History of the Gun

History of the Gun The gun is a very unique piece of work that has all kinds of uses. The Chinese invented the gun many years ago. Since the gun has been invented it has improved tremendously and is still advancing this day. When was the gun invented? The first gun was invented in the year 1232. This invention was introduced after the invention of black powder was discovered. â€Å"Gunpowder is an explosive mixture of 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur, and 75% potassium nitrate, or saltpeter.†1 Gunpowder was used for fireworks that was fired out of bamboo sticks during the ninth century. The bamboo stick was also used as the first gun, they were not very productive because they were so brittle, but they were used to try to stop the Mongol invaders. â€Å"Europeans obtained gunpowder in the thirteenth century.†2 The Europeans took the recipe to this mixture and was going to enhance the gun severely. The first type of firearm invented by the Europeans was the cannon; the cannon was used to siege the defenders in the castle walls. The cannonballs fired from the cannons would crumble the castle walls leading to the end of feudalism. The first siege that the Europeans conquered was the siege of Metz in the year 1324. â€Å"Cannons were very effective weapons in a siege, but soldiers soon wanted guns they could carry. At first, simple â€Å"hand gonnes† were used side-by-side with traditional weapons such as crossbows, pikes, and lances. The development of small arms quickly changed how military battles were fought.†3 The knights that fought on the front line of the military were soon defeated when the gun was invented. The armor could withstand swords, spears and lances, but when a bullet was shot it pierced through the armor making it defenseless against the gun. When the full armor body suits were put away the helmets and the breastplates were introduced. The breastplates were made out of very hard steel and could withstand a straight shot from a bullet. This invention gave each side a chance to survive from a gunshot. Starting around the 1400s blacksmiths began inventing more and easier ways to operate a gun. The first invention that simplified the gun was the matchlock gun. A wick was attached to a clamp that released into a chamber full of gunpowder. This cut reload time down a little but not much. During the 15th and 16th century the only thing that changed on the gun was the way they produced a spark to fire. The 18th century rolled around and a percussion cap gun was invented. The percussion cap gun was invented by a man named Reverend John Forsyth. â€Å"firing mechanism no longer uses flash pan, a tube lead straight into the gun barrel, the tube had an exposed cap on it that exploded when struck†4 During the 18th century there were all sorts of guns invented. Guns ranging from revolvers and center firing guns all the way to shotguns and rifles. The automatic gun was even invented in the 18th century. During the 19th century a new gun was invented: the new gun was an automatic and it was a Winchester. The Winchester automatic rifle was invented during the year 1903. More rifles were invented during the 19th century and the more they were invented the more sophisticated and enhanced they became. Guns anywhere from the Tommy gun to the Assault rifle. When these guns were invented they were able to kill lots of people in a short period of time. The time it takes to reload a gun today verses the time it took 3 centuries ago has changed dramatically. Centuries ago it took almost two minutes to reload and fire a gun. Today you can shoot up to a thousand rounds a minute. Mankind has invented guns so that they can be used to kill people in mass numbers. When ships were introduced to guns they took advantage of opportunity to use them. Sailors could use guns to rob other boats and take over villages and tribes. Even though the people that lived in the tribe would outnumber the people on the boat, they could be conquered by something that they have never seen before in their life. Why were guns invented? â€Å"Guns were invented not for protection against the elements or for sport or for hunting but with the simple purpose to fight other men.†5 There was a man named Samuel Colt that quoted the phrase: â€Å"God made man. Samuel Colt made them equal†6,this is said to be true because of what Samuel Colt invented. Samuel Colt invented the revolver, which is still used in todays society in some countries. With the idea that the gun was invented to fight other men the world has turned into a war. Everywhere that you turn and look you will see someone with a gun or is being robbed by someone with a gun. Some people that own guns dont think before they act. This is why there are so many murders with guns. Everyone in the military has a gun issued to them. Most of the military carry machine guns with them into combat for the simple reason that the machine gun can fire rapid fire for a long period of time. All you have to do with a machine gun is keep it cool and keep the gun lo aded at all times and shooting will never stop. The man who invented the machine gun is Doctor Richard Gatling. â€Å"Doctor Richard Gatling patented his design of the â€Å"Gatling Gun†, a six-barreled weapon capable of firing a (then) phenomenal 200 rounds per minute.