ 820. Argyris, C. (1980). Inner Contradictions of Rigorous Research, Academic Press, New York, NY. Bell, R. (1992). Impure Science: Fraud, Compromise, and Political In uence in Scienti c Research, Wiley, New York, NY. Beveridge, W. I. B. (1957). The Art of Scienti c Investigation, Norton, New York, NY, Revised edition. Bjerknes, G., Ehn, P., and Kyng, M., editors (1987). Computers and Democracy: A Scandinavian Challenge, Gower Press, Brook eld, VT. Blumberg, M. and Pringle, C. D. (1983). \How control groups can cause loss of control in action research: The case of Rushton Coal Mine. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 19(4):409{425. Broadbent, G. (1981). \The morality of designing. In Design: Science: Method, Proceedings of The 1980 Design Research Society Conference, pages 309{328, Westbury House, Guilford, England. Bucciarelli, L. L. and Dworsky, N. (1980). Sophie Germain: An Essay in the History of Elasticity, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland. Burns, S. A. (1989). \Graphical representations of design optimization processes. Computer-Aided Design, 21(1):21{24. DeMillo, R. A., Lipton, R. J., and Perlis, A. J. (1979). \Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs. Communication of the ACM, 22:271{280. Dixon, J. R. (1987). \On research methodology towards a scienti c theory of engineering design. Arti cial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 1(3):145{157. Feyerabend, P. K. (1975). Against Method, New Left Books, London, UK. Fritts, M., Comstock, E., Lin, W.-C., and Salvasen, N. (1990). \Hydro-numeric design: Performance prediction and impact on hull design. Transactions SNAME, 98:473{493. Grinnell, F. (1982). The Scienti c Attitude, Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Guba, E. G., editor (1990). The Paradigm Dialog, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Haftka, R. T. and Sobieski, J. (1992). \Editorial: The case for helping consumers of research. Structural Optimization, 4(2):63{64. Konda, S., Monarch, I., Sargent, P., and Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Shared memory in design: A unifying theme for research and practice. Research in Engineering Design, 4(1):23{42. Kourany, J. A., editor (1987). Scienti c Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scienti c Revolution, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Kuhn, T. S. (1987). \Objectivity, value judgment, and theory choice. In Kourany, J. A., editor, Scienti c Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, pages 197{207, Belmont, CA, Wadsworth. MacKenzie, D. (1993). \Negotiating arithmetic, constructing proof: The sociology of mathematics and information technology. Social Studies of Science, 23(1):37{65. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  Monarch, I. A., Konda, S. L., Levy, S. N., Reich, Y., Subrahmanian, E., and Ulrich, C. (1993). \Shared memory in design: Theory and practice. In Proceedings of the Invitational Workshop on Social Science Research, Technical Systems and Cooperative Work (Paris, France), pages 227{241, Paris, France, Department Sciences Humaines et Sociales, CNRS. National Research Council (1991). Improving Engineering Design: Designing For Competitive Advantage, National Academy Press, Washington, DC. Palumbo, D. J. and Calista, D. J., editors (1990). Implementation and The Policy Process: Opening Up The Black Box, Greenwood Press, New York, NY. Petroski, H. (1989). \Failure as a unifying theme in design. Design Studies, 10(4):214{218. Pickering, A., editor (1992). Science as Practice and Culture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Reich, Y., Konda, S., Monarch, I., and Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Participation and design: An extended view. In Muller, M. J., Kuhn, S., and Meskill, J. A., editors, PDC92: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (Cambridge, MA), pages 63{71, Palo Alto, CA, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Reich, Y. (1992). \Transcending the theory-practice problem of technology. Technical Report EDRC 12-51-92, Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Reich, Y. (1994). \Layered models of research methodologies. Arti cial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing, 8(4):(in press). Reich, Y. (1994). \What is wrong with CAE and can it be xed. In Preprints of Bridging the Generations: An International Workshop on the Future Directions of Computer-Aided Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA, Department of Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University. Reich, Y. (1995). \Measuring the value of knowledge. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. (in press). Roberts, F. S. (1979). Measurement Theory with Applications to Decisionmaking, Utility, and the Social Sciences, Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications, Vol. 7, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA. Simon, H. A. (1981). The Sciences of The Arti cial, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2nd edition. Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Notes on empirical studies of engineering tasks and environments, invited position paper. In NSF Workshop on Information Capture and Access in Engineering Design Environments (Ithaca, NY), pages 567{578. Suh, N. P. (1990). The Principles of Design, Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Timoshenko, S. P. (1953). History of Strength of Materials: With a Brief Account of the History of Theory of Elasticity and Theory of Structures, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Truesdell, C. (1982). \The disastrous e ects of experiment upon the early development of thermodynamics. In Agassi, J. and Cohen, R. S., editors, Scienti c Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge, pages 415{423, Dordrecht, D. Reidel Publishing Company. Weimer, W. B. (1979). Notes on the Methodology of Scienti c Research, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ. Whyte, W. F., editor (1991). Participatory Action Research, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press

