Thursday, November 28, 2019

Oceanography Exam 2 Essay Example

Oceanography Exam 2 Paper What best explains why the atmosphere transports heat toward the poles? the latitudinal imbalance of incoming solar radiation The Coriolis parameter is at largest _______ and zero at the _____. poles and equator The prevailing winds on each side of the equator are: Easterly winds Geostrophy is the balance between what 2 forces? Pressure gradient and Coriolis What hemisphere does ONLY cyclonic flow rotate counter-clockwise? Northern Hemisphere Neutrally buoyant (sub-surface) ocean current floats are best tracked using: sonar In the Northern Hemisphere, the NET motion of water in an Ekman spiral is ______ the wind direction. 90 degrees to the right of. What factor best explains why the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is so unique? its east-west path is uninterrupted by continents Waters diverge to form subpolar gyres because of which two prevailing wind systems? Westerlies and Polar Easterlies. Subtropical gyres in the Southern Hemisphere flow: counter-clockwise What is the underlying cause of the westward intensification of subtropical gyres? Weak Coriolis parameter near the equator Subtropical gyre western boundary currents are: warm In the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis effect causes fluids to be deflected to the ____ of their natural path, and geostrophic balance would cause ocean currents to flow ____around seas surface lows. right counter-clockwise. What scenario would most likely produce coastal upwelling? southerly winds along the South American west coast Coastal upwelling water tend to be: cold and nutrient rich Why is there a cold tongue in the easter tropical pacific? upwelling due to Ekman divergence What condition does not characterize El Nino? high rainfall in Indonesia El Nino events occur approximately every ___ years. 2-7 years In the Walker Circulation, what force balances the pressure gradient force? nothing Which factors form a positive feedback loop in the equatorial Pacific? warm pool atmospheric low strong winds Once Surface waters become dense enough to form deep waters, what is the most likely reason that their temperature would change significantly in the deep sea? by mixing with other water masses How does sea surface salinity near the equator compare to that of the subtropical gyres? lower near equator due to higher precipitation The most common reason for the existence of the pynocline is that _____ decreases with increasing depth. temperature The mixed layer will typically extends to a depth of about: 100-200m What sources of energy directly drive the upwelling that leads to the thermohaline circulation? winds and tides Which is NOT a mechanism leading to denser surface water and therefore deep water formation? increased runoff from melting ice sheets Wave orbits are negligible at depths below: 1/2 wavelength The only wave type restored by cohesion is: capillary A wave that propagates away from a disturbance without without continued application of force is called: free Which wave type is almost always considered a shallow water wave? tsunami Which is NOT a characteristic of shallow water waves? cannot break Which factor does NOT contribute to large wave growth? high temperature Deep water wave celerity depends on the variable _____, while shallow water wave celerity depends on the variable ____. wavelength, water depth A wind wave is approaching shore first contacts the seafloor at a water depth of: Waves usually break when their height exceeds: 1/7 wavelength Why do waves bend (refract) as they approach shore? speed is decreased in shallow water A tsunami is usually imperceptible to a ship at sea because it has a: very long wavelength The Sumatra tsunami of December 2004 was caused by a: subduction zone earth quake Why does an unusual sea level drop often precede the arrival a tsunami? the trough of the tsunami wave sometimes arrives before the crest What technology does the pacific tsunami warning network rely on? pressure sensors on the seafloor THe equilibrium theory of the tides would apply for a hypothetical Earth: completely covered by a very deep ocean. The gravitational attraction between two celestial objects increases with their ____, and decreases with the square of their____. masses.. distances In Earth-moon system, where are gravitational attraction and intertia in balance? center of earth On earth, solar tides are about ____ the strength of lunar tides. half Neap (weak) tids occur: during quarter moons The side of Earth facing the moon will have a high tide while th opposite side of the Earth will have: a high tide

