Civil engineering
Build an Energy-Efficient House.
By Jackie Craven, About.com
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- JJJ
The most energy-efficient houses function like living things. They are designed to capitalize on the local environment and to respond to the climate. Australian architect and Pritzker Prize-Winner Glenn Murcutt is known for designing earth-friendly homes that imitate nature. Even if you live far from Australia, you can apply Glenn Murcutt’s ideas to your own home-building project.
1. Use Simple Materials
Forget the polished marble, imported tropical wood, and costly brass and pewter. A Glenn Murcutt home is unpretentious, comfortable, and economical. He uses inexpensive materials that are readily available in his native Australian landscape. Notice, for example, Murcutt’s Marie Short House. The roof is corrugated metal, the window louvres are enameled steel, and the walls are timber from a nearby sawmill.
2.Touch the Earth Lightly
Glenn Murcutt is fond of quoting the Aboriginal proverb touch the earth lightly because it expresses his concern for nature. Building in the Murcutt way means taking special measures to safeguard the surrounding landscape. Nestled in an arid Australian forest, Murcutt’s Ball-Eastaway House hovers above the earth on steel stilts. Because there is no deep excavation, the dry soil and surrounding trees are protected.
4. Listen to the Wind
Even in the hot, tropical climate of Australia’s Northern Territory, houses by Glenn Murcutt do not need air conditioning. Ingenious systems for ventilation assure that cooling breezes circulate through open rooms. At the same time, these houses are insulated from the heat and protected from strong cyclone winds. Murcutt’s Marika-Alderton House is often compared to a plant because the walls open and close like petals and leaves.
PAST TENSE
USE 1 Completed Action in the Past
Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.
Examples:
- I saw a movie yesterday.
- I didn’t see a play yesterday.
- Last year, I traveled to Japan.
- Last year, I didn’t travel to Korea.
- Did you have dinner last night?
- She washed her car.
- He didn’t wash his car.
USE 2 A Series of Completed Actions
We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.
Examples:
- I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.
- He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at 10:00.
- Did you add flour, pour in the milk, and then add the eggs?
USE 3 Duration in Past
The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.
Examples:
- I lived in Brazil for two years.
- Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
- They sat at the beach all day.
- They did not stay at the party the entire time.
- We talked on the phone for thirty minutes.
- A: How long did you wait for them?
B: We waited for one hour.
USE 4 Habits in the Past
The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as “used to.” To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.
Examples:
- I studied French when I was a child.
- He played the violin.
- He didn’t play the piano.
- Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?
- She worked at the movie theater after school.
- They never went to school, they always skipped class.
USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations
The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression “used to.”
Examples:
- She was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.
- He didn’t like tomatoes before.
- Did you live in Texas when you were a kid?
- People paid much more to make cell phone calls in the past.
IRREGULAR VERBS
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CIVIL ENGINEERING/ TEST WORKSHOP
1.Put the correct forms of the verbs into the gaps. Use the Simple Present in the statements.
Example: I _____ in the lake. (to swim)
Answer: I swim in the lake.
1) We _______our dog. (to call)
2) Emma __________in the lessons. (to dream)
3) They_________ at birds. (to look)
4) John_________ home from school. (to come)
5) I_________ my friends. (to meet)
6) He_________ the laptop. (to repair)
7) Walter and Frank___________ hello. (to say)
The cat ______under the tree. (to sit)
9) You_______ water. (to drink)
10) She _______the lunchbox. (to forget)
2.Put in the correct verb forms into the gaps. Use Simple Present.
Example: ___ they ______ their friends? (to phone)
Answer: Do they phone their friends?
1)___ you ___mineral water? (to drink)
2) ____Sarah and Linda_____ their pets? (to feed)
3) ___your teacher ______your homework? (to check)
4) ____they ______in the old house? (to live)
5) ____the cat _______on the wall in the mornings? (to sit)
6) _____Nina ________computer games? (to play)
7) _____your parents_______ TV in the afternoon? (to watch)
8)______ your grandmother ______the phone? (to answer)
9)______ Andy ______the shopping? (to do)
10) _______Garry and Ken _________a cup of tea in the afternoon? (to have)
3.CHANGE SEVEN SENTENCES INTO NEGATIVE
4. MAKE SEVEN SENTENCES IN PRESENT TENSE
5. TRANSLATE INTO SPANISH AND GET THE MAIN IDEAS
http://pubs.asce.org/NR/rdonlyres/136428F0-8DAE-4AD9-83A6-E7763757F6CA/0/October2008.pdf
COMPUTER SCIENCE ENGINEERING/ WORKSHOP/NETWORKS
Question: What is (Wireless / Computer) Networking?
