Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Essay Example Studies allover the globe cites PTSD as a common mental disorder among veterans of war. Moreover, these studies indicate that this disorder has a lifetime prevalence rate of 7% to 12%. In addition, there have been several studies carried out in vulnerable populations. These vulnerable populations include â€Å"peacekeepers, combat veterans, Aboriginal populations and terrorist attack survivors.† In the studies of all these populations, there were higher rates of the disorder compared to the rest of the population who are not susceptible. Moreover, many of the people with a diagnosis of PTSD have a comorbid diagnosis with an additional lifetime mental condition (Sareen et al, 2007). Despite the prevalence of the disorder being high among at-risk populations, these rates vary according to the circumstances surrounding the susceptibility. For example, studies carried out among Vietnam battle veterans demonstrate higher prevalence of PTSD than is found in noncombat veterans or sim ilar nonveterans. Moreover, other studies indicate that the Posttraumatic stress disorder experienced by most of the U.S. veterans, is at least because of battle-related PTSD (Boscarino, 2006). The development of diagnosis of veterans with combat-related mental disorder dates back in the 1800. During this time, the United States military doctors diagnose soldiers with a condition they called â€Å"exhaustion†. ... Other signs include being bad-tempered or angry, flashbacks, trying not to bear in mind the incidents that occurred, nightmares and feeling emotionally frozen or isolated from others (Paolillo, 2008). Effects of Posttraumatic stress disorder in the Military In addition, PTSD-positive veterans may be more vulnerable to autoimmune diseases. Although there could be inconsistency, investigations have found that individuals who developed PTSD, especially men exposed to war, have shown to have lower plasma concurrent with higher catecholamine levels. In addition, studies have clearly shown that Vietnam veterans with current PTSD had clinically raised leukocyte and T-cell counts. In addition, it is evident that there is a relationship between the PTSD development and alterations in immune system functions (Boscarino, 2006). Because of nighttime PTSD symptoms, the patient is likely to experience suicidal ideation, alcohol and drug abuse, and can precipitate completed suicide. According to cl inical studies, the enhanced postsynaptic adrenergic receptor responsiveness to central nervous system (CNS) leads to the pathophysiology of PTSD, especially at night. This on the other hand, interrupts sleep physiology increasing sleep stage phenomena linked with emergence of trauma nightmares and increasing emergence of primitive alarm-related cognitive processing (Raskind et al, 2007). Implications of Posttraumatic stress disorder in the Military There is rising proof that exposure to sensitively shocking incidents among combat veterans’ leads to increased medical morbidity. In addition, it is evident that there is a direct connection between prolonged exposure to harsh psychological suffering and the commencement of disease. The experience with battle veterans suffering

Filipino Americans In America Essay Example for Free

Filipino Americans In America Essay Filipino Americans have retained their racial and cultural pride and outlook even as they are fast becoming assimilated and adopting American values and cultural norms in the United States as an adopted country. This is a preliminary paper which featured six respondents to a fundamentally open ended but structured questionnaire, intending to elicit their inner sentiments on their nationality as immigrants to the United States. Qualifying criteria: Filipino ancestry, and residency in in the United States for the last 5- 15 years. Must have spent at least 10 to 15 years in the Philippines prior to immigration to the United States. Structure of Questionnaire: This is a fundamentally controlled emic questionnaire, initially, intended to have open-ended response that will give the inner sentiments of the respondents. Six respondents were given a free-wheeling right to answer the following questions (1) how they feel being Filipino Americans (2) the comfort level they have in being called Filipino Americans (3) their attitude to the previous citizenship (4) their general feeling about being Filipino or simply, Americans. (5) the values that differentiate them as a group (6) the beliefs that are common among them (7) their loyalty to their mother country (8) their religious faith/s (9) their attitude towards the US elections and the candidates (10) their celebrations and joys (11) The problems they perceive about their home country (12) The problems they meet in the United States. Emic-Etic Research 3 Interview results: 1. Four of six said they were proud Filipinos â€Å" just living or working in America. † Two said they are Filipino Americans, but that the United States is their country. 