The Formation of Stars and Star Types From Explosions and Other Supernovae
The formation of stars is a complex matter, but this complexity mostly takes form in the essence of time. The complexity factor is the amount of time it takes for stars to start forming, and eventually forms into this massive cluster of gas, heat, energy, elements, gravity, etc., thus becoming a star. This process is not instant and can take up to millions of years. Just about every second an explosion from a star is occurring, setting the stage for the creation, or rather transfer of material, to other matter, such as planets and stars. Of course on the grander universal scale, this amount of time isn’t much, but in relation to the lives of us human beings, this is an enormous amount of time; a single human being will never be able to witness the complete life cycle of a star.
A star ends its life with an explosion known as a supernova, and from there with the leftovers, gas, and other ingredients, can form neutron stars or black holes, and some less massive stars can produce white dwarfs (Wheeler, 2013). An example can be taken with our primary star, the sun. The sun is just a little older than the Earth and is a massive star. Our sun “will one day become a red giant, then a planetary nebula, and finally a white dwarf,” eventually imploding on itself once it runs out of fuel, scattering its contents across the solar system, and essentially the galaxy (Leifert, 2016).
A lot of stars are seen and formed in clusters. These clusters get grouped and become part of bigger naming systems, representing a certain region of the universe, or at least of the current known visible universe. Though the stars forming in clusters are “high mass stars” in relation to other stars, and these high mass stars are identified as “hot cores” (Kawamura, 2008). Since these star clusters don’t hold the same exact type of stars in them, they become something to examine in terms of differing masses and mass functions at a variety of ages, along with “the time scales on which clusters are disrupted, and whether disruption occurs in a manner which is dependent or independent of mass” (Chandar, 2009).
Neutron stars in particular are interesting as they are some of the most massive stars known in the universe. They exist as both hot and cool stars, with the “best representation of nuclear matter” being found in the “cores of cold neutron stars” along with high “baryon number density and extremely high temperature” (Stone, 2015). As such, neutron stars, whether hot or cold, occupy a great mass and pose some incredibly extreme conditions.
Figure 1: Proposed Structure of a Cold Neutron Star (Stone, 2015)
Works Cited
Chandar, Rupali. “The Formation And Evolution Of Star Cluster Systems In Different Environments.” Astrophysics & Space Science 324.2-4 (2009): 315-319.
Leifert, Harvey. “Red Hot And Blue.” Natural History 124.2 (2016): 8.
Kawamura, Akiko. “Molecular Clouds And Star Formation In The Magellanic Clouds And The Milky Way.” Astrophysics & Space Science 313.1-3 (2008): 145-151.
Stone, J. R. “High-Density Matter: Current Status And Future Challenges.” EPJ Web Of Conferences 95.(2015): 1-23.
Wheeler, J. Craig. “How Do Stars Explode?.” Sky & Telescope (2013): 60-61.
Beyond Expectations: The Bullitt Foundation Creates the Greenest Office Building in the World
Ever since the introduction of green building rating systems, attaining the greenest structure has become a desired goal for many companies. One of the most successful green buildings created thus far is the Bullitt Center, located in Seattle, Washington. Designed by the Bullitt Foundation, the Bullitt Center earned the title of greenest office building in the world after achieving the Living Building Challenge certification, the highest green building standard currently available (Mirel 2014). As the greenest office building in the world, it has broken boundaries in sustainable building and has served as guidance for subsequent projects.
Denis Hayes, CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, stated that the Bullitt Center’s design team aimed to receive the Living Building Challenge certification since the very beginning of the design process (ASHRAE 2011). This certification is awarded to buildings that are fully self-reliant in terms of energy and water for more than a year. The Bullitt Center meets these requirements by harvesting all the water it needs on site, ensuring that the total amount of energy it uses is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy it creates on site, refraining from using toxic chemicals, and preventing combustion within its systems (Fish 2012).
In order to obtain a self-reliant building, the Bullitt Foundation incorporated different green technologies and methods in the Bullitt Center’s design. Figure 1 illustrates the Bullitt Center’s various sustainable features. The Bullitt Center is able to achieve a net-zero energy system by using 575 rooftop solar panels. The panels are capable of producing 240,000 kilowatt hours per year. To achieve a net-zero water building, the Bullitt Center uses a network of filters and a cistern. It collects rainwater through its roof and stores it in a 56,000 galloon cistern located underground. As water becomes needed, the rainwater is filtered through ceramic filters, passed through UV light and charcoal, and added to a miniscule amount of chlorine. The now drinkable water is stored in a 500-gallon tank where it can be easily accessed. In addition, the Bullitt Center is able to reduce water pollution in the surrounding ecosystem through the use of native plant restoration, bio-swales, and pervious pavement. This system is able to delay rainwater runoff, therefore, reducing the amount of pollutants that enter nearby bodies of water. In terms of innovative design, the Bullitt Center contains the first composting toilet system in the world (Mirel 2014).
