Friday, November 12, 2010
Their efforts are highly valued in return.
July 24, 2006: In May 2006, the American Diabetes Association publicly urged the United States Senate to lift restrictions on stem cell research, and to pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. It had been stalled in the Senate for over a year, despite strong bi-partisan support.
The bill is no longer stalled. This past Tuesday, the bill was passed by a 67-37 vote, again, with strong support from both parties. The next day, President George W. Bush vetoed the bill.
In the first ever veto issued by the President, after 5½ years in office, embryonic stem cell researchers and patients living with myriad diseases and debilitating conditions were disappointed in their quest for better federal funding for research.
Hours after the veto was issued, the House of Representatives convened to hold a vote to override. They fell 51 votes short of the 286 required to override the veto.
Surrounding himself with adopted babies born from frozen embryos, Bush announced his veto of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act from the East Room of the White House. “These boys and girls are not spare parts,” he said. “They remind us of that is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research.”
“This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others,” said President Bush.
Advocates for the bill ranging from patients and researchers to politicians on both sides of the political fence cried “foul,” Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former first lady Nancy Reagan among them, both of whom urged the president to reconsider his position.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the day after the veto, Governor Schwarzenegger authorized $150 million in loans to California’s stem cell agency, a move that quadrupled the amount of money the agency had previously had access to for their embryonic stem cell research.
Nationally, however, the sting has been deeply felt by those invested in embryonic stem cell research and the potential outcomes of better funding for it. “We're just profoundly disappointed with the president's decision,” said pathologist Leo Furcht of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. “The fact that legitimate prospects are there for treating terrible diseases with these cells makes it very troubling.” (USA Today: July 20, 2006)
In a 2005 survey of 2,200 people conducted by the Genetics and Public Policy Center, 67% of people polled responded that they “approved” or “strongly approved” of embryonic stem cell research, according to USA Today.
President Bush remained unmoved by public and political support for the issue. “It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect,” said the President. “So, I vetoed it.”
Reference research: beauty research and health research and shopping research and recent update
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Tuesday, November 9, 2010
research proposal
Today's educators are bombarded with information from all sides about the latest and greatest research-based instructional techniques in teaching. With all these crazes about instructional methods and the confusion about which one really works and which one is a dud, no wonder our teachers are so exhausted! As charming and inspirational as all these latest claims and success stories seem to be, educators need to be careful when choosing and implementing a new or old "miracle" instruction method. There are things a teacher needs to do before making any big changes to their curriculum and instruction.
First things first, what supporting evidence is there? Educators need to use their resources wisely and take all initial information with skepticism. Before actually outright backing the "amazing" new research supporting a particular method, whether it be Indirect Instruction, Cooperative learning, etc..., educators must do their research. Talk to colleagues, look the strategy up online, check out education magazines and journals, and any other resource material available. Find out what evidence there is out there to support the research-based strategy. Furthermore, make sure the sources you are calling upon for information are reliable. Reliable sources offer reliable evidence, so seek out unbiased, professional resources. Weigh pros and cons, consistencies and inconsistencies, before making a decision on the strategy at hand.
After thorough research has been done, the next important question is: "How should the research-based program be implemented?" And "What methods does the research show to be most advantageous?" These questions' answers would most probably appear in your research since it was suppose to be incredibly thorough. If not, you'll want to look it up. Many teachers forget this step, and as Grassen states in the article "What Does It Mean To Be a Research-Based Profession" teachers simply aren't properly implementing research-based strategies are thus losing out on potential benefits of the programs. "Cooperative learning was designed to complement teacher-directed instruction by providing further opportunity for students to work together using what they have learned. In most schools today, cooperative learning is used to replace teacher-directed instruction and students are expected to construct their own knowledge working in groups." (N.d). Clearly, teachers need to put a great deal of thought into this step as improper implementation of the program can have catastrophic consequences on learners.
Read up on each research-based method, decide what sorts of lessons would benefit from their use, and which wouldn't. Talk to colleagues about what methods they use in the classroom, why, and how they implement them. Most of all, be aware of comparisons being drawn between different research-based strategies. Look for comparative studies as opposed to non-comparative studies. Comparative studies are more likely to give you accuracy in research. Educators need to look at the whole picture. How is class A using strategy A performing compared to class B using strategy B? How do these same classes perform after trading strategies? How is school A using strategy A performing compared to school B using strategy B? And so on...
