10 Facts About Corals

10 Facts About Corals If youve ever visited an aquarium or gone snorkeling when on holiday, youre probably familiar with a wide variety of corals. You may even know that corals play a fundamental role in defining the structure of marine reefs, the most complex and diverse ecosystems in our planets oceans. But what many dont realize is that these creatures, which resemble a cross between colorful rocks and various bits of seaweed, are in fact animals. And amazing animals at that. Weve explored ten things we should all know about coral, what makes them animals and what makes them so unique. Corals Belong to the Phylum Cnidaria Other animals that belong to the Phylum Cnidaria include jellyfish, hydrae, and sea anemones. Cnidaria are invertebrates (they do not have a backbone) and all have specialized cells called nematocysts that help them capture prey and defend themselves. Cnidaria exhibit radial symmetry. Corals Belong to the Class Anthozoa (a Subgroup of the Phylum Cnidaria) Members of this group of animals have flower-like structures called polyps. They have a simple body plan in which food passes in and out of a gastrovascular cavity (stomach-like sac) through a single opening. Corals Typically Form Colonies Consisting of Many Individuals Coral colonies grow from a single founder individual that divides repeatedly. A coral colony consists of a base that attaches coral to a reef, an upper surface that is exposed to light and hundreds of polyps. The Term Coral Refers to a Number of Different of Animals These include hard corals, sea fans, sea feathers, sea pens, sea pansies, organ pipe coral, black coral, soft corals, fan corals whip corals. Hard Corals Have a White Skeleton That Is Made of Limestone (Calcium Carbonate) Hard corals are reef builders and are responsible for the creation of the structure of a coral reef. Soft Corals Lack the Stiff Limestone Skeleton That Hard Corals Possess Instead, they have little limestone crystals (referred to as sclerites) embedded in their jelly-like tissues. Many Corals Have Zooxanthellae Within Their Tissues Zooxanthellae are algae that form a symbiotic relationship with the coral by producing organic compounds that the coral polyps use. This food source enables the corals to grow faster than they would without the zooxanthellae. Corals Inhabit a Wide Range of Habitats and Regions Some solitary hard coral species are found in temperate and even polar waters and occur as far as 6000 meters below the surface of the water. Corals Are Rare in the Fossil Record They first appeared in the Cambrian period, 570 million years ago. Reef-building corals appeared during the middle of the Triassic period between 251 and 220 million years ago. Sea Fan Corals Grow at Right Angles to the Current of the Water This enables them to efficiently filter plankton from the passing water.

How to Identify a Shakespeare Comedy

How to Identify a Shakespeare Comedy Shakespeares  comedy plays have stood the test of time. Works such as The Merchant of  Venice. As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing are among the Bards most popular and most often performed plays. However, even though we refer to about a dozen or so of Shakespeares plays as comedies, theyre not comedies in the modern sense of the word. Characters and plots are rarely laugh-out-loud funny, and not everything that occurs in a Shakespearean comedy is happy or light-hearted. Indeed, the comedy of Shakespeare’s time was very different from our modern comedy. The style and key characteristics of a Shakespeare comedy are not as distinct as the other Shakespearean genres and sometimes determining whether one of his plays is a comedy can be a challenge.   Common Features of a Shakespearean Comedy What makes a Shakespeare comedy identifiable if the genre is not distinct from the Shakespeare tragedies and histories? This is an ongoing area of debate, but many believe that the comedies share certain characteristics, as described below: Comedy through language: Shakespeares comedies  are peppered with clever wordplay, metaphors, and insults.Love: The theme of love is prevalent in every Shakespeare comedy. Often, we are presented with sets of lovers who, through the course of the play, overcome the obstacles in their relationship and unite. Of course,​ that measure isnt always foolproof; love is the central theme of Romeo and Juliet but few people would regard that play as a comedy.Complex plots: The plots of Shakespeare comedies have more twists and turns than his tragedies and histories. Although the plots are convoluted, they do follow similar patterns. For example, the climax of the play always occurs in the third act and the final scene has a celebratory feel when the lovers finally declare their feelings for each other.Mistaken identities: The plot of a Shakespearean comedy is often driven by mistaken identity. Sometimes this is an intentional part of a villain’s plot, as in Much Ado About Nothi ng when Don John tricks Claudio into believing that his fiance has been unfaithful through mistaken identity. Characters also play scenes in disguise and it is not uncommon for female characters to disguise themselves as male characters. Shakespeare’s comedies are the most difficult to classify because they overlap in style with other genres. Critics often describe some plays as tragic-comedies because they mix equal measures of tragedy and comedy. For example, Much Ado About Nothing starts as a comedy, but takes on some of the characteristics of a tragedy when Hero is disgraced and fakes her own death. At this point, the play has more in common with Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare’s key tragedies. Shakespearean Plays Generally Classified as Comedy Alls Well That Ends WellAs You Like ItThe Comedy of ErrorsCymbelineLoves Labour’s LostMeasure for MeasureThe Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merchant of VeniceA Midsummer Nights DreamMuch Ado About NothingPericles, Prince of TyreThe Taming of the ShrewTroilus and CressidaTwelfth NightTwo Gentlemen of VeronaThe Two Noble KinsmenThe Winters Tale

Oes the molecular weight of polymers affect the performance of polymer Research Paper

Oes the molecular weight of polymers affect the performance of polymer (organic) solar cells - Research Paper Example (b) Key among these factors is the physical properties of bulk heterojunction, which plays a significant role (Kingsley et al. 22). Components of bulk heterojunction require a broad absorption response in the solar spectrum, which then ensure efficient harvesting of the photons. (c) In addition, the energy levels donor, which is usually a conjugated polymer, need to match with that of the electron acceptor, which typically is a derivative of fullerene (Intemann et al. 3190). This implies that the donor polymer needs to possess a deep highest occupied molecular orbital, which will ensure a large open circuit voltage (Xiao et al. 75). (a) The molecular weight of a conjugated polymer influences the effective conjugated chain (Liu et al. 12165). Therefore, molecular weight makes the electrical and optical properties of the polymers to vary, which improves the performance of polymer solar cells. (b) Prior to conducting and finalizing the research papers, the writers expect that correlations will be evident between the molecular weight and voltage, light absorbance, and current density of solar cells. These correlations will be further investigated and addressed in depth in the final report. Intemann, Jeremy J. et al. â€Å"Molecular Weight Effect on the Absorption, Charge Carrier Mobility, and Photovoltaic Performance of an Indacenodiselenophene-Based Ladder-Type Polymer.† Chemistry of Materials 25.15 (2013): 3188–3195. ACS Publications. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. Kingsley, James W. et al. â€Å"Molecular Weight Dependent Vertical Composition Profiles of PCDTBT: PC71BM Blends for Organic Photovoltaics.† Scientific Reports 4 (2014): n. pag. www.nature.com. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. Xiao, Zeyun et al. â€Å"Effect of Molecular Weight on the Properties and Organic Solar Cell Device Performance of a Donor–Acceptor Conjugated Polymer.† Polymer Chemistry (2015): n. pag. pubs.rsc.org. Web. 5 Mar.