Figure 1: Sustainable Features of the Bullitt Center, Source: National Institute of Building Sciences. 2014. “The Bullitt Center.” WBDG. https://www.wbdg.org/references/cs_bullittcenter.php.
Although green building seems costly during the construction process, it can prove to be economically beneficial in the long run. Incorporating energy-saving technologies will significantly cut down energy costs. This is especially advantageous since the price of energy is continuously increasing (Eichholtz, Kok, and Quigley 2010). In addition, the usage of plant systems to process wastewater can cut energy and infrastructure expenses. Certain plants are capable of retaining and filtering water and are thus ideal for green building (Kibert and Grosskopf 2007).
As the greenest office building in the world, the Bullitt Center has contributed to green building by serving as an inspiration for future green construction projects. By taking note of its innovative ideas and methods, other companies can strive to achieve a fully self-reliant building. The creators of the Bullitt Center hope that their accomplishments motivate others to develop an even greener building in the near future (Mirel 2014).
References
“Bullitt Foundation plans ‘Greenest Building’ of all.” 2011. ASHRAE Journal, 53(10): 8. http://go.galegroup.com/.
Eichholtz, Piet, Nils Kok, and John M. Quigley. 2010. “Doing Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings.” The American Economic Review,100(5): 2492-2509. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41038771.
Fish, David R. 2012. “(by) Metrics (by) Design: Building for Endurance.” David Ronald Fish, 65. https://dlib.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/22681.
Kibert, Charles J., and Kevin Grosskopf. 2007. “ENVISIONING NEXT-GENERATION GREEN BUILDINGS.” Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law, 23(1): 145-160. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42842944.
Mirel, Diana. 2014. The greenest of the green: the bullitt center in seattle prides itself on being the world’s greenest office building. Journal of Property Management, 79(a), 30+. http://go.galegroup.com/.
National Institute of Building Sciences. 2014. “The Bullitt Center.” WBDG. https://www.wbdg.org/references/cs_bullittcenter.php.
When are the “Vision Zero” actions balanced? The causes and the price.
When introduced to the world in 1997, the “Vision Zero” project seemed to be the bright spot among the darkness created by numerous traffic fatalities. The laudable goal of achieving zero traffic deaths has been kept in the minds of lawmakers ever since. However, very often this desire to see zero in the statistics would blur the border between reasonable and excessive.
One group of people that happened to suffer from this border’s invisibility were the workers of TWU Local 100 transport union in New York City. What before seemed to be a quite common and “natural” occurrence became a punishable action. As claimed by the members of the union, the definition of required “due care while driving” was too vague, which caused misinterpretation and led to arrests of six bus drivers (Rivoli, 2015).
Even though the Right of Way Law is crucial in maintaining pedestrian safety, the union workers have achieved what they call “justice” – the newly established court settlement safeguards all bus drivers and other MTA drivers from arrest if involved in an accident lacking recklessness (Denney, 2016). Here, again, the question arises as to what actions are considered to be “reckless.” Furthermore, John Samuelsen, TWU Local 100 President, emphasizes the absence of distinction between acceptable and immoral in the eyes of law enforcement: “Under this well-intentioned but poorly crafted law, Bus Operators were arrested and handcuffed like common criminals (Rivoli, 2015).” Figure 1 below displays the message from TWU Local 100 workers to the public and law enforcement. As it appears to be, the government has to come up with a fair, acceptable price that members of the community have to pay to ensure safety and protection against excessive punishment at the same time.
Figure 1: Message from TWU Local 100 to the public
Source: Transport Workers Union Website – twulocal100.org
As it is widely known, commonly used passenger cars are operated by human drivers. The majority of the accidents and traffic fatalities are resulting directly from human error or carelessness. Figure 2 below shows that 91% of crashes are caused by human error. Reasons behind a traffic death could vary from speeding or failure to yield to impaired driving. In any case, the person behind the wheel is the contributor to the accident. That is exactly why David Ryu, Los Angeles City Councilman, envisions no human-operated vehicles within 20 years (Zhang, 2016). Ryu was inspired by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s policy addressing self-driving cars. The policy is aimed at providing manufacturers with guidelines on how to develop driverless technology, and David Ryu is motivating the developers by promising guaranteed use of the innovations: “we need these companies to focus on the largest market and the one that will benefit most: Los Angeles (Zhang, 2016).” Hopefully, autonomous cars will resolve the issue of traffic fatalities and turn their amount into zero.
