Article I of the Constitution of America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article I of the Constitution of America - Essay Example In this context, Article-I is the most significant of the provisions of the Constitution of the US that vests the powers on the â€Å"Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives† and specifies the â€Å"unique and limited powers of the Congress† (Ritchie 50). The legislative branch is the most important branch of the government and as such Article-I, which defines their powers, is a very significant part of the US constitution. Article-I is divided into 10 sections, each defining the constitution, powers and functions of the legislative body of the government. The first section stipulates the bicameral division of the Congress into two houses, such as the â€Å"Senate† and â€Å"House of Representatives† to ensure a â€Å"compromise between the power of the state and the power of the people† (50). Such a balancing of power, through the provision of Article-I ensures that power is not misused. Thus, it can be construed that Article-I of the Constitution facilitates a appropriate rights to the people so that any chances of misuse is obviated, which is important in a democratic set up. Section 2 of Article-I defines the term and qualification of the House of Representatives and thus plays a key role in determining that only suitable persons are selected for governance. On the other hand, Section 3 stipulates the terms, qualifications and functions of the members of the Senate. Both these sections of Article-I contain important provisions relating to the basic functions of the legislative branch, which is the most significant of the divisions of the American government. Thus, Article-I is very important. Section 4 of Article-I, prescribes the conditions and procedures of holding the elections Senators and Representatives, which, again, is a highly significant aspect of democratic set up. Section 6 describes the compensation of

The Republic Book 8. According to Plato, what are the weaknesses of a Essay - 1

The Republic Book 8. According to Plato, what are the weaknesses of a democracy What do you think of Plato's argument - Essay Example ality of the individuals in the democracy creates a society with several constitutions and once the democracy is established, there is no requirement to rule or to be ruled. Sophistication is also deemed necessary among the people in the city and tolerance as another chief yet weak characteristic is only thought to be complete if it is working for the benefit of the majority. The way I see it, Plato presents a rather limited perspective of democracy, following a condition that is absolute on its own and occurs incapable of adjustments when in fact there is governing constitution to regulate freedom so as to avoid any tendency of its extreme unruly utilization. Prior to initiating propositions, despite most of his reliable philosophical thoughts, Plato could have considered extending borders for his analysis of the prevailing political system and situation in the democratic society and seek ways for democracy to maintain balance of liberty and power as well as respect for authority of the ruling

Video Case Meredith Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Video Meredith - Case Study Example Another key variable is interest, as this helps define what kind of products they are interested in, as many of the magazines, special interest publications and advertisements are targeted around specific interests. Finally, recent marketing efforts have focused on life events, what factors are changing in the life of the consumer, such as whether they are having a baby or are close to retirement in order to segment the market. Meredith uses survey techniques to get in touch with customers, asking them a wide range of questions including what they do and do not like in the magazines, editorial interests, and where they are in their life. This allows them to build a comprehensive picture of the needs and desires of consumers, their interests and their passion and what they desire in a magazine. The marketing department feels that with the wide range of products now available it is important to have substantial knowledge of the target market. Meredith’s database is large, having 85 million entries, and allows them to reach eight out of ten home owner. As a consequence of this wealth of information, Meredith uses targeted marketing, in particular direct mail to advertise to customers. They use this to send out direct mail offers to consumers on the database that are targeted around this information. Their marketing techniques are very direct, and they prefer to send out a limited number of targeted dir ect advertisements and offers than a large number of broad ones. The direct mail they send is more than simply advertisements, instead the mail contains offers on a large number of products and publications that the consumer is likely to be interested in based on the database information. As a consequence, there is a much higher chance of the consumer responding to the advertising than to non-targeted or mass advertising. Because of their wide database and ability to data mine and analyze the information that is contained within it, Meredith has been

