Integrating basic skills Essay Example for Free

Integrating basic skills Essay Graphing and Social Studies The Rationale Graphing skills are in important tool for participating in adult society. As such, they should be emphasized and integrated into the curriculum. Including a graphing exercise as part of a larger social studies unit is a good way to reinforce math and interpretive skills. A graphing exercise gives the student an opportunity to demonstrate what has been learned in a creative way. Reproducing the information in graphical form also helps the students to see the big picture. It helps them see how different elements relate, and it provides a visual representation of the information that can be more easily remembered. As adults, the students will find that graphs are not solely a mathematical element. Graphs are a way we communicate concepts as well as data. Early integration of this skill into a child’s education can only be beneficial. The Exercise Software and internet sites to assist graphing activities are plentiful. For this exercise, the Create a Graph website (http://nces. ed. gov/nces/kids/graphing/) sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics will be used. The students have been studying the Plymouth Plantation. This lesson points out that the Pilgrims attained a new sense of freedom, but it was not without hardship. The graphing exercise is designed to reinforce this concept. Before the exercise begins the teacher will run through a brief graphing tutorial. To begin, the students will each receive one of three different assignment sheets. They will later be divided into groups based on which assignment they receive. The students in group one will receive a handout summarizing the information obtained in the part of the lesson called â€Å"Step 2. † Their task will be to construct a graph at the Create a Graph website comparing the speeds of various forms of transportation, present and past, including the Mayflower. A bar chart will be suggested. The students may discuss the project as a group, but each student must complete a chart. The second group will receive a handout summarizing the climatic data obtained in â€Å"Step 3. † They will construct a chart showing the average temperature highs and lows for each month of the year. An area chart will be suggested. The third group will receive a handout describing population levels of colonists and natives in the area in the years 1620-1640. They will be asked to construct charts showing the population distribution (men, women, Native Americans) in the years 1620 and 1640. Pie charts will be suggested. Copies of each graph will be printed for each student in the group. Fonts, colors and labels will be at the discretion of the students, but the students will be asked to keep in mind that their chart must explain the data clearly to someone who might not already be familiar with it. After everyone has completed a chart they will return to groups to discuss their results. The graphs in each group will not be identical, but they should be similar. Each group will then be asked an interpretive question: â€Å"What is your graph telling us? † The answer should be one written sentence. The idea is to present a very concise summary of the information, i. e. The population difference between men and women shrunk between 1620 and 1640. The teacher will choose one or two members of each croup to present their graph, describe the process of making it, and describe the meaning. To reinforce the experience, the students will be asked, as a class a series of follow up questions including the following: Could we have used different types of graphs to present the data? Why or why not? Why do we use graphs? What do the graphs tell you about life on Plymouth? The graphing exercise will help students visualize the data. They can then draw their own conclusions about what the data means. They will gain exposure to the different types of graphs and when it is appropriate to use each. It is also another chance to integrate interactive technology into the students learning experience. The group format will allow students to exchange ideas and develop for themselves a more creative learning experience. As with any group exercise, the job of the teacher is to facilitate interaction and full participation of the students. Sources Bergen County Intermediate School District. (2006). Technology Curriculum Integration Ideas! Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www. remc11. k12. mi. us/bcisd/classres/intideas. htm Brooks, Susan Byles, Bill. (2006). Idea Starters for using Technology in the Classroom. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www. internet4classrooms. com/integ_tech_lessons. htm Evans, Janet. (2005). Literacy Moves On: Popular Culture, New Technologies, and Critical Literacy in the Elementary Classroom. New York: Heinemann. Howell, Will C. (1987). Grid and graph it: graphing activities for listening and following directions, grades 4-6. Belmont, Calif. : Fearon Teacher Aids. National Center for Education Statistics. (2006). Students Classroom: Create a Graph. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://nces. ed. gov/nces/kids/graphing/ Starr, Linda. (2003). Technology Integration Ideas that Work. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www. education-world. com/a_tech/tech/tech176. shtml Ventura, Fred. (2006). Graphing and Computers in Grades 3-5. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www,venturaes. com/graphing/.

