Evaluating a website as a source for learning history Essay

Evaluating a website as a source for learning history - Essay Example Should history websites be boring? This is the question that comes to mind after reading Lisa Richardson’s article. In attempt to be humorous, one can lose the traits of neutrality and objectivity that are crucial to academic work. The website chosen for analysis is http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/10/glenn-beck-hilarity.html and it was visited on the 24th of October 2013. It was particularly interesting because it focuses on one of the most controversial but continual aspects of US history; slavery. Not only is this piece deficient in terms of historical evidence, it largely focuses on the opinions of a media personality. Therefore, it is an unsuitable website for learning history because it prioritizes political shaming over historical accuracy. Website analysis Instead of dwelling on historical information first, the author starts with someone’s untruths and then uses some historical events to back them. This article mocks media personality, Glenn Beck, by a sserting that he was trying to make a spin on a historical issue that was known to all. According to the author, Glenn Beck alluded to the fact that liberals in the 19th century were slave supporters. She then adds that this was totally unfounded because conservatives were slave-owners. They had much to lose from the abolition of this practice, so they fought against the liberals in order to have their way. From the spin on this topic, one can deduce that the writer’s agenda is to portray conservatives as irrational people. The target audience also consists of liberals who would find an attack against conservatives quite palatable. This site, which is known as Opinion L.A. belongs to a number of bloggers with liberal leanings. If the writer of the piece was interested in disseminating historical truths, she would have started with facts and then alluded to someone’s rant about the same. Useful information is hard to find and buried in a plethora of attacks, but it stil l exists. As a historian, one would still find something useful in the site. The story highlights the political disagreements that were sparked by debates on slavery. It sheds light on why the institution was able to persist for a relatively long time. Consensus on the matter was simply not forthcoming. At least the website mentions the relationships between the state and its constituents especially when it wanted to restrict certain practices. This website thus highlights the nature of controversies that stemmed from political disagreements. It is possible to know these facts because a civil war arose from the differences. However, one would require a thorough knowledge of the events in American history to discovery these hidden truths. This article is slanted on one side to make it appear as though democrats were the progressive thinkers of their time. A number of persons disagree with this view because they believe that democrats only acquired a progressive incline after the 1960 s when it was necessary to do so. Furthermore, the author is bent on labeling historians either as liberal or conservatives. The following statement illustrates one of the assumptions made by the writer: â€Å"Conservatives, of course, were slave-owners and liberals were not. Conservatives in the 19th century believed in the tyranny of state government and liberals did not.   Everyone with a shred of understanding about American history knows that. We had a whole war over it.† (Richardson, 2009) In the matter of slavery, this dichotomy does not work well because several individuals had liberal views but did not support slavery. Conversely religious activists fought for abolition of slave trade even when most of their views were regarded as conservative. It is for this reasons that one would question the comments of the writer. She seems too intent on painting one side of the political divide as a change agent and the other as a forestaller. It would have been better for the writer to focus on events as they were rather than

