Narrative Professor Ramos Blog

Narrative

Dromiceiomimus - Facts and Figures

Dromiceiomimus - Facts and Figures Name: Dromiceiomimus (Greek for emu mimic); pronounced DROE-mih-SAY-oh-MIME-us Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (80-65 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 12 feet long and 200 pounds Diet: Probably omnivorous Distinguishing Characteristics: Relatively large eyes and brain; long legs; bipedal posture About Dromiceiomimus A close relative of the North American ornithomimids (bird mimic dinosaurs) Ornithomimus and Struthiomimus, the late Cretaceous Dromiceiomimus may have been the fastest of the bunch, at least according to one analysis of this theropods unusually long legs. At full tilt, Dromiceiomimus may have been capable of hitting speeds of 45 or 50 miles per hour, though it probably stepped on the gas pedal only when it was being pursued by predators or itself in pursuit of small, skittering prey. Dromiceiomimus was also notable for its relatively large eyes (and correspondingly big brain), which matched up oddly with this dinosaurs weak, toothless jaws. As with most ornithomimids, paleontologists speculate that Dromiceiomimus was omnivorous, feeding mostly on insects and vegetation but pouncing on the occasional small lizard or mammal when the opportunity presented itself. Now for the catch: many, if not most, paleontologists believe that Dromiceiomimus was actually a species of Ornithomimus, and not deserving of genus status. When this dinosaur was discovered, in Canadas Alberta province in the early 1920s, it was initially classified as a species of Struthiomimus, until Dale Russell reexamined the remains in the early 1970s and erected the genus Dromiceiomimus (emu mimic). A few years later, though, Russell changed his mind and synonymized Dromiceiomimus with Ornithomimus, arguing that the main feature distinguishing these two genera (the length of their legs) wasnt truly diagnostic. Long story short: while Dromiceiomimus persists in the dinosaur bestiary, this difficult-to-spell dinosaur may soon go the way of Brontosaurus!

The environmental impacts of the Kuwait invasion and the main Term Paper

The environmental impacts of the Kuwait invasion and the main casualties and losses during the seven month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait - Term Paper Example However, this invasion did not become without negative impact, especially to the local civilians. Some of the outcomes of the Kuwait invasion were environmental. The long term effect includes climatic, vegetation, and biological changes in Kuwait. They experienced high penetration of sun rays due to global warming, poor vegetation, and poor health. The invasion had some effect on air, water, and land. This paper aims at discussing the environmental impacts of the Kuwait invasion. After the United States of America had come to the aid of Kuwait, Sadam Hussein, the then Iraqi president orders his troops to undertake a scorched earth policy which would see to it that all the oil wells in Kuwait were lit on fire before the soldiers retreated from Kuwait (Wilcox 177). The main aim of using the scorched earth policy was aimed at giving them a military advantage by slowing down the USA troops. The scorched earth policy led to the burning of 700 wells in. The Kuwait atmosphere was one of the most affected by the scorched earth policy. When oil is burned in the presence of air there is always the production of carbon dioxide smoke (Austin 101). Carbon dioxide usually has negative effects to the atmosphere. One thing that is obvious is that the massive production of carbon dioxide, smoke led to climatic changes in the region. This means that the ozone layer was highly interfered with lead to an increase in the rate of global warming in Kuwait. During the burning there is definitely some oil that was not completely burnt and found its way to the atmosphere. Such oil led to the formation of invisible droplets in the air. Such droplets led to the formation of oil mist and fog which is believed to have led to the death of many animals and plants. This is because air, with such composition would definitely find themselves in the animals and human lungs whenever it is inhaled

