Impact of Mobile Phones Essay

Effects Of Using Mobile Phones Too Much In today’s fast-moving and globalised world it is almost impossible to imagine our day-to-day life without mobile-phones. It is one of the most successful inventions of the 20th century, which has become a convenient means of communication. Modern mobile phones perform many other functions as well; they can substitute for such devices as music players, cameras and organizers. Most of them also provide Internet access and texting. According to the U.N. Telecom agency, there were almost 6 billion cell phone users in the world, with almost 86 gadgets for every 100 people. There is nothing strange in this fact, as modern people need phones in all spheres of their lives – professional and personal. But we do not notice how much we depend on cell phones and what effects their excessive use might bring. There are certain harmful health effects, which might be caused by the immoderate use of cell phones. According to modern researches, the most menacing problem is connection be tween cell phones and cancer. Even though the data remains controversial, most scientists agree that there is a certain threat from using cell phones too much. It is reported, that people who talk on the phone for several hours a day are 50% more likely to develop brain cancer. The reason for this is the radio waves produced by mobile phones. It is calculated, that every minute the human brain receives about 220 electromagnetic impulses, which are not necessarily harmful, but which definitely affect the brain in cases of prolonged impact. Recent studies report two types of brain cancer may occur – glioma and acoustic neuroma. Apart from cancer risk, mobile phones influence our nervous system. They may cause headaches, decreased attention, shortness of temper, sleep disorders and depression, mostly among teenagers. Radio waves are not the only reason for such symptoms. It is the sad reality, that nowadays many people, especially youth, experience lack of human contact, and they try to compensate it by mobil e-phone communication, which is not an adequate substitute for personal intercourse. Adolescence is not an easy period of life, and at that time a young person is especially vulnerable. In cases of excessive mobile phone use there is a possibility of becoming addicted to the phone; the real world seems to fade in comparison with hours-long chats and hundreds of messages. These aspects cause psychological problems, as people start to feel uncomfortable in face-to-face communication. There are  also other effects that should be mentioned. There is certain risk for pregnant women and their children, so they are strongly recommended to reduce usage of cell phones. Some studies provide information about harmful effects of cell phones on the male reproductive system, so men should not carry phones in the pockets of their trousers. Most research reports that texting and playing games on mobile phones is also harmful for eyes. Regarding games it also worth mentioning, that sometimes they cause irritability and aggressiveness, especially among children and teenagers. Today’s world is a world of technology and inventions, and there are many tools which essentially facilitate our life. Mobile phones play an important role in the development of human civilization, but their excessive use brings severe problems. To reduce their harmful effects, one shoul d always remember that mobile phone is a friend, not a master, and it should never be used too much.

McCarthyism’s Connection to Crucible Essay

During the 1940s to the 1950s, McCarthyism took its way, ruining innocent people lives through false the accusations of being affiliated in Communism. The innocent people that were accused and not found guilty couldn’t return back to their normal lives. One of the people that were trialed was Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible. Miller didn’t take this lightly and felt that something had to be done, so he wrote The Crucible connecting the McCarthy trials with the Salem witch trials. There were numerous relations of the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism, but there were three that stood out the most. During the McCarthy trials and Salem witch trials, innocent people endured the scare factor which brought out strange behavior, the accused couldn’t go back to their regular lives, and the accused had to endure the harsh interrogations. In The Crucible and during McCarthyism, it was prudent to go by the expectations that society presented or one may run the risk of having their reputation flawed. In The Crucible, Abigail and few other girls were discovered dancing in the woods by Rev. Parris. When Rev. Parris discovered this he couldn’t let it go, because during those times if you had time to dance then you had time to read the Bible. Innocent U.S. Government officials lost their jobs to be suspected of being Communist by McCarthy so he may move up the political ladder. During McCarthyism and Salem witch trials, the smallest evidence was used to make their accusations. In The Crucible and McCarthy trials, both include the faulty accusations and harsh interrogations that were placed on innocent citizens. During the time of McCarthyism, people lives were monitored by the government to reveal any unusual behaviors that may be considered Communist. Much of the evidence that was used was pulled out of someone’s file that may have been ten years old. In The Crucible, Proctor was thought of being affiliated with witchery for not coming to church in a couple of weeks. Proctor didn’t come because of his wife’s illness, but even this excuse wasn’t enough to get him in the clear completely. The wild accusations of the McCarthy trials and in The Crucible, created a stir within both societies that caused people to alter their lifestyles in hopes of not being noticed. The Red Scare of McCarthyism was focused in the government system and it stood for such a long time with support from people due to the anxiety of Communists being in the U.S. In The Crucible, nearly  one hundred people were trialed and found guilty of witchery in on year. Giles Corey accused his wife because she was reading a book other than the Bible. The anxiety of the fear that his wife may be a witch brought him to the court to plea his belief. The fear factor, strict expectations of society, and reputations being ruined were factors that made living during McCarthyism and the Salem witch trials nearly impossible to not become involved. Everyone during those times, presented a fear of the witch hunts that caused them to accuse people they have known for years, which kept these trials stable. No one could escape the witch hunts, and those whom did were lucky to not have had their lives ruined and banned from any jobs and spending time with your family. Both periods of time share the regret and unfortunate events that innocent people had to endure.

