Earth science information, age, and technology

Earth Science, Information Age, And Technology

General Earth Science WA-2

General Earth Science WA-3

General Earth Science WA-4

General Earth Science WA-5

Living in the Information Age WA-2

Living in the Information Age WA-3

Living in the Information Age WA-4

Living in the Information Age WA-5

Living in the Information Age WA-6

Living in the Information Age WA-7

American History 2 WA-5

Earth Science, Information Age

General Earth Science WA-2

The recent earthquake and tsunami that beset Japan last March 11, 2011 made people around the world aware of the effects faults in bringing about these disasters. Faults are fractures or cracks in the earth's crust that causes movement. There are several types of faults such as normal, reverse, thrust, dip-slip and strike-slip faults. "Faults are distinguished on the basis of the movement of the footwall relative to the hanging wall A normal fault is one in which the hanging wall falls down relative to the foot wall due to tensional stress while a reverse fault is one in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the foot wall due to compression (Ritter, 2009)." Normal faults are also dip-slip faults because of the occurrence of vertical disarticulation. Where dip-slip faults have vertical displacements, strike-slip faults have horizontal movements "measured east or west of true north (Ritter, 2009)." In contrast with the movement of reverse faults, thrust faults are where "the hanging wall is pushed up and then over the foot wall at a low angle (Ritter, 2009)." The Teton Mountains in North America are a result of normal faulting while a reverse fault in marble can be seen in Jazida do Urubu, Brazil. The San Andreas Fault is a well-known strike slip fault caused by the Pacific Plate sliding past the North American Plate. (Ritter, 2009)

Rocks and rock formations may seem non-malleable and brittle especially when struck against each other or by another hard object. However, rocks are formed via bending and folding, the latter particularly "occurs when rock is compressed, as it is along colliding plate boundaries. Upturned folds are called anticlines and down turned folds are called synclines (Ritter, 2009). Age of rocks can be determined by where they are located; thus, "older rocks will be in the center of an anticline while younger rocks will be in the center of a syncline (Shirley, 2002)." Various types of rocks are apparent not only in anticlines and synclines but at domes and basins as well. Dome structures are found where forces deep under the crust have thrust a portion of the earth upward. The cuestas or overlapping folds face inward. Basins are similar, except the overlaps face outward as the structure forms a depression. (Slackpacker, 2005) Bearing these in mind, "older rocks are exposed in the center of eroded anticlines and domes while younger rocks are exposed in the center of eroded synclines and basins (Shirley, 2002)."

Humans undergo various age ranges such as childhood and adulthood. The Earth itself has several "age ranges" known as the geologic time scale -- "the division of Earth history into blocks of time - eons, eras, periods, and epochs. The time scale was created using relative dating principles (Shirley, 2002)." Aside from how the Earth was during a particular time period, life forms have also been differentiated based on a particular geologic time scale. In terms of eras, the following eras show which life forms evolved and diminished (Geocraft, 2002):

Precambrian Era -- first invertebrates

Paleozoic Era -- first fishes, land plants, amphibians and reptiles

Mesozoic Era -- first dinosaurs, mammals and birds

Cenozoic Era -- end of dinosaurs, evolution of humankind

"Relative time (chronostratic) is the subdivisions of the Earth's geology in a specific order based upon relative age relationships (most commonly, vertical/stratigraphic position). These subdivisions are given names, most of which can be recognized globally, usually on the basis of fossils. Absolute time (chronometric) is the numerical ages in 'millions of years' or some other measurement. These are most commonly obtained via radiometric dating methods performed on appropriate rock types. (MacRae, 1996)" The latter is best for dating igneous rocks because of the presence of radioactive isotopes in them while the former is best for sedimentary rocks because their layers provide a chronological order of occurrence and setting.

2. General Earth Science WA-3

Like the land structure of the earth, the ocean floor comprises of peaks and valleys such as "rugged mountains, active volcanoes, vast plateaus and almost bottomless trenches. Around most continents are shallow seas that cover gently sloping areas called continental shelves. These reach depths of about 650 feet (200 m). (Science Learning Network, 1998)" From the ocean floor, various sediments can be found and these are divided into biogenous, hydrogenous, and terrigenous seafloor sediments. "Biogenous sediments consist of the shells and other hard parts of sea creatures that fall to the sea floor when they die. To be considered biogenous, the sediment must have at least 30% or more material derived from living creatures. Hydrogenous sediments are generated by water; this sediment precipitates directly out of the sea water. These sediments consist of minerals that crystallize directly from the ocean water through various chemical reactions. Terrigenous sediments are rock fragments eroded off of the land and include sediment transported by rivers to the sea. (Munn, 2011; Science learning Network, 1998)"