Lastly, before implementing any research-based strategy, an educator should ask themselves "Am I biased?" Be sure to be honest with yourself. Try to go into deliberation with an open and unbiased mind. Take into account all reliable sources whether they are in-line with your initial beliefs or opinions on the strategy or not. Remain unbiased until the end. Your openness and willingness to learn can determine the accuracy of your research.
There are a great many research-based programs out there and being implemented everyday. Many of them just don't have the proper supporting research for an educator, especially a new and inexperienced one, to simply throw their weight behind. Don't ask your students to do homework without doing your own. Research your methods before putting them into practice. Find out what's behind them, what's supporting them, and how they should be used to the biggest advantage in the classroom. Without such information your newest instructional plan could be a huge failure. Don't follow fads and trends, look for rock solid evidence and implementation methods before making that big leap of bringing it into your classroom.
Reference:
Grossen, B. (n.d). What Does It Mean To Be a Research-Based Profession? Retrieved March 8, 2007, from University of Oregon, Eugene Website: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu
Northwest Regional Education Laboratory. (2005). Research-Based Strategies. Retrieved March 5, 2007 from, Focus on Effectiveness Web site: http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/
Reference research: beauty research and health research and general research and my social page
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Friday, November 5, 2010
research design
You mean you had to GO to the library to do research?
Understanding Research Types:
Basic: Seeks to create new knowledge and is not directly related to technical or practical problems. Example: analyze the types of information systems used by people with disabilities.
Applied: Seeks to solve problems. Example: A study conducted on how information systems can be used to improve communication with people with disabilities.
Research Terminology:
There are many types of research and each type of research can utilize different methods for collecting information. This glossary can be utilized to clarify the research terms you may come across during your search. In addition, this glossary is a good resource for refining questions you may have of your professor regarding the assignment.
Case Studies: Examines in-depth the practices or trends of a single or limited number of groups. According to the Second Edition of the Dictionary of Sociology edited by Gordon Marshal, case studies include "descriptive reports on typical, illustrative, or deviant examples; descriptions of good practices in policy research; evaluations of policies after implementation in an organization; studies that focus on extreme or strategic cases; the rigorous test of a well-defined hypothesis through the carefully selected contrasting cases; and studies of natural experiments."
Empirical Studies: Research based on critical evaluation through observation or experimentation.
Experimental Research: Examines the relationship between two variables. This type of research conducts experiments on test and control groups to test a hypothesis about the relationship between two variables.
Historical or Interpretive Research Studies: By examining past events and procedures, this type of study attempts to predict future events or make suggestions for future actions. Types of historical or interpretive research studies include: biographical; histories of institutions and organizations; investigation of sources and influences; editing and translating historical documents; studying the history of ideas; or compiling bibliographies.
Qualitative Research: Observes the experiences of a particular group and attempts to understand the actions and reactions of the group. Field studies and ethnographic techniques are examples of this type of research.
Survey Research Studies: Examines small groups of the population in order to learn about the larger population. Observation of the smaller group produces data about the larger population. This data is used to predict future actions or results.
User Studies: Research that evaluates the way in which systems or institutions are utilized and how the needs of users can be addressed.
Identifying Research Articles:
Listed below are some clues to help identify research articles. However, it should be noted that numerous exceptions occur for all of the points listed below. Therefore, the following information should be used as a guideline when looking for research articles
Topic: Research articles tend to be highly specific in nature, relate to a particular field, or specialty within a field, and are written by authors who have done research in the field.
Audience: The target audience is other researchers, colleagues, students and specialists in the same field. Research articles are written for the scholarly community, rather than a general audience.
Language: The language of research articles is formal, generally does not use the first person, and includes jargon used in the field. Research articles are written to contribute to the knowledge base of the discipline.
Length: research articles can vary in length, but are typically five to fifty pages long.
Authors: Research articles may have numerous authors. The organization, institute or professional society the authors belong to will be listed.
Content: Generally the article is written at a sophisticated enough level that the reader will need to read the article more than once in order to understand and evaluate the article.
Identifying Refereed Journals:
Listed below are some clues to help identify refereed journals. However, it should be noted that numerous exceptions occur for any and all of the points listed below. Therefore, the following information should be used as a guideline when looking for refereed journals
Issue identification: Each issue has a publishing date, volume number and issue number. Generally a volume number is consistent throughout the calendar year, with each issue assigned a corresponding number e.g. vol. 55, issue 4.
Length: A refereed journal may have one to fifty articles, with most having eight to eighteen.
Advertising and graphics: Very little, if any, advertising is included in refereed journals. Any advertising that is included will directly relate to the field. Generally journals of this nature do not have photographs and use black print on white paper. The size of the journal may vary in size from a small paperback size to a large magazine format.