Answer: In the world of computers, networking is the practice of linking two or more computing devices together for the purpose of sharing data. Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software.
Area Networks
Networks can be categorized in several different ways. One approach defines the type of network according to the geographic area it spans. Local area networks (LANs), for example, typically reach across a single home, whereas wide area networks (WANs), reach across cities, states, or even across the world. The Internet is the world’s largest public WAN.
Network Design
Computer networks also differ in their design. The two types of high-level network design are called client-server and peer-to-peer. Client-server networks feature centralized server computers that store email, Web pages, files and or applications. On a peer-to-peer network, conversely, all computers tend to support the same functions. Client-server networks are much more common in business and peer-to-peer networks much more common in homes.
A network topology represents its layout or structure from the point of view of data flow. In so-called bus networks, for example, all of the computers share and communicate across one common conduit, whereas in a star network, all data flows through one centralized device. Common types of network topologies include bus, star, ring and mesh.
Network Protocols
In networking, the communication language used by computer devices is called the protocol. Yet another way to classify computer networks is by the set of protocols they support. Networks often implement multiple protocols to support specific applications. Popular protocols include TCP/IP, the most common protocol found on the Internet and in home networks.
Wired vs Wireless Networking
Many of the same network protocols, like TCP/IP, work in both wired and wireless networks. Networks with Ethernet cables predominated in businesses, schools, and homes for several decades. Recently, however, wireless networking alternatives have emerged as the premier technology for building new computer networks.
WORKSHOP
1.TECHNICAL VOCABULARY
2.VERB LIST
3.MAIN IDEAS
4. ANSWER THE QUESTIONS;
A. WHAT IS A NETWORK?
B. WHAT IS A NETWORK PROTOCOL?
C. HOW DOES A NETWORK WORK?
BIOTECHNOLOGY/AGROINDUSTRIAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY
‘Dexterity in action is the best evidence of application of technology’
Bhagavadgeeta [Chapter II, Stanza 50]
Biotechnology is an exciting area of human endeavour that encompasses a range of
sciences and technologies. They include -chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics,
molecular biology, genetics, microbiology,plant and animal cell culture, fermentations,
chemical engineering, biochemical engineering and process engineering. The
multidisciplinary nature of biotechnology is thus self-evident. Like the proverbial
elephant as recognised by the four blind men, biotechnology means many different
things to different people. Although variously defined, it is a new biological
approach to a wide range of industrial processes
Biotechnology as an activity has existed since ancient times. Then what is new?
The present excitement in biotechnology Is because we have begun to understand
and manipulate biological systems at the molecular level. As Arthur Kornberg put it
“DNA and RNA provide the script, but the enzymes do the acting”. Our ability to achieve controlled modifications of DNA is known as recombinant DNA technology.
These selective changes to DNA allow us to impart new/modified messages in a
variety of species. With this powerful tool at the molecular level, we are able to express
a desired property in a macromolecule, a bacterium, a cultured cell or an entire
organism.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Structural Control: Basic Concepts and Applications
Y. Fujino,
T.T. Soongand B. F. Spencer Jr.
Abstract
Considerable attention has been paid to active structural control research in recentyears, with particular emphasis on alleviation of wind and seismic response. The technology is now at the stage where actual systems have been designed, fabricated and installed in full-scale structures. This tutorial paper presents an overview of some of the basic control concepts as applied to civil engineering structures, provides examples of current fullscale applications of the technology and indicates future directions.
Basic Concepts in Structural Protective Systems
In recent years, innovative means of enhancing structural functionality and safety against natural and man-made hazards have been in various stages of research and development.By and large, they can be grouped into three broad areas: (i) base isolation, (ii)passive damping and (iii) active control. Of the three, base isolation can now be considered a more mature technology with wider applications as compared with the other two(ATC–17 1993).Passive energy dissipation systems encompass a range of materials and devices for enhancing damping, stiffness and strength, and can be used both for natural hazard mitigation and for rehabilitation of aging or deficient structures. In recent years, serious efforts have been undertaken to develop the concept of energy dissipation, or supplemental damping, into a workable technology, and a number of these devices have been installed in structures throughout the world. In general, such systems are characterized by a capability to enhance energy dissipation in the structural systems to which they are installed. This effect may be achieved either by conversion of kinetic energy to heat or by transferring of energy among vibrating modes. The first method includes devices which operate on principles such as frictional sliding, yielding of metals, phase transformation in metals,deformation of viscoelastic solids or fluids and fluid orificing. The latter method includessupplemental oscillators which act as dynamic absorbers.
