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social norms

social norms

Introduction

In spite of the expansive increase of women in advanced education during the recent decades, the wide example of men picking more math, engineering and science and women picking more education, consideration and humanities holds all through the African countries. During the most recent decades the advanced education frameworks in all developing countries nations have encountered substantial progressions, of which the significant likely is the steady passage of women to the point that they today command the colleges. Aside from a couple of nations, in year 2000 more than 55 percent of the students in advanced education were female. Not only are most student females, as well as acquire the share of four year college educations, as outlined for a couple of nations. Alongside this change, the general desire was that the gender isolation between instructive fields would step by step vanish. Men were required to begin contemplating education to a bigger degree, while women were relied upon to begin perusing engineering and physical sciences. While there has been a meeting in the decision of real, a momentous level of sexual orientation isolation still remains. As a rule, gender fairness has been arrived at in subjects like law, drug and business & organization. A couple of subjects, for example, life sciences and brain science, have passed from being male-commanded to being female-ruled amid the previous decades.

Social norms are known to influence a single person in her/his decisions from numerous points of view. On account of subject of degree, therapists and sociologists have amid the most recent years indicated an arrangement of elements that could influence decision of major at the college, which all fit in with the social norms classification. Most importantly, it creates the impression that “even people who don’t generally accept that men are more skilled than women are likely mindful that this conviction exists in the society and expect that others will treat them as indicated by this (Swai 45). This desire has been indicated to adjust conduct and inclination judgments. That is, regardless of the fact that an individual does not accept that she (he) is sub-par (prevalent) to any other person, the sheer conviction and conviction that others suspect as much influences conduct. Second, it creates the impression that arithmetic, designing and other ‘bad-to-the-bone’ logical subjects are seen as ‘manly (Swai 45)’. Given that there seems, by all accounts, to be no investigative backing for such thoughts, they are by definition social builds (that may be some piece of a social standard). As per analysts and sociologists, this infers that a lady’s perception toward oneself could be adversely influenced by entering this field of study, since she then breaks the social desires and need to persuade both herself and whatever remains of the world that she is in the same class as any man in her “manly” field of study (Ambanasom 67). At last, social norms, in opposition to intrinsic inclination – practically by definition – change about whether with societal and social patterns. The women’ development in the 1960s and 1970s may well have impelled changes in instructive norms, which gradually have had pervasive impacts on women’ and men’s decisions of major.

Women because of their obligation regarding home and family, pick a major that does not lose its esteem about whether, in the same way as education. This speculation can’t, nonetheless, be the whole clarification behind the example within reach. Above all else, women with a four year certification are more probable both to be working full-time and to put off their first youngster a few years (in correlation to women with less education). This recommends that these women are generally arranged towards work market movement (Ambanasom 86). Women constitute 50% of the students in law and more than a large portion of the students in life sciences, two subjects that are profoundly delicate to a consistent upgrading of information. It has been contended that women maintain a strategic distance from the most prestigious education, for example, physical science and law. While truly there are few women in physical science, it is not valid for law, which shows that it is not the degree of renown of a certain instructive program that anticipates women to enter, but instead something else. Truth be told, the prerequisite for solution and science (both female-ruled fields in 2000) are like those for perusing arithmetic and material science, subjects with a solid male-predominance (Nafukho, Maurice, and Ruth 102). Social norms are absolutely a variable to consider, and an additionally early decision in auxiliary school together with potential varieties in comes back to subject of degree.

Challenges facing women scientists and engineers today

Women have progressed beyond anyone’s expectations as researchers and designers; a couple of them are heads of colleges and CEOs in investigative and building organizations. The issue is with the words “a couple” rather than “harshly half.” Despite 30 years of exertion to close the sex crevice, it hasn’t happened. Expanding consideration has been attracted to the issues confronted by women in science, building and engineering (SET). Women are unequally spoken to in science and their vocation movement is not similar to their male associates. The developing enthusiasm toward this point might somewhat be a direct result of the developing familiarity with the tremendous undiscovered monetary potential that women speak to (Lewis 75). The issue crosses national fringes yet appears to be prone to be best handled at a mixed bag of levels from neighborhood and provincial to national and global. The European Union, for instance, has as of late set up a ‘women and Science’ division to accumulate facts (of which few are at present accessible) and has made a system for women in these fields, activities that are as per its general standards in regards to equivalent open doors. (At the point when the Community was set up, the idea of equivalent open doors was restricted to the guideline of equivalent compensation. Correspondence of chance is presently sanctified in the Treaty of Amsterdam as one of the European Union’s targets (Lewis 85). The Treaty’s later Articles will empower fitting measures to be taken against segregation, and gives the particular legitimate premise to balance of treatment in the middle of men and women.) But in the USA the social event of such facts has been drilled since 1981, with the executive of the National Science Foundation consistently showing up for Congress and government authorities on the amount of women in business and preparing in science and designing (Misra 84).

Hard actualities on the urgent phases of a lady’s vocation in science are fragmentary, however mounting confirmation and episodic reports have a tendency to concur. Those staying in science frequently confront segregation, being utilized on a less secure balance and accepting lower awards than their male associates. In the interim, women that leave science for option professions can toll minimal better. In spite of the fact that there may be just a handful of studies, they progressively give weight to the recommendation that sexual orientation inclination is still fit as a fiddle, and without a doubt kicking. A fascinating perception is that African colleges making the most advancement at enhancing the position of women are those that have been as of late changed from specialized universities (Misra 96). This, which is humiliating for the more established, since a long time ago settled colleges, may be uncovering, that a male-commanded society exists in the customary focuses of advanced education that can militate against women’ accomplishing status or even correspondence. Such a “stronghold” climate does not win to the same degree in the “new” African colleges.

Women are under-spoken to on investigative sheets as they are on sheets in the corporate world. In a few nations, in the same way as Lewis, standards are connected to sheets delegated by the National Research Councils, yet in spite of these exertions, men are especially over-spoken to on choice boards inside the regular sciences and technology. The other challenge is when women attempt to have their youngsters. It hard to return once you’ve had a profession break and there are two explanations behind this. In most different employments, there is a profession structure and you’re utilized forever – you work for a firm, you have your agreement, with maternity leave and different rights obviously settled and anticipated (Misra 109). In science, you just have security in your ahead of schedule to mid- 30s, when you get a lectureship for instance and that being said it’s so shaky. It’s extremely uncommon for somebody on their 20s to have a lasting, secure occupation, which means they’re on delicate cash contracts which mean you’re just on a par with the amount of papers you distribute. In the event that you then require some serious energy off to have children, it means you’re contending with men who are two of three years in front of you despite the fact that they’re the same age, in light of the fact that they haven’t had the same profession breaks that you’ve had (Misra 119). These issues are especially clear in the realm of experimental exploration, which must be seen as an exceptional case.

Strategies to improve working environment

Working conditions alludes to the working environment and parts of a worker’s terms and states of business. This spreads such matters as: the association of work and work exercises; preparing, abilities and employability; wellbeing, security and prosperity; and working time and work-life offset. Pay is likewise an imperative part of working conditions. Gender uniformity is not pretty much financial strengthening (Lewin, Bruce and Paul 56). It is an ethical basic, it is about decency and value, and incorporates numerous political, social and social measurements. Sexual orientation correspondence, in any case, is likewise a key element in reported toward oneself prosperity and joy over the world. So as to enhance the nature, the government ought to give great quality competitive childcare for all folks and paid maternity leave for moms in business. Support a more equivalent imparting of parental leave, likewise by holding piece of the paid leave qualification for the elite use by fathers (Lewin, Bruce and Paul 60).

The government ought to uproot disincentives to paid work made by expenses and profit frameworks and guarantee that work pays for both folks. This is on the grounds that formal childcare backing is especially vital for raising female business levels and for accomplishing more sexual orientation balance all through the working life. The government ought to address social boundaries and generalizations about the part of women in the public eye, business and the general population division (DuBrin 65). This is on the grounds that women accomplish more unpaid work than men in all nations and the gender crevice builds with the landing of kids. The government ought to acquaint targets and measures with screen advance on female representation on sheets of recorded organizations. This is on the grounds that women frequently work low maintenance as it encourages consolidating work and family obligations, yet this habitually has a go at an expense to their long haul vocation and income prospects.

The government should fortify the ability to apply a sexual orientation responsive approach all through the general population money related administration cycle and improve sex sway appraisals. This is on the grounds that in a lot of people low-pay nations, youngsters are more prone to be none, of these occupied with paid work nor in education or preparing than young people.

The government ought to guarantee that arrangements for women claimed undertakings target new companies and little ventures, as well as energize and help development desire of all current firms. This is on the grounds that Women are less sharp than men on beginning their own particular business and women ambitious people keep on being a minority in all nations. There ought to be Promotion of exhaustive help projects focusing on women possessed undertakings in cutting edge parts (DuBrin 76). This is on account of endeavors possessed by women are essentially more diminutive and less spoken to in capital-concentrated segments and these and different components have a tendency to punish them as far as deals, benefits and work profit. The government ought to guarantee equivalent access to back for male and female ambitious people. This is on account of women ambitious people depend significantly short of what men on advances, both for start-up and for financing their exercises.

Changes in meeting expectations conditions and different parts of the livelihood relationship can produce genuine mechanical relations issues. One issue is that specialists might not have exact data about their working conditions in any case. This was tended to by Council Directive 91/533/EEC of 14 October 1991 on an executive’s commitment to advise workers of the conditions pertinent to the agreement or business relationship (Wunderlich and Peter 95). The mandate stipulates that the boss must give data coating all ‘crucial parts’ of the job relationship. The head honcho is obliged to set up a report with the essential data, and offer it to the representative not later than two months after the beginning of vocation. Further, another record that reflects any progressions in center working conditions must be issued. The ordinary principle is that a business can’t change the terms and states of work without the assent of the worker, when such alterations are outside the government privilege (Wunderlich and Peter 103). Thus, simply educating the worker by a composed proclamation is not indisputable of the presence of a concurred change in the terms. At the point when the boss does not have the right in the agreement – in the event that they attempt to modify rates of pay, hours of work, or the status or evaluation of the worker – they must get the representative’s assent before the change can have any lawful impact. The presence of a composed explanation does not imply that it has been concurred and is along these lines tyWork cited

Ambanasom, S A. Education of the Deprived: Anglophone Cameroon Literary Drama. Mankon,Cameroon: Langaa Research & Pub, 2010. Print

DuBrin, Andrew J. Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston: HoughtonMifflin, 2001. Print.