Sunday, November 24, 2019

5 Words That End in the Excrescent -st

5 Words That End in the Excrescent -st 5 Words That End in the Excrescent â€Å"-st† 5 Words That End in the Excrescent â€Å"-st† By Mark Nichol Somewhere along the way, a very small group of English words, through dialectical divergence, acquired spelling and punctuation variants in the form of an odd appendage: the letters -st. Three of these terms are acceptable (but declining in use) in British English but deemed nonstandard in American English, while two others, strangely, have prevailed over earlier forms. The phonological term for this type of change is excrescence, which although it simply means â€Å"outgrowth† is a word with unpleasant associations that should help writers (and speakers) of American English to remember to think twice before using one of the following three words: 1. Amidst: The preposition amid, meaning â€Å"among† or â€Å"during,† or â€Å"with the accompaniment of,† is often written (but rarely said as) amidst, even in American English, but it is considered colloquial and unsuitable for formal writing. 2. Amongst: The excrescent form of the preposition among, in some senses synonymous with amid(st), is perhaps even more frequently employed in informal American English writing (and speaking). However, amongst, like amidst, should be avoided in formal writing. 3. Whilst: Alone among these three words, the conjunction whilst is rarely used in American English, perhaps because it sounds especially affected; many users of British English also favor while. Its relative unpopularity, however, is counterintuitive in that it is relatively easy to pronounce, while amidst and amongst involve some mandibular gymnastics. Though they have the same ending as amidst, amongst, and whilst, these words ending in the excrescent -st are standard: 4. Against: Anomalously, though against followed a path similar to those of the three words listed above, forming from the alteration of again to againes and then to againest before settling into its current form, the nonstandard variant prevailed. Again, as a preposition, has been relegated to dialect used for comic effect; indeed, in this context, it is often spelled agin to emphasize the drawled pronunciation, as in â€Å"I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ agin ya† (translation: â€Å"I’m not saying anything against you†). 5. Midst: This variant of the noun middle (from the Middle English term middest, an alteration of middes, which in turn is short for amiddes, meaning â€Å"amid†) is correct, though its survival is curious, considering that middle is easier to pronounce. The truncated form mid is acceptable only as a prefix in a hyphenated (mid-Atlantic) or closed (midafternoon) compound. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Writing a Reference Letter (With Examples)Hyper and HypoComma After Introductory Phrases

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Anything related to Gender and Technology Research Paper

Anything related to Gender and Technology - Research Paper Example Various people link technology with computer devices, robots and other advances in science, limiting themselves in defining technology in small terms. Experts agree that technology review as larger than chips and optics will allow people uncover how technological patterns perpetuate social and cultural class stratification. This paper will investigate how the notion of gender shapes technology and investigate different ways in which technology (cosmetic surgery) has influenced lives of women. Discussion The discussion will investigate diverse ways in which bodies of women are structured and deconstructed in modern culture and some moral, social and political outcomes such processes for the women’s well-being, (Negrin, 2008). It will also focus on gender technology (cosmetic surgery), for instance those forms of socio-cultural practices the make the human body gendered. Similarly, the theoretical foundation of this paper is that the aspect of the human body as highly hypothesiz ed and expressed with certain cultural contexts including economic, social, religious and influential political discourses is crucial. Such discourses represent the extensive system of belief or cultural ideologies, and as they function in performances, they establish verbal and non-verbal rules and laws for how both men and women are expected to feel, perceive and act in relation to the environment and other people. Body modification (cosmetic surgery) as a masculinity or femininity identity mark has extensive and ancient cultural origin. A number of ancient practices (such as wearing of the corset and binding of foot), have increasingly been dumped, whereas others (like FMG, tattooing and male circumcision) are persistent, (Davis, 1995). Similarly, new ways of promoting ones manhood and womanhood through diverse aspects of the body are persistently being created. Contemporary medicine and fashion permit practical modification of gender bodies to attain idealized notion of masculin ity and femininity. The rate of cosmetic surgery in the modern globe to enhance desirability, attractiveness and appeal of a person to other sex is continually rising. These practices have increasing dominated the mainstream media and popular culture in an attempt to fix the norm of approved ideal feminine and masculine attractiveness and, therefore, reinforce the man-woman polarity. In feminist studies, woman body is perceived as part of scripting of cultural anxiety regarding life, regulation and death and actual human implication. In other words, female’s bodies are increasingly main features and thus, reflect the challenges, panic and the public disunity and socio-cultural aspects in the postmodern era, (Parker & Rhian, 2010). Various issues emerge as a fundamental source of controversy for instance, gender technologies such as cosmetic surgery and inequality experiences that draw a wider gap between male and female body. Cosmetic surgeries are aimed to amend physical abn ormalities or promote a normal physical character and, therefore, enhance appearance. Cosmetic surgery, as an extensively wide field, which may provide reconstructive surgery for people with devastating burns or physical damage, can be utilized aesthetic purposes such as smoothening wrinkles, breasts enlargement and reshaping noses. In the past, cosmetic surgery practices were mainly restricted to necessary surgery to ensure patient well-being and health. Such surgical practices

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Comprehensive Doctoral Review Examination Question #1 Theory with the Term Paper

Comprehensive Doctoral Review Examination Question #1 Theory with the concept (when contractors preform inherently governmental functions it puts the U.S. Government at risk) - Term Paper Example Additionally, the research conducted on the based on the different available evidences enhances the relevance of the research and further develops their acceptability. Similarly, the different theories that are available in the specific fields enhance the approach towards the present research question (Houser & Oman, 2011). In this regards the issue related with the inherent operations of the management that puts the governmental functioning at risk. The performances of the contractors are majorly involved with the performances of the government as the performances of the individual contractors affect the overall performances of the federal government. Several technical complexities affect the different operational motives of the government and hinder the ability of the government to perform effectively. Furthermore, the contractors performs the functions that are intimately related with public interest hence if the contractors fails to meet with the different needs of the public it is most likely to affect the overall government functions. With this regard, the paper elaborates on the functioning of the contractors that in turn puts the government operations at risk. Theories have been authentic evidences that support the research and enhance the relevance of the same. The different theories that are available in the specific fields provide a guideline for conducting the research and enhance the acceptability of the study. The word theory has a several number of meanings and is interpreted by the different theorist in several manners. Furthermore, the different theorists have elaborated on the different concepts that are appropriate for the different situations and different problems. The following sections project the different concepts that are most important for developing a generalisabilty of the research and develop the relevance of the