Discretion in the stop and search context have come under much Essay

Discretion in the stop and search context have come under much scrutiny as it has widely been linked to racist practices.Discuss - Essay Example Although stop and search normally happens in public places, it may also be implemented in certain private areas. However, police discretion to stop and search individuals in public has become one of the most contentious aspects of British policing, and several empirical researches, anecdotal evidences, and survey data point to the ineffective and discriminatory use of the police powers. Significantly, the question of police powers to stop and search people has become one of the central questions in the debate about the relationship between police and community. Most notably, discretion in the stop and search context give rise to several related issues including racist practices and it remains a bare fact that Black people are more likely to be stopped than White people. As Bowling and Phillips (2007) maintain, â€Å"the statistics show that the use of the powers against black people is disproportionate and that this is an indication of unlawful racial discrimination. If stop and sea rch powers cannot be electively regulated – and it seems that they cannot – then their continued use is unjustified and should be curtailed.†1 Therefore, it is fundamental to establish that discretion in the stop and search context has come under much scrutiny as it has widely been linked to racist practices. This paper makes a reflective exploration of the use of discretion in the stop and search in relation to racist practices. Discretion in the Stop and Search and Racist Practices The fundamental relationship among the concepts of ethnicities, racism, crime, and criminal justice has been widely acknowledged in the various empirical studies in criminology. Significantly, the modern strategies of police and policing affect the minority communities and ethnic groups. Ever since the beginning of post-colonial migration to the U.K., the relationship between policing and minority ethnic communities have been characterised by mistrust, resentment, and suspicion. As W hitefield (2004) maintains, the anti-immigrant attitudes and insensitive policing of the early years of post-colonial migration developed ‘mistrust, resentment, and suspicion’ between the police and minority ethnic communities. For example, the West Indian Standing Conference report by Hunte (1966) draws attention to police officers going â€Å"nigger hunting †¦ to bring in coloured person at all costs.† 2 Significantly, oppressive policing against African, Caribbean, and Asian communities takes the form of mass stop and search operations, the improper use of paramilitary methods, disproportionate surveillance, groundless armed raids, etc. â€Å"Among the various aspects of the relationship between the police and minority ethnic communities, it is the practice of ‘stop and search’ that has been the most contentious.† 3 Therefore, police discretion in the stop and search context has given rise to heated debates in criminal justice seeing t hat it has widely been linked to racist practices. First of all, it is essential to realise what ‘stop and search’ exactly means and what are the various contexts in which the police discretion in the stop and search is applicable. According to the Vagrancy Act of 1824, any individual in suspicious context could be arrested and prosecuted by the police, and there are evidences to establish that this discretionary power of the police

Enterprise Systems Essay Example for Free

Enterprise Systems Essay Enterprise systems, according to the text, are: a set of integrated software modules and a central database that enables data to be shared by many different business processes and functional areas throughout the enterprise. (Laudon Laudon, 2011)Let’s say, for example, the financial department of an organization needs to audit all of the orders fulfilled by the Sales and Marketing department. With an integrated enterprise system, there is no need to request the information and wait for it to be sent to the financial department from the distribution center. Both departments are linked by a central database that they can both access at any given time. This reduces the time between requesting the data and utilizing it for the department’s needs. If the Sales and Marketing department does not keep the Distribution department aware of what is being sold, then prompt delivery of the product cannot be guaranteed. These enterprise systems also increase the security of the database. Having separate databases for each department will increase the chance for lost data. The needs of each department can be considered separate, but when looking at it from an organizational perspective, each department is a part of a larger entity. This entity cannot survive without the cooperation of each of its departments working together. †¢How does effectively implementing and using enterprise systems contribute to achieving operational excellence? As stated in the above answer, a properly implemented enterprise system creates a more accessible, secure, and usable database. An organization that allows each department to access the information needed to run smoothly and effectively can save time and productivity. If compared to a system of separate departments and databases, we can see the benefits of the enterprise system. Any department, with the proper access, can get the information they need to do the work that they need to do. Without this, we would see an information system with the possibility of lost data due to poor communication between departments. This relates to the question of security. It is easier for a database specialist to keep one large database secure and safe than it would be to work with several separate databases. The question of who can access what data from what department is easily controlled within the database itself, which allows for easier backup of data as well. A unified database can also benefit each separate department by easily allowing them to access only the information they need, this boosts the security of not only the database, but all information in that database. All of these contribute to the ease of use of the database and a smoother running operation. †¢What challenges are posed by enterprise applications? There are many different challenges that arise when implementing an enterprise system. Accessibility is one of the biggest. What department can access what data? How can this data be used by the departments that have access to the data? The information used by the enterprise applications are the core of the database. Without it, there would be no need for the database to exist. Each department must have the proper applications that can communicate the data between the other departments. I have seen many instances where improper implementation was due to each department not complying with the software or hardware requirements of the enterprise system. This results in not only loss of productivity, but money wasted on applications not compatible with the base system. This also lowers the security of the enterprise system, which can result in the loss of data. Having a secure database, as I have said before, can also benefit the ease of use and better productivity not only for the IT department who keeps the database and systems running properly, but for the end user in the offices of each separate department. Only by working in concert and by having the appropriate applications for each separate department can an enterprise system work for the betterment of not only the organizations, but their customers or clients.

Factors that Negatively Effect Fetal Development Essay -- essays resea

Factors that Negatively Effect Fetal Development Nicotine and drugs can affect a fetus by entering into the bloodstream of the unborn child. While you are pregnant, almost everything you eat, drink or smoke passes through your body to your baby. That is why drugs taken during pregnancy can be harmful to your baby. The word "drugs" doesn't only mean illegal drugs. It also means legal drugs and prescription and over-the-counter medicines. The use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs during pregnancy continues to be a leading preventable cause of mental, physical, and psychological impairments and problems in infants and children. A developing fetus really is a part of its mother, sharing oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord and across the fluid-filled bubble known as the placenta. It was once thought the placenta as a natural filter, shielding the fetus from external harm. Today, we know that virtually everything in a woman's bloodstream passes through to the developing organs of the fetus. Since a fetus can't remove harmful substances on its own, all the drugs a woman uses during pregnancy stay in its body longer than they do in mom's -- and at higher, more toxic levels. Main risks of smoking during pregnancy include: Delayed Growth. The more a woman smokes, the less her baby grows. Twice as many babies weighing less than 5 pounds are born to smokers as to nonsmokers. Premature Birth: Pregnant smokers are more likely to suffer bleeding, damage to...