†7 The Gatling gun was invented in the year 1861. During the year 1885 The Maxim Machine Gun was invented. Years later the Tommy gun was invented. â€Å"The Thompson submachine gun or Tommy gun was invented by General John T. Thompson, it was the first hand held machine gun. Thompson was driven with the thought of creating a hand held machine gun that would help end the First World War, However, â€Å"the first shipment of prototype guns destined for Europe arrived at the docks in New York city on November 11, 1918, the day the war ended.†8 New and Improved Guns The guns of the 20th century are amazing. They have guns that can see around corners and guns that tell you how far your target is away from you. The equipment that mankind has come up with is far more advanced than anyone has ever thought. We now have radars that can see where you are at night. The infrared radar system has let us see things at night. This helps the military find the enemy in tough weather such as rain or snow, but the infrared radar has one downfall. The radar system cannot see anything submerged in water. Next we have the smart bullet, the smart bullet can follow your every turn, and you cant hide from it. The distance that the bullet can travel depends on where the target is. â€Å"According to recently declassified research by the Department of Defense, the new bullets will allow snipers to hit targets several kilometers away.†9 The smart bullet travels at Mach 3. The reason that this bullet can maneuver like it does is because it have a ball joint that c onnects the nose of the bullet to the casing. â€Å"The nose can move by up to 0.1 degrees in any direction.†10 The gun that this bullet comes out of has to be very powerful to make this bullet travel the distance it does. The military is going from guns to chemical warfare now. Chemical warfare is very dangerous to use because it spreads and doesnt stop and is hard to control. â€Å"Chemical warfare is warfare (and associated military operations) using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure, or incapacitate an enemy.†11 Chemical weapons are and can be very dangerous and have been used since the 1900s. The way that you use to tell how chemicals were surrounding you was by smell, by the time u smelled the gas you were dead, you had no chance of living. The chemical warfare today has improved its detection. The way that you can tell the chemicals are around you now are by chemical strips, laser detection, alarms, and blister agent detectors. There ar e three schedules of chemical weapons that can be used for warfare. The first schedule has little use. This schedule is mainly for medical research and pharmaceutical use. â€Å"Examples include nerve agents, ricin, lewisite, and mustard gas.†12 The second schedule has no big industrial uses but is used legitimately for small uses. â€Å"Examples include dimethyl methylphosphonate, a precursor to sarin but also used as a flame retardant and thiodiglycol, a precursor in the manufacture of mustard gas but also widely used as a solvent in inks.†13 The last scheduled substance has large-scale industrial uses. â€Å"Examples include phosgene and chloropicrin.†14 Both of these chemicals have been in use when it comes to chemical warfare. The substance phosgene is used in the production of plastic. The chemical Chloropicrin is used as a fumigant. If both of these plants produce up to 30 tons a year they have to be reported to The Organization for the Prohibition of Che mical Weapons, (OPCW). Guns have taken a very big toll on the 20th century population. The improvement of guns will never stop and will keep on getting more sophisticated. History is always in the making and history is always repeating itself, so keep up with time or it will leave you standing alone! Notes 1. Thomas Gale. Bookrags.com The Invention of Guns. Science and Its Times: 700-1449. (Background) 1st paragraph, 1st sentence. 2. Bookrags.com (Background) 2nd paragraph, 1st sentence. 3. Bookrags.com (Impact) 2nd paragraph, 1st 3 sentences. 4. Mary Bellis, About.com. History of Firearms. (Timeline), Year 1825. 2nd part of sentence. 5. Blurtit. Why Were Guns Invented? 1st paragraph, Last sentence. 6. Blurtit. 1st paragraph, 2nd sentence. 7. Mary Bellis, About.com. The History of Guns Rifles and Machine Guns. (Machine Guns- Gatling Gun-1861) 1st sentence. 8. (Machine Guns- Thompson Submachine Gun Tommy Gun) 1st 2 sentences. 9. Justin Mullins-New Scientist. Sniper Country.com. 1st paragraph. 2nd sentence. 10. Sniper Country.com. 3rd paragraph, Last sentence. 11. New World Encyclopedia. Chemical Warfare. 1st paragraph, 1st sentence. 12. New World Encyclopedia. (Three groups of chemical weapons Schedule 1 substances). 3rd sentence. 13. New World Encyclopedia. (Three groups of chemical weapons Schedule 2 substances). 2nd sentence. 14. New World Encyclopedia. (Three groups of chemical weapons Schedule 3 substances). 2nd sentence. Bibliography Blurtit. Why Were Guns Invented? The New York Times Company. Revised 2009. November 11 2009. http://inventors.about.com/od/militaryhistoryinventions/a/firearms.htm CALVO, SHERRI CHASIN. The Invention of Guns. 2005. November 11 2009. . Mullins, Justin New Scientist. â€Å"You can run, but you cant hide†.[Archive: 12 April 1997] November 11 2009 http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/SmartBullets.asp Chemical warfare. New World Encyclopedia. 14 Jan 2009, 19:22 UTC. 18 Nov 2009, 07:21 .

