Investment Management Exam Paper

Sample (Easy/Medium level of difficulty) Midterm Exam, FINE441- Fall 2012 – Answer KEYs are attached in the end! THIS IS THE EXAMPLE OF MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS. THE NUMERICAL PROBLEMS WILL BE SIMILAR (NOT IDENTICAL) TO THE END OF CHAPTER PROBLEMS POSTED ON My Courses and Assignments 1. You purchased a share of stock for $20. One year later you received $1 as dividend and sold the share for $29. What was your holding period return? A) 45% B) 50% C) 5% D) 40% E) none of the above Use the following to answer questions 2-3: You have been given this probability distribution for the holding period return for XYZ stock:State of the Economy Boom Normal growth Recession 2. Probability . 30 . 50 . 20 HPR 18% 12% – 5% What is the expected holding period return for XYZ stock? 3. What is the expected standard deviation for XYZ stock? 4. A T-bill pays 6 percent rate of return. Would risk-averse investors invest in a risky portfolio that pays 12 percent with a probability of 40 perc ent or 2 percent with a probability of 60 percent? A) Yes, because they are rewarded with a risk premium. B) No, because they are not rewarded with a risk premium. C) No, because the risk premium is small. D) Cannot be determined.E) None of the above 5. In the mean-standard deviation graph, which one of the following statements is true regarding the indifference curve of a risk-averse investor? A) It is the locus of portfolios that have the same expected rates of return and different standard deviations. B) It is the locus of portfolios that have the same standard deviations and different rates of return. C) It is the locus of portfolios that offer the same utility according to returns and standard deviations. D) It connects portfolios that offer increasing utilities according to returns and standard deviations.E) none of the above. 6. Assume an investor with the following utility function: U = E(r) – 3/2(s2). To maximize her expected utility, she would choose the asset with an expected rate of return of _______ and a standard deviation of ________, respectively. A) 12%; 20% B) 10%; 15% C) 10%; 10% D) 8%; 10% E) none of the above Consider a risky portfolio, A, with an expected rate of return of 0. 15 and a standard deviation of 0. 15, that lies on a given indifference curve. Which one of the following portfolios might lie on the same indifference curve? A) E(r) = 0. 15; Standard deviation = 0. 20 B) E(r) = 0. 5; Standard deviation = 0. 10 C) E(r) = 0. 10; Standard deviation = 0. 10 D) E(r) = 0. 20; Standard deviation = 0. 15 E) E(r) = 0. 10; Standard deviation = 0. 20 An investor can choose to invest in T-bills paying 5% or a risky portfolio with end-of-year cash flow of $132,000. If the investor requires a risk premium of 5%, what would she be willing to pay for the risky portfolio? A) $100,000 B) $108,000 C) $120,000 D) $145,000 E) $147,000 7. 8. 9. You invest $100 in a risky asset with an expected rate of return of 0. 12 and a standard deviation of 0 . 15 and a T-bill with a rate of return of 0. 05.What percentages of your money must be invested in the risky asset and the risk-free asset, respectively, to form a portfolio with an expected return of 0. 09? A) 85% and 15% B) 75% and 25% C) 67% and 33% D) 57% and 43% E) cannot be determined 10. Beta is the measure of A) firm specific risk. B) diversifiable risk. C) market risk. D) unique risk. E) none of the above. 11. The efficient frontier of risky assets is A) the portion of the investment opportunity set that lies above the global minimum variance portfolio. B) the portion of the investment opportunity set that represents the highest standard deviations.C) the portion of the investment opportunity set which includes the portfolios with the lowest standard deviation. D) the set of portfolios that have zero standard deviation. E) both A and B are true. 12. Consider two perfectly negatively correlated risky securities A and B. A has an expected rate of return of 10% and a standard deviation of 16%. B has an expected rate of return of 8% and a standard deviation of 12%. 12. 1. The weights of A and B in the global minimum variance portfolio are _____ and _____, respectively. A) 0. 24; 0. 76 B) 0. 50; 0. 50 C) 0. 57; 0. 43 D) 0. 43; 0. 57 E) 0. 76; 0. 24 12. 2.The risk-free portfolio that can be formed with the two securities will earn _____ rate of return. A) 8. 5% B) 9. 0% C) 8. 9% D) 9. 9% E) none of the above 13. Portfolio theory as described by Markowitz is most concerned with: A) the elimination of systematic risk. B) the effect of diversification on portfolio risk. C) the identification of unsystematic risk. D) active portfolio management to enhance returns. E) none of the above. 14. According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) a well diversified portfolio's rate of return is a function of A) market risk B) unsystematic risk C) unique risk. D) reinvestment risk.E) none of the above. 15. The risk-free rate and the expected market rate of return are 0. 06 and 0. 12, respectively. According to the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), the expected rate of return on security X with a beta of 1. 2 is equal to A) 0. 06. B) 0. 144. C) 0. 12. D) 0. 132 E) 0. 18 16. Which statement is not true regarding the market portfolio? A) It includes all publicly traded financial assets. B) It lies on the efficient frontier. C) All securities in the market portfolio are held in proportion to their market values. D) It is the tangency point between the capital market line and the indifference curve.E) All of the above are true. 17. Your personal opinion is that security X has an expected rate of return of 0. 11. It has a beta of 1. 5. The risk-free rate is 0. 05 and the market expected rate of return is 0. 09. According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model, this security is A) underpriced. B) overpriced. C) fairly priced. D) cannot be determined from data provided. E) none of the above. 18. According to the index model, covariances among security pa irs are A) due to the influence of a single common factor represented by the market index return. B) extremely difficult to calculate. C) related to industry-specific events.D) usually positive. E) A and D 19. In the single-index model represented by the equation ri = E(ri) + ? iF + ei, the term ei represents A) the impact of unanticipated macroeconomic events on security i's return. B) the impact of unanticipated firm-specific events on security i's return. C) the impact of anticipated macroeconomic events on security i's return. D) the impact of anticipated firm-specific events on security i's return. E) the impact of changes in the market on security i's return. 20. Suppose two portfolios have the same average return, the same standard deviation of returns, but portfolio A has a higher beta than portfolio B.According to the Sharpe measure, the performance of portfolio A __________. A) is better than the performance of portfolio B B) is the same as the performance of portfolio B C ) is poorer than the performance of portfolio B D) cannot be measured as there is no data on the alpha of the portfolio E) none of the above is true. 21. An arbitrage opportunity exists if an investor can construct a __________ investment portfolio that will yield a sure profit. A) positive B) negative C) zero D) all of the above E) none of the above 22. Consider the one-factor APT. The variance of returns on the factor portfolio is 6%.The beta of a well-diversified portfolio on the factor is 1. 1. The variance of returns on the well-diversified portfolio is approximately __________. A) 3. 6% B) 6. 0% C) 7. 3% D) 10. 1% E) none of the above 23. Consider the single factor APT. Portfolio A has a beta of 0. 2 and an expected return of 13%. Portfolio B has a beta of 0. 4 and an expected return of 15%. The riskfree rate of return is 10%. If you wanted to take advantage of an arbitrage opportunity, you should take a short position in portfolio _________ and a long position in portfolio __ _______. A) A, A B) A, B C) B, A D) B, B E) none of the above 4. You sold short 300 shares of common stock at $55 per share. The initial margin is 60%. At what stock price would you receive a margin call if the maintenance margin is 35%? A. $51. 00 B. $65. 18 C. $35. 22 D. $40. 36 E. none of the above 25. You purchased 1000 shares of CSCO common stock on margin at $19 per share. Assume the initial margin is 50% and the maintenance margin is 30%. Below what stock price level would you get a margin call? Assume the stock pays no dividend; ignore interest on margin A. $12. 86 B. $15. 75 C. $19. 67 D. $13. 57 U = E(r) – (A/2)s2, where A = 4. . 26. Based on the utility function above, which investment would you select? A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 E. cannot tell from the information given 27. Analysts may use regression analysis to estimate the index model for a stock. When doing so, the slope of the regression line is an estimate of ______________. A. the ? of the asset B. the ? of the as set C. the ? of the asset D. the ? of the asset E. the ? of the asset 28. Analysts may use regression analysis to estimate the index model for a stock. When doing so, the intercept of the regression line is an estimate of ______________.A. the ? of the asset B. the ? of the asset C. the ? of the asset D. the ? of the asset E. the ? of the asset 29. The index model for stock A has been estimated with the following result: RA= 0. 01 + 0. 9RM+ eA If ? M= 0. 25 and R2A= 0. 25, the standard deviation of return of stock A is _________. A. 0. 2025 B. 0. 2500 C. 0. 4500 D. 0. 8100 E. 0. 5460 Answer keys for the Sample Midterm, Fall 2012, FINE441. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 1 12. 2 13. B 14. A 15. D 16. D 17. C 18. E 19. B 20. B 21. C 22. C 23. C 24. B 25. D 26. C 27. B 28. A 29. C B C E B C C C C D C A D C

Financial Aid Appeal Essay

Dear Office of Financial Aid, My name is ——– and I am writing to appeal my suspension from financial aid. I hope that you will reconsider your decision and grant my financial aid. I would like to begin thanking you in advance for taking the time to read this letter and consider my request to reinstate my financial aid at Metropolitan State University at Denver. I admit, I took so many credit hours in college, but I would like to explain the reason. As Spanish person, and because I speak English as a second language, I had to take ESL(English as a Second Language) classes for my first two years (four semesters) at CCD (Community College of Denver). The ESL program was not something that I had chosen, but something that I had to get done in order to follow my general education. I did not mean to spent so much time in college and take so many credit hours, but I did not have other options. Now that I have completed the ESL program, I feel so excited and motivated about taking regular classes. I love being student at Metropolitan State University at Denver and it would mean so much to me if I was able to finish my degree and graduate at this school. I already had completed most of general course, I’m done with my Math and some major course. I am currently registered for next spring 2013 classes and a few classes for the upcoming to get done with my degree. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and I assure you that my education is, and will continue to be, my main priority. I just hope you’d help me achieve my goals quicker by reinstating my Financial Aid. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Chinese Face Reading Essay

Picking up personality can be a very fun and adventurous process. Many cultural societies have many ways to do it and so many people to test; you’re never going to get the same results. One very interesting way of determining someone’s personality is Face Reading. This is a type of physiognomy that can show you your hidden personality, history, current situation, your future, even how well your health is. Face reading was developed from Ancient China by a man known as Mr. Guiguzi (481-221 B. C. ). Although it is one of many ways of measuring personalities, face reading has twelve ways of being used. The first method is called Fortune House, or also known as â€Å"Fude Gong†. This method shows whether your life is going smoothly or not. When reading someone’s face with Fortune House, the face should be round and smooth with no markings or scars that are out of the ordinary. If there happens to be any marks or scars, they will show any issues you have, such as illness, bad relationships, financial troubles, etc. The second method of face reading is Parents House, or â€Å"Fumu Gong†. It tells you whether you had a good or not so good childhood with your parents. This procedure reads the face by its forehead. If it is big, round and/or shinning, means the individual had an excellent relationship with his parents and had an enjoyable life as a child. However, if the forehead was ugly and/or damaged, then the person had a painful and difficult life when he/she was young. The next way is called Career House, or also known as â€Å"Guanlu Gong†. This method is somewhat similar to the Fortune House because it is searching for round and smooth features on a face as well. If your cheek bones stick out and have eyebrows that project, you will most likely have a better chance of having a successful career. House of Travel, or â€Å"Qianyi Gong†, would be another style of face reading someone. It is designed to examine how your travels from one place to another would be positive or negative. When you have a feature of scars or lines on your face, means you shouldn’t go anywhere at all. So whenever you would like to go out to eat at a restaurant and need to drive or take a bus, it might be safer to have a pizza delivered to where ever you are staying. Another method is Assets House (Tianzai Gong), which emphasizes the eyes as an indicator of your intelligence, temperament, and financial assets. If your eyes are set deep into your head, or if you are constantly looking high, you are considered an idiot. Narrow eye lids would represent impatience in an individual. Large pupils, clean and clear whites, and large eyes are favorable characteristics of a person’s Assets House. Health House (Jie Going) governs whether your body has excellent health or is ill. Wrinkles, stains, or other marks anywhere that is found shows that you need to go to the clinic for a checkup. However, having none of the disliked features on the face means you have nothing to worry about when it comes to your health. Any characteristic from the eyebrows and above will symbolize House of Siblings (Xiongdi Gong). This particular type of face reading decides your friendship with other people in your life. It also shows how well your genetic make-up is when the person was conceived. Thick, dark, long, and smooth eyebrows that are high above eyes tell the face reader that the subject is a brave, affectionate, and relaxed person. However, if your face shows the opposite of these facial features including scars and lines, you basically have completely different qualities. Life House (Ming Gong) will tell the person how easy or challenging your life would be. The level of difficulty in your life is determined by how close the eyebrows are to each other, and any dimples and/or marks. If smooth and shinny like the other face reading styles, shows a comfortable an easy journey in his/her life. Like the other face reading methods, House of Children (Ernu Gong) looks for smooth and round features for positive outlook in the individual. If the face seems to be gentle and round, shows that you have a successful love and sex life. Although, if you show moles or other disfeatures, you may have issues when it comes to sex and you may have a difficult time parenting your children in regards to their development and well-being. House of Marriage (Qigie Gong) shows the reader whether or not the man/woman’s marriage is going well. So fundamentally, when somebody has a gentle, smooth, and clean face, it indicates a happy marriage. A receding and/or scarred face with moles means you have a wife that you might wish to divorce. Wealth house (Caibo Gong), is quite different from most of the other Houses. This style of face reading is determined by the nose. If a nose that is large and round with nostrils that does not show and a straight bridge, then the person has excellent health, a positive attitude, and has a sufficient and satisfying amount of wealth. When the nose has certain deficiencies, the person will meet these three possible situations. If the subject is to have a crooked nose with unhidden nostrils, shows that they have a problem with their money, career, and personality. If it shows any blood vassals, indicates that he/she is on the verge of becoming bankrupt. And if the nose turns into a bloody red, it signals that tragedy and an unpleasant life will be stepping up to his/her door soon. Finally, the Popularity House (Nupu Going) is the house that governs your relationship with your friends and acquaintances, and what will come to be when you grow much older. When the face is round and smooth, then the individual is graced with popularity, and when the old age comes, you will have much support from others. But, if it is not round or smooth, you need to prepare yourself for supporting yourself instead of others helping. An excellent example of some of these face reading methods is a well known person, Quasimodo, also named as â€Å"The Hunchback of Notre-Dame†. He is a man with a face that most people would not be attracted, and is definitely unable to straighten his back. His facial features show how much his life is painful. They also show how he has had a rough and emotional time growing up when he was an infant. A disfigured face brings you nothing but negativity and misery in that person’s life. But having attractive facial features will always give you the upper-hand when reading an individual’s face. All the styles of face reading are determined by how smooth the face is, the amount of scars, lines, moles, shape of the nose, and wrinkles the face has. Each feature of the face tells about your past, what is happening now, and what is yet to come.

