Meditations on First Philosophy by Ren Descartes Essay

Meditations on First Philosophy by Ren Descartes - Essay Example For the first mediation, the philosopher realizes that throughout his life he has accepted great many falsehoods as truth and based since he judged their validity through his senses. However he has realized that his senses are not objective and can easily be deceived or manipulated, thus for him to find the ultimate truth that cannot be questioned, he needs must deconstruct everything he has learnt so far. He decides them to demolish all his former beliefs and assertions upon which doubt can be cast and start afresh with, what he can be sure can be verified as true beyond any doubt. However, the mediator does not examine for doubt his former believes individually, he puts them together and questions their authenticity by introspecting on the method by which he formed these conclusions. Ultimately, he realizes that the conclusions on which he has based opinions were formed by means of senses he admits that human senses are on the large quite sturdy. At most, they are only likely to mi sconceive when it comes to small far away object; he acquiesces to the fact that his senses have in the past played him false on several occasions. Bearing that in mind, he concludes that t would be unwise, nonetheless, to trust wholly anything has proven capable of deception in the past. Ergo, Descartes creates enough reason and justification to put into doubt what he has learnt through the five human senses, which are also the primary method by which scientific data is collected. As he is creating this line of thought, the philosopher seated by the fire realizes that by virtue of the fact he can feel the warmth of the fire and determine that he is awake and alert. However, this reasoning is easily challenged under the theory of doubt; he says that although he uses the fire to determine he is awake, even when he is dreaming, he experiences similar sensations to the ones he is currently feeling. Descartes also argues that even in matters of simple arithmetic and geometry, it is poss ible to be misguided and deceived; he presumes that since he at times assumes that others may be wrong in a matter in which they believe are right, such may still be applied to him by a higher being. As such, it is possible when he adds two and two to find four or when he counts four sides in a square; it is possible he is being deceived. The superior being in this case would be God who is supposed to be all good and all-powerful; if his existence is real, then it translates that the simple perceptions such as arithmetic problems should be real. However, that would only be true under the premises that God does indeed exist and possess the aforementioned attributes, the other option would be that God is capable of deliberately deceiving us or that he does not exist. Under the premises of his nonexistence, it would then mean that man is controlled and manipulated by another being, which postulates could be an evil genius, as opposed to, a supremely good God or possibly in his place. H e thus determines that in consideration of such occurrences being true, in his mediation he would suspend his believes on the authenticity of even these elementary truths. Such are the basic parts that make up the universe such as colors shapes and numbers viewing them as â€Å"nothing but bedeviling hoaxes of my dreams†, which the deceiver can lay snares for his skepticism. The second mediation serves to develop

New Fitness Trends And Crazes Physical Education Essay

New Fitness Trends And Crazes Physical Education Essay The fitness industry is constantly diversifying with new fitness trends and crazes. The most recent trend is Zumba. Zumba is being marketed as a new exciting way to stay active and healthy. It boasts of its fun aspect and its ability to bring people together to get fit and have fun at the same time. Founder, Alberto Perez a Miami based dancer once forgot his traditional music to a fitness class he was leading and instead used some Latin music tapes. He delivered the session letting the music lead and guide him like in a club. The participants loved it and so Zumba was born. Now, more than 3 million DVDs have been sold in over 30 countries. In a recent poll, Zumba ranked 9th for international fitness trends in the year 2012 (Thompson, 2012). Zumba currently has well over 9,000 instructors worldwide and on October 15, 2007 Zumba was showcased on the Today Show. In October 2008, worldwide Virgin Active sport centres started proposing Zumba classes in their programs (Zumba Fitness, 2012). Today, Virgin Active in Norwich offers an exclusive range of fitness classes including; body pump, body combat and step classes. Zumba features in their aerobic classes, and is fast growing in popularity says the Norwich Virgin Active Fitness Manager in an interview (see appendices). However despite the ever-growing popularity and widespread of Zumba, there is still very little documented research highlighting the potential fitness and health benefits of the dancing