March 21st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Understanding the scientific method and how to follow it is critical to building a good reputation in the technical community. In regards to science fairs, as a student progresses in grade levels the judges are going to demand more and more focus on using the scientific method.
Here is my seven step description of the scientific method.
1. Define the question 2. Gather information and resources 3. Form hypothesis 4. Perform experiment and collect data 5. Analyze data 6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypotheses 7. Publish results
In science fair competitions, if you can show that you are following the scientific method, you are well on your way to impressing the judges.
Basically, start out by defining your question and topic. After that, form a hypothesis and perform your experiments. Step 6 is where you use that data to make any new hypotheses or theories about your science topic. If you want, you can take that new hypothesis you just developed and start again from step 3, then move your way back to 6. Follow this cycle as much as you want. The more focused your information and experiments the better.
Would you like an example to clarify how to use the scientific method?
Imagine you are doing your project on “Hot water” and we are going to follow the scientific method steps.
1. Define your question.
How about something silly, like “Will boiling water burn a person’s hand?”
2. Find lots of information about hot water and learn everything you can about it.
3. Now form a hypothesis based on your research. Our hypothesis is, “A person will not suffer any burns due to contact with boiling water.” Hopefully you are smart enough to know this isn’t true, but let’s pretend we aren’t just for the sake of the example.
4. Now we do perform our experiements. In real life we know we will burn ourselves with boiling water, and we should never touch it! But, suppose the experimenter has no idea. They run tests to see if contact with boiling water burns a person. BAD IDEA!
5. Now look at your data. Probably everyone in the experiments burned their skin during the tests. Looks like boiling water does cause burns! DUH!
6. Interpret the data. Hmm…our hypothesis was completely wrong. Our experiments showed that boiling water can cause burns.
7. Publish your results. I certainly hope you never make a project just like this, but here’s your chance to show the world what happens when you touch boiling water!
Keep in mind, don’t change your hypothesis because your final data did not agree with it. You don’t get more credit for having a correct hypothesis. You get credit for following the scientific method and coming to a correct conclusion based on your data.
Don’t forget to include possible reasons for experimental error.
If you follow these steps your project or experiment will make sense to anyone who views it and you have a good chance of succeeding!
Earn a respected degree from an accredited university, and take advantage of the convenience and flexibility of an online program: Learn more today! True Any four year college or university that is accredited to grant an online bachelors degree may do so. There is also some criticism about the ability to regulate an accredited online university, and fears about cheating to obtain degrees without earning them. It is a common mistake to search for “online accredited degree programs” when seeking an accredited university. Earning an accredited Tsinghua University graduate degree through their online MBA degrees will contribute to your success and give your career a boost. Earn your degree from an accredited online university. engineering online universities online degrees from accredited universities online college universities bilkent university online academic .
You can earn a recognized online degree from an accredited online college without having to relocate. As long as the online college degrees are from an accredited organization there is no depreciation in their value. Get your accredited online college degrees. To earn a masters accredited degree online, you must first possess a bachelors degree from a regular or online college. Acceptance of online college degrees from all accredited institutions is definitely on the rise.
Join thousands of students who attend class online and earn your accredited degree through Tsinghua University’s online mba degrees. Earning an accredited Tsinghua University graduate degree through their online MBA degrees will contribute to your success and give your career a boost. (chapter 11) How to earn your state approved Law degrees online! How to be get into an accredited online MBA program without your undergraduate. The webMBA and webMPA tracks lead to fully accredited online graduate degrees. Choose an accredited online degree to the left or below and be on your way to the future of your dreams! Choose from a broad range of online accredited degrees including master’s, bachelor’s and associate’s programs.
The cost to complete an online masters degree program at an accredited online school can range anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. The cost of online accredited degrees is comparable to ordinary degrees. Today, you can find online accredited degrees for almost any career field. There is also some criticism about the ability to regulate an accredited online university, and fears about cheating to obtain degrees without earning them. It is a common mistake to search for “online accredited degree programs” when seeking an accredited university. Discover all of the accredited degrees available to you online and request additional complimentary information from each school on their education programs. An online accredited degree has a lot of benefits for the student who has a full-time job or family to take care of. Another benefit to obtaining an online accredited degree is the time it will take to obtain the degree. This is because many online accredited degrees do require set schedules.