In order to deal with traffic fatalities, we have to understand that one of the key reasons behind them is impaired driving. About 32% of fatal car crashes involve an intoxicated driver or even pedestrian (Thames, 2016). Over 1.2 million drivers were arrested in 2011 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (Thames, 2016). Alcohol impairs judgment, comprehension, coordination, concentration, visual acuity, and, most importantly, the reaction time, which is the crucial factor required for safe driving. Drugs can also impair perception, judgment, motor skills, and memory; furthermore, young adults aged between 18 and 25 are more likely to drive after taking drugs. This raises the need for harsh punishment and high insurance premiums for drivers aged 18 to 25.
Figure 2: Division of deadly crashes into human-caused and environment-caused — 2004 to 2013
Source: ODOT crash data
Another aspect about traffic deaths that must be taken into consideration is distracted driving. Figure 3 below displays the breakdown of fatal and non-fatal auto accidents by cause, emphasizing the contribution of drunk and distracted driving. Even though it doesn’t involve “impaired” judgment, the use of cell phone, texting, and eating can cause a major distraction. Texting while driving is the worst type of distraction, since it alienates the driver from the concentrated state in three different ways: visual – taking your eyes off the road, manual – taking hands off the wheel, and cognitive – taking your mind off driving (Thames, 2016). Interestingly enough, FOMO (fear of missing out) is a common phenomenon among young adults that drives them towards checking Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media sites while driving (Bowerman, 2016). This means that the road safety lawmakers have to come up with an alternative for in-car social media entertainment, since, as it appears to be, different punishments like adding points to one’s license do not seem to be working.
Figure 3: Breakdown of fatal and non-fatal auto accidents by cause (2014 Statistics)
Source: ODOT crash data
Works Cited (MLA Format)
Bowerman, Mary. “Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Leads Motorists to Check Social Media While Driving.” Insurance Journal. 26 Aug. 2016.
Denney, Andrew. “Queens Judge Strikes Down Pedestrian Protection Law.” New York Law Journal. NYLJ, 28 June 2016.
Rivoli, Dan. “New York City, Union Settle Suit Over ‘Vision Zero’ Plan.” Claims Journal. Claims Journal Associated Press, 02 Sept. 2015.
Thames, Amanda. “Annual ‘Operation Firecracker’ Removes Drunk Drivers from N.C. Roadways.” Bladen Journal. Bladen Journal, 12 July 2016.
Zhang, Natalie. “Los Angeles Business Journal”. Councilman Calls for Autonomous Driving in Los Angeles by 2035. 23 Sept. 2016.
Schistosomiasis: What is it and What is The Current Status?
Schistosomiasis is an infectious disease caused by a parasite that is carried by freshwater snails. The disease is currently prevalent in over 78 countries. It is transmitted when skin comes in contact with freshwater that has contaminated snails. The larvae from these snails infect the person and get into the bloodstream, where they are able to reproduce. Some of the parasites are able to pass through the body in urine, but the rest of the parasites take over internal organs (Global Network, 2015). This life cycle can be seen in figure 1.
The symptoms of intestinal schistosomiasis are enlargement of the liver and spleen and fluid accumulation in the peritoneal cavity. This can make the abdomen very sore and bowel movements painful with frequent diarrhoea and blood in the stool. This swelling of the abdomen gives the characteristic look of an infected person (fig. 2). It is hard to calculate accurately, but there are roughly 20,000 to 200,000 deaths per year as a result of schistosomiasis (WHO, 2016). This number is hard to accurately confirm because many cases go untreated or unaccounted for. Additionally, many people with Schistosomiasis can also be infected by another parasite, making the cause of death more difficult to label.
There is a medication available to treat schistosomiasis, but there is no vaccine available. The best way to prevent the disease is to avoid wading or swimming in freshwater within a country that is known to have infected snails. Also, filtering of all water for drinking and bathing should be taken very seriously. Boiling water or filtering are both good options, but must be done (CDC, 2012). Currently, the disease has been contained to Africa, but controlling it further has been a real challenge. As the countries with infected snails try to develop their agricultural techniques and meet the demands of a growing population, staying on top of the infected water situation has been difficult. As a result, increased transmission of the disease has actually been occurring (Chitsulo et al., 2000). Studies are being done looking at new and more attainable treatment options. The standard method of treatment is effective, but difficult for many with the disease to obtain. More work needs to be done to effectively control this disease, both with transmission and with cures (Masaku et al., 2015).
Figure 1: Life Cycle of Schistosomiasis: CDC
Figure 2: Enlarged Abdomen
Works Cited:
“Schistosomiasis.” Global Network |. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. <http://www.globalnetwork.org/schistosomiasis>.