Integrating basic skills Essay Example for Free

Integrating basic skills Essay Graphing and Social Studies The Rationale Graphing skills are in important tool for participating in adult society. As such, they should be emphasized and integrated into the curriculum. Including a graphing exercise as part of a larger social studies unit is a good way to reinforce math and interpretive skills. A graphing exercise gives the student an opportunity to demonstrate what has been learned in a creative way. Reproducing the information in graphical form also helps the students to see the big picture. It helps them see how different elements relate, and it provides a visual representation of the information that can be more easily remembered. As adults, the students will find that graphs are not solely a mathematical element. Graphs are a way we communicate concepts as well as data. Early integration of this skill into a child’s education can only be beneficial. The Exercise Software and internet sites to assist graphing activities are plentiful. For this exercise, the Create a Graph website (http://nces. ed. gov/nces/kids/graphing/) sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics will be used. The students have been studying the Plymouth Plantation. This lesson points out that the Pilgrims attained a new sense of freedom, but it was not without hardship. The graphing exercise is designed to reinforce this concept. Before the exercise begins the teacher will run through a brief graphing tutorial. To begin, the students will each receive one of three different assignment sheets. They will later be divided into groups based on which assignment they receive. The students in group one will receive a handout summarizing the information obtained in the part of the lesson called â€Å"Step 2. † Their task will be to construct a graph at the Create a Graph website comparing the speeds of various forms of transportation, present and past, including the Mayflower. A bar chart will be suggested. The students may discuss the project as a group, but each student must complete a chart. The second group will receive a handout summarizing the climatic data obtained in â€Å"Step 3. † They will construct a chart showing the average temperature highs and lows for each month of the year. An area chart will be suggested. The third group will receive a handout describing population levels of colonists and natives in the area in the years 1620-1640. They will be asked to construct charts showing the population distribution (men, women, Native Americans) in the years 1620 and 1640. Pie charts will be suggested. Copies of each graph will be printed for each student in the group. Fonts, colors and labels will be at the discretion of the students, but the students will be asked to keep in mind that their chart must explain the data clearly to someone who might not already be familiar with it. After everyone has completed a chart they will return to groups to discuss their results. The graphs in each group will not be identical, but they should be similar. Each group will then be asked an interpretive question: â€Å"What is your graph telling us? † The answer should be one written sentence. The idea is to present a very concise summary of the information, i. e. The population difference between men and women shrunk between 1620 and 1640. The teacher will choose one or two members of each croup to present their graph, describe the process of making it, and describe the meaning. To reinforce the experience, the students will be asked, as a class a series of follow up questions including the following: Could we have used different types of graphs to present the data? Why or why not? Why do we use graphs? What do the graphs tell you about life on Plymouth? The graphing exercise will help students visualize the data. They can then draw their own conclusions about what the data means. They will gain exposure to the different types of graphs and when it is appropriate to use each. It is also another chance to integrate interactive technology into the students learning experience. The group format will allow students to exchange ideas and develop for themselves a more creative learning experience. As with any group exercise, the job of the teacher is to facilitate interaction and full participation of the students. Sources Bergen County Intermediate School District. (2006). Technology Curriculum Integration Ideas! Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www. remc11. k12. mi. us/bcisd/classres/intideas. htm Brooks, Susan Byles, Bill. (2006). Idea Starters for using Technology in the Classroom. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www. internet4classrooms. com/integ_tech_lessons. htm Evans, Janet. (2005). Literacy Moves On: Popular Culture, New Technologies, and Critical Literacy in the Elementary Classroom. New York: Heinemann. Howell, Will C. (1987). Grid and graph it: graphing activities for listening and following directions, grades 4-6. Belmont, Calif. : Fearon Teacher Aids. National Center for Education Statistics. (2006). Students Classroom: Create a Graph. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://nces. ed. gov/nces/kids/graphing/ Starr, Linda. (2003). Technology Integration Ideas that Work. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www. education-world. com/a_tech/tech/tech176. shtml Ventura, Fred. (2006). Graphing and Computers in Grades 3-5. Retrieved 7/2/2006 from: http://www,venturaes. com/graphing/.