2. Four of six said they are not comfortable being referred to as Americans. Two were comfortable, but explain that they have Filipino roots. 3. All six said they were proud of their racial roots. Four of six said they identified with the United States as a friendly second country. 4. All said they would have preferred to stay in the Philippines because of the character of the people there (friendly and hospitable, and â€Å"wonderful†) but they would like to look for higher paying jobs in the US . 5. Five of six said their Catholic religion bind them together, four said they are proud of the heroes of their race, all five of six said they are proud of the racial industriousness and resourcefulness of their fellow Filipinos, and that their friendly nature distinguish them as a group. 6. All six said belief in God is a national faith. Among the values that they share as a group are: being good to foreigners, kindness to neighbors, cleanliness in their bodies, living harmoniously with neighbors. Some of the vices of their race include: gambling, gossip, and crabbing or stealing dreams. 8. Four of the six said they are non-practicing Catholics One was Protestant. One did not answer. 9. Three would vote for Obama , one for McCain. Two are not inclined to join the electoral discussions as irrelevant to them. Four said a McCain victory would be bad for Emic-Etic Research 4 Filipino immigrants. The same number said Obama would be good to immigrants. (Two answered twice) 10. All six said they enjoy Christmas as the most awaited holiday of the year. They enjoy singing publicly or in groups. They also all eagerly await the religious month of the Lenten season. They also enjoy family reunions, attending funeral wakes, group drinking, and teasing beautiful women, passing hours for their siesta, engaging in small talk, talking about their politicians, listening to movie gossip, either Filipino local or Hollywood. 11. The following came out as their negative list of events and/or descriptions in their country of origin: low value of the peso (5 of interviewees ) , high unemployment (4 of respondents) , air and water pollution ( 3 of respondents ) , and corruption in government (2 of 6 respondents). . 12. All six said they have experienced and can easily discern racial bigotry and discrimination in America. ANALYSIS The results of the tally suggest a pattern of national consciousness, an awareness of nationhood and national pride. The limited number of respondents at = six (6) is without any other controlling variables like total population and distribution profile and therefore cannot be a basis for any claim of being representative of the population of Filipino US immigrants. Emic-Etic Research 5 The present practical inquiry however can serve as a basis for future etic questionnaire that will define the answers to the above from a truly representative sampling, and allow an etic database that will provide objective percentages to the initial summary of findings above. As important as what the respondents above are saying are those that they have left unsaid. For example in Item 2, four of six respondents were unwilling to be called Filipino Americans –a fact that clearly displayed national loyalty and preference for their citizenship branding as Filipinos. The two who acknowledged their American citizenship were nevertheless fully cognizant and proud of their Filipino roots. In item 12, the stark figure of all six respondents saying they have experienced and could discern racial bigotry and discrimination in the United States speaks volumes about the social environment they operate, and describes their inner sensitivity to indications of racial discrimination. This is wide field of further inquiry that can further establish objective etic ( or objective, verifiable) information of concrete cases of discrimination that respondents have experienced in the United States.