Different Types of Bridges Essay -- miscellaneous

Different Types of Bridges The quest for travel has always been one that man has tried to conquer. First, he traveled on foot, and then developed methods of transportation such as boats, but one of the first obstacles that he had to overcome was getting across rivers, waterways, and canals. Today, bridges have become a part of everyday life; hence without them, people would have a much more difficult time going from one place to another. In the United States alone, there are more than half a million bridges (History of Bridges 1). Although bridges have been in existence since ancient times, they were not first made by man. Nature actually made the first bridges by toppling logs across streams. This was considered the first beam bridge as the flat rocks were used to support the log. Then, the water eroded the rocks and eventually a stone bridge was formed. The ancient Romans built arched bridges because they needed roads and bridges to connect the sections of their empire. The original swing bridge, from which the suspension bridge was produced, was a simple vine that swung people over the water. From these beginnings, men created four main types of bridges. To begin with, beam bridges, also known as girder bridges, are one of the easiest and simplest types of bridges to build. In ancient times, people used to make these bridges out of granite. Beam bridges can be made by putting a wooden plank over an area needing to be crossed. To get across larger areas, piers or supports can be fabricated up from the river bed to hold up a couple of beams. The piers of the girder bridge have constant pressure on them. Therefore, the beams, which are usually made out of concrete or steel, have a lot of strength so they do not crumble due to the heavy load. Many beam bridges are made of pre-stressed concrete. This concrete has steel rods inside of it, which help resist tension. When the weight pushes down on a bridge, the top of the beams are pressed together creating compression, while the bottom edge is stretched and causes tension. Beam bridges are not practical in cities with a lot of high rises, because the bridge has very low clearance. The bigge st limitation of the girder bridge is its length. The farther apart the piers are, the weaker the bridge gets. Beam bridges are good to use on spans of up to two hundred feet ( How Bridges Work 1). A bridge of greater... ... long way (Bridges 3). A cable-stayed bridge is used to cross medium lengths, which are approximately five hundred feet to two thousand eight hundred feet (Bridges 3). The cable-stayed bridge requires less cable than a suspension bridge, and is much faster to build in comparison to suspension bridges. Cable stayed bridges are supported by stave towers. These towers are ‘A’ shaped, and absorb almost all of the bridge’s compression. Unlike suspension bridges, cable stayed bridges only have two towers and do not need any anchorages. Now that man has overcome the obstacle of getting across rivers, canals, and waterways efficiently, it is now time to perfect these human creations so no more mishaps happen. Even though people keep hearing about collapsing bridges, they still use them because it has become a part of their everyday life style. Without bridges, people would have a difficult time getting from one place to another. It could be done by means of a ferry or other boat, but that is time consuming and a real pain in the neck because once a person gets across the river or canal, they would have to walk everywhere. So, without bridges, things would not be the way they are today.

Alternative Courses of Action

For SK-II line of skin care products, Procter and Gamble should have stood more firmly. Instead of denying the allegation, they should have explained and stressed more clearly that the small amount of those banned chemicals in the SK-II skin care products are not hazardous to health. They should have sought all the help and legal assistance of the concerned departments needed to prove their case.In that way, they would not need to voluntarily offer refunds to consumers as it has been announced lately by the Chinese authorities that the banned substances did not pose a health hazard. In this way, though image and trust had been tainted because of negative publicity and perception, there will be no significant loss financially as they would not need to offer refunds anymore. In addition, the incident of returning counterfeit products and cases of violence would have been avoided as well.The moment Procter and Gamble decided to voluntarily offer refunds to consumers, they have acknowled ged that they have lapses on their part which created instances for consumers to behave that way. †¢For Gillette products in Russia, Procter and Gamble should have anticipated the fluctuation of Russian ruble. They should have prepared countermeasures when Russian ruble plummet which had happened. They should have expected this kind of problem the moment they have decided to merge with Gillette Company.In this particular instance, I can say that Procter and Gamble had overlooked planning causing this kind of failure. †¢For disruption of sales in certain countries, Procter and Gamble should have anticipated this as well. The moment they have decided to merge with Gillette Company, they should have expected that this problem will happen. They should have studied the market of these certain countries more intensively so they can plan how to deal with this considerable overlap.