Lewin, David, Bruce E. Kaufman, and Paul Gollan. Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations:Vol. 17. Bingley: Emerald, 2010. Print.

Lewis, Richard D. When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures. London:Nicholas Brealey, 2000. Print.

Misra, Baidyanath. Population Stabilisation and Development. Cuttack: Council of CulturalGrowth & Cultural Relations, 2002. Print.

Nafukho, Fredrick, Maurice Amutabi, and Ruth Otunga. Foundations of Adult Education inAfrica. Hamburg: UNESCO Inst. for Education, 2005. Print.

Sutherland-Addy, Esi. Gender Equity in Junior and Senior Secondary Education in Sub-SaharanAfrica. Washington (D.C.: World Bank, 2008. Print.

Swai, Elinami V. Beyond Women’s Empowerment in Africa: Exploring Dislocation and Agency.New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Wunderlich, Gooloo S, and Peter O. Kohler. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care.Washington, D.C: National Academy Press, 2001. Print.

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TEST III

TEST III

Intro to PhilTEST IIIEd AimanPart I: Multiple Choice-Choose the best answer: 3 points each

1. For Nietzsche what has Christianity and Plato done to us?

Made us all peaceful, warless people, never killing others for religious reasons.

Saved us from a life of sin.

Made us into guilt ridden impotent wimps.

Shown us the way to enlightenment.

Answer

Made us into guilt-ridden impotent wimps.

2. In Ch.VI, Wollstonecraft raises several concerns for the way women were socialized. Which of the following would not be an item she addresses in that chapter?

That females are made women of when they are mere children.

That women deserve equal pay for equal work.

That the habitual slavery to first impressions puts women at a disadvantage.

None of the above.

Answer

That the habitual slavery to first impressions puts women at a disadvantage.

3. An explanation(s) Wollstonecraft offers for why women were drawn to the ‘rakish’ character in her day was…?

A. That the façade of the rake is easily detectable, but that his character is exciting.

B. That women could not live without love given the way they were socialized.

C. That the ‘bad boy’ image the rake projected filled their thirst for being provided for and would be the kind of man that would stand up for her.

D. All of the above.

Answer

c. That the ‘bad boy’ image the rake projected filled their thirst for being provided for and would be the kind of man that would stand up for her

4. When Wollstonecraft writes that, “The generality of people cannot see or feel poetically, they want fancy, and therefore fly from solitude in search of sensible objects; but when an author lends them his eyes they can see as he saw, and be amused by images they could not select, though lying before them.” Which of the following relates to that idea?

A. That females are taught to obediently follow the rules without question.

B. That it is advantageous to be alone sometimes.

C. That women were trapped to first impressions.

D. The value and importance of basic literacy skills.

Answer

B. That it is advantageous to be alone sometimes.

Part II: True/False: (a.k.a. flip a coin) 3 points each

5. For Nietzsche, being free means doing what your conscious tells you you should.

TRUE

6. In his book, On Liberty, Mill presents an anti-paternalist view.

TRUE

Part III: Short Answer: In a few actual, complete sentences, respond to the following: (6 points each)

7. Explain one specific example of Nietzsche’s point about the transvaluation of values and how a concept that once was considered bad is now good or what was once consider good now evil in the new system of value in conjunction with the actual lessons provided.

The transvaluation of values is a basic concept of humanity whereby the values held by a group of people ceases to be believed at the moment a new perspective is brought to the people. For example, he gives an example of Christianity and Buddhists. Christians make the human low and do not value the human person especially those who live a good life as it states they live in sin however Buddhism values human life and strives to end suffering. Therefore these two are contradictory and thus Buddhism in this case wins because it replaces Christianity which praises suffering.

8. Explain how Nietzsche would explain the phrase, “live in the moment” as suggested in the actual lessons provided.

He states that living in the moment is the best thing a person can do since they do not have to worry so much about eh past neither do they have to worry so much about eh future because from the present they can decide what kind of future they want and work towards it. therefore he stresses that a person should just look into the past into what they did not do correctly and make sure they do it correctly then the future is aligned.

Part IV: Essays: Write on any two (about one page each or more if possible)

1. Discuss Wollstonecraft’s thoughts on the education of women and the impact that can have on relationships as discussed in the lessons provided. What does she envision the future to be like? Are we there yet? If not, why not?

She was born in 1759 and her father did not provide for her good education. Therefore when she was 18 years she ran from home and she never went back there. She became a companion with a widow and she never stayed for long. However, at the age of 24, she began her school for girls only and this was to provide girls with education which her father never provided. She wrote different books like the vindication of the rights of women which inspired different people greatly to look towards women’s education and make it better for a balanced society.

Wollstonecraft especially celebrates women’s rationality and she values the place of women in the intelligent part of the society as she states that women should be intelligent on their own and not dependent on men. However, for intelligence reasons should be the first thing. And even with the development of intelligence, it does not mean that women to stop siring children. However, with the children and their caring nature women can still be outstanding in their intelligence and be better than thought about by most men. She stated that women should have the same education men have and they should study in the same schools.

2. Discuss Nietzsche’s critique of Plato and Christianity, emphasizing his thoughts on how the value systems hold us back. Be specific when possible with your examples and explanations as per the lessons provided and NOT other unsubstantiated internet sources.

3.Discuss the idea of freedom as found in Mill’s On Liberty and in Nietzsche’s concept of das Ubermensch. What is it to be free according to Nietzsche? Give specific examples as per the actual lessons provided.

4. Wollstonecraft writes, “This habitual slavery, to first impressions, has a more baneful effect on the female than the male character, because business and other dry employments of the understanding, tend to deaden the feelings and break associations that do violence to reason. But females, who are made women of when they are mere children, and brought back to childhood when they ought to leave the go-cart for ever, do have not sufficient strength of mind to efface the superinductions of art that have smothered nature.”- What is she saying here as presented in the actual lessons? What would a specific example of “females who are made women of when they are mere children” look like today and why as suggested in the actual lessons?

The behavior and the making of everyone is a result of their manner of being brought up. For the ladies, it is easy to get caught up by the first impression of something especially men. This, therefore, turns out that it is not the nature of women but their lessons when they were young. It is the same thing for boys who are never so much looked into when they are young to be taught what to look for as first impressions of something. However, ladies are taught these kinds of things, and therefore it is easy for them to identity first impressions of different things and especially men who might love them or who they might fall in love with.

For men, it is different though because they are not taught these but are taught other things like cognitive abilities and how good they can be in practical subjects and less of emotions. Men are taught generally how they can be supportive and protective shields in society, unlike women. Therefore women are made women when they are children the same as men. An example of an actual woman would likely be submissive to their husbands and do household chores and expect the man of the house to provide financial needs of the family.

5. Okay, I couldn’t resist: Discuss the “Dumbassification” of America and what specific factors lead to this phenomenon. Be sure to relate your response in some way to the actual lessons provided at some point in the semester.

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Intro Outline for Exp. 1 Framing Effects

Intro Outline for Exp. 1 Framing Effects

Intro Outline for Exp. 1: Framing Effects

NOTE: You cannot take sentences directly from this outline. You must write in all in your own words

Articles:

Johnson (1987)

Chien, et al. (1996)

Kahneman & Tversky (1973)

Hawkins & Hastie (1990)

Slovic & Fischhoff (1977)

YOU must find at least 5 more (you can use these in other sections of the paper as well)

Introduce and define problem: we all make decisions and choices involving risk (uncertainty). Usually we are good at it; sometimes, not so much! (1,3)

With uncertain decisions, we are essentially “predicting” the likelihood of our desired result (1, 3)

When dealing with uncertainty, 3 things affect our predictions (3)

Prior knowledge 

Specific info about the subject/object/person

“expected accuracy of prediction” (YOU MUST EXPLAIN WHAT THIS MEANS ☺ )

C. When expected accuracy is low (i.e. we are not confident in our assessment), we rely more/add more weight to prior knowledge and specific info (1, 3)

This is especially true when we are not given all the information needed (1, 3)

We then rely even more heavily on prior knowledge and heuristics

D.  New information can influence us to not rely on our own heuristics or prior experience (1)

2. One such type of influence is framing (how things are worded).

A. Define, explain, give example

B. Some research looked at whether people would chose a positively framed option over a negatively framed one, even if they were the same (1, others, your own articles?)

Demographic differences? 

Seems robust- works on everyone,  in every situation

Except: when we take into account EUT and Prospect Theory (3)

Expected Utility Theory: when making decisions, we assess probable outcomes by weighing the probabilities of each of them occurring (3)

Prospect Theory: a modified (improved?) version of the EUT (your own articles)

Focuses on decisions involving risk (gambles or prospects)

Insurance example: People like the certainty of coverage for one event better than the possibility of coverage for a bunch of events

Especially when it’s better than the probability of what you might lose

We select the option that we feel is most useful to us

Compare to the idea of “you get what you pay for” (1)

Main point: people are risk aversive (avoid risk) when one of the options is a sure gain; and risk-takers when there is a certainty of a loss. 

note that this is about the certainty and sure-gain options, compared to the possible or probable options.

Researchers began looking at other factors that would influence our decision making, and if the Framing Effect is affected by these things. (your own articles)

Demographic differences (others?)

Hmm… so researchers began wondering if the TYPE of risk would be a factor

Morality (others?)

Monetary (2)

Mortality (2)

The results show…

However, overall, research has shown that we seem to be most affected by FE when

we are personally involved in the situation. So how about level of involvement?

Your own life? (others?)

Loved one’s life? (others?)

Strangers’ lives? (2, others?)

The results show…

3.5 Hindsight Bias

What is it? How does it influence decision-making/outcome judgments?

Why does Hindsight bias occur?

Possible explanations?

The current experiment (ours): Purpose:

To understand the susceptibility of people to the framing effect by measuring differing responses based on either a positively or negatively framed prompt.