Among the current passive energy dissipation systems, those based on deformation of viscoelastic polymers and on fluid orificing represent technologies in which the U.S.industry has a worldwide lead.
Learning Through the Arts( LIC ARTES Y HUMANIDADES)
The arts are essential parts of the human experience, they are not a frill. We recommend that all students study the arts to discover how human beings communicate not only with words, but through music, dance, and the visual arts. During our visits (to schools) we found the arts to be shamefully neglected. Courses in the arts were the last to come and the first to go. Dr. Ernest Boyer, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
This report presents a synthesis of the research on the contribution of arts education to learning. It presents information on Seattle schools and others that have incorporated the arts successfully. The report discusses the relationship between the arts and cognition and the ways each art form promotes unique ways of knowing. Research on what the arts offer to the preparation of students for the world of work is also presented.
Our students deserve and need the arts. Research is consistent in their findings as to the benefits of the arts. The aim of this report is to make this research visible and accessible to those who are committed to providing arts education in our public schools and to those who are still skeptical about the role of the arts as basic to every child’s education.
Academic Achievement and the Arts
Fortunately the arts are alive and well in many Seattle schools, and new arts programs are on the way. One example is Green Lake Elementary School which is dedicated to the successful academic excellence of all students. It is a place where students “acquire a positive learning attitude for a lifetime, celebrate the uniqueness of all, understand similarities and differences, develop an appreciation, respect, and understanding of the physical environment, have fun, laugh, and enjoy learning.” One need only to enter the school with its bright murals, student-created rain forests, and enthusiastic dramatic performances to know that something special is alive in this school.
Much of Green Lake’s mission is fostered not only through a rich curriculum supported by diverse activities, but through a schoolwide, multi-arts program with a full-time arts specialist. Professional artists and performers work on different art-related activities with the entire student population, and a growing number of teachers are integrating the arts into the curriculum.
Principal Harvey Deutsch notes that “students who might not have otherwise been successful are flourishing. Discipline problems have nearly disappeared, and academic achievement is constantly rising as a result of the rich arts program.”
At Concord Elementary School, in one of the less affluent areas of Seattle, every student from kindergarten through fifth grade takes part in a dramatic performance each year. Current plays focus on cultural diversity and nonviolence, and include performances of Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, The Phantom Toll Booth, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Upstairs in the school is The Attic Theatre with four stages to accommodate the full schedule of rehearsals and performances. There one can walk through a set of “America’s Hall of Fame” composed of historical scenes depicting the contributions American leaders such as Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks. Also in the attic is the set for “Eco-News,” an in-house television program produced by fourth and fifth grade students every day.
Principal Claudia Allen notes that she is seeing “incredible achievement especially in reading skills. Fourth and fifth grade students increased their reading scores by two levels on the Macmillan Reading Inventory from fall to winter quarter 1995-96, and California Test of Basic Skills scores have increased by twenty to twenty-five points.
In other parts of the country long-standing arts programs in the schools have also shown dramatic results. The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, directed by Eric Oddleifson in Massachusetts, has been keeping careful records of achievement. Some of their early records are shown in Table I. In more recent studies, the Center reports that:
- The arts are strong at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, a magnet school that enjoys a national reputation for consistently high achievement. Its graduates are sought by the most prestigious colleges and universities. One sees students with sketchbooks on the front lawn. Hallways are lined with students’ oil paintings and color photography. A man-sized poster announces the opening of their production of To Kill a Mockingbird. In the cafeteria a student reads Shakespeare. Senior projects include “Computer Arrangement of 12th Century Choral Music Through an Artificially Intelligent Knowledge-Based System.
Jefferson’s principal, Jeffrey Jones, expresses the philosophy that informs the school: “In order to be a good scientist, one must also be a good humanist.: The arts and humanities are as richly evident as the sciences in this school.”
In Needham, Massachusetts at the John Eliot school, the arts are fully integrated throughout the curriculum, and academic achievement is soaring. The Superintendent recently told Principal Miriam Kronish, “I am absolutely astonished–even dumbfounded–by your results.” John Eliot does not cater to superior, talented students and many are economically disadvantaged, but nonetheless their 1992 MEAP (Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program) scores were the highest in the state.
