Monday, January 27, 2020

Techniques to Develop Creativity

Techniques to Develop Creativity Abstract. Creativity is the ability which has the human being to create something out of other ideas that are new and interesting but unfortunately in the actual education system not are implemented, so the present article explain about some things that have to change in the education system to increase the creativity in the students, the creativity can be learned, practiced, and developed by the use of proven techniques that it will speak more later. The implementation of creativity in the education in very importan because the schools must be a pillar bases to enrich and encourage creativity in each one of the students, in other words the improvement of creativity in education has great importance for the development of the students and a nation, because it can improve the formation of scientists, engineers, and specialists. The human creativity represents an enigma to the research community: It is all but impossible to describe the process in unequivocal terms, yet there is a strong desire to promote in the education the develop of creativity. The quality of education is one of the most commonly used expressions currently in the field of education, as a point of reference that justifies any process of change or improvement of the plan. In this area the development of creativity would be the backbone of a new educational system that is more efficient than other systems, because creative thinking in a disciplined manner can play a real role in innovation. Creativity and innovation are normally complementary activities(European Commission, 1998). The improvement of creativity in education has great importance for the development of the students and the nation, because it can improve the formation of scientists, engineers, and specialists. It can be learned, practiced, and developed by the use of proven tec hniques, so it is necessary to adopt a education system used in other countries that it is more effective. For example, Finland system in the education, implementation of appropriate tools to develop of the creativity and techniques and methods for develop the creativity. All these points are necessary to give solution to reduction of the creativity in the education, so it can be considered as a basis for building a strong education structure and the increase index them creativity in schools, universities and other institutions. There exists a big variability of creative techniques to use as individuals and groups. However the techniques that are more appropriate to generate creativity are used in groups. But, why are group techniques more efficient than the individual techniques? The European Commission gave the answer creativity is an attribute of the individual, though generally it can only be developed efficiently when it is tackled within a group of team.(European Commission, 1998). Some of techniques more used for develop the creativity are: analytic techniques and intuitive techniques (Sefertzi. 2000). Analytical techniques follow a linear pattern of thought or sequence of steps very good organize, in other words this type of organization in the question help that student stimulate different ways of organization known information and help approach problems from new angles (Miller 1987). Intuitive techniques are less structured techniques, so the intuitive techniques have not a organization or steps th at student have that follow because the student or other person that use the intuitive technique, only he has that look the phenomena of his study and the he has formalote intuitively hypothesis, theory and other suppositions to can give a explanation about the phenomena. Now, but to apply these methods and tapeworms requires the use of instruments that would facilitate a better understanding and stimulate the brain. According to Andriele De Prà ¡ Carvalho, Eloiza Avila de Matos, Dà ¡lcio Roberto dos Reis, Luà ­s Felippi Serpe and Sandro Carvalho there are also 67 creative techniques to stimulate the development of creativity in students. Following is the description of some of the tools for creativity. Analogy technique: According to Tsuilien Shena and Jiin Chyuan Laib the analog technique can help people to understand unknown events or houses from known elements (Shen Lai. 2014), in other words acts as a connection between the image that makes your brain to understand the phenomenon you do not know. Bullet Proof Technique: This technique consists of searching or determining in a specific area where the ideas and objectives raised have a high risk of failure, therefore the main idea of the technique is to find solutions to the problem that may appear in those cases. Inconsistency Analysis Technique : The technique consists in find contradictions to a certain situation, then you have to find the possible solutions, but the solutions titnen that being innovator. According to Andriele De Prà ¡ Carvalho, Eloiza Avila de Matos, Dà ¡lcio Roberto dos Reis, Luà ­s Felippi Serpe and Sandro Carvalho for the use of the technique of inconsistencies recommends the ones of: A list of inherent contradictions of these problems that you could solve in a daily basis. Add to the list the new contradictions you may find and try to identify the interaction among them. If you could find a way to remove or reduce multiple contradictions at once, then you will have a higher probability to identify an executable solution (Carvalho., Matos., Reis., Serpe Carvalho. 2012) New View Technique: The technique has the purpose of obtaining a suggestion or reaction from one or more persons about a specific topic, that is to say, the conclusions, recommendations and suggestions that the person or each person receives, the mind opens to new Therefore, this technique gives students new ways of thinking. Mental Mapping Technique: Paul Farrand, Fearzana Hussain and Enid Hennessy in their article say that Mind maps provide an effective study technique when applying written material Farrand.,Hussain., Hennessy. 