Dead Poets Society Essay examples -- essays papers

Dead Poets Society Dead Poets Society Hysterical Text One person’s interpretation of a story is always different than another’s. Some of us may see things that are not being shown to us. Dead Poets Society, in author Tania Modleski’s eyes has taken on a manifestation larger than the author herself. This story is not what the author will have you believe, whereas the true story was hidden in the misconception of Modleski’s beliefs. The sexual content, homoerotic tensions, and antiauthoritarian behavior, seemed to come from the author’s wishful thinking as opposed to the reality of the film. In the film a homosexual theme could not be seen. When Mr. Keating came to the school to teach, he did not insist on being called oh captain my captain. That phrase was used only three times in the movie, once by Mr. Keating himself. Oh captain my captain was used by two separate young men as a show of admiration and respect for Mr. Keating. In contrast Modleski sees oh captain my captain as a â€Å"pious deference to male authority†(Modleski â€Å" Dead White Male Heterosexual Poets Society† 315) because the very authority the film pretends to be challenging. One character that just enrolled at the school and was somewhat of a loner, and misfit, and is expected to achieve great success as his brother did before him. He is an example of how some families push one child to be exactly like another i.e. his older brother. When he first comes in contact with Mr. Keating he could not speak openly in front of a crowd. This is evident when he decides not to write a poem that is to be read in front of the class the following day. When Mr. Keating calls upon him to read and he cannot, he uses the technique of spinning him around while spewing... ...land. Mr. Keating probably was dismissed from the school in England for his freethinking ways. He may travel from school to school spreading the Dead poets Society way of free expression. This is illustrated when a boy returns to his room, and finds Mr. Keating’s book of poetry lying on his desk. When Modleski critiqued this movie, with good intentions in mind, somehow she lost her way. There are two sides to every story and these boys and Mr. Keating’s has been told. The illustrations, and aforementioned reasons, show that Dead poets society is a hysterical text. We may never know the real meaning behind this movie, but we all have our interpretations of it. There are no hidden or reclusive meanings being portrayed here, just a boarding school that suppresses freedom of thought, and creativity. This is why Mr. Keating’s character comes through loud and clear.

Plate Tectonics Essay -- essays research papers

The theory of plate tectonics, only recently introduced to the world, transforms the thought that the earth has been the same since its beginning. The theory alters the view of the average person almost in the way that Columbus showed the world was round. The theory of plate tectonics was developed from the theories of continental drift and sea-floor spreading and states that the earth’s surface is divided into several large plates, which are constantly in motion. In 1912, Alfred Wegener, a German scientist, was the first to notice this and develop the theory of plate tectonics. He noticed that the earth’s continents fit together almost like a jigsaw puzzle. This, combined with the fact that similar fossils and rock types are found on different continents separated by large bodies of water, helped him formulate his conjecture. He contended that the plates at one point formed one large continent called Pangea, which allowed like fossils and rock types to become closer together, which broke apart. Despite how well the continents fit together and the facts about the geology, the general public would not accept Wagener’s proposal. This is largely due to religious conflicts and the lack of evidence presented to them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The earth’s surface and the mantle make up the composition of the tectonic plates. This layer, called the lithosphere, rests on top of the asthenosphere, a layer of molten rock. The asthenosphere is constantly moving and flowing due to the extreme pressures...

Optical Computing Essay

Jainam Shah Kalol Institute Of Technology, Kalol, Gujarat, India. jainam_8888@yahoo.co.in Abstract—Optics has been used in computing for a number of years but the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link portions of computers, for communications, or more intrinsically in devices that have some optical application or component (optical pattern recognition, etc). Optical digital computers are still some years away, however a number of devices that can ultimately lead to real optical computers have already been manufactured, including optical logic gates, optical switches, optical interconnections, and optical memory. The most likely near-term optical computer will really be a hybrid composed of traditional architectural design along with some portions that can perform some functional operations in optical mode. Computing applications as a consequence of faster processing speed, as well as better connectivity and higher