Many online accredited degrees can be earned without ever stepping into the classroom. When searching for online accredited degrees you do need to ensure that the institution is indeed accredited. The respected website, which acts as a clearinghouse for accredited online degree programs, based its ranking on their biennial survey of distance learning programs. engineering online universities online degrees from accredited universities online college universities bilkent university online academic . Drexel%u2019s online programs are accredited and follow the same, high academic standards as Drexel on-campus programs leading to the same, quality degrees. Find links to accredited online colleges and universities and request direct information about exceptional degree programs. We feature over 8,000 online degrees and accredited online programs.
Have fun exploring, and good luck with your accredited degree online! This online degree will be an accredited SUNY degree exactly like any degree you would get on campus. Today they operate the only clearinghouse in the USA dedicated exclusively to showcasing accredited online degrees. As long as the online college degrees are from an accredited organization there is no depreciation in their value. bachelors degree online accredited online master degree in public adminstration accounting degree online online counseling degree online doctoral degree . Earn a respected degree from an accredited university, and take advantage of the convenience and flexibility of an online program: Learn more today! By choosing an accredited online degree program as opposed to a regular degree program, you are choosing a degree of a higher standard. When contemplating completing any type of degree over the Internet it is best to do so with an accredited online degree provider.
You can earn an online associate, bachelor, or masters degree through these accredited schools. Acceptance of online college degrees from all accredited institutions is definitely on the rise. In fact, where a difference was identified, it generally favored the students obtaining online degrees through online accredited colleges and universities! Consumers can explore their options by downloading GetEducated.com’s 2006 free guidebook to accredited online business and management degrees. Please explore the many accredited online nursing degree opportunities featured below and request free no obligation information from any that interest you. To earn a bachelors accredited online degree, you need to have at least a high school diploma or G.E.D.
.accredited-university-online.com/accredited-online-degree/
I. The Six Arguments against SETI
The various projects that comprise the 45-years old Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) raise two important issues:
(1) do Aliens exist and
(2) can we communicate with them.
If they do and we can, how come we never encountered an extraterrestrial, let alone spoken to or corresponded with one?
There are six basic explanations to this apparent conundrum and they are not mutually exclusive:
(1) That Aliens do not exist;
(2) That the technology they use is far too advanced to be detected by us and, the flip side of this hypothesis, that the technology we us is insufficiently advanced to be noticed by them;
(3) That we are looking for extraterrestrials at the wrong places;
(4) That the Aliens are life forms so different to us that we fail to recognize them as sentient beings or to communicate with them;
(5) That Aliens are trying to communicate with us but constantly fail due to a variety of hindrances, some structural and some circumstantial;
(6) That they are avoiding us because of our misconduct (example: the alleged destruction of the environment) or because of our traits (for instance, our innate belligerence) or because of ethical considerations.
Argument Number 1: Aliens do not exist (the Fermi Principle)
The assumption that life has arisen only on Earth is both counterintuitive and unlikely. Rather, it is highly probable that life is an extensive parameter of the Universe. In other words, that it is as pervasive and ubiquitous as are other generative phenomena, such as star formation.
This does not mean that extraterrestrial life and life on Earth are necessarily similar. Environmental determinism and the panspermia hypothesis are far from proven. There is no guarantee that we are not unique, as per the Rare Earth hypothesis. But the likelihood of finding life in one form or another elsewhere and everywhere in the Universe is high.
The widely-accepted mediocrity principle (Earth is a typical planet) and its reification, the controversial Drake (or Sagan) Equation usually predicts the existence of thousands of Alien civilizations - though only a vanishingly small fraction of these are likely to communicate with us.
But, if this is true, to quote Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi: “where are they?”. Fermi postulated that ubiquitous technologically advanced civilizations should be detectable - yet they are not! (The Fermi Paradox).
This paucity of observational evidence may be owing to the fact that our galaxy is old. In ten billion years of its existence, the majority of Alien races are likely to have simply died out or been extinguished by various cataclysmic events. Or maybe older and presumably wiser races are not as bent as we are on acquiring colonies. Remote exploration may have supplanted material probes and physical visits to wild locales such as Earth.
Aliens exist on our very planet. The minds of newborn babies and of animals are as inaccessible to us as would be the minds of little green men and antenna-wielding adductors. Moreover, as we demonstrated in the previous chapter, even adult human beings from the same cultural background are as aliens to one another. Language is an inadequate and blunt instrument when it comes to communicating our inner worlds.