Relationships between critical thinking and ethics Essay

Critical thinking plays a huge role in ethics. Critical thinking is a clear and rational, open minded and informed. Ethics is moral principles that govern a person or group behavior and rule of conduct. Critical thinking is a form of fiction and identifying the unknown. Critical thinking develops a mental process of evaluation which helps to determine their ethical standards. By incorporating the critical thinking process into their mindset it enables them more effectively to make a decision based upon truths and verified information rather than unknown. There are steps to take in regards to thinking critically, and they should follow as listed in order to make a rational decision; step one; (knowledge) being able to identify what is being said. Step two (comprehension) understanding the material, you make the knowledge that you acquired your own by relating it to what you already know. The better involve, the better you comprehend. Step three. (Apply) Know what you have read, heard, seen and comprehend it and carry out some task to apply what you comprehend to an actual situation. Step four (analysis) breakdown what you read, heard and seen into components in order to make clear. Step five (synthesis) the ability to put together the part you have analyzed with other information to create something original. Step six (evaluation) occurs once you have understood and analyzed what is said or written, and the reason offered to support it. The completion of these steps will ensure you are making the best decision in any situation including ethical decision. (Ethical lens inventory) Ethical lens inventory found my ethical lens to be none periscope or paralysis. Seeing the gifts and weakness of each lens and being able to move fluidly among them to adapt the right tool in each situation. Assuring the best outcome, reasoning skills (rational) are used to determine duties (autonomy) as well as universal rules and systems that will assure fairness and justice for everyone (equality) listen to my intuition. When it comes to my blind spot, I have none. Mature expression of this position has no blind spot, and make it possible for me to see both strength and the weakness of each lens and to harmonize the four core values of autonomy, equality, rationality and sensibility. (Jeffery, 2012, para nature of accounting professional expertise)

Military Orders and the Outcomes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Military Orders and the Outcomes - Essay Example Military orders are given to soldiers, but the orders are impact the civilian population as well as the military. From Biblical accounts to Hurricane Katrina, the military has given orders to protect and give their citizens structure. Three examples of military order providing the structure seen in today’s society. Basic training for the military differs all around the world are different. Most militaries drill obeying lawful orders into their recruits. The only exception is if the order is illegal. Osiel (1999: 241) explains â€Å"legal orders must be obeyed. The soldier is routinely punished when they are not. In principal, illegal orders must not be obeyed.† Civilians hold to this theory a little more loosely. Most law abiding citizens will not question an order from a police officer. There are exceptions to this rule, but like basic soldiers most civilians will cooperate with the police. Not all soldiers follow legal orders. An example is Pfc. Bradley Manning. Pfc. Manning leaked classified information to Wikileaks. Pfc. Bradley Manning, who turned 23 last month in the military prison, is accused of the biggest leak of classified documents in American history. He awaits trial on charges that could put him in prison for 52 years, according to the Army. (Shane 2011) Pfc. Manning felt that the American public deserved to know what was really going in Iraq.

