The word “cognition” is defined as “the act of knowing” or “knowledge.” Cognitive skills therefore refer to those skills that make it possible for us to know. It should be noted that there is nothing that any human being knows, or can do, that he has not learned. This of course excludes natural body functions, such as breathing, as well as the reflexes, for example the involuntary closing of the eye when an object approaches it. But apart from that a human being knows nothing, or cannot do anything, that he has not learned. Therefore, all cognitive skills must be taught, of which the following cognitive skills are the most important:
Paying attention must be distinguished from concentration. Paying attention is a body function, and therefore does not need to be taught. However, paying attention as such is a function that is quite useless for the act of learning, because it is only a fleeting occurrence. Attention usually shifts very quickly from one object or one thing to the next. The child must first be taught to focus his attention on something and to keep his attention focused on this something for some length of time. When a person focuses his attention for any length of time, we refer to it as concentration.
Concentration rests on two legs. First, it is an act of will and cannot take place automatically. Second, it is also a cognitive skill, and therefore has to be taught. Although learning disability specialists acknowledge that “the ability to concentrate and attend to a task for a prolonged period of time is essential for the student to receive necessary information and complete certain academic activities,” it seems that the ability to concentrate is regarded as a “fafrotsky” — a word coined by Ivan T. Sanderson, and standing for “Things that Fall From The SKY.” Concentration must be taught, after which one's proficiency can be constantly improved by regular and sustained practice.Before one can learn anything, perception must take place, i.e. one has to become aware of it through one of the senses. Usually one has to hear or see it. Subsequently one has to interpret whatever one has seen or heard. In essence then, perception means interpretation. Of course, lack of experience may cause a person to misinterpret what he has seen or heard. In other words, perception represents our apprehension of a present situation in terms of our past experiences, or, as stated by the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): “We see things not as they are but as we are.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Fatigue
Fatigue (also called exhaustion, lethargy, languidness, languor, lassitude, and listlessness) is a weariness caused by exertion. It can describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of lethargy to a specific work-induced burning sensation within one's muscles. It can be both physical and mental. Physical fatigue is the inability to continue functioning at the level of one's normal abilities.
It is ubiquitous in everyday life, but usually becomes particularly noticeable during heavy exercise. Mental fatigue, on the other hand, rather manifests in somnolence.Physical fatigue or muscle weakness (or "lack of strength") is a direct term for the inability to exert force with one's muscles to the degree that would be expected given the individual's general physical fitness.
A test of strength is often used during a diagnosis of a muscular disorder before the etiology can be identified. Such etiology depends on the type of muscle weakness, which can be true or perceived as well as central or peripheral. True weakness is substantial, while perceived rather is a sensation of having to put more effort to do the same task. On the other hand, central muscle weakness is an overall exhaustion of the whole body, while peripheral weakness is an exhaustion of individual muscles.
In addition to physical, fatigue also includes mental fatigue, not necessarily including any muscle fatigue. Such a mental fatigue, in turn, can manifest itself both assomnolence (decreased wakefulness)or just as a general decrease of attention, not necessarily including sleepiness. In any case, this can be dangerous when performing tasks that require constant concentration, such as driving a vehicle. For instance, a person who is sufficiently somnolent may experience micro sleeps.However, objective cognitive testing should be done to differentiate the neurocognitive deficits of brain disease from those attributable to tiredness.
It is ubiquitous in everyday life, but usually becomes particularly noticeable during heavy exercise. Mental fatigue, on the other hand, rather manifests in somnolence.Physical fatigue or muscle weakness (or "lack of strength") is a direct term for the inability to exert force with one's muscles to the degree that would be expected given the individual's general physical fitness.
A test of strength is often used during a diagnosis of a muscular disorder before the etiology can be identified. Such etiology depends on the type of muscle weakness, which can be true or perceived as well as central or peripheral. True weakness is substantial, while perceived rather is a sensation of having to put more effort to do the same task. On the other hand, central muscle weakness is an overall exhaustion of the whole body, while peripheral weakness is an exhaustion of individual muscles.