Persuasive Essay Essay Example for Free

Persuasive Essay Essay At least 11% of women smoke during pregnancy. Many of these women smoke without knowing the significant negative effects smoking has on their babies before, during, and after the pregnancy. When a woman smokes during pregnancy, she exposes her baby to dangerous chemicals such as tar, carbon monoxide, nicotine, and other poisonous chemicals that travels through the bloodstream and goes directly to the baby. Nicotine restricts the oxygen through the blood vessels throughout the body, including those leading to the umbilical cord. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes. Among these chemicals, there are life-threatening issues that can happen while smoking during a woman’s pregnancy and after the babies are born. Smoking while pregnant has many lasting effects on the mother as well as the child? On average, a smoker who smokes a pack a day will reduce about half a pound of baby weight. Stunning a baby’s growth while in the womb can have negative consequences that last a lifetime. With a baby being underweight at the time of birth could mean the baby’s lungs have not fully developed which would lead to their first few days or weeks of life on a respirator to help the baby breath. However, after the baby has the ability to breathe their still susceptible to asthma. The combined effect of premature delivery and low birth rate has shown ten percent of these babies suffer from Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome is when their lungs have not developed a normal surface tact coating and the air sacs collapse. One of the most serious effects and risks of smoking while pregnant is ectopic pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy is an abnormal pregnancy that occurs outside of the uterus. In all cases the baby will not live if this occurs there are not enough nutrients for a fetus to survive anywhere besides the womb. When the detection of an ectopic pregnancy is confirmed, it is treated through medication and surgery. In both cases it is termination of the baby to prevent possible death of both the baby and mother. Placental abruption is another occurrence that happens from smoking during pregnancy. It is the separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus. The baby is deprived of oxygen and nutrients when a placental abruption is detected. The mother can also experience life-threatening bleeding. A stillbirth is the death of a fetus that occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It is also an occurrence that can happen from smoking during pregnancy. Stillbirth can be very painful emotionally because the baby still has to be delivered. After the pregnancy is over, and the baby has been delivered, the smoking may have still caused damage to the baby. Smoking during a pregnancy can have an effect on the baby’s brain. Children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are likely to have learning disorders, behavioral problems and relatively low IQ’s. Children of smokers also have less muscle mass and fatter than a child of a non- smoker. Cleft is a gap in the body structure that results from incomplete closing of a specific structure during development. Clefts that occur from smoking during pregnancy usually occur orally. Cleft lip is a complete opening at the lip extending into the bottom of the nose. Cleft palate is an opening at the front roof of the mouth extending to the back of the mouth. Smoking during pregnancy can also cause babies to be born prematurely. Premature birth is a serious health problem. Long-lasting disabilities such as breathing problems, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, lung problems, hearing, and vision loss are health problems that can occur from premature birth. Mothers who smoke during and after pregnancy are more likely of losing their babies to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). SIDS is the sudden unexplained death of an infant younger than one year of age. Occurring without warning, SIDS can happen to babies who seem perfectly normal. In conclusion, once a baby is born with damages caused by smoking, it is too late. There is a lifetime of regret on the mother and the suffering of the child can be tremendous. Women should quit smoking before their baby is conceived. The sooner a woman quits smoking, the better her chances are of having a healthier pregnancy for herself and the baby. To quit smoking is a hard task to do, but the awareness of the effects of smoking during a pregnancy should persuade a woman to quit smoking before, during and after the pregnancy.