Post heartattack cardiac failure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Post heartattack cardiac failure - Essay Example This essay is going to address the issue of heart attack in details and explain the measures one is supposed to take to avoid another heart attack in the future. Heart failure management includes a number of pharmacologic, nonpharmacologic and persistent strategies to reduce subsequent occurrences of heart attacks. Pharmacologic management includes the use of vasodilators, beta-blockers, diurectics, digoxin and anticoagulants. Nonphamacologic management entails physical activities, dietary sodium, fluid restriction and attention to weigh gain. Persistent strategies for heart failure are implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, electrphysiologic intervention such as pacemakers and cardiac resynchronization therapy, ventricular restoration and revascularization procedures such as coronary artery bypass grafting (Ketchum, 2011: 90). Heart failure patients should be examined for coronary artery disease, which is a major cause of heart failure. It also plays a role in heart failure progression through mechanisms such as ischemia, infarction and endothelial dysfunction. Studies reveal that patients suffering from coronary artery disease demonstrate a symptomatic and survival improvement with coronary artery bypass grafting (Clifford, 2008: 62). The sections that follow outline the most effective measures for providing support for CHF patients. Despite the deadliness of myocardial infarction and other chronic heart diseases, these measures, if well taken, have the ability to markedly improve one’s health outcomes. They also have the ability to reduce the burden on the health care system. Patients, their families and caregivers can reduce worsening of the CHF condition if they are familiar with the principles of myocardial infarction management and learn to monitor the symptoms and deterioration signs on a daily basis. Whether or not the victims are enrolled into a particular management program, the availability of supportive organization and

PESTEL analysis of Australia, including SWOT analysis Assignment

PESTEL analysis of Australia, including SWOT analysis - Assignment Example The serene political environments, diverse cultures and a techno-savvy population only make the business environment better. The aforementioned political, economical, environmental, cultural and legal environments have made Australia one of the best markets in the world. This paper tries to identify the unique characteristics of Australia that enables it to have an excellent international marketing environment. It goes ahead to list the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for the various environments that influence international marketing in Australia. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 International Marketing Environment in Australia 5 2.1 The Economic and Financial Environment 5 2.2 The Political and Legal Environment 8 2.3 The Social and Cultural Environment 9 2.4 Technological Environment 9 2.5 Challenges and Opportunities 10 3.0 Conclusion 11 4.0 References 12 PESTEL Analysis of Australia 1.0 Introduction Australia boasts one of the most efficient capitalist e conomies in the world. In 2012 the Australian economy was ranked the 13th largest in terms of GDP, contributing over 1.7% of the world’s GDP for that period. Presently, the economy’s GDP stands at US $1.58 trillion with a total wealth of over US $6.4 trillion (DFAT, 2013). One of the main reasons for this startling performance is because of the freedom in the market. The Australian governments that have been in power since early 1980s have continuously liberalized the market. This has attracted more investors and as a result the Australian economy has largely been growing even when other countries were experiencing recession. In 2011 the Australian economy was found to be the third freest economy in the world with an index of 82.6. Due to this freedom the economy is favorable for entrepreneurs’ development. It boasts the largest number of entrepreneurs in the world, both internal and external (Jacka and Scott, 2013). The Australian economy is built on exports. A ccording to the survey conducted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Australia is the 19th largest exporter and importer. Most of what is exported is from the mining sector followed by the agricultural sector. Mining has been the major contributor to the Australian GDP, nearly 10% of the GDP (DFAT, 2013). Australia mining sector produces exports natural gas, iron ore, petroleum and gold. The agricultural sector on the other hand produces mainly foodstuffs and wool and cotton. Apart from these the economy also exports service especially technology-based expertise and skills. The Australian economy is ranked the second in terms of the average wealth of individual adults. A study conducted in 2011 by Credit Suisse Research Institute placed Australia behind Switzerland and established that the average Australian has a wealth of US $397,000. It also placed Australia second in terms of the highest per capita income The economy also has an average GDP growth of 3.4% annually with 3.2 % in 2011 and 3.8% in 2012 (Richardson, 2013). However, during the same period the poverty level increased by 1.6% from 10.2% to 11.8%. This has made the economy to be termed as a ‘two-speed’ economy. The inflation rate averaged at 2.5% since the turn of the millennium and the unemployment rate stood at 5.8%, the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the world according to the

Chloride Contamination on the Groundwater, Soil and Plants Coursework

Chloride Contamination on the Groundwater, Soil and Plants - Coursework Example Water from sumps has been taken for measuring the surface water content and from deeper wells for sub surface water salinity. Finally, the soil was also sampled and the salinity of the soil was also measured. This was found to still be elevated though it has come down drastically on an average in all the three cases. The sub surface water sample was normally taken after bailing out the water in the sampling wells. Similarly, the soil samples are taken at a depth of 60 centimetres in line with the standard soil sampling technique. Surface water samples were picked up from the sump that was available. The sampled values were then used for analysis to find out the rate of chloride reduction in the sub surface water and soil. This would help in indicating to what extent the vegetation can grow in the soil at the heath. It was found that the soil conditions are not particularly, right for the tree growth. Though, even up to 20000 ppm in the tree, it was found that the presence of chloride may not adversely affect tree growth. The ideal ppm, however, is 4 to 8 ppm and that is the figure really looked at for vegetation to thrive anywhere. It is therefore, important that the work is completed by reducing the presence of chlorides further. ... 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3. DEDICATION 4. GENERAL INTRODUCTION The following placement project was carried out within the British Petroleum (BP), at Wytch Farm, which is an oil field and oil and natural gas processing facility in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England from 11th June to 1st September 2007. 4.1 Existing situation The Wytch Farm Oilfield, is the largest known onshore field in the UK, it lies beneath the southern shores of Poole harbour in an area of outstanding natural beauty famous for its landscape, ecology and amenity value (BP Petroleum Development, 1986). The Wytch Farm Oilfield, with its approximately 300 million barrels of recoverable oil, is a useful to the oil industry and to the local and national economy. It produces in present time around 70,000 barrels (approximately 11,365,000 litres) of oil per day. The oilfield consists of two major reservoirs, the shallower Birdport reservoir at 900 meters under the surface (BP Exploration, 1994) this reservoir was discovered in 1974, and later, it was developed to produce 4,000 barrels of crude oil per day (BP Petroleum Development, 1986). The larger and more productive reservoir is Sherwood reservoir, which is about 1500 meters below the surface (BP Exploration, 1994). The deeper reservoir (Sherwood reservoir) was discovered in 1978 but it remains under-developed. Production testing from one Sherwood well has increased and nowadays production is about 5,500 barrels of oil per day (BP Petroleum Development, 1986). The location of Wytch Farm is on the southern shores of Pool Harbour. This area is sensitive landscape that includes a number of conversation designations. Crude oil is extracted from the Wytch Farm, Wareham and Kimmeridge

Human Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Disease - Essay Example This is because such resources are subjected to prerequisite verifications before their publication. Grace, a sixty five year old woman, noted some changes in her cognitive ability that she associated with the general assumption that body processes slow down as people age. Her condition however continued to deteriorate with symptoms that were not reported by people of her age or those who were older than she was. Diagnosis of her condition as Alzheimer’s disease identifies a number of factors as possible causes. Her old age, being 65 years old is one of the risk factors that could have caused the disease. Genetic factors that could have been indicated by the disease’s diagnosis among her close relatives such as sibling or parents, or existence of particular genes in her system are another possible set of causes of her changed condition. Having a reported case of a cardiovascular disease or extreme level of mental stress as well as her gender could also have facilitated development of Grace’s disease. The disease could have therefore independently developed in h er or she could have inherited it from her parents through genes (Jasmin, p. 1). Changes in Grace’s cognitive ability that included forgetfulness of tasks and procedures, reduced ability to perform duties, and reduced decision-making ability raised her concerns of a possible problem. Complications that were more serious and that included change in behavior, difficulty to communicate, deteriorated memory and poor cognitive ability then prompted her medical attentions (National, p. 1; Jasmin, p. 1). Even though the disease started with mild symptoms, it gradually worsened to more serious symptoms and adverse effects on the patient. She for example lost her ability to coordinate words into sentences for communication. There was also a significant level of emotional instability as she could easily get angry and overreact to conditions that never bothered

Statement of Purpose Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Statement of Purpose - Essay Example Based on this, I am applying for the MSF at FIU. I am a Senior Finance major with experience and committed to improving my knowledge in financial strategy and solidifying my technical skills in order to return to my country and help in its financial development.   My strong interest to pursue a graduate degree emerged when I transferred to FIU after getting my AA degree from Miami Dade College. At Miami, I learned English in 6 months and went straight to MDC where I left with a GPA of 3.20 and were admitted into the undergraduate Finance program at FIU. While at MDC, I got a chance to go to China for a month during the summer, where I took Macro and Microeconomics and learned how to deal and socialize with people in an extremely different culture. Furthermore, I have been a member of ALPFA and AMA organizations from where I have learned how to build relationships and equip myself with what I need to be a successful professional. Many people find it unusual that I do not work while studying and that I want to get my graduate degree right after graduating from my undergraduate studies. I ascribe to the Luanda culture, of which people generally do not work while studying, but it is a personal choice to get my graduate degree right after my bachelor’s program. I chose to do this so that I can get an internship while pursuing my MSF in order to get hands-on experience before I go back to Angola. I am strongly convinced that I am ready and well prepared for this graduate program. It will expand my knowledge in finance, certainly equip me with experience working with financial software, and help me interact with knowledgeable and skillful people from different backgrounds. All these will make me more marketable and will probably help secure a good job in Angola. I believe that my background and goals are satisfactory for a master’s degree of Science in Finance at Florida International

Ancient Persian Cuisines and Dinning Rituals Research Paper

Ancient Persian Cuisines and Dinning Rituals - Research Paper Example For example, the Mesopotamian, Central Asia and the Anatolian cuisines are some cuisines that have influenced the Persian cuisine such as ice cream and kebab (Batmanglij 2011, 34). Some of these Persian cuisines rice that is served along with meat, basmati rice served with stew, soup made from herbs and vegetables, pure white rice, pastries, salad, appetizers, desserts and drinks (Batmanglij 2011, 34). Notably, the Iranian people love rice although they have an extensive list of cuisines. Logically, the Persian community loves to take green herbs together with fruits. This includes fruits like quince, plums, prunes, raisins, pomegranates and apricots (Batmanglij 2011, 35). Typically, the Iranians love meat, rice, fish, chicken and lamb. Moreover, they work hard to ensure that they take a balanced diet but add some flavor (Ghanoonparvar 2006, 67). Consequently, cinnamon, saffron, parsley and lime are some of the spices used in making special dishes. In summary, the Persian cuisine and dinning ritual that is intriguing and exciting to adapt into the daily dishes. Evidently, rice is a common Persian dish. There are different modes devised in cooking to ensure that the meals had a different touch. Sometimes, the rice is served with marinated chicken or served as saffron ice-cake (Batmanglij 2011, 97). Historically, rice was imported from India into Iran. For instance, the basmati rice is an import from India while Pakistan rice is definitely from Pakistan but is similar to that of Persia. On the other hand, rice is seen as a staple food in northern Iran. However, the rest of the Iranians consider bread as their staple food. Interestingly, the aroma of the Persian rice caused it to be a prized cuisine. In summary, rice and bread are the main staple foods in Persia. Logically, every community has its ways of preparing its cuisines. Therefore, the Persians have their ways of preparing different rice cuisines. The common ones are Tah-deeg, damy and kateh, alongside oth ers (Ghanoonparvar 2006, 79). One is soaking of rice in salt water, followed by boiling. This is called chelo, which is returned for steaming after boiling. Consequently, the rice becomes fluffy, and the grains are not sticky. The other is Tah-deeg, which has a golden crust at the bottom of the pot (Ghanoonparvar 2006, 79). This rice is taken plainly but is eaten alongside bread of potato slices. On the other hand, there are additions of nuts, meat, fruits and vegetables. Interestingly, all these additions can be served together in one meal. Interestingly, the heat is lowered when the chelo is still in the pot then covered with a piece of cloth so that it absorbs the steam (Ghanoonparvar 2006, 81). This chelo is plain and is mainly served with kebab or stew. However, chelo and polo are more or less cooked in the same way. On the other hand, kateh is rice that is cooked until water is completely dry. This is the most traditional mode of cooking rice. Finally, the preparing of the dam y is more like kateh, one starts with other ingredients such as beans. Damy is stemming of the rice. In summary, there are different methods used in the preparation of rice, which makes a difference to each rice meal. The other major additions in the Persian cuisines are vegetables and fruits. Luckily, Iran is known for its wide production of vegetables and fruits. Consequently, most homes in Persia will have a fruit bowl on their tables. Moreover, most meals are accompanied with herbs and vegetables. Additionally, Persians have promoted eating fruits and vegetables because of the health benefits they have on them. As a result, some vegetables like garlic, pomegranate and onion are included in the cooking of