bandwidth. II. NEED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING The pressing need for optical technology stems from the fact that today’s computers are limited by the time response of electronic circuits. A solid transmission medium limits both the speed and volume of signals, as well as building up heat that damages components. One of the theoretical limits on how fast a computer can function is given by Einstein’s principle that signal cannot propagate faster than speed of light. So to make computers faster, their components must be smaller and there by decrease the distance between them. This has resulted in the development of very large scale integration (VLSI) technology, with smaller device dimensions and greater complexity. The smallest dimensions of VLSI nowadays are about 0.08mm. Despite the incredible progress in the development and refinement of the basic technologies over the past decade, there is growing concern that these technologies may not be capable of solving the computing problems of even the current millennium. The speed of computers was achieved by miniaturizing electronic components to a very small micron-size scale, but they are limited not only by the speed of electrons in matter but also by the increasing density of interconnections necessary to link the electronic gates on microchips. The optical computer comes as a solution of miniaturization problem. Optical data processing can perform several operations in parallel much faster and easier than electrons. This parallelism helps in staggering computational power. For example a calculation that takes a conventional electronic computer more than 11 years to complete could be performed by an optical computer in a single hour. Any way we can realize that in an optical computer, electrons are rep laced by photons, the subatomic bits of electromagnetic radiation that make up light. I. INTRODUCTION With the growth of computing technology the need of high performance computers (HPC) has significantly increased. Optics has been used in computing for a number of years but the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link portions of computers, for communications, or more intrinsically in devices that have some optical application or component (optical pattern recognition etc.) Optical computing was a hot research area in 1980’s.But the work tapered off due to materials limitations that prevented opt chips from getting small enough and cheap enough beyond laboratory curiosities. Now, optical computers are back with advances in self-assembled conducting organic polymers that promise super-tiny of all optical chips. Optical computing technology is, in general, developing in two directions. One approach is to build computers that have the same architecture as present day computers but using optics that is Electro optical hybrids. Another approach is to generate a completely new kind of computer, which can perform all functional operations in optical mode. In recent years, a number of devices that can ultimately lead us to real optical computers have already been manufactured. These include optical logic gates, optical switches, optical interconnections and optical memory. Current trends in optical computing emphasize communications, for example the use of free space optical interconnects as a potential solution to remove ‘Bottlenecks’ experienced in electronic architectures. Optical technology is one of the most promising, and may eventually lead to new III. SOME KEY OPTICAL COMPONENTS FOR COMPUTING The major breakthroughs on optical computing have been centered on the development of micro-optic devices for data input. A. VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) VCSEL (pronounced ‘vixel’) is a semiconductor vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode that emits light in a cylindrical beam vertically from the surface of a fabricated wafer, and offers significant advantages when compared to the edge-emitting lasers currently used in the majority of fiber optic communications devices. The principle involved in the operation of a VCSEL is very similar to those of regular lasers. Fig. 2. Optical Interconnection Of Circuit Boards Using Vcsel And Photodiode VCSEL convert the electrical signal to optical signal when the light beams are passed through a pair of lenses and micromirrors. Micromirrors are used to direct the light beams and this light rays is passed through a polymer waveguide which serves as the path for transmitting data instead of copper wires in electronic computers. Then these optical beams are again passed through a pair of lenses and sent to a photodiode. This photodiode convert the optical signal back to the electrical signal. B. SLM (Spatial Light Modulators) SLM play an important role in several technical areas where the control of light on a pixel-by-pixel basis is a key element, such as optical processing and displays. 