Argument Number 2: Their technology is too advanced
If Aliens really want to communicate with us, why would they use technologies that are incompatible with our level of technological progress? When we discover primitive tribes in the Amazon, do we communicate with them via e-mail or video conferencing - or do we strive to learn their language and modes of communication and emulate them to the best of our ability?
Of course there is always the possibility that we are as far removed from Alien species as ants are from us. We do not attempt to interface with insects. If the gap between us and Alien races in the galaxy is too wide, they are unlikely to want to communicate with us at all.
Argument Number 3: We are looking in all the wrong places
If life is, indeed, a defining feature (an extensive property) of our Universe, it should be anisotropically, symmetrically, and equally distributed throughout the vast expanse of space. In other words, never mind where we turn our scientific instruments, we should be able to detect life or traces of life.
Still, technological and budgetary constraints have served to dramatically narrow the scope of the search for intelligent transmissions. Vast swathes of the sky have been omitted from the research agenda as have been many spectrum frequencies. SETI scientists assume that Alien species are as concerned with efficiency as we are and, therefore, unlikely to use certain wasteful methods and frequencies to communicate with us. This assumption of interstellar scarcity is, of course, dubious.
Argument Number 4: Aliens are too alien to be recognized
Carbon-based life forms may be an aberration or the rule, no one knows. The diversionist and convergionist schools of evolution are equally speculative as are the basic assumptions of both astrobiology and xenobiology. The rest of the universe may be populated with silicon, or nitrogen-phosphorus based races or with information-waves or contain numerous, non-interacting “shadow biospheres”.
Recent discoveries of extremophile unicellular organisms lend credence to the belief that life can exist almost under any circumstances and in all conditions and that the range of planetary habitability is much larger than thought.
But whatever their chemical composition, most Alien species are likely to be sentient and intelligent. Intelligence is bound to be the great equalizer and the Universal Translator in our Universe. We may fail to recognize certain extragalactic races as life-forms but we are unlikely to mistake their intelligence for a naturally occurring phenomenon. We are equipped to know other sentient intelligent species regardless of how advanced and different they are - and they are equally fitted to acknowledge us as such.
Argument Number 5: We are failing to communicate with Aliens
The hidden assumption underlying CETI/METI (Communication with ETI/Messaging to ETI) is that Aliens, like humans, are inclined to communicate. This may be untrue. The propensity for interpersonal communication (let alone the inter-species variety) may not be universal. Additionally, Aliens may not possess the same sense organs that we do (eyes) and may not be acquainted with our mathematics and geometry. Reality can be successfully described and captured by alternative mathematical systems and geometries.
Additionally, we often confuse complexity or orderliness with artificiality. As the example of quasars teaches us, not all regular or constant or strong or complex signals are artificial. Even the very use of language may be a uniquely human phenomenon - though most xenolinguists contest such exclusivity.
Moreover, as Wittgenstein observed, language is an essentially private affair: if a lion were to suddenly speak, we would not have understood it. Modern verificationist and referentialist linguistic theories seek to isolate the universals of language, so as to render all languages capable of translation - but they are still a long way off. Clarke’s Third Law says that Alien civilizations well in advance of humanity may be deploying investigative methods and communicating in dialects undetectable even in principle by humans.
Argument Number 6: They are avoiding us
Advanced Alien civilizations may have found ways to circumvent the upper limit of the speed of light (for instance, by using wormholes). If they have and if UFO sightings are mere hoaxes and bunk (as is widely believed by most scientists), then we are back to Fermi’s “where are they”.
One possible answer is they are avoiding us because of our misconduct (example: the alleged destruction of the environment) or because of our traits (for instance, our innate belligerence). Or maybe the Earth is a galactic wildlife reserve or a zoo or a laboratory (the Zoo hypothesis) and the Aliens do not wish to contaminate us or subvert our natural development. This falsely assumes that all Alien civilizations operate in unison and under a single code (the Uniformity of Motive fallacy).
But how would they know to avoid contact with us? How would they know of our misdeeds and bad character?
Our earliest radio signals have traversed no more than 130 light years omnidirectionally. Out television emissions are even closer to home. What other source of information could Aliens have except our own self-incriminating transmissions? None. In other words, it is extremely unlikely that our reputation precedes us. Luckily for us, we are virtual unknowns.