Ocean currents are not unidirectional but rather flow based on various factors such as salinity of water, climatic/weather conditions, water temperature, Coriolis and others. Generally, there are two major ocean current systems: surface currents (surface circulation) and deep water currents (thermohaline circulation). Surface currents make up about 10% of all the water in the ocean and these waters are the upper 400 meters of the ocean. Deep water currents make up the other 90% of the ocean, and move around the ocean basins by density driven forces and gravity. The density difference is a function of different temperatures and salinity. (Stott, 2011) Salinity of the ocean is a major contributor not only in water currents but other functions as well. The average ocean salinity is 35 ppt. This number varies between about 32 and 37 ppt. Rainfall, evaporation, river runoff and ice formation cause the variations. (CyberScientist, 2009) Precipitation is made up of fresh water and adds water to the ocean but lessening salinity. River runoff adds water also but depending on the sedimentary contents of the water, salinity can increase or decrease. Ice formation removes water from the ocean but salinity increase because the salt contents are maintained and concentrated.

3. General Earth Science WA-4

Weather and climate can be differentiated based on time factor. Weather describes the condition of the atmosphere over a short period of time e.g. from day-to-day or week to week, while climate describes average conditions over a longer period of time (Weather & Climate, 2010). Thus, there may be rainy weather in a tropical region or a temperate zone and a cool climate in the American continent or the European continent. Weather patterns and climate types take similar elements into account, the most important of which are: (1) temperature and humidity of the air; (2) type and amount of cloudiness and precipitation; (3) air pressure; and (4) wind speed and direction (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 2010)." Climates can be described as hot/warm climates or cold/temperate climates. The former occurs in regions nearest the earth's equator while the latter occur in regions farthest from the Earth's equator. Rain is a contributing factor to weather and climatic conditions. But prior to the completion of the precipitation cycle, rains are formed in the Earth's atmosphere as clouds of varying types. The following are the forms and height of different clouds (Weather & Climate, 2010):

Fog -- ground level cloud

Stratus -- flat or layered, are much longer and wider than they are tall

Altostratus -- stratus cloud about 2 miles above the Earth; when these clouds rain or snow, they are called nimbostratus

Cirrostratus -- lie at an altitude of about 2 miles above the Earth

Cumulus -- puffy in form and located about a mile above the surface of the Earth

Stratocumulus -- layered cumulus cloud about a mile above the ground

Altocumulus -- similar cumulus cloud at an altitude of 2 miles

Cirrocumulus -- with smaller puffs found about 4 to 5 miles up

Cirrus -- occur at an altitude of 4 miles or more, where the temperature is always below freezing; hence, these clouds are always filled with ice crystals

Air mass is determined based on the temperature and water vapor content and like weather or climatic conditions covers a wide area and has several differences. Some of the different air masses are maritime tropical (mT), maritime polar (mP), continental tropical (cT), and continental polar (cP). "Maritime tropical (mT) air masses are warm, moist, and usually unstable; they originate in the subtropical Pacific Ocean, where it is warm and air must travel a long distance over water. Maritime polar (mP) air masses are cool, moist, and unstable; they originate as continental polar air masses over Asia and move westward over the Pacific, collecting warmth and moisture from the ocean. Continental tropical (cT) air masses are hot, dry, unstable at low levels and generally stable aloft (upper-level ridge); they originate in northern Mexico. Continental polar (cP) or continental arctic (cA) air masses are cold, dry, and stable originating over northern Canada and Alaska as a result of radiational cooling. (Oklahoma Climatological Survey, 2004)"

The greenhouse effect has been in the news for the last several decades especially with the resulting negative effects it has on climate change and global warming. Generally, the greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring phenomenon that contributes to the survivability of living organisms here on Earth. The earth's atmosphere contains trace gases, some of which absorb heat. These gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide) are referred to as greenhouse gases. (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 2010) The inability to absorb heat produces abnormal environmental and climatic conditions because the equilibrium has been imbalanced due to over production and release of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Earth is not the only planet that has a greenhouse effect but other planets as well particularly Venus and Mars. Whereas the Earth's greenhouse effect brought balance that made the planet livable, Venus and Mars are extremes where the former is extremely hot and the latter is very cold. The greenhouse gasses serves as an insulating blanket for the Earth's atmosphere and has "just the right thickness, trapping sufficient solar energy to keep the global average temperature in a pleasant range. The Martian blanket is too thin, and the Venusian blanket is way too thick. (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 2010)"