Elements of art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Elements of art - Essay Example I observe many things as I look at this painting. If for instance, we don’t know the date when this painting was painting, we would notice that it was made during the Renaissance or after that period due to its atmospheric perspective. After the camera was invented in 1839, artists tried to make their paintings look real and as good as they could. William painted this painting almost as perfect as a real photo. If you goggle Porto Venere, you will see some pictures of this place which looks the same as in this painting. Looking at this painting, I feel cool and relaxed since, it gives me that beautiful feeling you have when you walk on the beach and the drizzles from the waves hit you smoothly. In this painting, there is no real texture which appears as brushwork and impasto. However, bold or noticeable texture appears a little bit on the rocks. Value in this painting includes high-key and low-key. High key appears almost in the middle visible horizontal line starting from the middle of the building moving towards its right side. Low key value appears on the waves, the clouds, the rocks and the mountains. Together, the high-key and low-key values make a strong contrast as is visible At first sight of the painting. In this painting, space is obviously noticeable. The front houses overlap the other house and the big mountain behind the house overlaps the other mountain. The rocks as well overlap each other. In addition, the shading in the waves and the clouds indicate space, different sizes, and positions of the buildings, the rocks and the mountains. The perspective of this painting indicates space too as it appears as atmospheric view in this painting. In this painting, colors appear natural. Appearing in this painting, some of the natural colors is blue(on the waves) and green(on the mountain top). Some parts of the waves have a tint of blue making them look lighter than blue whereas, some parts of the waves have

Romanticism and Transcendentalism Essay Example for Free

Romanticism and Transcendentalism Essay 1. After reviewing the Romanticism resource page, list three characteristics of Romanticism. Also, identify three authors of the Romantic period. * Three characteristics of Romanticism are appreciation of nature, idealism and nationalism. Three authors of the Romantic Era: Edgar Allan Poe, William Cullen Bryant and Lord Byron. 2. Using the Transcendentalism resource page, list three characteristics of Transcendentalism * Three characteristic of Transcendentalism are nature, intuition and the thought of God being a part of nature. 3. How did Transcendentalists feel about nature? What did Transcendentalists feel about the inherent nature of human beings (were humans inherently good or evil)? * Transcendentalists had much respect for nature and believed in the best and goodness of humans. 4. Describe two specific things Thoreau learned about life by translating the lines below in your own words: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to live deeply and suck out all the marrow of life. (Walden) * Walden wanted to learn more about life in order to understand it completely by living it. I think Walden got to comprehend that some things aren’t necessary in order to live happy and in the right way. He realized that he didn’t really know what life was, until he was to experience things himself. 5. Which two great passive resistance leaders were influenced by the premise of Transcendentalism through the works of Thoreau and Emerson? *

The Bubonic Plague: Crisis in Europe and Asia :: essays research papers

The Bubonic Plague: Crisis in Europe and Asia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There have been many natural disasters throughout history that have caused great damage physically, emotionally and mentally. The Bubonic Plague is considered by most to be the second worst disaster to have occurred throughout history. It all began in October 1348, when Genoese trading ships dropped anchor at the port of Messina, Sicily. The Ships had come from the Black Sea port of Kaffa (Truitt, 2001). The few of the crew members that were left alive carried with them a deadly disease so perilous that it would ultimately lead to death (Douglass, 1996). The sailors became infected when sick rats from Central Asia boarded their ships and the fleas that were feasting on the rats bit the sailors (Truitt, 2001). It was thought that the disease originated from the Far East and was spread along major trade routes. When it became clear that the ships from east carried the plague, Messina closed its port. The Ships were forced to seek harbor elsewhere around the Mediterr anean, which allowed the disease to spread very quickly (Truitt, 2001). This would be the beginning of a very traumatic event that would affect all aspects of European society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Bubonic Plague generated from a bacterium called Yersina pestis, which is a one-celled organism that multiplies rapidly once inside its host and produces three types of symptoms, depending on how it is spread (Aberth, 2000). The bacterium that leads to the Bubonic Plague usually is found in the bloodstream of wild black rats. It is then posed to humans by fleas that feed on the blood of rats and then bite humans, in which the bacterium is passed into the human bloodstream (Aberth, 2000). It takes between four and six days for a person infected with the Bubonic Plague to exhibit symptoms (Truitt, 2001). The most common symptom is swellings known as buboes (hence bubonic) that appear in the lymph glands near the initial flea bite (Douglass, 1996). The buboes are red at first, but later turn a dark purple or black they eventually bust open oozing blood and pus (Douglass, 1996). Other symptoms may include a high fever, often causing delirium, violent headaches, su bcutaneous bleeding, and damage to the nervous system caused from the bleeding, which leads to uncontrollable twitching and jerking (Aberth, 2000). There is also a foul odor that is associated with the excrement of blood, pus and sweat of those who are infected (Aberth, 2000).