Chitsulo, L., and D. Engels. “The Global Status of Schistosomiasis and Its Control.” The Global Status of Schistosomiasis and Its Control. N.p., 23 Oct. 2000. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001706X00001224>.
“Schistosomiasis.” World Health Organization. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs115/en/>.
“Prevention & Control.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 07 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. <http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/schistosomiasis/prevent.html>.
Masaku, Janet, Nancy Madigu, and Collins Okoyo. “Current Status of Schistosoma Mansoni and the Factors Associated with Infection Two Years following Mass Drug Administration Programme among Primary School Children in Mwea Irrigation Scheme: A Cross-sectional Study.”BMC Public Health. N.p., 1 Aug. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. <http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-1991-z>.
Noninvasive Methods in Examining Valued Artwork and its Preservation
Noninvasive Methods in Art Conservation
The field of art conservation deals with expensive and irreplaceable artwork, and thus requires noninvasive methods of examination, or minimal sampling at most. Specifically, the preservation of paintings requires knowledge of paint layers and pigments in order to fully analyze the artwork and determine how it will age over time. In order to accomplish this, conservators utilize noninvasive methods such as Raman spectroscopy and reflectance spectroscopy.
Raman Spectroscopy
Raman spectroscopy was discovered by physicist C.V. Raman in the 1920s and has applications in a large range of science fields, from biomedicine and forensics to art conservation (L’Heureux). Raman spectroscopy (in addition to Raman microspectroscopy) analyzes inorganic pigments used in paintings, which is important because all colors age, decay, and react to chemicals in different ways. Raman spectroscopy also proves useful when determining what a painting looked like in its original state versus its present state, which can change the way people view the art. A downfall of Raman spectroscopy is that it does not work with fluorescent colors like yellow and red – upon encountering fluorescence, the Raman spectrum of these colors is obscured and cannot be analyzed.
In terms of detecting organic pigments and analyzing fluorescent colors, conservators can utilize surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, though this requires minimal sampling (Mukhopadhyay).
Reflectance Spectroscopy
Reflectance spectroscopy also identifies pigments in oil and watercolor, in addition to monitoring how these colors change over time. Specifically, fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy is helpful in identifying the normally hard-to-pinpoint organic dyes, most commonly found in East Asian art. These natural pigments are extremely difficult to identify because they absorb light strongly and thus appear very diluted in paintings. Reflectance spectroscopy works in spite of this, and can even identify pigments in thin washes or mixed with other colors. Downfalls of this technique include poor wavelength and “fingerprinting” ability (Leona and Winter).
Note: I am following the format of the L’Heureux article.
Small-scale fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy, for low budget art conservation. This is a chart for pigment identification and comparison. (Source: http://chsopensource.org/2014/11/10/fors-reflectance-spectroscopy-for-pigments-tested-bwtek-mini-spectrometer/)
References
Bacci, Mauro, Picollo Marcello, Trumpy Giorgio, Tsukada Masahiko, and Kunzelman Diane. “Non-Invasive Identification of White Pigments on 20th-Century Oil Paintings by Using Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy.” Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 46.1 (2007): 27-37. Web.
Leona, Marco, and Winter John. “Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy: A Unique Tool for the Investigation of Japanese Paintings.” Studies in Conservation 46.3 (2001): 153-62. Web.
L’Heureux, Megan. “Analysis of the state of the art: Raman Spectroscopy.” Spectroscopy June 2015: 44+. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
Mukhopadhyay, Rajendrani. “Spectroscopy in Art.” Chemistry World Jan. 2010: 44-47. Print.
Pouyet, Emeline, et al. “Thin-sections of painting fragments: opportunities for combined synchrotron-based micro-spectroscopic techniques.” Heritage Science 3 (2015): 3. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
Alternative Ways of Medical Waste Management
Municipal Solid Waste, more commonly known as trash or garbage, is generated by humans in enormous amount daily. However, in the early times, solid waste management did not cause a significant problem as today due to the lower population and larger amount of available space for disposal. In the recent decades, the growing human population, shorter product lifespan, usage of primary and secondary packaging, and mass production of materials have made solid waste into a less manageable problem. Approximately 3.53 million tons of municipal solid waste is generated each day globally. Researchers have been trying to develop methods such as Waste-to-Energy and modern landfilling to recycle and recover these waste materials in more efficient and proper ways (Nakamura, 2016).