Changes to the Concept of Mass Audience

Changes to the Concept of Mass Audience Is the concept of the mass audience becoming increasingly redundant as new communications technologies such as the internet and interactive tv develop. In order to understand whether the concept of the mass audience is still influential, with regard to new communications such as the internet and interactive TV, one will first need to know the meaning attached to the concept of mass audience theory.   Blumer (1950) argues that mass audience theory can be described in four parts.   Firstly, the mass audience may come from all walks of life, and from all distinguishable social strata; it may include people of different class position, of different vocation, of different cultural attainment, and of different wealth etc. Secondly, the mass is an anonymous group, or more exactly is composed of anonymous individuals (he means anonymous in the sense that unlike the citizens of earlier communities, the people who are members of the mass audience for the media do not know each other).   Thirdly, there exists little interaction or change of experience between members of the mass.   They are usually physically separated from one another, and, being anonymous, do not have the opportunity to mill as do members of the crowd.   Fourth, the mass is very loosely organised and is not able to act with the concertedness or unity of a crowd.   His statement was five years after the second world war.   This was during and after a period when the media was used as propaganda, through films, radio, and poster art that they had attempted to persuade mass audiences to follow their policies, in which to the critics of the time it is not surprising that the media must have seemed like a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands, capable of persuading millions to follow evil men.   The concept of the mass audience is essential to our understanding of the media.   It is the public in whose name programs are made and laws are passed.   It is the commodity that supports commercial broadcasting.   It is the arena in which the effects of mass communications are played out.   It is the place where the meanings and pleasures of media use are ultimately realized.   The audience, in short, is the foundation of the media’s economic and cultural power, whereby, without it, the entire enterprise has very little purpose, Webster and Phalen (1997).   The idea of an audience is common to both academic theory and industry practice.   As McQuail (2005) puts it, it is one of the few terms which can be shared without difficulty by media practitioners and theorists alike.   In most cases the audience is conceptualized as a large, loosely connected mass on the receiving end of the media.   In addition to this there are sufficient reasons to wonder whether the term audience is still a useful one, especially as there are so many kinds of use of many different communications media.   The term audience cannot easily be divested of its strong connotation of spectatorship, of rather passive watching and listening.   It is also closely tied in meaning to the reception of some message despite the fact that we know audience behaviour to involve several equally important motives or satisfactions, for example, social togetherness and the pleasures of actual use of a medium, regardless of content.   Despite this, there seems to be no viable alternative term, and so it will be used to cover diverse occasions.   In addition, Livingston (2002) comes to a similar conclusion, noting that no one term can be expected to cover the variety of relationships which now exist between people and the media.   She also adds that what is central is the nature of the relationship, rather than an artificial concept.   With this in mind one will move on to talk about the validity of the concept of the ‘mass audience’ becoming redundant as new communication technologies such as the internet and interactive TV develop.   Now, technology can be said to be one of the greatest challenges to the media in recent years, and one that will intensify further in the 21st century.   Its potential impact on the form and content of media output, the processes through which media messages are produced and consumed, and on the role of the media in society is bound to escalate to a level never seen before.   Such challenges are not new as the history of the mass media is a history of technological development with profound social consequences and implications at every stage.   There are however, strong grounds for believing that contemporary media are undergoing particularly dramatic technologically driven change, heralded by a qualitative new phase in the cultures of advanced capitalism.   This is a time that will be characterized by media interactivity, accessibility and diversity, with new freedoms for the audiences (or the consumer) McNair (1996).   It will also be the era of universally available cyberporn, information overload, and the decline or disappearance of some traditional media.   Cyberporn for example, is one big issue which has prompted some politicians and other interested parties to be pessimistic about the impact of these new technologies on the quality of cultural life.  Ã‚   The internet which is also known as the information superhighway through which information can be passed at an unprecedented rate, is a new medium which is currently having a strong impact on the production and consumption (mass audience) of the media.   The internet links millions of individual users and networks by satellite and cable, offering access to the Worldwide Web mainly used by commercial organizations and Usenet, a network for private individuals organized in to thousands of newsgroups.   