2002), because when a student makes a mental map, he / she interconnects actions and concepts of a topic in general, therefore these interconeccion of concepts provide the student with a clearer way to understand in content of the subject. Notebook Technique: This type of technique is the most used among the students, because the student has the ability to write his everyday ideas, events, class subjects and other, a very important point is the way he notes his ideas, in other words the ideas annotated in the book, subjects in subjects among others are very easy to understand for the student because they are his own words that are written. Reflection Groups Technique: According to the article, the technique consists of the collaboration of a group of students who collaborate with each other with a common goal, therefore the ideas expressed by each one of the group members will not be the same, so the group have to reach a unanimous decision. The decisions in the main challenge facing the group. All of the above examples are designed to help people develop skills to engage in creative ways of looking at problems and framing solutions using these tools, and to maintain those skills even without using the tools. But there are also other types of tools based technologies. The technology today is also at our service to develop our creative capacity with a large number of mobile applications, also sotfware developed for computers and other electronics devices. According to Joyce J. Elam and Melissa Mead, the support system for creativity emerged around the 1970 (Elam Mead 1990), the initiative was promising to provide computer-based tools that would enable those responsible for decision making have the great possibility of developing improved solutions with more creativity in the face of the problems to be solved. Also in an article by Mingyang Gu and Xin Tong argument that the development of software for creativity has to have two fundamental aspects: discipline and creative, because software construction can be a great problem and in the case but if the Developed does not have the clear ideas of what he wants to build, everything is very similar to a hell. Many scientist research have orientation about the development of creativity as an process apply in the education. Some studies about creative abilities show that can be developed by the implementation of tools that estimate the brain, because in a research say the brain is a muscle that need exercise for attain a better performance (Taylor. 1972). Creativity can specifically be developed supporting tools, for example a computer can be a tool for creativity, because they contain models of software created with the purpose of stimulating the brains students, computer software idea processors, information systems, etc., for example MindMeister is a free software that you can find in internet, according to Rahimi, Van den Berg and Even, they think that MindMeister is very useful tool for students and also for teachers. Compared to paper, in MindMeister you can add much digital stuff to your mind map including im- ages, URLs, and links. (Rahimi., Van den Berg. Veen. 2012), also MindMeis ter is considered the best application in the market to develop mind maps online. With its award winning online version and its free mobile apps, its users can make mind maps at school, at home, at the office and wherever they are. Mind mapping with MindMeister is such an easy and intuitive process that anyone from a first grader to the CEO of a company can use this application to improve their productivity and put their creative ideas into action. MindMeister offers a variety of amazing features that allow users to collaborate and brainstorm online, plan projects, develop business strategies, create fantastic presentations and use the enormous potential that mindmaps offer for education. To this end, MindMeister offers huge discounts to students and teachers, and even offers free accounts with up to 10 mind maps that provide all the necessary features for creating mental maps: simple but with huge reach. The tools are that it develops a purpose which is help students to create, pro mote and generate creativity, creativity tools, stimulate the imagination. Everyone is creative, so each must find his environment to develop that creative side, that we all have but for able a best result of creativity. As the result of a radical change in the education system, methods a techniques and implementation of tools, produce that the creativity in the students can be more effective. In actual moment exist a decadent in the creativity of the student but in the future with the implementation of all that wrote in the essay can be posible the develop of creativity. REFERENCES European Commission (1998), Innovation Management Techniques in Operation, European Commission, Luxembourg. Higgins, J.M. (1996), Innovate or evaporate: creative techniques for strategists, Long Range Planning, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 370-380. Sefertzi, E.. (2000). Creativity . noviembre 17,2016, de EC funded project Sitio web: http://www.urenio.org/tools/en/creativity.pdf Miller, W. (1986), The Creative Edge, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., Herron, M. (1996). Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of management journal, 39(5), 1154-1184. Carvalho, A. D. P., de Matos, E. A., dos Reis, D. R., Serpe, L. F., Carvalho, S. (2012). Tools for Creativity. US-China Education Review, 2(11), 936-946. Shen, T., Lai, J. C. (2014). Formation of Creative Thinking by Analogical Performance in Creative Works. Farrand, P., Hussain, F., Hennessy, E. (2002). The efficacy of themind mapstudy technique. Medical education, 36(5), 426-431. Elam, J. J., Mead, M. (1990). Can software influence creativity?. Information Systems Research, 1(1), 1. Gu, M., Tong, X. (2004, April). Towards hypotheses on creativity in software development. In International Conference on Product Focused Software Process Improvement (pp. 47-61). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Rahimi, E., Van den Berg, J., Veen, W. (2012, December). Designing and implementing PLEs in a secondary school using Web2. 0 tool. In The Personal Learning Envrionment (PLE) Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 12-13 July, 2012. Public Knowledge Project.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Microwaves :: essays research papers