Monday, November 18, 2019

Political Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Topic - Essay Example Of interesting note, of those that found the crisis to be the most sever of their lfietime, the youngest group, 18-35, had the smallest percentage, 33%, compared to the over 55 age group, 42%, many of whom would have been alive during the Great Depression. Even though this group is the youngest and has the least amount of time in which to compare different crises, this smaller percentage could be in part due to the crisis affecting the financial and housing markets more, of which this younger group would be less likely to feel the effects of, as opposed to the direct effect of the price of filling up one’s tank with gas. Older Americans with assets, including owning their own house and such, would probably feel the anxiety of the financial sector being in peril. The poll found that 78% of those polled favored that some sort of government intervention be taken. Of those, 22% favored the plan that was proposed by President Bush, and 56% favored a plan different from the Bush proposal. Of those polled, only 11% favored that no action be taken at all, with another 11% having no opinion. A telephone survey was performed for this poll. There was a margin of error of plus of minus 3%. In the first set of questions asked, the poll asked what specific plan of action would they like to see done. Also, it should be noted that this poll was taken before high-intensity negotiations took place in Congress. The poll attempted to also find out to the degree at which people were following the story in the news. 80% of people were either watching the news very closely or somewhat closely, and this statistics ranked in the highest tiers as far as percentages of people following a new story. The poll also asked what the outcome would be if no action was taken by Congress, and the resounding answer was that 74% of people felt that the situation would get worse. Some of the questions tended to be