Book binding Essay

OBJECTIVES:2. OBJECTIVES:The term ‘binding’ is sometimes used to describe the cover of a book. For example, you might refer to a book as having a binding of leather, or being bound in linen. But binding also means the act of attaching many pages to one another to produce a book. Bookbinding is a very old craft and the techniques used in hand-binding have hardly changed over the centuries. Mechanization has changed the way most books are made but hand-bound books still use the same the techniques and equipment. As a craft, bookbinding plays an important role in the production of artist’s books, the preservation of antique books, and in training for fine arts students. As a commercial process, bookbinding plays a role in the lives of any consumer who picks up a book or magazine. Advances in commercial bookbinding techniques have greatly improved the cost, and therefore accessibility, of printed material all over the world. IT: 3. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ORGANIZE IT:A prior permission has been taken from the Teacher-in-Charge of our institution to perform the work. Eight students of class VIII, Sec A are selected to participate with me. The Biology Laboratory of this institution has been selected as the working place. I first told the students the procedure of book binding:†¢ Stapling and Sewing – The collected papers exactly the same sized are piled them up. Then staple down/sewed along one edge. †¢ Gluing – A white paper paste, or â€Å"library paste,† is good for most purposes. †¢ Covering – Any book will be enormously improved if it has some kind of a cover. The cover doesn’t have to be cloth or cardboard or particularly heavy. prasenjitzoology@gmail. com 1 BOOK BINDING CONTRBUTIONS:4. CONTRBUTIONS:†¢ MINE – I directed as well as helped the students how to prepare for such works. †¢ MY HEAD TEACHER – He encouraged and motivated me to perform the work. He also helped me by inspiring the students also. He also helped me by granting a fund for that. †¢ MENTOR – The Principal, Prof. D. P. Nag Chowdhury of the College, Shimurali Sachinandan College of Education was the mentor who helped me mentally as well as providing printed materials to do the work. The Director of the workshop, Prof Trishna Goswami as well as the Coordinator, Prof. S. R. Adhikari of the College, Shimurali Sachinandan College of Education, P. O. – Shimurali, District – Nadia also helped me in many ways. A book binder of that locality also helped various ways to make successful this work. CTIVITY: 5. OUTPUT OF THE ACTIVITY:Students can bind books at home following these simple instructions. This is so simple that the students themselves can make them for the joy of learning science. It can encourage them in publishing business. PERSONAL:6. YOUR PERSONAL:†¢ OBSERVATIONS – Students shortlisted the materials from their book or as directed that are needed to perform the work. Sheets of paper for binding into a book, Bone folder, Studio Tac double-sided adhesive, Heavyweight papers for end pages, Pencil, Jade glue, Paint brush, Headband tape, Craft knife, Binder’s board (acid-free), Book canvas, Iron-on transfer paper (optional)are collected by the students from their homes and market. Then prasenjitzoology@gmail. com 2 BOOK BINDING they started the work following the book binding procedure as stated. My students enjoyed this very much and many of them tried this on their own. †¢ EXPERIENCES – Teaching children about the publishing business entails more than writing stories and creating characters. In fact, you can turn any English lesson into a crafts project by introducing children to bookbinding activities. †¢ DIFFICULTIES – Manipulatives and experiments are teaching aids that the children are allowed to play with and touch. Hence it was a time consuming process. FROM:7. FEED BACK FROM:†¢ STUDENTS – The participants were fully satisfied and wished such programme to be of more and more so that they could update their knowledge & activity. This is the spirit of teaching and learning. With hands on activities they acquire first-hand knowledge which inspires them to pursue the field of publishing to become successful who is the wealth of a nation. †¢ COLLEAGUES – They highly appreciated such activities more and more so that the students can easily understand their lessons. The students can test these works without any fear of cost or breakage. This is so simple that the students themselves can make them for the joy of learning science. Teaching children bookbinding is a way for them to become part of this long tradition of book arts in a fun and imaginative way. †¢ MENTOR – He thanked me so that I have done the work accordingly in involvement with my students in my institution. This will be proved very useful in rural and urban schools as well. ************* prasenjitzoology@gmail. com 3

30+ Writing Podcasts You Should Be Listening To

30+ Writing Podcasts You Should Be Listening To 30+ Writing Podcasts You Should Be Listening To Well†¦ don’t try to listen to all these writing podcasts - or you’ll never get any writing done!With the massive popularity of audiobooks and podcasts, you could easily say that we’re in an era of ‘peak audio content’ - and for book fans and budding writers, there’s never been a better time to get intimate advice from a range of voices. To celebrate the second season of Reedsy's Bestseller podcast, we’re giving you the skinny on some of the best writing podcasts around.Publishing and Self-PublishingPublishing a book is no easy feat. And if you choose to do it yourself by going down the independent publishing route, there’s a lot you’ll need to learn about marketing, design, and distribution. Thankfully, you won’t be short on great advice from those who have done it before.Bestseller by Reedsyâ€Å"The definitive insider's guide to our current golden age of television.†Ben Blacker of The Thrilling Adven ture Hour lets his listeners eavesdrop into conversation with some of the biggest names in television writing. If you dream of writing TV drama, or are just a Netflix addict, you’ll want to tune in for his talks with the likes of Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Damon Lindelof (Lost).Have we missed out your favorite podcast? Drop a message in the comments below and let us know!