One of the highly hazardous kinds of Municipal Solid Waste is medical waste, which is generated from hospitals and clinics. Medical waste is dangerous because it can lead to disease outbreak if treated improperly. It involves an even more difficult collection and disposal process, and the cost is much higher than that of other kinds of Municipal Solid Waste. There are unnecessary casualties and property loss during the collection process every year. More attention has been paid to the treatment of medical waste during recent years. In China, the amount of medical waste generated is growing by approximately 10 million tons per year from 2011 to 2014 (Table 1) (He and Fang, 2016). Stricter legislations were enacted in China to prevent the situation from deteriorating (Zhang et al., 2013). For instance, Chinese legislations demands that medical waste needs to be recovered within 48 hours. Researchers also found a more efficient way to transport medical waste from several hospitals and clinics to the disposal site. The optimization path decreases the total distance that the medical waste company has to travel, thus making the procedure more efficient and less dangerous (He and Fang, 2016).
Table 1. The amount of medical waste during 2006-2014 in China; Table taken from He and Fang, 2016.
Figure 1. Medical waste recycling and disposal process: collection, transportation, and disposal. Figure taken from He and Fang, 2016
Tissue engineering is another way of reducing medical waste. Organ transplantation is a highly complicated process and can generate a lot of medical wastes during the operation. Untreated medical wastes can create infections and contamination during the treatment process. Tissue Engineering such as scaffold can replace organ transplantation. A recent preliminary research at the New York City College of Technology focuses on tissue engineering for reducing medical waste. A group of researchers investigates the different scaffold fabrication techniques and their environmental impact. Scaffold fabrication aims to reduce the shortage of right donor organ and prevent transplant rejection and pathogen transference. Dr. Ozlem Yasar compared the four methods of scaffold fabrication (Heat, Adhesives, Light, and Molding- Based Fabrication) by looking at their toxicity, energy consumption, and material cost. It was found that Mold-Based Fabrication has the lowest energy consumption, toxicity, and material cost on average. This technique involves casting the polymer solution on a 3D-prototype and removing the mold to get the scaffold (Yasar et al., 2016).
Moreover, scaffolds can even allow wounds to repair. The new TiO2/COL-CS porous scaffold is a promising candidate that allows damaged tissues to grow back by providing a sterile environment. The addition of nano-TiO2 will form additional hydrogen bonds with collagen and chitosan, acting as a bridge between the molecular chains to increase the density of the mesh structure (Fan et al., 2016).
More and more people are emphasizing more on health sanitization and medical waste treatment during the past decades. Some of the medical wastes generated during operation process can now be replaced by tissue engineering, and thus reducing contamination and infections. Scaffold fabrication method and optimization path are found to improve medical waste management issues.
Literature Cited
He, Z., Li, Q., Fang., J. (2016). The solutions and recommendations for logistic problems in the collection of medical waste in China. School of Transportation and Logistics, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China.
Nakamura, M. (2016). Municipal Solid Waste. Environmental Sci. & Eng. Vol 5. New York City College of Technology.
Fan, X., Chen, K., He, X., Li, N., Huang, J., Tang, K., Li, Y., Wang, F. (2016). Nano-TiO2/collagen-chitosan porous scaffold for wound repairing. College of Materials Science & Engineering-Zhengzhou University, and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University.
Zhang, H.J., Zhang, Y.H., Wang, Y., Yang, Y.H., Zhang, J., Wang, Y.L., Wang, J.L. (2013). Investigation of medical waste management in Gansu province, China. School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou.
Yasar, O., Nakamura, M., Tam, J. (2016). Investigation of Scaffold Fabrication Techniques: Tissue Engineering for Reducing Medical Waste and the Environmental Impacts. New York City College of Technology.
Technological Concepts and Solutions for Human Space Travel to Mars
One way both astronauts and mission control at NASA are preparing for a Mars mission is a fully functional simulation with an underwater space craft, affectionately called NEEMO, or NASA Extreme Environmental Mission Operations (Chappell et al., 2016). Using different buoyancy levels, NEEMO can simulate any range of gravity expected of a Mars mission, from zero gravity during the trip to the gravity on Mars. Six subjects carried out 4-hour tests in NEEMO under the closest conditions to the actual mission, including a 15-minute communication delay between the astronauts and mission control (Chappell et al., 2016).
The Evolvable Mars Campaign, or EMC, was a program created by NASA to focus research and technological advances towards the goal of sending humans to Mars by the mid-2030’s. EMC has designated the goals of constructing three conceptual structures supporting 4 crew for the Mars mission: a Mars moon habitat for 300-550 days available in 2028, a transit habitat for up to 1100 days in space available in 2032, and a Mars surface habitat for 300-550 days available in 2035 (Simon et al.,
2015). These structures will all be equipped with solar panels, an Electrical Power Control Unit, life support, thermal and radiation shields, and an array of items for the crew, including computers, food storage systems, vacuums, treadmills, utensils etc. (Simon et al., 2015). Two of the most important characteristics of these structures are that they are as light and small as possible, sacrificing mass and volume of any unnecessary item or material where possible, and that they are reusable for future Mars missions, meaning they’re durable and recyclable.