phenomenon. The author, a volunteer at Virgin Active agreed with fitness managers that determining the average exercise intensity and energy expenditure during a Zumba class could provide valuable information about the classes Virgin has to offer and a unique selling point. This project set out to determine the average exercise intensity and energy expenditure during a Zumba fitness class at Virgin Active. Literature review Melissa Napier conducted a case study, investigating if and how, Zumba fitness has impacted womens participation in Doon Valley Leisure Centre. The objectives were to source out the reasons and factors that were impacting female participation levels within physical activity. The research found that for a fitness centre in Dalmellington, the majority of Zumba participants were aged between 40-59 years. However these results were obtained from both Zumba and Aqua Zumba participants which supports evidence in the secondary research that Aqua fitness is popular and recommended to the elderly population. Zumba participants said they attend classes because they think Zumba is an enjoyable exercise and allows them to socialize whilst increasing their fitness. Section 2 of the questionnaire asked the Zumba participants what they think makes Zumba different and more appealing than other forms of exercise, 44% answered Fun. Other activities that the Zumba participants said they enjoy include: Aqua Zumba and swimming. For the non Zumba participants they said they preferred gym, swim and fitness classes other than Zumba. This is not surprising as 80% of non Zumba participants are members and all these services are accessible to them as they are included in the membe rship prices. Evidence in Secondary research shows that interest in sport declines with age however the investigators primary research shows that 53% of Zumba/Aqua Zumba participants are 40-59 years old with only 7% aged 16-24 years old. Although Zumba may not appeal to all, it is 16-24yrs with latent demand for more physical activity options according to the Active People Survey carried out by the Womens Sport and Fitness Foundation. The only other literature which examined the exercise intensity of Zumba was conducted at Adelphi University (Otto et al., 2011). It reported caloric expenditure during Zumba to be between 6.6 and 7.4 Kcal ·min-1 depending on the particular dance style being performed. However there appears to be a wide range in the intensity of Zumba and other group fitness classes, depending upon the choreography and enthusiasm of the instructor. The enthusiasm of the instructor, as well as the experience of being in a group setting, often spills over to the participants, who then work harder. This cannot be captured when following video-taped workouts and the growing popularity of Zumba warrants additional research into this growing fitness trend. Methodology Twelve healthy female volunteers (20  ± 1.5 years, 1.57  ± 0.08 m, 61.9  ± 22.6 kg) were selected from the Virgin Active fitness club in Norwich. All participants were regular exercisers and were relatively experienced at participating in Zumba fitness classes. Prior to participating in the research project, all subjects were asked to complete a PAR-Q and provide written informed consent. Participants completed a health history questionnaire to check for any contra-indications which would prevent them from participating, and were informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time, even after giving their written consent. The data produced from the study was kept confidential and the participants were able to access their particular data if requested. Prior to the Zumba class, each participant had to perform an incremental, maximal treadmill test in the Norwich City College sports laboratory. This test measured the participants heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO2). Test procedures can be found in appendices. From this test, an individual linear regression equation was developed for each subject to predict VO2 from HR. This equation was subsequently used to predict VO2 (ml ·kg-1 ·min-1) during the Zumba session for that subject. Measurements of steady state oxygen uptake by the participants were used as an indirect method to measure energy expenditure (calorimetry). Energy expenditure was calculated from the predicted VO2 data assuming a constant of 5 Kcal ·L-1 of O2 consumed. Similar studies had demonstrated that the HR-VO2 relationship during treadmill exercise accurately reflected the HR-VO2 relationship during Zumba. After treadmill testing, subjects were given a Zumba DVD and told to practice the routine at least three times prior to the class. Following the treadmill test, all participants took part in a Zumba session. The Zumba class was delivered by a fully qualified zumba instructor in a sports hall at Virgin Active. During the class, all participants wore a heart rate monitor which recorded all the data throughout the session. After the session, the data was inserted into the individuals HR-VO2 regression equation to estimate the VO2 and energy