The Scarlet Letter Intro Essay Example for Free

The Scarlet Letter Intro Essay In the 16th century, Puritans immigrated to America from Great Britain in order to escape religious persecution, and by the mid 17th century they had erected a well established society based on their theological beliefs. The Puritan religion was one of austerity and geared towards spiritual devotion rather than worldly possessions. Puritans followed rigid laws which rarely changed with time. They also had little tolerance for anyone who broke these laws. Individuals who did violate these laws however, faced punishment on various levels and would have to prove their repentance to themselves and society. The Scarlet Letter, set in mid 17th century Boston, portrays such forms of repentance from two perspectives. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, constructs the plot to revolve around the journey of repentance of two characters: Hester Prynne and Rev. Dimmesdale. Both characters have committed the blasphemous sin of adultery together, but only Hester has been punished for it, whereas Dimmesdale has yet to be discovered for his involvement in the misdeed. Hester’s severe punishment is to carry the eternal burden of the scarlet letter A, a symbol that apprises everyone of her status as an adulterer, and outcasts her from the rest of society. Even though she is shunned by society, Hester still manages to perpetrate acts of penance to atone for her sin. However, Hester is not the only character who seeks repentance; Rev. Dimmesdale self-inflicts punishment as a form of penance. Throughout the novel, both characters strive to achieve true repentance, a feeling of remorse which comes from the soul. As committed as they are to atoning for their sin, neither Hester nor Dimmesdale truly ever reach the state of repentance. Their failure to achieve true repentance can be perceived through their similar goals of penitence and their different forms of punishment. Through the course of the novel, Hawthorne constantly evinces parallels and similiarities between the journeys of penance of both Hester and Dimmesdale. Both journeys for repentance end in the same place; failure to feel remorse for their sin. In chapter 17, Hawthorne finally brings Hester and Dimmesdale together in an intimate setting since their committing of adultery. A literal and metaphorical symbol of their parallel journey. The lovers meet up in the forest, a dark place symbolic of evil, to speak privately for the first time in years about their plans for the future. Throughout the novel the reader has been able to track the acts of penance, however, it has never been plainly stated that these acts of penance have been in vain and no true repentance has come from them. Hawthorne decides that in this chapter both characters will blatantly state their failure to repent. In this chapter, Hester states to Dimmesdale, â€Å"What we did had a consecration of its own† (203). Hester has not only failed to repent at this point, but she has also stated that their adultery has had a valid purpose. Due to the fact that Pearl has come out of their fornication, she has not wronged in stating this but, any individual who has truly repented for their action would be too remorseful to justify their misdeed. Literary critic, Samuel Chase Coale, summarizes Hester’s vain journey for repentance by writing that â€Å"her public show of sorrow and repentance†¦ is in reality a hollow rite, not genuine penitence† (Coale 37). In parallel, Dimmesdale admits his lack of regret for his adultery with Hester. Of the two, Dimmesdale journey has been the most rigorous in penance, yet, like Hester, his journey of penance has ended in failure. He openly admits, â€Å"Of penance, I have had enough! Of penitence, there has been none!† (200). Dimmesdale does not feel the least bit sorry for his sin with Hester. Hawthorne parallels their journey for the goal of repentance for 17 chapters, until he finally brings about their ultimate failure. This length of time allowed the reader to view two similar, simultaneous journeys which ultimately ends literally and metaphorically in one place, failure in the forest, a place of evil, sin, and insincere penance. Although both Hester and Dimmesdale have had a similiar goal of true repentance, the details of their journey are entirely different. Hawthorne structures the novel like this for various reason, the most obvious being redundancy. If Hawthorne had made Dimmesdale’s and Hester’s journey exactly alike, the story would seem extremely redundant and would lose the interest of the reader. On the other hand, Hawthorne creates this contrast in their journeys in order to establish some social commentary. He establishes a journey of penance through two different conflicts, person vs. society and person vs. self. Hester penance, of course, is established through person vs. society. â€Å"Spatial relationships, those based on the placement of images within the text, reveal a set of structures and codes that embody the social organization of a community, both in terms of its ideology and its culture. How one is seen and for what reasonsand what is being seensuggest the nature of soc ial powers at work in early Boston. Thus when Hester emerges from the prison to stand fully revealed (52) before the crowd, she is moving from enclosed darkness to open sunshine, from the present enclosure of her crime into the public gaze that has branded her a criminal. Hawthorne has made so much of the prison to begin with, however, that no matter how precious the open air now seems, to step from that prison and mount the scaffold is to move from one enclosed space to another, each underscored by the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law (52) as embodied in the people and the magistrates who fasten their thousand unrelenting eyes (57) upon her. Their eyes become our eyes, for we as readers are as interested in observing the spectacle, in order to understand exactly what is going on, as they are, although unlike us they do so assured of justice in their gaze.† In contrast, Dimmesdale, faces internal conflict in the form of person vs. self. He self inflicts torture as a form of his penance in an att empt to repent. Both protagonist, Hester and Dimmesdale have failed to reach a similar goal of true repentance through very distinct journeys.

