Throughout history, racial profiling has become a...

Throughout history, racial profiling has become a prevalent issue within humanity. From slavery, segregation, and to world wars, furthermore ongoing issues of terrorism, these examples have led to the profound effects of racial profiling. Racial Profiling can be defined as the action of law enforcers and society, which specifically targets people based on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin and not by actual behavior. Although, many people may believe that racial profiling is non-existent, the fact of the matter is history and statistics prove otherwise. Since the 16th Century, racial profiling was practiced and was considered the norm. Some of these acts contained discrimination against African, Jewish, Japanese, and Muslim†¦show more content†¦Slowly, African Americans were given more rights but were still looked down upon by many Caucasian Americans. Although they were free, they were still given minimal rights and kept fighting for their freedom. Racial profili ng still remained and transpired into the segregation of black and whites. Jim Crow Laws were laws that were used to mandate racial segregation. The segregation consisted of places such as schools, restaurants, bathrooms, housing, public places and also the United States Military. This has impacted African Americans both mentally and physically. In the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement was aimed to put an end to the Jim Crow Laws, which were later repealed. Racial Profiling continued to survive. As stated above, the Civil Rights Movement was an act directed towards equality. The importance of this involved many prestigious leaders who all contributed to the reform of society, which later led to the integration of all races. Some very well known leaders were Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa parks. Each one of them helped achieve civil rights for all African Americans. This was a very momentous time in history being that racial profiling was at an intense level. The i ntensity led to what we know as extreme violence and the establishment of a hatred group known as the Ku Klux Klan. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights Activist who was known for winning The Noble Peace Prize. He helped fight forShow MoreRelatedWe Understand Race And Ethnicity1886 Words   |  8 Pagesa society has become more accepting and less racist. But how realistic is that idea? Many minorities still face racism and constant oppression every day of their lives. As our culture is constantly forming and changing, there emerge issues with how we understand race and ethnicity. While the concept of race is simply a social construct, with no real science behind it, its societal repercussions are entirely real due to the challenges that comes with it. This system of classification has progressedRead More Bigger Thomas, of Native Son and Tupac Shakur Essay6110 Words   |  25 Pagesof his lyrics sensationalized gang violence and ghetto politics, dramatizing the murder of fello w African Americans and, especially, police officers, he also labored over trying to come to grips with African American self-realization, breaking free from imposed societal chains. Unfortunately, as Barry Glassner muses in his book The Culture of Fear (1999), ï ¿ ½it seems to me at once sad, inexcusable, and entirely symptomatic of the culture of fear that the only version of Tupac Shakur many Americans knewRead MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 PagesRastafari This page intentionally left blank Rastafari From Outcasts to Culture Bearers Ennis Barrington Edmonds 2003 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata KualaRead MoreMarketing Management130471 Words   |  522 PagesINTRODUCTION: The apex body in United States of America for the Marketing functions, American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as â€Å"Marketing consists of those activities involved in the flow of goods and services from the point of production to the point of consumption. The AMA has since amended its definition to read as: â€Å"Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways

To Kill a Mockingbird Motiff Essay - 779 Words

All humans are born innocent. Innocence is a time when a person has never done something, it is the first step of a human beings existence. The second step is experience. This step happens after a person has done something he or she has never done before or learns something he or she has never know before. The motif of innocence and experience occurs many times in Harper Lee’s â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird†. The process of this growth is especially obvious in Jem and Scout’s journey through out the book. The first part of to â€Å"kill a mockingbirdâ€Å", while experience is there, innocence is the primary theme. Both Jem and scout are just beginning to experience things. In â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbirdâ€Å", by Harper Lee, there are many great examples of Jem†¦show more content†¦Every situation on the Finch’s life is a way for them to grow and experience things. Innocence and experience are two big occurrences in Harper Lee’s â€Å"to kill a mockingbird†. And those are also big occurrences in life. In my life I have also gone through many situations that have taken me across the threshold of innocence to experience. Everyone has had or will have many times in life when their innocence will be taken away. No one retains innocence forever. Jem and Scout were two of the people that Lee details through their journey of both innocence and experience. The theme of innocence and experience runs through all things including books stories and in

Russian Gulag free essay sample