Table of contents: In addition to research articles, refereed journals may contain book reviews, literature reviews, and essays. Therefore, just because an article is published in a refereed journal, it does not necessarily mean that it is a research article!
Publishing: Refereed journals are usually published regularly - once a week, once a month, every quarter, or annually. The majority of journals are published four to six times per year and are often published by a professional society, organization or research institution.
Editorial board: Refereed journals have a peer review process. The editorial board is listed (generally at the beginning of the journal) along with the organizations they are affiliated with. Information about what types of papers are chosen for publication, the selection process, the length of papers accepted, and how to submit a paper is also provided.
Indexing: A listing of where the refereed journal is indexed is often provided.
Title: The title of a refereed journal usually has an "academic" sounding name.
Availability: The location, call number, and availability of the journal can be determined by using the online catalog.
Refereed Materials:
Refereed materials are publications reviewed by "expert readers" or referees prior to the publication of the material. After reading and evaluating the material, the referee informs the publisher if the document should be published or if any changes should be made prior to publication. Refereed materials are also referred to as Peer Reviewed. Refereed materials are significant to the research and the literature of library and information science because they assure readers that the information conveyed is reliable and timely.
Non-Refereed Materials:
Non-refereed materials such as Trade Journals or Magazines use less rigorous standards of screening prior to publication. In some publications, each article may be only screened by the publication's editor. While knowledgeable, no editor can be an authority on all the subject matter printed in a journal. Other non-refereed materials accept almost anything submitted in order to have something to print. The term "scholarly materials" is often used to describe refereed materials, but this term is not exclusive to refereed material. Non-refereed materials may not by scrutinized as intensely as refereed materials, but they can still be considered scholarly.
Locating Materials:
Databases are repositories of article information from journals, magazines, conferences, and sometimes books and newspapers. Databases cover a wide range of topics. Some databases offer a full text feature that links you directly to an article, so you can download and print it directly off the Internet. Explore databases that you use regularly to determine if they have this feature (usually denoted by an "FT" next to the article citation).
Evaluating On-line sources:
Online sources can be a valuable tool if you know how to accurately assess the value and validity of the online information source. In trying to determine the validity of a webpage, it is useful to see what type of organization publishes the page. Sites ending in .edu or .gov are generally more accurate and trustworthy than most, since they emanate from academic and governmental organizations. It is important to verify that you are not looking at a student page located on an academic server, which may or may not be as trustworthy as a page produced by the school. Another element to be cautious of when evaluating your potential source is bias. For example, if you are looking at a commercial site, are they accurately portraying information, or bending the truth to fit their needs? The next criterion to evaluate is accuracy. Begin by looking for spelling mistakes, poor grammar, and typos. Next, look at the sources quoted within the page. Are they well-known, trusted sources and people with expertise in the field at hand? If the page is valid, accurate, and published by a trusted source, then it is generally considered acceptable for research purposes.
Search Strategies:
Your search strategy will vary depending upon which database you are using. Research articles' abstracts & include terms that most non-research articles' abstracts do not. Some examples of these terms are methodology, hypothesis, research, experiment, etc. You can search the field "Words Anywhere" for these terms while simultaneously searching for the keywords of your topic. If you retrieve too many or too few hits, narrow or expand your search by adding or dropping search terms.
Reference research: beauty research and computer research and sport research and recent update
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Make it easy for visitors to vote or bookmark your site.
Valleywag is Silicon Valley’s tech gossip rag. In welcoming its guests, Valleywag states: “You people in Silicon Valley are far too busy changing the world to care about sex, greed and hypocrisy. But if you ever need a break, come visit us at Valleywag.” And Valleywag is not just for those in Silicon Valley. Anyone can pay them a visit at http://valleywag.com/.
Valleywag focuses chiefly on the people of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. To those who charge that Silicon Valley is far too dull and serious for gossip, Valleywag says: “Yes, that’s been the general consensus. Chris Nolan used to write a gossipy column, Talk is Cheap, for the San Jose Mercury News in the 1990s, and Fucked Company provided dirt on all the startups that went bust after 2000. But Silicon Valley hasn’t been conducive to gossip. And a lot of people who work in technology are, at least in up markets, too dazzled by the immaculate future to pay attention to the grime of the present. The less charitable explanation: the companies are uptight; the public relations professionals controlling; and the press supine.”