Will replicate K&T ’81 experiment, with the exception that we will only be using mortality-based scenarios. (This article was not provided for Fall 2021)

Hypothesis

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This is a report of interview conducted on Musimbi Kanyoro, who is the Chief executive officer and president of Global Fund f

This is a report of interview conducted on Musimbi Kanyoro, who is the Chief executive officer and president of Global Fund f

INTERVIEW

Overview of the subject

This is a report of interview conducted on Musimbi Kanyoro, who is the Chief executive officer and president of Global Fund for Women (GFW), which is a non-governmental organization, which has multi-objectives. Among the various roles, GFW does consultancy, offering grants, advisory, advocacy, empowerment, peace keeping, and protecting health and sexual rights of women. As will be detailed later, the organization not only benefits the registered members but also the non-member in the attempt to lure them to join. Therefore, from the mission and vision of the organization it was evident that women can make big developmental strides, especially by learning from Musimbi Kanyoro.

Objectively, the interview was meant to research on women who strive so hard on the global avenues to address the social, economic, and political factors that affect the society. With that, the consolidated result will be used to build a database on their profiles, global contributions, their arguments or view points, and drive. As a result, this interview on Musimbi Kanyoro provides an appropriate sample for the whole research.

As a sample interview, I interviewed Musimbi Kanyoro, who apart from being the CEO and the president of GFW is a prominent advocate dealing with girls’ health and women’s rights, and social cultural change philanthropy. Again, Dr. Kanyoro is a transformative leader who has close to three decades of experience in managing and leading international NGOs, cross-cultural enumenical agencies, and global programs and projects. With that experience and global stature, she has acquired strategic and transformative leadership skills that enable her to inspire a number of people in the global arena.

Dr. Kanyoro commenced the interview by questioning why I was interested in their organization out of the very many options; this surprised me but I tried to convince her that from what I know about her and the organization, it would provide the best ideas to answer my research questions. Thereafter, she was very free with me and started by explaining that, despite the commonalities in various organizations, significant disparity is found on how they execute their roles. She further explained that many organizations do duplicate what others do instead of clearly defining their roles, which leads to unhealthy competitions among them. The doctor again stressed on the importance of good leadership that must be transformative, informative, and inclusive to all the stake holders in the organization.

Throughout the interview, Dr. Kanyoro kept consulting her diary, which implicitly revealed the benefits of keeping records. When I asked her how recording keeping is essential for the thriving of their organization, she started a whole new level of discussion about their organization. Explicitly, the organization deals with funding, through mobilizing and dissemination of fund, which inevitably calls for proper record keeping and accounting of all inputs and output.

For better understanding about women and their role, I asked her about personal questions on a general notion so as to grasp the most out of the conversation. She detailed replied by reiterating that, women still represent a minor percentage of what is needed of them. However, she defended women by basing her argument on the crude and unfair social and cultural notions that still prevail worldwide, which sidekick women in favor of male. The answer struck me, so I further enquired why and how she reached to that famous and big position and what drives her? She surprisingly responded that challenges and failures keep her moving as opposed to what people normally look for, success. Doctor Kanyoro explained the whenever she fails in her undertaking, she get a wider field to work on that facilitates t improvement of her efforts and focus.

According to Dr. Kanyoro, if girls and women are given equal platform as women, the world will realize double its growth; not because women work better, but because so many women are not even given a chance to work as their male counterparts. She also approached the idea by saying that most women have been force to relax or render unproductive roles, but the advantaged are overworked, which affect the efficiency and effectiveness of their roles. She again linked women lower plight to global male chauvinism.

Furthermore, the interview revealed that the lady has vast skills to mobilize resources and actions. She does this though her well developed oratory skills and capability of associating with people from several social and cultural backgrounds. In order to achieve this, she learnt several languages, which she claims to be undertaking the lessons regularly so as to maintain and improve her acquaintance. She insisted that proper communication is the foundation for association and leadership.

She is also an author of more than ten articles in addition to writing and co-editing seven books. Additionally, Dr. Kanyoro has made hundreds of speeches coupled with various opinion pieces, which make her frequently sought after to make public speech. She reiterated that her developed communication skills and love for languages have earned her a great stature and global respect, which happened to be a big challenge to the interviewer, me.

In addition, the doctor has served on several international boards, meetings, conferences, workshops, and working groups, some of which include the CHANGE, UN High level Taskforce for Reproductive Health and the boards of CARE, Aspen Leaders council , and IntraHealth (xxxx)

Markedly, Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro holds a PhD education level in Linguistics which she got from the University of Austin and Texas. In addition to that, the lady has a Doctorate in the field of Feminist, which she earned in San Francisco Theological Seminary. From the Harvard University, she studied a course on the Old Testament and Hebrews. Furthermore, she has received various recognition awards and three honorary degrees; for example, she acquired an award on leadership from the government of Kenya. Also, she was recently named in the list of 21 women leaders by Women’s E-News

In conclusion, is a global role model of so many women in the world society that should be emulated in order girls and women to compete their male counterparts. Both implicitly and explicitly from her responses, she has risen to her current position through hard work, tolerance, and mentorship, which all women ought to embrace and apply.

Works Cited

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Introduction (5)

Introduction (5)

Introduction

“The most important thing is not life, but the good life” is a statement that says life is not the most important thing, instead it is living your life with meaning and purpose. Perhaps living a life that is just in society would make my life worth living, but if we do not have a purpose to our lives then we will just be mere physical bodies, having no soul and therefore no meaning. In Greek mythology, Socrates was pointed out as having a good life, and his death was because of how important he thought the most important thing in life was (Corlett, 2018). This essay will investigate and find out what made Socrates’ good life so special. It will also explore why this statement is true. If you live your life with meaning and purpose, then your life is worth living because it gives you a reason to keep be alive.

Argument supporting the thesis

Thesis statement: If you live your life with meaning and purpose, then your life is worth living because it gives you a reason to keep be alive. Socrates refused to make decisions himself, however he would rather ask somebody else who could make a better decision than him. It is because of this, that one day Socrates would shortly question what it is that makes life so special anyway? “The most important thing is not life, but the good life”. Socrates believed that if you lead your life with purpose and meaning then you were living the good life. He had the ‘Golden Mean’ theory. This theory is one where a person chooses to be morally and ethically good rather than being bad (Corlett, 2018). Socrates believed that this was the best way to do things because it was considered a golden mean where there is no excess or deficiency in good morals. This is always going to be right because it has no excess or deficiency of virtues, therefore it can never end up being wrong in any situation.

Assessment of objections

There are many objections that can be raised against this argument. One is that if we all lived the good life we would have no progression in society. This is because everyone would be too busy doing good to do anything else, therefore nothing would be done. If everybody did what was right and proper then it would not result in any harm because there will be no excess or deficiency of virtues, therefore nothing will ever go wrong. However, it could lead to a breakdown of society because people just do not want to do what is morally good anymore and always want more things.

Conclusion

Socrates believed that the most important thing in life is knowledge, which means that there are a lot more things in life that are of consequence than just one’s physical health. Knowledge is a matter of inquiry, which means it has to be investigated by way of searching. It is of utmost importance to one’s good life (Vallor, 2018). In order to properly understand Socrates’ theory, one must first comprehend what he means by “good”. He is saying that if a person knows what they are doing, and they do it as a service to others or themselves as a result of doing what they want, then they are achieving the good life.

Reference

Corlett, J. A. (2018). Legal Obligation in Plato’s Crito. In Interpreting Plato Socratically (pp. 133-168). Springer, Cham.

Vallor, S. (2018). An introduction to data ethics. Course module.) Santa Clara, CA: Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

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Types of Ecosystem

Types of Ecosystem

Introduction:

National science foundation (NSF) in 1980 established The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network to conduct research ecological issues that can last decades and span huge geographical areas.

The Network brings together a multi-disciplinary group of more than 2000 scientists and graduate students. The 26 LTER sites encompass diverse ecosystems in the continental United States, Alaska, Antarctica and islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

LTER is an international best organized and most successful groups conducting research in ecology. The aim of the LTER is to pursue a long-term research on based on long-term data and information which is necessary for truly understanding environmental phenomena.

27717756096026 Sites of LTER:

Andrews Forest LTER (AND)

Arctic LTER (ARC)

Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES)

Bonanza Creek LTER (BNZ)

California Current Ecosystem LTER (CCE)

Cedar Creek LTER (CDR)

Central Arizona – Phoenix LTER (CAP)

Coweeta LTER (CWT)

Florida Coastal Everglades LTER (FCE)

Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER (GCE)

Harvard Forest LTER (HFR)

Hubbard Brook LTER (HBR)

Jornada Basin LTER (JRN)

Kellogg Biological Station LTER (KBS)

Konza Prairie LTER (KNZ)

LTER Network Office (LNO)

Luquillo LTER (LUQ)

McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER (MCM)

Moorea Coral Reef LTER (MCR)

Niwot Ridge LTER (NWT)

North Temperate Lakes LTER (NTL)

Palmer Antarctica LTER (PAL)

Plum Island Ecosystems LTER (PIE)

Santa Barbara Coastal LTER (SBC)

Sevilleta LTER (SEV)

Shortgrass Steppe (SGS)

Virginia Coast Reserve LTER (VCR)

Among 26 LTER sites The California Current Ecosystem (CCE) would be described here.

3714750258445California Current Ecosystem (CCE):

Location:

CCE LTERs is located off the southern coast of California, extending from San Diego north to San Luis Obispo and westward over 500 km. 

Geographical location is

Latitude: 32.90

Longitude: 102.30

Types of Ecosystem:

California Current system is a coastal upwelling biome and it is coastal pelagic ecosystem.CCE includes eastern current (California current) of North pacific gyre. This currents circulate water around the North Pacific Ocean. In this current, wind acts on sea surface and it facilitates the upward movement of nutrient rich deepwater so that surface dwellers can take this nutrient. This process is known as coastal upwelling. Upwelling ecosystems are most productive ecosystems. The CCE sustains active fisheries for a variety of marine invertebrates ,finfish and aquatic animals, modulates hydrologic cycle ,weather patterns of most of the west coast of United States, and plays a vital role in the economy of myriad coastal communities.