The Gulags were called many things by the Soviet government, but when boiled down, they were essentially three things: Prison camps, labor camps, and extermination camps. Most prisoners were sent to a labor camp when their sentences were issued, but under certain conditions such as an illness that crippled a worker, work related accidents that cost limbs and organ function, or even bad behavior at work, convicts could be sent to prison camps or extermination camps. The Gulags were created to make use of convict labor to stimulate the Soviet economy and instill corrective behavior in those convicts. The economy of the Soviet Union greatly improved and the rapid industrialization and collectivization of the cities and countryside pushed the Soviets into the modern world. The Soviets were slower than most of the world in respect to industrialization due to World War I and the following October Revolution. However, with the money gained from the surplus of materials harvested by Gulag prisoners, the Soviets were able to push the Union into a period of rapid economic growth. The Gulag inmates mined coal, gold, and other minerals, farmed, cut down trees for lumber, and so forth. On paper, the Gulag was a great idea. In reality, despite its economical effectiveness, it was the cruelest thing a person could have done to another human being. Humans have a natural desire for money, especially those who have power. Gulag personnel fed convicts very little to save money on food and forced them to work long hours to make more money. Scores of prisoners died on a daily basis due to starvation and exhaustion alone. There were many Gulag camps, with more than 2,000 colonies branching off of the 476 discovered camps. There are likely many more that lie undiscovered and buried in the snow of the Siberian tundra today. The total number of prisoners that were in the Gulags is heavily disputed, but the most reliable number would be about twenty million. Gulag records are incomplete, however, so this estimate may be false. Most of these prisoners died horrible deaths. Although most of the convicts had committed actual crimes, far too many were convicted of counter-revolutionary activities, which in today’s society would generally be accepted as a form of free speech, excluding those that used violent methods to protest. According to Gulag records, all of them were criminals. However, it is generally accepted that most Mensheviks were imprisoned due to â€Å"Counter-revolutionary activities,† and are not counted in the criminal count. Those charged with this crime thus have a section of their own. About one-third of all inmates were Mensheviks and imprisoned to be silenced. The other two-thirds were convicted of legitimate crimes. However, because the government was so corrupt, falsification of evidence ran rampant. With this in mind, a sizeable number of these convicts may have been innocent. The death toll of the convicts was staggering. The beginning of Gulag life started at home. If a person was suspected of illegal activities, the local authorities were contacted. Soon, an investigator was sent to the suspect’s house to look for any incriminating evidence, usually in a book or pamphlet. The investigator’s job was to take this person to the Gulag, under specification of NKVD Order No. 00447. The purpose of the Order was to get the suspect in front of a military tribunal to be separated into one of two categories. Category One convicts were sentenced to be shot, while Category Two convicts were to be sentenced to hard labor in the Gulags. In addition to this, in the mindset of the day, if someone was suspected of anti-Bolshevik activities, they were automatically guilty. The investigator would look for anything he could find that could possibly make the person guilty at all. Sometimes the investigator would take up a random piece of literature, say it was bad, and have the suspect shipped off, even if the â€Å"incriminating† evidence was something as benign as the children’s story Goodnight Moon. The investigator would not be the one to tell the suspect what he was even accused of; he would just take the â€Å"evidence† and people would soon kidnap the suspect and toss him in a cattle car to Siberia, which was cramped with a mass of other convicts. When the prisoners reached the Gulag, an official there would take everyone’s valuables and toss the convicts into cramped cells. The interrogation could start at any time. For some the interrogations were that day, and for others it never came and their lives were lived out in the dirty cells. When and if the interrogator got a confession out of someone, a prison sentence was read out and the convict was sent off to the actual Gulag. Interrogation was possibly the most terrifying part of the early Gulag prison term. The interrogator could be anyone with any type of personality, but he or she always had a myriad of torture methods to extract false or true confessions from a suspect. At first the interrogator was usually nice and patient and calmly told their victim what they were being accused of. If the suspect denied their charges, the interrogator would tell them something like, â€Å"It doesn’t really matter. My job is to get a confession from you, and I’m going to do it. If you confess, you can save yourself a lot of pain, and you can save both of us plenty of time. † This was one of the few things in the Gulag that was completely true. If the accusation was still denied, the interrogator could do anything to the prisoner. They could do anything as small as using foul language to something as sadistic as sticking the prisoner in a cage with bedbugs that had been left to procreate for weeks. Either way, the confession would be made, and the convict was taken off to the Gulag to work. Work in the Gulag was grueling. The prisoners were forced to work every hour of the day with little food and sleep. They would be forced to lay train tracks, work in the mines, or fell trees in the thick snow. By performing these tasks, the prisoners ran the risk of illness, freezing to death, or in the case of forestry, being crushed by a falling tree. There were ways for prisoners to get off of work, however. A popular practice in the Gulag was to commit Samorub. Samorub translates from Russian to â€Å"Self-inflicted wound. † Usually, a prisoner committing Samorub would do something that would impair their movement and stop their ability to work. Most ‘dropped’ an ax on their foot so they could not walk or ‘accidentally’ put a nail through their hands. Some were caught and immediately killed, but others got away with it. A more legitimate health concern that could get them leave from work was a serious illness such as typhoid, pneumonia, or severe frostbite. There was very little