Analysis of SIF Intrinsic Dynamics

Analysis of SIF Intrinsic Dynamics Abstract. It was recently found that spectral solar incident flux (SIF) as a function of the ultraviolet wavelengths exhibit 1/fà ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ­type power-law correlations. In this study, an attempt was made to explore the SIF intrinsic dynamics versus a wider range of wavelengths, from 115.5nm to 629.5nm. It seemed that the intermittency of SIF data set was very high and the revealed DFA-n exponents were very close to unity. Moreover, the power spectral density was better fitted algebraically than exponentially with exponent very close to unity. Eliminating the fitting of three different types of Planck formula from SIF data set, scaling exponents very close to unity were derived, indicating that the 1/f scaling dynamics concern not the Planck’s law but its variations. 1. Introduction As it is well known, electromagnetic radiation is continuously emitted by every physical body. This emitted radiation is adequately described by Plancks law near thermodynamic equilibrium at a definite temperature. There is a positive correlation between the temperature of an emitting body and the Planck radiation at every wavelength. As the temperature of an emitting surface increases, the maximum wavelength of the emitted radiation increases too. Smith and Gottlieb (1974) re-examined the subject of photon solar flux and its variations versus wavelength and showed that variations in the extreme ultraviolet (UV) spectrum and in the X-ray of solar flux may reach at high orders of magnitude causing significant changes in the Earth’s ionosphere, especially during major solar flares (Kondratyev et al. 1995; Kondratyev and Varotsos 1996; Alexandris et al. 1999; Melnikova 2009; Xue et al. 2011). Simon (1978) examined the solar irradiance fluxes from 120 to 400 nm and suggested that the internal scaling properties of solar radiation during the eleven-year cycle is still unknown, as the cause of the available solar data discrepancies can not be attributed to solar activity. Solanki and Unruh (1998) proposed simple models of the total solar irradiance variations versus wavelength showing that variations on solar flux are mainly caused by magnetic fields at the solar surface. Solar observations may be reproduced by a model of three parameters: the quiet Sun, a facular component and the temperature stratification of sunspots. Tobiska et al. (2000) developed a forecasting solar irradiance model, called SOLAR2000, covering the spectral range of 1–1,000,000 nm. Using this tool, the authors attempted to describe solar variation versus wavelength and through time from X-ray through infrared wavelengths, in order to predict the solar radiation component of the space environment. Very recently, Varotsos et al. (2013a,b) suggested the existence of strong persistent long-range correlations in the solar flux fluctuations versus UV wavelengths. More precisely, by applying the detrending fluctuation analysis (DFA) to the initial SIF versus UV wavelengths data set power-law correlations of the type 1/f, which is omnipresent in nature, was found. In the present study, we examine whether the scaling feature of 1/f noise is apparent in a wider spectrum of SIF, namely for wavelengths (WL) between 115.5 and 629.5nm. 2. Data and analysis As mentioned just above solar incident flux data for WL ranging from 115.5nm to 629.5nm with a step of 1nm were employed. The spectrophotometric data of spectral extraterrestrial solar flux have been taken from the book by Makarova et al. (1991) (see also Makarova et al. 1994; Melnikova and Vasilyev 2005). Fig. 1a depicts SIF values for the wavelength range of 115.5-629.5nm. The principal feature shown in this figure is the existence of non-stationarities into the solar spectral distribution and the strong upward trend. The detrending of this data set was accomplished by applying linear as well as polynomial best fit. To eliminate the non-stationarities of this data set and to detect the intrinsic self-similarity, we applied the well-known DFA method (Peng et al. 1994; Weber and Talkner 2001; Varotsos 2005; Skordas et al. 2010). Furthermore, we calculated the power spectrum for the initial SIF-WL data set, using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm as well as the maximum entropy method (MEM) of the TISEAN package (http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1/index.html). For comparison reasons, we used the Planck formula taking into account the effective temperature obtained from NASA (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html). A brief description of DFA-tool may be given as follows: Consider the SIF data set x(i) of length N which is integrated over WL. In more detail, to integrate the data, we calculate the à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uctuations of the N observations x(i) from their mean value xave, notably: x(i) xave. Therefore, the integrated data set, y(i), is consisting of the following points: y(1) = [x(1) − xave], y(2) = [x(1) − xave] + [x(2) − xave], . . . , y(i) = (1) We split the integrated data set into non-overlapping boxes of equal length, Ï„. In each box, a best polynomial local trend (of order n) is à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ tted in order to detrend the integrated profile (by subtracting the locally fitted trend). The root-mean-square fluctuations Fd (Ï„) of this integrated and detrended profile is calculated over all scales (box sizes). The detrended fluctuation function F is defined by: k = 0, 1, 2,†¦, , (2) where z(i) is a linear least-square fit to the Ï„ data contained within a box (Kantelhardt et al. 2002). In case the signals involve scaling, a power-law behavior for the root-mean-square à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uctuation function Fd (Ï„) is observed: Fd (Ï„) ∠¼ Ï„a (3) where ÃŽ ± is the scaling exponent, a self-afà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ nity parameter that represents the long-range power-law correlation (Ausloos and Ivanova 2001). It is worthy of note that a is a generalized Hurst exponent (H) being equal between them for the case of a fractional Gaussian noise (FGN) data set, where 0 1. For a fractional Brownian motion (FBM) data set (1 2) the relation between these exponents is H = a − 1 (Ausloos and Ivanova, 2001). For uncorrelated data, the scaling exponent is ÃŽ ± = 0.5. An exponent ÃŽ ± ≠  0.5 in a certain range of Ï„ values implies the existence of long-range correlations in that time interval. If 0ÃŽ ±ÃŽ ± ≠¤1.0 (and if again the data set is nonintermittent), then persistent long-range power-law correlations prevail (the case ÃŽ ± = 1 corresponds to the so-called 1/f noise) (Weber and Talkner 2001). Finally, the scaling properties of SIF-WL data set were also studied using Haar analysis (Lovejoy and Schertzer, 2012a,b). According to Haar analysis the variation of X parameter fluctuations ΔX with scale Δt can be defined using the â€Å"generalized† qth order structure function Sq(Δt) = ÃŽ §(Δt)q >, where the symbol stands for ensemble averaging. In a scaling regime, Sq(Δt) ≈ ΔtÃŽ ¾(q), where the exponent ÃŽ ¾(q)= qH K(q) and K(q) indicates the scaling intermittency (satisfying K(1) = 0). 3. Discussion and results Varotsos et al. (2013a) studying the high-resolution observations of SIF reaching the ground and the top of the atmosphere, suggested that SIF versus ultraviolet WL exhibit 1/fà ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ­type power-law correlations. This result was derived by applying the DFA method on the SIF dataset obtained from the Villard St. Pancrace station of the Lille University of Sciences and Technology and was based on the slope (i.e., 1.02 ±0.02) of the log – log plot of the root mean square fluctuation function of SIF versus the WL segment size Ï„. In order to further establish the power-law scaling mentioned before, Varotsos et al. (2013b) employed the two criteria suggested by Maraun et al. (2004), notably the rejection of the exponential decay of the autocorrelation function and the constancy of â€Å"local slopes† in a certain range towards the low frequencies. The results showed that the power-law fit on the power spectral density (of the detrended SIF-WL versus logÏ„) was much better than exponential one, for scales higher than Ï„ ≈ 1.4 nm, while the method of local slopes exhibited â€Å"constancy† with constant threshold (a ≈ 0.92) at the same range, Ï„ > 1.4 nm. Therefore, the two criteria of Maraum et al. (2004) were satisfied ensuring the 1/fà ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ­type power-law correlations in SIF versus WL suggested by Varotsos et al. (2013a). In the present study, the scaling dynamics of a wider spectrum of SIF-WL data set was studied, for wavelengths between 115.5 and 629.5nm. Firstly, DFA-n seemed to can take care of the trends revealing a DFA-exponent close to unity (after DFA-2), as shown in Fig. 1b. In the following we plotted the power spectral density (using FFT) of the linearly detrended SIF data set. The derived power spectral density showed that the power-law fitting gives coefficient of determination, R2, higher than the exponential one (see Fig. 2a). This was confirmed by F-test, at 95% confidence level. From the other hand, the DFA-1 exponent was 1.24, while by applying the multiple DFA on the linearly detrended SIF data, the derived exponents ranged from 0.94 to 1. Similar results were derived when we repeated the above mentioned analysis for the polynomially (of 6th degree) detrended SIF data set. The derived power spectral density was, once more, better fitted algebraically than exponentially (a result which was confirmed by F-test, at 95% confidence level), while the linearly DFA-exponent was 1.01 (see Fig.2b). In other words, it seemed that no detrending is needed for the studied data set. Next, to resume our results we analysed the initial SIF-WL data set by using Haar analysis (Lovejoy and Schertzer, 2012a,b). According to Haar analysis, as also mentioned in the Section 2, the variation of SIF fluctuations versus wavelength Ï„ can be defined using the â€Å"generalized† qth order structure function Sq(Ï„) = RF(Ï„)q >, for which it holds that in a scaling regime Sq(Ï„) ≈ Ï„Î ¾(q), where the exponent ÃŽ ¾(q)= qH K(q) and K(q) illustrates the scaling intermittency (satisfying K(1) = 0 and ÃŽ ¾(1) = H). Fig. 3b shows that the intermittency of SIF data set is very high (C1=0.20), hence the RMS exponent = ÃŽ ¾(2)/2=0.60 is quite different from the q=1 exponent (H) and the data are far from Gaussian. In the classical quasi-Gaussian case, K(q) = 0 so that ÃŽ ¾(q) is linear. More generally, if the field is intermittent – for example if it is the result of a multifractal process – then the exponent K(q) is generally non linear and co nvex and characterizes the intermittency. The physical significance of H is thus that it determines the rate at which mean fluctuations grow (H > 0) or decrease (H Ï„. According to Fig. 3a,b, the exponent ÃŽ ¾(2) of the structure function equals to zero (at scales below 10 nm), a fact which means that the power spectrum exponent ÃŽ ²=1+ÃŽ ¾(2) equals to 1 (1/f structure). On the other hand, at larger scales, the exponents ÃŽ ¾(2) and ÃŽ ² seem to equal to 1.2 and 2.2, respectively. To clarify this aspect, we calculated the power spectrum for the initial SIF-WL data set, using the MEM. Then, we plotted in Fig. 4a the power spectral density versus frequency and we compared these results with 1/f and 1/f2.2 structure, following the exponent ÃŽ ¾(2)= 1.2 shown in Fig. 3. Interestingly, the results lied in between these two lines. Furthermore, we calculated the power spectrum for the initial as well as for the polynomially (of 6th and 7th degree) detrended SIF data set, using again the MEM. We plotted in Fig. 4b the power spectral density versus WL and the corresponding algebraically fitting in the range from 10 to 100 nm. In the latter fitting we found exponent very close to unity. However, Varotsos et al. (2013a) tried to formulate the above-shown finding, i.e., that the solar spectral irradiance obeys 1/f power-law as a function of UV wavelength, using the well-known Plancks law: which, in the limit of small wavelengths tends to the Wien approximation: , where I(Ï„,ÃŽ ¤) is the amount of energy emitted at a wavelength Ï„ per unit surface area per unit time per unit solid angle per unit wavelength, T is the temperature of the black body, h is Plancks constant, c is the speed of light, and k is Boltzmanns constant. By applying the DFA method on the various values of I(Ï„,ÃŽ ¤) Varotsos et al. (2013a) showed that the calculated I(Ï„,ÃŽ ¤) values do not obey the 1/fà ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ­type scaling. In an effort to clarify this aspect, we firstly applied on the initial SIF data set a fitting that was based on the Planck formula: Planck(Ï„)= and the derived exponents were a1 = 6799.86 ± 45.39(0.6674%) and b1= 2754.38  ± 15.85 (0.5755%) (see Fig. 5). Next, we applied the formula: p(Ï„)= which releases the exponent in front of the Bose-Einstein distribution giving a possible explanation for the different distribution of photons. The derived exponents were a= 3250.17  ± 90.65 (2.79%), b= 4456.26  ± 121.3 (2.72%) and c= 8.81914  ± 0.2589 (2.94%). Our last step was to use the Planck formula taking into account the effective temperature obtained from NASA. However, since hc = 1.986à ¯Ã†â€™-10-25 Jm and k = 1.38à ¯Ã†â€™-10-23 J/K, the Planck formula gives ÃŽ ¤sun = 5224.3 K while the p(Ï„) formula gives ÃŽ ¤sun = 3229.5 K. Furthermore, the Wien displacement law: Ï„max à ¯Ã†â€™-T = b, where Ï„max = 450 nm is the peak wavelength and b = 2.898à ¯Ã†â€™-10−3mK is a constant of proportionality called Wiens displacement constant, gives ÃŽ ¤sun = 6440K. The analysis based on Planck and Wien laws gives ÃŽ ¤sun = (5224 + 6440) / 2 K = 5832 K which is less than 1% from the effective temperature obtained from NASA. Finally, the application of DFA method on the detrended SIF data, eliminating the fitting of Planck, p(Ï„) and Plank(Ï„, Tef) formula, gave again DFA-exponents very close to 1 (ranging from 1.01 to 1.08) as shown in Fig. 6. All the previous discussion indicates that the 1/f scaling dynamics observed in solar flux concerns not the Planck’s law but its variations. 4. Conclusions The main conclusions of the present survey were: DFA-n applied on the initial SIF data set revealed DFA-exponents very close to unity (after DFA-2). Power spectral density for the linearly detrended SIF data set showed that the power-law fitting gives coefficient of determination, R2, higher than the exponential one, while DFA-1 exponent was 1.24 and DFA-n exponents ranged from 0.94 to 1. Similar results were extracted when we repeated the above mentioned analysis for the polynomially (of 6th degree) detrended SIF data set and it seemed that no detrending is needed for the studied data set. To resume our results we analysed the initial SIF-WL data set by using Haar analysis. As ÃŽ ¹t was derived, the intermittency of SIF data set was very high and the data were far from Gaussian. At scales below 10 nm, the power spectrum exponent ÃŽ ² was almost 1 (1/f structure), while at larger scales, the exponents ÃŽ ¾(2) and ÃŽ ² seemed to equal to 1.2 and 2.2, respectively. The results of the power spectral density for the initial SIF-WL data set (using the MEM) versus frequency seemed to lie in between 1/f and 1/f2.2 structure. The power spectral density versus WL for the initial as well as for the polynomially (of 6th and 7th degree) detrended SIF data set (using again the MEM) revealed also exponent very close to unity. Eliminating the fitting of three different types of Planck formula from SIF data set, scaling exponents very close to unity were derived Finally, the 1/f scaling dynamics observed in solar flux concerns not the Planck’s law but its variations.

Daisy Buchanans Role in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald :: The Great Gatsby

In one of the greatest works of the Twentieth Century, The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, there are many dynamic and round characters which greatly add to the story's theme. One character, Daisy Fay Buchannon, is made essential by way of her relation to the theme. An integral part of the plot, Daisy conveys the meaning of the novel, with her multi-dimensional personality and her relation to the conflicts. Daisy Buchannon is a round and dynamic character with many different sides to her personality. Early on in the book, she is portrayed as sweet and innocent. Her white and seemingly floating dress appeals to Nick in this way. She grew up as "the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville." Even then she dressed in white. Daisy also keeps her daughter around as a show toy. Whenever company comes over, she beckons for the little girl to come and put on a little act for everyone. This is symbolic of Daisy’s life; she is kept in the closet until it's time to show off for company, then she becomes radiant and personable. When everyone has gone, she is a bored housewife, of no importance to the world wondering aloud what she is going to do with the rest of her life. She appears to be bored yet innocent and harmless. Yet her innocence is false. Simply a materialistic young girl and has little mind of her own is underneath all of that covering. Daisy rediscovers her love with Gatsby because of his nice shirts and large house. Daisy has been well trained in a rich family. She has grown up with only the finest material goods. When Gatsby failed to contact her, she went off and married another man, without evening having heard a word from Gatsby. All of these many and round characteristics add complications to the plot and dimension to the meaning she adds to the book. The afore mentioned characteristics also help to create some of the main conflicts. Daisy was involved in the conflict between her and Tom. Tom had a mistress and Daisy was upset by it. Another conflict is her love affair with Gatsby. Her apparent sweetness and innocence allow Gatsby to fall in love with her. But her impatience and ignorance of true love or the meaning of truth or compassion allow her to flawlessly marry Tom, without a sober thought of Gatsby.

Immigration and Immigrants in America Essay -- American History

Immigration and Immigrants in America Most Americans place their pride in being apart of a country where a man can start at the bottom and work his way to the top. We also stress the fact that we are â€Å"all created equal† with â€Å"certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.† (Jefferson 45) During the early 1900s white Americans picked and chose who they saw fit to live in America and become an American. â€Å"Those that separate the desirable from the undesirable citizen or neighbor are individual rather than race.† (Abbott 307) In the 1900s the desired immigrant was one who spoke English and practiced customs who were similar to ours. Whereas an undesirable was one whose â€Å"customs he (Americans) understood, whose language is quite unrelated to English, the American finds â€Å"strange† and even â€Å"suspicious†.† (Abbott 307) The biggest debate today would be what could the individual/race can contribute to the American economy. â€Å"The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas and form new opinions.† (Crevecoeur 26) With Crevecoeur’s definition anyone with half of a brain could be an American. This statement is basically contradicted by everything that is American. American society only wants people that can contribute to our economy. For decades people in America were sure of two things concerning immigrants. They came for the opportunity to build a better life for their families and they would not seek nor would they accept a handout. The drive and attitude of immigrants who came to America during the nineteen twenties through the nineteen sixties built strong work ethics that created our now famous American melting pot. But for the past thir... ...d to the building of America; Therefore other races can only but add on to the good things that are happening in America. Works Cited Abbot, Grace. â€Å"The Immigrants Place in a Social Program.† Primis. Michigan: McGraw-Hill, 1997. 304-309 Crevecoeur, Hector St. Jean De. â€Å"What is an American?† Primis. Michigan: McGraw-Hill, 1992. 23-40 Hall, Prescott F. â€Å"The Future of American Ideals† Primis. Michigan: McGraw-Hill. 300-303 Thompson, Ginger. â€Å"U.S. and Mexico to Open Talks on Freer Migration for Workers.† Handout from newspaper. **no date or name on handout*** Ward, Robert De Courcey. â€Å"Race Betterment and Our Immigration Law.† Proceedings of the First National Conference on Race Betterment, January 8,9,10,11,12,Battle Creek, Michigan. Battle Creek: Gage, 1914. 543-544, 545 CD-ROM. American Identity Explorer Immigration and Migration. McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Video Games in Education Essay -- Gaming Video Games Essays Papers

Video Games in Education Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper. Video games challenge the player and expand his ability to react fast with very little lag time. With years of practice the player becomes quicker and more accurate with the movements. Thus hand and eye coordination is better, the player sees something on the screen and has to physically react to it. Not only is hand and eye coordination improved but so is manual dexterity (Taking Children Seriously). For example Madden 2004 is a football game, which requires fast reactions. If the player does not have the quick reaction skills develop then the other team will most likely sack him. The player needs to realize he has a limited time to throw the ball and most get the pass off quickly, he needs to scan the field, look for a possible escape route, and watch for the defense closing in. Another type of game, which improves hand and eye coordination, is shooting games. Although these games, such as Time Crisis 2, are being criticized for its violent content, these games force the pl ayer to quickly scan the screen for criminals to shoot before they are shot. The police force uses similar methods to train their officers to raise reaction speed when they are out on the streets. Related to h... ...the ideas that are taught in schools. Games also need to intermix instruction with demonstration. This is a big difference from the basic way of learning in school, which is memorize and regurgitate. Demonstrating shows the student what it looks like and they retain the content longer. Video games have been an influence part of our society since the early 70’s. The bad named that they are given is false, the only reason they have this bad name is because kids like games, so anything that is fun is bad for you. If a child loved playing chess he or she would be rewarded but it to is a game. Video games can help the learning process and should be incorporated in to the school system. If a child loved playing chess he or she would be rewarded but it to is a game. Video games can help the learning process and should be incorporated in to the school system.