Area of interest: why this site has chosen

It is an ideal location of LTER because it has 5 decades of climate context provided by the calCOFI (California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations). The location of this site is in a bigeographic boundary where climate change is very rapid. Within this small geographic area there is a pronounced spatial gradient and its anoxic basins provide a unique connection to paleoceanographic studies; and the extant 4-D physical ocean circulation model of the region will permit rapid advances in the development of coupled bio-physical models of ecosystem transitions. LTER network can compare the coastal pelagic upwelling ecosystem with other biomes in respect to primary production pattern and control, of inorganic inputs and movements of nutrients patterns, Spatial and temporal distribution of populations selected to represent trophic structures, , and disturbances frequency and pattern.

Types of researches have been done and going on:

California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) has studied the CCE LTER site over 60 years. Scientists have observed changes in the CCE that happen over a variety of time scales. The changes include the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and El Niños which results in long term ocean warming trend that has been documented over the past 6 decades. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation includes a series of warming and cooling periods that occur in 20-30-year cycles.  El Ninos is a periodic change of ocean atmosphere which includes increased ocean temperatures and decreased upwelling in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

 The main purpose of this site is to built up a bio-physical model for understanding and forecasting the consequences of El Niño and low-frequency climate forcing on pelagic ecosystems of the California Current and similar biomes.

Research Focus

Study of four mechanisms that may lead to rapid shifts in the California Current Ecosystem:

Observation of changes in the food web in response to changes in ocean stratification and the supply of nutrients

Transport of several organisms along the coast from the northern to the southern part of the California Current system (and vice versa).

Transport of organisms from the coast to regions located far offshore. Currents transport coastal species offshore away from their preferred habitat and this result in destruction of marine ecosystem.

Changes in predation.

The researches in the CCE- LTER site are based on following processes:

Experimental Process Studies:

This study focuses on the stratification of the water column and its effect on the food web. Stratification prevents the movement of nutrient reach water to the sea surface where the nutrients are needed for the growth of microscopic algae called phytoplankton. Amount of stratification varies across time and space. Researchers focus on the change of stratification across space. Divergences in the amount of nutrients of phytoplankton at different depths and in different places may cause species variation. Cyanobacteria which are the producer of the ocean’s food web are inhabited in the boundary between nutrient rich deep water and nutrient poor surface water. CCE LTER scientists are conducting studies to know the effect of ocean stratification on the Cyanobacteria and other organisms.

Time Series Studies:

 Time series is a group of repeated, scientific measurements performed in the same place but at different times. CCE LTER usually takes 4 types of time series.

First type: measurements made at sea four times a year , and examine oceanic microbes organic matter dissolved in sea water concentration of several metal like iron, which is essential nutrient for marine plants and algae.

Second type: use satellite observation to measure pigments produced by phytoplankton and sea surface temperature.

Third type: uses more frequent measurements of phytoplankton and ocean temperature made at near shore sites including the Scripps pier, other locations along the coast in a network called the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (SCCOOS), and the Ocean Institute at Dana Point.

Fourth type: robotic ocean gliders are used to make continuous measurements across the CCE region.

Modeling studies:

Computer models are used to interpret and understand the observation which is made during experiments. Information system contains the data from the various components of the CCE-LTER and allows researchers to access and combine all of those data. An Ocean Informatics electronic hub at the Integrative Oceanography Division (IOD) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography control all the documentation and data associated with the CCE-LTER projects

Researchers involved:

Mark D. Ohman (SIO), Peter franks (SIO), Steven Bogard (PFEL), James E. Conners (SIO), Peter Davison (SIO) and many others.

Conclusion:

There are many categories of stressors affecting the overall condition of the California Current ecosystem. This range includes traditional activities such as coastal development, fishing and emerging industries (shipping, renewable energy, desalination), the proliferation of land-based pollutants, and accelerating climate change. This stressor vigorously effects the marine population and marine ecosystem. Increase surface Temperature influences rates of metabolism and affects the range limits of many marine organisms. Scientists and researchers have shown that over the course of the past 60 years concentrations of dissolved oxygen have varied substantially. Periods of lower oxygen (hypoxia) reduce the vertical extent of habitable ocean for a variety of invertebrates and marine fishes and, while the habitable volume expands during intervals of higher dissolved oxygen (McClatchie et al. 2010). For the past 25 years gradual decline of dissolved oxygen has raised concerns about loss and compression of habitat for some commercially important rockfish such as the cowcod (Bograd et al. 2008).one study has shown that over past 60 years a group of marine zooplankton known as salps has been declined (Lavaniegos and Ohman 2007).Salps are very small celled suspension feeder and efficient grazer of phytoplankton and are important vectors that help repackage organic carbon and other compounds into a form that sediments quickly to the deep sea floor. Thus long-term carbon sequestration in the deep sea odd California may be altered by the decline in salps population. Another study has shown that the transparency of the California Current System has decreased slowly, but progressively over the past 6 decades (Aksnes and Ohman 2009). Seawater transparency plays a major role in controlling “encounter distance” at which visually-hunting predators like seabirds, fish, and some marine mammals can detect prey. The sustainability of some consumers that occupy the middle and upper levels of ocean food webs may be affected by deciline in encounter distance due to decrease in transparency of sea water.

Now scientist are not only trying to protect the California Current but also working to restore vitality and resilience in such a dynamic and changing system.

Reference:

http://cce.lternet.eduhttp://www.packard.org

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Knowledge of the environment is very important for all

Knowledge of the environment is very important for all

Introduction:

Knowledge of the environment is very important for all. the course allows me to understand the different aspects of the science fundamentals related to environment , the different biomes and the diversity and how water management can help to preserve the diverse features of land water mass. Energy is a very important source of life and a discussion on the different kinds of energy allows one to understand why they have to be preserved and the reason why man has to look at alternate sources of energy .a discussion of different units helps us to understand environmental science better.

Energy Matter and Cycles: The energy sources are said to have been split into three ways: that is the fossil fuels, the renewable sources, and the nuclear sources. The fossil fuels thus include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The renewable energy sources are the solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal power. There are many ways where the abundance of energy can be stored, converted, and amplified for the benefit. The key energy sources play an important role in the future. The main reason where the energy needs to be cycled is by the living things which we generally put matter through requiring energy. It takes energy to turn a sugar into protein. The reason life is able to exist on Earth is that we have a constant input of energy from the Sun. Photosynthetic life is being formed to harvest the Sun’s energy, and thus the other organisms could basically steal their energy by eating them.

Science fundamentals are termed to be simple processes at surfaces and the complex materials and systems, the youngest planets and the oldest galaxies. Our aim is to discover the fundamental laws of nature and their creativity to the problems of industry, health and the hydrogen economy. Some of the University has a centuries-old record with the research in mathematics, the physical sciences and astronomy. Fundamentals of Science provide the basic knowledge for a whole range of practical uses and applications which can be used to address issues faced by mankind in treating scientific expositions especially regarding the origin and life and universe .

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. There are certain parts which exhibit the same kinds of biotic characteristics and are hence called as biomes . Biomes are known very particularly by the flora such as structures of plants, structure types , types of leaves and also by the way the plants are paced like savannah, woodlands ,shrubs etc. biomes are neither genetically the same not do they exhibit taxonomic similarities .Biomes are very important in studying the ergonomical habitat of the flora and of other natural landscapes such as . ponds, trees, streams, creeks, and burrows in the sand or soil.

Biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns where it forms. The biodiversity is shaped by natural processes and, by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life in an integral part. This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. There are huge base of nearly 1.75 million creatures that inhabit the earth. Scientists take the actual count at about 13 million species. The very important aspect of biodiversity rests on the truth that despite having so many different species there is a natural collection of all of them in some kind existing together. The sequencing and chronological order of the arrangement of every specie within it sub species has allowed for a wide interaction and arrangement of the two . There has been examples of bio diversity between crops and livestock .the life building blocks of the DNA and the chromosomes have identified and taken care of the different natural specie characteristic and trait . Biodiversity is seen widely in many different kinds of natural habitat where the biotic and the abiotic environment interact with each other ot form a community whre mankind has found himself to flourish.

Water Management generally offers products, services and water solutions that increase the efficiency of water that create water savings for customers worldwide.  It usually takes to develop and deliver location specific water solutions. Water Management has been involved in water projects by way of utilizing the best efficient technologies and thus supports companies in many market sectors. Using our knowledge and understanding of water efficiency to develop a full-circle strategy actively reduces the usage. Water Management can thus help in managing water for the indoor use to outdoor uses.

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions. Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes such as oceanic circulation, biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, “climate change” is often used to describe human-specific impacts. Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulates, or biological materials that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans, damage other living organisms such as food crops, or damage the natural environment or built environment. The atmosphere is a complex dynamic natural gaseous system that is said as essential to support life on planet Earth. The emissions from different kinds of machinery and other activities used to make man’s life easier and the other technological innovation have led to ozone depletion and led to global warming which has been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth’s ecosystems.

Conventional energy sources include oil, gas and coal. These conventional sources are usually fossil fuels. Their use leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental damage. Conventional energy sources cannot be renewed and hence have to be preserved . The conventional sources of energy are generally non-renewable sources of energy, which are being used since a long time. These sources of energy are being used extensively in such a way that their known reserves have been depleted to a great extent. At the same time it is becoming increasingly difficult to discover and exploit their new deposits. As per records and the availability of gas, the reserves of oil will be depleted in a few decades and coal reserves too. Alternate sources of energy will have to found out as coal, petroleum, natural gas and electricity are conventional sources of energy.

Alternative energy is said to be one of an energy source that is said to be an alternative to fossil fuel.  These alternatives are said to be intended to address about fossil fuels. What constitutes the nature of an alternative energy source has changed considerably over time, as have controversies regarding energy use. Because of the variety of energy choices and differing goals of their advocates, defining some energy types as “alternative” is highly controversial. In a general sense, alternative energy as it is currently conceived is that which is produced or manufactured without using any fossil fuel. Alternate sources of energy refer to all those naturally used sources which do not have carbon emissions contributing to global warming . 

Conclusion:

An understanding of the different kinds of energy that the nature has in store is slowly being depleted and hence careful conservation of the same is needed and the environment needs to be studied and preserved very carefully.