Applications And Use Of Complex Numbers

Applications And Use Of Complex Numbers A complex number is that number which comprises a real and an imaginary part. It is mainly written in the form a + bi, where a is real numbers, and i is the imaginary unit with b as also the real part of the imaginary portion with the property i2 = à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1. The complex number contains the real number, but extends them by adding it to the extra number and corresponding expands the understanding of addition and multiplication. Complex numbers was first explained by Gerolamo Cardano (Italian mathematician), he called it as fictitious, when he was attempting to find the solution for the cubic equations. The solution for the cubic equation in radical function without any trigonometric form involve in it, it may need some calculations which contains the square roots of some of the digit containing negative numbers, even when the final solution was found it was of real numbers, this situation is known as casus irreducibilis. This reach ultimately to the proposition of algebra, which shows hows that with complex numbers is a explanation to occurs with every polynomial equation of the first degree or higher. Complex numbers thus form an algebraically bolted arena, where any polynomial equation partakes the root. The directions for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of complex numbers were established by Rafael Bombelli. A more abstract formalism for the complex numbers was promoted by the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, who prolonged this idea to the concept of quaternions. Complex numbers are used in a number of fields, including: engineering. When the underlying arena of numbers for a mathematical construct is the field of complex numbers, the name usually redirects that fact. Some of the examples are complex exploration, complex matrix, complex polynomial, and complex Lie algebra. Let R be the set of all real numbers. Then a complex number is of the form a + ib, Where a and b implies in R and, i2 = à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡-1. We signify the set of all complex numbers by C. a is the real part and b the imaginary part, written as a = Re z, b = Im z. i is called the imaginary unit of the complex number. If a = 0, then z = i b is a pure imaginary number. Two complex numbers are equivalent if and only if their real parts are identical and their imaginary parts are also identical. Normal Form of the Complex Number Complex Numbers contain a set of all numbers in the form a + bi where, a is the Real Part and bi is the Imaginary Part. It chances out the all numbers which may be inscribed in this form. For the numbers that are in regular Real form, there is no I part so b=0. For eg., we may write 8 as 8 + 0i. Particular numbers, like 4 + 2i, which have both a real and imaginary part, with a =4 and b = 2. And, like 9i have no Real part and may be written as 0 + 9i. We occasionally call these numbers like 9i, which have no Real part, as decently imaginary. APPLICATION AND USES OF COMPLEX NUMBER: Engineers use complex numbers in studying stresses and strains on rays and in studying resonance occurrences in structures as different as tall buildings and suspension bridges. The complex numbers come up when we see for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix. The eigenvalues are the roots of the assured polynomial equation related with a matrix. The matrices can be quite large, possibly 100000 by 100000, and the related polynomials which is of very high degree. Complex numbers are used in studying the stream of liquids around hindrances, such as the flow around a pipe. Mathematicians practice complex numbers in so many means, but one way is in learning infinite series, like ez = 1+z+z2/2!+z3/3!+z4/4!+, Where z = x+i*y is a complex equation. This is a natural environment to learn the series than on the real stripe. We are interested in a statement that comes from the above series: it is that e(i*pi) = -1. This brief equation tells four of the most important coefficients in mathematics, e, i, pi, and 1. Our calculator can be capable to switch complex numbers. We may be able to form that e(i*t) = cos(t)+i*sin(t), From which the previous end result follows. Just let t = pi. We use complex number in following uses:- IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING The furthermost eg where we use complex numbers as it is occasionally named as from electrical engineering, where imaginary numbers are used to keep track of the amplitude and phase of an electrical oscillation, such as an audio signal, or the electrical voltage and current that power electrical appliances. Complex numbers are used a great deal in electronics. The foremost aim for this is they make the whole topic of analyzing and understanding alternating signals much easier. This seems odd at first, as the concept of using a mix of real and imaginary numbers to explain things in the real world seem crazy! Once you get used to them, however, they do make a lot of things clearer. The problem is to understand what they mean and how to use them in the first place. To help you get a clear picture of how theyre used and what they mean we can look at a mechanical example The above animation shows a rotating wheel. On the wheel there is a blue blob which goes round and round. When viewed flat on we can see that the blob is moving around in a circle at a steady rate. However, if we look at the wheel from the side we get a very different picture. From the side the blob seems to be oscillating up and down. If we plot a graph of the blobs position (viewed from the side) against time we find that it traces out a sine wave shape which oscillates through one cycle each time the wheel completes a rotation. Here, the sine-wave behavior we see when looking from the side hides the underlying behavior which is a continuous rotation. We can now reverse the above argument when considering a.c. (sine wave) oscillations in electronic circuits. Here we can regard the oscillating voltages and currents as side views of something which is actually rotating at a steady rate. We can only see the real part of this, of course, so we have to imagine the changes in the other direction. This leads us to the idea that what the oscillation voltage or current that we see is just the real portion of a complex quantity that also has an imaginary part. At any instant what we see is determined by a phase angle which varies smoothly with time The smooth rotation hidden by our sideways view means that this phase angle varies at a steady rate which we can represent in terms of the signal frequency, f. The complete complex version of the signal has two parts which we can add together provided we remember to label the imaginary part with an i or j to remind us that it is imaginary. Note that, as so often in science and engineering, there are various ways to represent the quantities were talking about here. For example: Engineers use a j to indicate the square root of minus one since they tend to use i as a current. Mathematicians use i for this since they dont know a current from a hole in the ground! Similarly, youll sometimes see the signal written as an exponential of an imaginary number, sometimes as a sum of a cosine and a sine. Sometimes the sign on the imaginary part may be negative. These are all slightly different conventions for representing the same things. (A bit like the way conventional current and the actual el ectron flow go in opposite directions) The choice doesnt matter so long as youre consistent during a specific argument. We can now consider oscillating currents and voltages as being complex values that have a real part we can measure and an imaginary part which we cant. At first it seems pointless to create something we cant see or measure, but it turns out to be useful in a number of ways. SIGNAL ANALYSIS: Complex numbers are used in signal analysis and other fields for a convenient description for periodically varying signals. For given real functions representing actual physical quantities, often in terms of sines and cosines, corresponding complex functions are considered of which the real parts are the original quantities. For a sine wave of a given frequency, the absolute value |z| of the corresponding z is the amplitude and the argument arg (z) the phase. IMAGINARY NUMBER IN REAL LIFE: Since complex numbers are often called imaginary numbers, they often become suspect, seen as mathematicians playthings. This is far from the truth, although not easy to prove. If you were to spend some time in a university library looking through physics, engineering, and chemistry journals or through books in these disciplies, you would find many applications of complex numbers. But this is difficult, since the uses are often buried under a lot of terminology. Complex numbers enter into studies of physical phenomena in unexpected ways. There is, for example, a differential equation with coefficients like a, b, and c in the quadratic formula, which models how electrical circuits or forced spring/damper systems behave. A car equipped with shock absorbers and going over a bump is an example of the latter. The behavior of the differential equations depends upon whether the roots of a certain quadratic are complex or real. If they are complex, then certain behaviors can be expected. These are often just the solutions that one wants. In modeling the flow of a fluid around various obstacles, like around a pipe, complex analysis is very valuable to transforming the problem to a much simpler problem. When economic systems or large structures of beams put together with rivets are analyzed for strength, some very large matrices are used in the modeling. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of these matrices are important in the analysis of such systems. The character of the eigenvalues, whether real or complex, determines the behavior of the system. For example, will the structure resonate under certain loads. In everyday use, industrial and university computers spend a significant portion of their time solving polynomial equations. The roots of such equations are of interest, whether they are real or complex.