4. General Earth Science WA-5

Stars are celestial bodies in the universe found in various solar systems and these produce intense heat and bright light. In our solar system, the most prominent star is the sun and is made up of "94% hydrogen, 6%, and 0.13% of oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. The Sun also has traces of neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, and iron. (Strobel, 2011)" Although the sun produces intense heat, there are cooler regions therein and the cold regions of the sun are known as sunspots. Aside from being colder relative to the general heat intensity of the sun, sunspots "are regions of strong magnetic fields. This affects the spectral lines in the sunspot spectral. Hundreds of years of observing the sunspots on the Sun show that the number of sunspots varies in a cycle with an average period of 11 years. (Strobel, 2011)" Sunspots and the 11-year cycle have effects on human behavior and activities. In one study by Russian scientist A.L. Tchijevsky, "he discovered that the solar minimum is the lag period when repression is tolerated by the masses, as if they lacked the vital energy to make the needed changes. He found that during the sunspot maximum, the movement of humans is also at its peak. (Borges, 2000)"

"The determining factor for categorizing the star is its mass. Any star less than about three solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of our sun) will spend almost all of its life transiting what is called the 'main sequence.' About 90% of all stars are like this. (Mihos, 2006)" Aside from categorization based on mass, there is the life cycle of the star where it starts of as a giant at the beginning of the life cycle and ends up as a dwarf when the end of life is near. This also means that giant stars are at their hottest temperatures and dwarfs stars are in their cooling or dying off period. Often, dead stars turn into black holes especially those that collapse and retained more mass. Aside from originating from dead stars, "black holes are the densest, most massive singular objects in the universe. Formed in one of three main processes, they exert so much gravitational force that nothing - not even light - can escape their pull. Since nothing can ever come out, it is called a hole. Since not even light nor other electromagnetic radiation can escape, it is called a black hole. (Mihos, 2006)" Our solar system has at its center the sun and there are the planets surrounding this star. The planets are divided into two categories: Jovian and terrestrial. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars became the rocky, terrestrial planets of the inner solar system, while Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune became the gas or Jovian giants of the outer solar system (Mihos, 2006).

5. Living in the Information Age WA-2

Search engines are invaluable tools of the Internet especially those using these technologies to conduct research. Like any other tool or application, some tools are better than others and there are also specialized and generalized tools or applications. For instance, while using Google search engine and EBSCO using the keywords "privacy and security on the Internet," Google produced hits totaling 316,000,000 while EBSCO did not even come close to more than 2,000,000 results. Further, results were achieved faster with Google while EBSCO had several nanosecond delays. This may seem trivial but for the more tech-savvy researcher, speed is of utmost importance especially when timing is critical to the accomplishment of the research.

Another major difference between a Google search and an EBSCO search is that the former provides "almost everything under the sun" using those keywords. The problem with the 316,000,000 hits is that the researcher must be able to weed out the "chaff from the wheat" to determine the most suitable research materials. For my part, I had to go through several web pages before I am able to find a suitable article on the subject matter. Unlike EBSCO where there are connections to academic and professional organizations producing peer-reviewed materials, the hits are mostly from these highly scrutinized materials. Thus, I chose a generic article from the Guard Privacy & Online Security website entitled How Do You Stay Safe On The Internet? from my Google search. The article is your basic how to and A to Z. Of protecting yourself while surfing the Internet. The EBSCO database took me to ISACA, a global organization of information systems professionals. The article that interested me was C. Warren Axelrod's. Achieving Privacy through Security Measures, which appeared in the 2007 issue of the Information Systems Journal, the official publication of the ISACA.

Although the results vary between Google and EBSCO, both tools are invaluable depending upon the type of research required. The overall viability of Google is that it provides free and accessible articles and materials while EBSCO requires a paid subscription.

6. Living in the Information Age WA-3

Reading both articles sourced from Google and EBSCO, I realized that multitudes of threats and risks that are existing in cyberspace. Fortunately, the Guard Privacy article started off with an assurance that "by being aware of what the risks are, you will save yourself money and have more effective protection (2010)." This is a back to basics approach that tells the reader that knowledge and learning are the keys to protection from cyberspace threats and risks. The ISACA article on the other hand, gives principles and technical approaches to cybersecurity. This provides the reader with higher level of understanding what to protect and how to protect what is critical especially whilst on the Internet particularly "areas and technologies that affect and are affected by privacy and security including access control, data protection and operational risk management, including incident response management (Axelrod, 2007)."

In relation to the question as to which is more critical, cyber crime directed against individuals or terrorist cyber attacks on national institutions, I believe both are important because of the dependence of one on the other and vice versa. For instance, if terrorists hit national institutions with cyber attacks, these institutions will not be able to provide the necessary services to individuals. Individuals being attacked and if these are taken collectively, the compromised computers of these individuals could be used to launch attacks on national institutions. Indeed, there is a synergy and dependency on both that the protection will have to be done at both levels. Absent any protection from either and there will be a negative chain reaction that will cause several problems. The good news from all these of course is that there are private and public organizations tasked to protect both individuals and national institutions from any form of cyber attack and the government judiciously goes after these attackers in order to bring them to justice or curtail their nefarious cyber activities.

