Monday, September 30, 2019

Mary Celeste

MARY CELESTE The Mary Celeste was a ghost ship found off the coast of Portugal in 1872. The Mary Celeste is a ship was discovered atlantic ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned and she was fine and the people and it remain a mystery. Her cargo was virtually untouched and her crew was never seen or heard from again. The crew’s disappearance was the greatest mystery of all time. Eyewitness Account The only eyewitness is Captain Morehouse. Captain Morehouse said that he thought that the crew was panic. Reports that likely to be true.The weather was very bad and for four days before the storm was very heavy and they found and maybe they have unlikely survive but the ship remains good and thus it remains a mystery. It seems reasonable to suggest that in order to take a break from the pounding sea, the captain gave the order to sail to the lee side of Santa Maria Island where the cook started a fire in the large galley stove to make hot food while other members of the crew furled most of the sails, leaving just enough canvas up to hold her heading as they made their way slowly along the lee shore of the island.Other crew members set about pumping the bilge and doing other chores. When the food was ready, the men stopped what they were doing and ate. After taking a smoke break, the Captain gave orders to get underway and the crew went back to work. Some went back to pumping the bilge; others started to set the sails they had recently furled. Just then the seafloor near Mary Celeste was ripped apart by a shallow-focused earthquake, a relatively common occurrence in the Azores.Report that might be exaggerated Conan Doyle (the author) was dramatized the Mary Celeste's story by adding such touches as meals laid out on the table, tea boiling on the stove, and the ship was sailing boldly into the harbor at Gibraltar with nobody at the helm. Today, most people who have heard of the ship think these details are part of what actually happened. They aren't. Conan Doyle 's was only the first of many such treatments.A 1913 magazine article was forged account of a man named Fosdyk who claimed the stowaway on board the Mary Celeste, witnessed the entire crew fall overboard as they pressed against the rail to watch three men have a swimming race, then managed to be the only one not eaten by sharks and eventually washed ashore on Africa. In the 1920s an author named Keating forged an article for Chamber's Journal telling the story of a man named Pemberton who survived. Keating soon expanded the fictitious Pemberton's tale into a book called The Great Mary Celeste Hoax.Unfortunately, the book's success has became its downfall: Interviews with Pemberton were widely sought. Keating tried to weasel his way out with excuses, and even offered a picture of his own father as a photograph Pemberton; but it was soon discovered that he made the whole thing up. Some information about the court inquiry held in Gribraltar The Inquiry into the Mary Celeste An inquiry of  Mary Celeste  disaster was held at the Admiralty Court by the British Royal Navy. Witnesses, experts, sailors, friends, business-partners and  acquaintances  were all questioned and interrogated.It was a slow, frustrating process. Not least a man who’s name was Flood. Flood was the Attorney-General of Gibraltar at the time. During the inquiry the judge listened acutely listened that was told and praised the crew Dei Gratia for their attention to detail and their bravery and skill in rescuing the ship , and bringing it safely back to land. Frederick Flood, however, had his own agenda. Flood was hell-bent on proving that the passengers was Mary Celeste had all met with some horrible and violent bloody end was suggested the theory of a drunken mutiny.He even rowed out to the ship to find evidence! He found the broken leaking barrels and the alcohol and the captain’s sword had cut-marks along the railings. He proposed the theory that the crew got an alcohol, dr ank themselves blind, murdered the captain, his wife, his daughter, his first mate has chucked them all overboard, then into the lifeboat and rowed†¦away†¦from a perfectly good ship†¦ Indeed, not a single piece of ‘evidence’ Flood submitted was found to be what it was!The barrels were empty because they were leaking (they’d been built of red oak, a porous wood which would’ve explained the empty barrels). The damage of railings? Ropes across the wood. The blood on the captain’s sword? It wasn’t blood. It wasn’t even the captain’s sword†¦that sword was stored under his bed! The sword that Flood found was an old, rusty knife lying on the deck. Scientists examined the blade and determined that the red substance was nothing but rust and old paint. It was probably used to lever open paint-cans and stir coagulated paint around!Examples of theories about the Mary Celeste crew’s disappearence Theories range fro m, alcoholic gas or smoke (fumes) to underwater earthquakes, to waterspouts, to paranormal explanations involving extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), sea monsters, and the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle, although the Mary Celeste is not known to have sailed through the Bermuda Triangle area. The Mary Celeste is often described as the ghost ship, since she was discovered without any apparent explanation, and her name has become a synonym for similar occurrences.The ship was said to be â€Å"cursed† and had a long history of disasters and catastrophes, and three captains died on the ship. The ship was destroyed in 1885 when it was intentionally wrecked off the coast of Haiti in an attempted insurance fraud. My opinion about Mary Celeste I think the story is half true and half right. The truth part is the storm and the earthquake in the water. The false part is the curse or the ufo and the phenomenon of the Bermuda triangle.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Grapes of Wrath Summary

The Grapes Of Wrath Gena Rodriguez Student in Crime Films The Grapes Of Wrath The Grapes Of Wrath was a book that followed the Joad family on their journey from their deserted farm in Oklahoma to the riches of California, as their farms were destroyed in Oklahoma. They took few possessions with them on their journey, however they had eachother. They even picked up others along the way, all in hopes of a vision of getting their lives on track in California. Their journey was not easy as they had trouble with their vehicle, they lost family members and friends to death, and even heard several rumors of a depleted job market.The salesmen and pawnbrokers took full advantage of them as they knew that the families were in no position to deny payments for their goods. The family continued to stay together and remained positive as they looked forward to what was to come. Upon arrival in California, the Joads were met with much hostility. The camps were overcrowded and full of starving migran ts, who were often nasty to each other. The locals were fearful and angry at the flood of newcomers, and label the migrants as â€Å"Okies. Work is almost impossible to find or pays such a meager wage that a family’s full day of work cannot buy a decent meal. Farmers resent the droves of Okies from flooding the state, as hungry and impoverished people are a danger. They are viewed as vagrants and thieves. The farmers, police and landowners were in a position of power, and it seems that they only seek to take advantage of those below them. They did not falter even when they were in a position to save a family, they refused to give up their wealth.The farmers used the police to their advantage, as they would have deputies destroy secret gardens, so that the camps people would not have extra food. The police labeled labor organizers as â€Å"red† and had them removed from camps for trying to organize and get decent wages and contracts for workers. Those labeled as  "red† were placed on a blacklist and could not get work. The farmers’ association even tried to organize a riot, which they would pay certain â€Å"Okies† to start trouble, get the organizers put in jail and have the camp shut down.The migrants, got word of this and prevented it. Police seemed to be uncaring, rude, and cold mannered. They were abusive and corrupt. Many of the people in the camps felt they had to pretend to be incoherent and ramble, act â€Å"bull simple†, so that the police viewed them as unthreatening and idiots. Many of the â€Å"Okies† seemed to lack respect for the police due to their degrading treatment. An example would be Ma Joad chasing the police officer with a skillet. The police also acted recklessly such as in the shooting of Floyd Knowles.The police shot at him, but struck another woman in the crowd. Floyd Knowles was being arrested for trying to organize a contract and wages for workers, however the farmer became angry and informed the police. Knowles was later arrested on a bogus charge. The portrayal of police in this book can easily be compared to that of current police portrayals in movies and television shows. The times have changed to where people want to see the bad cop win or more action from police. The book portrays police as almost heartless and insincere, and corrupt.It portrays the police officer not as someone you go to, but someone you stay away from, which is very much in line with current trends in media. There are so many different types of police officers portrayed. Certain fictional dramas have come to show police officers as being corrupt and taking advantage of the power they hold but in my opinion this is not just fictional but rather a reality. This typed is definitely apparent in the book and the show â€Å"Underbelly†. There are some shows which portray police as masculine, overly intelligent, fit, aggressive, action packed, and always willing to shoot at suspects .The reality is that the public want to see these kinds of police officers. All of the excitement and glamour of being a police officer is what everyone wants to watch. A show where police are filling out forms and writing up boring reports just won’t cut it. The glamourized types of officers are portrayed in shows like â€Å"Hawaii 5 0† and â€Å"NYPD†, whereas the more realistic approach to policing is portrayed in shows like â€Å"First 48† and â€Å"cops†. References The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Performance And Specifications Of Power Pumps Engineering Essay