expenditure of the participant during the class. Sampling Participants were recruited from Virgin Active. Participants were found using a simple snowball sampling technique because of the social networks that existed between class members. Zumba enthusiasts were asked to recommend other appropriate people for the project. Data collection The research design relied heavily on numerical data, therefore the research project adopted a quantitative approach. Numerical data included heart rates, vO2 max data and Kcal data. The project used regression analysis to identify the relationship between exercise intensity and calorie expenditure. Data were analysed using the statistical package IBM SPSS, PC program, version 7.5 Data Analysis Physiological responses to the Zumba session can be found in Table 1. The average HR was 154  ± 14 bpm, which corresponded to 79  ± 7.0% of HRmax. The average estimated VO2 was 66  ± 10.5% of VO2 max. The average estimated energy expenditure of participating in a Zumba session was 9.5  ± 2.69 Kcal ·min-1, which corresponded to an average of 369  ± 108 Kcal per class. To improve cardiovascular fitness, ACSM recommends that apparently healthy adults should exercise between 64-94% of HRmax and 40-85% of VO2max (ACSM,  2010). In order to control body weight, it is recommended individuals expend an average of 1500 or more kcal per week, which is 300 kcal per exercise session when exercising five times a week (ACSM,2010). Based upon the above recommendations, the Zumba class met ACSM guidelines for both parameters. Exercise intensity averaged 79% of HRmax and 66% of VO2max, respectively, and every subject fell within the recommended guidelines. Conclusions and recommendations Zumba is likely best suited for those who are already comfortable with fitness routines and with dance, as it could offer a pleasant change and participants would already know that they could keep up with dance fitness routine. However Zumba is also suitable for participants of all age and fitness levels. The intensity of the workout is relatively subjective so this means the participants can make the workout however hard or easy they would like depending on their enthusiasm and inhibitions. ACSM recommends that individuals should burn atleast 300 Kcals per workout in order to promote weight loss and maintain a healthy body composition (ACSM, 2010). This study concluded that participating in a Zumba dance class used an average of 369 Kcal for an average length class. It should be pointed out that average class length in the current study was approximately 39 minutes in length. Longer classes would obviously result in greater energy expenditure. Thus, regular participation in Zumba sh ould positively affect body composition. Future studies may want to focus on the physiological benefits following an 8-12 week Zumba training period. 1475 WORDS

History Of Music :: essays research papers

Music has been around sense the dawn of time. When man first started to discover music it was not the kind of music we have today. All it consisted of was grunts, moans, and banging things. Music has evolved just as much as the people that created it. From Chromagnum men to musician and from grunting too classical music, rock, and rap. The first people imitated music from nature. They mimicked the sound from their every day life. It had no rhythm, beat, or tune it was just noise, but later turned into what we now call music. Ancient people used music for much more than entertainment they used it in every day life. They would yell and scream during battle, blow a horn as a warning, have ceremonies to honor the dead or bring the rain, signal danger, to show your importance in society, it was also used as a healing power. On the front lines of battle would be a soldier that would be holding a drum or a flute. When this was a common act the instruments would be spread around to different cultures after a battle. This brought on a new way of looking at music. Around the 16th century people started to collect instead of play music. A persons hands and feet were the first of all the instruments and is still the most common, because every one has them. A persons hands and feet were readily available, and easy to use. The drum is the second most common percussion instrument. Like most of the other instruments the drum was found by accident when someone hit a hallow log with a stick. The hallowed out stumps then became drums that were decorated. Drums were used for war or for signaling over long distances. The drum was a common instrument because it was so easy to use; all they had to do was strike it. The second percussion instrument was the rattle. The rattle was found later in the time when humans started to grow plants. It was found accidentally when someone picked up a dried out gourd of some sort and shook it. The ancient rattles were readily available because the people that grew the plants were just learning how to grow plant so they made many mistakes. The harp has been around since humans have started to use tools. The harp was founded during the hunt.