As early as 1960, the implications of an encounter with an ETI were clear:
“Evidences of its existence might also be found in artifacts left on the moon or other planets. The consequences for attitudes and values are unpredictable, but would vary profoundly in different cultures and between groups within complex societies; a crucial factor would be the nature of the communication between us and the other beings. Whether or not earth would be inspired to an all-out space effort by such a discovery is moot: societies sure of their own place in the universe have disintegrated when confronted by a superior society, and others have survived even though changed. Clearly, the better we can come to understand the factors involved in responding to such crises the better prepared we may be.”
(Brookins Institute - Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs, 1960)
Perhaps we should not be looking forward to the First Encounter. It may also be our last.
(contnued)
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made an investment of $21 million in Chicago Schools to strengthen the students’ preparation for college. The gift funds the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative, which will provide for major improvements in high school curriculum and instruction to ensure the students are prepared to succeed in college and career.
Under this initiative, the coursework structure and teaching methods of 50 high schools will be transformed. The goal is to give all students access to a high quality education, while keeping them motivated throughout their high school years. Courses will be offered to capture student interest, while providing them with the knowledge needed to graduate and go on to college or another form of post-high school education. The initiative also will provide teachers who are well prepared and able to inspire these young people with a love of learning and desire to excel.
Like many other large urban districts, traditional high schools in the Chicago schools struggle to provide challenging and relevant coursework with the personalized instruction necessary for all students. Currently in the Chicago schools, only 47 percent of graduates go on to college, while 46 percent of 9th graders dropout before graduation. Many of those who continue on to college find they need remedial classes to cover content they should have mastered in high school.
The Gates Foundation chose Chicago schools to be one of the first big cities to meet this challenge for today’s youth. The Chicago schools were eager to partner in this endeavor.
Initially, Chicago schools will implement the transformation plan with 14 high schools, starting with the 9th grade. The redesign initiative then expands to other grades and to 36 additional high schools over the next three years. The initial 14 schools are:
• Bowen Environmental Studies Team (BEST)
• Carver Military Academy
• Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville
• Clark Academic Prep High School
• Crane High School
• Dunbar Vocational High School
• Dyett High School
• Fenger Academy High School
• John Hope College Preparatory High School
• Kenwood Academy
• Wendell Phillips High School
• School of the Arts, South Shore Campus
• Mose Vines Preparatory Academy at Orr Campus
• George Washington High School
The goals of the broad redesign initiative are to improve classroom instruction, provide more options and opportunities for students and their parents, and to make Chicago schools performance more accountable to parents and the community. The five most significant challenges to be addressed by the Chicago schools are strengthening the curriculum, increasing rigor and relevance of coursework, adding depth to course content, improving professional development, and providing better school-based support.
The curriculum areas of focus are English, mathematics and science with teachers providing more instructional support in these subjects. A new school accountability tool for parents is the scorecard. The card tracks a school’s performance in areas, such as graduation rate, school climate, teacher information, and student achievement. One area of improvement of benefit to teachers, students and parents, alike, is the recruitment of and professional support for high quality principals for the Chicago schools.
The initiative is one of the most thoughtful and comprehensive approaches to high school reform in the nation with its aim of raising expectations and preparing every student for success after high school.
The initiative gives Chicago schools the potential to significantly impact the quality of education students receive in high school and put them on the right track to succeed after graduation.
Now there’s few words that I like more than consortium and portal; and that is just one of the exciting reasons why I’m getting all sorts of worked up for my university online degree. Are you thinking that I could engage in other activities that had some semblance of a connection with the words consortium and portal? I agree. But, I also want to get started on my career and don’t have the time to go to classes full time, because of my job.
The problem was that I have always been a little apprehensive of the programs that offered university online degrees. This is where my two favorite words come in. I can actually get my degree, online, by taking classes from major universities. Not simple institutions.
For example, If I used the Canadian Virtual University, or CVU, I have the option of taking classes from 13 established universities across Canada. There are several of these types of organizations, such as the Global University Alliance. This is a consortium of nine different major universities from the U.S., Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and the Netherlands. As you have probably gathered by now the Global University Alliance or CVU themselves have no classes to offer, but simply act as a portal for the major universities. This way your getting the benefits of a university online degree (classes at your own pace and convenience, yet still offering personalized attention), but also having the satisfaction that you’re not sacrificing a quality education.
Narcissists invariably react with narcissistic rage to narcissistic injury.
These two terms bear clarification:
Narcissistic Injury
Any threat (real or imagined) to the narcissist’s grandiose and fantastic self-perception (False Self) as perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, and entitled to special treatment and recognition, regardless of his actual accomplishments (or lack thereof).