Authentic Literacy Activities for Developing Comprehension and Writing

Sheryl Jones Reading Accountability Assignment 1 Duke, N. , & Purcell-Gates, V. , & Hall, L. , & Tower, C. , (2007). Authentic literacy activities for developing comprehension and writing. Reading Teacher. 60(4) 344-355. Summary This article discusses the use of authentic literacy activities for developing comprehension and writing. Duke & Gates define authentic literacy activities in the classroom as those that replicate or reflect reading and writing activities that occur in the lives of people outside of a learning-to-read-and write context and purpose (346).The article describes a two-year study that involved 26-second grade and third grade teachers and their students from school districts serving families of low and middle socioeconomic status. The purpose of the study was to develop students’ ability to understand and write informational and procedural text. The study found that teachers who included authentic literacy activities more of the time had students who showed higher growth in both comprehension and writing.Critique This article provides teachers with evidence from research that states that more authentic literacy activities are related to greater growth in the ability to read and write new genres. The article offers an operational definition of authentic literacy that helps teachers create authentic literacy activities across the curriculum. Also provided are ideas and strategies collected from teachers for teachers to bring authentic reading and writing into the classroom.To assist teachers in creating authentic learning opportunities for students there is an authenticity rating sheet provided that uses a 3-point scale to rate the degree to which the reason of an informational text being written or read in the classroom reflect the actual purpose of an informational text. One of the greatest contributions is the various easy to do lessons provided for authentic reading and writing created to implement authentic activities in the classro om.The article falls short in that it doesn’t provide samples of students work to show how successful authentic activities were in increasing students comprehension and writing skills. Students voices, opinions were not heard. Were they stressed out about the activities? Were they excited about doing the activities? Did they prefer this type of activity? Though the article mentioned the teacher’s thoughts on student’s performance it did not list the students. I still don’t know if students felt these learning experiences increased their comprehension and writing skills.The authors could provide examples of students work and also provide statements from the students and teachers involved in the study. This will be evidence that the research even occurred. Also the authors could provide some sort of chart with a comparison of students writing and reading comprehension skills before and after they entered the study. This will provide documented evidence that authentic activities build comprehension and writing skills. Research Pedagogical ImplicationsThis article helps me to think about the importance of providing opportunities for students to experience authenticity in their learning experiences. After reading this article I am convinced that there is a need for more research to be done on young children that provides teachers with more information about authentic reading and writing opportunities in the classroom. Research in the field is mostly done with adults leaving teachers with information that may not be accurate for a younger audience. A great idea I will incorporate into my work is getting colleagues to request artifacts produced by my students.This will make their learning experience highly authentic in that they will be producing text that will be used outside of the classroom and may help in others learning. For example one of the third grade teachers asked a colleague to come to her class and ask her students to create i nformational texts about animals that live in the rain forest for her first grade students. This experience provides my students and her students an opportunity to learn. The strategies provided in this article for authentic activities in science I will use across the curriculum.For example I can have a teacher ask my students to create Haiku poems for her to use to help her students with poetry. Maybe have the gym teacher ask students to create a nutrition pyramid to help her teach health education. In my research report I will provide evidence of children’s growth by showing their progress on before and after charts. I will provide samples of children’s work as evidence that the lessons and strategies provided really work to improve students writing. It would be important for me to know if students themselves felt they were motivated by the lesson. Also did students feel they learned from the activity.