Analysis and assumption for all task

IntroductionAs a pupil of international advanced sheepskin in computing machine surveies ( NCC instruction ) , we need to make the Database Design and Development Assignment. This database assignment will let you to understand how to use informations patterning and informations analysis ways to the design and development of database solutions. Harmonizing to this assignment scenario, we will analysis and plan the database system about Research Department of a big Research and Development Company. This Research Department is responsible for can pull off the research undertakings of this company. As I understand, this research section keeps information on every research undertakings which is carried out by this company. The research section keeps the undermentioned information concern with the undertaking. These field names are full undertaking name, continuance, start day of the month, terminal day of the month, internal employee involved and their functions in the undertaking ( functions are project director, principl research worker, developer ) , employee clip, inside informations of any external employees involved in the undertaking, entire undertaking cost, expansive sum received from support bureaus and undertaking result which describes successful or unsuccessful. They besides keeps the information concern with internal employees and external employees who involved in their undertaking. For external employee, this research section keeps the undermentioned information: their name, reference, company they work for, how many hours they have worked on the undertaking, cost of employment. And this research section besides have an restrict regulation. That is external employee can merely be the two functions, chief research worker or developer among three functions. And for internal employee they keep the undermentioned information. They separate information into two parts. They are personal information and undertaking related information. In the personal information, it contains full name, age, reference, nationality, makings, research squad, ( terminal of contract day of the month besides included if the individual is left ) ; And in the undertaking related information, they keeps the internal employee involved in which undertakings, current employment station name, class, employment get downing day of the month, and current wage. But internal employee can make full all functions for every undertakings ( chief research worker, developer and undertaking director ) . Both types of employee may use the assorted functions at the same clip. The assignment intended to bring forth the entity relation diagram which describes the content and construction of the information of the Research section. And so bring forth the entities with properties and the key of primary and foreign. Then normalise the signifier design to table and set up the ensuing tabular array by utilizing the Data Base Management System ( DBMS ) and enter the trial information to the relevant tabular arraies. Then produce the question which is given in undertaking of assignment by utilizing SQL statement. Then retrieve the needed records from the relevant tabular array.Analysis and Assumption for All undertakingsUndertaking 1 is to pull the Entity Relationship Diagram of Research section which explains content and construction of the informations held by Research Department of the big research and Development Company. Harmonizing to the undertaking scenario, we got 12 entities for research section. They are valid undertaking, valid project/project, researc h, employment, employment/internal employee, internal employee, internal employee assign, undertaking assign, external employee assign, external employee, function, and undertaking. Then we produce the logical diagram with relationships. And so, we have produced the physical entity relationship Diagram by analysing the logical diagram. We besides consider how those entities relate. We can cognize how to divide the tabular array and how to associate the ensuing entities by making this undertaking. We can acquire more understanding how to pull a entity relationship diagram. Undertaking 2 is to bring forth the ensuing tabular arraies from entity relationship Diagram and stipulate which is the primary keys and foreign keys. Then, we produce the entities with possible properties by the scenario. If you want, you can see the some extra properties for your tabular arraies. We can cognize how to transport the properties and how to delegate the key of primary and foreign. In undertaking 3, we normalize the four signifier design to tabular arraies. And we besides need to depict the stairss of standardization for these tabular arraies. In this undertaking, we will divide by sing the properties or Fieldss non to double. We can cognize how to make standardization for tabular array. Undertaking 4 is to construct the consequence of normalized tabular arraies as the database design and put up the possible well-designed trial informations at minimal 5 records for each tabular array. And take the information base direction system ( DBMS ) to construct the tabular array. For this undertaking, we choose the Microsoft Access 2003 for constructing the consequence tabular array. And so we set up the consequence tabular arraies by utilizing the entree 2003. And so we have entered the possible trial informations more than 5 records in the corresponding tabular array. By doing this undertaking, we have got how to construct a database system and how to enter the informations in the relevant tabular array. Undertaking 5 is to make the questions utilizing the Structured Query Language ( SQL ) . In this undertaking, we have created three questions harmonizing with the relevant tabular array. First, we produce the question which displays the name of all of Heads of Department together with other functions which they employ and the current station that they hold. The Second, we produce the question which display the name of all the current Senior Lecturers with the section name that they employ and their full wage which include the amount of the wage and the entire extra payment of all that they will have for function. The 3rd, we produce the question which display the name all of Heads of Mathematics Department from 2000 to the present and current station and making. By doing this undertaking, we have known how to make question better and how to recover the information from the relevant tabular array. By doing this assignment, we have got many experiences about the database system and how to analysis, design and implement. And so we have improved our cognition of the database system.

Behaviorist Revised

By properly incorporating repeated practices and mechanisms in the study of business math, an educator can actively create participation and appreciation of the course objectives. Also by properly incorporating mechanisms for motivation, students can appreciate the way the subject is taught. The overall rationale in creating world problems in teaching business math is to incorporate students the proper attitude and behavior that is deemed to address each problem. This specifically coincides with the notion of a behaviorist approach by Skinner.Skinner is â€Å"one of the behaviorist psychologists saying that a measurable learning outcome is only possible if we change the learner’s behavior. † (Faryadi, 2007, p. 2) Basing from such idea, educators must incorporate the understanding that the students are responsive in the environment they are given into. It is through this that educators must understand the meaning of classical conditioning. This process usually involves h aving a stimuli and response from people.Conditioning students can be a very effective tool for them to acquire the information that they need. â€Å"The most efficient use of conditioned reflexes in the practical control of behavior often requires quantitative information. † (Skinner, 1976, p. 10) The use of examinations can be a gauge to determine their individual development as a student in accordance to guidelines and objectives of the subject. By incorporating exercises and exams, educators can control the tempo and analyze the way students grasp the subject they are studying.In addition, such world problems can help facilitate observable facts that the teacher can use to improve the subject he/she is teaching. It is the overall environment that It is through this rationale that the idea of behaviorism can be applicable in the realm of education. It seeks to foster a different way of arriving on how people learn. â€Å"In other words, behaviorism states that the mind do es not help a person acquire knowledge but instead it is the psychology of the environment which a person lives. † (Faryadi, 2007, p. 3)Recognizing this, there is a need for educators and teachers to create motivational scenarios for students. These activities are called ‘positive reinforcement’ in behaviorism. One example of an activity would be creating a reward system for students who go above the expected results. This will motivate students to study harder on the notion of achieving extra credits. To conclude, creating examinations and exercises by teachers can be very helpful in determining the grasp of student in the subject according to the behaviorist approach.By carefully understanding its relative tenets, educators can facilitate better teaching and imparting of information which is vital in the overall learning process. In the end, such actions can motivate students to learn more given the proper amount of reinforcement. References Faryadi, Q. (2007) B ehaviorism and the Construct of Knowledge in Education Resource Information Center (ERIC). Retrieved March 16, 2008. Skinner, B. F. (1976) Behaviorism. United States; Random House Inc.