References:

aeckersberg.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/3/9/…/sp7_-_chapter_2.pdf

www.cbd.int/2010/biodiversity/www.environment.tn.nic.in/SoE/images/WasteManagement.pdf retrieved from home.utah.edu/~ptt25660/tran.html‎

www.environmentalleader.com/category/conventional-energy/‎

www.epa.gov/climatechange/‎ www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/airpollution.html‎

www.watermgt.com/‎

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome

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Next Gen Technologies

Next Gen Technologies

Introduction.The aviation industry is undergoing through radical changes. This is in a bid to improve on security, cut production and running costs, becoming environmentally friendly, reducing travelling time and improving on service delivery. These changes are done to have an edge over the competitors in the industry while maintaining client satisfaction. In the United States, changes in the aviation industry are being put in place already. There is the development of the Next Generation Air Transport System (Next Gen). This is the name given to a new National Airspace System which is going to be implemented across the nation between the year 2012 and 2025 in stages. This paper is going to look at the technology, system and components of next generation aircrafts.

Next Gen Technologies.In a bid to realize the goals of National Airspace System (NAS), there has been a lot of modeling and remodeling of aircraft improvements. Technology is being pushed to the limit as it was evidenced by the manufacture of Concorde aircrafts. These crafts are take three hours to make a flight from New York to London while a normal aircraft takes a whooping seven hours. There has been a need to even reduce further the three hours taken by Concorde planes. This has led to the development of X-51A Wave Rider aircraft which flies unmanned and could take one hour to fly between New York and London. It is said that technology used in the Wave Rider aircraft could be used in next generation military aircrafts, space aircrafts and passenger planes too. All this is to save time taken to travel between locations.

In order to be within the set environmental limits, technology has been employed to tackle the issues mostly noise pollution. Over the years, there has been production of better and quieter turbine engines that are high performing and improved fuel consumers. There has also been the emergence of aircrafts that are light in weight. This has been possible by the use of strong light weight plastics and composite materials instead of metal. Light aircrafts reduce fuel consumption thus saving of money. There are plans to come up with technology that aims at improving fuel efficiency by 60% or 70%.

Plans are under way to develop engines that are run by bio-fuel. This is being worked on in order to comply with regulations that stipulate the amount of carbon emission airlines are allowed to release in the atmosphere. If such engines are developed and prove to be a success, then huge costs will be cut from buying fuel as bio-fuel is cheaper compared to petroleum.

Next Gen System.Currently, the air traffic control system used in America is the ground-based system which is being termed as old. All countries in the world use this system to guide air traffic in their respective air spaces. Next Gen however, has proposed the use of satellite-based system. This system will use Global Positioning System (GPS). This system helps pinpoint positions of anything in the world with utmost accuracy. It is being used in mobile phones, vehicles among other fields. Its introduction in the aviation industry will mean air routes will be shortened hence saving of fuel and time, there will be reduced air traffic delays and air traffic controllers will have the ability to control aircrafts with greater safety margins compared to today.

Next Gen projects to use the GPS system in aircrafts by the year 2020. This will allow pilots to choose their own flight paths. Pilots will also know their positions in relation to other planes thus the ability of many flights taking place close to one another and yet evade collision. The system will also aid in transfer of information regarding weather conditions. This is important information to aviation players as it helps predict weather conditions in planned routes. In general GPS system will lead to faster flying, better landing, improved navigation in different weather conditions and better running of airports.

Next Gen Components.There are five components in Next Gen and they include;

System Wide Information Management (SWIM); This system will provide a platform for one information system to avail data to many users and applications by reducing the number and types of system and interface. It will reduce redundancy of data and facilitate multi user information sharing thus new ways of decision making due to ease of information accessibility.

Next Generation Data Communications; Voice communication form the large base of communication between aircrew and traffic control, and between air traffic controllers. Incorporation of data communication will add to the two way communication for instructions, advisories, flight crew request, reports and air traffic control. This will enable air traffic controllers handle more traffic, enhance safety and capacity and improve productivity.

Next Generation Enabled Weather. (NNEW); Majority of air delays are related to weather. The goal of NNEW is to reduce these delays by merging the many different weather observatories and sensors from the ground, those that are airborne and from space into a single national weather information system which will be updated in real time. It will provide a common weather picture and report in the national airspace system which ill translate to better decision making and air travel.

NAS Voice Switch. (NVS); There are seventeen different voice switching systems being used now. NVS aims at replacing these systems with one ground-ground and air-ground voice communication system. This is meant to bring uniformity in aviation communication.

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B); This surveillance broadcast will use the global positioning system to provide pilots and air traffic controllers with information that will aid in the safety of aircrafts while flying and taxiing in the runways. It will be achieved by the mounting of transponders on the planes to receive signals that will help determine the aircrafts position in the sky in relation to other air traffic. These signals and other data will be relayed to pilots and air traffic controllers at the same time thus improvement in air safety.

Conclusion.In order to achieve objectives of National Air Space, there has to be increased funding and support from the government and all stake holders. This will lead to the realization of set goals within the stipulated time. The duration of time taken to merge both mid-term and long-term goals should be reduced in order to speed up the actualization of goals and maintain consistency. Achievements made so far have proved that anything is possible thus the need for people and players in this quest to have faith in proposals made towards any goal of NAS.

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Introduction to the Night Sky

Introduction to the Night Sky

Introduction to the Night Sky

ASTR 1010L

The goals of this lab are to give you an introduction to what you can see in the nighttime sky, how we label the locations of objects on the sky, and prepare you to make nighttime sky observations.

Before we get started, we need to define some terms. I’m sure you have used the word “constellation” before. However, astronomers term what you probably call a constellation an “asterism”, and mean something a little bit different for the word constellation.

Look up the word “asterism”. What does it mean?

It means a pattern of stars that is not a constellation.

Two asterisms you may be familiar with are the Big Dipper and Orion. In the case of the Big Dipper, the stars that make the dipper are part of a larger constellation, Ursa Major (Big Bear). (The Little Dipper is part of the Little Bear, Ursa Minor.)

Draw a quick sketch of the Big Dipper.

4090416-160871The diagram to the right shows the constellation Ursa Major as an astronomer thinks of it.

Do you see the Big Dipper in there?

Yes, I do see the Big Dipper

Do you see a bear? 

Yes, I do see the bear.

Dubhe is on the bear’s back, Muscida is its nose, Talitha is a front foot, Tania Australis and Borealis are one back foot, and Alula Australis and Borealis are the other back foot. Alioth, Mizor/Alcor, and Alkaid are the bear’s tail.

Yes, the bear has a long tail. At least in mythology. The bears that became Ursa Major and Ursa Minor had normal, short tails until

someone (Jupiter) grabbed them by their tails and swung them into the heavens. Getting pulled on so much stretched out their tails. Or so the story goes.  Other cultures actually saw this as a raccoon

(which does have a tail, or bear cubs that were following mama bear along. Arab myth has what we think of as the bowl of the dipper as a coffin and the “handle” are people in mourning following along.

So, asterisms are the shapes that we draw using the stars that inspire stories of all sorts. (If you’re interested in more, look for the book Beyond the Blue Horizon by E. C. Krupp.) Constellations, on the other hand, are technically whole regions of sky that contain the asterism. Every bit of sky is included in one of 88 constellations, like every bit of Georgia is included in one of its 159 counties. Sometimes when you’re asked about constellations, we mean the shape you see, and sometimes when you’re asked about constellations, we mean a region of sky. I think it will be clear to you when you need to actually answer a question.

Say, for example, I ask you to draw Orion. Which of the below would I expect you to draw?

Hopefully you answered the one on the left. And your drawing might not even have that much detail

– it’s pretty hard to see Orion’s shield and his upraised arm unless you’re in a reasonably dark place.

But if I asked you what constellation M78 was in, then I’m thinking more about the region of space labelled as Orion. Make sense?

All right, now we’re ready to start with our actual activities.

Print out the two-page document “Planisphere for the Northern Hemisphere” on iCollege and construct it as explained on p. 2. If you have any trouble or aren’t sure what to do, watch the short video on iCollege. This is for temporary use (though you can certainly use it to help with your star and planet observations later in the summer), so you don’t need to use cardstock or paste the pages onto a file folder. However, it’s going to be difficult to visualize what is being discussed in these questions without an actual physical (as opposed to electronic) version, so please figure out a way to print this out.

In the second night sky lab (Motions in the Night Sky), you will also need the “Southern Star Wheel”, so you may want to go ahead and print it out now as well if you are having to make special arrangements to get to a printer.

A planisphere – or star wheel – is basically a star chart that allows you to only see the part of the sky at one time. That’s why there is a cutout that shows you what can be seen at a particular date and time while blocking other stars and constellations. If you were looking at the sky from someplace besides the latitudes of 30 to 45 north (which includes most of the continental US), you would need a different planisphere because different parts of the celestial sphere can be seen. (“Planisphere” comes from the same root word as “planetarium”, a modern word technically meaning “a place for planets”, even though you don’t always see planets when you go to a planetarium… It’s just cooler- sounding than “night-sky-arium”. Probably should have been called a “celestarium” and “celestisphere”…)

Which leads to the next question – what is the celestial sphere? Go to Section 2.1 of OpenStax Astronomy (linked in iCollege), read the Celestial Sphere section, and give a basic definition in your own words.

A little more terminology to think about before we proceed:

What is your zenith?

It is an imaginary point direct above my specific location in an imaginary celestial sphere.

Imagine you go outside in the late evening, say 9 p.m., and call your friend who lives in France. After he or she gets done being annoyed with you (because it’s 3 a.m. there), he/she agrees to go outside as well. Luckily you’ve both got clear skies. When you look at your zenith, do you see the exact same thing as your friend sees when he/she is looking at his/her zenith?

No, I do not see the same thing as my friend sees.

Explain why or why not.

It is because her zenith is different than mine. Her imaginary point in a particular location in an imaginary celestial sphere differs from mine.

What is your horizon?

It is the northern hemisphere.

The edge of the cutout of your planisphere represents your horizon, and whatever is in the middle of the cutout region will be seen at your zenith.