7. Living in the Information Age WA-4

My educational and career goals center on attaining a law degree and becoming a law enforcement officer thereafter. Attainment of these goals could and will never bear fruition without not only the rudimentary knowledge of information technology but mastery thereto. The reason being is that information technology is now part and parcel -- and a reality, of modern living. Information technology has become not only a business driver but life driver as well. Through IT, efficient and effective means communications, transportation and operations have been achieved. But like any innovation or invention, it is a double-edged sword that provides positive and negative results and benefits. The positive ones have already been provided while the negative ones include the prevalence of cybercrimes and other malicious online activities. Thus, I have to keep abreast with the changes in technology in order to be able to be an effective law enforcement officer in the future. With the rapidly changes in technology, sitting still even for a day or two means losing the edge on what is happening in today's world. It can be likened to one critical tool of a law enforcement officer -- the gun, whereby in order to maintain the ability to shoot straight and properly, constant practice should be done in order to keep the edge.

Aside from keeping myself up-to-date with IT, I have to know the intricacies and sub-categories of IT and marry them in my future career goal. For instance, crime prevention and crime fighting can be facilitated by utilizing the various innovations in forensic science technology, advanced database and applications, and others that will be invaluable in the execution of my duties as a future law enforcement agent. IT will enable me to do things I never would have dreamed of doing such as passive surveillance using high tech gadgets or apprehending a person of interest with non-lethal devices developed through IT. The task of keeping abreast with the rapid changes in information technology may be daunting but I believe that it is a necessary endeavor to be able to attain my educational and career goals.

8. Living in the Information Age WA-5

Automation has been prevalent in various milieus whether in business, science, the arts and even politics. Of particular import is in the election process wherein the voting system has undergone a paradigm shift from the time consuming and resource intensive manual voting system to the electronic automated system. Since information technology has been pervasive and has proven its worth in achieving input, process and output efficiencies, electronic voting has been implemented and proven viable despite the problems the system had at its infancy. Indeed, like any other technology, there are advantages, disadvantages and impacts when the system was implemented. The first major beneficiary of the electronic voting system is of course Mother Nature because of the lesser number of papers used in the process. Most electronic voting system in place nowadays still require the paper ballot to be inputted in the voting machine but chances are in the future voting will be done totally and seamlessly online without the use of any paper whatsoever. One such voting machine that does not use any paper at all is the "DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machine [where] people choose their candidates and proposals through an electronic screen, either through buttons or through a more modern approach, touch screen (Haupt, 2008)."

Another advantage of electronic voting system is fraud prevention. As in the case in Brazil where "a spokesman for the Superior Electoral Tribunal argued that Brazil's DRE systems are '100% fraud free' in contrast to earlier election procedures, which produced charges of uncounted ballots or tampered ballot boxes (Blanc, 2007)." Further, overall total cost of ownership and resource/fund allocation is minimized with electronic voting because unlike manual election using paper, "the additional costs of paper, toner, printer maintenance, and transportation must also be factored in (Blanc, 2007)." Those against electronic voting might argue the same with regards to the resources needed to implement, operate and maintain the electronic voting system but experience has proven that in terms on information technology innovations, economies of scale always kicks in and prices becomes lower as the technology becomes ubiquitous and cheaper to manufacture.

Of course, electronic voting system has its downside too such as the total uselessness of the system in the event of a major power blackout and loss of backup power supply. Despite alternatives and redundancies in place, Murphy's Law could still occur and the system can be rendered inutile without viable power sources. From a computer security standpoint, [electronic voting machines] have much in common with desktop PCs. Both suffer from many of the same security and reliability problems, including bugs, crashes, malicious software, and data tampering (ProCon.org, 2008). Thus, it is critical that optimum security and safeguards and controls are in place to ensure that the machines are protected especially from cyber attacks from nefarious individuals and groups. Another concern with electronic voting system is that not all people or voters are familiar with the use of computers. This is especially true when the system is used in developing or Third World countries where only the privileged few have access to computers and the Internet. This would translate to having to familiarize non-tech savvy voters on the use of the computer equipment in order for them to not be disenfranchised as a result of not knowing how to use computers. In Nigeria for example during their 2007 election, the problem with the electronic voting system "has been a combination of insufficient technicians, computer illiteracy at the grass roots, insufficient training for those managing and utilizing the technology, and equipment ill suited to the physical rigors of the country (Blanc, 2007)."