So, why did Valleywag start a site? “Well, where there’s money, there’s excess, and where there’s excess, there’s gossip. And there’s now a lot of money again in Silicon Valley. Oh, and let’s not forget Google. Did you know that Marissa Mayer, the anointed queen of Google, used to go out with Larry page until quite recently? And no one ever ever writes that. So that’s why.”
What stories does Valleywag cover? “Well, Marissa Mayer, for a start, and tech media’s obtuse coverage of her background. Unpopular venture capitalists. Larry Ellison’s spending habits. The Googlejet. Car park etiquette. The cubicle neighbor’s undeserved Porshe. Particularly nauseating examples of corporate jargon. Any story, pretty much, that people talk about, but never see in print. And nothing is too trivial.”
Who would be behind such a site? “Valleywag is part of Gawker Media, which publishes other gossipy titles such as Gawker in Manhattan, Wonkette in Washington, D.C. and Defamer in Hollywood - as well as tech sites such as Gizmodo and Lifehacker. The company makes money from advertising but not, fortunately, from many of the companies that we’ll be poking.”
And who is the author of this A-List blog? His name is Nick Douglas and he is “a hungry little monster” who first visited San Francisco just three months before the blog began, “plucked prematurely from undergraduate English. Jane Austen’s loss is Silicon Valley’s gain. Or maybe the other way around. But Valleywag is also open to reader comments, either anonymous or bylined.”
Nick Douglas has been swamped lately, but he was gracious enough to grant this interview. I asked Nick Douglas what sets his blog apart from other blogs. Quite simply, he answered, “We have more photos of naked geeks than anyone else: http://valleywag.com/tech/geeks-gone-wild.”
When did Nick Douglas start his blog and why? “February. For the money.” At least Nick Douglas is blunt.
So, what does an A-List blogger do when he is not blogging about tech gossip in Silicon Valley? “Read comic books and watch Battlestar Galactica. Saturday nights are pahhhh-retty cahhhh-razy when I break out a game of online Scrabble.”
What is Nick Douglas’s favorite thing about blogging? “Wearing what I want to work. This always includes a tie. It never includes pants.” His least favorite thing about blogging? “No editor to coddle me and make a clumsy pass at me after drinking the office scotch.”
But the question I was really aching to ask this A-List blogger, the query that I knew would elicit a thorough and most likely profound answer was this: What do you feel is the key to a successful blog? Hang on to the edge of your seats, boys and girls, because Nick Douglas provided the answer.
“Lots and lots of readers.”
Okay, so I suppose I should put my own plans of developing an A-List blog on hold for the time being. But if you want your writing to appear on an A-List blog, an opportunity awaits at Valleywag. Reader comments are by invitation only, since the Valleywag editor wants to spend more time writing and less time moderating threads. But everyone has a fair shot at becoming a Valleywag commenter. You can either find a friend who has an invitation to share, dish some gossip to Valleywag, convince Valleywag you’re on your way to becoming a Valley insider, or become a fellow blogger with something important to say.
So, if you are tired of reading about Paris Hilton but can’t get enough Mark Cuban, check out Valleywag. If you could care less whether Lindsay Lohan is wearing panties this month but are just dying to know if Yahoo’s CEO will last through the next fiscal year, check out Valleywag. If you would rather read third quarter score sheets than letters on Penthouse Forum, check out Valleywag. Or both; there’s time. Especially if your Saturday nights usually involve a few rounds of online Scrabble.
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Monday, November 1, 2010
research channel
Many people argue that taking embryonic cells, even from a placenta, is morally wrong because it is killing a "child". But, in all honesty we need to ask ourselves: is an embryonic cell really a fetus? It's hard to think so. While life may begin at conception, life at that point is not far enough along in development to consider it a baby.
On the flip side, stem cell research stands to help thousands of people who are suffering from disease and disability. From genetic disorders to spinal injuries, it promises to bring hope into the lives of those who are struggling to get through each day.
We need to acquire some logic here. How is stem cell research going to kill a fetus that does not have a neurological system, a brain, any organs, a circulatory system? How is this a fetus? The stem cell is probably no bigger than a skin cell. Is a skin cell a fetus? No, of course not. It has life, true. But, does that make it a baby? No.
This topic has become a powerful argument over time and probably will continue to cause heated debates in the future. But, can we really deprive thousands of people from a cure to their devastating ailments because we want to play a game with semantics? A fetus without a brain or any other organs is really not a fetus, afterall. And, it is mighty selfish for the world to sit by and let a war of words hinder the health of living, breathing human beings whose only hope for a normal life is in the hands of stem cell research.
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