medicine available in the Gulags, so most convicts who got ill died soon after. Sometimes, after a few years of good behavior and completing their workload, the prisoners could be promoted to a position known as the â€Å"Trusty. † Trusties did not do work in the forests or mines, instead, they had easier jobs, like doctoring or delivering firewood. Some Trustees were given a pass which allowed them to walk through the Gulag unaccompanied by a guard. Gulags were often not separated by gender, so there were always children being born. When a child was born in a Gulag, it was an automatic death sentence; the child would not last for a year. The mother and child were taken to the Mothers’ Camp, where they were separated in only a few months. The mother did work while the children were either trained to work, or they were simply stuck in an ill-run day-care center. Wake-up time for children varied from place to place, but it was always early. They were forced from their beds with kicks and shoves, and soon after came bath time. Children were doused with ice-water for their bath and then force-fed some kind of hot gruel. At first, they cried, but they soon learned to be silent. If they cried, the nurses would beat them into silence. The only ones treated with any semblance of care were the children of the nurses themselves, and even they would often die at a young age. Punishment in the Gulag was often cruel and unusual. In addition to the sadistic interrogation tactics, prisoners were often subject to being stuck in the cooler, pinned naked to a tree during mosquito season, having their already meager bread ration decreased, or they were flat out shot. Occasionally the guards would stage something called the Hunt. The Hunt occurred for no reason other than the sadistic guards wanted to shoot their guns around and not get fired. It often took place in an open field or the woods. If a prisoner crossed the border line for any reason, they would be classified as Runners, and thus open to be shot. This title stood if it was a mistake, or even if a guard told them to. After the first step over the line, the prisoner would be shot. The guard who shot the Runner would get a promotion, home leave, a pay bonus, or a medal. The cooler was another form of punishment. It was a hallway of prison cells that varied in size. Some were for solitary confinement, some for two, three, five, twenty, and even thirty or forty people in a single cell. The bunks were short and bare, with not even a mattress on them. The beds were so small that the average prisoner could lay flat on them and then bend his knees so that his feet flatly touched the floor. The prisoners would stay there until their sentences in the cooler were served. The origin of the Gulag was etched in Soviet politics. On June 27, 1929, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, also referred to as the Politburo, replaced the prison system with a network of self-supporting camps and colonies that would have little to no contact with the outside world. The labor camps were to house inmates whose sentences exceeded three years, and the industrial and agricultural colonies were to house inmates whose sentences were under three years. Thus the project, called the Chief Administration of Camps of the OGPU-NKVD, or GULAG, was created. The targets of the Gulag were usually people who had committed actual crimes like theft and murder, but a startling amount had been convicted of â€Å"Anti-Bolshevik activities†. Bolsheviks were the ruling Communist party in the Soviet Union. They identified these supposed anti-Bolsheviks as enemies of the people, Rightists, suspicious persons, saboteurs, enemies of Soviet power, and many other things. Although there was always starvation, the famine of 1932 has been named the Great Famine. The grain harvest of 1932 was very poor, so there was very, very little bread to go around, mostly affecting the Ukraine, North Caucasus, Volga, and Central Black Soil regions. Before the Famine, bread was their most abundant food. With very little bread and no increased rations in other foods to make up for the loss, six to seven million people died in 1932 alone. Of all the prison camp systems, the Kolyma system was possibly the deadliest. The labor in Kolyma was a form of work called Katorga, the severest form of forced labor. Prisoners worked in the dangerous Siberian mines and served twenty to twenty-five year sentences. They had no names, only numbers on their backs. They were transported to Kolyma in chains. When they slept, there were no blankets, and not even a mattress. They slept only on wooden boards and were given blankets after three years with all good behavior. This was rare, as Gulag personnel almost always found a reason to punish prisoners. There was one camp in Kolyma that was particularly terrible, called the Maxim-Gorky camp. In 1944 alone, the estimated delivery amount of prisoners was three thousand. Maxim-Gorky was a gold mine camp where sickness was abundant. Along with the standard dangers of mining for gold and the dangers of starving, dying of thirst, and dangers of the mine shaft collapsing came the dangers of the sadistic guards. Contact with the outside world was strictly forbidden. If a prisoner wrote a letter and was caught, they were sent to a super-isolated mine-camp within the Kolyma system called Laso. The prisoners received food rations that were meager at best. Their most abundant food was bread. Below is a chart on bread rationing in the Kolyma camp system. Fulfillment of Labor Quota| Women| Men | 100 90%| 21 oz| 28. 5-32 oz| 70 89%| 17. 5 oz| 25 oz| 50 69%| 14 oz| 17. 5 oz| Disciplinary Ration| 10. 5 oz| 10. 5 oz| Their supply of bread could not be lived off of. The amount they received that was the rest of their food was even more pathetic. Sugar| Herbal Tea| Boiled Cabbage Leaves| Salted Fish| Cereals| Starch| Vegetable Oil| 0. 34 oz| 0. 106 oz | 10. oz | 3. 5 oz | 2. 1 oz| 0. 17 oz| 0. 5 oz | Disease ran rampant in the Gulags. The two most prominent diseases were scurvy, caused by lack of vitamin C, and pellagra, caused by a lack of vitamin B. The cure for scurvy was pure pine extract, said to be the vilest tasting thing in the Gulag. The cure for pellagra was a mixture of flour and yeast, but the punishment was losing 1. 