IntroductionBackground:The agencies of pumping is the most of import manner of fluid transportation for 1000s of old ages. Ancient Egyptians used water wheels with hoppers for the motion of vehicle marked with H2O for irrigation intent. In the 3rd century BC ; the Grecian scientist Stisebeos Alexandria invents the reciprocating pump to pump H2O. The about the same clip discovered the Grecian mathematician Archimedes the prison guard pump, called the composit of mandolins with a coiling traveling on inside the cylinder. Till that clip the there was no much development occurs until the late 17th century, where the Gallic adventurer Denis invent a pump with consecutive blades. Then the British adventurer John Oblad invents the centrifugal pump with curving blades in 1851. Thereafter, the first usage of compressors with axial-flow turbo jet engines where found in the mid-fortiess of the 20th century AD.Reciprocating PumpPositive supplanting pumps are that type of machines which is common for applications that require a really high Pressures and comparatively low flow. In this machine, the liquid flows into a contained infinite, such as a cylinder, speculator, or rotor. Then a traveling Piston forces the liquid out of the cylinder, increasing the force per unit area. The usage of positive supplanting pumps is common in applications that require high discharge force per unit area and comparatively low flow. The discharge force per unit area generated by a positive supplanting pump is – in theory – space. If the pump is dead headed, the force per unit area generated will increase until either a pump portion fails or the driver stalls from deficiency of power. The Reciprocating Pump – besides known as Power Pump- is one type from the Positive Displacement Pump. In his book, Pollak illustrates that the Reciprocating pump has a random-access memory, speculator, Piston or other cylindrical component working backwards and forwards within a cylinder or pump barrel ; this gesture is normally delivered from a grouch go arounding unvarying velocity, and linking rod. Automatic valve control the flow of liquid into the cylinder, and out once more. A Piston or a speculator moves back and Forth in an enclosed cylinder. A reciprocating pump besides has a power terminal and a liquid terminal. Most piston pumps are individual playing ; plunger pumps are dual moving. The diameter of the Piston, the length of the Piston shot and the speed of the Walter pistons determine the pump capacity. See figPower Pumps:As mentioned by Igor Karassik in his book that the power pump does non develop force per unit area ; it merely produces a flow of fluid. The downstream procedure or shrieking system produces a opposition to this flow, thereby bring forthing force per unit area in the piping system and dispatch part of the pump. The flow fluctuates at a rate proportional to the pump velocity and figure of cylinders. The amplitude of the fluctuations is a map of the figure of cylinders. Karassik added that greater the figure of cylinders, the lower the amplitude of the flow fluctuations at a specific revolutions per minute. It is ever possible for the power pump to bring forth different capacity as they are capable of operating over a broad scope of velocities. Each pump has maximum suction and discharge force per unit area limits that ; when combined with its maximal velocity, find the pump ‘s power evaluation. The pump can be applied to power conditions that are less than its maximal evaluation but at a little lessening in mechanical efficiencyOperating Principles:In his paper, Samuel explains the pump operation as follows ; the reciprocating pump uses a crankshaft-connecting rod mechanism. The crankshaft-connecting rod mechanism converts the rotary motion of the crankshaft to a reciprocating additive motion of Pistons. The Piston motion creates volume alterations. As a pit opens when a Piston retracts, the fluid is admitted through an recess cheque valve. When the Piston reverses, the recess look into valve stopping points, and the pit reduces when the Piston extends. The mercantile establishme nt look into valve clears and the fluid is forced out by the Piston. Despite that of the fluid being pumped, the discharge volume is fixed for each crankshaft revolution. Pressure is determined by the system flow opposition and pump building. The Speed decrease is so needed for diminishing high velocity from the driver to low pump shaft velocity.Applications for Power pumps are:†¢ Oil well clay pumps †¢ Reverse osmosis charge pumps †¢ Auxiliary boiler provender pumps †¢ Pipeline pumps †¢ Oil field H2O injection pumps †¢ Slurry pumps †¢ Process pumpsPerformance and specifications:In his paper, David Parker negotiations about the specification illustrating that the quality and measure of information on suction conditions will find the ultimate success or failure of any pump installing. The bulk of pump jobs, start at the suction. There must be a minimal sum of absolute force per unit area available to provide fluid to the pump suction. PD pumps by and large require less absolute force per unit area. Net Positive Inlet Pressure Required ( NPIPR ) , at the pump suction rim, is the evaluation of entire recess losingss within that pump at rated conditions. Unit of measurements are force per unit area footings ; PSI, Kg/cm2, Bar, KPa. These losingss include the unstable clash loss along the internal suction way, the alteration in lift from the suction rim to the enclosed volume, the unstable clash loss of come ining the enclosed volume, and the acceleration to the speed of the enclosed volume. For any given size, NPIPR will increase with increased viscousness or flow ( increased flow = increased velocity ) . Volumes of gas are normally specified comparative to standard temperature and force per unit area ( STP ) of 680F and atmospheric force per unit area ; 14.7 psia ; 200C, 1.034 Kg/cm2 absolute. By stipulating the standard volume of gas and stipulating the suction force per unit area and temperature, the volume of gas nowadays at the pump suction can be calculated. This capacity must be added to the liquid capacity in order to size the pump for the needed liquid flow rate. If suction force per unit area is below atmospheric force per unit area, even little sums of entrained gas will spread out in volume necessitating a larger pump. Capacity should be defined for the rated status. If there is an acceptable scope of capacities, the lower limit and maximal acceptable should be stated. This allows pump providers to offer standard merchandises without holding to modify for specific capacity dem ands.Efficiency:In the reciprocating pump, merely two efficiency losingss need to be considered ; volumetric and Mechanical. Volumetric efficiency loss is provoked by slippage through valves, ratio of liquid chamber volume at terminal of shot to plunger/piston supplanting volume, and liquid squeezability. Mechanical efficiency loss occurs while get the better ofing mechanical clash in bearing and velocity decrease. The overall efficiency of a reciprocating pump unit is by and large above 85 % throughout its full operating scope. However, in the reciprocating pump can run over 90 % because many pumps and decrease units operate at a mechanical efficiency of 98 per centum, and the volumetric efficiency can frequently be above 95 per centum.Viscosity:Viscosity of a fluid is the ratio of shear emphasis to the rate of shear strain. It is a step of its opposition to flux. High viscousness fluids, like gum elastic, adhesives, or molasses, are really immune to forces applied to travel them. Low viscousness fluids, like kerosine or H2O, have really small opposition to coerce. Viscosity is reduced as temperature is increased ; hot fluids flow more readily than cold fluids. Viscosity should ever be given at a specified temperature. Typical units for viscousness are centipoises, centistokes, and SSU. Positive Displacement pumps maintain high efficiencies throughout the viscousness scope. Entrained gasses ca n be handled in big measures by most Positive Displacement pump designs ; nevertheless care must be taken in stipulating measure of gas entrained and flow required. Positive Displacement pumps are used to keep the changeless flow rate as nozzle force per unit areas change due to choke offing and gnawing. Precise control of fuel add-on rates increases the operators control over burning conditions. This in bend leads to cut down air emanations, a really critical concern in a extremely regulated industry. The reciprocating pump provides a about changeless flow rate over a wider scope of force per unit area ; the centrifugal pump gives unvarying force per unit area over a scope of flow, so it drops dramatically as the flow rate additions. On a reciprocating pump, fluid viscousness has small consequence on the flow rate as the force per unit area increases. However, unstable viscousness has a large impact on the centrifugal pump ‘s force per unit area and flow rate. The efficiency besides drops well.Advantages:Efficiency is rather high even though there are alterations in the needed caput. It can be up to 85 % to 95 % or even more. Merely with high velocity it tends to diminish somewhat. Reciprocating pumps run at much lower operating velocities than centrifugal pumps and therefore is better suited for managing viscose fluid. For a given velocity the flow rate is changeless regardless of caput, the pump is limited merely by the power of the premier mover and the strength of the pump parts. The fluid flow from the reciprocating pump is well high. It is start automatically. No demand to make full the cylinders before get downing. Disadvantages: There are poorer in managing liquids incorporating solids that tend to eat valves and seats. Because of the pulsating flow and force per unit area bead throw the valves they require larger suction force per unit area at the subdivision rim to avoid cavitations. Due to mechanical quivers, the pulsating flow require a particular attending to subdivision and discharge piping design Hovering gesture of the nozzle creates perturbations that travel at velocity of sound from the pump cylinder shrieking system. These perturbations cause the force per unit area degree of the system to fluctuate with regard to clip. It is hard to pump syrupy liquid in the reciprocating pump The cost of bring forthing Piston pumps is high. This is due to the really accurate sizes of the cylinders and Pistons. Besides, the geartrain needed to change over the rotary motion of the thrust motor into a reciprocating action involves excess equipment and cost. Discharge flow problems: Care cost a batch considered with its handiness, because throbing flow and big figure of traveling parts, as the atoms can acquire into the little clearances and cause terrible wear. The Piston pump therefore, should non be used for slurries. The throbing features of the fluid fluxing into and out of power pumps are significantly affected by the figure of Pistons. Discharge flow pulsings are the most critical because of the high energy potency generated when the system opposition reacts with the flow to make force per unit area. Since the magnitude of the discharge pulsing is largely affected by the figure of cylinders, so we can get the better of the pulsing flow by increasing the figure of cylinders. Besides, we can cut down the discontinuity by utilizing an collector at the terminal of the nose which will provides a continues flow.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali Essay

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali - Essay Example The clock literally is a very clear illustration of time which tells us of things that we cannot get back anymore or perhaps the notion of fleeting objects and at the same time, the use of a clock metaphorically can be attributed to our memories. As a whole, the artwork tells a story where the fading clock is a strong symbolism for human’s memory which is something that we want to hold on to for as long as we can and yet is able to slip away. This is also the irony that it communicates especially creating the mood through the strong contrast between the light and dark colors. At first glance, you would be able to see the opposing reflection of softness and hardness theory. This is seen through the variety of use of shape and form where the art uses free form or natural shapes to demonstrate the softness of the art that would give you an illusion of softness and rigidity while using a mixture of the three-dimensional shapes and lines such as of the trunk that helped the art achieve the clarity of hardness, achieving the comparison with what stays and what are fleeting. Also, the contrast of dark and light colors here, repeatedly used creates that balance between the irony of our memories fleeting and at the same time the reality that time is something that is supposed to slip away. When it comes to the principles of design, movement is one of the greatly used principle in the artwork by using of the soft elements of the artwork such as the melting clock and letting it fills up negative space which is space around the hard objects and makes it lean towards it, copying the shape of the latter. Indeed, the art leaned on the use of movement to express a fading and melting state of the clock, directing it to the copy the shape or direction of the hard objects.  