The narcissist actively solicits Narcissistic Supply &ndash adulation, compliments, admiration, subservience, attention, being feared &ndash from others in order to sustain his fragile and dysfunctional Ego. Thus, he constantly courts possible rejection, criticism, disagreement, and even mockery.
The narcissist is, therefore, dependent on other people. He is aware of the risks associated with such all-pervasive and essential dependence. He resents his weakness and dreads possible disruptions in the flow of his drug &ndash Narcissistic Supply. He is caught between the rock of his habit and the hard place of his frustration. No wonder he is prone to raging, lashing and acting out, and to pathological, all-consuming envy (all expressions of pent-up aggression).
The narcissist is constantly on the lookout for slights. He is hypervigilant. He perceives every disagreement as criticism and every critical remark as complete and humiliating rejection &ndash nothing short of a threat. Gradually, his mind turns into a chaotic battlefield of paranoia and ideas of reference.
Most narcissists react defensively. They become conspicuously indignant, aggressive, and cold. They detach emotionally for fear of yet another (narcissistic) injury. They devalue the person who made the disparaging remark, the critical comment, the unflattering observation, the innocuous joke at the narcissist’s expense.
By holding the critic in contempt, by diminishing the stature of the discordant conversant &ndash the narcissist minimises the impact of the disagreement or criticism on himself. This is a defence mechanism known as cognitive dissonance.
Narcissistic Rage
Narcissists can be imperturbable, resilient to stress, and sangfroid. Narcissistic rage is not a reaction to stress &ndash it is a reaction to a perceived slight, insult, criticism, or disagreement (in other words, to narcissistic injury). It is intense and disproportional to the “offence”.
Raging narcissists usually perceive their reaction to have been triggered by an intentional provocation with a hostile purpose. Their targets, on the other hand, invariably regard raging narcissists as incoherent, unjust, and arbitrary.
Narcissistic rage should not be confused with anger, though they have many things in common.
It is not clear whether action diminishes anger or anger is used up in action &ndash but anger in healthy persons is diminished through action and expression. It is an aversive, unpleasant emotion. It is intended to generate action in order to reduce frustration. Anger is coupled with physiological arousal.
Another enigma is:
Do we become angry because we say that we are angry, thus identifying the anger and capturing it &ndash or do we say that we are angry because we are angry to begin with?
Anger is provoked by adverse treatment, deliberately or unintentionally inflicted. Such treatment must violate either prevailing conventions regarding social interactions or some otherwise a deeply ingrained sense of what is fair and what is just. The judgement of fairness or justice is a cognitive function impaired in the narcissist.
Anger is induced by numerous factors. It is almost a universal reaction. Any threat to one’s welfare (physical, emotional, social, financial, or mental) is met with anger. So are threats to one’s affiliates, nearest, dearest, nation, favourite football club, pet and so on. The territory of anger includes not only the angry person himself, but also his real and perceived environment and social milieu.
Threats are not the only situations to incite anger. Anger is also the reaction to injustice (perceived or real), to disagreements, and to inconvenience (discomfort) caused by dysfunction.
Still, all manner of angry people &ndash narcissists or not &ndash suffer from a cognitive deficit and are worried and anxious. They are unable to conceptualise, to design effective strategies, and to execute them. They dedicate all their attention to the here and now and ignore the future consequences of their actions. Recent events are judged more relevant and weighted more heavily than any earlier ones. Anger impairs cognition, including the proper perception of time and space.
In all people, narcissists and normal, anger is associated with a suspension of empathy. Irritated people cannot empathise. Actually, “counter-empathy” develops in a state of aggravated anger. The faculties of judgement and risk evaluation are also altered by anger. Later provocative acts are judged to be more serious than earlier ones &ndash just by “virtue” of their chronological position.
Yet, normal anger results in taking some action regarding the source of frustration (or, at the very least, the planning or contemplation of such action). In contrast, pathological rage is mostly directed at oneself, displaced, or even lacks a target altogether.
Narcissists often vent their anger at “insignificant” people. They yell at a waitress, berate a taxi driver, or publicly chide an underling. Alternatively, they sulk, feel anhedonic or pathologically bored, drink, or do drugs &ndash all forms of self-directed aggression.
From time to time, no longer able to pretend and to suppress their rage, they have it out with the real source of their anger. Then they lose all vestiges of self-control and rave like lunatics. They shout incoherently, make absurd accusations, distort facts, and air long-suppressed grievances, allegations and suspicions.