You might remember the heroic role that newly-invented radar played in the Second World War. People hailed it then as "Our Miracle Ally". But even in its earliest years, as it was helping win the war, radar proved to be more than an expert enemy locator. Radar technicians, doodling away in their idle moments, found that they could focus a radar beam on a marshmallow and toast it. They also popped popcorn with it. Such was the beginning of microwave cooking. The very same energy that warned the British of the German Luftwaffe invasion and that policemen employ to pinch speeding motorists, is what many of us now have in our kitchens. It's the same as what carries long distance phone calls and cablevision. Hitler's army had its own version of radar, using radio waves. But the trouble with radio waves is that their long wavelength requires a large, cumbersome antenna to focus them into a narrow radar beam. The British showed that microwaves, with their short wavelength, could be focussed ina narrow beam with an antenna many times smaller. This enabled them to make more effective use of radar since an antenna could be carried on aircraft, ships and mobile ground stations. This characteristic of microwaves, the efficiency with which they are concentrated in a narrow beam, is one reason why they can be used in cooking. You can produce a high-powered microwave beam in a small oven, but you can't do the same with radio waves, which are simply too long. Microwaves and their Use The idea of cooking with radiation may seem like a fairly new one, but in fact it reaches back thousands of years. Ever since mastering fire, man has cooked with infrared radiation, a close kin of the microwave. Infrared rays are what give you that warm glow when you put your hand near a room radiator or a hotplate or a campfire. Infrared rays, flowing from the sun and striking the atmosphere, make the Earth warm and habitable. In a conventional gas or electric oven, infrared waves pour off the hot elements or burners and are converted to heat when they strike air inside and the food. Microwaves and infrared rays are related in that both are forms of electromagnetic energy. Both consist of electric and magnetic fields that rise and fall like waves on an ocean. Silently, invisibly and at the speed of light, they travel through space and matter. There are many forms of electromagnetic energy (see diagram). Ordinary light from the sun is one, and the only one you can actually see. X-rays are another. Each kind, moving at a separate wavelength, has a unique effect on any matter it

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Climate Change Term Paper

INTRODUCTIONClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average (e.g., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region or may occur across the whole Earth.The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time, regardless of cause. Accordingly, fluctuations over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Nià ±o, do not represent climate change.The term sometimes is used to refer specifically to climate change caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, the term climate change has become synonymous wit h anthropogenic global warming. Within scientific journals, global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels will affect.REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUREAccording the Government Environmental Protection Agency webpage http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/glossary.html#F on the topic: Glossary of climate change terms, factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or â€Å"forcing mechanisms†. These include processes such as variations in solar radiation, deviations in the Earth's orbit, mountain-building and continental drift, and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. There are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the climate system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond slowly in reaction to climate forcings, while others respond more quickly.From NASA Earth Observatory webpage on the t opic: â€Å"Glossary†. That natural changes in the components of earth's climate system and their interactions are the cause of internal climate variability, or â€Å"internal forcings.† Scientists generally define the five components of earth's climate system to include Atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere (restricted to the surface soils, rocks, and sediments), and biosphere.Andrew S. Gale, author of the book: â€Å"A Milankovitch scale for Cenomanian time† on his topic Terra Nova emphasized that slight variations in Earth's orbit lead to changes in the seasonal distribution of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface and how it is distributed across the globe. There is very little change to the area-averaged annually averaged sunshine; but there can be strong changes in the geographical and seasonal distribution.The three types of orbital variations are variations in Earth's eccentricity, changes in the tilt angle of Earth's axis of rotation, and pre cession of Earth's axis. Combined together, these produce Milankovitch cycles which have a large impact on climate and are notable for their correlation to glacial and interglacial periods, their correlation with the advance and retreat of the Sahara, and for their appearance in the stratigraphic record.BODYCAUSESOn the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the sun and the rate at which it is lost to space determine the equilibrium temperature and climate of Earth. This energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions.Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or â€Å"forcing mechanisms†. These include processes such as variations in solar radiation, deviations in the Earth's orbit, mountain-building and continental drift,  and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. There are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the in itial forcing. Some parts of the climate system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond slowly in reaction to climate forcings, while others respond more quickly.Forcing mechanisms can be either â€Å"internal† or â€Å"external†. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the climate system itself (e.g., the thermohaline circulation). External forcing mechanisms can be either natural (e.g., changes in solar output) or anthropogenic (e.g., increased emissions of greenhouse gases).Ocean variabilityThe ocean is a fundamental part of the climate system, some changes in it occurring at longer timescales than in the atmosphere, massing hundreds of times more and having very high thermal inertia (such as the ocean depths still lagging today in temperature adjustment from the Little Ice Age).Short-term fluctuations (years to a few decades) such as the El Nià ±o-Southern Oscillation, the Pacific decadal oscillation, the North Atlantic oscillation, and the Arct ic oscillation, represent climate variability rather than climate change. On longer time scales, alterations to ocean processes such as thermohaline circulation play a key role in redistributing heat by carrying out a very slow and extremely deep movement of water, and the long-term redistribution of heat in the world's oceans.Orbital variationsSlight variations in Earth's orbit lead to changes in the seasonal distribution of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface and how it is distributed across the globe. There is very little change to the area-averaged annually averaged sunshine; but there can be strong changes in the geographical and seasonal distribution. The three types of orbital variations are variations in Earth's eccentricity, changes in the tilt angle of Earth's axis of rotation, and precession of Earth's axis. Combined together, these produce Milankovitch cycles which have a large impact on climate and are notable for their correlation to glacial and interglacial  perio ds, their correlation with the advance and retreat of the Sahara, and for their appearance in the stratigraphic record.Solar outputVariations in solar activity during the last several centuries based on observations of sunspots and beryllium isotopes. The period of extraordinarily few sunspots in the late 17th century was the Maunder Minimum. The sun is the predominant source for energy input to the Earth. Both long- and short-term variations in solar intensity are known to affect global climate.VolcanismIn atmospheric temperature from 1979 to 2010, determined by MSU NASA satellites, effects appear from aerosols released by major volcanic eruptions (El Chichà ³n and Pinatubo). El Nià ±o is a separate event, from ocean variability.Volcanic eruptions release gases and particulates into the atmosphere. Eruptions large enough to affect climate occur on average several times per century, and cause cooling (by partially blocking the transmission of solar radiation to the Earth's surface ) for a period of a few years. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century (after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta) affected the climate substantially.Global temperatures decreased by about 0.5  °C (0.9  °F). The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 caused the Year Without a Summer. Much larger eruptions, known as large igneous provinces, occur only a few times every hundred million years, but may cause global warming and mass extinctionsPlate tectonicsOver the course of millions of years, the motion of tectonic plates reconfigures global land and ocean areas and generates topography. This can affect both global and local patterns of climate and atmosphere-ocean circulation.The position of the continents determines the geometry of the oceans and therefore influences patterns of ocean circulation. The locations of the seas are important in controlling the transfer of heat and moisture across the globe, and therefore, in determini ng global climate. A recent example of tectonic control on ocean circulation is the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 5 million years ago, which shut off direct mixing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.Human influencesIn the context of climate variation, anthropogenic factors are human activities which affect the climate. The scientific consensus on climate change is â€Å"that climate is changing and that these changes are in large part caused by human activities,† and it â€Å"is largely irreversible.† â€Å"Science has made enormous inroads in understanding climate change and its causes, and is beginning to help develop a strong understanding of current and potential impacts that will affect people today and in coming decades.GlaciersGlaciers are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change. Their size is determined by a mass balance between snow input and melt output. As temperatures warm, glaciers retreat unless snow precipitation increases to make up for the additional melt; the converse is also true.Glaciers grow and shrink due both to natural variability and external forcings. Variability in temperature, precipitation, and englacial and subglacial hydrology can strongly determine the evolution of a glacier in a particular season. Therefore, one must average over a decadal or longer time-scale and/or over a many individual glaciers to smooth out the local short-term variability and obtain a glacier history that is related to climate.Arctic sea ice lossThe decline in Arctic sea ice, both in extent and thickness, over the last several decades is further evidence for rapid climate change. Sea ice is  frozen seawater that floats on the ocean surface. It covers millions of square miles in the polar regions, varying with the seasons. In the Arctic, some sea ice remains year after year, whereas almost all Southern Ocean or Antarctic sea ice melts away and reforms annually. Satellite observations show that Arcti c sea ice is now declining at a rate of 11.5 percent per decade, relative to the 1979 to 2000 average.VegetationA change in the type, distribution and coverage of vegetation may occur given a change in the climate. Some changes in climate may result in increased precipitation and warmth, resulting in improved plant growth and the subsequent sequestration of airborne CO2. A gradual increase in warmth in a region will lead to earlier flowering and fruiting times, driving a change in the timing of life cycles of dependent organisms. Conversely, cold will cause plant