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Answer Each of the 5-Questions Which Will Be Uploaded Essay

Answer Each of the 5-Questions Which Will Be Uploaded - Essay Example In addition, the important American value of personal space and freedom of movement are likewise reflected and embodied in the sports car, as the defining cultural values for their consumption by Americans (Ikerd). For watches the factors of nonverbal communication that are key from a marketing perspective relate to the communication of wearer personality, values, hobbies, and earning capacity and wealth. There is substantial segment of the market for instance that caters to the luxury watch as an important non-verbal signal of wealth and prestige, and personality and values are related to the way watches that are marketed for more pragmatic and more efficiency-focused individuals reflect those aspects in non-verbal ways, through an emphasis on functionality, on attributes such as durability and technical capabilities. A market segment meanwhile buys watches based on attributes such as personal style and fun, and those are also ideally reflected in the kinds of fun watches that they buy. Those non-verbal communication cues are therefore relevant to this segment of the market (Klara). For laundry detergents on the other hand, the nonverbal factors of communication that are most relevant relate to cleaning power, efficiency, care of clothes and hands, and brand power to a certain extent, as well as price. These factors are embodied either explicitly or implicitly in discussions about strategies for the Tide brand for instance (Ng and Ziobro). One is the admiration of nature, where the current and emerging markers tend towards that over the contrary value of the conquest of nature, which is marked as the traditional American value. The book got this wrong because one can argue from the lack of more vigorous concern for climate change implies that more people still prefer overcoming nature to admiring it and fixing its long-term problems. Two is performance versus

Essay for admission to college Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

For admission to college - Essay Example As a student, I feel that I learn best when I test the theories that I have studied through textbooks. – BU attracts students from more countries than are represented in the United Nations. Our global presence and reputation are important and are reflected in the perspectives, opinions, and experiences of our students. Why is this type of environment important to you? (500 words, 5000 characters) o As an international student, I have decided to study abroad to broaden my view and understanding of the world. Since I have experienced education systems in Korea, as well as United States, I am clearly aware of the differences between them. In Korea, students are forced to study while competing with their fellow students. After school, every single student is forced to attend afternoon study sessions until 12:00 am. This ruthless and yet systematic approach of education mechanizes students and teaches them only how to study, rather than coupling education with the knowledge of how to live like a good citizen in the society. All they learn in the school is how to become an efficient â€Å"student†. Due to this reason, they forget how to think creatively and react quickly to rapidly changing situations. As one of these students, I realized that learning under this environment would shrink my view and keep me away from being myself. Boston University’s norm of attracti ng students from different ethnical and racial backgrounds will surely set up a satisfactory learning environment that will guide me throughout my college career. A variety of arguments and opinions will help me understand different perspectives and contribute in my growth. o Undoubtedly, New York University is a prestigious university that focuses on the needs of its students and attempts to elevate their learning curve through careful nurture, education and providing

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

What is the difference between 'old' and 'new' social movements Essay

What is the difference between 'old' and 'new' social movements illustrate your answer with reference to specific movements - Essay Example Social movements are created through a course of action, starting with disorder or campaigns as a response to a social problem, then organization of involved parties. People mobilize, leadership develops, duties are assigned, the public is notified, and guidelines or strategies begin to form, resulting finally in the establishment of the movement (Polletta & Jasper, 2001, 283). The course of action is not easy and there could be a decline phase in the group when it either disintegrates or is restored in a changed form. Social movements could be either reactive, involving opposition to change, or enthusiastic, with an aim for social change (Rootes, 1990, 10). Proactive social movements that aspire to reform a particular feature of human conduct, like the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, are transformative (Polletta & Jasper, 2001, 283); those aspiring for an absolute transformation of individual conduct, like religious fundamentalist groups, are liberating (p. 283). The emphasis of the other two kinds is societal transformation: movements with goals of altering a particular feature of society, as represented by labor groups, are alterative, and organizations trying to transform the whole social order are revolutionary (Rootes, 1990, 12). The objective of this essay is to discuss the distinctions between ‘old’ and ‘new’ social movements. Theorists of new social movement observe a greatly reformed social structure behind these new social movements, diversely referred to as ‘postindustrial’, ‘network’, or ‘information society (Pichardo, 1997, 411). In the theory of Melucci (1994, 105), ‘modernization’ has obliged that individuals be able to process or understand the informational or network components on which present-day societies rely on, but heightened individualism has been escorted by great demands toward standardized conformity. On the other hand, the theory of

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Appropriate Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Appropriate Advertising - Essay Example They will expose, shape, and try to mold the minds of children into tomorrow's consumers. Advertising, like television programming, should be screened for adult content, adult products, and relegated to an appropriate time slot. Children's exposure to a wide variety of products and influences is limited by society. Social norms limit drinking age, access to tobacco, and entry into the military. There should also be strict laws on the media content that enters and influences the minds of children. There is little doubt that when Miller Brewery advertises on Saturday afternoon they are not just selling beer. They are also grooming future customers. Advertisers know that children are watching and paying close attention. According to marketing researchers Maher, Hu, and Kolbe (2006), children as young as 6 years old are able to recall television advertisements with a 90% accuracy rate after seeing a commercial (p 31). At this tender and impressionable age, advertising can substantially influence a child's future willingness to drink or engage in other social deviance. Not only are children force-fed a propensity for unhealthy products, they are also socialized with an unrealistic view of materialism. Intent is as important as content in an advertisement viewed by children.

Monday, September 23, 2019

3-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

3-1 - Essay Example As listed by Jackson-Cherry and Erford (2014), the common symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorders and Acute Stress Disorder include palpitations, nausea, headaches, muscle tension, fatigue and increased consumption of alcohol and use of other mood altering substances. Other symptoms are reduced concentration, anxiety, impatience, forgetfulness, rumination, preoccupation, irritability, anger, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, detachment, dissociation and depression. The listed symptoms are actually the diagnostic criteria for the conditions. The difference that separates ASD from PTSD attributes to time when either occurs. As elaborated by Jackson-Cherry and Erford (2014), diagnosis of ASD is possible if the related symptoms occur within a month of traumatic experience. Diagnosis of PTSD is possible if traumatic condition or experience occurred one month earlier before manifestation of the symptoms. In addition, PTSD is chronic if the symptoms persist for over three month s. With reference to the above analysis, Maryam’s situation relates to Acute Stress Disorder (ASD). This is due to the fact and understanding that Maryam began displaying traumatic symptoms such as anxiety, sleeplessness, nausea and increased use of alcohol and related substances before the setting in of the actual trauma. The real trauma occurred later and manifested through inability to drive car, concentrate in class and regrets for making a terrible mistake that almost led to loss of life of her passengers. Furthermore, trauma evidenced through occurrence and expression of suicidal thoughts to deal with perceived stupidity and inferiority that led to

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Aristotle - Biography Essay Example for Free