The Inflammatory Response

The body is designed to defend itself against invading bacteria, and infection. The skin and mucous membranes are the first line of defence, the invasion of foreign bacteria can pass this first line of defence and immediately triggers the second line of defence. The second line of defence is the inflammatory response (McCance & Huether, 2009). The mechanism of the inflammatory response is to protect the injured site by killing the agent responsible, limiting its effects on the rest of the body and initiating the healing process (Porth, 2007). According to Botwinski (2001), during infection bacteria grow and divide, and release potent toxins that cause damage to the body’s cells. These toxins trigger the initiation of the inflammatory response. The changes that occur are initiated by the interactions between bacterial products and inflammatory mediators. Inflammatory mediators are chemicals that are released by protective cells or plasma when harmful agents invade the body. Inflammatory mediators include histamine, prostaglandins, and leukotrienes (Kumar, Abbas, Fausto, Robbins, & Cotran, 2005). The main cells involved are the mast cells and are located in connective tissue in close contact with blood vessels. Mast cells play a key role in the inflammatory response, when stimulated by infection they release a potent substance called histamine. When histamine leaks into the tissues it causes changes in the surrounding blood vessels. The two changes that occur in the blood vessels is blood vessel dilation and increased capillary permeability. The changes are designed to maximise the movement of plasma proteins and circulating cells out of the blood flow and into the site of infection (McCance & Huether, 2009). At the onset of injury the histamine that is released causes the blood vessels at the site to constrict for a short time then dilate (Nair, 2009). This widening of the blood vessels increases blood flow, and therefore increases the amount of oxygen, nutrients, and white blood cells being delivered to the site of injury (Botwinski, 2001). New blood vessels can also open up at the site and the area becomes flooded with blood. This increase in blood flow produces the characteristics of redness and warmth and are the earliest symptoms seen in the inflammatory response (Porth, 2007). The blood vessel wall confines blood products and cells in the circulation and prevents it from leaking out into the surrounding tissues of the body. This is done by cells called endothelial cells that tightly line the walls (Braun & Anderson, 2006). The chemicals that are released at the site of injury bind with receptors on the endothelial cells and cause’s them to retract producing gaps in their walls. This structural change allows healing fluid and cells to escape out into the affected area (Porth, 2007). Braun & Anderson (2006) describe that the harmful bacteria are diluted by this increased amount of fluid. The increased fluid and pressure produces the swelling seen at the site of infection. Nerve endings can also be stimulated as a result from the increasing pressure and this is what can cause the pain associated with infection (Nair, 2009). An important part of the inflammatory response is to send circulating white blood cells to the infected area. They are attracted in large numbers to the scene of injury as a result from blood vessel dilation and the release of bacteria substances and inflammatory mediators (Kumer et al. 2005). The white blood cells job is to provide a defence by killing invading bacteria, and getting rid of dead tissue. The main white blood cell in the inflammatory response is the neutrophil and arrives first at the site of inflammation approximately six to twelve hours after the initial injury (McCance & Huether, 2007). Macrophages are cells that live in various tissue locations and like the neutrophils they are released in the blood stream and attracted to the su bstances released at the site of infection. Macrophages and neutrophils are called phagocytes, and share the same job in the inflammatory response, which is to clean up the damage by ingesting and killing the invading bacteria (McCance & Huether, 2005). According to Sherwood (2009), the phagocytes floating in the circulation stick to the inside of the blood vessel wall, this process is called mirgination. Diapedesis then occurs, in this process the phagocytes squeeze through the gaps of capillary walls that were formed earlier on in the inflammatory response. Chemical mediators called chemotaxins accumulate at the site of infection and attract the phagocytes. Once inside the surrounding tissue the phagocytes make their way through the tissue to areas where there are higher concentrations of chemotaxins, this process is called chemotaxis (Roitt & Delves, 2001). Once at the affected area the neutrophils and macrophages eliminate the invading bacteria from the inflammation site by a process called phagocytosis. Phagocytosis is â€Å"cell-eating† and is a three stage process composed of recognition and attachment, engulfment, and killing and degradation (Kumar et al. , 2005). Phagocytes have receptors on their surface that enable them to recognise and attach to the receptors on the surface of the microorganism, this attachment prevents the bacteria from â€Å"getting-away†. In the process of engulfment the phagocytes stretch two surface like projections called pseudopods around the microorganism until it completely surrounds it, the microorganism is then trapped inside. Potent chemicals and enzymes are released inside the phagocyte and these break down and kill the invading microorganism. The pus that forms at the infected site is the accumulation of these phagocytic cells both living and dead (Sherwood, 2009). McCance & Huether (2009) describe that there are three protein systems that are also initiated during the inflammatory response. They are the complement, clotting and kenin systems, and consist of protein enzymes. These systems work along side the protecting cells and help them carry out their roles. The complement system consists of potent defensive proteins that help in the destruction of invading bacteria. The clotting system produces fibrinous tissue that acts as a boundary by trapping the bacteria and maximising the activity of the phagocytic cells. The clot that is formed also minimizes blood loss and prevents spread of infection (Botwinski, 2001). The kenin system consists of mainly bradykinin a protein that cause’s dilation of vessels, vascular permeability, and pain (McCance & Huether, 2009). The protective mechanisms of the inflammatory response prepare the site for healing and regeneration of the destructed tissue. Depending on the severity of infection and damage this can be a long process and is finished when structure and function is returned to normal (McCance & Huether, 2009).