Figure 1: Global map of Mars with coordinates of all the proposed landing sites and exploration zones for NASA’s Mars mission, with topography indicated by color.
NASA has already begun selecting proposed landing sites and base locations based on regions or interest, or ROI, which are determined by certain preferred characteristics such as their elevation and proximity to geographically and chemically unique places for sample collection (Bussey and Hoffman, 2016). Figure 1 is a global map of Mars with all of the proposed landing sites based on ROI, with elevation indicated by color.
Figure 2 displays the interactions between solar radiation and Mars’ upper atmosphere by translating the energy of escaping charged ions to color (Fang et al., 2015). The interactions are also responsible for the auroras that can be seen both on Earth and Mars, though Mars’ lack of a global magnetic field means these solar winds are able to strip off the remnants of its atmosphere.
Figure 2: Computer simulation of solar winds interacting with ions in the upper atmosphere of Mars. The spectrum of colors is scaled in reference to the relative energy in electron-volts of the charged ions.
Studying the movements and energies of these escaping ions is one of the best ways to visualize solar winds during a long-term and immobile mission on Mars because they can serve as a forecast of radiation, almost like indirectly observing the humidity of air by looking at the condensation of water on a cold object. Satellites like the MAVEN, which recorded the data to construct Figure 2, would constantly monitor the solar winds to let astronauts determine whether it is safe to leave the protection of their shielded base and where to travel (Fang et al., 2015).
The only effective way to combat muscle atrophy aboard a long-term space mission is vigorous exercise, which is particularly important for potential Mars astronauts who will live in microgravity conditions for months before having to suddenly adapt to the gravity of Mars. In one study, nine astronauts aboard the International Space Station for six months were monitored for calf and skeletal muscle loss before and after their missions along with their total exercise methods and durations (Trappe et al., 2009). The three exercise methods were cycling on stationary bikes, running on a treadmill with a harness pulling down from the waist, and lifting using elastic bands. The study concluded that there remained a substantial decrease in calf and skeletal muscle loss even after the exercise routines, with an average muscle loss of about 13% (Trappe et al., 2009). The study shows the urgency for finding better exercise methods of combatting muscle atrophy for a Mars mission.
Works Cited
Fang, Xiaohua, University of Colorado, MAVEN Science Team. “Computer Simulation of Mars’ Polar Plume.” Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at The University of Colorado Boulder. (June, 2015) [Cited 23 September 2016].
Bussey, Ben, Stephen J. Hoffman. “Human Mars Landing Site and Impacts on Mars Surface Operations.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (March, 2016) [Cited 23 September 2016].
Simone, Matthew A., Larry Toups, Scott A. Howe, et al. “Evolvable Mars Campaign Long Duration Habitation Strategies: Architectural Approaches to Enable Human Exploration Missions.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (August, 2015) [Cited 23 September 2016].
Chappell, Stephen P., Kara H. Beaton, Trevor Graff, et al. “Analog Testing of Operations Concepts for Integration of an Earth-Based Science Team During Human Exploration of Mars.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (July, 2016) [Cited 23 September 2016].
Trappe, Scott, David Costill, Philip Gallagher, et al. “Exercise in space: human skeletal muscle after 6 months aboard the International Space Station.” Journal of Applied Physiology. 106, no. 4 (April, 2009) [Cited 23 September 2016].
Use of Visualized Media to Expedite Recovery in Mental Health
As the internet currently dominates most forms of media in today’s society, there is no doubt many internet users are also involved in social media – especially the millennial generation. Statistics show that 8 out of 10 teenagers on the internet use some form of social media. (Madden 2013) However, there are obviously going to be negative effects such as “Facebook Depression”, cyberbullying, and other adverse effects as a result of using social media on a normal basis. Supposedly, “Facebook Depression” is what researchers describe a phenomenon that causes preteens and teens to feel bouts of depression. (O’Keeffe, et al. 2011) Fortunately, where computers can also contribute a solution to upkeep mental health. Computerized therapy is proving to have a lot of potential when dealing with patients. There has been many successful tests for different issues regarding mental health including depression, anxiety, and addiction. (Helgadottir) While artificial intelligence isn’t at the point where natural language processing can be done with ease, adaptation to the client is just as important. By personalizing a treatment program for a client, computers can do much to form a model around specific circumstances of the patient. (Helgadottir) In the future when robots are more plentiful with advancements in technology, they can act as therapeutic entities. Using face recognition software, perhaps emotion can be detected to better adapt to a patient that requires attention. Currently, computerized therapy seems to be effective. Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy has been tested against conventional cognitive behavioral therapy and the results came out about the same. (Andrews, et al. 2010) The major difference is that computerized cognitive behavioral therapy would prove to be cheaper because it requires less time with a therapist, cutting on costs. Furthermore, this opens treatment to those who previously cannot afford an expensive therapist.