These facilities can be used for advertising and promotion (including that of university departments, many of which now have a Web page profiling their activities); for on-line publishing of the type discussed earlier in the discussion of print media; and for communication between individuals by e-mail.   The latter maybe used for the circulation of data by researchers (for example, one could subscribe to a Latin American based services supplying up-to-date information about the Latin American media) or for a two way communication between geographically disparate users with a common interest.   As the internet develops and the infrastructure becomes more sophisticated it has become routine for virtual conversations to take place in cyberspace involving many individuals sending and receiving messages almost as quickly as if they were in the same room.   The power of the internet was first demonstrated during the San Francisco earthquake of January 1994, when it was used to send out the first information about the disaster, beating CNN and other news organizations to the Scoop.   But the significance of the internet for media culture goes beyond that of another leap in the speed of information dissemination.   It constitutes an entirely new medium, harnessing the vast information-handling potential of modern computers, now easily accessible to the mass consumer market as well as the traditional scientific and industrial users, and the distributive power of cable and satellite delivery systems.   The internet presents a further, and to date the most radical dissolution of the barriers of time and space which have constrained human communication since after the Second World War.   Speculation about what the Internet will do for and to human society abounds.   From one perspective, which we might describe as utopian; the Internet does indeed herald the emergence of a true global village, a benign virtual community accessible to anyone with a computer terminal and a knowledge of how to use it.   This perspective stresses the accessibility and interactivity of the new medium; the fact that it allows ordinary people to communicate across continents at the pressing of a return key on the keyboard of the computer, at relatively low cost (by comparison with telephone and fax), on all different types of issues and subjects.   The internet is not owned by any state or multinational company, and no state or company can control its use.   The internet’s relative freedom from the commercial and political constraints which have accompanied all previous communicative media, combined with its accessibility and interactivity, censorship, regulation, and commercialization like no other.   Another view is to see the internet as the latest in a long line of dehumanizing technological developments, producing a population of computer-nerds who, if they are not watching TV or fiddling with their play stations, are addictively surfing the Net.   The internet can be said to encourage not communication but isolation, in which one talks not to real people, but disembodied screens.   In addition to this, the cost of buying and owning a PC or laptop is rather expensive for countries whose economies are still developing.   Most people in these countries would not be able to afford to buy and own a PC or a lap top.   Hence, although it is a very useful medium used by people in the developed countries, it will take sometime before a more than average percentage of the general populis becomes aware of the major advantages of the use of the internet.   In most counties in the UK for example, there are libraries that provide free internet services for certain duration of time.   However, most people tend to use the internet for personalized e-mail services and searching for items and services.   These are not accessible through the traditional forms of the media (i.e. newspapers, brochures, etc).   Concerns about the implications of the internet are often based on a fear of its anarchic, uncontrollable character, precisely the qualities welcomed by its most enthusiastic advocates.   The internet, it is argued, provides an uncensorable platform for the dissemination of all kinds of antisocial messages.   For example, in the US newsgroups are devoted to the propaganda of extreme right-wing, pro-gun militias.   Cyberporn as earlier mentioned is also cited, particularly in relation to children and young people.   In July 1995, Time magazine devoted the bulk of an issue, and its cover, to the problem of cyberporn Elmer-Dewitt (1995).   The cover depicted a young boy, face reflecting the green light of a computer terminal, his eyes wide open with ama zement.   The article warned that Usenet and Worldwide Web networks were being used to distribute pornography all over the world, including as the cover illustration made clear to children and young adults.   The material being distributed was of the most extreme kind.   Rimm (1995) argues that computers and modems are profoundly redefining the pornographic landscape by saturating the market with an endless variety of what only a decade ago mainstream America defined as perverse or deviant.   Cyberporn does illustrate the threat posed by the internet, as seen by some.   To a greater extent than is true with traditional forms of disseminating pornography to the mass audience (and this applies to all morally or legally sanctioned information), the internet permits a private mode of consumption (no need for guilty browsing among the top shelves); it is user-friendly, allowing a high degree of selection and choice for anyone familiar with the system; and it is free of censorship, respecting no community standards or national boundaries.   As McNair (1996) puts it, traditional means of regulating and restricting pornography are useless on the Net.   And as children and young people are known to be among the most frequent and adept users of the Internet, cyberporn thus emerges as a serious threat to new generations.   