Pure conversation movement in China Essay

The â€Å"Pure Conversation† (qingtan ) cultural movement emerged in the Wei-Jin period and is defined as not only the approach that scholars communicate with each other, sharing their thoughts, but also a form that shows the main stream of the philosophy thoughts of the society in the Wei-Jin period. (Tang 1991, pg. 18). :This essay will introduce the â€Å"Pure Conversation†(qingtan) movement by analyzing the reason that it emerged and the influences of it. In the first part, the origin of qingtan will be introduced. It is advocated by the historian that qingtan is an extension of qingyi in the late Han dynasty, which will be explained in details later. (Tang 1991, pg. 11)). While discussing the reasons of its origin, some points of view of scholars will be reviewed. Also, the argument that whether the â€Å"Pure Conversation† has negative or positive influences to the society will be discussed. Some scholars believed qingtan is the major reason that caused the fall of the dynasty. (Chan 1963: pg. 314). However, the positive influences of qingtan cannot be ignored. Since qingtan helped to develop Neo-Daoism, it is one side to judge qingtan as a completely negative thing. (Chan,1963:316). In the last part, a comprehensive conclusion will be given to conclude that in what extent qingtan has positive influences and negative influences to the society. :Yiming Tang in his dissertation proposed that the â€Å"Pure Conversation† (qingtan) cultural movement in Wei-Jin period refers to the conversation that conducted by educated elites to discuss about the events including human life, society and the universe. (Tang 1991, pg. 18). :He also pointed out that qingtan often took the form of debate to illustrate the ability of eloquence and rhetorical skills of the participants. (Tang 1991, pg. 18). :Miyazaki Ichisada, a Japanese historian argued that the origin of qingtan could date back to the Han dynasty. (Tang 1991, pg. 11. ). In his opinion, qingtan is an extension of qingyi in the late Han dynasty. (Tang 1991, pg. 11). Brackenridge Scot in his dissertation â€Å"The Character of Wei-Jin qingtan Reading Guo Xiang’s â€Å"Zhuang Zi†Ã¢â‚¬  pointed out that in the Han dynasty, qingyi literally means pure criticism, which is used by the eminent scholars to comment on politics and the talents that the government uses. (Scot 2010, pg. 33). Later, Neo-Taoism (xuanxue ? ? ) flourished in the  Wei-Jin period, the subject of qingyi changed to talking about xuan ?. (Scot 2010, pg. 29). Therefore, the term qingtan replaced qingyi and it was generally referred as xuanyan , tanxuan sometimes. (Scot 2010, pg. 33). ? ? ? ? ? ? ? : There are some reasons that proposed by scholars to analyze why the â€Å"Pure Conversation† (qingtan) cultural movement appeared in the Wei-Jin period. A historian of Chinese philosophy Chan Wing-tsit believed that after the collapse of the Han dynasty, the poor situation of the country did not improved under Wei’s dominant is an important reason. (Chan 1963: pg. 314). It is demonstrated that the continuous war and repeated floods and drought caused a largely decreased population and a poor living standard of people. (Chan 1963: pg. 314) However, the government of the Wei dynasty still repeated the ugly drama of the Han dynasty. (Chan 1963: pg. 314). The corrupt government directly leading to many scholars lost the confidence to the government, thus they refused to serve the government and escape from the reality in order to research the transcendental values using the form of qingtan. (Chan 1963: pg. 314). Further, another historian of Chinese philosophy Fung Yu-lan believed that  the appearance of the â€Å"Pure Conversation† cultural movement followed the trend of the philosophy ideology development in Chinese history. (Fung 1959: pg. 231). In the Han dynasty, thinking of Confucius was the dominated ideology in the society. (Chan 1963, pg. 315). Moreover, the government selected talents by the criteria that whether people can recite the classics of Confucius. (Chan 1963, pg. 316). Therefore, the thinking of Confucius was widely spread and well developed. However, after experienced the continuous war, many precious classical books of Confucius were damaged and destroyed. (Chan 1963: pg. 316). When the  Wei came to the central power, the numbers of the teacher that who teaching the rites and thoughts of Confucius was shapely decreased. (Chan 1963: pg. 316). Therefore, the Daoism with simplified thoughts and rites were widely spread due to this special historical context. Daoism significantly influenced people in the Wei-Jin period which leading to the approach that used to discuss the thinking of Taoism qingtan was very popular. (Fung 1959: pg. 231). As it mentioned before, qingtan often took the form of debate to display the ability of eloquence and rhetorical skills of the participants. The book Shishuo Xinyu complied by Liu Yi-qing , who is a princess of Liu-Song dynasty 420-429, records the activities of scholar officials and noble families from the end of the Han dynasty to the end of the Eastern Jin dynasty. (Tang 1991, pg. 15). This book is the only extant book from Wei-Jin period. (Tang 1991, pg. 15). Although it is traditionally classified as a novella (xiaoshuo ? ? ) and not a history in the strict sense, it is historical intent and can give an impression of the life and thought of the upper social class during Wei-Jin period as Tang argued. (Tang 1991, pg. 16). Professor Richard Mather’s English version of Shishuo Xinyu (Anew account of tales of the world) will be cited in this essay for discussing qingtan. A group of men of letters during the Wei-Jin period (mingshi , â€Å"famous scholars† or â€Å"famous gentlemen†) is noticed as the most famous representation of the activity of qingtan, which is known as the â€Å"Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove† ? ? ? ? (zhulinqixian). (Scot 2010, pg. 2). The â€Å"Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove† including Ji Kang , Ruan Ji ? ?, Shan Tao , Xiang Xiu , Liu Ling , Wang Rong and Ruan Xian . (Scot 2010, pg. 3). Shishuo Xinyu described them as â€Å"The seven used to gather beneath a bamboo grove, letting their fancy free in merry  revelry. † It is pointed out that their life style was opposed to orthodox values (i. e. , Confucian) and government service, and that instead they were devoted to wine, music, literature, and the art of conversation (qingtan). (Chan 1963, pg. 315). Also, they conducted qingtan is described as purely an escape from reality. (Chan 1963: pg. 314). As a representation of advocating qingtan, it can be seen that many educated elites in Wei-Jin period were acting just like the â€Å"Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove†; they did not care about national affairs but conducted qingtan for entertainment all day. Critics judged this type of  behavior as the most important reason for the fall of the dynasty. : Gu Yan-wu (1613-1682) who is a Chinese philologist in the late Ming dynasty and the early Qing dynasty (Bartlett 2009, pg. 185) used the activity of qingtan during the Wei-Jin period as an example to blame scholars in the later Ming dynasty for they do not have concerns about the society but advocate to empty talks, thus the Ming dynasty fell. (Bartlett 2009, pg. 185). In an essay of his work Rizhi lu (Record of Daily Learning), he proposed that: When (the barbarian chiefs) Liu (Yuan) and Shi (Le) invaded China (in  the early 4th century), the root cause was the widespread intellectual collapse due to (Neo-Daoist) qingtan thought; everyone knows that. †¦ They do not study the classical texts, and don’t investigate the records of the great rulers, they substitute empty phrase for the substantial learning of self-cultivation and governing others. (Bartlett 2009, pg. 189). Qingtan directly leading to the result that the regime collapsed is one criticism by scholars to the ethos of talking about xuanxue during the Wei-Jin period. Although it is partial to comment that the regime in Wei-Jin period fell because of qingtan, the truth that the Wei-Jin scholars  abandoned the real world affairs and concentrated on abstract and theoretical activities cannot be denied. No. 3 of Affairs of State from Shishuo Xinshuo demonstrated that: Wang Meng, Liu Tan and the monk Zhi Daolin came to visit general He. However, He was reading documents and letters and paid no attention to them. Wang said to him, â€Å"We’ve come today with Zhi Daolin for a visit, hoping you would lay aside ordinary duties and join us in some abstruse conversation. How does it happen that we find you just now with bowed head reading this stuff? † He replied, â€Å"If I didn’t read ‘this stuff’, how would you fellows manage  to survive? Everyone considered it as a fine answer. It is illustrated by Shishuo Xinshuo that people in Wei-Jin period were aware of the harmful effect of qingtan. Although the criticisms above about qingtan are reasonable, qingtan still have some positive aspects that should be noticed. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? : First of all, it is argued that the aesthetic values of qingtan couldn’t be ignored. Fung in his work Short history of Chinese philosophy pointed out that: The art of such conversation (qingtan) consisted in expressing the best thought, which was usually Daoistic, in the best language and tersest phraseology. (Fung 1959, pg. 231). As it mentioned before, qingtan has high requirement to the ability of eloquence and rhetorical skills of the participants. Tang concluded the critiques of a good qingtan as, first of all, the participants should be creative and not mimic other’s point of view; secondly, their argument should be soundly reasonable and convincing; thirdly, they have to be eloquent and rich in style. (Tang 1991, pg. 43). From the critiques of qingtan, it is demonstrated that qingtan is not only an approach to exchange the intellectual’s thinking but also a form of art to show the beauty of language. More importantly, Chan argued that the most significant influence of qingtan is that the Wei-Jin scholars developed new thinking that is Neo-Taoism (xuanxue) under the effects of the Daoism of the Laozi and Zhuangzi. (Chan,1963:316). The Wei-Jin scholars enjoyed debate with each other, and enjoyed ‘demolishing â€Å"objections†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. (Chan,1963:316). However, they were not satisfied with the argumentation they developed in research of transcendental values, they further exploit the concepts of Taoism and the Neo-Taoism appeared. (Chan,1963:316). Qingtan as the form talking about xuanxue helped Neo-Taoism flourished in the Wei-Jin period. As mentioned, the object of qingtan is talking about xuan, which refers to the content of the three books Zhuangzi , Laozi and Zhouyi . (Scot 2010,pg. 1). However, the foundation of Neo-Daoism was laid by the work of Wei-Jin scholars including Wangbi’s Laozi Zhu (Commentary to Laozi), Guoxiang’s Zhuangzi Zhu (Commentary to Zhuangzi) and Xiangxiu’s Zhouyi Zhu (Commentary to Zhouyi). (Scot 2010,pg. 2). Some examples from Shishuo Xinyu will be present to illustrate how people using qingtan to discuss xuanxue. ? ? ? : No. 55 of Letters and Scholarship recorded that one day Zhidao Lin, Xu, Xie Shengde and others of outstanding virtues were gathered together at the home of Wang Meng. Xie proposed that everyone should all speak or intone poems to express their feelings to memorize the assembly. He then asked everyone present to make an exposition of the title of one of Zhuangzi’s chapter Yufu. Then everyone told him what in his mind and discuss about each other’s idea. This story illustrated that during the Wei-Jin period, it is very normal to see a group of the educated elite gathered together to talk about xuanxue. : â€Å"No. 29 of Letters and Scholarship mentioned that Huan Wen  was assembling the famous and outstanding men of the time for lectures on the Zhouyi and was planning to do one hexagram a day. Emperor Jian Wen heard this he turned back, saying, â€Å"Some of the interpretations will naturally be difficult and some easy. How can each lecture be limited to one hexagram? † From this excerpt it can be seen that talking about Zhouyi was very popular in that time. By conducting qingtan, scholars in the Wei-Jin period developed the concept of â€Å"non-being† of the Daoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi and pursued the reality beyond the space and time instead in research of the mutual  effect between the nature and the man that was the most popular approach in Han thought. (Chan 1963: pg. 317). ; In the Han dynasty, the teachings of Confucius were the dominated philosophy thought. However, the situation was not beneficial for the diversity of the development of culture. (Chan 1963, pg. 317). Therefore, qingtan also helped to improve this situation; people did not necessarily learn the doctrines of Confucius and can gradually develop the ability of independent thinking by practicing qingtan (Chan 1963, pg. 315). Also, it is pointed out that the movement of  qingtan had created a spirit of critical and independent thinking. (Chan 1963, 315). As people no longer view Confucius as ‘a throneless king whose subtle doctrines lay behind his written word’ but ‘an ancient teacher who transmitted the wisdom of the past’. (Chan 1963: pg. 315). In conclusion, this essay introduced the background of the origin of qingtan, meanwhile, the reasons of its emergence were discussed. It is believed that qingtan is an expansion of qingyi that can be date back to the late Han dynasty. However, the subject of qingyi, which is, talking about politics had changed to talk about human life, society and the  universe, thus qingtan emerged. Reasons of its emergence can be concluded as scholars in the Wei-Jin period were disappointed to the government thus they used qingtan as an approach to escape the reality; another reason is that the development of Chinese philosophy helped the emergence of qingtan, since people in that time were attracted to Laozi and Zhuangzi. Before discussing the influences of qingtan, Shishuo Xinyu, a book recorded qingtan from Wei-Jin period was introduced. By referencing some stories from Shishuo Xinyu, the positive influence and negative influence of qingtan were discussed in a comprehensive view. It is argued that qingtan is an approach that used by the elites to escape the reality which leading to that the elites does not care about the national affairs d resulted in that the dynasty collapsed. However, some different perspectives were proposed that qingtan can have some positive effects referring to its aesthetic value, also it helped the Neo-Daoism flourished in the Wei-Jin period and it was beneficial to the diversity of the development of culture. By judging by the appearance, qingtan had negative effects because it prevented the development of the Wei-Jing society. However,  the reason of the fall of the Wei dynasty can be complicated more than just one. It is one side to make the judgment that qingtan directly leading to the fall of the dynasty. Still, the positive aspects should be considered when discussing qingtan. For the most important reason, Neo-Daoism will not be flourished and spread in Wei-Jin period without qingtan. References: Bartlett, Thomas (2009). Phonology as Statecraft in Gu Yanwu’s Thought in Link, P. (ed. ), The Scholar’s Mind in Honor of Frederick W. Mote (pp. 181-206). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. Chan, Wing-Tsit (1963). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (1953). A Short History of Chinese Philosophy. Bodde, Derk. (Ed. ). New York: The Macmillan Company. Liu Yi-qing, Shishuo Xinyu A New Account of Tales of the World, trans. Mather, Richard B, (2002). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan. Scot. J Brackenridge (2010). The Character of Wei-Jin qingtan Reading Guo Xiang’s Zhuangzi commentary as an Expression of Political Practice. Received from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3448864). Tang, Yi-ming (1991). The voices of Wei-Jin scholars: A study of ‘qingtan’. Received from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 9202757).