These episodes are followed by periods of saccharine sentimentality and excessive flattering and submissiveness towards the victim of the latest rage attack. Driven by the mortal fear of being abandoned or ignored, the narcissist repulsively debases and demeans himself.
Most narcissists are prone to be angry. Their anger is always sudden, raging, frightening and without an apparent provocation by an outside agent. It would seem that narcissists are in a CONSTANT state of rage, which is effectively controlled most of the time. It manifests itself only when the narcissist’s defences are down, incapacitated, or adversely affected by circumstances, inner or external.
Pathological anger is neither coherent, not externally induced. It emanates from the inside and it is diffuse, directed at the “world” and at “injustice” in general. The narcissist is capable of identifying the IMMEDIATE cause of his fury. Still, upon closer scrutiny, the cause is likely to be found lacking and the anger excessive, disproportionate, and incoherent.
It might be more accurate to say that the narcissist is expressing (and experiencing) TWO layers of anger, simultaneously and always. The first layer, of superficial ire, is indeed directed at an identified target, the alleged cause of the eruption. The second layer, however, incorporates the narcissist’s self-aimed wrath.
Narcissistic rage has two forms:
I. Explosive &ndash The narcissist flares up, attacks everyone in his immediate vicinity, causes damage to objects or people, and is verbally and psychologically abusive.
II. Pernicious or Passive-Aggressive (P/A) &ndash The narcissist sulks, gives the silent treatment, and is plotting how to punish the transgressor and put her in her proper place. These narcissists are vindictive and often become stalkers. They harass and haunt the objects of their frustration. They sabotage and damage the work and possessions of people whom they regard to be the sources of their mounting wrath.
Thought Experiment Illustrating Microcosmic Research
(The physicist with a Hangover)
I
Assume that a certain physicist-experimenter has the task of determining the coordinates of a certain micro-particle on the X-axis at a determined instant, T1 with an arbitrary accuracy. Can this be accomplished?
Generally speaking, in the act of measuring in the microcosm, there are determined limitations expressed by Heisenberg’s uncertainty, or indeterminacy principle. These limitations touch some combinations of parameters of micro-particles which cannot be simultaneously measured with arbitrary accuracy. But in this case, it is only one act of measuring a simple parameter on only one axis. So even the most rigorous physicist will say, it is possible with no limitations. This job is quite feasible.
So, our experimenter starts the matter. If in the assigned instant T1 he pushes a red button starting the measuring experiment, he will determine the coordinate of micro-particle X1 with arbitrary exactitude. What will it be? It is important to underscore, that there will not be a blurry spatial cloud of probability values, not the abstract mathematical matrix, not transformation of any mysterious function ?, but a concrete point on an abscissa axis. It is a precise measurement result localized in time and along one spatial axis of coordinates.
However, this situation is complicated by fact that the experimenter has begun his work having a strong hangover after yesterday’s major junket. It was difficult for him to hit the red start button, so he missed and did not start the experiment. The act of measuring was not taking place.
There are no problems. It is possible to make the measurement a little later. Assume that our physicist has decided to postpone the act of measuring till the moment of time T2 = T1 + t, where t = 1 minute. As the first act of measuring had not taken place, the situation basically did not change. Limitations have not been set. A new admissible measurement was made with arbitrary accuracy. If all is correct, the experimenter will get the precise coordinate of micro particle X2. It too will be a point on the abscissa axis, but in another place. Some have already guessed that our physicist has missed the red start button again. Again, measurement did not take place. He repeats the experiment and again misses at point X3.
So, we shall interpret the situation. Our experimenter has had a series of opportunities for fulfillment of the act of measuring in instants T1, T2, T3 … T(n) … with an inter-spaced t. In any of these, he can get the precise coordinate of a micro particle on the abscissa axis X1, X2, X3 … X (n) …. Using the fact that in thought experiments, it is possible to allow some amusing things, we shall force a time interval t tending to zero. In total, we shall get an infinite series of points on an axis whose spacing will approach zero. The points actually merge into one curve.
What is this curve? It is the diagram of precise coordinates of a micro particle along an abscissa axis within some time interval. Thus, at any instant within this space, there will be a point on a curve, having a precise coordinate on an abscissa axis. To say it in another way, each point on this curve can be found if the experimenter at the appropriate moment will start the act of measuring. Evidently, rigid determinism here takes place; there are no loop-holes for randomness and probabilities.