Friday, November 15, 2019

Nonverbal Communication In Social Psychology Psychology Essay

Nonverbal Communication In Social Psychology Psychology Essay The most important thing in communication is hearing what isnt said.- Peter F. Drucker cited in Goman,2008 page 1. This states that spoken language and non verbal signals need to simultaneously exist and interact with each other in order to give the receiver a fully understanding of what is been said. Non-verbal communication is the ability to transfer, receive and decode messages to one another without using spoken or written language instead we take a specific body posture or facial expression to denote a particular feeling or intention. Non-verbal behaviour can be both consciously and unconsciously (M .Argyle, 1988, page 4). Non-verbal behaviour became acknowledged in the social psychological field in 1872 by Charles Darwins work, where he suggested that high intelligence animals shared the same facial expressions with humans C.Darwin (1872 cited in P.Ekman,1973, pages 12,13). This essay will discuss the importance of non verbal communication in the social psychological field. There are different types of kinesics such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and body postures. It is said that the eyes are the most powerful means of communication we posses after words (G.R.Wainwright, 1985, page 5) that is because our eyes help us seek information, display attention and interest, show respect and provide feedback during speech Argyle (1965, cited in Wainwright, 1988 page 9). For example when people avoid looking others in the eyes, it seems that they are trying to hide something or that they are lying. Neuro-Linguistic Programming researchers, for several decades, believed that when a person looks up to their right corner of their eye they are more likely to be lying, whilst a glance up to their left it indicates that they are telling the truth. However, a later on study of two professors; R. Wiseman from  Edinburgh University and C. Watt from Hertfordshire University has shown that that theory was wrong; there was no evidence of a correlation betwe en lying and eye movements. (R. Wiseman, C. Watt et al. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7).Instead avoiding eye contact could clearly indicate nervousness or shyness. Moreover, in some countries eye contact signifies respect and straightforwardness whereas in others it is seen as rude and disrespectful; for instance in European cultures, a certain amount of eye contact is required, but too much makes many people uncomfortable. When greeting a Chinese, it is best to avoid prolonged eye contact as a sign of respect and deference (E. T. Hall, M. R. Hall, 1990,page 14). Furthermore, effectual eye contact is also a significant feedback machine that makes the speaking situation a double dissociation since it certifies that others are listening and that the listeners are appreciated for their attentiveness. (G. R. Wainwright,1985 , page 11) However, when people feel bored they usually do not make eye contact with the person they are talking to and may start searching for anything nearby to fidget with -th eir cell phone or objects around the room, for example. These actions are perceived as signs of boredom and lack of interest. (G. R. Wainwright, 1985, page 7) Closely relevant to eye contact are facial expressions which posses the most dominant and primary form of body language. Facial expressions must have obtained evolutionary importance; since it would have been evolutionary growth for our antecedents to have been chosen for biological reproduction and natural survival on account of their ability to make facial expressions C .Darwin (1872 cited in P .Ekman page 13). Additionally, it has been said that people can produce around 20000 different facial expressions Birdwhistell (1970 cited in Argyle,1988 page122). This mosaic of facial expressions is universal and sums up to six basic principles; happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise and when these fundamental emotions are mixed together they produce an array of expressions Ekman (1982 cited M. Argyle, 1988 pages 121,122). Furthermore, the importance of facial expressions is also shown by the ability that people have on making almost infallible critics about someones persona lity, intelligence, character in the first few minutes of meeting them (G. R. Wainwright, 1985, page 23). However, a psychologist had run an experiment, in which the subjects had to chose if that person in the picture was innocent or not, and found out that a significant number of people were biased to judge someone as a criminal by their facial features (G.R. Wainwright, 1985, page 27). In sequence of these findings it suggests that people sometimes misinterpret what they are seeing without having any specific evidence. Also, considering that facial expressions are tight together with emotions, sometimes they can be very similar with the attitudes that we give towards other people; voluntary and involuntary, paradigm being angry is an emotion, being angry towards someone is an interpersonal attitude(M.Argyle,1988, page 85) . Intermittently, people have to look back in order not to disobey that fine line between acceptable and unacceptable attitudes; for example liking and disliking someone are emotions although the expression of disliking someone is often restricted by social rules (M. Argyle, 1988, page 85).Furthermore, facial expressions are inevitable to occur thus at intervals they come in contrast of what is been felt and what their expressions demonstrate (M. Argyle, 1988, page 78,127 and G .R .Wainwright,1985, page 26) .Researches has shown that micromomentary expressions might be captured through cameras but are too emphemeral and momentary for most people to realize them; For example a person might say that they are happy to see someone and may even smile at them, but this false attitude may be showed by a micromomentary expression like disgust. (G .R .Wainwright, 1985, page 26) Another huge subdivision of Non-verbal Communication is gestures. Gestures include body movements that chaperon spoken language, especially with the use of hands; some of them are waving, pointing, using the fingers to indicate numerical amounts and are enormously substantial in the social psychological field since they give emphasis and interpret what is been said. A study has shown that most vocal conversations are accompanied, regulated and modulated by kinesics; like motion of the head, hands etc Bull and Conelli (1985, cited in M. Argyle ,1988 page 107) . Moreover, some gestures are known as illustrators of the verbal context because they imitate shapes, physical objects or movements. Dittman (1972) argued that illustrators appear at the establishment of a verbal conversation in order to manifest what will be contained in the verbal aspect. It was also verified by Butterworth and Beattie (1978) who their findings showed that gestures prefaced the phrase which was associated with them by an average of 800 milliseconds. Although, McNeil and Levy (1982) corralled otherwise, saying that illustrative gestures had the same possibility to happen prior of a phrase or later on (M .Argyle,1988, page 107). Furthermore, another research has demonstrated that emphasis can be denoted not only by the changes of pitch or loudness of someones voice but also by hand or head movements; Mehrabian (1972) had found that speakers who wanted to convince and allure the hearers used gestures and head-nods more frequently . However, Argyle (1983) disagreed with the above statement saying that the capital reason that the transmitter looks at the receiver is to collect information and reactions about what has just been said, in the form of head-nods, facial expressions ,gestures and so on (M.Argyle,1988,page 109).In addition, gestures are not universal, they are culture specific, and can have an entirely different meaning from one culture to another ; so giving a thumbs-up or a peace sign might mean a greeting for some countries and some others might take it as highly offensive signs Morris (1979 cited in Wainwright,1985 page 45). Last but not least, another research has shown that people are perceived as more active, warm and acceptable when they tend to use more nonverbal movements than the ones that use less; those are seen as more logical, cold and analytic (G.R. Wainwright,1985 page 48,49) In conclusion, non verbal communication in some purposes is more powerful and consequential than verbal language itself mostly because it can take different forms; such as gestures, eye contact, facial expressions. That illustrates emotions and attitudes to other people without using any verbal communication. (M. Argyle, 1988 page 308). It is evident that most communication happens without speech and that the spoken part of conversation is actually much less than we think (M.Argyle, 1988,page 1). When verbal and non-verbal communication blend together, the second one might either strengthen or curve the prior one (M. Argyle, 1988,page 106).