CRITICAL ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CRITICAL ANALYSIS - Essay Example Although, microscopic urine sediment analysis is generally regarded as the gold standard for urinalysis, its flaws are also acknowledged. Besides the problem with interobserver variability and imprecision, this method is also labour intensive and very time consuming (Langlois et al., 1999). While the culture method is the preferred method of detecting and quantifying bacteria in urine (Graham and Galloway, 2001), non-culture tests include Gram staining of uncentrifuged urine specimens, Gram staining of centrifuged specimens, or direct observation of bacteria in urine specimens, Nitrite test, leukocyte esterase tests etc. Suprapubic aspiration is generally considered the best method to avoid contamination of specimen, however, this method is rarely used because it is invasive and thus uncomfortable and dangerous (Wilson and Loretta, 2004). Semi-automatic equipments like the Yellow IRIS, followed by the UA-1000 and UA-2000 (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan) were early attempts at automation of urine analysis. With the Yellow IRIS, precision and sensitivity is reported to be considerably better as compared to visual microscopy, especially at the lower concentration range. The Yellow IRIS device after removing mucus strands from native urine, adds a dye and the stained urine is passed through an optical pathway. A strobe lamp interrupts the motion of the fluid and the particles in it are captured on a colour video-camera. The resulting images of the particles are differentiated with respect to their lengthwise dimensions and then presented for validation by a trained analyst. UA-1000 and UA-2000 follow the same principle, but provide better image resolution compared with the Yellow IRIS because the particles are captured by a colour CCD camera Several studies evaluating and/or validating these automated urine examination methods have been carried out and published. From its findings, a few authors concluded that though the UF-100 might not be seen as a

The Ethics of Eating Animals Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Ethics of Eating Animals - Research Paper Example To understand the justification for the annihilation of animals based on their lack of intelligence and feeling, consider the treatment of two domestic animals a dog and a sheep. The latter is considered to be less intelligent than the former; therefore it can be slaughtered for food while the former becomes man’s best friend. In reality, the two are not very different in terms of mental abilities, however for humans to justify killing sheep; they have to make them look stupid and therefore deserving of death as opposed to dogs which deserve to live based on their assumed intelligence. Furthermore, even if one was to assume for argument's sake that some animals are more intelligent than others, this is hardly reason enough to take away their right to live. There is a great incongruity created by the inconsistency between the love for animals and the enjoyment of meat, raising concerns for animal’s rights activists who have to contend with the fact that despite claiming to love animals, most people still enjoy meat. Clearly, nobody thinks about where meat comes from, the process it takes before reaching the consumer and the fact that human also has bodies resembling meat. There are many inconsistencies between beliefs and behaviors concerning meat eating; hence, nobody is quite sure whether they are doing the right thing. To most civilized societies, eating the meat of a fellow human being is the epitome of savagery and primitiveness and it shows that those involved are evil and extremely immoral.... Furthermore, even if one was to assume for arguments sake that some animals are more intelligent than others, this is hardly reason enough to take away their right to live. There is a great incongruity created by the inconsistency between the love for animals and the enjoyment of meat, raising concerns for animal’s rights activists who have to contend with the fact that despite claiming to love animals, most people still enjoy meat. (Overal, 2012). Clearly, nobody thinks about where meat comes from, the process it takes before reaching the consumer and the fact that human also have bodies resembling meat. Wade (2000) argues that there are many inconsistencies between beliefs and behaviors concerning meat eating; hence, nobody is quite sure whether they are doing the right thing. To most civilized societies, eating the meat of a fellow human being is the epitome of savagery and primitiveness and it shows that those involved are evil and extremely immoral. How true this is argua ble, however, the same can be said of humans who kill animals for the sake of satisfying their craving for meat. At the end of the day, in both cases, there will be predation and destruction of living animals for food. In the case of modern man, it is even worse since there exists numerous alternatives to meet and they can survive comfortably without eating meat as indeed many vegetarians do. For meat lovers to enjoy their fare, they mentally disengage their eating habits from the brutality and death that precedes their meal. One of the means by which this is achieved is by disassociating the meat from the animal, for example eating pork not pig, or mutton not sheep, thereby they try to completely alienate the