But this is not all. We shall assume that our physicist was so clumsy that he has touched the apparatus and has unintentionally changed the shoulder of the measuring instrument from an X-axis to the Y-axis. Now all measurements will be valid for an axis of ordinates. In total, the concrete curve with potentially measurable coordinates of a micro particle will again be obtained. All axes in our case are equal, so as a result of the same mental trick, we can get the precise coordinate curve along the Z-axis.
So, we have determined three curves along three axes. They can be integrated into one spatial curve which can safely be named “trajectory”. If the experimenter performs only one act of measuring on any of the three axes at any moment within the given inter-space, he establishes a point on this curve (and nowhere else!). On the other hand, each point on this spatial curve can be found if we measure in the appropriate instant any of three axes of coordinates that we choose. There is a complete unique correspondence which does not allow for different interpretations.
As a result of this thought experiment, we come to the conclusion that the curve of locomotion of a micro particle really exists, has a precise local in space and time and can be easily found with arbitrary accuracy at any point on any chosen axis. This is quite a deterministic routine.
II
Problems will arise when we set a task to receive, say, precise coordinates of two or more points at once. Here the key limitation characterizing the nature of our relationships with the microcosm already comes into operation. We have termed it “a problem of the second measurement”. Physicists of the twentieth century have described it with the help of the uncertainty, or indeterminacy, principle of Heisenberg.
There are events in the human experience of the macrocosm; there are events in the microcosm. And there is a process of transfer, of presentation of events of a microcosm in our macrocosm. It is important to underscore that the above-mentioned problem does not touch on events in the human macrocosm and microcosm. It touches only the process of translation. Here on border of two worlds, there are key difficulties about which we have already written in the article “Ring Determinism and Probability”.
It can be primitively described how difficult it is to transfer more than one precise (with the arbitrary accuracy) measuring value from a microcosm to a human macrocosm. How will it be with other necessary values? Now that a defect in our habitual deterministic exploratory methodology is detected, that inevitably opens the gates for indefiniteness and randomness. It is necessary in the capacity compensation to resort to the usage of indirect descriptively - computational procedures: blurry spatial clouds of probability values, the abstract templates and artful transformations of mysterious function ?.
It is important to underscore once more, that all these indirect procedures have no direct association to actual events and processes in the microcosm. These are only computing - descriptive procedures simply convenient for physicists, permitting somehow, to tackle a problem of presentation of events in one pattern to another. In the above-stated Thought experiment, it has been demonstrated, that the curve of motion of the micro particle (trajectory) really exists. Also, each point can be found experimentally with arbitrary accuracy. However, it is not possible for us to map this curve on a diagram with arbitrary accuracy (though roughly it can be made in a bubble chamber or an expansion (cloud) chamber).
Positivists (physicists and philosophers) in this situation draw an amusing conclusion;, that the trajectory does not exist in the microcosm, that the micro particle is not a point object precisely localized in space, but represents a probability cloud, blurring space and time, and other nonsense.
Materialists, physicists and philosophers, should answer this ugliness in a strictly scientific way with a differentiated approach: separation of recent descriptively-computational models of reality from physical reality in itself. Eventually, it will allow its removal from modern microcosmic physics, already confused by the domination of the superficial descriptively-computational methodology, and achieve successes in a deeper understanding of the essence of relevant physical processes.
How to burn fat is one of the most often asked questions today, and not just by bodybuilders. So many people are looking to improve their health, and chance of a long life, and there is plenty of information out there. Not all of it is accurate, and here we expose some common myths, as well as show you the real truth about how to burn fat.
Myth 1
If you go on a diet, and eat less, you will burn off more fat. This is a total myth, and the opposite is true. Dieting is definitely not how to burn fat. When your body is deprived of the food it needs, it goes into a sort of panic mode. As the body does not know when it will be fed again, it reacts defensively by storing more fat. This is why dieters often get the exact opposite result from the one they were seeking.
Myth 2
Weight loss patches are useful aids towards burning fat. Not true. They are fundamentally useless, and can even be dangerous. Avoiding these is a crucial part of learning how to burn fat. It is actually possible for a patch user to see some minimal weight loss, but only at the expense of their overall health. The caffeine products overwork the heart, which is why patches can be positively lethal.