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

A Seperate Peace :: essays research papers

Devon is a safe haven away from the rest of the world. A war is going on, but at Devon the boys are playing around a river and creating new games like blitzball and not worrying about the problems boys only a few years older than them are facing. Devon is at peace, separate from the fighting and loss many people in the world are facing while Finny, Gene, and other boys are forming a special club just for their group of friends. At Devon the boys know about the war and even have people coming to get them to enlist, but still the war does not hit home. They are still at peace and do not see the reality of the war. What they see are mostly videos brought to them to encourage them to enlist, and those do not come close to showing then the true terror of war. At the beginning of the novel, the boys have not yet been drafted like those a few years ahead of their class. They have not trained for war, and most do not see it as much of a threat. A few boys are ready to enlist, and some do not even consider it. Phineas says he does not even believe there is a war at all, and he partly convinces Gene of this idea as well. The war doesn’t hit any of them until Leper, the first to enlist, goes to war and comes back a complete mess. Although not children, they are not quite adults, and they share a rare time of carefree play that is completely isolated from the war. These young boys are separate from the reality of the world while they continue their studies just as they had always done, with the only difference being an extra school session in the summer. They have no concept of the danger many people are facing. At such a young age, the war seems so distant and unreal, maybe even fake. According to Witherington, "War is only make-believe on the fields and rivers of Devon.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Automated Grading System