Before we look at the stars, there’s one more thing to note about our planisphere.

If you’re looking at a map, and holding it so that north is at the top of the map, is east to the left or right?

East is to the right.

What do you notice about your planisphere’s directions?

Since I am in the northern hemisphere, all my directions are to the right.

Why is this, you say? Well, when you’re looking at a regular map, you’re interested in what the ground looks like as seen from above. But when you’re using a planisphere, you’re looking at the sky as seen from below.

Hold your planisphere at your zenith. (Make sure you can see the side with the directions and stars…) Face north (or pretend to). Hold your planisphere (still at your zenith) so that “Northern Horizon” on the planisphere is in the same direction as you’re facing.

If north is in front of you, is east to your left or right?

East is to the right.

A-ha… It matches which way east is on the ground now!

Now, let’s figure out what will be in our nighttime sky tonight at 9 p.m. Pinch the star wheel part of your planisphere so that today’s date is near your thumb. Place the star wheel in the holder so that your thumb – today – is near 9 p.m.

What constellations/asterisms are visible in the planisphere window whose names you recognize?

Cassiopeia and Polaris.

What constellations/asterisms are visible in the planisphere window whose names you DON’T recognize?

Draco and Cepheus

What two constellations are closest to the center of the planisphere window? These constellations would be closest to your zenith if you were to go out and observe at this time.

Canis Major and Orion

What two constellations are nearest to the eastern horizon?

Orion and Virgo

What two constellations are nearest to the western horizon?

Big Dipper and Ursa Major

What two constellations are nearest to the northern horizon? (Make sure you choose constellations that are completely visible, not ones that are partially below the horizon.)

Ursa Minor and the Little Bear.

Now, when you actually go outside and look, you probably won’t see nearly as many stars as are on your planisphere, if you’re observing from anywhere near Atlanta or anyplace with many street lights…

2882900542990The picture below is from a different planisphere star wheel that shows only the stars you can see when you are in the city. Probably you will be able to see a few more stars than this, but no guarantees.

Which constellations are you most likely be able to see?

Pheonix and Lupus

Mark these constellations on your planisphere somehow.

Let’s practice identifying constellations. Open the “Summer Sky Map”. While this map is perfect for 9 p.m. in late July, it is more like midnight in mid June, so you may want to adjust your planisphere to better match up.

Determine which constellations are the ones labeled A, B, and C. Ignore D and E for a moment; these are individual stars and we’ll come back to this.

Constellation A: Orion

Constellation B: Ursa Major

Constellation C: Canis Minor

Next use your planisphere and the summer skies map to identify at least four constellations, especially those you are likely to be able to see during the summer, on the star field below. (Hint: it’s a little more “zoomed in” and doesn’t show things that would be near your horizon.)

948708167690

Cygnus

The Swan

Norma

Ophiuchus

Use your planisphere and identify at least seven constellations, especially those you are likely to be able to see during the summer, on the star field below. Ignore the gray strip through the picture – it is supposed to represent the Milky Way, but you won’t see that unless you are in a very dark location. In this diagram, you are seeing a fairly wide field of view, so there are more constellations.

0178435

1.Ursa Major

2. Boötes

3. Leo

4.Cancer

5.Virgo

6.Hydra

7. Cassiopeia

We will come back and discuss the motions of these constellations over the course of a night and over the course of a year in the next lab. Before that, however, we need to look more closely at the celestial sphere and how we label the locations of celestial objects.

Go to the “NASA – Solar System Exploration – Reference Systems” page linked on iCollege. Review the Celestial Sphere section, and replicate the illustration of the celestial sphere in the space below. Make your diagram large enough that we can add more to it.

Hopefully you noticed that the Earth isn’t straight up and down in the diagram. Why not, you may ask? Because it’s tilted relative to the ecliptic. And what is the ecliptic? There are two different ways to write a definition of the ecliptic, but both are actually the same. A quick search for a definition of “ecliptic” would probably yield you an answer like “the Sun’s apparent path over the course of a year”. Why does the Sun move in the sky over the course of a year? Because the Earth is orbiting it and our perspective changes over months! We’ll draw diagrams of this in the next lab.

Over the course of a year, the Sun moves higher and lower in the sky. This is because the Earth’s rotation axis is tilted with respect to the plane of the solar system. In the Introduction to ASTR 1010L and the Solar System, you looked at a diagram of the solar system as seen “from the top”. If you look “from the side” (see the diagram in iCollege), all the planets orbit the Sun in almost the same plane (most of the asteroids and some of the comets do, too, but they’ve had a more chaotic past and so aren’t necessarily exactly in the plane). We define the plane of the solar system as the plane (in other words, the flat two-dimensional mathematical “surface”) of the *Earth’s* orbit around the Sun.

Because the Earth’s equator isn’t parallel to the ecliptic, we say the Earth is tilted.

Look further down the “NASA – Solar System Exploration – Reference Systems” page to the second illustration of the celestial sphere (don’t read the “Declination and Right Ascension” section yet – we’ll do that in a few minutes). Click on the illustration to watch the Earth spin, then add the ecliptic to your diagram above.

One more question before we move on to learning about the coordinate system we use to label the positions of objects in the sky.

You can’t label the zenith on a general celestial sphere like you’ve drawn above. Why not?

Because zenith is an imaginary point in an imaginary celestial sphere hence cannot be represented in drawing.

Go to the UNL Astronomy Downloads page linked in iCollege, and click on “NAAP Labs” for the appropriate operating system of your computer. Once the file downloads, open it. You should get the “Interactives Setup Wizard”.Note – please leave this installed on your computer for the summer; we will use these simulations again!

Go to “3. The Rotating Sky”, then open “Sidereal Time and Hour Angle Demo”. The simulation shows a horizon view of the celestial sphere; the yellow circle that goes “across” the view from east to west is the celestial equator. The celestial poles are also shown. You do not need to be concerned with the yellow or blue semi-circles that are drawn from north celestial pole to south celestial pole.

Change the observer’s latitude to 33.7° to mimic the view from Atlanta.

When the simulation opens, a star has been placed at RA of 4h and a dec of 30°. (RA is short for “right ascension” and dec is short for “declination”. For RA, just say the letters R A, and dec is said with a hard c just like deck.) The next exercises will help you see what the terms right ascension and declination mean.

Change the star’s dec to 15° then to 60°. What about the star’s position on the celestial sphere changes?

A star 15°s above the Western horizon on the Celestial Equator will take one hour to reach the Western horizon and set. At 60°, the star is above Austin’s horizon.

Where is the star when its dec is 0°?

At the celestial equator.

What does it mean if a star has a negative declination?

The star is circumpolar and does not rise above the horizon.

What are the minimum and maximum dec a star can have? Explain.

It ranges from 0 to 90 degrees. Zero degrees is when a star is circumpolar and 90 degrees is the highest altitude a star can have.

Change the star’s RA to 6h. What about the star’s position on the celestial sphere changes?

The star’s position moves from east to west of the horizon.

What are the minimum and maximum RA a star can have?

A star straight overhead has the maximum altitude of 90 degrees.

The “h” in the RA stands for “hours”. Why do you think this is how a star’s RA is measured? How does it mesh with the minimum and maximum RA you found above?

RA is measured in hours, minutes and seconds of time. It is quite similar to the RA I found above as the minimum RA is 0 degrees and the maximum is 90 degrees.

Experiment with changing the observer’s latitude. The location where a star is seen in the sky changes as the observer changes position on the Earth, but do the RA and Dec of a star change as the observer’s location changes? Justify your answer with observations from the simulation.

Yes, different locations have different RA and Dec measurements. For example, a star at the celestial equator will have a RA and Dec of 0 degrees while a star at the highest altitude will have a maximum RA and Dec of 90 degrees.

Move the observer to the North Pole (90° N latitude). What is directly over the observer’s head?

The North Star, Polaris.

Go back to “NASA – Solar System Exploration – Reference Systems” and read the “Declination and Right Ascension” and “The equinoxes” sections. Based on this reading and your experimentation with the simulation, define what right ascension and declination are.

Right ascension (RA): An angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun.

Declination (Dec): It is the position on the celestial sphere that the celestial body lies.

RA and Dec are not usually labeled on planispheres. Instead, we must use a sky map or planetarium program to get more information.

Look back at the diagram of Orion on the second page of the lab. Find Bellatrix.

To estimate its declination, note that it is between 0° and +10° but closer to 10° than 0°. Therefore its declination is about +7°. Bellatrix’s RA is between 5 h and 6 h. Because an hour of RA is pretty large, it must be subdivided. Instead of decimals, such as 5.5 h, RA is subdivided into minutes; 5.5 h would be 5 h 30 m. Because Bellatrix’s RA is slightly closer to 5 h than exactly halfway between 5 h and 6 h, lets estimate that its RA is 5 h 25 m.

Using this method, estimate the RA and Dec of the following stars. You will also need to look at the Ursa Major diagram on the first page of the lab.

Dubhe RA: 5 h 30 m Dec:

10°

Rigel RA: 5h 25 min Dec:

15°

Betelgeuse RA:5h 5 min Dec: 20°

Follow the link in iCollege to get to the download page for Stellarium, a free interactive “planetarium” program. Click on the appropriate operating system and download Stellarium. While it is downloading, note that a PDF User Guide is linked in the upper right corner of the download page.

Install Stellarium. You will need to have administrative privileges to install. (The Windows 64 bit version was 170 MB to download and took about 2 minutes to install.)

Launch Stellarium.

Move your mouse all the way to the bottom half of the left side of the screen so that the icon bar appears. Click on the top icon (an 8-pointed star; “Location window”). Find your location (the search bar is below the list in the upper right quadrant of the window that pops up) – “Atlanta”, “Dunwoody”, and “Marietta” all work; some other locations in the area did not. Use something close – the exact location within the metro area will not make a difference. Do make sure that after you choose the location (click on the city name, then make sure it appears in the “Name/City” box in the lower right quadrant), the red arrow points to a location on the map in the upper left quadrant that agrees with where you actually are… You can then click “Use current location as default”.

What time (on your watch or phone) is it? Does this match the time displayed in the center bottom of the screen? What do you observe on the initial view?