75 ounces of bread. The most frequent cause of dea th, ironically, was a lack of vitamins. The menu of food for the prisoners was staggeringly monotonous. Breakfast always consisted of half a herring, sweetened tea, and a third of the bread ration. Lunch was a pint of cabbage soup, groats, and another third of the bread ration. Dinner was cabbage soup with cereal and fish heads floating in it along with the remainder of the bread ration. In 1937-38, the Gulags were in a period known as the Great Purge. The man in charge of the Gulag project was a man named Nikolai Yezhov. When Yezhov came to power in 1937, he immediately started exiling officers to the Gulag on corruption charges. He falsified evidence for himself as he had done for Stalin in the past. By the time he was ousted from power, Yezhov had exiled approximately 1,600,000 people. Within the Gulags, the prisoners faced mass executions, the escalation of violence from the guards, increased starvation rates, and increased infant mortality rates. Based on the information available, one could roughly estimate that 7,836,611 prisoners were held from 1930-1941. Taking into account the fact that Gulag records are horribly incomplete, It is difficult to get a more accurate figure. With incomplete prisoner estimates comes an uncountable death toll: It remains a mystery as to how many actually paid their lives to the terror of the Gulags. After the Great Terror came a period known as Beria’s Reforms. In 1939, Nikolai Yezhov was replaced by a man named Lavrenty Beria. In 1940, Beria personally executed Yezhov. When Beria came into power, he put some convicts back on trial, this time without falsifying evidence and putting words in their mouths. The year he was put in charge of the Gulag project, he released 223,622 prisoners. Liberation for the Gulags came in the 1950s. By 1960, the last Gulag was shut down and every prisoner had been released. The Gulag project was starting to fade before the Liberation period, so most Gulag camps and colonies had already been shut down. In the Liberation period, when the Gulags were shutting down at an accelerated rate, fifty-three camps along with 423 colonies had been shut down. In total, more than thirty thousand were shut down. The most infamous Gulags were Solovki, the White Sea Canal, the Kolyma system, Vorkuta, and the Road of Death, a failed project to create a road that traversed the endless expanse of Siberia.

Whats the Best WooCommerce Quick View Plugin 4 Options Compared

If you want to add quick view functionality to your WooCommerce store, youll need a WooCommerce quick view plugin.In this post, I went hands-on with four popular options to help you pick the best plugin for your store. But before I dig into that hands-on comparison, lets quickly run through eCommerce quick view best practices, because theres a right and a wrong way to implement this functionality, and youll want to pick a plugin that does things the right away. This is a guest contribution by Barn2 Media.Make sure your WooCommerce quick view plugin follows best practicesQuick view is a popular eCommerce feature used by about half of the top-50 US eCommerce sites, according to Baymard.However, while quick view is a feature that you see a lot, theres a right way and a wrong way to implement it, and youll want to pay special attention to make sure you implement it in the best way possible at your eCommerce store.So what is the best way possible? Using screen recordings of real shoppers, ForeSee studied this issue lets look at the data.What you should not do is open the quick view automatically when someone hovers over a product. When implemented this way, only 8.1% of shoppers interacted with quick view.Instead, you should add a persistent button that opens the quick view. That is, an actual Quick View button that shoppers can click to open the quick view.When done this way, 44.8% of shoppers used the quick view feature, which is a big improvement.So whenever possible, pick a WooCommerce quick view plugin that lets you add a persistent button I made sure that all the plugins on this list use that approach.1. WooCommerce Quick View ProWooCommerce Quick View Pro is a premium WooCommerce quick view plugin that follows the UX best practices above by letting shoppers open the quick view by clicking:A persistent buttonOn the product imageYou can choose your preferred method, or use both.The quick view then pops up in a persistent responsive lightbox which lets shoppe rs view larger images and choose quantities, variations, etc. If they decide to add the product to their cart, you can automatically close the quick view box to keep them browsing your catalog.Key featuresTwo methods to open lightbox persistent button or clicking the product image (or both)Customizable button text to open the quick viewThree layout options image only, product details only, or bothOption to choose exactly which product details to includeSupports all WooCommerce product typesWorks with third-party WooCommerce plugins like WooCommerce Add-ons, Bundles, Subscriptions, etc.Integrates with the WooCommerce Product Table plugin from the same developerAn example of the quick view functionality from my test sitePrice and detailsWooCommerce Quick View Pro is a premium plugin prices start at $79 for use on a single site and go up to $279 for use on up to 20 sites. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, as well.2. YITH WooCommerce Quick View YITH WooCommerce Qui ck View Author(s): YITHCurrent Version: 1.3.13Last Updated: August 26, 2019yith-woocommerce-quick-view.zip 74%Ratings 1,110,911Downloads WP 4.0+Requires The YITH WooCommerce Quick View plugin is a popular freemium option thats available at WordPress.org, as well as in a premium version with more functionality.Like WooCommerce Quick View Pro, YITH WooCommerce Quick View lets you use a persistent button that gives shoppers the option to open a similarly persistent quick view lightbox.The free version is pretty basic, with no options to customize what shows up in the quick view. However, the premium version gives you more control over the individual elements in the lightbox.Key featuresUses a persistent button to open quick viewOption to disable quick view for mobile visitorsAutomatically close quick view if shopper adds the item to their cartAdd product navigation to quick view box (paid)Choose what product information to display (paid)Customize product image display (paid)These are the only settings in the free version.An example of the quick view functionality from my test siteNotice how, unlike WooCommerce Quick View Pro, theres no product image gallery:Price and detailsThe free version of YITH WooCommerce Quick View is available at WordPress.org. If youd like access to the premium features, the paid version starts at â‚ ¬49.99 for use on a single site and ranges up to â‚ ¬159.99 for use on up to 30 sites.3. WooCommerce Quick View WooCommerce Quick View Author(s): ArshidCurrent Version: 1.1.0Last Updated: September 10, 2019woo-quick-view.zip 98%Ratings 49,209Downloads WP 3.5+Requires The creatively named WooCommerce Quick View plugin is another freemium option at WordPress.org that has a lot of similarities to YITH WooCommerce Quick View. So much so that it almost seems like a fork.However, there are a few minor differences between the two. Notably:This one gives you more color/style optionsIf a shopper clicks the Add to Cart button in the quick view, it takes them to the single product page, rather than just closing the lightbox.Theres also a premium version with more functionality.Key featuresUses a persistent button to open quick viewOption to disable quick view for mobile visitorsCustomize the button textAdd product navigation in quick view (paid)Add a button icon (paid)Disable the link to the single product page (paid)Control which product details display in the quick view box (paid)You can see the interface similarities with YITH WooCommerce Quick ViewAn example of the quick view functionality from my test siteAgain, you should notice that theres no product image gallery:Price and detailsTheres a limited free version at WordPress.org. After that, the paid version costs $27 for use on unlimited sites.4. Quick View WooCommerce Quick View WooCommerce Author(s): XootiXCurrent Version: 1.7Last Updated: February 15, 2019quick-view-woocommerce.1.7.zip 98%Ratings 21,416Downloads 3.0.1Requires Quick View WooComm erce is one more freemium WooCommerce quick view plugin. This one gives you a lot more settings in the free version than the previous two options. And it also includes the product image gallery like WooCommerce Quick View Pro.For more functionality, theres also an affordable premium version.Key featuresUses a persistent button to open quick viewMultiple button placement optionsChoose different entrance animationsDisable quick view on mobile devicesControl product image sizesOption to add a button to the quick view that links to the single product pageEnable/disable the product image galleryEnable Ajax add to cart and automatically close the popup after a user adds an item to their cart (paid)Control which product details display (paid)Choose different lightbox types (paid)Customize product image gallery position (paid)An example of the quick view functionality from my test siteHeres what it looks like with the default settings, but you can also disable the button to the single produ ct page if youd prefer:In the free version, users are taken to the single product page after they add an item to their cart, which isnt ideal. Youll need the paid version to change that functionality.Price and detailsThe Quick View WooCommerce plugin has a limited free version at WordPress.org. After that, the premium version starts at $9 for use on a single site and goes up to $30 for use on unlimited sites.Get started with WooCommerce quick view todayImplemented well, WooCommerce quick view functionality gives your shoppers a simpler way to view product details and purchase products. And, as ForeSee found, around 45% of your shoppers are likely to take advantage of this feature if you implement it in the right way.To add product quick view functionality to WooCommerce, youll need a WooCommerce quick view plugin, and weve laid out four good options in this post:WooCommerce Quick View ProYITH WooCommerce Quick ViewWooCommerce Quick ViewQuick View WooCommerceDo you have any questions about which is the best WooCommerce quick view plugin for your needs? Ask away in the comments and well try to help! Want to add product quick view to #WooCommerce? A hands-on look at 4 plugins 🛒

You Need to Check Out These 70 Most Liberal Colleges in America

You Need to Check Out These 70 Most Liberal Colleges in America SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re politically active, you may want to go to a college where the students, faculty, and administration share your values. You’ll be more likely to find student groups that are aligned with your interests and beliefs and you'll probably have a more enjoyable college experience. In this article, I’ll give you the names of some of the most liberal colleges in the United States. Furthermore, I’ll detail the traits of liberal colleges, explain possible advantages and disadvantages of liberal colleges, and advise you how to find liberal colleges that could be a good fit for you. Traits of the Most Liberal Colleges Liberal colleges are very politically left-wing. They're more accepting of different sexual orientations and gender identities, and students tend to favor liberal positions like ending the War on Drugs, outlawing private prisons, and raising the minimum wage. The most liberal colleges tend to be private liberal arts colleges.Very liberal students are often drawn to small liberal arts colleges because these schools offer a more progressive education. For example, at Reed College, grades are recorded, but deemphasized and not distributed to students, and professors serve more as mediators in class discussions as opposed to being lecturers. Furthermore, the most liberal colleges usually reflect the political leanings of their locations. Many of the most liberal colleges are located on the west coast and in the Northeast, both known for being extremely liberal places. Possible Advantages of Going to a Liberal College If you're very liberal, then you'll probably be happier and more comfortable around like-minded people. You're more likely to make friends who share your political and social views. Your professors