Field Trip

Trip Report Yorgos Amanatidis This is a trip report for the Web Science Conference 2009 (WebSci'09) that took place from the 18th to the 20th of March 2009, in Athens, Greece. Location: The Conference was held at the â€Å"Hellenic Cosmos† complex of the Foundation of the Hellenic World. Hellenic Cosmos was indeed very suitable for such an event. The place was technologically equipped, the location was easily accessible for me, both by public transportation and by car, with adequate parking space.Although I stayed in Piraeus, I can assume that the transportation to/from the Conference was equally easy for all the participants. Organization: Concerning the organization and the advertisement of WebSci'09, I have to say that everything was well planed and the conference was quite publicized. However, and this was not an objection of me alone, most of the publicity was due to the unusually large number of members of the Greek Parliament that talked during the Conference.Workshops, Talks, Posters: I attended the Web Science Curriculum Workshop and just the first hour of the UIWoSC Workshop due to my jet lag. I understand that the two workshops were planned to have only a few participants, however they were very interesting and illustrative of the struggle to determine the boundaries of an emerging scientific area. To say my opinion, I cannot see web science independent of computer science, and I think the most plausible direction is the one of information science, as it is called in the U. S.I attended several talks and enjoyed most of them, although the topics of some sessions diverged too much from my idea of what web science should/will be, e. g. the â€Å"Cultural Convergence and Digital Technology† session. I had the chance to talk to a few people about my research and get some interesting ideas on more applied directions; I was a bit disappointed though, that two of the three other speakers in my session did not show up. Finally, a few thoughts a bout the Poster Session. I found many of the posters really interesting and I had the chance to talk to some of the authors.It seems to me, that it would be a good idea if the poster session was a bit more â€Å"central† in the program, since at the and of the first day most people were already exhausted. Also, it would be nice to have some information about the posters on the web page of the conference. Overall, I would say that attending WebSci'09, was a useful and interesting experience, and I will try to attend WebSci conferences again in the future. WebSci’09 Report – Norhidayah Azman When I received the e-mail saying that I was one of the lucky recipients of the WebSci'09 bursary award, I couldn't believe my eyes.Firstly, it dawned on me that I was going to attend the first ever conference to be run by WSRI. Then secondly, I was going to go to Athens! The conference ran from 18-20 March 2009 in the beautiful Hellenic Cosmos of the Foundation of the Helleni c World. The moment me and my friends set eyes on the venue, we were truly excited. I fully agree with Dame Wendy when she said in her welcoming address that the futuristic dome was reason enough to come there for the conference. The city centre also provided more than enough distractions for us delegates before and after the conference.Being a first-year PhD student, I was thrilled to be given to the opportunity to mingle amongst these brilliant minds congregating in support of a common goal: to witness the future of the Web. I also had the pleasure of talking to Bebo White, a prominent personality in the world of Web research. He said it was such a good reception for a conference where nobody knows what it's about! Lots of prominent speakers graced the event, delivering interesting keynote speeches that provided a good overview of the breadth and depth of Web Science.Sir Tim Berners-Lee, with his affable conduct, showcased his revolutionary thinking during the opening WWW Forum. H e said that 80% of the world's population does not have access to the Internet, thus future technological developments must be inclusive of this huge populace. To help reach out to more people, he suggested building a water-based wireless router! It's quite interesting to see the different ways of how different keynote speakers envisage the evolution of the Web.Joseph Sifakis likens its maturity today as similar to physics during the Middle Ages, while Nigel Shadbolt symbolized the Web's issues as an elephant in the room. He also asked: how do you evaluate the economic value of collective content? Nosh Contractor gave an excellent speech, clearly outlining the ways to identify different generative mechanisms that explain emergent structures observed in large-scale networks. He emphasized that technology does not spell the death of distance, because from his experimental results using EverQuest, individuals within a 50km radius is 22. times more likely to be friends online than compa red to a 50-80km radius. The papers and panels presented were eye-opening as well. This is where the breadth of Web Science seemed very apparent. On the same track, you could find a Computer Science paper followed by a Law paper which was then followed by a Sociology paper. The different approaches and angles towards addressing Web issues do spur a lot of discussion during the Q sessions, which I find very refreshing. I attended the following tracks: Trust and Distrust, Openness vs. Control, Social Networks, and Government, Citizens, Law and the Web.Throughout these tracks, some of the interesting issues included reputation, mobile Web, collaborative filtering, trust propagation, Net neutrality, digital identities and Bibles written in Klingon. My favourite was the legal panel which discussed privacy and data retention issues. It was interesting to see how the perspectives of law practitioners and computer scientists clash when it comes to determining the roles of law in the Web. I really enjoyed my days in Greece. The intellectual stimulation was well complemented by the cultural sites across Athens.I am thrilled to be a part of Web Science's history, and what better place to do this than in a historical city like Athens! Summary Report for WebSci ’09 Conference Athens, Greece 18th-20th March, 2009 by Bipana Bantawa Doctoral Student It was indeed very exciting to attend my first Web Science conference and I admit that I came back with mixed feelings about the proceedings of the conference. The very first workshop on web science curriculum turned out to be more like a presentation session and I really wish there could have been a better way to handle the unprecendented number of participants.Although it was mandatory to submit a position paper to attend the workshop, most of the attendees joined at the last minute and I believe we lost a great opportunity to have an engaging debate about the subject. In the end I would have agreed with Jim Hendlerâ€⠄¢s argument that the curriculum should be such that students should be able to create something new and only relevant elements from different disciplines should be chosen for the purpose.The second workshop on the impact of the web was conducted on similar lines and I was eagerly looking forward to have a discussion, which ofcourse did not materialise due to the structure of the room and number of participants. I certainly enjoyed most of the participant’s views and Steven Harnad’s introduction to the debate could not have been more appropriate. Nigel Shadbolt’s key note speech on the second day was certainly promising and encouraging to novices like myself.His emphasis on philosophy and multidisciplinarity was the highlight for me of that day. The following paper session on ‘teaching and learning’ began with a presentation, which really disappointed me since it gave us a brief overview of the web phenomenon in a very superficial manner without muc h evidence to back it up. It might be a bit too critical about it, but maybe I was expecting something new and exciting as a strarter. However, Carl Lagoze’s presentation on OreChem introduced me to new methodologies that I had been looking for.The highlight of the third day and perhaps the entire conference for me was Noshir contractors key note, which was perhaps the most engaging speeches of the event and it was wonderful to hear from a true multidisciplinarian and I am certainly going to follow his work, which I believe I would not have found so easily otherwise. The paper session on social networks was the one that was most memorable that day and I quite enjoyed Schindler and Vrandecic’s presentation on wikipedia’s new features and Halpin’s philosophical arguments for this methodologies.Overall, I definitely gained a lot from attending this conference by getting to meet academics from different disciplines and fellow doctoral students who had such di verse views that I had to challenge my own. I was also introduced to new methodologies and theories which I will study in detail in the next couple of months to determine what could be important for my research. I appreciated the diversity of participants and their effort to understand each other although they came from completely different academic disciplines, which I imagine is not an easy matter.The opportunity to briefly introduce myself to several academics whose work I intend to follow and maybe ask for advice on different aspects on my own idea was truly invaluable. It was my first conference as a doctoral student and I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate. Apart from learning more about the emerging field, I feel greatly encouraged to pursue my own research and attend future conferences and I am looking forward to the next websci event. Thank you, again. WebSci09 Conference Attendance Report Mohamed Bishr m. [email  protected] e The first W ebSci conference was a very good chance for me to attend the birth of a new research community. The overall organization of the conference was, in fact excellent, and the poster session where I was involved was very well managed. I have met several interesting people at the conference; as well I have managed to make valuable contacts for my research and career. The conference as an interaction platform proved very valuable to me. The papers presented at the conference, while being diverse, managed to attract my attention for the most part.Especially papers focusing on non-technical aspects of the web as this is an area that is often understudied. The location of the conference was ideal, and allowed me to experience a new country and culture, which is always a benefit I’m look forward to from attending conferences. My attendance of the conference was supported by a generous grant from WSRI sponsors, and as a young researcher this support is warmly appreciated and I hope it wi ll continue to the next few years of the WebSci conference.Overall, it was, for me, a very good opportunity to present my work and receive feedback from a multi-disciplinary audience. It is also, a forum of established people in their domains which I have found very stimulating. WebSci09 Trip Report Ilaria Bordino I have been very glad to be given the opportunity to attend the 1st Web Science Conference. We all know that in the last few years the Web has really changed the life of everybody. In particular, it has changed the way in which we communicate and collaborate, disclosing possibilities that could not be even imagined before.The Web Science Research Initiative is promoting a joint work of several different scientific fields, with the aim of gaining a clear comprehension of the fundamental issues that have to be addressed in order to improve the future design and usage of the World Wide Web. This new Science is inherently multidisciplinary, as it requires to take into consider ation different aspects that actually need to apply knowledge derived from several fields, like physics, computer science and also social science. The peculiar nature of this new Science has made the participation in this conference a novel and great experience for me.First of all, I had the chance of meeting the great scientists that are the founders of the Web Science Initiative. It was really nice to meet people that have given so great a contribution to the development of the Web and to listen to their opinions and ideas about the crucial issues that researchers have to take into consideration when thinking about the future of the Web. The presented papers were also very interesting because they spanned different topics from research areas much broader than the ones that I am used to see when taking part in typical Computer Science conferences.There was a lot of interaction between computer scientists and social scientists. This is important, because the WWW does not exist witho ut the participation of people and organizations. Significant parts of people's lives are now spent online in many countries. For example, among the topics that were taken into consideration, there were eCommerce, Social Sciences and e-learning, e-culture, Cybercrime, tagging systems. The researchers discussed many problems that have a critical importance for the so called online society, like openness and control, privacy and trust.The conference also addressed issues concerning people's behavior and motivation on line. Yana Breindl Ph. D Candidate Information and Communication Sciences Department Universite Libre de Bruxelles Belgium Susan Davies Administrator for the Web Science Research Initiative School of Electronics and Computer Science University of Southampton UK April 20th, 2009 Subject: WebSci'09 Bursary Report To whom it may concern, The Websci'09 conference was worth participating in. From the first day on, the program was of outstanding quality.It was a unique occasion for me as a Ph. D student to listen to high-standing speakers which turned out to be quite approachable as the size of the conference was small enough to feel comfortable. The various panels were highly interesting and touched upon most issues related to the World Wide Web. Coming from a social sciences background, I found it very stimulating to get in touch with many scholars from various disciplines and especially the computer sciences. At stages it was hard to discuss ones research objects in more depth.The topics represented were very wide-ranging and the lack of common concepts and knowledge about the others' disciplines turned out to be quite a challenge as conversations risked to remain somewhat superficial. However, the conference left me more convinced than ever that it is very necessary to favor interdisciplinary research. When studying the World Wide Web, legal, political, social, technical and security issues need to be addressed. As the web constitutes a unique site fo r research, scholars from all fields need to think about how to address its many challenges.In this sense, it could have been even more interesting to organize methodological panels. Indeed, all participants would have benefited from a deeper insight into how other disciplines study the WWW. It was extremely rewarding to be part of such an ambitious project and I am looking forward to the next conference. Sincerely, Yana Breindl Report about WebSci’09 Conference Author: Lucia Ciofi It is not an easy task to write a report about a conference. A conference, obviously, it is not made up only of presented papers and posters, which, at least, it is possible to read whenever you want thanks to on-line publishing.A conference conveys something more and the spare value comes mainly from sensations and emotions felt during the happening. Let me remember then, that it has been exciting to see such a gathering of many famous researchers, whose work is widely known and appreciated. Besid e it has been really impressive to see the success of the conference among the students, as there was a huge number of them attending the conference, and it is easy to reckon how the idea to become a web scientist is regarded as an appealing one.What instead, from my point of view, it has been difficult to perceive during the conference, it is a unitary vision for the Web Science. This is probably due to two facts: first one, Web Science is still a very young discipline and second one, its aim to follow an interdisciplinary approach it is extremely complex to obtain. Then it is still difficult to find out a way of its own. Probably for this reason the program seemed to be a bit fragmented and that each fragment was not fully connected to each other.Beside the lack of a common language across the various disciplines involved in Web Science makes difficult to understand the point of view of researchers that come from different cultural backgrounds. However the main target of the confe rence was to officially declare that this discipline has moved its first steps and it is no more a project of a few people, but that it has become a field of work shared by many different researchers and this target has been fully reached.For what concerns the choice of topics for the paper sessions, it seems that it has been paid more attention to social aspects connected with the Web and a bit less attention has been given to infrastructural aspects, for example, only the session entitled â€Å"Web of data† was concerned with technological developments connected with the Web, but it could have been interesting to expand this topic. Again it must be difficult to find a proper balance among so many different aspects addressed by this discipline.On the other side the poster session has tried to solve the aforementioned question but it has resulted a bit confusing for the high number of posters presented and the different research areas addressed. At last it could be worthy to make a reflection about how an interdisciplinary approach could be a dangerous way to follow in the training of future web scientists, because it could result in having researchers that will have a rich cultural background but that could not master any particular area in order to conduct a proper research work as the one required nowadays.Among the papers presented, I would remember the work â€Å"Semantic technologies for learning and teaching in the web 2. 