1) SLM For Display Purposes Fig. 1. Two semiconductor materials sandwiching an active layer There are two special semiconductor materials sandwiching an active layer where all the action takes place. But rather than reflective ends, in a VCSEL there are several layers of partially reflective mirrors above and below the active layer. Layers of semiconductors with differing compositions create these mirrors, and each mirror reflects a narrow range of wavelengths back in to the cavity in order to cause light emission at just one wavelength. For display purposes the desire is to have as many pixels as possible in as small and cheap a device as possible. For such purposes designing silicon chips for use as spatial light modulators has been effective. The basic idea is to have a set of memory cells laid out on a regular grid. These cells are electrically connected to metal mirrors, such that the voltage on the mirror depends on the value stored in the memory cell. A layer of optically active liquid crystal is sandwiched between this array of mirrors and a piece of glass with a conductive coating. The voltage between individual mirrors and the front electrode affects the optical activity of liquid crystal in that neighborhood. Hence by being able to individually program the memory locations one can set up a pattern of optical activity in the liquid crystal layer. C. Smart Pixel Technology Smart pixel technology is a relatively new approach to integrating electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices in a common framework. The purpose is to leverage the advantages of each individual technology and provide improved performance for specific applications. Here, the electronic circuitry provides complex functionality and programmability while the optoelectronic devices provide high-speed switching and compatibility with existing optical media. Arrays of these smart pixels leverage the parallelism of optics for interconnections as well as computation. A smart pixel device, a light emitting diode under the control of a field effect transistor can now be made entirely out of organic materials on the same substrate for the first time. In general, the benefit of organic over conventional semiconductor electronics is that they should lead to cheaper, lighter, circuitry that can be printed rather than etched. D. WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) Wavelength division multipl exing is a method of sending many different wavelengths down the same optical fiber. Using this technology, modern networks in which individual lasers can transmit at 10 gigabits per second through the same fiber at the same time. which interact with light and modulate its properties. Several of the optical components require efficient-nonlinear materials for their operations. What in fact restrains the widespread use of all optical devices is the in efficiency of currently available nonlinear materials, which require large amount of energy for responding or switching. Organic materials have many features that make them desirable for use in optical devices such as 1) High nonlinearities 2) Flexibility of molecular design 3) Damage resistance to optical radiations Some organic materials belonging to the classes of phthalocyanines and polydiacetylenes are promising for optical thin films and wave guides. These compounds exhibit strong electronic transitions in the visible region and have high chemical and thermal stability up to 400 degree Celsius. Polydiacetylenes are among the most widely investigated class of polymers for nonlinear optical applications. Their subpicosecond time response to laser signals makes them candidates for high-speed optoelectronics and information processing. To make thin polymer film for electro-optic applications, NASA scientists dissolve a monomer (the building block of a polymer) in an organic solvent. This solution is then put into a growth cell with a quartz window, shining a laser through the quartz can cause the polymer to deposit in specific pattern. V. ADVANCES IN PHOTONIC SWITCHES Logic gates are the building blocks of any digital system. An optical logic gate is a switch that controls one light beam by another; it is ON when the device transmits light and it is OFF when it blocks the light. Fig. 3. a. Wave length division multiplexing b. A WDM System WDM can transmit up to 32 wavelengths through a single fiber, but cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the present day communication systems. So nowadays DWDM (Dense wavelength division multiplexing) is used. This can transmit up to 1000 wavelengths through a single fiber. That is by using this we can improve the bandwidth efficiency. IV. ROLE OF NLO IN OPTICAL COMPUTING The role of nonlinear materials in optical computing has become extremely significant. Non-linear materials are those, Fig. 4. Optical AND-logic gate To demonstrate the AND gate in the phthalocyanine film, two focused collinear laser beams are wave guided through a thin film of phthalocyanine. Nanosecond green pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used together with a red continuous wave (cw) He-Ne beam. At the output a narrow band filter was set to block the green beam and allow only the He-Ne beam. Then the transmitted beam was detected on an oscilloscope. It was found that the transmitted He-Ne cw beam was pulsating with a nanosecond duration and in synchronous with the input Nd:YAG nanosecond pulse. This demonstrated the characteristic table of an AND logic gate. A. Optical and Gate In an optical NAND gate the phthalocyanine film is replaced by a