Were people offered assisstive devices in the hospital after being Essay

Were people offered assisstive devices in the hospital after being treated for a fall - Essay Example Assistive devices are important tools that aid patients that had gone through a physical injury to recover faster. In line with the importance of assistive devices, this study will determine how well hospitals in Louisiana (River Parishes Hospital and Thibodaux General) offers assistive devices in treating patients with physical injuries. The problem statement is not a group of sentences that talk about the problem area you want to study or the general phenomenon of interest. A problem statement, generally in the form of a question, is a little broader than the purpose. For example, Can a correlation between utilizing ADs earlier after injury and improved patient outcomes be demonstrated? There are approximately 30% of older individuals 65 years old and up suffers from fall each year. (Blake et al., 1988) Physical injuries due to fall causes almost all injury-related deaths among elderly people especially in women. (Arfken et al., 1994) Being able to determine whether physically injured patients in Louisiana Hospitals were offered to use assistive devices will roughly give the nurses an estimate on how frequent these patients were offered to use assistive devices. In your significance, you need to point out cost of injury and prolonged hospital stays, effects of injury on quality of life. Since the study highlights the importance of using assistive devices on patients with physical injury due to fall, it would help the nurses be aware of the necessity of using these devices to enhance the recovery period of the patient. Thus, minimizing the injury-related deaths among the elderly people. Incidence of falls is frequent among the elderly individuals. Fall-related injuries are one of the most common leading causes of injury deaths and disabilities among the elderly individuals more than 65 years of age. (Lord, Sherrington, and Menz, 2001) Although more than half of

Sarah Palin and MSNBC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sarah Palin and MSNBC - Essay Example About Sarah Palin Sarah Palin is a famous politician, author and commentator in America. She was born on 11 February, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho. Palin has two sisters and a brother. Shortly after Palin’s birth, the whole family shifted from Idaho to Alaska. Her father was a science teacher and her mother was a school secretary. Thus, affiliation with education was inherent in the familial culture in which Palin was brought up. Palin went to the Wasilla High School. In addition to being an exceptional academic student, Palin served in the girls’ cross country running teams and was also the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ head in the school. She earned the title Sarah Barracuda as a result of her exemplary performance in the basketball team as the point-guard and the co-captain. Her contribution led the team to winning the Alaska state championship in 1982. In 1992, Palin was selected in the Wasilla City Council. About four years later, in 1996, Palin was made the mayor of Wasilla. Palin made an attempt to become the lieutenant governor in 2003, but ended up becoming the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s chairman. This firm assumed the role of the protector of the gas and oil fields in the state. Palin is the first Republican woman to be deemed eligible for the vide-presidency and is also the first Alaskan that made use of a major party’s national ticket in 2008, when Palin was nominated for the post of vice-presidency from the Republican Party. Palin resigned from the governorship in July 2009 after which, she launched a campaign in favor of the Tea Party Movement. Since the start of 2010, Palin has been commenting upon the politics from the platform of the Fix News and has been hosting the Sarah Palin’s Alaska show on the television. The fact that the number of viewers of the first episode of her show exceeded five million was an addition to her already lengthy list of records. The Learning Channel had never seen this volume of audiences before this show. Sarah Palin’s Involvement with MSNBC MSNBC is a US-based cable news channel which is projected in several countries including US, Canada, South Africa, Middle East and Germany. The name MSNBC is a combination of Microsoft and NBC, which reflects the joint venture of Microsoft and the NBC unit of the General Electric. This joint venture took place with the establishment of MSNBC in 1996. Originally an insignia of the partnership between Microsoft and NBC, share of Microsoft kept reducing until NBC gained almost complete hold over the news channel. MSNBC has been addicted to Sarah Palin for a long time. Palin’s overrepresentation in the media can partly be attributed to the fact that about two years ago in the Republican presidential ticket, the Alaska governor displayed an electrifying emergence. Although Palin was neither a public official in those days nor was a candidate any more, yet the journalists noticed that any r eport that included her name got listed amongst the most-viewed reports. â€Å"Palin, feeding this co-dependency and indulging the news business's endless desire for conflict, tweeted provocative nuggets that would help us keep her in the public eye -- so much so that this former vice presidential candidate gets far more coverage than the actual vice president† (Milbank, 2011). With the departure of Keith Olbermann, it is expected that MSNBC’