Vygotsky’s Views On Cognitive Development Complements Piaget’s

Methods and approaches to teaching have been greatly influenced by the research of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Both have contributed to the field of education by offering explanations for children's cognitive learning styles and abilities. This essay will discuss how rather than being an alternative, Vygotsky’s views on cognitive development complements Piaget’s. Initially, the term cognitive will be defined before having a look at Piaget’s stages of cognitive development and subsequently analyzing how Vygotsky’s views complement Piaget’s.Flanagan (1996:72) states that, ‘Cognitive development is the acquisition of mental process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. ’ It is therefore a totality of mental processes. Piaget and Vygotsky were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the cognitive development process of the child active construction of knowledge . While Piaget and Vygotsky may differ on how they view cognitive development in children, both offer educators good suggestions on how to teach certain material in a developmentally appropriate manner.Both Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that children's cognitive development took place in stages. (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P. 149). However they were distinguished by different styles of thinking. Piaget was the first to reveal that children reason and think differently at different periods in their lives. He believed that all children progress through four different and very distinct stages of cognitive development. This theory is known as Piaget’s Stage Theory because it deals with four stages of development, which are sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational (Ginsburg, Opper,1979:26).In the first stage sensori-motor, which occurs from birth to the age of two is the time in an infant’s life when the child basically deals with what is presented to him. They learn about physical objects and are concerned with motor skills and the consequences of some of their actions (Thomson and Meggit, 1997:107). During this stage children will learn the concept of object permanence. This is where an object will continue to exist even if it is out of sight. (Ginsburg, Opper 1979 P. 48) For instance if the toy fell off the bed, the child will begin to look for it because he understands it continues to exist.The preoperational stage last from two to seven years. In this stage it becomes possible to carry on a conversation with a child and they also learn to count and use the concept of numbers. This stage is divided into the preoperational phase and the intuitive phase. Children in the preoperational phase are preoccupied with verbal skills and try to make sense of the world but have a much less sophisticated mode of thought than adults. In the intuitive phase the child moves away from drawing conclusions based upon concrete experiences wi th objects.One problem, which identifies children in this stage, is the inability to cognitively conserve relevant spatial information. This is when, when a material is manipulated and no longer matches the cognitive image that a child has made, that child believes the amount of material has been altered instead of just its shape. (Jarvis and Chandler,2001:135) During the Concrete Operational stage from ages seven to ten, children of this age are in school and they begin to deal with abstract concepts such as numbers, relationships and how to reason.They can now group certain things into categories, and put objects into size order, number order, and any other types of systematic ordering. There is a form of logical reasoning and thinking. Using logic, the child is capable of reversibility and conservation, which is the understanding of that mental operations and physical operations, can be reversed. They are now beginning to understand other people’s perspectives and views an d are capable of concentrating on more than one thing at a time.In this stage a person can do mental operations but only with real concrete objects, events or situations (Jarvis and Chandler, 2001:139). Finally, in the formal operational stage, age twelve to fifteen, the child has become more adult-like in their thought structures and processes. They begin to reason logically, systematically and hypothetically. (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P. 139). In other words, they can imagine things that do not exist or that they have never experienced.This stage is generally like the preceding stage but at a more advanced level. The formal operational person is capable of meta-cognition, that is, thinking about thinking. Piaget also theorized on Adaptation, and Development. The adaptation theory (also known as the Constructivist theory) involved three fundamental processes, which contributed to the child’s cognitive development. These are assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium. Assimila tion involved the incorporation of new events into pre-existing cognitive structures.Accommodation is the adjustment involved in the formation of new mental structures needed to accommodate new information. Equilibration involved the person striking a balance between him and the environment, between assimilation and accommodation. When a child experienced a new event, disequilibrium set in until he was able to assimilate and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium. There were many different types of equilibrium between assimilation and accommodation, which varied with the levels of development and the problems, which needed to be solved.  (Thomson and Meggit 1997:105)This dual process, assimilation-accommodation, enabled the child to form schema, and with each stage there came new methods for organizing knowledge together with the acquisition of new schema. Schemas are â€Å" Form action plans which guide us in understanding what is going on around us† ( Hayes b. P. 15) These are similar to responses but imply more cognitive processes. A schema includes ideas, information, actions and plans. People can learn by adopting new schemes or combine smaller already present schemes to create new larger ones.  (Hayes a. 1999 P. 98)In contrast of Piaget, Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist and philosopher in the 1930’s, is most often associated with the social constructivist theory and came into three general claims; Culture – which is that higher mental functioning in the individual emerged out of social processes. Secondly Language – which human social and psychological processes are fundamentally shaped by cultural tools. Lastly the developmental method Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which is the concept that the potential of the child is limited to a specific time span.  (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P. 149-150).Vygotsky believed that it was adults and the Childs peers, which had the responsibility in sharing their grea ter collective knowledge with the younger generations. (Jarvis, Chandler 2001:149-150). This type of learning supports a discovery model of learning and places the teacher in an active role while the students’ mental abilities develop naturally through various paths of discovery. Vygotsky argued that through social activities children learnt cultural ‘tools’ and social inventions.These included language, rules, counting systems, writing, art, and music. Language for Vygotsky was a system of symbolic representation, which had been perfected over many previous generations and allowed the child to â€Å"abstract† the world. It provides the symbols for the child's equations concerning the world; Language came into three separate categories, which were Social, Egocentric, and Inner. For Vygotsky language was what made thinking even a possibility. Language is the difference between thinking on an elementary level and on a higher level.According to Vygotsky's the ory ‘ZPD’ had to do with a child’s current and potential abilities to do something (Flanagan 1999 P. 72). He believed that problem-solving tasks could be placed into three categories, which were as follows: (a) those performed independently by the student â€Å"independent performance† (b) those that could not be performed even with help; and (c) those that fall between the two, the tasks that can be performed with help from others â€Å"assisted performance† (Santrock, 1994).Vygotsky believed the concept of ‘ZPD’ recommended a better move towards to education and allowed a better understanding of the learning process. (Flanagan 1999 P. 73) Bruner built on Vygotsky's idea of the ZPD, by introducing what he described as scaffolding. Scaffolding is the help, which is given to a child that supports the child's learning. Scaffolding is similar to scaffolding around a building; it can be taken away after the need for it has ended. When a chi ld is shown how to do something he can now accomplish this task on its own.  (Jarvis and Chandler 2001 P. 154).Vygotsky believed that the history of the child and the history of the child’s culture needed to be understood because it overrides the cognitive schema process that Piaget described (Santrock, 1994). Piaget believed that the sequence of how children experience the stages was universal, but acknowledged the rate at which each child moved through these stages was flexible and relative upon factors such as maturity, social influences, and other factors.Because of the difference in the skills needed for each level, Piaget believed that children should not be forced into learning the knowledge of the next stage until the child was cognitively ready. (Flanagan 1999:105) However, Vygotsky believed that instruction came before development and that instruction lead the learner into ZPD. Piaget and Vygotsky had many contrasting views which included Piaget believing that cog nitive changes precede linguistic advances, unlike Vygotsky who proposed that language allowed the child a far greater freedom of thought and lead to further cognitive development.  (Flanagan 1999 P. 59)Piaget believed in the development of thinking and that language moved from individual too social (Ginsburg, Opper 1979 P. 84). However, Vygotsky believed that language moved from the social to the individual. (Jarvis and Chandler,2001:150). Vygotsky, like Piaget, believed the relationship between the individual and the social as being a necessary relational. However, Vygotsky believed that it was adults and the Childs peers, which had the responsibility in sharing their greater collective knowledge with the younger generations.He did not believe it was possible for a child to learn and to grow individually and the culture and the environment around the child played a big part in their Cognitive Development. (Flanagan 2001 P. 72). He also believed a child was unable to develop the way he or she had without learning from others in the environment in which they were raised. In contrast, Piaget maintained that children were naturally inquisitive about their own abilities and about their environment (Jarvis, Chandler 2001 P. 129) and that children advanced their knowledge because of biologically regulated cognitive changes.