Aristotle Biography Essay Raphael portrays two of Greeces great philosophers as the focal point of his masterpiece The School of Athens. Aristotle has his hand pointing straight out as if he is declaring to Plato that truth is found right here around us. Aristotle was an excellent teacher who is considered to be the prince of philosophy and one of the worlds most influential thinkers of all time. Aristotle was born in 384 B. C at Stragyra in Thrace, on the north coast of the Aegean Sea. This was fifteen years after the death of Socrates and three years after the founding of Platos Academy. His father was the court physician and friend of King Amyntas of Macedonia. It is likely that Aristotles great interest in biology and science, in general, was nurtured in his early childhood. At the age of seventeen, Aristotle moved to Athens and enrolled in Platos Academy as a student of philosophy. He studied for over twenty years at the Academy until Plato died in 348 B. C. Throughout his time at the Academy, Aristotle became one of the top scientist and philosophers, and though he studied under Plato, he was not a Platonist. In fact, he would later criticize Plato and his various doctrines. After the mourning of Platos death had subsided, Speusippus seized power of the Academy. At this time Aristotle quickly left Athens and lived for a time in Assos and Mytilen where he was able to write, research, and teach. He did return, for a time, to Macedonia to tutor Philips son Alexander at his request. By the age of forty-nine, Aristotle had traveled back to Athens to found a school. Many historians believe this is when Aristotle began the most productive period of his life. His school was named the Lyceum, named after the groves where Socrates went to think and which was the sacred domain of Apollo Lyceus. The Lyceum had a fine library, an extensive collection of maps, and a zoo where Aristotle preformed much of his zoological research. . The school was located close to a long covered walk called in the greek peripatos. Aristotle would take his students on this long covered walkway where he conducted much of his teaching as they strolled along pondering many philosophical questions. As a result of this method of teaching, the students of the Lyceum were commonly referred to as peripatetics. Aristotle was only in Athens for twelve years when it was necessary for him to leave for political reasons to save his life. In 322 B. C. Aristotle died and his library was passed on to his successor, Theophratus. Aristotle is regarded as the first truly cosmopolitan thinker. He was interested in a plethora of subjects and gave significant contribution to many of them. He composed major studies of logic, ethics, and metaphysics. Today he is best renown for his work the Metaphysics and the Nichomachean Ethics. In addition to these major studies he also wrote on epistemology, physics, biology, meteorology, dynamics, mathematics, psychology, rhetoric, dialectics, aesthetics, politics, and philosophy. Choose any field of research and Aristotle probably studied it, select an area of human reason and he probably theorized on it. If all of his writings were published today they would fill fifty large volumes in print. Unfortunately, over the last two thousand years many of his writings have been lost. Only one fifth of his writings have endured time. What has been preserved are what many believe are Aristotles lecture notes and notes of his students that were not meant to be printed. These rough notes have been edited in a cut paste fashion in order to try to make sense of Aristotles profound thought. Aristotle philosophy is a development of Platos philosophy. Aristotle respected Plato but rejected the dualism that Plato passionately embraced and taught his pupils. Platos primary reality of the unchanging world existed separately from the world of particular things. Aristotle believed he was able to avoid this ambiguous ideal of two worlds and still communicate all the necessary concepts that Plato did. Metaphysically, Aristotle believed that every living being, except God, is a composite of two factors called form and matter. In Aristotles system of epistemology, he believes that the forms that Plato held unattainable actually exist as essential parts of the things that we asses through our senses. He believed that a human being is a holistic unit of both the body and soul. Aristotle specialized in classifying the many different components in the universe: humans, animals, plants, inanimate objects, etc. His work Catergories was his flagship in the organization of the world. He believed that humans were certainly in a classification of their own, and that human beings could be divided up into three dimensions, or more specifically, three dimensional thinking. The first dimension is productive thinking and refers to man as a maker; the second is practical thinking and refers to man as a learner and knower. All of the books that Aristotle wrote can basically be divided into these three categories. For example his book on poetry would be in the category of productive thinking; ethics would be in the category of practical thinking; philosophy, science, and metaphysics would be in the category of theoretical thinking. Aristotle can be credited with the creation of both the science and the philosophy of biology. His work in science involved the discovery of interconnections between characteristics of organisms. This led to the biological specialties of taxonomy and systematics. This evidenced that he was able to adapt his metaphysical and logical thought to that of the area of zoology. His application of thought to the experimentation makes him one of the founders of laboratory research. Aristotle was the first to create the study of deductive inference. His theory of syllogism, simply put, is a discourse in which certain things having been stated, something else follows of necessity of doing so. Aristotle believed that the laws of logic apply to more than just human thinking. He believed that these laws of being allow the understanding of the logical structure of the world. The premise to his logical system is the law of noncontradiction. Aristotle states in his law that It is impossible for the same attribute at once to belong and not belong to the same thing in the same relation. More simply would be that (B) can not be both (B) and non(b) at the same time in the same sense. This law cannot be proven but it must not be ignored. It is a universal core principle of human thinking. However, a caveat is necessary because the absence of a contradiction doesnt necessary guarantee truth. The world is in a constant state of change. Aristotle believed that changes could be natural or could be a product of human art. The four causes that Aristotle articulated answer the four questions that can be asked about anything. The four questions are (1) what is it? (2) what is it made of? (3) by what is it made? (4) for what end is it made? Aristotle four responses are the four causes: (1) the formal cause (2) the material cause (3) the efficient cause (4) the final cause. The biologist in Aristotle affected the way he observed the world. He observed everything going through change happens to something that is a combination of form and matter becoming something different or new. Teleology is the notion that the present could be understood by reference to the future. The nature of anything is linked to its telos, meaning its goal or final end. The final end of an object reveals its nature and this nature drives it to its goal. This idea is what Aristotle thought could explain many things from a fetus in the womb to an acorn from a oak tree. These four causes are a significant contribution to science in explaining nature Within the dimension of practical thinking is Aristotles view on ethics and how it relates to us not only as individuals but to the world as a whole. His views are contained in basically his two works called the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics. The Nichomachean ethics is the better one of the two because it is clearer, it addresses more issues within the field of ethics, and it arguments are usually superior. Aristotle believes that everyone has an ultimate goal, and they pursue it by doing what they view as good. What a person views as good is ultimately what will bring them long-term satisfaction and happiness. He goes on too describe the soul of man and its various virtues. He believed that the soul could be divided into two characteristics: reason and desire. These two characteristics may conflict in the soul of a man when trying to make a decision. Aristotle believes that the more disciplined a man is the more reason will win when a decision is made. He believed that these virtues were innate in every man and not acquired in any fashion. Lastly, the way Aristotle viewed God was a product of how he viewed everything else. Aristotle was not a zealot when it came to religion. He believed there was a supreme being because he thought it would be impossible to explain some things. Aristotles view of God was more of a metaphysical necessity. Through his thought of telos he knew the world must have an ultimate cause and this cause must be God. Exposition I specifically like how Aristotle classified everything, and approached fields of study with common sense and practicality. He believed that humans are the highest classification, and I would certainly agree with that. I also agree that the three dimensions of man: productive, practical, and theoretical thinking, are basically the three main areas in life, but I also think that there are other areas on the side, and that everything can be categorized as concretely as he seeks to do. Aristotles ideas of the four different causes are very good. The hegemony of these causes communicate their fundamental value. His central idea that everything has a cause is true and very important. The deductive reasoning he used also helps to clarify things. I believe that the use of syllogisms should not be used to test if a belief is true. A worldview could pass a few tests but that doesnt prove that it is correct. Aristotles view of God is a disturbing product of his system. He is the victim of his own mind. He is a perfect example of how a philosopher may become trapped in his own system. He had made some presuppositions early on that had become the core of what he believed. As he progress in his thought he had to be consistent with what he had first believed and this necessitated him to plug everything into his presuppositions or mold that he had created. This resulted in God becoming an after thought of his life, instead of the focal point of his life. Aristotle had forgotten to place God into his system when it was in infancy. As a result of the complexity, he had to place his unknowable God in a box. Aristotle ethics of having an ultimate goal that provide your happiness is quite interesting. If your ultimate goal is to glorify God then you will find true happiness. John Piper would say that a Christian hedonist finds pleasure in being satisfied with the Lord to bring God the utmost glory. I do not, however, agree with Aristotles division of the soul. There are many problems in Aristotle system. In spite of the problems, his philosophy has affected just about everyone. I believe that the ideas of Aristotle not only influenced the ancient greeks, but also affected medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy. The prevalence of the contributions of Aristotle is ingrained in almost every discipline. Without the teachings of Aristotle the world would be years behind. We owe a lot to this man who gave his life in order to understand our existence and things that exist around us. Raphael painted Aristotle in the middle of his School of Athens for a reason. He must of known of the influence that Aristotle would posses on young minds for centuries to come. Works Cited Adler, Mortimer J. 1978. Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult thought made easy ,New York: Macmillian Publishing Co. Aristotle. 1980. Metaphysics I-IX, Harvard University Press. Barnes, Jonathan. 1996. Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, New York: Oxford University Press. Cottingham, John. 1996. Western Philosophy: An Anthology, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Fearn, Nicholas. 2001. Zeno and the Tortoise: How to Think like a Philosopher, New York: Grove Press. Honderich, Ted. 1995. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press. Lennox, James G. 2001. Aristotles Philosophy of Biology, Cambridge University Press. Nash, Ronald H. 1999. Lifes Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, Zondervan. Stumpf, Samuel E. and James Fieser. 2003. Philosophy: History and Problems, McGraw- Hill Higher Education. Wilson, Fred L. Science and Human Values: Aristotle, http://www. rit. edu/ flwstv/aristotl1. html. Accessed 6 October, 2004.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Models of Policy Making