0 era† which has reported a clear summary about which are the current positions in Semantic Web field and its possible developments in the future. Beside it seems important the effort spent trying to classify the current technologies available, since there is a lot of confusion in this area at the moment.Another work really engaging, it has been the one entitled â€Å"Class associated structure derived from linked objects† which identifies a possible model to describe the structure of RDF data published on the web following the linked data principles. The capability to understand such a model is really important for the implementation of new applications, as it has been important for the current web, the analysis of the model of the information structure which allowed the birth of the famous Page Rank algorithm. Another work worth mentioning is the one entitled â€Å"Social meaning from the web: From Wittgenstein To Search Engines†.It takes the move from an ongoing discussion about the meaning of the URIs. The object debated is: from the point of view of the Semantic Web, the URI is a simple identifier without any meaning or it has to convey a meaning, as it is often used to identify different things in different situations? The author thinks that an URI has to convoy a meaning but he is not satisfied with the current approaches to solve this issue. His idea then, is to find the meaning of a URI through the meaning that the community of users gives to it, and in order to reach this pur pose, he has studied the queries made to a search engine.The idea is good but it is possible to scale for all URIs this kind of approach? In the poster session I have appreciated the one entitled â€Å"Towards a reference architecture for Semantic Web applications†. The purpose of this work was to find common features that are present in many different semantic applications and from this analysis it has been tried to define a common architecture, which could represent a reference to develop software frameworks in order to aid the implementation of semantic applications, an approach that currently is widely used for the development of common web applications.Web Science 2009 Conference Trip Report. By Shankaron Gambi, Sheffield Hallam University. The Web science conference was the first ever conference of its kind to be held and Athens was to make it one of the most memorable. Being held in Athens Foundation of the Hellenic World the conference boasted a unique venue that repr esented a virtual future and helped to convey the conferences message of the webs power and its importance in our future world and everyday lives. The conference was on all sides a real success and easily met its key objectives of bridging the gap between computer science and social science.People from Psychology, Computer science, Web design, Sociology, Philosophy and other disciplines readily filled the conference rooms, each presentation focusing on a number of diverse aspects of the impact of the Web on our lives. What was most enjoyable about this was that people genuinely seemed interested in learning about the research being carried out in different disciplines and many people like myself used the conference to help them shed light on different aspects of their own research.The key emphasize of the conference-society on-line, really brought alive the importance of understanding the web from both a behavioural and technological perspective. Coming from a social psychological p erspective I have long thought that together such disciplines could offer insightful answers to many research questions. I am already theorizing the conclusions of my PhD which incorporate both spheres of the webs technological and social aspects. A real highlight of the conference for me was the poster session held on Wednesday evening.This was a highlight for me not only because I was presenting my own research in a poster but because of the opportunity it gave people to actively ask questions about other researchers work and learn so much more about the work being done in the very new field of web science. I also met some very interesting people who had some very original ideas and who will no doubt go onto make some very big contributions to the new field of web science. There is already talk about next year's Web Science's 2010 conference commencing.I believe that this conference will only get bigger and more popular as the years go on and perhaps may include a number of other diverse disciplines which is very exciting. I will be in my final year of my PhD then and so plan to apply to present my research there. Overall, I really enjoyed the conference. I feel that the conferences success was in its highlighting the importance and significance the web is playing in changing the way people communicate, socialize, work and generally live. Such an emphasis showed the positive power the web can have on many people’s distant and isolating lives.In such cases I believe that the power of the web has helped many people and society as a whole to live in a more connected way and has helped dissolve the loneliness and isolation in what would be a very disconnected offline world without it! 1 Web Science 2009 Report Harry Halpin H. [email  protected] ac. uk School of Informatics University of Edinburgh 2 Buccleuch Place EH8 9LW Edinburgh Scotland, UK The Web Science 2009 conference was an astounding success, and I can only give the briefest highlights.In part icular, I presented Edinburgh’s more traditional Informatics curriculum, such as our over-subscribed information retrieval course, and received very useful feedback on the latest work on Web Science curriculum. One of the most personally productive sessions for me was the workshop on â€Å"Workshop on Understanding The Impact of the Web on Scholarly Communication (UIWoSC). † Stevan Harnad’s presentation, even over video, on the concept of the Web as â€Å"sky-writing† was of immense relevance to my own work, as he seems to be pursuing similar ideas but from a slightly di? erent angle.We seem to have a major theoretical disagreement, as I am ultimately interested in how â€Å"collective intelligence† forms in the form of a new relational theory of the self based on the ideas of Maturana and Deleuze, while he is more interested in the Web as a form of external medium operating within a more classical Lockean or Kantian cognitive framework. I also exp lained the role of W3C Incubator Groups in possibly standardizing a vocabulary for open linked bibliographic databases. From the various sessions, I found the paper on â€Å"On Measuring Expertise in Collaborative Tagging Systems† by Yeung et al. o be by to be very relevant to my previous work on collaborative tagging systems. The largest surprise I had was during the poster session, where a poster by Jeremy Smart, Jim Hendler, and others talked about how my Ph. D. advisor, Andy Clark’s, philosophical analysis on the Extended Mind could be applied to the Web. I had an absolutely fascinating conversation with Jeremy Smart, and perhaps future collaboration could result. The invited talk by Noshir Contractor opened my eyes to a whole new world of statistical generative models for networks, and I explained linked open data to him in a way he really enjoyed over lunch.The highlight of the conference for me was of course my talk, in which I had the honor of having Tim Berner s-Lee, Jim Hendler, and Nigel Shadbolt in the audience. The talk went well, although it was di? cult for me to compress my entire Ph. D. thesis into a relatively short talk. Jim Hendler gave very excellent feedback about my sampling method and how I should make my sample more representative of the Semantic Web. Tim Berners-Lee gave me an invaluable hour or so of his time to give his feedback, and con? rmed in person a lot of the theses that I was attributing to him.Lastly, Nigel Shadbolt mentioned how his Ph. D. work was on a similar topic, work that I am now investigating. WebSci’09 Trip Report Dave Karpf May 21, 2009 The WebSci’09 conference proved to be an excellent experience for me in all regards. Going into the conference, I recognized it as my first opportunity to meet and interact with the international, cross-disciplinary web science community and an excellent chance to present my research and gain feedback from members of the various fields represented there. I could not be happier with how everything turned out.From an early interaction on Wednesday evening with semantic web developer Lynda Hardman to several excellent conversations with students and faculty at the Oxford Internet Institute, I built the framework for what I believe will be longtermproductive working relationships. The presentation of my conference paper, â€Å"Why Bowl Alone When You Can Flashmob the Bowling Alley? Implications of the Mobile Web for Online-Offline Reputation Systems,† was to a large and enthusiastic audience which asked several useful questions for further exploration.I am currently revising the conference paper for publication with Policy and Internet, one of the conference cosponsoring journals. Keynote speeches by Tim Berners-Lee, Noshir Contractor, and Nigel Shadbolt were particularly illuminating for me, drawing together topics in network theory, the semantic web, and data mining in ways that had clear relevance to my work in political scie nce. I also particularly appreciated Jim Hendler’s enunciation during the keynote Friday night that â€Å"we aren’t all from the same tribe. More than anything, what I took away from the conference was a clear sense of what Web Science is and what it isn’t. Web Science isn’t a single discipline. It is a space where those elements of the various disciplines who share an interest in the web come together and interact with each other, â€Å"cross-pollinating,† if you will. Those speeches, along with papers presented at the â€Å"Government† and â€Å"Legal† panels, were probably the most impactful for me as a scholar. As a whole, I was extremely pleased to have attended WebSci’09 and was thankful for the generous bursary support which helped make the trip possible.I am looking forward to next year’s conference and am already considering possible paper topics. WebSci09 Trip Report Spyros Kotoulas I have attended the first W ebSci conference in Athens, Greece. In general, the conference was a happy mix of computer scientists (especially SemWeb people), sociologists, lawyers, philosophers , politicians, journalists and other disciplines that I failed to spot. I think that everybody contributed to making a really interdisciplinary conference. The opening event was attended by approx. 000 people and the rest of the conference by approx. 200 – 300. The conference started with a workshop on web science curricula. Researchers from various universities presented new studies that they have devised for Web Science. I think there were about 5 of purely web science curricula, and some related ones. There was a lengthy discussion about which disciplines should be included in a web science curriculum. Some proposals, along with an argument supporting them were: Humanities: We need to be able to examine and interpret sources on the Web.Linked data: It is all about links and knowing WHAT it is that we are talki ng about. Social science: We need sociology to show us how the Web is changing the world. Other proposals, for which the argument was not so clear to me were philosophy, economics & business, art, humanities. Although there was effort to â€Å"throw† some of these disciplines out, it did not happen. Furthermore, the curricula presented did not contain all of these disciplines. The opening event was meant for a much broader audience. Major greek policial figures attended. As a result, the audience was approx. 1000 people.The keynotes from Tim Berners-Lee and Wendy Hall were, as expected a bit of general information about Web Science, intended for a general audience. They were followed by a very different keynote. The accent changed from that of a british Sir and a Dame to than of a person from Crete and the content from generally the Web to embedded systems: J. Sifakis (Turing award laureate) gave a talk about reliability and security of embedded systems, with a bit technical content. A keynote by N. Shadbolt was also about web science in general. There several talks/keynotes about trust, security and privacy.The point was made that it is essential for the Web. Some people were advocating that this should be done through legislation and some by system design. These talks were generally interesting. There were in total 27 paper presentations in (mostly) 2 parallel sessions. The topics were quite diverse, covering all aforementioned disciplines. I saw presentations on privacy, linked data, user interfaces, sociology, law and more. All in all, there were quite interesting and only a few of them I could not follow. I should also note that this was not the same for the non-comp. ci participants. I have serious doubts that they could understand some of the more technical presentations. There was a 2,5 hours poster session. Approx 40% of the poster presenters did not show up in the conference, mainly from the non comp. sci. fields. I was presenting a poster abo ut MaRVIN. There was much interest for it. Namely, I was kept talking for almost the entire session and I barely had time to look at other posters. Admittedly, the interest was from the Sem. Web people. Researchers from other disciplines shunned with fear from papers with very technical content. 7 papers accepted for presentation – 16% acceptance rate 115 accepted as posters – 75% acceptance rate Ordered list of participation by country (my own approximation, they have shown a tag cloud): UK – There were many presentations from Southampton people US Greece Spain Netherlands All in all, it was a very educational experience and it was really great looking at how different disciplines fit together. Report During the 18th and 20th of March 2009 I had the opportunity to attend and participate as a volunteer and as a new scientist at the WEB Science Conference: Society Online 2009.The experience was unique and worthwhile. I attended the most interested to me lectures and spend many hours during the poster session reading the most of the posters of the conference. As far as it concerns the lectures I attended the presentations of distinguished scientists from around the world on issues that are related to my scientific area and interests such as Socio-Psychology of the Web. As far as it concerns the posters I really was enthusiastic about the number of them and the multi-dimensionality of the issues they covered.I had the chance to keep notes useful to my scientific research, meet posters’ authors and have discussions about our common research interests. Additionally, as I had expressed the willingness and I been selected to be at the organizing committee, I voluntarily offered my help whenever and wherever there was a need during the preparation months and during the three days of the conference. This was another aspect of my participation to the conference and it was a very important and useful experience, an undoubtedly life experience. The conference organization phase gave me the opportunity to understand better and in depth many issues related to a scientific conference and science. Finally, as my research work was selected for the poster session I had the chance during the conference and especially during the poster session to present to many people and especially to people who where experienced researchers or academicians the work that had been done by me up to these days and receive back their comments. Dialogues developed about the theme and content of my poster and offered me a lot of material opinions, impressions, scientific methods, future implications) so as to improve my work in future. I end up with the conclusion that the WebScience Conference Society OnLine 2009 was very successful and as far as it concerns my case it was a great challenge and a experience I lived to the full. Helen Koutsonika Report It was my great honor to attend WebSci’09 in Athens, Greece in March. First of all, I would l ike to thank Susan Davies in the Southampton University. Without her help, as a postgraduate student from China, I wouldn’t be able to get the bursary and afford my travelling expense.Also, I want to thanks her colleague, Samantha Collins, for her reminding me of the report. I am really sorry for the late of this report. It was a fancy trip. As soon as I relaxed from the discomposure in my first oversea travel, I indulged myself in enjoying the beautiful view outside the plane. The clouds above Beijing, the sea near the United Arab Emirates (where I changed my flight) and the mountains surrounding the Athens were all very impressive. And of course, the Aegean Sea! It was so amazing! In the four days in the Greece, I lived in a youth hotel near the Sigma Square.Although the conference was held in the Hellenic World, which located between the Piraeus and Athens, the metro was very convenience for me to go to the conference. In the wonderful conference, I met with many famous sc holars such Tim Berners-Lee and Joseph Sifakis, whose topics greatly attracted my attention. From the presentations in the WWW Forum, I knew the latest advancements in the area of the Internet research. What was more exciting was that my poster attracted the interest of many scholars. By responding to the comments and explained my research to them, I help them understand more deeply the situation in China.As I have just accepted a PhD admission from the Hong Kong City University, where I am supposed to continue my research on internet and its impact on society, I think such an wonderful experience of attending an international conference will make me more sure of the topics that I should devote my time on. As I mentioned in my bursary-application letter: this fancy travel will undoubtedly be an unforgettable memory of me, a future scholar: at the age of 24, he got his first English paper published; and at the same time, it was the first time he went abroad to see another world.Wu Li ngfei School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University Jun. 12, 2009 REPORT ON WEB SCIENCE 2009 CONFERENCE: SOCIETY ON-LINE 18-20 March 2009, Athens, Greece Date: 18 March 2009 The conference starting with two half-day workshops: Second Web Science Curriculum Workshop (WSCW2) chair by Dr. Catherine Pope, and Workshop on Understanding The Impact of the Web on Scholarly Communication (UIWoSC) chair by Dr. Leslie Carr. The opening ceremony officiated by H. E. President of the Hellenic Republic, Dr. K. Papoulias. Welcome addresses were given by 3 other important persons including Prof. Dame Wendy Hall.Primary keynotes had been given by Prof. Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Prof. J. Sifakis. Prof. Sir Tim Berners-Lee gave talked about the concept of Web Science by comparing it with human neuron in mind. WWW design could be redesigned to replicate the neurons in human mind. Social Networks for human should be nurtured and encouraged from all over the world where web could be used for lot s of benefits especially for humanity. The second keynotes speaker talked about system design in software engineering. Date: 19 March 2009 The first keynote given by Prof. Nigel Shadbolt emphasized on refining our insight about the Web Science.He talked about the dynamic of Web Science where it is for global used either in computer science or other domains, such as sociology, law etc, by avoiding the two culture syndrome. The collaborative between all domains could enhance creativity, engineering and science which will generate new innovation and development, because collaborative innovations came from collective intelligents. The conference followed with paper sessions, and I attended the Trust and Distrust session. First paper covered about reputation systems which explained about the set size, proxy and algorithm for the systems.Second paper was about recommendation system which recommend about topic or others with personalization. And last paper talked about the Devil’s l ong tail. Afterwards, I have attended the Legal Panel session where the discussed about data retention, law – between practical and moral/ethical and transferring data through mobile devices. The second keynote given by Jacques Bus, covered the principle of trust, 7 laws of identity and privacy including accountability, transparency, fair distribution of responsibilities, support tool and protection of personal sphere.The conference followed with panel discussion on Trust on the Web; paper sessions of Tags and Search and posters session. Date: 20 March 2009 Starting with paper session on Web of Data, covered papers on Class association structure, social meaning on the Web, interactive information access and new features to Wikipedia. The conference continued with discussion panel on the Cultural Convergence. The third keynote given by Noshir Contractor highlighted on Social Networks, based on Generative Mechanism regarding the questions and answers of 8 issues on why do we cr eate and sustain networks?.Followed by more paper sessions and ended with closing ceremony. Written by: Miss Zurina Muda IAM, ECS, University of Southampton April 2009 WEB SCIENCE CONFERENCE 2009 March 18-20, Athens – Greece Dade Nurjanah Learning Societies Lab Electronics and Computer School University of Southampton [email  protected] soton. ac. uk The Web Science describes the evolution of the web and systems on the web. The implementation of systems is not only related to technological aspect systems but also social aspect. This one page report The Web Science Conference 2009 held at Theatron, in Athens Greece, on March18-20, 2009.The conference was excellent that many researchers of many fields attended the event and many interdisciplinary papers and pages. All sessions conducted in English and the Poster session were excellent. The parallel sessions I attended are the ones which related to my PhD research: Learning and Teaching, Openness versus Control, Web of Data an d Life Online. The paragraphs below briefly summarize papers and poster presented in the Web Science Conference 2009. Teaching and Learning. Nowadays, with the popularity of web and Web 2. , learning systems has changed to open content system with evolving courseware that support lifelong learning. However, Learning is not only about content delivery. It must involve content, services and users, and considers three aspects of technological, methodological and organizational aspects. Deal with the three aspects, semantic technology has given significant improvement to learning systems by adding some information to content that both