Elements of Reading Essay Example for Free

Elements of Reading Essay Reading is the process of making sense from print; comprehension is the goal of all reading. Comprehension is constructed by the reader, so no one understanding will match another’s, but how readers apply strategies as they process text influences the depth of understanding. There are four elements of reading: word identification, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary. We will begin with word identification, since it is the foundation of the reading process. Word Identification  Several terms are associated with the identification of words: word attack, word analysis, word recognition, decoding. These are often used interchangeably and suggest the act of translating print into speech through the analysis of letter-sound relationships. Each term is connected with what is commonly called â€Å"phonics†Ã¢â‚¬â€a tool to analyze or attack words—which focuses attention on words parts and builds on phonemic awareness. â€Å"Word recognition† suggests a process of immediate word identification i. e. words retrieved from memory. It includes the concept of sight words (or sight vocabulary) and suggests a reader’s ability to recognize words rapidly/automatically by making an association between a particular spelling/pronunciation/meaning by applying an internalized knowledge of letter-sound relationships. Word recognition together with word attack skills leads to word identification. Many children develop knowledge about print before entering school through purely visual cues. These children enter first grade fully ready to analyze words, but others do not. They rely on your explicitly-planned lessons. Ehri’s study (as cited in Vacca, Vacca, Gove, Burkey, Lenhart, McKeon, 2003) claimed that there were developmental phases in word identification, whose characteristics could be readily identified, as children progressed. †¢The pre-alphabetic stage includes visual clues, such as those found on cereal boxes, traffic signs, and restaurant logos (stop sign, Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s). †¢The partial alphabetic stage, emerging during kindergarten and grade 1, includes some knowledge about letter-sound relationships (â€Å"S† looks and sounds like â€Å"Sammy, the snake†). †¢The full alphabetic stage includes enough knowledge about segmenting sounds (/c-l-o-ck/) to unlock the pronunciation of unknown words. †¢The consolidated alphabetic stage includes the ability to analyze multisyllabic words, using onsets and rimes. Fluency Fluency is the ability to read text in a normal speaking voice with normal intonation (the rise and fall of the human voice) and inflection (the pitch, stress and pauses). In the context of literacy, one is â€Å"fluent,† who can read with expression and comprehension. Students who are fluent have automaticity. They do not devote attention to decoding, but focus on the construction of meaning. Problems in fluency are a major contributing factor to students’ lagging achievement. They often arise due to the lack of early contact with literacy or diverse linguistic background. Repetition is key to increasing fluency. A mixture of six methods helps to increase fluency. †¢Predictable text: Children can rely on their intuitive knowledge of language and sense to read with less and less assistance. Ex. Max’s Pet †¢Repeated readings: Children can practice reading aloud alone, with a classmate or parents, and to the principal. †¢Automated reading: Children can listen and read along with a tape, a CD, or a computer program. They can also record themselves, listen, and repeat until fluent. †¢Choral reading: Children need to hear mature readers with expression. The oral reading of poetry with various voice combinations builds on a natural interest in rhythms and highlights the beauty of tonal qualities in spoken English. In choral reading, all fluency levels can participate in unison, take parts, or read refrains without embarrassment. †¢Readers’ Theater: This oral presentation of drama, prose or poetry involves children of all ages reading literature to audiences of children. With a few props, perhaps, but no costumes and no memorized lines, the emphasis is on what the audience hears. †¢Sustained Silent Reading (SSR): Classes and sometimes entire schools establish a daily, fixed time period for silent reading of self-selected material. Teachers also read, and there are no content-related questions asked. Stories (or a copy of them) can be sent home for rereading, after students have become very familiar with them by rereading during class. The goal is to increase the â€Å"pleasure principle† and enable children to become lifelong readers. Comprehension To understand text, a reader actively searches for meaning and responds to text as s/he decodes. Readers learn to monitor their own comprehension through metacognition. The dimensions of active reading comprehension involve specific questioning skills that require readers to â€Å"grapple with text† in order to organize their background knowledge, clarify ideas and support opinion. †¢Question/Answer Strategy †¢Ask questions that elicit questions in return. Such questions stimulate interest/arouse curiosity; they draw students into the story. Ex. Not â€Å"What is this picture about? † but â€Å"What would you like to know about this picture? † †¢Question/Author Strategy †¢Students engage in dialog with the author: What is the author trying to say? What does the author mean? Is x consistent with what the author told us before? †¢Think-Aloud Strategy †¢Teachers model the think-aloud process initially in order to help students learn to make inferences, using clues from the text and background knowledge to make logical guesses about meaning. K-W-L (What do I Know? What do I Want to learn? What I Learned) is one kind of graphic organizer, which is a visual to help students summarize and organize expository information. Building an awareness of underlying story structure enables students to organize information from narratives, so that they can better anticipate and make sense of what they read! †¢Simple structure: †¢Setting (Where? When? ) †¢Characters (Who? ) †¢Plot (Problem for which characters take action) †¢Complex structure: †¢Setting (Maybe more than one) †¢Characters †¢Plot (Two or more episodes with a chain of events; flashbacks, sometimes! ) Organizers are available commercially, but most teachers have a collection they may be happy to share. Vocabulary English has the largest vocabulary in the world: 600,000one million words. Students learn about 88,000 words by ninth grade in order to process text. It’s been estimated that children learn about three-four thousand words per year, which averages 16-22 words per day. Do we teach every single word? No; students acquire vocabulary on their own through usage, not via systematic instruction. What are words? They are labels for concepts, mental images of something. Ex. The word â€Å"picnic† will call to mind different ideas for everyone. We organize concepts into hierarchies by common features or similar criteria in order to make sense of complexity in our environment. Ex. The concept of â€Å"dog† has common characteristics, despite different breeds and behaviors. We have five vocabularies: listening, speaking, writing, reading, and body-language. The listening vocabulary develops first and is the largest until middle school, when the reading vocabulary becomes and ultimately remains the largest vocabulary. Our job as teachers is to promote students’ conceptual understanding of key vocabulary words, because learning words and expanding vocabulary has a strong influence on comprehension. What is the best means to teach vocabulary? Through multiple, varied encounters with words. Six principles to guide vocabulary instruction include featuring key words: †¢that convey major ideas in literature and content areas; †¢in relation to other words to develop shades of meaning; †¢in relation to students’ background knowledge; †¢in pre- and post-reading activities; †¢taught systematically, in depth, and reinforced; †¢that interest you: telling stories about the origin and derivation of words helps to create student interest in words. We organize knowledge into conceptual hierarchies, and vocabulary study is a key factor.