Models of Policy Making I think the whether policy process is incremental or non-incremental depends on different situation. (I think the reality is much more complicated than any theory, in order to reduce the complexity of this question we can use different theory models.) Before we discuss whether the nature of the policy process is incremental or non-incremental, we should first think what is an incremental model of policy and what is a non-incremental model of policy process, and we should also think about both the advantages and disadvantages of these models. There are three different models here: the rationality (bounded rationality) model, the incrementalism model and the garbage can model. Bounded Rationality Model In Simons bounded rationality model, the rationality is conditioned. The actual process of social activities is affected by intuition, experience, accuracy of information and value judgments. Pure objective and rational decision-making model is only a hypothesis model, it doesnt exist in reality. In the bounded rationality model, the decision maker should distinguish fact from value and preferences; and he shouldnt replace the value with the fact; also, the decision maker should distinguish method from goal In fact, the government has only limited policy options and decision-maker can only do limited cost-benefit analysis. The information, material resources, political support and time of the policy are all limited; therefore, the policy choice has been limited. According to this situation, the assessment criteria of the policy are not whether this policy is optimal or not, the criteria of the policy are whether it is satisfying and second best or not. Simons theory doesnt say that t he decision makers cant make any non-incremental progress, however it tells us that the decision making process are limited by information and power. If the policy maker can have enough material support, political support, information and enough time then they can make some non-incremental process; if all these factors are very limited then it is highly unlikely for them to make a very no-incremental policy process. Incrementalism model Lindbloms incrementalism model emphasizes that the policy process is an ongoing process. Decision-making process is largely based on decision-makers past experience with some slight modifications of existing policy. This is an incremental process, and the changes within this process seemed to be slow, but the small changes may lead into some great changes, the actual speed of changing is often greater than we thought. However, a drastic policy change from policy A to the next policy A1 is not only unfeasible but also undesirable; a drastic change may threat social stability and will cause policy disruptions. In his view, the decision-making and policy-making process are bounded to political factor, technical factor, and they are also constrained by existing policies. And all these constrain have determined that the decision-making process is incremental. Garbage can model Garbage can model is carried out by Marche and Olsen. They believe there is inherently irrational factor within in the decision-making process, and sometime there is limited rationality in the incremental process. They argue that policymakers policy targets and solutions are often not very clear. In the policy process, the policy making organizations are facing lots of potential policy solutions, policy programs, policy participants and policy opportunities. And these factors were thrown into a policy garbage can and they are mixed together. The policy is what the policy maker finally picks out from the can. The garbage can model tried to expand organizational decision theory into the then uncharted field of organizational anarchy which is characterized by problematic preferences, unclear technology and fluid participation. There are four of those streams were identified in the model: Problem (requires attention), Solutions (has it own life.), Opportunities, Participants (not stable). They are independent of each other and there is no causal link. The theoretical breakthrough of the garbage can model is that it disconnects problems, solutions and decision makers from each other, unlike traditional decision theory. Some opportunities may cycle and some may never return. When o pportunities arise, problems, solutions and participants will across and the four streams may converge. If problems and solutions are matched during this period then the problem is resolved. If they dont match, then they will wait for another decision-making opportunity. Specific decisions do not follow an orderly process from problem to solution, but are outcomes of several relatively independent streams of events within the organization. Under normal circumstances, policy makers are using his default preference with his to discovered the right questions. Garbage can model has some advantages: on the one hand, it can explain why the bureaucracy is often inefficient. Using this model, we can understand that bureaucrats often lack the incentive to push reform; therefore, public policy process tends to change slowly. On the other hand this model shows that opportunities, human creativity and choice still have some space in policy process and some dramatic change can happened through a non-incremental random way. Kingdon creates the multiple stream models from the garbage can model to explain why there are major shifts in the agenda, and why these changes could be non- incremental change to existing policy. Kingdons model identifies three streams in the system: problems, policies, and politics. Each stream is flowing during the policy process. And each is stream is independent from others, and each stream has its own dynamics and rules. However, in a critical time point all these streams will merge into one single package. Usually, a focusing issue will bring this critical time point, also the change of political structure will also bring the critical time point to the policy entrepreneurs. And the policy entrepreneur will use this package to promote their policy solution. If the solution of the issue has been received by the policy makers, then there will be even a dramatic change within the policy process. As I discussed above, Lindbloms incrementalism model can work goo in a stable situation. However, it has some limitations and inadequacies. Firstly, it is a conservative approach; it is generally suitable for relatively stable environment. In order to make the policy process work well, the former policy should be good. However, once the social conditions and the environment changed dramatically, the incremental decision-making model may not work well. History has shown that certain moment in social development requires substantial policy adjustments, and sometimes it is even necessary for the policy makers to abandon former policy. In these situations, the incremental method could be useless or even has some negative effects. In these cases, I think the bounded rationality policy model can work better. Because in this model, policy maker can make new policy by using limited information through careful calculations. Although in the bounded rationality model, the first trial of new pol icy is not perfect, but it can provide a useful base for further improvement for next incremental process or at least it can provide a potential policy alternative for the garbage can. At some degree, I think the incrementalism approach and the garbage can approach are method directed which means these two policy process dont require a certain policy goal; while the bounded rationality approach is goal directed which means there is a certain goal. In conclusion, I think whether policy process is incremental or non-incremental should depend on different situations. Also, in order to discuss whether a policy process is incremental or non-incremental we should limit the time span of the policy process. The incremental process works better in a stable environment and it does not require a clear policy goal; if the policy process is theoretically limited within a short policy period, then there will be no major changes. The non-incremental process may work better in a rapid changing situation. The bounded rationality model shows that the policy makers could make useful policy with limited information and resources. 5) Some criticize policy theories for being better at explaining policy stability than policy change. Evaluate this claim with respect to some leading thinkers from our course. No, I think there are some theories can explain policy change as well as policy stability. Here are some theories which can be used to explain policy changes: Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Policy Change Punctuated Equilibrium Theory attempts to describe the progressive policy changes and significant change. When the policy issues are addressed by the political sub-system, we usually can observe the existence of incremental changes; conversely, when dealing with policy issues to be raised to the macro political system, there may be a significant policy change, and we often observe a major policy change (True, Jones, and Baumgartner, 1999:102). In the process of policy change, the policy entrepreneur is trying to change recognized/accepted ideas of the public (Baumgartner and Jones, 1993:42). Although the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory has pointed out when the image of the existing policy is challenged the opportunities will be created, but the theory hasnt tell why policies will be challenged. We can observe a policy change when there are new way of policy thinking, a mobilization of new policy supporters and a institutional change within the policy structure. Whether these factors appear together or they appear alone will make policy maker change their former incremental and stable policy process at different degrees. These factors will punctuate the equilibrium of policy stable developing process; and these factors will bring turbulent and unstable policy process. The definitions of policy issue, the boundary of policy problem, the agenda setting of policy are the key factors in policy process. Different interpretation of policy issue will also reinforce policy supports or bring doubts to existing policy. The model emphasizes policy change is punctuated equilibrium, the change is motivated by a complex combination of internal and external factors. Advocacy Coalition Framework and Policy Change Advocacy Coalition Framework was first proposed by Sabatier (1988). Sabatier suggests that we should focus on the interaction of the policy advocacy. Sabatier suggests that within the coalition those members share the mutual belief in a set of policy beliefs. Based on this hypothesis, policy change can be understood as a function of the relationship between the competing advocacy coalition and outside factors (Sabatier, 1999:9; Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1993:5). The policy change is a result of advocacy coalitions competition, interaction of beliefs and outside factors. Advocacy Coalition Framework shows that belief system can be divided into three levels, deep core, policy core beliefs and secondary aspects. Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999:147) pointed out that major changes in a policy actually is a change of core beliefs, while a smaller change of policy reflects changes in the policy beliefs or the secondary beliefs . Basically, deep core values are fixed, and it is more like an exogenous variables; policy core beliefs are formed and it serve as advocacys adhesives, it often take a decade or more time to change, and it can be considered as part of the endogenous variable. Substantial policy change is the result of the changes in policy beliefs. And the changes in secondary level will lead to small, incremental policy change (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1999: 131). Also policy Change is divided into two types: incremental policy changes and significant policy changes. Incremental change can be the result of policy learning. Because the goal of policy learning is not to shake the foundation of core beliefs, therefore there will not be major policy changes (Sabatier, 1988:149; Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1999:123). And the leaning process is often used to reinforce and support the policy belief and core belief. Another way to think of the learning process Subject of Learning Object of Learning Consequence Governmental Govt Officials Intelligent policy process Institutional Change Experimental Policy Network Methodology New Policy Solution Societal Policy Community Idea and Concept Shifting Paradigm However, if the core belief is shaken, then the advocacy coalition may collapse. Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999:147-49) pointed out that the cause for major policy changes include: changes in socio-economic conditions, changes in governance system, etc Multiple Streams Model and Policy Change Multiple Streams Model is developed based on the garbage can mode (Cohen, March and Olsen (1972). Multiple Streams Model is proposed in 1984 by Kingdon. According to this model, when policy maker are facing uncertainty and time pressure, the most concerned issue for them is the time point rather than rational or optimal output. From this perspective, the key point for policy change is the right time point. If policy maker can grasp the key time point, then he can make some policy changes. Multiple Streams Model indicates that the policy process consists three processes/streams; and these processes are made by different actors: the first problem streams includes different information and solutions proposed by their supporters; the second policy streams includes government officials concern of policy alternatives and policy formation; the third politics stream includes political consideration by the elected officials and elected representatives (Sabatier, 1999:9). These three processes flow inside and outside the federal government, and each is an individual process operation for most of the time, they are unrelated to each other (Kingdon, 1994:216). In a crucial time point, policy entrepreneur will combine the various processes (coupling into a single package, and it will greatly enhance a policy issue attention and even create a policy opportunity) (Zahariadis, 1999:73). And in this critical point, policy window will be opened. Kingdon (1994:216) has described, when the policy window open, a policy issue will come out. Some policy solutions which can be used to address the policy issues have already existed, and the time for this policy is correct. Policy window is an opportunity to promote a particular policy program, they will appear by themselves, but it is a very short time for people to notice and use this opportunity (Kingdon, 2003:166). Kingdon (2003:168) further pointed out that under the Multiple Streams Model, policy window may flow from the political stream or problems stream. If the policy window is opened for political reasons, it is because of president changed, there are changes of the administrating party, there is change in congress, etc If the policy window is opened from the policy stream, it is mostly because some issues have caught the attention of government officials. Whether policy makers are seeking solutions to promote existing policies or seeking alternatives to replace existing policies, the policy maker will always provide some opportunities for policy advocators to sell their policies. This means that as long as those policy advocators can make policy makers believe that their program is a feasible option to address policy issues or their solutions can help to accumulate political prestige and resources of the new policies; sooner or later, their policy proposals will have the chance to enter the policy agenda. It is possible for these proposals to be legitimized and carried out as the governments policy (Kingdon, 2003:172). Zahariadis (1999:82) argues that, if the policy window is opened in the political stream, then the combination of the various processes are more likely to be doctrinal. It is an existing policy to help find solutions to solve policy issues. If the policy window is opened in the problem stream, then the combination of th e various processes are more likely to be consequential, that is a process for finding a viable solution. Kingdon (2003:94-95) also pointed out that the policy problems may not seem obvious to every person. Sometimes a problem is noticed because there is a focusing event which has provided it with a policy window. Kingdon (2003:97) the focus of the event will be made as symbol in political world; and a symbol will draw attention and strengthen the role for certain issues. In conclusion, I think from a philosophic aspect the theories of policy stability and theories of policy changes are the two sides of the same coin. Also, I think the relationship between different theories is not only completive but sometime different theories are complementary to each others. I think the problem for some policy scholars is that they often focused on one theory instead of looking for different explanations from different theories 4) Deborah Stone calls the struggle over ideas the essence of policy making. Discuss this claim with respect to leading theories of the policy process. I name my answer to question as Idea and Deborah Stone, I want go through her book and explain why ideas are so important. According to Deborah Stone, idea will help people to define alliance, strategic considerations also idea will help people to get the legitimacy and draw policy boundaries. (Deborah, P 34). According to Deborah Stone, idea will decide who will be affected, how will they be affected and will they be affected legitimately (Deborah, P.34). In the first Chapter, Stone starts her analysis at the city-state (the Greek term polis) level. The public policy is considered as an attempt to achieve a certain community goals (Deborah, P 21). However, due to the fact that everyone has his own understanding of ideas, therefore the political community has become a place for internal debates over who will be affected, how will they be affected and will they be affected legitimately(Deborah, P 34) . The policy-making process has thus become a continuous interaction between the conflict and cooperation. In Stones model, individuals may pursue their goals through collective action. The motivation is not only based on self-interests but also based on public concerns. This is because the public interest is be related to the goal of survival (Deborah, P 33). However, when there is a contradiction between self-interest and public interest, the policy process will be more complicated (Deborah, P 33). When the group is motivated under common ideas, the group will get more strength, and there will be a balance between private interests and public interests in the conflict. Stone directly uses the idea as the core concept of this book. In her construction of polis community vs market individual(Deborah P 33) model, ideas have become the focus. Stone tries to use struggle of idea to explain all stages of policy-making process. Policy-making is followed by a continuous constantly struggle to fight for the classification of standards, types of boundaries, and guide people to conduct the ideal typical definition. The struggle of idea can be seen in several policy levels. According to Stones theory, idea defines what people want from the policy; it is the foundation for people to cognize and understands what the policy is. Idea provides a relationship between advocators and advocacy coalitions; Idea provides causal relationship for these people and groups, and ideas will be reflected to their policy objectives through their actions of obtaining support. And these people with the shared idea will persuade decision-makers to meet their preferences. As mentioned above, Stone sees idea as a constantly changing dynamic and resources of construction. And by given different interpretations of ideas, the concept of the ideas will also change. She points out that the politics of policy is to choose the interpretation (Deborah P 75). Stone argues that the authority to interpret idea is the key factor in the policy-making process. Only legitimated idea can be transformed into policy. And using the legiti macy, peoples knowledge or behavior can be changed. And policy change can also be made through this interaction of ideas. Ideas affects how people cognized politics, and the change of politics will also feedback on ideas. To Stone, idea is not static; idea is an ongoing of constructing and reconstructing process of concepts. Now I will try to exam whether Deborah Stones idea theory can fits with other policy process theory. In the punctuated equilibrium theory, Baumgartner and Jones also argue that idea is a potential power in the policy making process. According to their book Agendas and Instability in American Politics, a powerful supporting idea is associated with the institution (Baumgartner and Jones, P 7); In page 16, they also writethe tight connection between institution and idea provides powerful support for prevailing distribution of political advantage. These statements mean that idea will help people understand what is at stake and how will they be affected (Stone, 2002), policy advocators will use institution arrangement to make their idea be legitimate. Also, in order to gain more power those policy actors will manipulate images and ideas. To Baumgartner and Jones, ideas are important because they provide some potential undergirding institutional arrangements; and the struggle of idea is the struggle over legitimate institution arrangements. In the book Agendas, alternatives and public policies, Kingdon also discusses the importance. In order to make useful policy suggestions, participants in the policy process are competing to develop new ideas; and they are trying to provide their ideas in the form of potential solutions to policy makers. According to Kingdon, policy entrepreneurs lie in wait in and around government with their solutions [already] in hand, waiting for problems to float by to which they can attach their solutions, waiting for a development in the political stream they can use to their advantage (Kingdon, P 165). Shared ideas make policy entrepreneurs into alliance; and these alliances are trying to make their ideas become legitimate. Kingdons primal policy soup (Kingdon, P 139-143) model provides us a picture of how decision makers accept idea through coherent narrative process (ideas are flowing in the streams just as molecules flowing in the soup). According to Kingdon, a policy community creates a sh ort list of ideas. If the ideas can go through the selecting process, softening up process and if they can pass the exam by specialists and policy makers, they may finally become policies. The whole process can be viewed as a continuing struggle of ideas. In this case, ideas are not only competing with other ideas, they are also struggling to survive in this primal soup. I also think Kingdons policy window model is another improvement to Deborah Stones arguments. People are now struggling to make their idea in front of the policy window at the correct time. This model discovers that the during the policy process, critical time is also important for ideas struggling. However, I think there are also some theories which do not fully support Deborah Stones argument. In the garbage can model, because the nature of unclear, policy is not necessarily to be the consequence of the ideas struggling. In Kingdons Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, he describes that as garbage can into which various kinds of problems and solutions are dumped by participantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ removed from the scene (Kingdon, P 85). In some sense, Deborah Stones Struggling of ideas assumption is more based on a goal-oriented policy making process, in order to make it work, there should be a clear policy goal from all participants; while the classical garbage can model is more like a method-oriented policy making process, it doesnt require a clear goal or solution at the beginning. In the garbage can model, people are not fighting with each other over ideas in the final solution selecting stage, however it is still correct to say that each solution in the garbage can is a result of deliberative idea thinking. I think there is a slight difference between Deborah Stones theory and the garbage can model. Another policy theory which doesnt fully consistent with Deborah Stones theory is the incrementalism theory. According to Lindblom, the incremental policy process is more relied on former existing policies. According to this model, the policy environment generally remains stable. Because the incremental nature of the policy, the new policy will inherent the policy environment from previous policy, if the former policy has resolved the struggling of idea, then there will be less struggling of ideas in the new policies. Since the policy environment is stable, it will be unlikely for us to speculate a violently struggle over ideas. The last policy process theory I want discuss in the context of struggling over idea is the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) theory. The central idea of this theory is that people or groups with the same beliefs (core/policy/secondary) will form a coalition. I think Sabatiers concept of belief is similar to Deborah Stones concept of idea. Especially, I think the concept of policy belief is playing the role of idea in the policy process. I think his core belief is rooted even deeper than idea. The core belief will sometimes become unnoticeable. And using the ACF model, we can find out that the policy process is a competition among different policy beliefs, and I think this observation is close to Deborahs struggle over ideas the essence of policy making.'. But it does not mean that the change in the secondary belief level is also a result of struggling, according to Sabatiers theory, such change is more like the result of an incremental learning process. In conclusion, I think Deborah Stones argument is useful for us to understand some policy process. However, by using different theories we should also notice whether policy processes are struggle over ideas should be analyzed in situations. The Punctuated-Equilibrium model, ACF model and Multiple Stream model indicate that Deborahs argument is valid. In the P-E model, the change of existing idea or appearance of new idea will bring turbulence to the policy process; in the ACF model, the learning process can change beliefs at different level, and these changes will bring feedbacks to the policy process; in the M-S model, policy entrepreneurs will using the opportunity to propose their ideas, and when critical time is come, the coupled stream will become policy. Incremental Model suggests that policy process is not necessarily linked to struggling when the time span of the policy is very short. There could be no struggle when the whole policy process is already fixed. However, I think the origin/first policy in the incremental model is a result of idea struggling. The Garbage Can model suggests that the choosing process within the policy process may appear as a random process, it is not necessarily to be the consequence of the idea struggling. Reference: Sabatier, Paul A. 1988. An Advocacy Coalition Framework of Policy Change and the Role of Policy-Oriented Learning Therein, Policy Sciences, 21:129-168. Sabatier, Paul A. (ed.) 1999. Theories of the Policy Process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Sabatier, Paul A. and Hank C. Jenkins-Smith. 1993. Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Sabatier, Paul A. and Hank C. Jenkins-Smith. 1999. The Advocacy Coalition Framework: An Assessment, In Sabatier, Paul A. (ed.) Theories of the Policy Process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Kingdon, John W. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. 2nd ed., New York: HarperCollins. Zahariadis, Nikolaos. 1999. Ambiguity, Time, and Multiple Streams, In Sabatier, Paul A. (ed.), Theories of the Policy Process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. True, James L., Bryan D.Jones, and Frank R. Baumgartner. 1999. Punctuated- Equilibrium Theory: Explaining Stability and Change in American Policymaking, In Sabatier, Paul A. (ed.), Theories of the Policy Process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Jones, Bryan D., Frank R. Baumgartner, and James L. True 1998. Policy Punctuations: U.S. Budget Authority, 1947-1995, The Journal of Politics, 60(1):1-33. Baumgartner, Frank R. and Bryan D. Jones. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Reference: Kingdon, J. W. (1984) Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies . U. S. A.: Harper Collins. Lindblom, C. E. (1959) The science of muddling through. Public Administration Review, 14, pp. 79-88. Cohen, M., March, J., Olson, J. (1972) A garbage can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17, pp. 1-25. March, James and Olsen. (1984) The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factor in Political Life. American Political Science Review 78. 734-749