(Flanagan 2001 P. 57). Whereas, Piaget believed that a child was only possible of learning the processes in each stage at any time (Flanagan 1999 P. 60) and overlooked the role of the child's activity with relation to thought processes. For Piaget, children construct knowledge through their actions on the world. By contrast, Vygotsky’s stages, unlike Piaget’s, were that of a smooth and gradual process. That understanding is social in origin. For Vygotsky the cultural and social aspects took on a special importance which is much less symmetrical than Piagets theories.Vygotsky was critical of Piaget's assumption that developmental g rowth was independent of experience and based on a universal characteristic of stages. Vygotsky believed that characteristics did not cease at a certain point as Piaget did. When one thing was learned, it was used from then on. It did not stop just because a child entered another stage of development. Everything was progressive. Vygotsky also disagreed with Piaget's assumption that development could not be impeded or accelerated through instruction.  (Flanagan 1999 P. 57)Vygotsky believed that intellectual development was continually evolving without an end point and not completed in stages as Piaget theorized. Piaget’s stages only approach up to, and end with, approximately age fifteen. This theory does not seem to have any major factors after approximately age fifteen. Due to experiences Piaget had over the years he changed the way he thought and modified his techniques of research to include a greater emphasis of the role of the child's activity.Vygotsky although critica l of Piaget, realized the importance of the information that Piaget had gathered and in spite of his criticisms, Vygotsky built his educational theories on the strengths of Piaget's theories. After examining Piaget’s and Vygotsky's theories on how they complement each other cognitive development there is still more which we can continue to learn and build on with both Piaget’s and Vygotsky's ideas and theories, especially when applied in education construction. Piaget proposed many applicable educational strategies, such as discovery learning with an emphasis on activity and play.However, Vygotsky incorporated the importance of social interactions and a co-constructed knowledge base to the theory of cognitive development. In conclusion, a teacher's focus should be to provide assistance to students in need, and provide cultural tools as educational resources. Teachers should provide for group and peer learning, in order for students to support each other through the dis covery process. Especially in today's diverse classroom, the teacher needs to be sensitive to her student's cultural background and language, and be an active participant in his knowledge.

Closed-book vs closed-notes quiz Essay

1. This is a closed-book, closed-notes quiz. No reference material (including assignments and labs) will be permitted for use during the quiz session. 2. The quiz contains the following types of questions: * Short essay type 3. Place your answers in the space immediately following each question. Quiz Questions 1. What does MAO define? Defines how long a business can be without system or applications before having adverse effects on the mission of the business. 2. Define CSFs for a BIA. The success of recovering critical systems or application necessary in an event that interrupts the services of the business. 3. List four of the seven steps for a contingency plan based on the NIST 800-34 standard. Develop a BIA, develop a recovery strategy, preventive controls identified, test the plan and train individuals. 4. What is the objective of a BIA? To identify the critical and non-critical resources of a business. 5. In the seven domains of an IT infrastructure, list three things that should be included as CBFs. The System/Application Domain, The LAN Domain, and the WAN domain. 6. List at least two differences between BCP and a DRP plan. A BCP covers all units of the business while the DRP covers functions of the IT department only. A BCP contains strategy and incidents to be included and the DRP contains recovery steps and procedures. 7. Describe and list four elements of a BCP. Identify critical equipment necessary for the business mission. Identifying critical personnel necessary for the business to return to normal operations of the business. Conduct a BIA, determine the impact on the business if systems were unavailable. Maintenance and updating of the BCP as changes are made to the network. 8. What does a BCP program manager do? What are his or her duties? Take the leadership role as they are responsible for writing the BCP and conducting the BIA. 9. Describe and list two of the commonly used teams for a BCP. BIA- which is the business impact analysis- The impact a disruption of service would have on a business. DRP- Disaster recovery plan- plans to recover from a disaster resulting in a loss of business systems necessary for the business to operate normally. 10. Describe at least one element that would be in a recovery phase of a BCP plan. An Alternative site to set up business operations in the event of a lost site due to a disaster.