The 12 Best Time Management Tips, Skills, and Strategies

The 12 Best Time Management Tips, Skills, and Strategies SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips When you hear successful people talk about the secret to their success, time management often comes up. But what is this vague and elusive â€Å"time management† they’re talking about? What does time management look like in practice, and how do you make it happen when you’re already stretched thin and overwhelmed? It’s important for anyone who’s busy, overcommitted, or stressed to have an arsenal of concrete, effective time management skills to lean on when things get tough...and when things are easy too! Our expert time management tips will help you make decisions about how to implement time management skills and techniques to organize and guide your daily life, through the good times and bad. After reading our guide to time management, you’ll be prepared to design a personalized time management strategy based on the skills and techniques you learn about here. In this guide, we’re going to cover the following info for you: What is time management, and why is it useful? Top time management tips for reducing stress and increasing success Best tools to support your time management strategies So take some deep, calming breaths and settle in to discover some effective time management techniques! What Is Time Management? Why Is It Useful? When some people think about time management, the first thing that comes to mind is a meticulously color-coded planner clutched tightly between the jittery hands of the student body president or class valedictorian. While well-organized planners can definitely be involved in effective time management, time management is more than just those things. Time management is kind of a creative process: it’s curating the time that you have in your life. Think about what a museum curator does: they select, organize, and look after the items in a collection or exhibit. You’re essentially trying to do the same thing. If your life is the collection or exhibit, then your time, health, responsibilities, commitments, and goals are the â€Å"items† that you need to learn how to â€Å"select, organize, and look after.† Curators want museum exhibits to be beautiful and meaningful, right? We know you want the same thing for your life! That’s why thinking about time management as a creative, strategic process can be a really important mindset for you to take on. Thinking about time management in this way is important because- and you probably already know this from personal experience- everyone is stressed out. Really stressed out. How do we know this? Because teens said so themselves in a 2014 poll. In fact, nearly half of the teens self-reported that they were not doing enough to manage their stress, and 34 percent believed their stress would increase in the coming year. Additionally, most American adults are spending 40 percent of their time at work, and stress-related illnesses account for more than $190 billion dollars in health care costs per year. (That’s a lot!) So how do you transition from being totally stressed and overwhelmed to curating all the â€Å"items† in your life that probably feel like they’re the main source of your stress? By learning about different time management skills, making careful decisions about what will work best for you, and designing an approach to time management that makes you feel strong and confident. Does that sound like hard work? It can be, but it’s hard work that’s totally worth it in the long run. The first step to designing your own approach to time management- techniques, skills, and mindsets included- is learning about concrete actions you can take to manage your time. So let’s take a look at seven concrete actions you can take in our list of top time management tips! Our time management tips will help you stay cool, calm, and collected (unlike this girl, who's definitely stressed out). Our Top 7 Time Management Tips for Reducing Stress and Finding Success To help you become a curator of the â€Å"items† in your life, we’ve done the research and compiled a list of seven tips for effective time management for you. Now, remember: you know yourself and the items in your life better than anyone, so be choosy as you read our list of time management tips! (If you try to incorporate them all, you’re only going to end us more stressed out.) So as you look through our tips, make sure you consider what will work best for you, and then start imagining how you want your time management strategies to look. Tip #1: Assess the â€Å"Items† in Your Life Through a Time Audit We’ll talk more about tools you can use to do this later, but we think a good place to start with developing your time management strategy is assessing the â€Å"items† in your life: those responsibilities, commitments, and goals that make up the exhibit that is your life. You can’t curate something until you know what materials you’re dealing with, right? So start there. One approach that many time management experts swear by is the time audit. A time audit might sound scary, but it’s actually super easy to do. Just select an amount of time- seven days is often recommended- and keep record of how you spend your time throughout each day in that designated time frame. Why do a time audit? Because taking inventory of how you’re currently spending your time can help you identify the changes you need to make. When you do a time audit, you’re supposed to record everything . . . including the hour-long â€Å"break† you took to watch Instagram stories while you were supposed to be studying for your history exam. Once you’ve done a time audit, you’ll have another nifty resource on your hands: a list of all of your weekly responsibilities and tasks. You could develop the list from your time audit into a comprehensive list of recurring tasks and responsibilities, then evaluate the items on that list, KonMari style: for each task or commitment on your list, ask yourself, â€Å"Does this spark joy?† Then, keep or discard accordingly. Of course, we know you can’t â€Å"discard† your required math or English courses...but lots of students overwhelm their schedules with tons of extracurriculars because they believe that quantity equals quality to college admissions committees. Additionally, you’ll also figure out where you’re wasting the most time. (Hint: it’s probably the Internet.) Here’s a reality check for you, though: college admissions committees are more interested in seeing your commitment to excellence in a few well-chosen extracurriculars than in seeing that you were a member of a bunch of different clubs or organizations. Taking your list of responsibilities and commitments to task through the KonMari method can help you shave that list down so it only includes things that enable you to grow, thrive, and achieve results that are meaningful to you and to college admissions committees. Win-win! Tip #2: Learn More About Yourself Since you’re the primary curator of your time (at least, in an ideal world), it’s worth it to assess yourself as a part of your time management strategy development, on top of assessing all of the other â€Å"items† in your life. This one’s more of a meta-tip- we’re asking you to really think about who you are, how you function, your strengths and weaknesses, your needs...we’re asking you to self-assess, and then to make plans for time management based on that self-assessment. And, here’s another plus: self-assessing can actually be a ton of fun. Have you ever taken a personality quiz? We recommend setting aside some time to take a personality test or two, then seeing if the results tell you anything new about your personality. That’s one great way to self-assess! Some personality assessments that are commonly used in workplace environments and by colleges and universities include the StrengthsQuest, the Myers Briggs, and the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator. (You can even take a Sorting Hat Quiz, which isn’t official, but it is fun.) So what exactly can you learn from personality tests that might help with your time management? Well, personality tests usually generate reports based on your responses that provide an analysis of things like: How you perceive the world How you make decisions What motivates you and what stresses you out Your top strengths and weaknesses How you respond to external pressures, like interruptions, distractions, or others’ expectations How you function in interpersonal relationships, like in a team environment or workplace Can learning about these aspects of your personality help you design effective time management strategies? You betcha. We recommend taking your results from these tests with a grain of salt, since no personality test out there is perfect, but getting to know yourself a little better can be really helpful when you sit down to make decisions about your time management strategy. Tip #3: Take Time to Make a Plan and Prioritize We’re going to talk more later about actual tools you can use to keep track of the plans you make, but right now, we just want to emphasize this: making a plan for your week, for your day, and for long-term tasks and projects is extremely important. In order to create plans that prioritize urgent items and make the most effective use of your time, management experts recommend focusing first on effectiveness, then efficiency. We’ll break those concepts down into concrete actions next! Focus on Effectiveness To make a solid plan, first assess the expectations, goals, or outcomes for your day, week, or specific task or project. Take ten minutes in the evenings to evaluate your goals for the next day and sketch out a plan for how you want to achieve those goals. Do the same thing at the beginning of every week. Map out which tasks you want to complete in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and how much time you think it should take to meet your goals for those tasks. Then do the same thing for long-term or multi-step tasks or projects. Carefully read the assignment sheet your teacher gave you for that research paper or final project. Highlight it and annotate it. Ask yourself or others: What should the finished product look like? Who else is involved in this task, and how do I get them to actively participate? What tools, resources, or information do I need to acquire in order to complete this task? Making plans is good. Letting your goals guide your planning makes your plans is even better! Focus on Efficiency The second step to making effective plans involves breaking your tasks or projects down into manageable pieces or stages. As you build your plans, start by asking yourself some questions: When must the entire task be completed, and how much time will it take? Which parts of the task are going to be the most challenging or time-consuming? Which parts of the task can I complete or prepare for early? Breaking big tasks down into smaller pieces can help you allocate your time to completion of that task appropriately. Breaking big tasks down into smaller pieces can also be really helpful if you’re prone to procrastination, or if you get so anxious about big, overwhelming tasks that you can’t get work done. A couple of tried and true approaches to getting yourself going on tasks you really don’t want to do include the â€Å"Swiss Cheese† Approach and the Pomodoro Technique. These methods have some differences, but both encourage you to allocate a small amount of time to working on something- say, twenty minutes- and getting one small piece of it done. Advocates of the Swiss Cheese Approach and the Pomodoro Technique claim that just getting started and getting a little bit done can often give you the confidence you need to push through and finish the bigger task. Even if that’s not the case- or if you don’t have time to finish the entire task in one sitting- these techniques help you chip away at a big task or project over time. If you’ve planned well, you should have plenty of time to complete big projects incrementally and meet both your goals and deadlines. When you're dialed in and focused, you maximize your time. Tip #4: Curate Your Environment Into a Full-Focus Zone Another key to managing your time well is managing your environment. But what does it mean to manage your environment? Here’s an example: researchers have found that increasing natural light in work environments can increase workers’ productivity by reducing negative factors like eyestrain, headaches, and blurred vision. In other words, we’re talking here about how your physical environment affects what you get out of your available time. Now, we know that you have minimal control over your environment at school. But what about when the final bell rings and your time becomes yours again? That’s when you can really take ownership of curating a work environment that enables you to meet your goals and work efficiently. Some questions you can ask yourself to help curate your environment to maximize