Ron Berger, a sixth grade teacher in an arts-integrated school in Shutesbury, Massachusetts notes that “In my classroom, I have tried to build an environment where arts is more than a decoration or supplement for work, but rather a primary context in which most information is learned and shared. The infusion of arts has had, I believe, a profound effect on student understanding, investment, and standards.” He suggests further that “The arts are an incredible tool for ‘ratcheting up’ the quality of work and standards in a school. It shows in the discipline kids develop and in their academic achievement.” (more…)
Recently the College Entrance Examination Board announced that in 1993 students who studied arts and music scored significantly higher than the national average on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Students who had participated in acting, play production, music performance and appreciation, drama appreciation, and art history, scored an average of 31 to 50 points higher for the math and verbal sections. The Board also stated that students with long-term arts study (four years or more) tend to score significantly higher on the SAT than those with less coursework in the arts.
In 1995, The United States Department of Education reported in Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, that “using arts processes to teach academic subjects results not only in improved understanding of content but it greatly improved self-regulatory behavior.” Barry Oreck of ArtsConnection and Susan Baum from the College of New Rochelle observed integrated arts lessons in all major subject areas in fourteen New York City elementary and secondary public school classrooms. They found that “student behavior improved strikingly in such areas as taking risks, cooperating, solving problems, taking initiative for learning, and being prepared. Content-related achievement also rose.”
Oreck notes “this answers our key question: whether skills from the arts transfer to other areas. But we also found that this transfer cannot occur unless teachers change their classroom’s structure–their use of time, grouping, instructional strategies, active and participatory learning for all kids–to allow those skills and abilities to come out and be used.”
The study also found that for students who struggle in schools with curriculum and instruction based primarily on verbal proficiency, arts processes are extremely powerful. “We saw huge changes for those with more kinesthetic, musical, and artistic tendencies,” notes Oreck. His continuing research deals with developing arts assessments to evaluate learning in non-arts areas–using dance, for instance, to assess students’ understanding of molecular bonding. “We have found that if you learn something through a theater game, you can still answer a straight test question,” he says. “Does it work the other way around?”
What do the schools described above have in common? Their students are spending over 25% of their time in school studying the arts as separate subjects as well as integrated throughout the curriculum. It has been noted that through experiencing the arts they are developing the capacity for sound judgment, attention to purpose and ability to follow through on tasks, and the ability to consider differing viewpoints and defer judgment. They are exercising and developing mind, body, emotions,–and spirit!
COMPUTER SCIENCES
INTERNET
The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available servers and other computers by moving information from them to the computer’s local memory. The same connection allows that computer to send information to servers on the network; that information is in turn accessed and potentially modified by a variety of other interconnected computers. A majority of widely accessible information on the Internet consists of inter-linked hypertext documents and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW). Computer users typically manage sent and received information with web browsers; other software for users’ interface with computer networks includes specialized programs for electronic mail, online chat, file transfer and file sharing.
The movement of information in the Internet is achieved via a system of interconnected computer networks that share data by packet switching using the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). It is a “network of networks” that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other technologies.
Common uses
The concept of sending electronic text messages between parties in a way analogous to mailing letters or memos predates the creation of the Internet. Even today it can be important to distinguish between Internet and internal e-mail systems. Internet e-mail may travel and be stored unencrypted on many other networks and machines out of both the sender’s and the recipient’s control. During this time it is quite possible for the content to be read and even tampered with by third parties, if anyone considers it important enough. Purely internal or intranet mail systems, where the information never leaves the corporate or organization’s network, are much more secure, although in any organization there will be IT and other personnel whose job may involve monitoring, and occasionally accessing, the e-mail of other employees not addressed to them. Today you can send pictures and attach files on e-mail. Most e-mail servers today also feature the ability to send e-mail to multiple e-mail addresses.
The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a huge set of interlinked documents, images and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. These hyperlinks and URLs allow the web servers and other machines that store originals, and cached copies of, these resources to deliver them as required using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). HTTP is only one of the communication protocols used on the Internet.
Web services also use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business logic and data.
Software products that can access the resources of the Web are correctly termed user agents. In normal use, web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Apple Safari, access web pages and allow users to navigate from one to another via hyperlinks. Web documents may contain almost any combination of computer data including graphics, sounds, text, video, multimedia and interactive content including games, office applications and scientific demonstrations.