History of Industrial/Organizational Psychology Essay

Industrial/Organizational (I-O) psychology is an every growing field within psychology. The primary goal behind I-O psychology is to aid in helping organizations/companies who may have employee issues resolve them for a better working relationship between companies and the employees. I-O psychology has been evolving over the course of the last many years, by having developed a foundation, as a science, ethical principles and use of statistics. Industrial/Organizational Psychology Evolution I-O psychology began in early years of the twentieth century and was composed from a combination of science, philosophy and psychology. I-O psychology began advancing as there was growth of large corporations, growth of mass production corporations, growth of measurement and statistics, and growth of engineering developments. When I-O psychology was emerging some of its primary focus was on employee fatigue and health (Spector, 2012). Two primary founders are noted for the American I-O field; Hugo Munsterberg and Walter Dill Scott (Spector, 2012). Both Munsterberg and Scott made many contributions to the field of I-O which included applying the field of psychology to problems within businesses, advertising, writing pioneering textbooks for the field, etc (Spector, 2012). Not only was I-O evolving to help businesses, the concept was even applied to World War I in assistance to the United States and United Kingdom (Spector, 2012). A psychologist, Robert Yerkes, offered assistance to the army through I-O psychology during 1917. A primary service provided through I-O psychology for the army was creating a large-scale psychological test to aid in placing recruits in the right positions (Spector, 2012). I-O psychology continued to develop over the years. I-O psychology grew as organizations grew. More I-O psychologists were needed as organizations grew, hired more employees and began to need guidance on problems that arose. 1921 was another big year for I-O psychology as that is when Charles Myers co-founded the National Institute of Industrial Psychology and the first American Ph.D was earned by Bruce V. Moore (Spector, 2012). I-O psychology still continued evolving into 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed (Spector, 2012). The Civil Rights Act required that employer’s change their hiring methods due to discrimination laws changing and it was illegal for discrimination against minorities or women (Spector, 2012). I-O psychology continues to evolve to how it is defined in recent times. Industrial/Organizational Psychology as a Science I-O psychology created a foundation by combining industrial psychology which is the personnel aspect with organizational psychology. I-O psychology should be considered a science for several reasons. The field of I-O psychology uses similar research methods as other fields in psychology. An I-O psychologist would still begin with a question that needs an answer and perform research to aid in providing a solution to the proposed question or problem (Spector, 2012). A hypothesis is created, variables identified, and research conducted. Research is conducted through using tactics such as random assignment and random selection (Spector, 2012). Industrial/Organizational Psychology Six Ethical Principles I-O psychologists follow the six ethical principles from the American Psychological Association Code: Competence, Integrity, Professional and Scientific Responsibility, Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity, Concern for Other’s Welfare, and Social Responsibility (Spector, 2012). The primary goal for all psychologists, including those in the I-O field, is to improve the human condition (Spector, 2012). Industrial/Organizational Psychology Descriptive vs Inferential Statistics Descriptive statistics are defined as a method of reducing large amounts of data to smaller, condensed data by use of mathematics such as means or variances (Spector, 2012). Inferential statistics are defined as statistics, which allow people to make generalized conclusions based on subjects that have been studied to all people based on probabilities (Spector, 2012). The primary difference between the two types of statistics is that inferential statistics takes a small amount of data and applies it to a large group; whereas, descriptive statistics does the opposite and takes information obtained from a large group and reduces it to manageable working numbers. Conclusion Overall, I-O psychology has really grown into what it is known as today. Through its evolution, I-O psychology has had a solid foundation built on ethical principles known to all psychologists. I-O psychology has grown into a science, using statistical data to help problem solve and aid proving hypothesis true or false. I-O psychologists are of great importance to the business world and employee relations.

Customer-Centric Approach Free Essay Example, 1500 words

The achievement of a customer-centric approach by Wells Fargo Bank is not possible if the whole organization is not working towards achieving this goal. Therefore, the most vital aspect of achieving this approach is rallying the whole organization behind the goal. This requires that all the employees and other relevant stakeholders understand all the customer needs and expectations, and in turn, works towards meeting them. The Wells Fargo Bank should first carry out a needs-survey for all its customers, to identify the most vital and highly valued expectations of the customers, and in turn, communicate the same to its employees. By doing this, the employees will work towards serving the needs of the customers, which will promote their customer experience with the organization, and thus help in building a formidable loyal customer base, which secures the market share of the bank, while also acting as a bait to attract more customers. Simply put the communication and collaborative wor king towards enhancing the customer experience is essential for the Wells Fargo Bank to realize the application of a customer-centric approach. Consistency is fundamental for any business seeking to satisfy its customers, overcome the competitors and build customer loyalty that enhances repeat purchase. We will write a custom essay sample on Customer-Centric Approach or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This being the case, making the customer a priority is essential for any business, not just to survive in the eyes of competition, but also to thrive and achieve its missions and objectives. Prioritizing the customer by Wells Fargo Bank can only be attained through making excellent customer service the culture of the bank. This because, making the offer of satisfactory services to the customer culture, enhances the consistency of the bank to address the most important and valuable issues to the customer, urgently. This makes the customers build confidence and loyalty towards the bank since all the customers want, is to feel valued by any business or organization that serves them.