Moral chaos and anarchy without the control of legislators does harbour information overload which acknowledges the inherent difficulty in imposing traditional constraints on the medium.   The key issue here is whether the internet i s a print medium, which enjoys strong protection against government interference, or a broadcast medium which enjoys strong protection against government interference, or a broadcast medium, which enjoys strong protection against government interference, or a broadcast medium, which may be subject to all sorts of government interference, or a broadcast medium, which may be subject to all sorts of government control Elmer Dewitt (1995).   The internet is neither print nor broadcasting, but a qualitatively new medium, to which conventional means of exerting control are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to apply.   It still remains to be seen if the global community (and it would have to be a genuinely global effort) can agree on standards of taste and decency for the Internet which are both enforceable and acceptable to the growing population of users.   According to the BBC (2004), new technologies and services are increasing the choice available to audiences and transferring power from schedulers and broadcasters.   Public sector broadcasting (PSB) providers will have to work much harder in future to persuade audiences to access their material and build brands across a variety of platforms.   They also add that fragmentation of audiences and the growth of digital television are posing new challenges for public service broadcasters.   BBC (2004) do suggest that changes in technology are also creating new and potentially more effective ways of meeting the needs of audiences in the nations, regions and localities.   The BBC also accepts a responsibility to explore partnerships with ot her broadcasters designed to sustain the wider PSB ecology.   The BBC is currently engaged in discussions with Channel 4 about a number of potential areas of co-operation.   These range from sharing R D and technology advances in new media services, through co-operating on international distribution, to options for pooling technical infrastructure, back-office functions and training.   In the same response by the BBC they argue that there is mounting evidence that regional television may be insufficiently local to meet the needs of some communities, having been hindered for decades by technology, topography and patterns of transmitters.   This response by the BBC to Ofcoms review also states that many viewers would prefer more local news to the current model of regional provision.   In their view, it is important to consider new ways of harnessing digital TV technology and broadband distribution, rather than simply replicating the traditional model of regional opt-outs.   McQuail, Blumler and Brown (1972) published results of research into the goals served by media use, not for society, but for media users.   They assumed media and content choice to be rational and directed to specific goals and satisfactions.   Audience members are conscious of the fact that they make choices.   In general these choices, or personal utility as McQuail calls it, are a more significant determinant of audience formation than aesthetic or cultural factors.   All these factors they assumed could be measured.   They do, offer an explanation of media-person interaction, which lists: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance (or information seeking) goals.   McQuail in general was critical of this with regard to his earlier work and suggests that social origins and ongoing experience are important in understanding audience and media relations, which fell outside the initial behaviourist and functionalist leanings of the research.   These however are not so easily measured.   Social origins, any person’s class background, for example, can be translated into quantit ative terms (as more or less formal and informal schooling), but ongoing experience may, for any one person, take a multitude of forms that need not even relate directly to one another: from what one learns from an individual film or article in a magazine, to witnessing everyday racism or parental neglect in the street, to boredom doing a job that has seemed so exciting.   Theoretically, uses and gratifications never really develops.   It is impossible to establish whether uses indeed precede gratifications in time, or whether gratifications are legitimized by inventing uses.   If the latter is the case, the uses and gratifications model cannot free us from the dominant paradigm: we are still seduced by the media, to such an extent even that we invent needs for what is basically imposed on us by capitalism (commercial media) or paternalist nation-state (PSB).   It is also important to stress that gratificationist research as it has also been called, was not initially understood to be a mainstream or conservative approach to media and society.   On the contrary, it appeared to break with a tradition of only looking at effects (mass communication research) or at texts (such as the film criticism of the British journal Screen) in order to conclude something about audiences.   Gratifications research at least asked people and made them part of the media meaning society equation.   It is only when gratificationaist research is used as a spearhead in debates about the possible convergence of quantitative and qualitative traditions in media research (the first seen as conservative and mainstream, the second as its challenger), that media critics such as Ang (1989) offer a strong defence of ethnographic method against individualistic quantitative research and of taking a closer look at what we mean by the term active audience.   