Harry Harlow

Compare and contrast research by Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment This essay is looking at the similarities of two researchers into attachment. The aim is to present their work so as to compare and contrast the different approaches and techniques used by both Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth. Even though they both had their different techniques in carrying out their experiments, the conclusion of their findings was very similar and this essay will be showing these findings by contrast.Both psychologists wanted to find out the underlying mechanics of attachment of mothers and their young. Firstly an American psychologist namely Harry Harlow who almost by accident started the most influential work in understanding attachment, fortunately discovered he was unable to carry out his original study regarding intelligence in rats, so he turned to the abilities of monkeys after seeing strange behaviour portrayed by the monkeys as he cleaned their cages. Subsequently he realised the fuss was being made from the extraction of the soft sanitary towels that were used in lining their cages.With this in mind he set out to prove the affection these monkey had for the sanitary towels was in fact â€Å"contact comfort† seeing as all their other needs were catered for and there was only adverse behaviour on the removal of the towels. He used rhesus macaques a medium sized monkey, which shares 94% DNA with humans â€Å"yet one must not be very careful how one interprets this genetic similarity. We share 50 per cent of our DNA with a banana†(Discovering Psychology, p. 204,2010). Harlow constructed two surrogate mothers for these babies to show affection or need. wire cylinder that provided milk, also in the cage was a structure made of wood covered in foam with a layer of towelling(also known as terry cloth in America). On viewing the action of the baby monkeys Harry Harlow confirmed his theory of â€Å"contact comfort†. He witnessed t he baby clinging on to the terry cloth mother for comfort and only reaching for the wire surrogate for food then returning back to the terry cloth mother. â€Å"In another experiment he showed that the babies treated the terry cloth mother as a â€Å"safe base† (Discovering psychology, p. 07,2010) On displacement of the mothers the only distressing reaction came about on removal of the terry cloth mother with no reaction to the removal of the wire mother which produced food. Upon this observation â€Å"Harlow hypothesised that the tactile qualities of stimuli were more important for infant monkeys bonding then the provision of food†(Discovering psychology, p202,2010) So the previous assumption of the cupboard love theory was superseded by Harlows observation of contact comfort.However this conclusion was reach in monkeys and does not automatically prove the same in humans but does give a basis for the t In looking at Marry Ainswoth's work on attachment it is seen ther e is a great difference in the subject and in the condition surrounding the research. Unlike Harlow who conducted his experiments in the controlled conditions of a laboratory, Ainsworth observed young babies from Ugandan families where she moved with her husband in 1953. Through the observation of the babies over â€Å"two hours every fortnight over a period of nine month†(Discovering Psychology, p. 16,2010) She witnessed that upon the mothers showing comfort to their young, the affection that was shown calmed them and stopped them crying, Ainsworth arrived at the conclusion similar to Harlow that the babies needed tactile stimuli or â€Å"contact comfort† the findings she reached coincided with the work of Harlow. She discovered that the displays witnessed and the validation of contact comfort showed infants became more confident to explore as long as the mothers were present, acting as a safe base in the same way the monkeys reacted to the terry cloth mother.This was shown through Harlows placing the monkey in an unfamiliar playroom, using both surrogate mothers. The positive reaction only came when the terry cloth mother was present, acting as a safe base â€Å"allowing infants to go off and explore or play, but also to rush back to if they felt threatened† (Discovering psychology,p. 207,2010) In comparison to Harlow's work Ainsworth because of ethics could not separate the baby from its mother due to the damage to their emotional and psychological well being.So upon which she used the technique of observation to seemingly reach the same result as Harlow in that attachment is based on â€Å"contact comfort†. Also realising in her study the importance of a â€Å"safe base† to infants, as in the observation research carried out on the Uganda families â€Å"if the mothers were unresponsive and emotionally detached, their infants seem to cry a lot