In addition to physical, fatigue also includes mental fatigue, not necessarily including any muscle fatigue. Such a mental fatigue, in turn, can manifest itself both assomnolence (decreased wakefulness)or just as a general decrease of attention, not necessarily including sleepiness. In any case, this can be dangerous when performing tasks that require constant concentration, such as driving a vehicle. For instance, a person who is sufficiently somnolent may experience micro sleeps.However, objective cognitive testing should be done to differentiate the neurocognitive deficits of brain disease from those attributable to tiredness.
Preferences:
Preference is a concept, used in the social sciences,particularly economics. It assumes a real or imagined "choice" between alternatives and the possibility of rank ordering of these alternatives, based on happiness, satisfaction,gratification, enjoyment, utility they provide. More generally, it can be seen as a source of motivation. In cognitive sciences, individual preferences enable choice of objectives/goals. Also, more consumption of a normal good is generally (but not always) assumed to be preferred to less consumption.
Let S be the set of all "packages" of goods and services (or more generally "possible worlds"). Then ≤ is a preference relation on S if it is a binary relation on S such that a ≤ b if and only if b is at least as preferable as a. It is conventional to say "b is weakly preferred to a", or just "b is preferred to a". If a ≤ b but not b ≤ a, then the consumer strictly prefers b to a, which is written a < b. If a ≤ b and b ≤ a then the consumer is indifferent between a and b.
These assumptions are commonly made.The relation is complete: for all a and b in S we have a ≤ b or b ≤ a or both (notice that completeness implies reflexivity). This means the consumer is able to form an opinion about the relative merit of any pair of bundles.
Completeness is more philosophically questionable. In most applications, S is an infinite set and the consumer is not conscious of all preferences. For example, one does not have to make up one's mind about whether one prefers to go on holiday by plane or by train if one does not have enough money to go on holiday anyway (although it can be nice to dream about what one would do if one would win the lottery). However, preference can be interpreted as a hypothetical choice that could be made rather than a conscious state of mind. In this case, completeness amounts to an assumption that the consumer can always make up their mind whether they are indifferent or prefer one option when presented with any pair of options.
Let S be the set of all "packages" of goods and services (or more generally "possible worlds"). Then ≤ is a preference relation on S if it is a binary relation on S such that a ≤ b if and only if b is at least as preferable as a. It is conventional to say "b is weakly preferred to a", or just "b is preferred to a". If a ≤ b but not b ≤ a, then the consumer strictly prefers b to a, which is written a < b. If a ≤ b and b ≤ a then the consumer is indifferent between a and b.
These assumptions are commonly made.The relation is complete: for all a and b in S we have a ≤ b or b ≤ a or both (notice that completeness implies reflexivity). This means the consumer is able to form an opinion about the relative merit of any pair of bundles.
Completeness is more philosophically questionable. In most applications, S is an infinite set and the consumer is not conscious of all preferences. For example, one does not have to make up one's mind about whether one prefers to go on holiday by plane or by train if one does not have enough money to go on holiday anyway (although it can be nice to dream about what one would do if one would win the lottery). However, preference can be interpreted as a hypothetical choice that could be made rather than a conscious state of mind. In this case, completeness amounts to an assumption that the consumer can always make up their mind whether they are indifferent or prefer one option when presented with any pair of options.
Alcohol:
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol (commonly known as alcohol, although in chemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds). Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits.
Most nations regulate the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. In particular, laws often specify the minimum age at which a person may legally buy them, or even drink them. This minimum age varies from 16 years in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria, and Switzerland to 21 years in the United States. In Germany, 14-year-old persons may buy low-alcohol beverages, if their parents are present. Alcoholic beverages are part of most European cultures; children in these cultures may occasionally drink alcohol during meals with their family.
When large amounts of alcohol are consumed in a short period of time, alcohol poisoning can result. Alcohol poisoning is exactly what it sounds like — the body has become poisoned by large amounts of alcohol. Violent vomiting is usually the first symptom of alcohol poisoning. Extreme sleepiness, unconsciousness, difficulty breathing, dangerously low blood sugar, seizures, and even death may result.