Ang (1989) argue that it is basically impossible to bring the two traditions in mass communication research together.   The social scientists who work with quantitative method in uses and gratifications research and have here been labelled mainstream may superficially be seen to use the same terms the critical researchers use, but this does not mean that the two have consensus over the way in which the object of study needs to be conceptualized, or infact over the goals and aims of science or social research as an enterprise. CONCLUSION One can conclude here that neither the optimistic nor pessimistic views described above represent a realistic appraisal of the Internet’s significance for media culture.   Certainly, as the utopian perspective asserts, the internet permits a qualitatively new level of communication between human beings, and hitherto unimagined access to all kinds of information.   But the resulting global village can be no more benign than the individuals who use it, and the materials sent down its superhighways and byways.   The Internet, like all previous developments in communication technology is destined to reflect the best and the worst that humanity has to offer.   It will continue to evade state censorship and arbitrary moral regulation, undeniably a good thing, but it will certainly be subject to a creeping commercialization, as its economic potential becomes clear in which the mass audience will play a major role in this revolution.   This process has already beg un, and will accelerate in the twenty-first century.   One will also add that successive waves of information revolution from the invention of the printing press to film and television, and now cyberspace have each presented problems of control and regulation for legislators in the UK and around the world, problems of adaptation and restructuring for the media industries; new challenges and temptations for audiences. REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Ang, I., (1989), Wanting audiences, On the politics of empirical audience research, in E. Seiter, H. Borchers, G. Kreutzner and E. Warth (eds) Remote Control, Television, Audiences and Cultural Power, London:   Routledge, pp. 79 – 95. Blumer, H., (1950), Audiences and Media Effects, An introduction. Briggs, A., and Cobley, P., (2002), The Media:   An Introduction, 2nd edition, Pearson Longman. BBC (2004), Ofcom review of public service television broadcasting – Phase 2 Report, November, A BBC Response. Berger, A.A., (1995), Essentials of Mass Communication.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Elmer-Dewitt, P., (1995), On a screen near you: cyberporn, Time, July. Hay, J., Grossberg, L., and Wartella, E., (1996), The audience and its landscape. Livingston, S., (2002), Young people and New media, London: Sage. McNair, B., (1996), Mediated Sex, London: Arnold. McQuail, D., (2005), Mass communication theory. McQuail, D., Blumler, J., and Brown, J., (1972), The television audience, a revised perspective, in D. McQuail (ed.), Sociology of Mass Communication, Harmondsworth:   Penguin, pp. 135 – 165. Rimm, M., (1995), Marketing pornorgraphy on the information superhighway, (on-line version), first published in George town Law Journal Spring. Whelan, P., and Webster, J.G., (1997), The mass audience:   Rediscovering the dominant model. www.ofcom.org.uk

Renewable vs Nonrenewable Resources Essay -- Essays Papers

Renewable vs Nonrenewable Resources The United States has 4% of the world's people, but as a country consumes 25% of the world's oil. The U.S. and Western Europe are obsessed with a standard of living that is reliant on energy consumption maintained by the burning of fossil fuels. These nonrenewable resources continue to be depleted, despite the fact that solar power, wind power, hydropower, biomass, and many other renewable resources are available and accessible. The switch to these renewables would stop the extensive pumping of CO2 and other pollutants into the air we breathe. Acid rain, oil spills and global climate change and other environmental disasters might have a chance to abate. In addition to the impact on our health and the health of the planet, fossil fuel dependence has other potentially disastrous implications. Equally disturbing as the environmental consequences for oil-dependent Western economies is the fact that, in the near future, more than half of the planet's petroleum reserves will be owned and controlled by a handful of countries in the politically unstable Middle East. This will mean, and has arguably meant in the recent past (Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom), that the United States military will go into these Middle Eastern countries to ensure management of oil resources are in line with U.S. corporate desires. This dependence and the resulting imperialism seem silly and completely unnecessary when there are other types of sustainable resources here, at home. One example of the actual aptitude of renewable resources is wind power, the fastest growing energy resource; use jumped from 10 mega watts in 1980 to 15,600 megawatts in 1999. If Wyoming alone were to cover just 1.... ...e 21st Century. Alternative Energy Institute, Inc, chapter 2 Joesph Kahn. US Set to Oppose International Plan for Cleaner Energy. New York Times, July 14, 2001 Chiras, Daniel. The Solar House- Passive Heating and Cooling. ïÆ' £2002, pg 237 Wyoming Wind Resources, accessed on 9/11/03 @ www.eere.energy.gov/state_energy/tech_wind.cfm?state=WY Caveli, Damien. The United States of Oil, ïÆ' £2001, accessed on 9/11/03 @ http://global research.ca/articles/CAV111A.html Brown, Eric. An Introduction to Solar Energy, accessed 9/15/03 @ http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/feneric/solar.html Greer, Bloyd. An Overview of Hawai’s Photovoltaic Experience, accessed 10/01/03 @ http://state.hi.us/dbedt/ert/pv_overv.html Kelly, Rick. Bush grants permanent legal immunity to US corporations looting Iraqi oil. International Committee of the Fourth International (WSWS), August 19, 2003