If bridges and buildings were made like we make software, then we would have disasters happening daily. I have heard this several times from many people. It is sad but true. Buggy software is the bane of the software industry. One of the ways of increasing software quality is by proper education. Several professionals from the software industry also attest to this. They believe that a greater emphasis should be given to quality and testing in university courses. But simply explaining the principles of software quality is not sufficient.Students tend to forget theoretical principles over time. Practical exposure and experience is equally important. Students should be put in an environment where they can appreciate the importance of quality software and can experience the benefits of processes that enhance quality. Many universities have a period of internship for the students in which they work in a software company and experience these factors first hand. However because the internsh ip usually is of a duration of 3-6 months, it is not sufficient to instill the importance of quality.Emphasis on code quality should be made a part of the entire software curriculum for it to have proper impact. Every assignment that the students submit should be subjected to the same quality standards that an industrial project would be subjected to. Having university assignments adhere to industrial standards will result in the faculty having to spend more time grading the assignments. The faculty can no longer just give an assignment, wait for the students to submit it, and grade them. The faculty must be more like a project manager who constantly mentors the students and helps them improve the quality of their work.Along with spending a good amount of time mentoring students off class hours another challenge is timely evaluation of student assignments. Faculty members are already overloaded with the task of teaching, designing projects, grading, and research. Once we incorporate testing and quality into the curricula, each assignment will have to be graded along many more dimensions, such as quality of the tests, coverage of the tests, etc. This can be very time consuming. We need a mechanism which will automatically grade student assignments to the best possible extent, so that students are iven a timely feedback, and faculty can focus more on providing feedback on the style, design, and documentation of the project. Such a system will also bring consistency to the grading process and will eliminate discrepancies due to instructors bias and lethargy. A good automated grading system should be capable of executing the test cases written by students as well as the faculty on the project, determining the coverage of the test cases, and compiling and executing the submitted programs. It should be configurable so that faculty can determine the importance of various factors that make up the final grade.Several efforts have been made to design and implement autom ated grading systems in universities. Some existing systems are: 1. WEB-CAT[1] 2. Curator[2] 3. ASSYST[3] 4. Praktomat[4] 5. PGSE[5] 6. PILOT[6] In this article I will briefly explain two such automated grading systems – WEB-CAT, and the Praktomat systems, and propose a system that contains useful features from them as well as some new features. WEB-CAT WEB-CAT was created at Virginia Tech university to address the need for incorporating software testing as an integral part of all programming courses.The creators realized the need for a software to automatically grade student assignments to enable faster feedback to students and to balance the working load of faculty members. Since Test Driven Development (TDD) was to be used for all the assignments, the students had to be graded not only on the quality of code, but also on the quality of their test suite. WEB-CAT grades students on three criteria. It gives each assignment a test validity score, a test correctness score, and a code correctness score. Test validity measures the accuracy of the students tests. It determines if the tests are consistent with the problem tatement. Test coverage determines how much of the source code the tests cover. It determines if all paths and conditionals are adequately covered. Code correctness measures correctness of the actual code. All three criteria are given a certain weight-age and a final score is determined. WEB-CAT’s graphical user interface is inspired by the unit testing tool JUnit[7]. Just like JUnit it uses a green bar to show the test results. A text description containing details such as the number of tests that were run, and the number that passed is also provided. Basic features provided by WEB-CAT are: Submission of student assignments using a web based wizard interface †¢ Submission of test cases using a web based wizard interface †¢ Setup of assignments by faculty †¢ Download of student scores by the faculty †¢ Automatic gr ading with immediate feedback for student assignment WEB-CAT follows a certain sequence of steps to assess a project submission. A submission is assessed only if it compiles successfully. If compilation fails, then a summary of errors is displayed to the user. If the program is compiled successfully then WEB-CAT will assess the project on various parameters.It first tests the correctness of the program by running the student’s tests against the program. Since these tests are submitted by the students, and it is expected that 100% of the tests will pass, because we do not expect students to submit a program that fails their own tests. After this the student’s test cases are validated by running them against a reference implementation of the project created by the instructor. If a student’s test case fails on the reference implementation then it is deemed to be invalid. Finally the coverage of the student’s test cases is evaluated.Once the scores are obtain ed a cumulative score out of 100 is calculated applying a certain formula on the scores from all criteria. The results are displayed immediately to the student on an HTML interface. It was observed that the quality of student assignments increased significantly after using WEB-CAT. It was found that the code developed using WEB-CAT contained 45% fewer defects per 1000 (non commented) lines of code[8]. Praktomat Praktomat was created at Universitat Passau in Germany. The purpose of creating Praktomat was to build an environment which would help students enhance the quality of their code.Along with automated grading it also has a focus on peer reviews. The creators of Praktomat felt that reviewing others software and having one’s software reviewed helps in producing better code. This is the reason why Praktomat has a strong focus on peer review and allows users to review as well as annotate code written by other students. Students can resubmit their code any number of times til l the deadline. This way they can improve their code by adopting things they learned by reviewing other students code as well as lessons they learned by others feedback of their own code.Praktomat evaluates student assignments by running them against a test suite provided by the faculty. The faculty creates two test suites – a public suite and a secret suite. The public suite is distributed to the students to help them validate their project. The secret test suite is not made available to the students, but they are aware of its existence. An assignment is evaluated by automatically running both the test suites against it, and also by manual examination by the faculty. Praktomat was developed in Python, and is hosted on SourceForge[9]. ObservationsMy contention that student project submissions should be backed by a process to encourage best practices, and a software to automate as well as facilitate the process, has become stronger after reviewing WEB-CAT and Praktomat. What b est practices should we incorporate in the process? What are the features that an automated grading software should contain? WEB-CAT, Praktomat, and several other software give a good starting point. We can learn from their successes and failures, and enhance the offering by adding our own experience. WEB-CAT and several other sources[10] have shown us that TDD is definitely a good practice.In a university environment TDD will work best if it is complemented by instant feedback to the students. We want to have a process that will encourage students to improve the quality of their code. They should be graded on the best code they can submit till the deadline. Two things are needed for this – instant feedback and the ability to resubmit assignments. WEB-CAT achieves this by assessing submissions in real time, and displaying the results to the students immediately. WEB-CAT allows students to re-submit assignments any number of time till the due date.Since faculty members are alr eady overloaded with work, the software should take some of the faculties responsibilities. WEB-CAT automatically evaluates and grades the student’s assignments, leaving faculty with time for more meaningful activities. Praktomat has shown us that there is a definite benefit to peer review. When we review code written by others, we can go beyond the paradigms set in our own mind. Having our code reviewed by others can help us see our shortcomings which we may have earlier overlooked. Praktomat allows students to review code written by others.However the review is hidden from the faculty, to ensure that it does not impact grading. Praktomat does not rely on 100% automatic evaluation of the assignments. Praktomat evaluates certain aspects automatically and the rest are evaluated manually. Factors like code quality, documentation, etc are reviewed and evaluated manually by the faculty. There may be two reasons for this. Software to support automatic evaluation of these things ma y not have been available when Praktomat was written, or the creators felt that certain things are best evaluated by the faculty.A proposed system for automated grading Based on my observations from reviewing the above software systems and from my own experience, I have defined a process and the functional expectations of a software system that supports TDD and automated grading. The Process †¢ Every project should have a deadline, just like the real world †¢ The project should be defined as a set of use cases and a functional test suite. Both should be made available to the students. †¢ Students should start developing their project using the TDD philosophy. †¢ They should also be provided a source code repository like CVS or VSS. Once the students have completed their project they should tag the build and should upload the tag number to a web based submission software. †¢ It must be clearly defined how the students should submit their unit test suite. â₠¬ ¢ They should also provide one file which will trigger the remaining unit tests.†¢ The software will pull the source from the repository, and evaluate it. o Failure is reported to the student if the project fails to compile. Failure here does not mean that the student fails in the assignment. Assignments can be corrected and submitted any number of time till the deadline. Once the compilation succeeds, the software will run the unit tests written by the student on their code. o After collecting results from the unit tests, the test coverage is measured. o Then the functional tests created by the faculty are executed against the software. o The software is then run through a source code format checker which evaluates it for adherence to coding standards,The software is then run through a source code quality checker which evaluates the quality of code based on known best practices, and anti patterns. o The software is finally channeled to the faculty who evaluates it for design . Results from all the tests are given out of 100%. o After collecting all the results a formula (provided by the faculty) is applied to derive the final score. The Software †¢ The software should provide an account with a username and password to each student and faculty. †¢ The software should be web based so that it can be accessed from anywhere using a standard web browser. †¢ After logging in students should be able to browse to the homepage for a particular assignment and view the details, such as specification, due dates, and any other details posted by the faculty. When a student completes her assignment, she should be able to upload the CVS tag number to the server.†¢ Once the tag number is uploaded the server should pull the source code from a CVS repository and perform the checks mentioned above. †¢ Results from each check is recorded in the database. †¢ The detailed result is then displayed to the student. †¢ Students should be able to resubmit an assignment any number of times till the deadline. †¢ Student code should be available for peer review and annotations if the faculty desires. The faculty should be able to create an assignment and upload details and files. †¢ The faculty should be able to trigger the final evaluation of all assignments either manually, or at a scheduled time. †¢ An evaluation should take the latest tag numbers provided by the student and perform tests on the respective source code. †¢ Results should be made available to the faculty, and students. †¢ The faculty should be able to add their own scores for parts that were checked manually. †¢ The final result is computed by applying a formula provided by the faculty. The final results should be downloadable as a csv text file. Several technologies such as Java, Python, PHP, . NET, and Ruby can be used to implement such a system. Each have their pros and cons. We will not cover the implementation technology in t his paper. Evaluation of these technologies and a final choice based on the evaluation will be dealt with in a separate paper.Reference: 1. http://scholar. lib. vt. edu/theses/available/etd-05222003-225759/unrestricted/Web-CAT. pdf 2. http://www. cs. vt. edu/curator/PublicInfo/CuratorIntroduction. pdf 3. http://portal. cm. org/citation. cfm? id=268210 4. ]http://www. infosun. fmi. uni-passau. de/st/papers/iticse2000/iticse2000. pdf 5. Jones, E. L. Grading student programs – a software testing approach. J. Computing in Small Colleges, 16(2): pp. 185-192. 6. http://www-2. cs. cmu. edu/~rsbaker/pilot. pdf 7. http://www. junit. org 8. Using Test Driven Development in the Classroom: Providing Students with Automatic, Concrete Feedback on Performance. http://web-cat. cs. vt. edu/grader/Edwards-EISTA03. pdf 9. http://sourceforge. net/projects/praktomat/ 10. http://www. testdriven. com