are also likely to be very liberal, and you'll be receiving an education that coincides with your values and beliefs. Liberal colleges are known for being extremely tolerant and culturally sensitive. LGBT students and students from underrepresented backgrounds may feel more supported at liberal colleges. The college is more likely to offer support services and organizations for these students. Also, very liberal colleges tend to be less strict and structured. Many liberal colleges pride themselves on being less focused on grades and big lecture classes and more focused on collaboration and self-actualization. They often have a much more permissive culture, and they tend to be less likely to harshly punish students who engage in "extracurricular" activities that are stereotypically associated with college life. If you're liberal and go to a conservative college, it's possible that you'll feel isolated and ostracized for your beliefs. You'll find more Bernie Sanders fans at liberal colleges. (Marc Nozell/Flickr) Possible Disadvantages of Liberal Colleges If you're very liberal, you may benefit from being exposed to different viewpoints. Having your beliefs challenged and being around diverse opinions can help you learn and grow. If you're very liberal and attend a liberal college, you may just be surrounding yourself with people who are likely to echo your beliefs. While liberal colleges are tolerant of people from different backgrounds, they tend to not be very tolerant of conservative viewpoints. Many of the students at the most liberal colleges view conservatives as closed-minded or ignorant. If you want to be in an environment that welcomes diverse viewpoints, you may not feel completely comfortable at the most liberal colleges. Furthermore, the most liberal colleges and students are becoming notorious for protesting and taking action against speech they consider insensitive or offensive. Many people believe these colleges and students have become hyper-sensitive. Because most colleges tend to lean liberal, and the majority of college faculty members are liberal, you don't have to attend the most liberal colleges to be around liberal people and ideologies. The only colleges that have a reputation for being more conservative are many of the religious schools, the service academies, and public colleges in the most conservative states. Finally, the less structured environment at the most liberal colleges may not be beneficial to you. Some students need more structure and discipline to excel. Also, the lack of emphasis on grades and a traditional curriculum at some of the most liberal colleges may not suit your educational needs and could negatively impact some of your future job opportunities. The Most Liberal Colleges Let's go through two rankings of the most liberal colleges, so you can get a sense ofwhereyou might want to look if you're hoping to attend a particularly liberal school. Niche Niche is a website that provides reviews, rankings, and statistics about neighborhoods and schools. It provides many different college ranking lists from the overall best colleges to the top party schools to the most liberal colleges. The Niche rankings of the most liberal colleges are based on a political poll of 50,000 students from 747 colleges. A full 80% of the rankings is based on student survey responses regarding the students' personal political leanings. The remaining 20% is based on student survey responses regarding the political leanings of other students at the college. The List I'm giving you the top 50 most liberal colleges according to Niche, with #1 being the most liberal. Most of these colleges are private colleges and many are small liberal arts colleges. Some of the public universities that made the top 50 are University of Vermont, UC Santa Cruz,SUNY Purchase, andPortland State University. UC Santa Cruz (Casey Marshall/Flickr) School Location Acceptance Rate 1. University of California - Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 51% 2. San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA 70% 3. Columbia College Chicago Chicago, IL 92% 4. Mills College Oakland, CA 87% 5. University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA 17% 6. Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA 51% 7. Bard College Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 58% 8. Portland State University Portland, OR 92% 9. American University Washington, DC 29% 10. Oberlin College Oberlin, OH 34% 11. New York University New York, NY 28% 12. Howard University Washington, DC 41% 13. Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, NY 53% 14. Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA 38% 15. Smith College Northampton, MA 32% 16. Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY 24% 17. SUNY Purchase College Purchase, NY 74% 18. Carleton College Northfield, MN 21% 19. Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 16% 20. University of Washington Seattle, WA 46% 21. SUNY New Paltz New Paltz, NY 44% 22. Northwestern University Evanston, IL 9% 23. Kenyon College Gambier, OH 34% 24. Fashion Institute of Technology New York, NY 47% 25. University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 33% 26. CUNY Hunter College New York, NY 40% 27. Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 85% 28. Columbia University New York, NY 7% 29. Roosevelt University Chicago, IL 70% 30. Denison University Granville, OH 37% 31. University of Oregon Eugene, OR 83% 32. University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA 66% 33. Barnard College New York, NY 15% 34. Morgan State University Baltimore, MD 64% 35. SUNY Buffalo State College Buffalo, NY 58% 36. Occidental College Los Angeles, CA 42% 37. New College of Florida Sarasota, FL 69% 38. University of California - Riverside Riverside, CA 57% 39. Emerson College Boston, MA 46% 40. Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 11% 41. Northeastern University Boston, MA 27% 42. Hofstra University Hempstead, NY 64% 43. Boston University Boston, MA 25% 44. Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME 14% 45. California State University - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 46% 46. San Jose State University San Jose, CA 67% 47. Spelman College Atlanta, GA 40% 48. California State University - Dominguez Hills Carson, CA 54% 49. Ithaca College Ithaca, NY 71% 50. University of Vermont Burlington, VT 67% Rally of the "Carleton College Dems" (cursedthing/Flickr) Princeton Review The Princeton Review rankings for the most liberal colleges are based on students' responses to the question "Politically, are you left-wing, Democrat, middle, Republican, right-wing?" The List All of these colleges are small, private colleges with the exception of Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts) and Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island), which are progressive private research universities. Schools that made both the Niche and Princeton Review lists are Bryn Mawr and the University of Vermont. The schools on the Princeton Review list are ranked from 1-20. School Location Acceptance Rate 1. Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA 38% 2. Bennington College Bennington, VT 63% 3. Reed College Portland, OR 35% 4. Earlham College Richmond, IN 62% 5. Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, NY 53% 6. Grinnell College Grinnell, IA 25% 7. Pitzer College Claremont, CA 14% 8. Scripps College Claremont, CA 28% 9. Mills College Oakland, CA 71% 10. Brandeis University Waltham, MA 34% 11. University of Vermont Burlington, VT 67% 12. Clark University Worcester, MA 55% 13. Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY 36% 14. College of the Atlantic Bar Harbor, ME 76% 15. Carleton College Northfield, MN 21% 16. Whitman College Walla Walla, WA 43% 17. Brown University Providence, RI 9% 18. Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA 50% 19. Lawrence University Appleton, WI 68% 20. Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 22% Marlboro College (Jared and Corin/Flickr) Student Reviews of Liberal Colleges Niche also offers student reviews of colleges. Here are some comments written by students about some of the most liberal colleges in the United States. I tried to include positive and negative comments about each school related to its very liberal environment. UC Santa Cruz There are some classes that really drill in the necessary skills needed for you future career. Other classes show you different aspects of other studies, which may be great for finding the perfect major. Overall, I would say that community is that best part of this college. It has taught me to be more open-minded and to always question the everything. Hippies everywhere! Public service announcement: if you need to be on psychedelics or smoke weed to have a better appreciation for the nature around you, you're doing something wrong! Nature is beautiful sober. Grinnell College Grinnell is extremely accepting of people from all walks of life. We have tons of programs and groups on campus to accommodate all students, such as Concerned Black Students, Cultural Diversity Panel, Spectrum, and Queer Students of Color. It was a great experience, but it requires that you are self-motivated. I thought I was at first and it was a hard wake-up call. You will be beaten, but you will come out better for it. Smith College Northampton is a perfect college town, very liberal, artsy, hipster, and worldly. So is the food. So many different types of restaurant options are available. Smith trusts its students, and it's also a school very concerned with social justice, so even seemingly trivial violations are taken very seriously and reported. Skidmore College I've learned a lot about issues that make people uncomfortable (especially in the United States) like race relations, radical environmental initiatives and the true significance of privilege. If you want drugs, then you will be able to find them relatively easily, and more than just your basics. Pot is smoked by more people than not. Alcohol is also very widely used. Most of campo just wants you to be safe and discreet, so if you are then you probably won't have any problems. For the most part, you need to be pretty obvious and obnoxious to get in trouble. Skidmore College How Should You Use These Lists of the Most Liberal Colleges? If you want to go to a very liberal college, you should research the colleges on the Niche and Princeton Review lists that interest you to determine if they’re schools you should apply to. There are many factors to consider to determine if a college is a good fit for you including location, selectivity, support services, and the majors offered. Look at the school’s website, and use guidebooks, college finders, search websites, and other ranking lists to help you in the college selection process. If possible, consult with teachers, counselors, parents, current students, and alumni. What Should You Do If You Want to Attend a Liberal College, but a School You're Considering Isn't on EitherList? Just because a school you're considering didn't make either list doesn't necessarily mean that it's not liberal. As I mentioned previously, most colleges tend to be more liberal than conservative. If you want to go to a college with a liberal atmosphere, look at the school's website to see if there are student groups that are aligned with your political and social views. There may be student groups for Democrats, feminists, or LGBT students. Similarly, there may be student groups that advocate for more liberal organizations or causes like Planned Parenthood, NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), climate change, or affirmative action. Also, you can consult other sources that evaluate or grade how liberal a college is. On the Niche profile for each college, under "diversity" for each school's guide, there is a category called "political activity" that describes the political activity on campus. For example, this is how Harvard's political activity is described: Harvard possesses a largely liberal political base, but conservative political groups do make their presence felt. Nearly every student has an informed opinion, and the Institute of Politics provides an excellent forum for discussion and debate of current political topics. On the College View college finder, you can select that you're "only interested in schools with a very liberal climate" and search for colleges that fit that criteria. Furthermore, there are 20 other search categories to help you narrow