Carl Friedrich Gauss :: essays research papers

Carl Friedrich Gauss   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who dominated the mathematical community during and after his lifetime. His outstanding work includes the discovery of the method of least squares, the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry, and important contributions to the theory of numbers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Born in Brunswick, Germany, on April 30, 1777, Johann Friedrich Carl Gauss showed early and unmistakable signs of being an extraordinary youth. As a child prodigy, he was self taught in the fields of reading and arithmetic. Recognizing his talent, his youthful studies were accelerated by the Duke of Brunswick in 1792 when he was provided with a stipend to allow him to pursue his education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1795, he continued his mathematical studies at the University of Gà ¶ ttingen. In 1799, he obtained his doctorate in absentia from the University of Helmstedt, for providing the first reasonably complete proof of what is now called the fundamental theorem of algebra. He stated that: Any polynomial with real coefficients can be factored into the product of real linear and/or real quadratic factors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the age of 24, he published Disquisitiones arithmeticae, in which he formulated systematic and widely influential concepts and methods of number theory -- dealing with the relationships and properties of integers. This book set the pattern for many future research and won Gauss major recognition among mathematicians. Using number theory, Gauss proposed an algebraic solution to the geometric problem of creating a polygon of n sides. Gauss proved the possibility by constructing a regular 17 sided polygon into a circle using only a straight edge and compass.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Barely 30 years old, already having made landmark discoveries in geometry, algebra, and number theory Gauss was appointed director of the Observatory at Gà ¶ttingen. In 1801, Gauss turned his attention to astronomy and applied his computational skills to develop a technique for calculating orbital components for celestial bodies, including the asteroid Ceres. His methods, which he describes in his book Theoria Motus Corporum Coelestium, are still in use today. Although Gauss made valuable contributions to both theoretical and practical astronomy, his principle work was in mathematics, and mathematical physics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About 1820 Gauss turned his attention to geodesy -- the mathematical determination of the shape and size of the Earth's surface -- to which he devoted much time in the theoretical studies and field work. In his research, he developed the heliotrope to secure more accurate measurements, and introduced the Gaussian error curve, or bell curve. To fulfill his sense of civil responsibility, Gauss undertook a geodetic survey of his country and did much of the field work himself. In his theoretical work on surveying, Gauss developed

Indonesian Defense Strategy :: Indonesia Military Technology War Essays

Indonesian Defense Strategy A. Background Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed a little-publicized deal at the end of April to purchase four Russia fighter jets and two helicopters as part of a much larger potential order. The decision to buy from Russia was a subject to a United States ban on military purchases; this marks a small but significant shift from Indonesia’s current dependence on United States’ military hardware. The Indonesian military is suffering from acute lack of supplies and parts for its heavy amour as well for light equipment. The United States’ imposed embargo on Indonesia since 1999 has rendered the country’s military equipment and apparatus partly redundant, leaving Indonesia, once a military might in the South East Asian region desperately behind its neighbors. The United States Congressional bans were first put in place in 1991 after the infamous Santa Cruz massacre of pro-independence civilian supporters in East Timor. They were further tightened in 1999, fol lowing the involvement of the Indonesian armed forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia) in the rampages by pro-Jakarta militia in East Timor. This is not the first time that Indonesia turns to Russia for military hardware supports, as it matter of fact, history has recorded the rise and fall of Russian armaments in Indonesia as an inseparable part of the rise and fall of bilateral relationship between the two. From late 1950s to early 1960s, Indonesia was mainly dependent on Soviet’s arms. At that time Indonesia was in campaign for the reclaim of West Papua, consequently, it needed a large number of weaponry. But United States were reluctant to sell any to Indonesia, because it did not make any sense if they sell weapons that would be used to fight against Dutch, their own ally. Soviet, on the other hand, was being kind to give arms support that would be paid in long-term and low-interest rate debt. The military equipment received from Soviet, especially for the navy, was so enormous that Indonesia became on of the sea power of Asia. But then, relationships between the two got worsen in late 1960s, and Indonesia was having a hard time in maintaining its military power, particularly to keep up with the advance of military technology. Now, almost a half-century afterward, military friendship between Indonesia and Russia revived again. In time of need, Indonesia turns again to Russia. As it mater of fact, Indonesia is facing a hard time dealing with United States’ military embargo.