Friday, November 8, 2019

Hind and Behind

Hind and Behind Hind and Behind Hind and Behind By Mark Nichol This post discusses the words in which the element hind, pertaining to location or movement in or to the rear, appears. The adjective hind means â€Å"back† or â€Å"rear.† Hindbrain refers to the rear part of the brain. Hindquarters denotes the rear part of a four-legged animal, though the term is sometimes used informally in place of â€Å"buttocks,† and a hind shank is a cut of meat from the upper part of an animal’s hind leg. (Heinie, and its alternate spelling, hiney, are slang terms for the buttocks.) To hinder is to hold or keep back, and something that does so is a hindrance. (Hinder is also a comparative of the adjective hind, meaning â€Å"more behind.†) Hindmost is a synonym for last, seldom used but widely known from the expression â€Å"The devil take the hindmost.† Hindsight means â€Å"perception of an event after it occurs† and is usually seen in the phrase â€Å"in hindsight† or in the expression â€Å"Hindsight is twenty-twenty,† which means that one’s vision is clear (at 20/20 acuity) in retrospect because it is easier to analyze and judge an event after the fact than before it occurs. Hinterland, taken directly from German, means â€Å"back country,† connoting an area far inland or remote from urban areas. Behind stems from the Old English adverb and preposition behindan, meaning â€Å"after† or â€Å"at the back of†; the first syllable means â€Å"by,† and hindan means â€Å"from behind.† The compound behindhand, serving as an adjective and an adverb, means â€Å"in a backward state† (of development or thinking) or â€Å"in the rear†- or, perhaps formed on the model of beforehand, â€Å"unable to pay.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Wether, Weather, WhetherProbable vs. PossibleIf I Was vs. If I Were

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Free Essays on Aschenputtels Secrets