Misleading Fitness and Health Commercials :: Fitness and Health Scams

Some people do not know all that much about exercise and dieting. They do not know healthy ways to eat, and they don’t realize that one can’t get the â€Å"Perfect Body† in just a few days. These people are possibly victims of Fitness Myths. â€Å"In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission released a report that shared a review of 300 weight-loss ads promoting 218 different products. They found the rampant use of false or misleading claims† (FTC, 2003) Misleading fitness products can be particularly damaging. If one is mislead into purchasing a product and the product doesn’t work as it was advertised, not only have you wasted your money, but also the product may have physically hurt your body. FTC chairman Timothy Muris talks about the advertising and promotion tactics of the fitness industry â€Å"ads that make claims and promises that are clearly implausible and patently false run in all forms of media, with the notable exception of network TV† (FTC, 2003). Misleading advertisements are common among all forms of media. Although TV commercials may be more powerful in their persuasion, an obvious reason for this is that TV advertisements show more misleading commercials. A technique frequently used in commercials to make them seem credible is that â€Å"many deceptive ads run in highly respected publications and they are perceived to be credible†(FTC, 2003). Therefore if the TV program you are watching, while the commercial is being played, seems credible, consumers tend to believe that the products advertised during the episode are also trustworthy. One such misleading advertisement was for a product called Skinny Pill for Kids. This diet pill was targeting kids ranging from age 6 to 12. The pill was supposed to help kids lose weight and provide essential daily vitamins, minerals and herbs. â€Å"The marketer of the supplement said her company had not done safety tests on children† (CNN, 2002). It turned out that the product being advertised as a â€Å"miracle† to help children loose weight contained herbs that are diuretics. â€Å"Uva ursi, juniper berry, and buchu leaf all cause the body to lose water. A doctors’ guide to drugs and alternative remedies, states the uva ursi should not be given to children under age 12† (CNN, 2002).