Photocatalytic Activity Investigation

Photocatalytic Activity Investigation The photocatalytic activity of the modified samples was investigated by the determination of the remaining concentration of the nominated pollutant, acetaldehyde, over various time intervals. Figures. 5 and 6 show the photodecomposition activity of different modified TiOà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ nanoparticles under 8w visible light irradiation in the continuous flow reactor with a flow rate of 95 ml/min. According to Figures. 5 and 6, all the modified samples show much higher photocatalytic activity than the pure TiOà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡, confirming that N and Co doping is an effective way of improving the photocatalytic activity. The highest activity was observed for 1%Co-N-TiOà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ sample, and the 50 min irradiation by visible light resulted in 44.2% of acetaldehyde degradation for this sample. The increased visible light absorption and specific surface area are key factors that influenced the photoactivity of the different modified samples under visible light irradiation compared to pure TiO2. The decrease in the particle size and increase in the BET surface area (Table 1) contribute to the improvement of the acetaldehyde degradation. Table 1 shows that the crystallite size of samples decreases from 21.9 to 14.7 nm; this decrease may be beneficial for the photocatalytic activity. Compared with the N-TiO2 sample, Co-N/TiO2 photocatalysts have a larger surface area, which increases the photoactivity rate because of the large amounts of acetaldehyde molecules being adsorbed on the photocatalytic surface and easily reacted by photogenerated oxidizing species. The light absorption characteristics of the modified samples are extended towards the visible light region after N and Co doping, which implies that the formation of photogenerated charge carriers will be increased under visible light irradiation. Also, cobalt doping with a low cobalt content can act as a charge trap to prevent electron-hole recombination and improve the interfacial charge transfer to degrade acetaldehyde. After the optimal doping ratio of cobalt was exceeded (1wt % Co-N-TiO2), reduced photocatalytic activity was observed. This result can be due to the coverage of the surface of photocatalyst with increased cobalt ions (Co2+) which inhibited interfacial charge transfer due to inadequate amount of light energy available for activation of all the photocatalyst particles. Also due to excessive concentration, Co particles acting as recombination centers for photogenerated electrons and holes . Based on the acetaldehyde degradation results in this study, it is therefore evident that photocatalytic activity is strongly dependent on the doping ratio rather than the band gap of the samples and activities of the Co-N-TiO2 co-doped samples are higher than those of N-TiO2 or pure TiO2. **  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fig. 5  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‚   Fig. 6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ** Kinetic study The Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model has been extensively used to describe heterogeneous photocatalysis on titanium dioxide . This model successfully describes the kinetic of Eq. (3), which is the reaction between hydroxyl radical and adsorbed acetaldehyde. When the photocatalytic reaction obeys a Langmuir-Hinshelwood model, the relationship between the rate of reaction r (ÃŽ ¼mol g-1 min-1) and the acetaldehyde concentration Cact. (ÃŽ ¼mol l-1) can be described as follows in Eq. (4): Where k is the rate constant (ÃŽ ¼mol g-1 min-1) and Ka is the adsorption constant (l ÃŽ ¼mol-1). Some assumptions were used in Eq. (4). Only acetaldehyde is adsorbed on the catalyst surface and all intermediates and products desorbed immediately after chemical reaction; therefore, they have not been detected in Eq. (4). The mathematical modelling for the plug photoreactor at unsteady condition with the assumption of isothermal condition, ignored diffusion resistance and constant flow rate, the mass balance equation inside the continuous photoreactor would become as follows in Eq. (5): Where Q is the volumetric flow rate (l min-1), W is the weight of catalyst (g), V is the volume of the reactor (l), and t is the time of experiment (min). Kinetic parameters (k, K) were calculated using the Nelder-Mead method, which was used through computer programming in MATLAB by minimization of sum of squared of relative error, the difference between the calculated and experimental outlet concentration results, as the following objective function: By minimization of Eq. (6), kinetic parameters (k, Ka) are predicted and shown in Table 3. A good agreement among the predicted and experimental data were found that are shown in Fig. 7.