â€Å"Aschenputtel’s† Secrets Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s version of â€Å"Cinderella†, â€Å"Aschenputtel† is rich with psychological, religious, and philosophical ideas. The Grimm brothers tell a seemingly simple tale of the hardships of a young girl without her mother having to face the cruelty of her new blended family. However, when read by a more mature audience the juvenile fantasy tale turns into something much more. â€Å"Aschenputtel† provides simple entertainment and a simple moral for the young reader. At an immature glance the fairy tale seems to preach to children to turn the other cheek when faced with adversity. With a deeper look it can be seen as a vastly more complex work. The many psychological, religious, and philosophical ideas inlaid by the Grimm brothers make for a much more adult story. Psychology, religion, and philosophy create and shape Aschenputtel’s character. Aschenputtel has to deal with a blended family and the coinciding sibling rivalry issues th at come with her new family. She is continuously aware of the religious implications her mother has laid upon her. Finally, the adversity she faces with her cruel family gives her a â€Å"survival-of-the-fittest† type of philosophy. Upon the introduction of Aschenputtel’s new step-mother it is told that, â€Å" The woman had brought with her into the house two daughters, who were beautiful and fair if face, but vile and black of heart† (Grimm 7). Immediately it is exposed that the new sisters are evil, they take away her pretty clothes, ridicule her and make her sleep in the hearth. The actions of the sisters blatantly obvious as typical sibling rivalry. Visibly threatened by Aschenputtel’s place in the home, they felt the necessity to mark their new territory and take advantage of Aschenputtel’s pious ways. On the other hand, Aschenputtel competes with them in a very different way. She is patient and bides her time. While the other sisters beg fo... Free Essays on Aschenputtel's Secrets Free Essays on Aschenputtel's Secrets â€Å"Aschenputtel’s† Secrets Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s version of â€Å"Cinderella†, â€Å"Aschenputtel† is rich with psychological, religious, and philosophical ideas. The Grimm brothers tell a seemingly simple tale of the hardships of a young girl without her mother having to face the cruelty of her new blended family. However, when read by a more mature audience the juvenile fantasy tale turns into something much more. â€Å"Aschenputtel† provides simple entertainment and a simple moral for the young reader. At an immature glance the fairy tale seems to preach to children to turn the other cheek when faced with adversity. With a deeper look it can be seen as a vastly more complex work. The many psychological, religious, and philosophical ideas inlaid by the Grimm brothers make for a much more adult story. Psychology, religion, and philosophy create and shape Aschenputtel’s character. Aschenputtel has to deal with a blended family and the coinciding sibling rivalry issues th at come with her new family. She is continuously aware of the religious implications her mother has laid upon her. Finally, the adversity she faces with her cruel family gives her a â€Å"survival-of-the-fittest† type of philosophy. Upon the introduction of Aschenputtel’s new step-mother it is told that, â€Å" The woman had brought with her into the house two daughters, who were beautiful and fair if face, but vile and black of heart† (Grimm 7). Immediately it is exposed that the new sisters are evil, they take away her pretty clothes, ridicule her and make her sleep in the hearth. The actions of the sisters blatantly obvious as typical sibling rivalry. Visibly threatened by Aschenputtel’s place in the home, they felt the necessity to mark their new territory and take advantage of Aschenputtel’s pious ways. On the other hand, Aschenputtel competes with them in a very different way. She is patient and bides her time. While the other sisters beg fo...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Canadaian Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Canadaian Studies - Essay Example The past governments leading to its poor social, educational, and health outcomes in relation to their Aboriginal Canadian citizens have sidelined the Northwest region (Simeone, 2011). Despite the little improvements in the Northwest Region, more still needs to be done so that the Aboriginal Canadians also enjoy good standards of living like the other Canadian citizens. According to the 2006 Census, 3.8% of the Canadian population was made of the Aboriginal communities (Simeone, 2011). Amongst these communities, the Indians make the largest percentage of 60%. Furthermore, Canadas Northwest Aboriginal population is growing faster than the nonaboriginal population (Simeone, 2011). Moreover, from 1996-2006 there was almost 45% increase of the aboriginal population in Canada (Simeone, 2011). Despite the various gains in sectors of education, employment, and income in the past decade, the aboriginal population in Canada still lags behind on those sectors. In Northwest region, Inuits fare worse on a variety of economic indicators when compared to the Metis. Some of the social and economic challenges that face the region include poor prevalence on health issues in the region, unemployment, and low income and educational levels. The Northwest region in Canada has been a topic of concern with its increasing gas and oil development in the region. The political situation in the region has been high with the local communities and non-governmental organizations raising their concerns on the need to protect the environment (Cain and Ken, 2013). Additionally, the Aboriginal communities in the region often experience a dynamic political and social, cultural response. The politics of the region are concerned with the ultimate protection of various cultural landscapes in the Northwest region. Furthermore, the government has consistently negotiated with the community leaders through the government resource managers towards amicable solutions that could lead to

Friday, November 1, 2019

Driving Around a Bend Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Driving Around a Bend - Assignment Example Higher is the speed and more is the angle of inclination. Many times, the turn is too sharp and/or the speed is too much to negotiate by the motorists and the vehicle skids causing fatal accidents. A car driver, unfortunately, cannot lean like a motorcyclist and therefore, he needs something else to help him negotiate a bend without skidding and that is banking on the road. In case of banking, there is an upward slope on the road from inner side towards the outer side of the circle. So the question is by what angle a motorcyclist should lean and also, what should be the angle of banking on the road near a bend to avoid skidding off a vehicle. These two are an essentially same problem and have been treated analytically in the subsequent section. Suddenly a bend comes on the road and he has to move along a circular arc. Moving along a circular arc requires centripetal acceleration and there must be a force to produce this acceleration. If the motorcycle goes on a horizontal circular path, this resultant force will also be horizontal. Let us consider a motorcycle of mass ‘m’ moving at a speed ‘v’ is negotiating a bend of radius ‘r’ and the road is horizontal. Therefore, the external forces acting on the vehicle are the following: As the road is horizontal, the normal reaction force ‘R’ is vertically upward. The only horizontal force that can act towards the center of the circular path is friction F. This is static friction and self-adjustable. The tires get a tendency to skid outward and the frictional force which opposes the skidding acts towards the center. Thus for the safe turn i.e. for the turn without skidding