It is 0800 hours. Yes, the pointer at the bottom of the screen points the 8 star. In the initial view, the time appear to be incorrect.

Open the “Date/time window” (a clock) on the icon bar just below the “Location window” icon. If your initial view is showing daytime, then choose a nighttime hour. If your initial view is showing the night sky, then choose a daytime hour. (The clock is a 24 hour clock rather than using a.m. and p.m.). What do you see?

The initial position of the star changes. It rotates to almost the same position within 24 hours. However, the star is only visible in the night sky.

You can click on any point in the sky to get its right ascension and declination, and, if you click directly on a celestial object, a lot of specific information about the object (right click on the information to close it out). You can change the direction that you are looking into by clicking and dragging with your cursor any point in the sky into a new position. The cardinal directions of your north/south/east/west points are labeled along your horizon.

Take a few minutes to experiment with Stellarium. Choose two brighter stars to click on and note their names, what constellations they are in, and what their RA and Dec are. You may round off the RA and Dec as given in the object information.

The north, south, east, and west points are labeled along your horizon. The downwardly curved lines of Right Ascension are marked across the top of the screen and the horizontally curved lines of Declination are marked along the side of the screen.

Stellarium gives a couple of different RA and Dec for objects. You will see they are fairly similar, but the RA and Dec actually change very slightly with time because the Earth’s spin is precessing like a top wobbling! (Except it wobbles over 26,000 years, so we really don’t notice it…) Choose the “on date” RA and Dec to record for this lab, rounding to the nearest minute (m for RA and ‘ for Dec). As you might expect, there are 60 minutes in each hour of RA, but there are also 60’ (‘ stands for arcminutes) in each degree of declination. We didn’t estimate arcminutes of declination earlier because these divisions are quite small – too small to differentiate by eye on maps.

Star 1: Constellation: Orion RA: 6 h 30 min Dec:4°

Star 2: Constellation: Canis Major RA:3h 30 min Dec:8°

In order to navigate the night sky more easily, you can enable constellation lines and names, a celestial grid with lines of right ascension and declination, the ecliptic, the celestial equator and poles, and more. Move the cursor to the bottom left corner of the screen so that two menu bars show up, one horizontal, one vertical. Fix these button bars so they are always visible by clicking on the tiny black arrows in the bottom left corner so they turn into tiny black squares.

Depending on the time of day you are working on this lab exercise the sky shown by Stellarium may not be dark. Move your cursor over the buttons of the horizontal menu bar so their titles will show up. Click on the Atmosphere button (Sun behind cloud icon) so that it changes from white (enabled) to grey (disabled). This turns off the effect of the atmosphere and the black sky with stars will now be visible. Now click on the buttons labeled Constellations, Constellation Names, and Equatorial Grid to enable these features. This turns their icons from grey (disabled) to white (enabled).

We still need to enable the lines indicating the celestial equator, the ecliptic, and the boundaries of the constellations. Go to the vertical menu bar and click on the “Sky and viewing options window” (the icon with the different celestial objects). Once open, select the tab labeled “Markings”. This tab shows a list of features that can be enabled by clicking the checkboxes next to them. Check the boxes of the following features (the of date version): Equinoxes, Solstices, Equator, Ecliptic, and Celestial Poles. You also have the option to change the color of each of these features if you need to by clicking on the colored box on the other side of the feature. You can close this window. All checked features will now show up.

Finally, enabling the constellation boundary lines will make it easier for us to determine exactly which constellation any celestial objects are in. Go back to the vertical menu bar and click on the Configuration window. Once open, select the “Tools” tab. Under the Planetarium Options panel, check the box for “Show constellation boundary button”. Then close the window. This button has now been added but not yet enabled to the horizontal menu bar to the left of the equatorial grid button. Simply click the constellation boundary button to enable it (the icon will turn from grey to white).

Locate the celestial equator. The celestial equator is labelled and is a slightly lighter blue than the other lines of declination.

Star names are in white and constellation names are in blue. Of course you can click on any star to find out its name, but for this question (and for the next), please choose one of the bright ones that is labelled.

Look at the constellations along the line of the celestial equator until you find a named star. Record below its name, the name of the constellation it is in and whether it is north or south of the celestial equator. Also estimate and record by about how many degrees the star is away from the celestial equator – you can do this based on how far away the star is compared with 10 degrees (each of the lines of declination are 10 degrees apart).

Star:CiriusConstellation: Orion

N or S: NorthNumber of degrees from celestial equator: 10°

Next locate the ecliptic (in orange) and look at the constellations along this line for a named star. Record below its name, the name of the constellation it is in and whether it is north or south of the ecliptic. Also estimate and record by about how many degrees the star is away from the ecliptic.

Star: CapellaConstellation: Canis Major

N or S: SouthNumber of degrees from ecliptic: 30°

When you click with the cursor on a point on the ecliptic, a long list of information will be shown about this point, especially, if there is also a celestial object.

For the questions below, find the most northerly and most southerly points along the ecliptic and then click on them. Look for the RA/DEC (on date) line to read off the declination. When you are done with the list of information you can right-click on it to close it out.

Don’t forget you can click and drag the sky around. You may need to turn the horizon off so that Stellarium will show you parts of the sky that aren’t actually visible at the current time. To do this, click the “Ground” icon in the horizontal menu bar so that it turns from white to gray.

What is the maximum (most northerly) declination the Sun will reach?

90 degrees

What is the minimum (most southerly) declination the Sun will reach?

0 degrees.

Do these numbers look familiar? Why do you think they have the values they do? (Hint – look at the third paragraph in the “Declination and Right Ascension” section of “NASA – Solar System Exploration – Reference Systems”.

Yes, the values are quite similar. At the solar system, the star with the lowest attitude has a Dec of 0 degrees while the star with the highest altitude has a Dec of 90 degrees.

The point at which the Sun is at its most northern position is called the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere), and the point at which the Sun is at its most southern position is the winter solstice.

Label the summer and winter solstices on your diagram of the celestial sphere early in the lab.

Follow the ecliptic to the two points where it crosses the celestial equator. Record the RA and Dec of these positions.

Where the ecliptic crosses from south of the equator to north of the equator: RA: 3h 15 minDec: 15°

Where the ecliptic crosses from north of the equator to south of the equator: RA: 6h 45 minDec: 45°

Where the ecliptic crosses from south of the equator to north of the equator marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, so it is called the “vernal” (or spring) equinox. Where the ecliptic crosses from north to south of the equator is the autumnal equinox.

The vernal equinox is used to define the zero point of right ascension. Label the equinoxes on your diagram of the celestial sphere early in the lab.

Next, let’s focus on the stars and constellations. Use Stellarium to figure out the names of the stars marked D and E in the summer skies map. Round to the nearest minute.

Star D: RigelRA: 9 h 10 minDec: 40°

Star E: VegaRA: 12 h 40 minDec: 10°

Look around and find Vega in the sky.

What constellation is Vega in? What is its RA and Dec?

Find Capella. This time, use the “Search Window” button on the vertical menu bar. Stellarium will pan to Capella and show a list with detailed information of the object.

What constellation is Capella in? What is its RA and Dec?

Constellation: Lyra

RA: 18h 36m

Dec: 38°

Next, search for M51. What is M51? What constellation is it in?

It is a whirlpool of hydrogen gas that creates new stars and forms a galaxy.

Constellation: Canes Venatici

What city are you using for your location in Stellarium?

Paris

Turn the horizon back on using the Ground icon. Move the sky around so that you can see the lowest declination possible (hint: it will be negative).

What is the maximum south (most negative) declination you can see from where you are, provided you are in the northern hemisphere (if you are in the southern hemisphere, estimate the maximum north declination)?

Maximum south= -10°

Maximum north= 10°

Use the search feature to find the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, two small galaxies very close to the Milky Way. What are their RAs and Decs?

LMCRA: 15h 32 minDec: 37°

SMCRA: 12h 18minDec: 42°

Are the LMC and SMC visible from your current location on the Earth? Why not?

LMC and SMC are not visible in the northern hemisphere.

At what latitude on Earth would you build an observatory from which to see all of the sky? Explain your reasoning.

The best place to make observations is at 0 degrees which is at the equator. At this latitude, it is possible to get and angular view of the sky since the whole of the sky is visible.

You may have noticed that we haven’t mentioned planets, and yet they can be brighter in the sky than any of the stars. The reason is that as they orbit around the Sun, their position changes with respect to the stars. The word “planet” comes from a Greek word meaning “wanderer” because the ancients saw the planets wandering among the stars.

Their names have to do with how they look in the sky: Mercury, the messenger god of the Greeks and Romans (known as Hermes to the Greeks), moves very quickly in the sky because it is close to the Sun and orbits very quickly. Venus, the only planet named for a goddess, has a cyclic pattern in the sky lasting 9 months. Mars, named for the god of war, appears red due to the iron oxide (rust) on its surface. Jupiter, the king of the gods, moves at a stately slow pace and is brighter than any planet except for Venus. Saturn, the father of Jupiter, moves more slowly and isn’t as bright as Jupiter. (The other planets aren’t visible to the unaided eye, in other words, without binoculars or telescope.)

In order to find out what planets are visible at a particular time, a good reference is Sky & Telescope Magazine’s This Week’s Sky at a Glance, linked on iCollege.

You can skim through the top part and look at the diagrams, but you will get the most concise information in “This Week’s Planet Roundup” at the bottom of the page.
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Introduction to Software Architecture

Introduction to Software Architecture

Introduction to Software Architecture

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Introduction to Software Architecture

Historical Narrative

Software development dates back to the 19th century during a period when Augusta Ada King wrote about a computer program and worked on an analytical engine that later came to move the industry overwhelmingly and served as the basis for modern-day calculators. This work by Countess Lovelace was in support of Charles Babbage’s invention of the computer. In later years, the imaginations of aspects that facilitated development in computing architecture and software took the industry by force. Although the development of the software has advanced in contemporary times, computing architecture cannot exist without the capability of systems that happened during the 19th century (Ceruzzi, Aspray, & Misa, 2003). However, the development of experiences in software capability and computing power has evolved and developed in what appears as a symbiotic relationship. This cycle shows that growth in the demand for the capability of software increases the need for powerful computing power in that increased growth in power facilitates heightened software capability, which aids the development of a virtuous cycle. In the same manner, an increase in software capability leads to a higher demand for heightened computing power.