your time include: How does my workspace make me feel? Calm? Jittery? Restless? What could I change about this space to make it suit my needs? What is distracting me in this space, and is there a way to eliminate that distraction? What sounds, smells, tastes, textures, or visuals motivate me and help me focus, and how can I incorporate them into this space? Simple questions, right? But maybe you haven’t thought about your workspace in this way before. Maybe helping you focus and get your work done is just a matter of filling your workspace with some natural light, finding a more comfortable chair, or turning off your phone until you get your urgent tasks completed. So evaluate your workspace and figure out what’s best for you. Working in a space that works for you will decrease the amount of time you spend on physical distractions, which means you’ll be using your time more effectively! Tip #5: Take A Breather Managing your time effectively isn’t just about penciling work into every available second in your day. It’s also about scheduling in breaks so that you can get more out of your work time. Taking planned, meaningful breaks can replenish your energy and motivation when you start feeling sluggish or distracted. Taking a breather is an important time management technique! You could use the self-assessments that we talked about earlier to help you decide how to approach taking breaks. Taking fifteen minutes to stretch, grab a snack, or walk around outside for a few minutes can all be reinvigorating, but you’ll ultimately want to spend your break time doing something that works for you. What we don’t recommend is spending your break times doing something that could easily spill over into the next thing on your schedule, especially if that will make you anxious or upset. For example, if you pick up your phone to scroll through social media and you know you’re going to have a really hard time putting it down and focusing on your work again, just don’t get on social media. Save it for later, when your work is done. Work is important, but it's equally important to make time to relax! Tip #6: Make Time for the Things That Sustain You... You probably know people who skip meals, guzzle energy drinks, or only sleep three hours a night because they’re so busy and stressed. But research shows that sleep deprivation can contribute to various health problems and have negative effects on mood, memory, and concentration. And it’s pretty difficult to thrive if you aren’t fueling your body and brain properly. We understand that, when you’re already stressed and overwhelmed by the mountain of things you have to do, spending valuable time on eating, sleeping, exercise, and leisure can feel like a waste. The problem is, if you don’t dedicate some of your time to doing these things well also, it’s going to hurt your productivity in other areas. So make time to eat healthy, nourishing food, if you can. Take your time eating- enjoy it. Try to get eight hours of good sleep a night. Exercise in a way that makes you feel strong. Pay attention to how your body is responding to the pace of your life. Spend meaningful time with your family and friends. And reward yourself when you meet a goal! You work hard! You deserve to spend some of your time on meaningful activities besides work. Doing so will increase your positivity, and you can use that to catalyze productivity during your working hours as well. Tip #7: ...And Eliminate the Small Things That Don’t Saying â€Å"no† to things is easier said than done, but this is an essential part of effective time management. Even the most talented people can’t do everything, and they shouldn’t try. In order to be excellent at the things that you really want to do, you have to have enough time to learn, grow, and invest in those things...which unfortunately means you’ll have to say no to other things. Now, we’re not talking here about resigning from your officer position in the National Honor Society or dropping varsity choir. We’re talking about developing an instinct for when to say â€Å"no† to the little things that add up over time. These are the things that come up in the middle of the week that you didn’t plan for, the little favors or extra tasks that you’re randomly asked to take on. For example, if you hold leadership positions in organizations you’re involved in or if you’re known for being a high achiever in your extracurricular activities, your advisors or peers might ask you to take on more and more responsibilities because they know you’re awesome. But what can end up happening is that the same people take responsibility for things over and over, even though there are plenty of other people with extra time on their hands and not a lot to do. You could think of saying â€Å"no† to taking on more small things as an opportunity to let other people step up and learn how to lead or take responsibility. If you’re swamped one week and someone asks you to take on an extra task at your student council meeting, consider saying something like, â€Å"My plate is already pretty full this week, but I think Emma would do a fantastic job managing that task. I’ll come with you to ask her if she’d be willing to take the lead on that.† Saying â€Å"no† gives you more time to excel at the things that are meaningful to you. It also helps clear the clutter out of your brain and your to-do list. One of the neatest benefits, though, is that it gives other people the opportunity to shine. Who would’ve thought that effective time management could have such amazing benefits? Good time management comes down to having the right tools for the job. (Probably not these tools...but you never know!) 5 Best Tools To Support Your Time Management Strategies Now that you’ve read our top seven time management tips, we also want to hook you up with some time management tools that can play a role in growing your time management skills. Here’s the bottom line about time management tools: whether you choose from our list below or do your own research, it can be extremely helpful- even essential, for some people- to consistently use specific time management tools that support your developing time management skills. We live in a fast-paced world, and you don’t have to do it all on your own! We’re going to look at five different types of time management tools that you can use for different approaches to time management. Check them out and decide what works for you! Tool #1: Paper Planners Paper, you say? Nothing new and flashy about that. That may be true, but physically writing things down by hand helps you process information on a deeper level, which can help with mental recall later on. So that’s one big advantage of keeping a paper planner. If your school has strict rules about whipping out digital technology during or in between classes, a paper planner might be a good choice as well. Plus, there are a ton of options out there for planners that are aesthetically pleasing and designed for optimal productivity that also won’t break the bank. And an added benefit is that you can choose a design that fits both your needs and your personality! Advantages: Won’t crash when the WiFi does; fully high school-approved; great for detail retention; affordable (if you want it to be!) Cost: $8+ Tool #2: RescueTime If you’ve already been looking into time management apps, you’ve probably seen RescueTime mentioned all over the place. RescueTime runs securely in the background on your computer or mobile device, tracks your time spent on apps and websites, then generates a detailed report that lets you know how you spent your time that day. If you found the idea of doing a time audit (mentioned above in Tip #1) really appealing, RescueTime might be the app for you. Once you’ve used RescueTime to assess how you spend your time on your digital devices, you can even use it to set alerts that let you know how much time you’ve spent on a certain activity, block distracting websites for designated periods of time, and log highlights about what you accomplished during the day. If you’re looking for help actually managing your time spent on various tasks throughout your day, check out RescueTime! Advantages: Performs a daily time audit for you; keeps you accountable to your goals and schedule; manages distractions; supported by macOS, Linux, Android, and Windows platforms. Cost: The Lite plan is free, and you can upgrade to Premium for $9/month. Tool #3: Be Focused If you’re one of those people who gets easily overwhelmed by big picture stuff or you thought the Pomodoro Method (Tip #3) sounded cool, try out Be Focused, an app that segments out your workflow into timed increments and designated breaks. You can set your timed work increments and breaks to time frames of your choosing, and the app also generates a pie chart reporting how much time you spent on a given task and tracking your progress. In other words, it lets you add time-conscious structure to your day! There’s one downside to Be Focused, though. Unfortunately, this app is only available for iOS devices, but if you’re looking for a similar app for other devices, take a look at focus booster. Advantages: Handles the Pomodoro Technique for you; runs pre-programmed timers that you can use to guide your workflow Cost: $1.99 Tool #4: Google Apps This one’s a classic. Google Apps provides you with a lot of capabilities: emailing, archiving and organizing your files, creating slide presentations, and keeping up with a calendar are just a few. While you don’t have to use all of Google’s apps, if you’re interested in centralizing your schedule, email, contacts, and project files, this is a great option. Google’s can also be super helpful if you have to do a lot of collaborative projects, papers, presentations, or planning for events and activities too. Google Drive allows you to share media files with anyone who has an email address, and you can create and edit files collaboratively using Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Slides. And even better: the only thing you have to do to access these powerful tools is sign up for a Google account! There’s also a strong possibility that your future college or university will assign you a Google account once you get on campus, so getting familiar with the many different ways that Google Apps can aid you in your academic career right now could give you a jumpstart on being an A+ college student in the future. Advantages: Accessible wherever there’s an Internet connection; usually school-approved; lets you store everything in one place; easy file-sharing and collaboration capabilities; usable on mobile and desktop Cost: Free! Tool #5: Evernote If you’re a compulsive note taker or list maker, take a look at Evernote. Evernote provides a central location where you can store and organize notes, voice recordings, pictures, and videos. This app might also interest you if you like to meticulously archive your notes and materials using some kind of intricate organizational system of your own design. This is probably sounding similar to Google Drive, so here are a couple of features that Evernote has that Google Drive doesn’t. Evernote allows you to apply tags to individual notes, so if you have notes that fall under more than one category, for example, you can tag them accordingly. Evernote’s search feature is more granular than Google Drive’s as well: you can search the contents of notes, notebooks (collections of notes), tags, and even attachments. The freedom to design your own organizational strategy could be overwhelming to some people, though, so Evernote might be a great resource to take advantage of when you start feeling really confident in your time management skills. The only downside with this option is that, in order to access Evernote’s full capabilities, you’ll have to upgrade to Evernote Premium, which comes with a monthly fee. If you upgrade to Premium, though, you can access Evernote from any device, even when you don’t have WiFi or mobile data. Advantages: Enormous storage space; multiple options for organizing and labelling content; easy to save content you capture on-the-go straight into Evernote; work from any device, anywhere (with Premium) Cost: Free for Evernote Basic; $7.99/month for Evernote Premium What’s Next? Now that you have all the tips and tricks you need to start managing your time, let’s jump into planning. (Planning is your friend!) But getting started can be a little intimidating, so we’ve created timelines to make things a little easier. Here’s a complete planning guide to studying for the SAT (and one for the ACT, too). Are you a procrastinator struggling to get your time management skills in order? We’ve been there. That’s why we’ve developed cram guides to the SAT and ACT. Click here for the SAT cram guide and here for the ACT cram guide! The trick to getting into the college of your dreams is planning ahead. (Sensing a theme here?) Here’s our guide to choosing the right AP classes for you, so you can make the most of your high school career.