more and often seemed clingy or insecure†(Discovering psychology, p. 216, 2010). We see the advantages of Ainsworh's study in wanting to find out about attachment in humans, by studying humans.As well as showing more credibility into the mechanics of human attachment it also provided Ainsworth with the opportunity to develop a highly influential procedure called the strange situation because of the complexity of humans. This procedure consisted of a series of seven episodes involving three participants, namely mother, baby and a stranger. Page 3 personal identifier: C3257246On completion of the procedure in the highly controlled environment (which limited the amount of emotional upset to the child on encountering and being left alone with the stranger that was constructed in one of the episodes) Ainsworth identified four different types of attachment in the infants used in the observation. While benefiting from the conclusion reached it was only on the basis of a single observation and did not take into account important factors such as the mood of the in fants and how well they slept.The study also produced a further problem when the research was carried out in different countries revealing a great difference in the four types of attachment witnessed in her strange situation. This begs the question of ecological validity and how a controlled observation with a set of episodes is not the same for mothers and infants where these circumstances never arise, as in Japan the strange situation procedure never took place as it seemed to be inappropriate since â€Å"those mothers never left their babies in a room alone with a stranger† (Discovering psychology, p. 20,2010). However Harlow had his advantages too. The behaviour in non-human animals that Harlow used can be easier to interpret and to explain the results as unequivocal. Like Ainsworth Harlow carried out further experiments to strengthen the theory of a safe base now that contact comfort was established. In one of the further experiments â€Å"Harlow found that when the bab ies were placed in a large room full of toys they would curl up in a terrified ball if there was no mother or just the wire surrogate present†(Discovering Psychology, p. 07,2010) So even though we cannot be sure of the degree of findings on non humans and how applicable they are to humans, we see that the findings of at least â€Å"contact comfort† are shared with the observations of Mary Ainsworth. In contrast to the different approaches taken by both the physiologists we understand that ethics plays a major role. In the case of Mary Ainsworth we see the question of ethics need not be approached, even In her later research the strange situation. ll necessary procedures were put in place so not to cause suffering to the infants. The view on ethics taken by Harlow was quite inadequate and became cruel and inhumane which was not a surprising as Harlow did not have too much love for animals. He once said that all he cared about was â€Å"whether a monkey will turn out pro perly I can publish. I don't have any love for them. I never have† (Discovering Psychology, p. 212, 2010)unlike Ainsworth who morally complied and stopped her experiment immediately when the infant showed any sign of distress.Although there was not any ethical guidelines in place upon Harlow carrying out his research, the British psychological society states that â€Å"psychologists must be able to demonstrate that the benefits of a study justify the cost to the animal in terms of suffering†(Discovering Psychology, p. 211,2010) So the influential work carried out by Harlow could be argued â€Å"the suffering was justified because human society benefits greatly from the knowledge†. (Discovering Psychology, p. 212,2010)In conclusion this essay has shown the different approaches both psychologists took, By doing so the essay showed the similarity and differences of both studies. The essay showed that the main underlying issue in the two studies was of ethics and bec ause of this the approaches were very different. However the influential work of Harry Harlow proved that â€Å"contact comfort† was the mechanism for attachment by showing systematically â€Å"that contact comfort was more important than food in the formation of attachment†. Discovering Psychology, p. 206, 2010) This essay also found the similarity in Mary Ainsworth's studies without approaching the question of ethics, and like Harlow came to a similar conclusion of â€Å"contact comfort†,Also appreciating the safe base theory Finally this essay appreciates the discoveries made by both Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on producing relevant information through there respective studies. Word count 1518 References: Brace, n. and Byford, j. (eds)Discovering Psycology(2010), Milton Keynes, The Open University. *