The Age Of Enlightenment In 18th Century History Essay

The Age Of Enlightenment In 18th Century History Essay In the dictionary the Enlightenment is defined as a philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power of human reason and by innovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine. The Enlightenment was enabled by the Scientific Revolution, which had begun as early as 1500. This intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement spread through England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe during the 1700s. I will discuss the Enlightenment and describe the impact it had on societies of the 18th century. Schmidt in his article describe what Enlightenment was by Kants definition, which is a mans tutelage which is the inability to make use of ones understanding without the direction or help from another. He describes how someone by depending on others to make choices for them.  [1]  Its main focus was on the welfare of mankind. The changes that came during the age of Enlightenment would provide not only a rational way of looking at society but freeing people from ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and make the world a safer and better place by providing liberty mentally and physically to those people. The utility of Enlightenment goes on to banish errors, truth drives out falsehood as light drives away darkness.  [2]  Based on thinkers that eagerly seek reason vainly supposed that a perfect society could be constructed by the use of common sense and tolerance. Religion was a main factor that stood in the way of societies becoming enlightenment during the 18th century. Because of religious superstitions and fanaticism it hindered peoples ability to rationalize in events that occur in everyday life. Schmidt points out that the goal of Enlightenment was to free the public from those fears, which robbed people of their happiness that was the goal of human association.  [3]  Support for religious toleration was difficult since the Catholic Church had a big stake on European societies. Clearly religious enlightenment had not become a groundswell from below by the 1780s.  [4]  For many centuries before the enlightenment scientist were persecuted and unjustly punished for coming up with theories and logical arguments about certain things. For example enlighten thinker Galileo  [5]  for challenging the church for his scientific discovery of how the universe works, was persecuted by the church and other establishments for coming up with theories that went against their beliefs. Other thinkers like Voltaire  [6]  devoted a great deal of his time attacking the fundamentals of Christianity including its scriptures and was joined by a band of rebellious thinkers known as the philosophe.  [7]  These thinkers gave path to a new way of thinking and in time brought ideas and changes to their societies. Monarchs themselves became enlighten and no longer held the beliefs of ruling by divine right but to the improvements of their realms and subjects by reasoning. The church was very instrumental in societies and before the age of enlightenment it did everything in their power to combat scholars, humanist, scientist etc. As societies began to become enlighten, a new religious view called Deism  [8]  emerged. Many inventions were created and policies brought forth by monarchs were aimed on trying to separate church and state to create a society of religious freedom. Human virtue and happiness were best achieved by t his newly established freedom from unnecessary restraints imposed by church and also the state. This period was mark by progression. One of the defining characteristics of modernity is the belief that things can change and should change, which the enlightenment has been seen as this era.  [9]  Changes occurred and Enlighten Absolutism emerged. Some Monarchs that were enlightened during the 18th century were Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Joseph the II, Holy Roman Emperor of Austria. Even though their foreign policy didnt change much as each ruler tried to expand their powers and acquire new territories by going to war, they made certain internal changes in their realm that expanded intellectual freedom and liberty. Their concern was now centered on rationalizing and advocating reform. Government was now protecting individual rights, and when the government violated peoples natural rights, it violated the social contract. An example was the French Declaration of the rights of man and the citizen, which showed what kind of freedoms French people w ere entitled to. These improvements made the average persons voice be heard and people started to feel these changes throughout their lives. The focus was now on both faith in nature and belief in progression, because it led to the betterment of human condition. This also resulted in economic expansion because many rulers embrace free trade and markets which improved their lives as well as their subjects. This gave rise to the Bourgeoisie  [10]  , who became prominent during the 18th century who voiced their opinions on the elite, like the nobility. Within a couple of generations saw improvements in education, criminal justice, taxation, religious freedom, and prosperity.  [11]  The common people were now able to feel like their voice was heard in their society. With these laws and freedoms granted people were able to get better jobs, belong to any religion of their choosing, and think for themselves and not be forced to believe or do things that they felt wasnt part of who they were. This age was a step further in progression in the field of science. Nature was starting to be seen differently. Diderot  [12]  gave the concept of nature the qualities of dynamism and individuality, or self-generating temporal process that submitted concepts of both Leibnizian and the Newtonian world systems in his thinking.  [13]  This thinking of appreciation of external nature was a step forward in knowledge of the surroundings of societies and the results of things that occur in nature. This period emphasized the importance of science like biology in society. How everything was connected to each other and discoveries were made that gave people the ability to look at things from another perspective. This is relevant to the enlightenment for the fact that people were viewing the world differently and discoveries and creation of something like the encyclopedia, and the teachings of science only led to the improvement of society, because technology started advancing and inven tions were made to make peoples life much easier. And science and the influence of reason led to new innovations in political thought. Then philosophers started to write topics that relate to government, politics, and rights. Montesquieu presenting the concept of separating of branches and Thomas Hobbes, John Locke who had different theories and ideas about what type of government there should be. Locke was not just a philosopher but a major ideologue.  [14]  Locke played a major role in the social contract theory, which tries to explain the ways in which people form states to maintain social order. These kinds of concepts and views gave people the chance to voice their opinion of how their government should rule their countries. It was a tough period because people had different opinion whether they wanted a limited government and absolute monarchy etc. These concepts would change society dramatically because with different government comes different laws and norms. This would have an impact on everyones lives. This and other factors led to wars like the French revolution.  [15]  People wanted change and th at is exactly what happened. Monarchy like the one in France collapsed. People started organizing and trying to protect their fellow citizens and themselves to keep their inalienable rights. Society in France underwent a massive transformation as feudal, aristocracy, and religious privileges changed because of liberal political groups that started masses on streets. This would mark the end of the enlightenment by historians but it lead to many changes to society in all fronts. Things like romanticism played a role in the ending of Enlightenment because people would reject scientific rationalization of nature and focus more on things of less value like art, music, and literature. Countries like America were started during the 18th century because of enlightenment ideals that colonist had when they fought England for their independence as well. That was a big victory for Enlightenment thinkers because this new nation would represent a lot of what the Enlightenment was based on. In the period of the Enlightenment there were many changes that brought changes to society in many forms. There came many good things from that time and bad. People started to use reason and logic for running their government, changing society for the betterment of its people, and innovations in science which led to many discoveries. These ideas, works, and principles of the Enlightenment would continue to affect Europe and the rest of the Western world for decades and even centuries to come. The thirty years wars  [16]  was also a cause of the enlightenment for its destructive wars that led many writers to criticize the government for regarding ideas of nationalism and warfare. Many things played a role during the Enlightenment but the impact and effect it had echoed around the world.