Facts and Figures About Seismosaurus

Facts and Figures About Seismosaurus Most paleontologists refer to Seismosaurus (pronounced SIZE-moe-SORE-us), the earthquake lizard, as a deprecated genusthat is, a dinosaur that was once thought to be unique, but has since been demonstrated to belong to an already existing genus. Size of the Seismosaurus Once considered among the biggest and most impressive of all dinosaurs, most experts now agree that the house-sized Seismosaurus was probably an unusually large species of the much better-known Diplodocus. Theres also a distinct possibility that Seismosaurus wasnt quite as big as once believed. Some researchers now say this late Jurassic sauropod weighed as little as 25 tons and was considerably shorter than its stated length of 120 feet, though not everyone agrees with these drastically scaled-down estimates. By this accounting, Seismosaurus was a mere runt compared to the gigantic titanosaurs that lived millions of years later, such as Argentinosaurus and Bruhathkayosaurus. Discovering the Seismosaurus Seismosaurus has an interesting taxonomic history. Its type fossil was discovered by a trio of hikers, in New Mexico in 1979, but it was only in 1985 that the paleontologist David Gillette embarked on a detailed study. In 1991, Gillette published a paper announcing Seismosaurus halli, which in a burst of reckless enthusiasm he said may have measured over 170 feet long from head to tail. This certainly generated impressive newspaper headlines, but one imagines it didnt do much for Gillettes reputation, as his fellow scientists re-checked the evidence and calculated much more petite proportions (in the process, of course, stripping Seismosaurus of its genus status). The (indisputably) extreme length of Seismosaurus neck- at 30 to 40 feet, it was much longer than the necks of most other sauropod genera, with the possible exception of the Asian Mamenchisaurus- raises an interesting question: could this dinosaurs heart possibly have been strong enough to pump blood all the way to the top of its head? This may seem like an arcane question, but it bears on the controversy of whether or not plant-eating dinosaurs, like their meat-eating cousins, were equipped with warm-blooded metabolisms. Its most likely that Seismosaurus held its neck roughly parallel to the ground, sweeping its head back and forth like the hose of a giant vacuum cleaner, rather than in the more taxing vertical position. Quick Facts Habitat: Woodlands of southern North AmericaHistorical Period: Late Jurassic (155-145 million years ago)Size and Weight: About 90 to 120 feet long and 25 to 50 tons.Diet:LeavesDistinguishing Characteristics: Enormous body; quadrupedal posture; long neck with relatively small head

Future of vessel traffic services (VTS) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Future of vessel traffic services (VTS) - Essay Example Non-surveilled systems consist of one or more reporting points at which ships are required to report their identity, course, speed, and other data to the monitoring authority. They encompass a wide range of techniques and capabilities aimed at preventing vessel collisions, ramming, and groundings in the harbor, harbor approach and inland waterway phase of navigation. They are also designed to expedite ship movements, increase transportation system efficiency, and improve all-weather operating capability. The Automatic Identification and Data Management System AIMS 7100 - the product of a joint venture between Daimler-Benz Aerospace and Marine Data Systems - is the latest development of a highly sophisticated vessel traffic information system (VTS). Litton Marine Systems has introduced a new IMO-compliant vessel traffic system (VTS) for locks, bridges, ports and coastal waters. VTS-Master-W is a new system utilizing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and proprietary software running under Windows-98/NT. The Vessel Traffic Management will be able to get real-time remote display of raw video data from shore-based surveillance radars superimposed on geographical maps of the area. The Coast Guard Vessel Traffic System (VTS) is active in four major U. S. ports: New York, Puget Sound (Seattle), San Francisco and Houston/Galveston. They upgrade their software installed for VTS twice a year. Recent developments included a new Vessel Maintenance Form and improvements to radar tracking. A multiyear radar recapitalization project is in progress, replacing old, unsupportable radars with the new AN/SPS-73. Norcontrol IT has announced the introduction of C-Scope, a groundbreaking 3D VTS and AIS operator display, designed to increase flexibility of vessel and consignment tracking on sea and land areas. The sophisticated display is able to visualise data from any tracking system and provides unique flexibility in that a VTMIS operator may view the service area from literally anywhere, including onboard a vessel. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the first organisation to use the display and has already taken delivery as part of the UK AIS network program. same radar used for replacement on the cutters. Future Plans VTS already has most of the technology available for its implementation. some advances may change the way future systems are designed and operated. Technologies like range from advances in electronic charting to precise positioning techniques and automatic ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore identification are expected. A number of advances, in combination, may make the automatic plotting of vessel locations, identification, and movements' possible using a laptop device on board and being equipped with proper transponders. These automated systems could replace the costly radar surveillance of large port regions. The global positioning system (GPS) and differential GPS (DGPS) is already available in ports and waterways today. The DGPS system combined with an electronic chart is the