Through keyword-driven Internet research using search engines like Yahoo! and Google, millions of people worldwide have easy, instant access to a vast and diverse amount of online information. Compared to encyclopedias and traditional libraries, the World Wide Web has enabled a sudden and extreme decentralization of information and data.
Using the Web, it is also easier than ever before for individuals and organisations to publish ideas and information to an extremely large audience. Anyone can find ways to publish a web page, a blog or build a website for very little initial cost. Publishing and maintaining large, professional websites full of attractive, diverse and up-to-date information is still a difficult and expensive proposition, however.
Many individuals and some companies and groups use “web logs” or blogs, which are largely used as easily updatable online diaries. Some commercial organisations encourage staff to fill them with advice on their areas of specialization in the hope that visitors will be impressed by the expert knowledge and free information, and be attracted to the corporation as a result. One example of this practice is Microsoft, whose product developers publish their personal blogs in order to pique the public’s interest in their work.
Collections of personal web pages published by large service providers remain popular, and have become increasingly sophisticated. Whereas operations such as Angelfire and GeoCities have existed since the early days of the Web, newer offerings from, for example, Facebook and MySpace currently have large followings. These operations often brand themselves as social network services rather than simply as web page hosts.
Advertising on popular web pages can be lucrative, and e-commerce or the sale of products and services directly via the Web continues to grow.
In the early days, web pages were usually created as sets of complete and isolated HTML text files stored on a web server. More recently, websites are more often created using content management or wiki software with, initially, very little content. Contributors to these systems, who may be paid staff, members of a club or other organisation or members of the public, fill underlying databases with content using editing pages designed for that purpose, while casual visitors view and read this content in its final HTML form. There may or may not be editorial, approval and security systems built into the process of taking newly entered content and making it available to the target visitors.
INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC PLANNING
Introduction to Strategic Planning
If you don’t know where your business is going, any road will get you there.
What is a Strategic Plan?
Entrepreneurs and business managers are often so preoccupied with immediate issues that they lose sight of their ultimate objectives. That’s why a business review or preparation of a strategic plan is a virtual necessity. This may not be a recipe for success, but without it a business is much more likely to fail. A sound plan should:
- Serve as a framework for decisions or for securing support/approval.
- Provide a basis for more detailed planning.
- Explain the business to others in order to inform, motivate & involve.
- Assist benchmarking & performance monitoring.
- Stimulate change and become building block for next plan.
For inspiration (and a few smiles), have a look at some of the quotations and examples of bad advice included in other pages!
A strategic plan should not be confused with a business plan. The former is likely to be a (very) short document whereas a business plan is usually a much more substantial and detailed document. A strategic plan can provide the foundation and frame work for a business plan. For more information about business plans, refer to Writing a Business Plan, Insights into Business Planning and Free-Plan: Business Plan Guide & Template.
A strategic plan is not the same thing as an operational plan. The former should be visionary, conceptual and directional in contrast to an operational plan which is likely to be shorter term, tactical, focused, implementable and measurable. As an example, compare the process of planning a vacation (where, when, duration, budget, who goes, how travel are all strategic issues) with the final preparations (tasks, deadlines, funding, weather, packing, transport and so on are all operational matters).
A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally – see Devising Business Strategies for further insights.
Basic Approach to Strategic Planning
A critical review of past performance by the owners and management of a business and the preparation of a plan beyond normal budgetary horizons require a certain attitude of mind and predisposition. Some essential points which should to be observed during the review and planning process include the following:
- Relate to the medium term i.e. 2/4 years
- Be undertaken by owners/directors
- Focus on matters of strategic importance
- Be separated from day-to-day work
- Be realistic, detached and critical
- Distinguish between cause and effect
- Be reviewed periodically
- Be written down.
As the precursor to developing a strategic plan, it is desirable to clearly identify the current status, objectives and strategies of an existing business or the latest thinking in respect of a new venture. Correctly defined, these can be used as the basis for a critical examination to probe existing or perceived Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities. This then leads to strategy development covering the following issues discussed in more detail below:
- Vision
- Mission
- Values
- Objectives
- Strategies
- Goals
- Programs
www.planware.org
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- IRREGULAR VERBS
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- CIVIL ENGINEERING
- Learning Through the Arts( LIC ARTES Y HUMANIDADES)
- COMPUTER SCIENCES
- INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC PLANNING
- ENGLISH I
- IRREGULAR VERBS
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