your college search. Finally, remember that the political leaning of a college is often reflective of the city or town where the college is located. Colleges in the Northeast and on the west coast tend to be more liberal, and colleges in the South tend to be more conservative. You can determine if a specific city or town is liberal by looking up the candidates it supported in the last election and its views on various political and social issues. From the city of Liberal, Kansas, which is ironically more conservative What's Next? Since liberal arts colleges are predominantly liberal, you may be interested in checking out our rankings of the 28 best liberal arts colleges in the country. Also, if you want to go to a selective college, you should take a look at the colleges with the highest SAT scores. Finally, because college tuition prices continue to rise and you may be worried about how you're going to pay for college, I recommend you read this post on how much college really costs. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Particle Cloud Chamber essays

Particle Cloud Chamber essays A particle cloud chamber is a device that makes visible to the human eye the presence of certain particles and cosmic rays. This paper will discuss the process in which a successful chamber prototype was developed. This paper will also discuss how the chamber utilizes the properties of a supersaturated environment to detect these particles. Finally, plans for the future development of a larger model to study the charge and energy of particlesthrough the use of a magnetic field is presented. The purpose of a particle cloud chamber is to detect various types of particles that are present or pass through the chamber viewing area. Though there are many different types of chambers to chose from, it was decided that a continuous, dry ice-based model be built. In the dry ice-based model a supersaturated cloud is formed at the bottom of the alcohol filled chamber. The dry ice creates a temperature gradient which causes the supersaturation. Many different variations were tested and built until a stable prototype was completed. With the prototype complete, a larger scale model will go under production boasting a much larger viewable area. With this model it will be possible to accurately study the affects of a magnetic field to determine particle charge and energy. Cloud chambers are very interesting in that they demonstrate first hand radiation trails emanating from an alpha source. "Video Analysis of Cloud Chamber Phenomena"8 states that the best way to view this phenomena is to incorporate a camcorder. The article argues that camcorders increase the amount of people that can view the experiment without overcrowding. Also this technique provides increased resolution and magnification, thus making beta tracks visible. In this article, Jason Cassidy concludes that the use of a camcorder is more convenient, practical and the cloud chamber a more powerful tool. In the "Sourcebook on Atomic Energy"3 the author concludes more saturation ...

Self Organizing Maps (SOM) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Self Organizing Maps (SOM) - Research Paper Example The performance of ANNs is better than that of traditional methods of problem solving. This enhances a comprehensive understanding of the human cognitive abilities. From the available learning algorithms and neural network architectures, the SOM forms the most popular SOM. They use data visualization techniques by Teuvo Kohonen to reduce data dimension using self-organizing neural networks. The data visualization problems attempt to handle problems that are beyond human visualization for high dimensional data. SOMs act as a non-parametric network containing combination of data spatialization and abstraction, hence used in visual clustering. SOM is among the most popular methods of neural networks for use in cluster analysis. This occurs due to topology preserving and self organizing nature for SOM. The SOMs act as abstract model for topographic mapping. Modeling and analysis of mapping enhance understanding of perception, encoding, recognition and processes received and beneficial to the machine-based recognition of the patterns SOM possess prominent visualization properties. Developed from the associative memory model, SOM uses unsupervised learning algorithm characterized by simple computational form and structure enhanced by the retina-cortex mapping. The self-organization nature act as a fundamental process of pattern recognition, and allows learning the intra- and inter-pattern relationships for the stimuli without potential bias. SOM may provide the topologically preserved mapping to all the output spaces from input. Though the computational form proves to be simple, most aspects related to the algorithm must be investigated (Zhang et al 2010, p. 6359). 2.0 Basic principles of SOM The Kohonen self-organizing map encompasses a neural network, and various characteristics similar to the working of the human brain. Basically, SOM avails some classificatory resources that are organized based on patterns available for classification. The single layer of the neu ral network consists of neurons within n-dimensional grid. The grids allow the definition for the neighborhoods in the output space rather than the input space. The input and output spaces constitute the main SOM. This can also be performed through the use of tools that map vectors within the input space to output the space that preserves topological relations in the output space (Yang et al 2012, p.1371). SOM use unsupervised competitive learning and attempts to conform to the available input data. The SOM nodes act as inputs and contain some principle SOM features. Topological relationship between inputs is preserved after mapping into the SOM network. This pragmatically represents the complex data. SOMs use vector quantization in data compression processes. The SOMs offer an appropriate means of representing the multi-dimensional data in the lower dimensional space using one or two dimensions. This enhances visualization and understanding of data in low dimensions. Therefore, SOM s facilitates manipulation of complex data, especially in visualization of large quantities of data in an