Friday, September 20, 2019

Different Attitudes of the First World War as Expressed in Poems by Var

When war first broke out in 1914 the general attitude towards it was patriotism. Many young men grabbed the chance to fight for their country and show the women their braveness, they thought they would come back heroes, however they did not know what happened beyond the cheerful and brave faces seen in the news papers and the blissful time the soldiers had in their letters home. This made many more men go to war. Things gradually changed, death, disease, mud, it had suddenly hit that to fight for your country was not such an honour. Soldiers firstly began to write poetry because poetry was the most important mode of expression for those who were shocked and disillusioned by the realities of the First World War. I will be discussing five poems written by well-known war poets such as: ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke, ‘Into Battle’ by Julian Grenfell, ‘Dulce et decorum est’ by Wilfred Owen, ‘Base Details’ by Siegfried Sassoon and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ by Wilfred Owen. Julian Grenfell had many years of editing before becoming a distinguished war poet in his local newspaper. But he had always had his heart set on being part of the military. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1914. A year later, 1915, he was wounded in the head during battle and died later in hospital of shrapnel in the skull. Grenfell had always praised war saying in letters home â€Å" I adore war†¦it is like a big picnic, its all the best fun one ever dreamed of.† ‘Into Battle’ is a positive poem in which war is glorified. Rupert Brooke’s war experience consisted of one day of limited military action with the Hood Battalion during the evacuation of Antwerp. He never fought in the war as he died on Easter Sunday 1915 aged 28 from blood p... ...many to die but are given not burial, they just lie under rubble from buildings and their own skin serves as their pall? The â€Å"drawing down of blinds† could be the eyes that are shut in mourning, or the eyes that are shut as they die or it could even signify the blinds being drawn at night where a person kneels down to pray for those at war. There is either a positive or a negative attitude in war, there is no poet that will write both kinds of poems during the same time, there is always change in view as the time and the battle draws on. In most poems there is a definite sadness, the horrific images described and the loneliness and feeling of detachment from the world or the patriotism and honour to fight for one’s country. There are so many attitudes to war because people feel there are certain reasons for it, it also depends on what part you play in the war.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The many heros of our day Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Many Heroes Of our Day Heroes, since the time they were first written and recorded heroes have been the ones to set the example and uphold the morals and beliefs of the people. There have been, in general, three key ages of heroes: Anglo-Saxon Age, Middle age, and Modern age. They all have changed throughout time to fit the ways of the culture in each of their time period. The different characters that were written about, all went through different journeys and different quests according to what was considered â€Å"entertainment† during that age, but all kept the same basic morals, no matter the age. In the Anglo-Saxon age, the heroes were out for fame and glory; they wanted nothing more but to be remembered in fame, fortune, and their loyalty to the king.. In the story Beowulf, it says â€Å" †¦.had been served as he’d boasted he’d serve them: Beowulf, a prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel...† (Beowulf pg. 24 lines 119-120). It is clearly sated that he boasted about his victory in killing Grendel. It was not a humble action he had done, but one to gain more fame and glory and to emphasize his victory. â€Å"And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded Herot, warriors coming to that hall from faraway lands†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Beowulf pg. 24 lines 127- 129) The people would come all around and give these heroes exactly what they wanted, fame. The knights of the time did the good deeds, and in return got what they wanted. The Anglo-Saxons had nothing more to do with the... The many heros of our day Essay -- essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Many Heroes Of our Day Heroes, since the time they were first written and recorded heroes have been the ones to set the example and uphold the morals and beliefs of the people. There have been, in general, three key ages of heroes: Anglo-Saxon Age, Middle age, and Modern age. They all have changed throughout time to fit the ways of the culture in each of their time period. The different characters that were written about, all went through different journeys and different quests according to what was considered â€Å"entertainment† during that age, but all kept the same basic morals, no matter the age. In the Anglo-Saxon age, the heroes were out for fame and glory; they wanted nothing more but to be remembered in fame, fortune, and their loyalty to the king.. In the story Beowulf, it says â€Å" †¦.had been served as he’d boasted he’d serve them: Beowulf, a prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel...† (Beowulf pg. 24 lines 119-120). It is clearly sated that he boasted about his victory in killing Grendel. It was not a humble action he had done, but one to gain more fame and glory and to emphasize his victory. â€Å"And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded Herot, warriors coming to that hall from faraway lands†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Beowulf pg. 24 lines 127- 129) The people would come all around and give these heroes exactly what they wanted, fame. The knights of the time did the good deeds, and in return got what they wanted. The Anglo-Saxons had nothing more to do with the...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Diabetes: Prevention and Treatment Essay -- Diseases/Disorders

Public health emphasizes the importance of prevention and proactively taking care of one’s body. As people grow older, they must follow certain guidelines to ensure that they age healthily and successfully. One of the biggest concerns facing the aging population is chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are long term diseases that have a slow progression. Once chronic diseases pass â€Å"certain symptomatic or diagnostic thresholds,† they become a permanent aspect of an individual’s life because â€Å"medical and personal regimens can sometimes control but can rarely cure them† (Albert and Freeman 105). One chronic condition that is a cause of concern is diabetes. Diabetes is not only one of the leading causes of death in the over 65 population but also one of the most prevalent and debilitating conditions (111). Diabetes is a chronic disease or condition that involves the hormone insulin, which helps regulate the amount of glucose in a person’s bloodstream. When cells are in need of energy the pancreas produce insulin; this mechanism allows cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body has become resistant to its own insulin; this leaves an excess amount of glucose in the bloodstream as there is no insulin present to guide it to the cells (â€Å"Diabetes†). There are two types of diabetes that affects the worldwide population: Type I and Type II. Type I is typically prevalent in children and is characterized by an insulin deficiency. Type II diabetes is adult onset and occurs when the body is resistant to the insulin it produces. Type II affects approximately 90 percent of people with diabetes around the world. Due to the similarity in symptoms between both types... ... Disease Control and Prevention, 01 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 May 2012. . "Diabetes." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, Aug. 2011. Web. 03 May 2012. . "HealthEase." Division of Aging and Community Services. State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. Web. 03 May 2012. . "Medicare Diabetes Screening Project." Medicare Diabetes Screening Project. Web. 03 May 2012. . Span, Paula. "For Elderly Diabetics, Questions About Aggressive Care." New York Times. New York Times, 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 03 May 2012. . Diabetes: Prevention and Treatment Essay -- Diseases/Disorders Public health emphasizes the importance of prevention and proactively taking care of one’s body. As people grow older, they must follow certain guidelines to ensure that they age healthily and successfully. One of the biggest concerns facing the aging population is chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are long term diseases that have a slow progression. Once chronic diseases pass â€Å"certain symptomatic or diagnostic thresholds,† they become a permanent aspect of an individual’s life because â€Å"medical and personal regimens can sometimes control but can rarely cure them† (Albert and Freeman 105). One chronic condition that is a cause of concern is diabetes. Diabetes is not only one of the leading causes of death in the over 65 population but also one of the most prevalent and debilitating conditions (111). Diabetes is a chronic disease or condition that involves the hormone insulin, which helps regulate the amount of glucose in a person’s bloodstream. When cells are in need of energy the pancreas produce insulin; this mechanism allows cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body has become resistant to its own insulin; this leaves an excess amount of glucose in the bloodstream as there is no insulin present to guide it to the cells (â€Å"Diabetes†). There are two types of diabetes that affects the worldwide population: Type I and Type II. Type I is typically prevalent in children and is characterized by an insulin deficiency. Type II diabetes is adult onset and occurs when the body is resistant to the insulin it produces. Type II affects approximately 90 percent of people with diabetes around the world. Due to the similarity in symptoms between both types... ... Disease Control and Prevention, 01 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 May 2012. . "Diabetes." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, Aug. 2011. Web. 03 May 2012. . "HealthEase." Division of Aging and Community Services. State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. Web. 03 May 2012. . "Medicare Diabetes Screening Project." Medicare Diabetes Screening Project. Web. 03 May 2012. . Span, Paula. "For Elderly Diabetics, Questions About Aggressive Care." New York Times. New York Times, 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 03 May 2012. .

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Children’s Overuse of Technology