Truth 1
Eat properly and exercise. This is the most effective method of how to burn fat. Whereas dieting trains your body to store fat, exercising trains it to use food as fuel. A sensible low fat diet gives the body less food, so fat reserves have to be burnt. An easy concept.
Truth 2
If you grow more muscle, you burn more fat. This is absolutely right, as muscle needs fuel, and the more of it you have, the more fuel will be needed. Adding weight training, or using other forms of resistance, can help enormously with a weight loss program. As you grow your muscles, you will develop a greater demand for calories as fuel, so more of your fat stores will be drawn upon.
There are a lot of extremely common, and even some dangerous, myths about how to burn fat, but this guide will help you avoid the trouble spots.
Silver, a chemical element, exists in the periodic table with the symbol “Ag” and atomic number 47. Silver is a soft white lustrous transition metal. Due to the fact that it has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal, silver is widel used throughout the world, used in used in coins, jewelry, tableware, and photography. Silver occurs in minerals and in free form.
I’m sure if you looked you would have in your household several objects that are made of polished silver. For example: Silver dollars, or Silver cutlery, or photography equipment.
Being just a bit harder than gold, silver is very ductile and malleable. Because of silver’s physical properties as a brilliant white metallic luster it can take a high degree of polish. Copper has replaced silver in several instances due to it’s hire cost, this is especially true for electrical purposes.
Silver has a number of other notable characteristics:
- Silver has the whitest color of any metal
- Silver has the highest thermal conductivity of any metal
- Silver has the lowest contact resistance of any metal
- Silver has the highest optical reflectivity of any metal
Silver is stable in both pure air and water, but does tarnish when it is exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air with sulfur in it. The most common use of silver is as a precious metal and its halide salts. This is especially true of silver nitrate. Silver is also widely used in photography, which has today, become the biggest single industry in which silver is used.
Cincinnati Pilot Schools
Cincinnati Schools are pleased to announce that three area schools have been selected to participate in a nationwide pilot program to improve teacher quality. The three Cincinnati Public Schools chosen include John P. Parker School in Madisonville, South Avondale School in Avondale, and Whittier School in Price Hill. All the schools were chosen based on their federal ranking within the No Child Left Behind Act. The program is intended to show the strong influence that quality instruction has on student achievement as well as developing professional opportunities for teachers to hone their skills and receive rewards for their hard work.
Rationale for the Teacher Advancement Program
The Teacher Advancement Program recognizes that many young and gifted teachers choose to leave the professional early in their careers. The Teacher Advancement Program seeks to change that by offering qualified teachers the career opportunities and recognition that will keep them in the Cincinnati Public School system. The overall aim is to make teaching a highly rewarding career choice that attracts talent to serve the children in Cincinnati Public Schools.
Superintendent Rosa Blackwell expresses her feelings about the Teacher Advancement Program in this way: “I am extremely excited about this pilot program, which is closely aligned with other instructional initiatives in Cincinnati Public Schools. Research shows that quality teaching is the most important factor in raising student achievement, and this program is designed to enhance teaching by directing instructional resources where they are most needed &ndash in the heart of the classroom.”
The Ohio Board of Education as well as the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers both endorse the Teacher Advancement Program. Cincinnati Federation of Teachers president, Sue Taylor, comments, “This is a reform initiative that brings together in a structural way the work that our teachers already are doing. It’s a value &ndash added model that will monitor a student’s progress from the first day of class to the last and will measure the value that the teacher has added. TAP complements the instructional strategies being implemented in our schools, giving teachers a cohesive and aligned structure.”
The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching praises Cincinnati Public Schools for adopting the Teacher Advancement Program. President Lewis C. Solomon explains, “We are very pleased that Cincinnati Public Schools and the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers have taken this bold step to implement the Teacher Advancement Program in three schools. The implementation of TAP is aligned to district goals focusing on improved instruction and the increased achievement for all students.”
Overview of the Teacher Advancement Program
The Teacher Advancement Program seeks to help Cincinnati Public School teachers in four ways. First, it seeks to provide opportunities for applied professional growth, allowing teachers to meet with each other and devise strategies to help all students learn the week’s agenda. Secondly, the program will show teachers the multiple career paths open to them, offering mentors and master lead teachers to help teachers plan and reflect on instruction. Thirdly, the program monitors instructionally focused accountability, where teachers learn how to interpret student data in order to improve instruction. Finally, incentive pay is possible to reward teachers for high student achievement as well as seeking out professional and instructional growth.