Formal and Informal Groups Essay

A formal group is the deliberate and systematic grouping of people in an organization so that organizational goals are better achieved. Now any organization would have a certain formula. They are very essential for the efficient functioning of the organization. What does an organization do? The total no. of people working in an organization is divided into smaller groups (teams or sections or departments) and each group is responsible for fulfilling a task which would ultimately contribute to fulfilling the organization’s goal. This increases the efficiency of the organization. Ex: If we take NITK as an example, we all know that we have a larger goal of training students for the engineering profession. But within this larger goal, we want students to be trained for computer engg, electrical, mech, etc. So this larger goal is divided into departments (example computer department), which is a formal group in this larger organization. So, all the departments together achieve the goal of efficiently training the students for engineering purpose. Informal Group: Informal groups are the natural and spontaneous grouping of people whenever they work together over a period of time. Whenever people interact and work together over a certain period of time, it’s very natural for them and it comes very spontaneously for them, that they form informal groups. For example, we are officially assigned to the computer engineering department. But in the hostel, we live with friends from other branches. So when all of us live together for a 4 year period, it’s very natural for us to interact and build up groups informally with our friends from other branches. So like this, any organization would have informal groups. Let’s compare both Formal and Informal Groups:   FORMAL GROUPS |INFORMAL GROUPS | |Deliberately created. |Spontaneously created. | |Formal groups are knowingly and systematically created. |Informal groups are not really created, they are naturally formed. | |Systematic structure. |Loose structure | |As we discussed earlier, in the computer department, we have HOD, |In informal groups, there is no structure at all. So there is a system in place. |together for some time. There is no junior and senior†¦everybody is | | |equal. | |Importance to position. |Importance to the person. | |In a formal group, importance is always given to the position. Ex: |The beauty of being in an informal group is that the position does | |the group leader, the head of department, etc. The position gets |not exist at all because there is no structure. So importance is | |importance in a formal way because there is a system in place. always given to the person. | |Relationship is official. |Relationship is personal. | |The relationship is very formal and official in a formal group. So |In an informal group, the interaction and the attachment becomes very| |the relationship and behavior is almost prescribed in a formal group. |personal and not official. | |Communication is restricted and slow. |Communication is free and fast. | |By restricted we mean that the â€Å"boss may decide that certain |Everybody wants to tell everyone all the information. With the gossip| |information should not be discussed below a certain level. † |network in an informal group, information is passed very quickly. | |Communication is very slow because a certain procedure has to be | | |followed if we want to pass down the information. | | Importance of formal groups: As human being, we tend to tilt towards informal groups. But   we have to remember that formal groups have certain characteristics that are very essential for the efficiency of the organization. For example: If we remain informal all the time, the organizational goals cannot be met. Importance of informal groups: Informal groups are just as important because they serve some very important human means. Informal groups help in developing good human relations in the organization. When we interact with people in an informal scale, we develop good relationships with them . So this develops better working relationships and therefore creates better efficiency in the organization. So, good organizations today are promoting informal activities and formation of informal groups. Ex: Parties in companies, which promotes informal interaction. Informal groups promote human dignity. Human dignity is something which is very important for every human being. As human beings, we want to be respected and treated in a particular way. So, self respect is very important for a human being. In a formal group setup, very often, our dignity is destroyed. For example: If we have a very bossy boss, everyday he will be de-motivating you by saying things like â€Å"You are useless fellow!! Who made you an engineer†!! So our dignity is destroyed. But what supports us It’s the informal group that supports us and keeps up our dignity. For example: The support from our friends helps us to keep our dignity. Informal groups help in spreading information fast through the GRAPEVINE-the informal network of communication (â€Å"The gossip network†). The grapevine is the plant on which the grape fruit grows. The characteristic of a grapevine is that it grows in all directions. So in an organization, the grapevine is the informal communication network that has grown into every group and corner of the organization. If we want information to be passed on very fast to everybody in the organization, then the grapevine is the best way. Example 1: â€Å"We can put information on a notice board† Example 2: When director makes an announcement for a holiday, information is passed very quickly. So the grapevine is active. And if a formal notice is made, then it takes time for the information to reach everybody because the formal network is very slow.