hollow fiber filled with polydiacetylene. Nd:YAG green picoseconds laser pulse was sent collinearly with red cw He-Ne laser onto one end of the fiber. At the other end of the fiber a lens was focusing the output on to the narrow slit of a monochromatic with its grating set for the red He-Ne laser. When both He-Ne laser and Nd:YAG laser are present there will be no output at the oscilloscope. If either one or none of the laser beams are present we get the output at the oscilloscope showing NAND function. faster read-out rates. This research is expected to lead to compact, high capacity, rapid-and random-access, and low power and low cost data storage devices necessary for future intelligent spacecraft. The SLMs are used in optical data storage applications. These devices are used to write data into the optical storage medium at high speed. Fig. 6. Optical Disk More conventional approaches to holographic storage use ion doped lithium niobate crystals to store pages of data. For audio recordings ,a 150MBminidisk with a 2.5- in diameter has been developed that uses special compression to shrink a standard CD’s640-MB storage capacity onto the smaller polymer substrate. It is rewritable and uses magnetic field modulation on optical material. The mini disc uses one of the two methods to write information on to an optical disk. With the mini disk a magnetic field placed behind the optical disk is modulated while the intensity of the writing laser is held constant. By switching the polarity of the magnetic field while the laser creates a state of flux in the optical material digital data can be recorded on a single layer. As with all optical storage media a read laser retrieves the data. A. Working The 780nm light emitted from AlGaAs/GaAs laser diodes is collimated by a lens and focused to a diameter of about 1micrometer on the disk. If the re is no pit where the light is incident, it is reflected at the Al mirror of the disk and returns to the lens, the depth of the pit is set at a value such that the difference between the path of the light reflected at a pit and the Fig. 5. Optical NAND-logic gate VI. OPTICAL MEMORY In optical computing two types of memory are discussed. One consists of arrays of one-bit-store elements and other is mass storage, which is implemented by optical disks or by holographic storage systems. This type of memory promises very high capacity and storage density. The primary benefits offered by holographic optical data storage over current storage technologies include significantly higher storage capacities and path of light reflected at a mirror is an integral multiple of halfwavelength consequently, if there is a pit where light is incident, the amount of reflected light decreases tremendously because the reflected lights are almost cancelled by interference. The incident and reflected beams pass through the quarter wave plate and all reflected light is introduced to the photodiode by the beam splitter because of the polarization rotation due to the quarter wave plate. By the photodiode the reflected light, which as a signal whether, a pit is on the disk or not is changed into an electrical signal. VII. APPLICATIONS 1) High speed communications: The rapid growth of internet, expanding at almost 15% per month, demands faster speeds and larger bandwidth than electronic circuits can provide. Terabits speeds are needed to accommodate the growth rate of internet since in optical computers data is transmitted at the speed of light which is of the order of 3.10*8 m/sec hence terabit speeds are attainable. 2) Optical crossbar interconnects are used in asynchronous transfer modes and Shared memory multiprocessor systems. 3) Process satellite data. VIII. MERITS 1) Optical computing is at least 1000 to 100000 times faster than today’s silicon machines. 2) Optical storage will provide an extremely optimized way to store data, with space requirements far lesser than today’s silicon chips. 3) Super fast searches through databases. 4) No short circuits, light beam can cross each other without interfering with each other’s data 5) Light beams can travel in parallel and no limit to number of packets that can travel in the photonic circuits. 6) Optical computer removes the bottleneck in the present day Communication system IX. DRAWBACKS 1) Today’s materials require much high power to work in consumer products, coming up with the right materials may take five years or more. 2) Optical computing using a coherent source is simple to compute and understand, but it has many drawbacks like any imperfections or dust on the optical components will create unwanted interference pattern due to scattering effects. Incoherent processing on the other hand cannot store phase information. X. SOME CURRENT RESEARCH High performance computing has gained momentum in recent years, with efforts to optimize all the resources of electronic computing and researcher brain power in order to increase computing throughput. Optical computing is a topic of current support in many places, with private companies as well as governments in several countries encouraging such research work. A group of researchers from the University of Southern California, jointly with a team from the University of California, los