Growth in computing technologies has developed from different areas of scientific research in universities into large businesses. The adoption of computers in business began in the 1960s, during which most of the software was used to produce reports and process transactions. During this period, the architecture of software was developed through the use of the waterfall model, which resulted in software that suited the purposes for which it was developed. The resultant software was modular in design, an aspect that made it relatively easy to maintain and use. The software during this time was also arranged around a client-server architecture that included a server with the ability to serve many clients. It was also simple in that a client could make the requests to the server, which would respond as expected (Ceruzzi, Aspray, & Misa, 2003). This meant that one server was responsible for undertaking different aspects of the software system, including error detection, collection of data, data retrieval, validation of inputs, and presentation of results such that the client did not have to do any work. This client-server model does not require the client any computation work in addition to facilitating the input of data from the user.

Since the 19th century, software technology has developed exponentially such that contemporary architecture has become obsolete. However, some aspects remain relevant, including the virtuous cycle that exists between software capability and computing power. The current technology also observes that software should be well organized in accordance with appropriate architecture. Client-server architecture is also relevant, although it is not the only architecture available. Technology has grown from mainframe computers that require huge maintenance and significant investment and were known to consume a large amount of space with a great need for specialized staff (Moshix, 2018). The mainframe computers developed to minicomputers, which later propagated the development of desktop computers that led to the famous laptops. Progression of each of the technological features resulted in the reduction of machine weight and increased portability, which is mostly characterized by smartphones that led to the birth of tablet computers. Advancement in technology through the years led to cost reduction and miniaturization, which resulted in cheaper, lighter computers with higher computing power. The virtuous cycle was carried through the years with increased portability and power of computing.

Technology continues to advance as people continue to adopt computing into their lives. Communication has changed from SMS to communication through iMessage and Whatsapp, among other options to choose from. The transition in messaging is an indication of increased demand for software capability. The software has also grown in complexity and programming languages. In the coming years, there are expectations to experience increased growth and advancement in complexity and ease of use.

Software Architectures

Architecture entails the interplay between different layers in that each of the layers cannot function individually or comprise an item or building separately. Software architecture entails bringing together different layers and appreciating the role and contribution of each layer to the building. Software architectures include client-server, monolithic, micro-services architecture, layering and stack, and service-oriented architecture.

Monolithic Architecture

As the name suggests, monolithic architecture refers to a large, strong, imposing, and indivisible architecture that combines various functions that would be separated into different components. This architecture entails different modules and classes that are packed together tightly such that software gets deployed as one single file. A monolithic application, such as the fragrance westore application has three layers in each underlying application, which include the presentation layer, application layer, and data layer. The presentation layer is the front-end layer that comes up with the interface that interacts with the software while the application layer embodies different software calls in the business logic.

This architecture is best suited for a small application or that that are suited for single developers. Monolithic architecture is preferred due to the simplicity of development, management, and deployment. The architecture is known for simplicity in development in that the layers in the application are coupled tightly. Since the architecture is compiled in one software, it is easy to deploy and distribute it. There is also the simplicity of management in that the layers in the architecture are accessible through software calls. This architecture is also simple to test, easy to understand, and it is easily scalable.

However, the monolithic architecture has a language lock-in that the programming language should be used in subsequent versions of the software. The size of the software’s codebase can also become large, making it challenging to undertake future maintenance. The size of the codebase also makes it difficult to digest and to distribute the development. In addition, the size of software makes it difficult to optimize resources due to its size, thus making it complex and slow to load the computer.

Client-Server and Peer-to-Peer Architectures

This architecture is built on the basis that there exists a series of services that are often delivered by servers to the client who made the request. The client in question can include a computer program with the need to make a request for various services. A service, on the other hand, refers to a computer program that provides clients with functionality and often serves other types of computer programs. This scenario shows that one server can serve different clients who can request services from different servers. In this architecture, the servers and the clients run computer programs, and there are varying types of servers, including database server, web server, or file server that is always listening to different requests to respond with an appropriate message. There are many servers installed in one computer in that servers are considered as computer programs rather than a physical computer. This architecture often separates different components into a server and client such that it becomes defined as a centralized model in that functionality is often concentrated into different servers that hold and serve the requests of the clients. A variant of the client-server architecture is the peer-to-peer model where different computers interact such that one makes the request, and the other furnishes the client with the requested service. This model is different from the client-server model in that this peer model lacks the separation between the functionality of the server and the client.

Layering and Stack Architectures

This architecture refers to a stack or layering architecture, which includes the open systems interconnection (OSI) model and the Internet Protocol(IP) or the Transport Control Protocol (TCP). Both of these systems often facilitate the efficient movement of data in diverse networks, although one must be more dominant or important than the other (Lau, 2004). The OSI model comprises different interacting layers, including applications that are used by network applications such as email clients and web browsers. The presentation layer is an interacting layer that receives data from varying application layers in the form of numbers and characters converting the data and compressing it. Other interacting layers include presentation, session, transport, data link, and network.

The overall agility is low in that this architecture makes it difficult to undertake changes since it is cumbersome and time-consuming. This is because of the monolithic aspect of implementations and the coupling of components that makes it difficult to makes changes (Khoury, 2018). This architecture has low ease of deployment and a high degree of testability in that some of the components belong to particular layers while others are stubbed or mocked. The performance is low as a result of the inefficiencies involved in going through the different layers in order to fulfill the request from the client. Although it has a low rating, layering architecture has a high ease of development in that the pattern is famous, and it is easy to implement through the separation of applications and skillsets by different layers – database, business, and presentation. A shopping cart web application is an example of a multi-layered architecture that is common in most e-commerce sites. This application is used in such sites in that it allows users to add the identified items to the cart, make payments, and make necessary changes to the number of items in the cart.

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

This architecture is a type of software design whereby the services are availed by software components over a network to other software components. This architecture has a serving component and a requesting aspect that makes it similar to client-server architecture (Anandamurugan & Priyaa, 2014). This architecture is often established with the component’s interface and mode of communication between different components. The components in these systems are self-contained such that it avoids revealing inner workings. Communication between the components occurs when the calling component identifies the interface of the other serving component. Anandamurugan and Priyaa (2014) explain that unless one knows and identifies the components of the SOA, one cannot call the member function. After they are known, the serving and calling components require communication, which is often done through the eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML). This architecture is most applicable in marketplaces, where the services and components offered are published and cataloged (Anandamurugan & Priyaa, 2014). There are three parts to this architecture, including service registry, service requester, and service provider. This architecture is widely implemented in web services such as the Simple Object Access protocol.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is a business model is an advanced version of the traditional style of software that requires installation in that this software does not need to be installed on the user’s machine (Carvalho et al., 2014). Examples of SaaS include Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Microservices Architecture

This architecture is a variation on SOA in that it structures software such as a collection of different services, which can be considered as loosely coupled services with the advantage of the ease of testing, reuse, enabling the deploying of services, and promoting parallel development. This architecture is also characterized by lightweight services with ease of implementation in any programming language. However, this software has the drawback of a language lock that is known to pervade the monolithic software. This architecture is advantageous in that it is open to agile development in terms of deployment and continuous releases (Selvaraju, 2018). However, this architecture is also criticized for a high degree of complexity, latency costs, and information barriers. It is applied widely in that the link that exists between agile software development and microservices architecture is mutually supportive. This is the reason why large-scale services, including eBay, Twitter, Amazon, Netflix, and Paypal have evolved from the use of monolithic architecture to microservices architecture.

Conclusion

The development of the software started in the 19th century by Countess Lovelace, who worked on the analytical engine and formed a basis for modern-day calculators. Software architecture had developed from the use of the waterfall model during the 1960s when resultant software were modular in design, an aspect that increases use and maintenance. Although traditional software has become obsolete, various aspects are still relevant, including the virtuous cycle between software capability and computing power. Technology continues to advance as people continue to adopt computing into their lives owing to advanced software architecture, including software as a service (SaaS), layering and stack, monolithic architecture, monoservice architecture, and client-server architecture. In the future, the landscape of developers is likely to change across diverse perspectives, including technological, business, social, and business perspectives. From a social perspective, rich content, navigation paradigm, and user-related content will drive the trends. The business perspective will see improvement in micro-transactions and advanced monetization business models. A technological perspective will give birth to lightweight technologies, including SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions), Ajax, POX (Plain Old XML), and RSS, which will continue to change the industry in surprising ways.

References

Anandamurugan, S & Priyaa, T (2014). Service Oriented Architecture, Nova Science Publications, Hauppauge, NY, available at: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.laureate.net.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1134313&site=ehost-liveCarvalho, M, Bellotti, F, Berta, R, De Gloria, A, Gazzarata, G, Hu, J & Kickmeier, M (2014). A case study on Service-Oriented Architecture for Serious Games Entertainment Computing, 6(1), pp.1-10, [online] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268816327_A_case_study_on_Service-Oriented_Architecture_for_Serious_Games, accessed 17 June 2019.

Ceruzzi, PE, Aspray, W & Misa, TJ (2003) A History of Modern Computing, ‘Chapter 3: The Early History of Software, 1952-1964’, MIT Press, available at: https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/53883074KarBytes CS (2011). Intro to Computer Architecture, [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEjPop-aK_w, last updated 3 January 2011, accessed 16 June 2019.

Khoury, J (2018). Waterfall Model Definition & Example [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_A0E1ToC_I, last updated 14 March 2018, accessed 12 May 2019.

Lau, K-K (2004). Component-based Software Development: Case Studies, World Scientific, New Jersey, USA, available at: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.laureate.net.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=127449&site=ehost-live.

Moshix (2018). Mainframes, How They Work and What They Do – M80’, [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGlC3WXL8FQ, last updated 11 August, 2018, accessed 12 May 2019.

Selvaraju, S 2018 ‘TCP/IP Model’, [online] https://www.lynda.com/IT-Infrastructure-tutorials/TCPIP-model/740413/753484-4.html?org=think.edu.au, last updated 19 June 2018, accessed 17 June 2019.

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