Children’s use of technology most affects a person’s cognitive development by eliminating the time that children have for other activities like proper sleep, a basketball game in the park, or just a face to face chat with a group of friends. Technology is not a proper substitute for a play ground, parks or a chat with friends where a child can find unlimited opportunities to learn valuable information about how they fit in the real world. A child’s cognitive development is not harmed directly by technology so much as it is harmed indirectly by abstaining from physical activities, failing to get proper sleep, or not interacting with peers. A study by the Kaiser foundation illustrates the enormous time children spend multi – tasking each day through technology, â€Å"Today’s youth pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those daily 7 1/2 hours – an increase of almost 2 1/4 hours of media exposure per day over the past five years† (Henry J. Kaiser Foundation 2010, p. 1). It is not to suggest that technology plays no role in increasing a child’s cognitive development; it is to suggest that there is a widening gap between the time a child entertains themselves with technology and the moments that he or she allocate to alternatives activities. The benefits children receive from non – technology based activities are found in many research studies on cognitive development; for example, a study by preeminent sleep theorist Dr. Sadeh showed that the cognitive abilities of elementary school children deprived of just one hours night sleep would be reduced by two years the following morning (Sadeh, Gruber & Ravi 2003, p. 444 -445). Children cannot be engaged in interactive play with their peers, sleep or physical exercise which are so critical to their development, due to an overuse of isolating technological activities such as cell phones, television and video games. Children who spend too much time with technology find themselves isolated from their peers. Leading theorists like Jean Piaget understood the importance of peer interaction as a research tool that provides children with unlimited opportunities to evaluate other people’s concept of how to deal with situations that happen in the world. According to Piaget, â€Å"children gained knowledge about the world through their interaction with others and incorporated that information into cognitive structures† (Piaget 1962, p. 257). Piaget saw unscripted play as a way for children to gain new social skills by assimilating a peer’s new ideas and changing their understanding of the world to accommodate them. Children exposed to peer play gain the skill set which will allow them to progress away from an egocentric view point in which they are the center of the universe to a more abstract vision of the world that encompasses the morals needs of society. A child that has gained understanding of this is said to gain the social, emotional, and cognitive skills and behaviors that they need in order to be successful people in the world. Piaget would find educational value in any technology that allows children the opportunity to freely experiment with their understanding of the world. From the preoperational through the operational stage, children receive educational experiences even from basic technology like karaoke machines or cell phones that provide them the opportunity to test their language skills through experimentation. A child in the preoperational stage will use the karaoke machine in symbolic play to pretend to be a rock star. The operational stage children that are further along on their cognitive development might use a cell phone share ideas on what it is like to be in a rock group. However, the most promising use of technology to Piaget would be software that appears to emulate his theory of assimilation and accommodation. Indeed, Piaget believed that children learned best when a constant flow of information was acquired from others that either reinforced or challenged their perception of themselves in the world. An example of technology that might provide this is the game SimCity, which was marketed as providing people with the opportunity to test their knowledge of cities while learning to build one of their own. However, eventually Piaget would find games like this to be too restrictive in their opportunities for players to decide whether to change their self-constructs of city- life based on the limited real life scenarios in the game. The child is presented with or guided into possible actions by the software program and made to believe there are no limitations to the options one can take; however, software actions are very â€Å"narrow and circumscribed, and – what is even more important for the child – it is defined by the game developer and the manufacturer instead of by the child† (Provenzo, 1991, 1994). According to Piaget (1972), play can provide many opportunities for children to actively learn in a manner that is more intuitive than a direct instruction lesson. Piaget’s philosophy about play is validated by the following research. A study on rats that played rough with each other had a higher degree of neurotropic factor transcripts created in their brains’ cortexes than a rat raised in isolation (Gordon, Burke, Watson &Panskepp 2003, p. 17-20). Research by Diamond et al. (1966) on the thickening of a rat’s cortex showed that when a rat was allowed to freely assimilate and accommodate within an â€Å"enriched environment† (Krech, Rosenzweig& Bennett, 1960, p. 09-513) its cortex was affected profoundly as compared to other rats’ cortexes that were raised in non-enriched environments (p. 117-125). The research was designed to compare the thickening in the cortex of several rats’ brains raised in three different environments: one raised in isolation, three rats in a cage that emulated their natural environment, and three that were placed in the enriched environment. An enriched environment is defined as a cage that has enough room to accommodate the rats and toys that are added at specific intervals during their stay (Krech et al. 960, p. 509- 513). The rats were placed in the environment from 4 days to 80 days, and afterwards the cortexes were removed for comparison (Diamond et al. 1966, p. 117-125). A second set of experiments were designed to isolate factors like age or stress, which were constantly changing to reach the maximum thickening of the cortex. Data comparisons between the cortexes of the rats raised in the impoverished environments and the lone rat were measured, but not compared; however, further experimentation, in this maybe warranted in order to show the effect of peer play. In more play directed study, it was seen that rats that had played rough with each other had brains with a higher degree of neurotropic factors created in the brains’ cortex than a rat raised in isolation (Beatty, Dodge, Dodge, White & Panskepp 1982, p. 417-422). Another study of rats in social isolation showed an even more dramatic need for interactive play when a rat failed to respond with the proper defense mechanism when dealing with a dominant male rat. The study showed that rats that played with peers were successful in assimilating into society by using the tools they learned from peer interaction, much like Lev Vygotsky’s studies showed children did as well (Foroud & Pellis 2003, p. 35-43). Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky believed that a child’s learning process or cognitive development was not based on a solitary exploration of the world, but the influences of the child’s culture, environment or knowledgeable adults. Vygotsky’s studies were based on the significant improvement that children achieved on tests when they worked with an adult as compared to working alone. The test results for children working independently rarely reached the level of a child that had been taught by an adult. In the process of this adult guided development, â€Å"the child not only matures, but is rearmed. It is this â€Å"rearming† that accounts for a great deal of development and change we can that accounts for a great deal of the development and change we can observe as we follow the transition from child to civilized adult† (Luria & Vygotsky, 1992, p. 110). The times children meet with a knowledgeable peer or adult to learn a great deal of understanding is gained by the child. The growth of the child that works with an adult can be observed throughout their lives till they reach adulthood. Vygotsky would find potential in today’s technology and hope for the software technology of tomorrow that he would perceive as supporting his theory of the Zone of Proximal Distance. His theory states: â€Å"the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers [is greater]† (Vygotsky 1978, p. 6). The technology that was capable of teaching critical thinking, analysis and problem solving skills by joining them together to learn about any subject matter. Present technology does not have the natural language skills necessary to be able to respond to a child’s unlimited questions; however, games can guide a child’s thought process by the designer’s implementation of scaffolding techniques into the program. For instance, some games like Oregon Trail are appropriate educational opportunities for learning in the classroom. The game is a form of computer mediated instruction that uses information inserted into the program (scaffolding techniques) to help students complete the tasks that are important to perform an activity; however, it is limited in value since it does not allow children to interact with a knowledgeable adult or peer. Games that allow multiple players to work towards a common goal are available online and could be used to teach children in the way Vygotsky envisioned. Games like The Penguin Club or Halo are designed to allow children to work together towards a common goal; however, they are created to entertain and not to teach. Video games must be designed to capture a child’s interest and be tested to show how they improve a child’s education, or they will remain another example of a technology whose use is restricted solely to household entertainment. Other examples of technology that children use for household entertainment are described in the following study including which technologies are preferred by both sexes and which are preferred by a specific sex. â€Å"Children are far more likely to use technology for entertainment purposes to download music, chat on the social network, email friends or lay video games than do research on a topic of interest than for education† (Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut & Gross 2001, p. 7-30). The study shows boys and girls are likely to use the same technology for the same hours in school. However, after school hours boys were far more likely to play video games than girls. On the contrary, girls were far more likely to use their cell phones to text friends or communicate on the social network than their male counterparts. Both girls and boys still watched television more than any other technology. The study focused primarily on the type of technology a child used to entertain him or her self; however, the study did not delve into the effects technology use had on a child. Grant money has been expanded for research to investigate new social concerns about technology ranging from the possibilities of brain tumors brought about by excessive use of cell phones, desensitizing affects of violent video games on children towards real violence, and attention span problems caused by television and video games. A recent research study on the effects of children playing violent video games and their desensitizing effect on a child’s view of real life has challenged long held tenets of parents and researchers alike. Bowen and Spaniol (2011) designed a study to compare the emotional arousal state and long term memory of individuals that played violent video game as compared to those that did not. The participants viewed 150 photos of scenes that were designed to get a positive, negative, or natural response from the individuals. One hour later the people were asked once again to observe the scenes and this time 150 additional photos were added. The researcher then asked the individuals if they indeed had seen the photos previously and the results were recorded. Afterwards, the students were given a self-assessment test that asked them questions about their emotional state. Researchers predicted the results would show that the participants that played violent video games would remember less of the photos and have a lower level of emotional arousal. The study showed that the results were in favor of the null hypothesis and that there was no significant difference in the long term memory or emotional state of the participant that played video games and the individuals that did not. This study questioned earlier held opinions that violent video indeed caused children to be less sensitive to real life violence. Research by Carnagey, Anderson and Bushman (2007) evaluated the physiological response of individuals that watched a ten minute video showing real-life violence after playing their choice of a violent game or non-violent game for twenty minutes. The individuals that played the violent video game were predicted to have a lowerheart beat and galvanic skin response than the non violent video game watchers. The violent video players did show a lower heart rate and galvanic than the non-violent game players and were considered to be desensitized to violence (p. 489-496). The conflicting results help illustrate how little is known to whether video game technology as any direct adverse on the cognitive development of children that the concerns of society have suggested. Furthermore, studies on the effect of radio waves on heavy long term users of cell phones suggest different conclusions leading to question about its adverse affects on children as well. One study which evaluated brain tumor risk in relation to long term mobile use showed no increase in cancer in individuals that used cellphones excessively over the last ten years (Cardis 2010, p. 14). Another study showed that the brain glucose metabolism rates were significantly higher when using a cell phone causing concern that there may be negative effects from radio signals delivered to the brain (Volkow et al. 001, p. 808-813). It appears that additional research on technology is required, as was expended on television earlier in order to get a clearer picture of its effect on children. Television viewing time at a mean age of 14 years was associated with â€Å"elevated risk for attention difficulties, frequent failure to complete homework assignments, frequent boredom at school, failure to complete high school, poor grades, negative attitudes about school (i. e. hates school) overall academic failure in secondary school, and failure to obtain post-secondary (eg, college, university, training school) education† (Johnson et al. 2007, 481). The Research by Zimmerman and Christakis (2007) showed that six and seven year old children, who had watched an average of three hours of television a day as three year olds, had lower cognitive achievement scores on the Peabody Individual Achievement test for reading recognition and reading comprehension (473-479). Less sedentary activities that children do when not playing video games show a much clearer picture of the benefit they provided to a child’s cognitive development than any adverse effect technology does. Children who rode bicycles, played basketball or performed other aerobic activities at least three times a week for sixty minutes and spent an equal amount of time on muscle and bone strengthening workouts three times a week or more had significantly better grades than the children who did not (Coe, Pivarnik, Woomack, Reeves &Malina 2006, p. 515-1519). In conclusion, software technology as advanced as it may seem is not robust enough to support the theories of Piaget or Vygotsky. Advances in Artificial Intelligence for natural language would be required to make either Piaget or Vygotsky theories close to a real life learning experience. A computer game would need to be able to understand the thoughts voiced by a child and be able to respond to them fluently to recreate a real life experience. That software for video games is far from being developed. A child’s ability to learn from a computer as if it was a teacher is limited by how well the software developer provides guidance within the program to complete each task. A child will never get the freedom to explore and change his or her constructs in the world of technology as he or she can in the real world. In this day of modern technology and the information highway, it may seem ironic that the best thing a child can do to develop his or her cognitive development is to turn the television, video game or cell phone off and go for a bike ride.