Teens who drink are more likely to be sexually active and to have unsafe, unprotected sex. Resulting pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases can change — or even end — lives. The risk of injuring yourself, maybe even fatally, is higher when you're under the influence, too. One half of all drowning deaths among teen guys are related to alcohol use. Use of alcohol greatly increases the chance that a teen will be involved in a car crash, homicide, or suicide.
Most nations regulate the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. In particular, laws often specify the minimum age at which a person may legally buy them, or even drink them. This minimum age varies from 16 years in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria, and Switzerland to 21 years in the United States. In Germany, 14-year-old persons may buy low-alcohol beverages, if their parents are present. Alcoholic beverages are part of most European cultures; children in these cultures may occasionally drink alcohol during meals with their family.
When large amounts of alcohol are consumed in a short period of time, alcohol poisoning can result. Alcohol poisoning is exactly what it sounds like — the body has become poisoned by large amounts of alcohol. Violent vomiting is usually the first symptom of alcohol poisoning. Extreme sleepiness, unconsciousness, difficulty breathing, dangerously low blood sugar, seizures, and even death may result.
Teens who drink are more likely to be sexually active and to have unsafe, unprotected sex. Resulting pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases can change — or even end — lives. The risk of injuring yourself, maybe even fatally, is higher when you're under the influence, too. One half of all drowning deaths among teen guys are related to alcohol use. Use of alcohol greatly increases the chance that a teen will be involved in a car crash, homicide, or suicide.
Smoking:
When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place. Today we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.
Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.
The consequences of this poisoning happen gradually. Over the long term, smoking leads people to develop health problems like heart disease, stroke, emphysema (breakdown of lung tissue), and many types of cancer — including lung, throat, stomach, and bladder cancer. People who smoke also have an increased risk of infections like bronchitis and pneumonia. These diseases limit a person's ability to be normally active, and they can be fatal. Each time a smoker lights up, that single cigarette takes about 5 to 20 minutes off the person's life.
Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction.
The consequences of this poisoning happen gradually. Over the long term, smoking leads people to develop health problems like heart disease, stroke, emphysema (breakdown of lung tissue), and many types of cancer — including lung, throat, stomach, and bladder cancer. People who smoke also have an increased risk of infections like bronchitis and pneumonia. These diseases limit a person's ability to be normally active, and they can be fatal. Each time a smoker lights up, that single cigarette takes about 5 to 20 minutes off the person's life.
Postal business
The Indian Postal Service, with 155,333 post offices is the most widely distributed post office system in the world (China is next, with 57,000 the large numbers are a result of a long tradition of many disparate postal systems which were unified in the Indian Union post-Independence. Owing to this far-flung reach and its presence in remote areas, the Indian postal service is also involved in other services such as small savings banking and financial services.
Speed Post, the market leader in the domestic express industry, was started by Department of Posts in August 1986 for providing time-bound and express delivery of letters’ documents and parcels across the nation and around the world. In the past 20 years, it continues to be the market leader in the express industry with monthly volumes exceeding 1.4 crores. Speed Post ushered in a new era when ‘One India, One Rate’ scheme was launched @ Rs 25 for all destinations across India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Now, Speed Post delivers ‘Value for money’ to every one every where, delivering local Speed Post up to 50 grams @ Rs 12, inclusive of Service Tax. Walk into any of the Speed Post booking centre across the country and experience the ‘joy of communication’
For corporate customers and to regular users, Speed Post provides ‘Home collection’, credit facilities, on-line tracking, account management and personalized services. Call your Speed Post Centre today. India post handles more than 3000 million pieces of unregistered mail every year, reaching out to million of households in the country and the world.
Every time a person sends or receives a postcard, an inland letter or an envelope, he gets to see your logo or your message. The Aerogramme even gives you the opportunity to make a global impact. India post handles more than 3000 million pieces of unregistered mail every year, reaching out to million of households in the country and the world. Every time a person sends or receives a postcard, an inland letter or an envelope, he gets to see your logo or your message. The Aerogramme even gives you the opportunity to make a global impact.