Figure 1: Depression Scores on Hamilton Scale for subject groups (Wright 2005)
In figure 1, we can see that those who received computerized therapy were rated to be less depressed than those who were on the wait list (no therapy) and treated by a therapist. (Wright 2005) The future of computerized therapy has a long way to go despite its current efficacy. As we can see with the rise of virtual reality and other technology, there are going to be many possibilities for computerized therapy to expand upon in the near future.
Works Cited (MLA)
Andrews G, Cuijpers P, Craske MG, McEvoy P, Titov N. “Computer Therapy for the Anxiety and Depressive Disorders Is Effective, Acceptable and Practical Health Care: A Meta-Analysis.” PLoS ONE 5(10): e13196. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013196 (2010)
Helgadottir, F. “The Future of Computerized Therapy.” Psych Central. n.p.: n.p., 9 . 26 Sep. 2016. <http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-future-of-computerized-therapy/>.
Madden, Mary, et al. “Teens, social media, and privacy.” Pew Research Center 21 (2013).
O’Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. “The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families.” American Academy of Pediatrics (2011): n. pag. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.
Wright, Jesse H., et al. “Computer-assisted cognitive therapy for depression: maintaining efficacy while reducing therapist time.” American Journal of Psychiatry 162.6 (2005): 1158-1164.
Motivation and Its Effect on Student Learning
Teacher instruction can be either utterly useless or entirely effective depending on a student’s motivation to learn. A student “who is intrinsically motivated undertakes an activity for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning it permits, or the feelings of accomplishments it evokes.” On the other hand, an “extrinsically motivated student performs in order to obtain some reward or avoid punishment external to the activity itself” (Lumsden, 1994). It is both the teachers’ and students’ responsibilities to keep motivation levels high throughout instruction.
A teacher’s teaching method is probably the best way to keep a student motivated. Part of the reason why students will lose the will to learn comes from the class becoming too stale or boring. The ARCS Motivation Model is a strategy developed in order to prevent situations like these from occurring. According to this model, “there are four general requirements to be met in order for people to be motivated to learn, and there are practical strategies to use in achieving each of the four requirements” (Keller, 1987).
Figure 1: The ARCS Motivation Model and its four underlying principles to keeping students motivated to learn (Keller, 1987).
The student himself can do several things to stay motivated. One of these things is to set yourself a mastery goal rather than a performance goal. In other words, strive to be the best in the subject area, rather than pursuing for an A grade. According to a study conducted by Carole Ames, “when students perceived their class as emphasizing a mastery goal, they were more likely to report using effective learning strategies, prefer tasks that offer challenge, like their class more, and believe that effort and success covary” (Ames, 1988). This is further proved by another study conducted by Jason Colquitt, “learners with a trait pattern that was highly conscientious, highly learning oriented, and less performance oriented were 30% more likely to perform well on the first exam and 28% more likely to perform well on the second” (Colquitt, 1998). The best advice for student motivation would have to be this: “Whenever students are drawn to learning out of curiosity, for reasons of self-improvements, to understand the world in which they live, or for the sake of valued personal goals, they act in ways we admire and wish all students might emulate; They become absorbed, committed, and oblivious to the passage of time” (Covington, 1992).
References
Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1998). Achievement Goals in the Classroom: Students’ Learning Strategies and Motivation Processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 260-267. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://200.17.213.49/lib/exe/fetch.php/projetos:educacao:ames_c._1988.pdf
Colquitt, J. A., & Simmering, M. J. (1998). Conscientiousness, Goal Orientation, and Motivation to Learn During the Learning Process” A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4), 654-665. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://media.terry.uga.edu/socrates/publications/2013/06/ColquittSimmering1998.pdf
Covington, M. V. (1992). Making the Grade: A Self-Worth Perspective on Motivation and School Reform. Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.
Keller, J. M. (1987, October). Strategies for Stimulating the Motivation to Learn. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://iptde.boisestate.edu/FileDepository.nsf/0/693b43c6386707fc872578150059c1f3/$FILE/Keller_1987a.pdf
Lumsden, L. S. (1994, June). Student Motivation To Learn. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED370200.pdf
Investigation of the Value of the Internet in Linguistics and Language Based Research
Not many could argue the fact that ‘the Information Age’ is in full swing. The main tenet of such an age consists of widespread data storage and transmission possibilities afforded by an institution such as the world wide web. Considering this, the internet can be utilized to understand our world on a larger scale. In short, the Web can be seen as a microcosm of the physical world and its underlying structures. As such, the internet allows us to study language, its use, and its spread in ways never seen before.