angles, have developed an organic polymer with a switching frequency of 60 GHz. This is three times faster than the current industry standard, lithium niobate crystal based device. Another group at brown university and the IBM, Alma den research center has used ultrafast laser pulses to build ultra fast data storage devices. This group was able to achieve ultra fast switching down to 100 picoseconds. In Japan , NEC has developed a method for interconnecting circuit boards optically using VCSEL arrays .Another researchers at NTT have designed an optical backplane with free-space optical interconnects using tunable beam deflectors and mirrors. The project achieved 1000 interconnections per printed circuit board; with a throughput ranging from 1 to 10 Tb/s. XI. FUTURE TRENDS The Ministry of Information Technology has initiated a photonic development program. Under this program some funded projects are continuing in fiber optic high-speed network systems. Research is going on for developing Fig.7. Use of optical devices in future New laser diodes, photo detectors, and nonlinear material studies for faster switches. Research efforts on an particle thin film or layer studies for display devices are also in progress. At the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, efforts are in progress to generate a white light source from a diode case based fiber amplifier system in order to provide WDM communication channels. XII. CONCLUSION Research in optical computing has opened up new possibilities in several fields related to high performance computing, high-speed communications. To design algorithms that execute applications faster, the specific properties of optics must be considered, such as their ability to exploit massive parallelism, and global interconnections. As optoelectronic and smart pixel devices mature, software development will have a major impact in the future and the ground rules for the computing may have to be rewritten. XIII. REFERENCES [1] [2] See for example: Chemical and Engineering ews, â€Å"Photonic Crystals. Assembled on Chip†, 79(47), 31 (2001). P. Boffi, D. Piccinin, M.C. Ubaldi, (Eds.), Infrared Holography for Optical Communications— echniques,MaterialsandDevices,SpringerTopics in Applied Physics: Vol 86, July 2002. Alain Goulet, Makoto Naruse, and Masatoshi Ishikawa, â€Å"Simple integration technique to realize parallel optical interconnects: implementation of a pluggable two-dimensional optical data link†, Applied Optics 41, 5538 (2002) Tushar Mahapatra, Sanjay Mishra, Oracle Parallel Processing, O’Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, California, USA, 2000. S. J. van Enk, J. McKeever, H. J. Kimble, and J. Ye, â€Å"Cooling of a single atom in an optical trap inside a resonator,† Phys. Rev. A 64, 013407 (2001). A. Dodabalapur, Z. Bao, A. Makhija, J. G. Laquindanum, V. R. Raju, Y. Feng, H. E. Katz, and J. Rogers, â€Å"Organic smart pixels†, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 , 142 (1998). Henning Sirringhaus, Nir Tessler, and Richard H. Friend, â€Å"Integrated Optoelectronic Devices Based on Conjugated Polymers†, Science 280, 1741 (1988).

Comprehensive Review of the Star Math Online Assessment

Comprehensive Review of the Star Math Online Assessment STAR Math is an online assessment program developed by Renaissance Learning for students in grades one through 12. The program assesses 49 sets of math skills in 11 domains for grades one through eight and  44 sets of math skills in 21 domains for grades nine through 12 to determine a student’s overall math achievement. Areas Covered The first- through eighth-grade domains include counting and cardinality, ratios and proportional relationships, operations and algebraic thinking, the number system, geometry, measurement and data, expressions and equations, numbers and operations in base 10, fractions, statistics and probability, and functions. The 21 ninth- through 12th-grade domains are similar but much more intensive and rigorous. There are 558 total grade-specific skills that STAR Math tests. The program is designed to provide teachers with individual student data quickly and accurately. It typically takes a student 15 to 20 minutes to complete an assessment, and reports are available immediately. The test begins with three practice questions designed to ensure that the student knows how to use the system. The test itself consists of 34 math questions varying by grade level across those four domains.   Features If you have Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, or any of the other STAR assessments, you only have to complete the setup one time. Adding students and building classes is quick and easy. You can add a class of 20 students and have them ready to be assessed in about 15 minutes. STAR Math provides teachers with the appropriate library that each student should be enrolled in for the Accelerated Math program. Students who work in the Accelerated Math program should see significant growth in the STAR Math score. Using the Program The STAR Math assessment can be given on any computer or tablet. Students have two choices when answering the multiple-choice style questions. They can use their mouse and click on the correct choice, or they can use the A, B, C, D keys that correlate to the correct answer. Students are not locked into their answer until they click Next or push the Enter key. Each question is on a three-minute timer. When a student has 15 seconds remaining, a small clock will begin to flash at the top of the screen indicating that time is about to expire for that question.   