Niches of the Mind;The Brain and Language :: Intellect Evolution Essays

Niches of the Mind;The Brain and Language As the story goes, creation is characterized by expansion and contraction, disorder and order, random change and selection. It is observed in evolution how random change and disorder have brought about, from the scraps floating in a puddle on early earth, the fantastic diversity and incomprehensible complexity of life. The counterpart to this is death, making space for the new and guiding changes in the old through selection. What can this story tell us about the evolution of humans, and our most distinguishing trait; our ability to tell stories? The human intellect is widely understood to be that which distinguishes us from other animals. Mayr tells us that the rapid brain expansion that took place in Australopithecines and early Homo is correlated with two factors; a change in hominids niche, moving from the trees to bush savanna, and the development of speech. (p 252) This essay attempts to summarize some current explanations of the relationships between language and the brain in human evolution, and relate them to another characteristic of humans correlated with the human intellect- our social complexity. Symbolic communication is by no means limited to humans, or, for that matter, to the most complex organisms. Most fairly social animals have a range of about fifteen to thirty-five physical displays or calls. "As far as we know, cuttlefish, related to squids, have about the same size repertoire size as non-human primates do." (class notes Ling. 101) The evolution of animal communication is thought to have occurred through "ritualization of previously existing behavior" (class notes Ling. 101) In most animals, communicative displays are innate, that is, genetically determined. This is not at all the case in humans; human language is learned. Yet a few of the main things that distinguish human language from other animal communication, namely grammar and syntax, are argued by some linguists to be instinctive. (Pinker) In addition to the lack of syntax, grammar, and a large lexicon, other animals, including higher-order primates, lack a highly developed theory of mind; the ability to conceptualize others' "knowledge, beliefs, intentions and goals" (class notes Ling. 101) For a long time the increase in brain size was seen as being correlated with the increasing complexity of tool technology in Australopithecines and early Homo. This theory is loosing popularity due to the observance of widespread tool use in other primates, and is giving way to theories in which the main thrust is rising social complexity.