In the 1990s, the realm of languages on the internet (or more concisely the World Wide Web) was composed almost entirely of English. This is because the internet originated in the United States. At that point in time the internet was not such a good microcosmic model of the world. However, some now predict that in the near future the Web will be largely non-English. Between 1995 and 2000 alone, the number of people with internet access in non-English speaking countries increased from 7 million to 136 million (Crystal, 2001, p. 216). Now, in 2016, it can be surmised that this number is significantly larger. This means that the study of language use and spread through the internet is only beginning.
According to Brenda Danet in The Multilingual Internet (2007), the U.S. does still have the largest portion of internet users with a 20% figure. However, this may be a rather accurate reflection of the world of language around us. Increasingly, scholars have grown concerned over the fact that English may soon dominate the world in terms of language, resulting in a sort of ‘linguistic imperialism’. The internet has only provided a new arena for English to indeed smother other languages. Nevertheless, the number of non-English speaking internet users continues to increase – with Chinese, Japanese, and Indian projected to accelerate rapidly in the coming years. Therefore, the internet is increasingly becoming a valid resource for language study and the acquisition of data on language usage.
The study of language through the internet has social repercussions as well. For example, conclusions as to the lasting effects of European Imperialism can be drawn through this sort of web-based examination. Take the case of Tanzania, a small East African country that was first colonized by Germany, eventually becoming a British mandate at the end of World War I. British rule ended in 1961 but the effects of colonialism can be still be felt even through simple language use. Swahili (the official language of Tanzania with actual African origins) is only used for instruction at the elementary level, forcing almost all people to know English (Danet, 2007, p. 17). Furthermore, while internet use in the nation has grown in the last five years, only the ‘elite’ have access. These elite, as a rule, speak English almost unwaveringly. As such, webpages in Tanzania are almost entirely in English, reflecting European imposed issues of class and Western elitism.
Taken further, the internet can be used as a way to explore the general connections between specific languages (whether this be through imperialism or not). Babel (2012) is a program developed by Hannes Mühleisen to seek out and quantify the way languages are connected on the Web. Without going too much into the methodology, the program sifts through webpages in order of popularity and determines the language they are written in. Then the program follows any links on these webpages and determines their language. By compiling this information one can get a generalized snapshot of what languages are often spoken together. For reasons discussed earlier, English has been removed from the data, as have outliers. The following is a table listing the most commonly connected languages quantified by a percentage of connections out of all examined pages in that language.
Figure 1. Babel 2012 Web Language Connections. This table represents, by language, the percent of pages that link to the other specified language. For Example, if the original language were Bulgarian, 6 percent of the time a Bulgarian page contains a link to Russian.
As a visual representation of how numerous these connections are, the creators of Babel have also created a chord diagram.
Figure 2. Babel Chord Diagram. This diagram is a visual representation of the previous figure. Each set of chords is denoted by an original language (in abbreviation) with percentages of connections represented by the thickness of each chord. For example, the thickest chord in the diagram represents the 53% connection between Farsi (fa) and Danish (da).
As represented in both the chord diagram and the numerical chart, the connection between Farsi (one of the major languages spoken in Iran) and Danish is by far the most pronounced. To explain, Denmark and the area that was formerly Persia have an extensive trading history that extends back to 1687. In closely related research, a linguist from Amsterdam has been similarly combing through internet data to draw conclusions relating to ‘preferred multilingual usage patterns’ (Dorleijn, 2016). Her research focuses specifically on the connection between Turkish and Dutch, which are also connected through a trading history extending to the 17th century.
The Internet provides us with a truly amazing way to collect linguistic data. There is no field-work involved and data can be collected over a long period of time as the internet remains in its own realm, waiting to be used for research. Moving forward, further research into the dominance of English in the world, developing language connections, and the changing face of language as part of the information age is made possible and relatively accessible thanks to the internet.
References
Crystal, D. (2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Danet, B., & Herring, S. C. (2007). The Multilingual Internet: Language, Culture, and Communication Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dorleijn, M. (2016). Can Internet Data Help to Uncover Developing Preferred Multilingual Usage Patterns? An Exploration of Data from Turkish-Dutch Bilingual Internet Fora. Journal of Language Contact, 9(1), 130-162.
Huang, X., Acero, A., & Hon, H. (2001). Spoken Language Processing: A Guide to Theory, Algorithm, and System Development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.
Mühleisen, H. (2015, April 28). Babel 2012 Web Language Connections. Retrieved September 11, 2016, from https://github.com/norvigaward/2012-naward25/wiki/Babel-2012—Web-Language-Connections
