Views expressed in the items posted on the Digital Showcase are those of the contributors only. Their publication on the Digital Showcase does not express or imply endorsement by the Digital Showcase or Oral Roberts University.
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Variational Principles in Classical Mechanics
Douglas Cline
Two dramatically different philosophical approaches to classical mechanics were developed during the 17th - 18th centuries. Newton developed his vectorial formulation that uses time-dependent differential equations of motion to relate vector observables like force and rate of change of momentum. Euler, Lagrange, Hamilton, and Jacobi, developed powerful alternative variational formulations based on the assumption that nature follows the principle of least action. These powerful variational formulations have become the preeminent philosophical approach used in modern science, as well as having applications to other fields such as economics and engineering.
This book introduces variational principles, and illustrates the intellectual beauty, the remarkable power, and the broad scope, of applying variational principles to classical mechanics. A brief review of Newtonian mechanics compares and contrasts the relative merits of the intuitive Newtonian vectorial formulation, with the more powerful analytical variational formulations. Applications presented cover a wide variety of topics, as well as extensions to accommodate relativistic mechanics, and quantum theory.
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Annual Survey of State Laws Regulating Charitable Solicitations
Giving USA Foundation
Produced annually by Giving USA, this PDF guide provides the most up-to-date information on state laws regarding the registration regulations of charitable solicitations state by state in an easy-to-use table.
This guide is especially helpful to fundraisers, consultants and nonprofit managers for ensuring fundraising compliance and meeting critical deadlines. It also provides vital information needed by fundraisers who work in multiple states.
The 2017 edition includes a section from the Urban Institute on state charity regulators, providing an in-depth, yet uncomplicated explanation on how they function and operate, and the major differences between offices across the US.
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Educational Freedom: Remembering Andrew Coulson - Debating His Ideas
Neal P. McCluskey ed. and Jason Bedrick ed
Though his life was cut tragically short in 2016, Andrew Coulson had a remarkable impact on education policy. As director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom from 2005 to 2015, he consistently advocated for free-market reforms that would make schools more flexible, innovative, and responsive to parents and students. In this newly published volume, prominent education thinkers who knew Andrew well commemorate his legacy with explorations, expansions, and critiques of his ideas.
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American high school adolescent life and ethos: An ethnography
Heewon Chang
This ethnography provides description and a cultural interpretation of American adolescent life. Based on anthropological fieldwork among adolescents in a small high school and its surrounding co-unity, it presents a description of their social life, an interpretation of the cultural ethos reflected in their lives, and a discussion of procedural and personal dimensions of conducting ethnographic research.
Many adolescents expressed their desire to "get along with everyone," "be independent," and "get involved." Reflecting American ideals of egalitarianism, inner-directedness, and competition, respectively, these aspects of the adolescent ethos affected their relationships with family, peers, school staff, and community members. Many adolescents not only recognized these ideals as favorable guidelines but made conscious efforts to live them. However, few young people succeeded in observing these ideals in their "pure" forms. In their daily lives, they sometimes demonstrated opposite ideals of elitism, other-directedness, and cooperation. Depending upon situations, the adolescents pragmatically negotiated a middle course within the duality of the contradictory ideals, locating their positions along the continua of egalitarianism/elitism, inner-directedness/ other-directedness, and competition/cooperation. Social pressure--in particular, peer pressure--discouraged young people from expressing either extreme.
Finally, this ethnography addresses issues involved in humanistic anthropology, in which the ethnographer, as a female adult, Korean horn, non-native speaker of English, analyzes her experiences with American adolescent informants in terms of examination of self, dynamics between self and others, the inequality of languages, and continued friendships with informants after the fieldwork.