bio-cycles to lag. Larger, faster or more radical changes, however, may result in vegetation stress, rapid plant loss and desertification in certain circumstances.PrecipitationPast precipitation can be estimated in the modern era with the global network of precipitation gauges. Surface coverage over oceans and remote areas is relatively sparse, but, reducing reliance on interpolation, satellite data has been available since the 1970s. Quantification of climatological variation of precipitation in prior centuries and epochs is less complete but approximated using proxies such as marine sediments, ice cores, cave stalagmites, and tree rings.Sea level changeGlobal sea level change for much of the last century has generally been estimated using tide gauge measurements collated over long periods of time to give a long-term average. More recently, altimeter measurements — in combination with accurately determined satellite orbits — have provided an improved measurement of global sea level change. To measure sea levels prior to instrumental measurements, scientists have dated coral reefs that grow near the surface of the ocean, coastal sediments, marine terraces, ooids in  limestones, and nearshore archaeological remains. The predominant dating methods used are uranium series and radiocarbon, with cosmogenic radionuclides being sometimes used to date terraces that have experienced relative se a level fall.CONCLUSIONIn light of the contexts of this manuscript, the researcher concluded that global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels will affect. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average (e.g., more or fewer extreme weather events).Scientists have made many projections about how global warming will affect weather, glacial ice, sea levels, agriculture, wildlife, and human health. Many changes linked to rising temperatures are already being observed.In a warmer world, scientists predict that more people will get sick or die from heat stress, due not only to hotter days but more importantly to warmer nights (giving the sufferers less relief). More frequent and intense heat waves will further contribute to this trend.Responding to the challenge of controlling global warming will require fundamental changes in energy production, transportation, industry, government policies, and development strategies around the world. These changes take time. The challenge today is managing the impacts that cannot be avoided while taking steps to prevent more severe impacts in the future.

Friday, January 3, 2020

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with several aspects of U.S. citizenship and the rights of citizens. Ratified on July 9, 1868, during the post-Civil War era, the 14th, along with the 13th and 15th Amendments, are collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Although the 14th Amendment was intended to protect the rights of the recently freed slaves, it has continued to play a major role in constitutional politics to this day.   In response to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, many Southern states enacted laws known as Black Codes designed to continue to deny African Americans certain rights and privileges enjoyed by white citizens. Under the states Black Codes, recently freed slaves were not allowed to travel widely, own certain types of property, or sue in court. In addition, African Americans could be jailed for not being able to repay their debts, leading to racially-discriminating labor practices like the leasing of convicts to private businesses. The 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 Of the three Reconstruction amendments, the 14th is the most complicated and the one that has had the more unforeseen effects. Its broad goal was to reinforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which ensured that all persons born in the United States were citizens and were to be given full and equal benefit of all laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 protected the â€Å"civil† rights of all citizens, such as the right to sue, make contracts, and buy and sell property. However, it failed to protect â€Å"political† rights, like the right to vote and hold office, or â€Å"social† rights guaranteeing equal access to schools and other public accommodations. Congress had intentionally omitted those protections in hopes of averting the bill’s veto by President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875). When the Civil Rights Act landed on President Johnsons desk, he fulfilled his promise to veto it. Congress, in turn, overrode the veto and the measure became law. Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat and staunch supporter of states’ rights, had clashed repeatedly with the Republican-controlled Congress. Fearing President Johnson and Southern politicians would attempt to undo the protections of the Civil Rights Act, Republican congressional leaders began work on what would become the 14th Amendment. Ratification and the States After clearing Congress in June of 1866, the 14th Amendment went to the states for ratification. As a condition for readmittance to the Union, the former Confederate states were required to approve the amendment. This became a point of contention between Congress and Southern leaders. The 14th Amendment.   U.S. National Archives Connecticut was the first state to ratify the 14th Amendment on June 30, 1866. During the next two years, 28 states would ratify the amendment, although not without incident. Legislatures in Ohio and New Jersey both rescinded their states pro-amendment votes. In the South, Louisiana and North and South Carolina refused initially to ratify the amendment. Nevertheless, the 14th Amendment was declared formally ratified on July 28, 1868. The 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 With its passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, Congress attempted to bolster the 14th Amendment. Also known as the â€Å"Enforcement Act,† the 1875 Act guaranteed all citizens, regardless of race or color, equal access to public accommodations and transportation, and made it illegal to exempt them from serving on juries. In 1883, however, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Civil Rights Cases decisions, overturned the public accommodation sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and declared that the 14th Amendment did not give Congress the power to dictate the affairs of private businesses.   