The program includes a screening-and-progress monitor tool that allows teachers to set goals and monitor a student’s progress throughout the year. This feature allows teachers to decide quickly and accurately whether they need to change their approach with a particular student or continue doing what they are doing. STAR Math has an extensive assessment bank that allows students to be tested multiple times without seeing the same question. In addition, the program adapts to the students as they answer questions. If a student is performing well, the questions will increasingly become more difficult. If he is struggling, the questions will become easier. The program will eventually zero in on the student’s correct level. Reports STAR Math provides teachers with several reports designed to assist in targeting which students need intervention and areas where they need assistance, including a: A diagnostic report, which provides information such as the student’s grade equivalent, percentile rank, percentile range, normal curve equivalent, and recommended Accelerated Math library. It also provides tips to maximize that students math growth. In addition, it details where a student is specifically in meeting both enumeration and computational objectives.Growth report, which shows the improvement of a group of students over a specific period of time. This report can cover a few weeks or months to several years.Screening report, which provides teachers with a graph that details whether students are above or below their benchmark as they are assessed throughout the year.Summary report, which provides teachers with whole-group test results for a specific test date or range, which helps to compare multiple students at one time. Relevant Terminology The assessment includes several important terms to know: The scaled score is figured based on the difficulty of the questions as well of the number of questions that were correct. STAR Math uses a scale range of 0 to 1,400. This score can be used to compare students to each other as well as themselves over time. The percentile rank allows students to be compared to other students nationally who are in the same grade. For example, a student who scores in the 54th percentile ranked higher than 53 percent of students in her grade but lower than 45 percent. The grade equivalent represents how a student performs compared to other students nationally. For example, a fourth-grade student who scores a grade equivalent of 7.6 scores as well as a student who is in the seventh grade and sixth month. The normal curve equivalent is a norm-referenced score that is useful for making comparisons between two different standardized tests. Ranges for this scale are from 1 to 99. The recommended Accelerated Math library provides the teacher with the specific grade level that the student should be enrolled in for Accelerated Math. This is specific to the student based on her performance on the STAR Math assessment.

Kanye West Concert Review essays

Kanye West Concert Review essays Kanye Wests recently made the transition from producer to rapper, with the debut of his album College Dropout. With this release came a tour across the continental United States, also making stops in Ontario. The tour, headlined by West, featuring performances by Dilated Peoples and various other artists, kicked off in Virginia and traveled up the east coast, where they appeared at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. Even if you havent heard of Kanye before, you have most likely heard some of his music. Throughout the past few years, he has produced albums for some of the top performers in the game. He has become one of the most sought after producers in the business, working on albums by Jay-Z, Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and even the pop princess herself, Britney Spears. The show at the Palladium, on March 23 of this year, was supposed to start at eight, but didnt go as planned. Tuesdays show fell very short of anything spectacular. All who attended the event expected much more than what was brought to the stage, and agreed, the show was not worth the forty dollars listed as the ticket price. Many of the problems throughout the performance were due to technical difficulties. It seemed as if there hadnt been a sound check before the show at all. Many concert goers expect technical difficulties, with hip-hop shows, but Tuesdays show reached a new low; the negatives far exceeded the positives. The concert kicked off with short-lived performances by locals 7L and Esoteric. These brief, but respectable, sets provided some entertainment to the crowd, who expected much more to proceed. After a thirty minute break between sets, Skillz took the stage, but was instantly booed for his choice to wear a Yankees hat in front of a Massachusetts crowd. Although Skillz performance wasnt terrible, the crowd was growing ...