Tuberculosis and Student Success Center

Description of the communicable disease (causes, symptoms, mode of transmission, complications, treatment) and the demographic of interest (mortality, morbidity, incidence, and prevalence). Describe the determinants of health and explain how those factors contribute to the development of this disease. Discuss the epidemiologic triangle as it relates to the communicable disease you have selected. Include the host factors, agent factors (presence or absence), and environmental factors. (The textbook describes each element of the epidemiologic triangle).Explain the role of the community health nurse (case finding, reporting, data collecting, data analysis, and follow-up). Identify at least one national agency or organization that addresses the communicable disease chosen and describe how the organization(s) contributes to resolving or reducing the impact of disease. Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB (short for tubercle bacillus), in the past also called Phthisis or Phthisis pulmonalis, is a comm on, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis.[1] Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air. [2] Most infections are asymptomatic and latent, but about one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected.The classic symptoms of active TB infection are a chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss (the latter giving rise to the formerly prevalent term â€Å"consumption†). Infection of other organs causes a wide range of symptoms. Diagnosis of active TB relies on radiology (commonly chest X-rays), as well as microscopic examination and microbiological culture of body fluids. Diagnosis of latent TB relies on the tuberculin skin test (TST) and/or blood tests.Treatment is difficult and requires administration of multiple antibiotics over a long period of time. Social contacts are also screened and treated if necessary. Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) infections. Prevention relies on screening programs and vaccination with the bacillus Calmette–Guerin vaccine. A minimum of three references is required. Refer to â€Å"Communicable Disease Chain. † Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment. You are required to submi t this assignment to Turnitin. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center. Only Word documents can be submitted to Turnitin.

Educational Attainment in China after 1949 Essay

This essay is about the two readings involving research on educational attainment in China, particularly, the effects of state policies and social origins of people in China who are trying to obtain their education, on particular periods. We will begin by discussing the first research paper by Deng and Treiman. The Treiman paper discussed its intention to gather and analyze data to answer the three hypotheses, namely: 1) Effect on social origin in China as education expands, during the Cultural Revolution; 2) Considerable effect of educational attainment among the bureaucrats of China during the Cultural Revolution; and 3) Considerable effect of educational attainment to men of elitist background as compared to men of military or cadre background, during the Cultural Revolution (Treiman, 413) . The Treiman paper gathered and analyzed its data from a particular period of China’s census returns. The conclusion for the three hypotheses was in the affirmative. During Cultural Revolution, state policies was implemented to foster educational attainment among the youth of working class or peasant background, and has discriminated the youth of elitist background, thus proving the first theory true (Treiman, 424) . It should also follow the second theory as true as the data showed a decline of educational attainment among the elitist, and an increase of educational attainment among the peasants (Treiman, 424) . Incidentally, the data also showed that even the decline affects both elitist and cadres or with military background, much impact was felt by the elitist rather than the cadre, thus proving the third theory true (Treiman, 425) . In the second research, Zhou, Moen and Tuma measured the effects of educational attainment based on social origin on a more stretched period as compared to the Treiman paper. The Tuma paper explored four historical periods: The Great Leap Forward, Destratification Policies, Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Era. The Tuma paper further made use of interviewing respondents on particular cities for its data and to prove their hypothesis that socio-economic status was not a factor in attaining education, rather, political status dictated educational attainment during those four periods (Tuma, 201) . The results of the data showed the same as that of the results discussed with the Treiman paper. However, it does not particularly established its theory as true since the data results were varied, having educational attainment effects on all three classes in all historical periods (Tuma, 217) . The two papers indeed came with the same data results, that there are effects on educational attainment based on social origins. The papers differ in such ways as using specific topics. The Treiman paper was clear in its intention to answer its theories because its theories were more specific than the theory used by the Tuma paper. Treiman paper likewise used a specific Era, while the Tuma paper explored four periods, which could be quite confusing. Further, aside from using social origin as basis of the research, the Tuma paper dwelled on other basis such as gender inequality and geographical location, thus creating more confusion.