human and machines can understand, and also providing reasoning mechanisms which support adaptation and personalization of learning.In addition to semantic technology, social network aspects has changed the paradigm of learning provided by learning tools from adaptiveindividualized learning to personalized-collaborative learning. With this paradigm learnin g is not a personal process between teacher and learner, but also social process that each learner can learn from other learners. Collaborative Work, Knowledge Sharing and Online Community. There are many social systems that facilitate social interaction and collaborative work. One of them is Wikis that have shifted authoring paradigm to community driven knowledge development.It facilitates knowledge and content creation which is complex, immense and requires collaborative expertise. In addition, it leads to the development of online communities. However, the social webs have a problem in managing content that always evolve, thus causing complex structure and the difficulties in finding information. Semantic technologies like semantic annotation offer a solution to overcome the problem by structuring the content. We call the systems Semantic Wikis. At the other side of collaborative work, collaborative tagging provides a way for organizing and sharing knowledge.It enables user to fi nd other research and researcher which are relevant to a particular domain. The relevancy of fields can also be found from other social technologies like Friend Of A Friend (FOAF). This network can also lead to the development of online communities. E-Commerce, e-Government, and e-Health. The web also gives impacts to daily life. Marketing including auctions, counseling, behavioral interventions, culture and governmental tasks are some works harnessing the web. Some works in the fields applied cognitive aspects to improve the result.The implementations raise issues of policy and regulation, trust and distrust, security, control, and bandwidth capacity. WebScience 2009 18th – 20th March, Athens – Greece I had the opportunity to participate in the WebScience 2009 conference. It was a very interesting experience: my first international conference. I met many people from various areas: from psychology to engineering. The most interesting meeting was the WWW Forum, where I had the possibility to know Time Berners-Lee, the father of HTTP technology.For me, it was the first time I met a person that has changed the future of the computer science. Moreover, I had the opportunity to talk with him and I found a very kind person, open to new ideas. Apart from the WWW Forum, the conference had more interesting appointments. It started with a workshop about the definition of an academic curriculum on Web Science: a head to head among different areas. Participants started an animated discussion about the possibility to develop a curriculum with psychological and sociological topics, besides informatics ones.This discussion allowed me to reflect about a point, today very popular in the community of science: the relation between humanities and informatics. Just few weeks ago, I participated in another workshop, where participants attempted to a similar discussion. During next days, I attempted to all sessions about social network, socio-psychological aspects of t he Web, Tag and Search. Some of presented papers were very interesting and gave me the possibility to understand new aspects of problems that I am studying for my personal research.In particular, there was an article about a mathematic model to represent a typical social network: the authors showed how it is possible to formalize unpredictable behaviours. Another one was about the measurement of user’s expertise in tagging based search. The last one that I want to talk about is a study to define the sense to be a member of a community, considering Facebook as an example. Another interesting meeting was the poster session. I found many interesting works related to my research area and I met authors for a comparison and an idea exchange.In conclusion, I want to give thanks to the local organization that helped me with the accommodation and various useful information during the conference. Moreover, I want to congratulate the organization for the chosen venue: I discovered a lov ely city that offered me a funny stay. At the end, I want to give thanks to the Web Science Research Initiative that gave me the possibility to attempt to this very interesting workshop. I hope to meet you soon and to participate together to future conferences. Best Regards, Teresa Onorati Phd Student University Carlos III of MadridWebSci’09 – Trip Report Clare Owens, [email  protected] soton. ac. uk I had the privilege of attending WebSci’09, thanks to a bursary provided by the conference organisers. The conference was a wonderful event, and I feel that my attendance benefited me in various ways: An obvious significant point for me was the poster session, where I presented my poster on methods for re-imagining social tools in new contexts. During this session I spoke to various people from a broad range of backgrounds, including computer scientists, sociologists and a reporter from an IT news company.Given this diversity of background, I received an equally b road range of feedback from these people, which was highly useful – as was the experience of explaining my work to noncomputer scientists. I also had the opportunity to meet and network with many people during the conference. Of particular note is the connection I formed with Lynda Hardman, head of the Interactive Information Access group at a university in Amsterdam. Lynda turns out to be carrying out research somewhat related to my own, and I hope to remain in contact with her and possibly collaborate in the future.Of course, I also attended various paper sessions, which broadened my knowledge of all things Web Science. I was particularly interested to learn of work regarding perception of extremist activity online; the meaning of URIs (presented by Harry Halpin from the University of Edinburgh – we continued the discussion of his paper during the coffee session afterwards); SemWeb technologies to augment museum repositories (this paper was by Lynda); and offloading cognition onto the web. In addition to the above, I was inspired by the various keynotes, especially those given by Tim Berners-Lee and Nosh Contractor.Overall, the conference was awash with activity and energy, and the opportunity to meet and speak with people from such diverse backgrounds was wonderful. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers for running this event, and also the scholarship programme. Betty Purwandari’s Bursary Report Web Science Conference Athens, Greece (18 – 20 March 2009) It was enormously great to attend the 1st Web Science Conference, because it gave a unique experience to feel the real vibrant of a new born Web Science community.The participants consisted of two different tribes. One of them was computer scientists, who traditionally gathered in the World Wide Web conferences. Another tribe consisted of social scientists, lawyers, political scientists, economists, and psychologists, who have studied the Web from non techn ical point of view. In this report, I write some highlights about keynote speakers, interesting papers and posters, useful contacts, suggestion for the 2nd Web Science Conference, along with conclusion of lessons learnt from the conference.On the opening ceremony, Prof Dame Wendy Hall spoke about the basic idea of Web Science, plus general goal of the conference. She emphasised a crucial issue in Web Science to develop a new methodology, in order to anticipate potential social impact of the web, as well as to help us build more robust system. She said, â€Å"It is not just about the technology. It is about human behavior. † Later on, Prof Sir Tim Berners-Lee delivered a remarkable speech. He mentioned two challenges in Web Science. Firstly, he mentioned the importance to adjust the mobile web to help less fortunate people in the developing world.Secondly, there was a necessity to advance the web as links of data, not just as links of web pages. The next day, Prof Nigel Shadbo lt thoroughly explained the existence of Web Science as a new or old discipline. And on the last day, Dr Noshir Contractor impressively talked about some real data and examples in the USA, showing how social networking on the web related to communication theories. Among conference papers, David Karpf’s paper (Why Bowl Alone When You Can Flashmob the Bowling Alley? ) was very closely related to my research area.It was about the impact of iPhones on a reputation system among US politicians. I have had conversation with Mr Karpf ([email  protected] upenn. edu), a PhD candidate in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. He gave references to Thomas Valente’s and Everett Rogers’ papers about the diffusion of innovation. It could be used to forecast the impact of mobile web to rural people. There were also some interesting papers from the Oxford Internet Institute. However, they focused on the impact of the web on European Union countries, not to the developing world.A discussion with Prof Helen Margetts revealed that I should contact Prof Richard Heeks, from the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester (http://www. sed. manchester. ac. uk/idpm/staff/heeks_richard. htm). It turned out that Prof Heeks did significant research on mobile phone for development. In addition, there was a very interesting poster from the Brazilian Institute for Web Science Research. I had to keep contacting them for future cooperation. For the next Web Science Conference, it would be better if all talks are in English, in order to make all sessions being more inclusive.If there are speakers who will use different languages, it could be very helpful if the information about headphones and translation service is written clearly on the conference booklet. As a conclusion, it was tremendously amazing listening to talks from various experts, getting involved in discussion with people from a mixture of disciplines having the same interests in the web, as well as building networks for future collaboration. As a new web scientist, I really hope to grow and mature with the new born Web Science community. WebSci’09: Society Online ?Conference Trip Report Mark Schueler? Athens, Greece? 18th–20th March 2009 I was quite fortunate to attend the first global Web Science conference, held at the Hellenic Cosmos in Athens last month. Attended by over 300 registrants and leading figures in the Web world, it provided an excellent view of current and forthcoming developments in the study of the Web’s technological and social dimensions. I attended sessions on: Web Science Curriculum Understanding the Impact of the Web on Scholarly Communication Trust and Distrust Legal Panel Openness vs.Control Social Networks Cultural Convergence and Digital Technology I also heard keynotes by: Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee Professor Joseph Sifakis Professor Nigel Shadbolt Professor Noshir Contractor I had the pl easure of meeting a number of people working in areas relevant to my work, including Pascal Jurgens, Shankaron Gambi, Peter Geczy, Wolf Richter, Chris Eckl, Dave Tarrant and Erik Cambria. I also met several people with key Web credentials and broad general interest, including Bebo White, Daniel Weitzner, Jim Hendler, Ian Millard, Michalis Vafopoulos, and Thanassis Tiropanis.The high point of the conference was Noshir Contractor’s talk, which ranged across the essence of contemporary, leading-edge developments in social uses of the Web. All taken, WebSci’09 provided a broad-ranging view of all the latest in Web Science. Despite a few off-moments, the overall experience was quite productive and I look forward to attending this conference again in the future. I was able to learn more about the state of the art of Web Science. I met interesting contributors to the field, and learned more about current research and possible opportunities for collaboration. In the end, WebSc i’09 was quite a worthwhile experience.WebSci’09 Conference Trip Report Rob Vesse April 2, 2009 1 Wednesday The Conference opened on the Wednesday evening with a series of Welcome Speeches and Keynotes by a variety of people. Wendy Hall gave a brief but e? ective welcome and introduction to Web Science while Tim Berners-Lee gave a potted history of the Web leading up to the Semantic Web and Web Science as his Keynote. Josef Sifakis gave a keynote that contained remarkably little Web Science except for the closing few slides where he discussed the future of the Web of Things which the Semantic Web and Ubiquitous Computing may ultimately lead to. Thursday Thursday was in my opinion the best day of the Conference with several interesting paper sessions, some excellent panel sessions and the poster session. The day began with Nigel Shadbolt giving the keynote discussing Web Science as a whole before moving to the ? rst paper session ’Trust & Distrust’. This s ession included an interesting paper presented by Kieron O’Hara on how the web can facilitate (though not create) extremism in religion [3].I then attended the Legal Panel which involved some intriguing discussions and arguments regarding the EUs proposed ISP Data Retention plans and how this might a? ect our privacy and whether it needs to come into force as law or not. Statistics regarding how little the authorities have actually used this kind of information provided food for thought about whether they could really justify it. In the afternoon I missed the keynote in order to sit in on an impromptu panel organised by Les Carr for a Skype session with Web Science Masters students back in Southampton.The panel consisted of Nigel Shadbolt, Noshir Contractor, Helen Margetts and James Hendler answering questions posed by the Masters students about Web Science, I also spoke brie? y to the Masters students to give them my impressions of the opening Keynotes and the conference so far. Then I went on to attend the ’Tags & Search’ paper session in which I was particularly impressed by Yeung et al’s SPEAR algorithm for determining expertise in collaborative tagging system which can thwart most existing spam attacks on these systems [4]. 1In the evenings poster session I saw several interesting posters but most notable was Heitmann et al ’s poster on a reference architecture for describing semantic web (SW) applications that was based upon an analysis of the structure of a wide variety of existing SW applications [2]. This provides an easy way to evaluate the completeness of any SW application you build and compare it to others. 3 Friday On Friday morning I attended the ‘Web of Data’ paper session which included Harry Halpin’s shortened version of the talk he recently gave at Southampton on Social Meaning on the Web [1].This was of particular interest to me since the issue of meaning of URIs is potentially signi? c ant in my research. Afterwards there was a Panel session on Cultural Convergence and Digital Technology which I felt was a very poor session, a Greek MP gave an interesting opening speech but the other speakers were poor. Two of them were techno-phobes who primarily moaned about the impact of the web on society and the other simply wanted to talk about the digital technology in theatre work she’d done which had no connection to the web.After lunch Noshir Contractor gave the keynote which was very positive about the potential of Web Science and presented a little bit of some research that he and his collaborators are already carrying out on Social Networking in Massively Multi-player Online Games which has had some surprising results. I attended the ‘Life On-Line’ paper session in the afternoon which contained a couple of interesting papers on work being conducted by other researchers at Southampton though nothing was directly relevant to my own research. The Conf erence ? ished with some closing remarks by Wendy Hall followed by a long speech by the Managing Director of the Conference centre which highlighted the centre’s long term history of innovative web and technology use to present cultural exhibits. 4 Conclusion Overall the Conference was highly interesting with the opportunity to talk to or hear from a wide variety of people; in particular those from outside Computer Science. We have a tendency to get wrapped up in the technology and it’s fascinating to get a clear non-technical point of view on the web from people in other ? elds.The Conference also gave me the opportunity to get to know more of the people from Southampton who are involved with Web Science and gain a broader view of the ? eld as a whole. 2 References [1] Harry Halpin. Social meaning on the web: From wittgenstein to search engines. In WebSci’09: Society On-Line, 2009. [2] Benjamin Heitmann, Conor Hayes, and Eyal Oren. Towards a reference architect ure for applications leveraging semantic web technologies. In WebSci’09: Society On-Line, 2009. [3] Kieron O’Hara and David Stevens. The devil’s long tail: Religious moderation and extremism on the web.In WebSci’09: Society On-Line, 2009. [4] Ching Man Au Yeung, Michael Noll, Nicholas Gibbins, Christoph Meinel, and Nigel Shadbolt. On measuring expertise in collaborative tagging systems. In WebSci’09: Society On-Line, 2009. 3 WebSci’09: Trip Report Patricia Victor The call for papers of this new conference immediately aroused my interest, since some of the main topics were about trust, social networking and e-commerce – precisely what I’m working on. When reading the CFP again, I also noticed that it was not going to be a typical AI/CS conference like I was used to, but something completely di? rent, with people coming from all kinds of research areas. I only had to look at the program of the session in which I was presenting to see that this was the case indeed: the other two speakers had a background in sociology and political sciences (and I think the largest part of the public too). This was certainly an interesting opportunity to listen and learn from researchers in an area I was not familiar with, but it also brought along some di? culties for me; adapting myself to the writing style and the way of presenting sociology-related talks was not that easy.The same holds for the organization of the session: personally, I don’t see the bene? t of postponing questions till after all talks have ? nished, then letting people ask all the questions at once, and only then allowing to address all of them (I’m more in favor of asking one question, then answering that question, then proceeding with the next one, etc. ) But apart from that, the talks in my session were really interesting and refreshing, and I learned some new things that I de? nitely have to check out (Yelp, MoveOn, and the Smart Mobs b ook for instance).Of course there were also other sessions that I looked forward to. For instance the Tags and Search session, a topic related to what I’m doing and which always contains exciting new work. Furthermore, to my pleasant surprise, a lot of the keynotes/talks were about trust, in all its shapes. In particular, Paul Spirakis’ talk was very interesting because he discussed several ways to measure trust, something I’m working on myself. Through these talks I came across a lot of new pointers, and from Kai Rannenberg I learned that you can do a lot while sitting on the toilet1 .Furthermore, I really enjoyed the WWW forum (except the long welcome notes in Greek): I already had the opportunity once to hear Sir Tim Berners-Lee speaking, but this time he really captured my attention for the whole duration of the speech: not at all technical, but an agreable talk about the genesis of the Web and it’s future consequences. Finally, overall, attending Web Sci was a completely new experience for me, I’ve met a lot of interesting and nice people, the conference was well-organized, the food was delicious, and Athens was beautiful, and the weather too – well, at least most of the time2 . The 2I Japanese Networked Washlet try to forget the fact that I arrived soaking wet at the Theatron the ? rst evening†¦ 1 CONFERENCE TRIP REPORT WebSci’09: Society On-Line March 18 – 11, 2009 At Athens, Greece By Huan WANG Nanyang Technological University To my understanding, this is the first international conference specifically called for web scientists from different disciplines all over the w