Speed Post, the market leader in the domestic express industry, was started by Department of Posts in August 1986 for providing time-bound and express delivery of letters’ documents and parcels across the nation and around the world. In the past 20 years, it continues to be the market leader in the express industry with monthly volumes exceeding 1.4 crores. Speed Post ushered in a new era when ‘One India, One Rate’ scheme was launched @ Rs 25 for all destinations across India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Now, Speed Post delivers ‘Value for money’ to every one every where, delivering local Speed Post up to 50 grams @ Rs 12, inclusive of Service Tax. Walk into any of the Speed Post booking centre across the country and experience the ‘joy of communication’
For corporate customers and to regular users, Speed Post provides ‘Home collection’, credit facilities, on-line tracking, account management and personalized services. Call your Speed Post Centre today. India post handles more than 3000 million pieces of unregistered mail every year, reaching out to million of households in the country and the world.
Every time a person sends or receives a postcard, an inland letter or an envelope, he gets to see your logo or your message. The Aerogramme even gives you the opportunity to make a global impact. India post handles more than 3000 million pieces of unregistered mail every year, reaching out to million of households in the country and the world. Every time a person sends or receives a postcard, an inland letter or an envelope, he gets to see your logo or your message. The Aerogramme even gives you the opportunity to make a global impact.
Hobbies:
Whilst some hobbies strike many people as trivial or boring, hobbyists have found something compelling and entertaining about them. Much early scientific research was, in effect, a hobby of the wealthy; more recently.A hobby may not be as trivial as it appears at a time when it has relatively few followers.
The anecdote indicates that at the time an interest in nature was not widely perceived as a credible hobby. Practitioners of that hobby went on to become the germs of the conservation movement that flourished in Britain from 1965 onwards and became a global political movement within a generation. Conversely, the hobby of aircraft spotting probably originated as part of a serious activity designed to detect arriving waves of enemy aircraft entering English airspace during World War II. In peacetime it usually has no such practical or social purpose.
The hobby of collecting consists of acquiring specific items based on a particular interest of the collector. These collections of things are often highly organized, carefully catalogued, and attractively displayed. Since collecting depends on the interests of the individual collector, it may deal with almost any subject. The depth and breadth of the collection may also vary. Some collectors choose to focus on a specific subtopic within their area of general interest: Some collections are capable of being completed, at least to the extent of owning one sample of each possible item in the collection .Collectors who specifically try to assemble complete collections in this way are sometimes called completists. Upon completing a particular collection, they may stop collecting, expand the collection to include related items, or begin an entirely new collection. The most popular fields in collecting have specialized commercial dealers that trade in the items being collected, as well as related accessories. Many of these dealers started as collectors themselves, and then turned their hobby into a profession. There are some limitations on collecting, however.
The anecdote indicates that at the time an interest in nature was not widely perceived as a credible hobby. Practitioners of that hobby went on to become the germs of the conservation movement that flourished in Britain from 1965 onwards and became a global political movement within a generation. Conversely, the hobby of aircraft spotting probably originated as part of a serious activity designed to detect arriving waves of enemy aircraft entering English airspace during World War II. In peacetime it usually has no such practical or social purpose.
The hobby of collecting consists of acquiring specific items based on a particular interest of the collector. These collections of things are often highly organized, carefully catalogued, and attractively displayed. Since collecting depends on the interests of the individual collector, it may deal with almost any subject. The depth and breadth of the collection may also vary. Some collectors choose to focus on a specific subtopic within their area of general interest: Some collections are capable of being completed, at least to the extent of owning one sample of each possible item in the collection .Collectors who specifically try to assemble complete collections in this way are sometimes called completists. Upon completing a particular collection, they may stop collecting, expand the collection to include related items, or begin an entirely new collection. The most popular fields in collecting have specialized commercial dealers that trade in the items being collected, as well as related accessories. Many of these dealers started as collectors themselves, and then turned their hobby into a profession. There are some limitations on collecting, however.
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