As a result of the Civil Rights Cases, while African Americans had been declared legally â€Å"free† U.S. citizens by the 14th Amendment, they continue to face discrimination in society, economics, and politics into the 21st century. Amendment Sections The 14th Amendment contains five sections, of which the first contains the most impactful provisions.   Section One guarantees all rights and privileges of citizenship to any and all persons born or naturalized in the United States. It also guarantees all Americans their constitutional rights and prohibits the states from passing laws limiting those rights. Lastly, it ensures that no citizens right to life, liberty, or property will be denied without due process of law.    Section Two specifies that the process of apportionment used to fairly distribute seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the states must be based on the whole population, including freed African American slaves. Prior to this, African Americans had been under-counted when apportioning representation. The section also guaranteed the right to vote to all male citizens age 21 years or older. Section Three forbids anyone who participates or has participated in â€Å"insurrection or rebellion† against the United States from holding any elected or appointed federal office. The section was intended to prevent former Confederate military officers and politicians from holding federal offices. Section Four addresses the federal debt by confirming that the neither the United States nor any state could be forced to pay for lost slaves or debts that had been incurred by the Confederacy as a result of their participation in the Civil War.   Section Five, also known as the Enforcement Clause, grants Congress the power to pass â€Å"appropriate legislation† as necessary to enforce all of the amendments other clauses and provisions. Key Clauses The four clauses of the first section of the 14th Amendment are the most important because they have repeatedly been cited in major Supreme Court cases concerning civil rights, presidential politics and the right to privacy. The Citizenship Clause The Citizenship Clause overrules the 1875 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision that freed African American slaves were not citizens, could not become citizens, and thus could never enjoy the benefits and protections of citizenship. The Citizenship Clause states that â€Å"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.† This clause played an important role in two Supreme Court cases: Elk v. Wilkins (1884) which addressed citizenship rights of Native Americans, and United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) which affirmed the citizenship of U.S.-born children of legal immigrants. The Privileges and Immunities Clause The Privileges and Immunities Clause states No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.  In the Slaughter-House Cases (1873), the Supreme Court recognized a difference between a persons rights as a U.S. citizen and their rights under state law. The ruling held that state laws could not impede a persons federal rights. In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), which overturned a Chicago ban on handguns, Justice Clarence Thomas cited this clause in his opinion supporting the ruling. The Due Process Clause The Due Process Clause says no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Although this clause was intended to apply to professional contracts and transactions, over time it has become most closely cited in right-to-privacy cases. Notable Supreme Court cases that have turned on this issue include Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which overturned a Connecticut ban on the sale of contraception; Roe v. Wade (1973), which overturned a Texas ban on abortion and lifted many restrictions on the practice nationwide; and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which held that same-sex marriages deserved federal recognition. The Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause prevents states from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.  The clause has become most closely associated with civil rights cases, particularly for African Americans. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1898) the Supreme Court ruled that Southern states could enforce racial segregation as long as separate but equal facilities existed for blacks and whites. It wouldnt be until Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the Supreme Court would revisit this opinion, ultimately ruling that separate facilities were, in fact, unconstitutional. This key ruling opened the door for a number of significant civil rights and affirmative action court cases. Bush v. Gore (2001) also touched on the equal protection clause when a majority of justices ruled that the partial recount of presidential votes in Florida was unconstitutional because it was not being conducted the same way in all contested locations. The decision essentially decided the 2000 presidential election in George W. Bushs favor. The Lasting Legacy of the 14th Amendment Over time, numerous lawsuits have arisen that have referenced the 14th Amendment. The fact that the amendment uses the word state in the Privileges and Immunities Clause—along with interpretation of the Due Process Clause—has meant state power and federal power are both subject to the Bill of Rights. Further, the courts have interpreted the word person to include corporations. As a result, corporations are also protected by due process along with being granted equal protection. While there were other clauses in the amendment, none were as significant as these. Updated by Robert Longley   Sources and Further Reading Baer, Judith A. Equality Under the Constitution: Reclaiming the Fourteenth Amendment. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.  Lash, Kurt T. The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.Nelson, William E. The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1988