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Essay Example â€Å" (7). Which is why Linda led a relatively happy life up until the age of six when her mother died. It was only then that she learned that she was to be a slave in the employ of her mother's former mistress. In Brent's own words; â€Å"Such were the unusually fortunate circumstances of my early childhood. When I was six years old, my mother died; and then, for the first time, I learned, by the talk around me, that I was a slave† (7). When her mistress dies and she is passed on to other masters, her life totally changes in such a manner that is is speedily robbed of her innocence. She is given to the Flint family headed by Dr. Flint. He was described as ; â€Å"... an epicure. The cook never sent a dinner to his table without fear and trembling; for if there happened to be a dish not to his liking, he would either order her to be whipped, or compel her to eat every mouthful of it in his presence. The poor, hungry creature might not have objected to eating it; but she did not object to having her master cram it down her throat till she choked† (13). She thwarts the sexual advances of Dr. Flint by consenting to having an affair with her white neighbor. That neighbor is named Mr. Sands, he fathers her two children named Benjamin and Ellen. It is important to note that Jacobs wrote her protagonists point of view in such a way that she thought it was better to live the life of a kept woman with mulatto children than to be the product of a sexual rape. It is the opinion of the author that because women slaves lead a different life than the white women, they are offered a different standard of morality than the free women. At the end of Linda's affair with Mr. Sands, he leaves her to go south. He takes a bride,fathers a child with her,purchases his children with Linda and treats them as slaves even when he promised her that he would free then, then becomes a congressman. Throughout the ordeal of Linda's life there was one constant personality who tr ied to stand up for her family no matter the cost, her grandmother known as Aunt Martha. She lived to see her grandchildren escape from slavery even though it meant losing them as family. She was a strong willed woman who stood up for herself and put fear into Dr. Flint. In one of the more famous scenes in the book she admonishes the doctor and tells him to "Get out of my house†¦ Go home and take care of your wife and children" (15). Aunt Martha, through the grace of the universe managed to gain her freedom when it was provided to her by a kindly white woman. The situation occurred this way; Dr. Flint chose to sell Aunt Martha after the death of her mistress because he thought her old and feeble. Nobody wanted to buy her on the auction block except for an old white woman who immediately granted her freedom upon the close of her sale. One of the most touching depictions of slavery in the book has to do with the method by which the slaves celebrate New Years Day. Their eve is spe nt among their family and little possessions as they await the decision of their master as to whether or not they will be sold to another master and permanently parted from their family the next day. Those up for sale can be heard begging the masters who are looking over the slaves like produce to â€Å"Please, massa, hire me this year. I will work _very_ hard, massa." (15). It is because of the way that the slave families find themselves separated and divided that Aunt Martha tries to buy the freedom of her grandchildren from their masters,

Internship monthly report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Internship monthly report - Assignment Example I participated in several activities like; preparing several master programs. I was briefed on the idea before I began doing it. I also took part in the view and price analysis of the Baltimore house project. It was fun as well as challenging as I had to do it on my own and later explain why I thought it was so to the rest. Another challenging activity I did was to participate in a meeting representing one of my supervisors who was on holiday. I had to report to representatives from other departments on issues concerning the Baltimore project plan of the Wing Hong Street project. It was very exciting since I had to contribute to the meeting alone. I gained the essential knowledge concerning the job nature of building and construction. For this second month, I learnt how to co-operate with diverse parties from a customer perspective. I established that problems in communication were the most tricky to address in property management. Junior, Ricardo  M., Josà ©Ã‚  R. Quevedo, Civil Engineer, Jorge  M. Jr, and Paulo  S. Fontoura. "THE NECESSARY BACKGROUND FOR IMPLEMENTING AND MANAGING BUILDING DESIGN PROCESSES USING WEB ENVIRONMENTS."  (2007):

Dating and Mating Relationship from Christian Standpoint Essay

Dating and Mating Relationship from Christian Standpoint - Essay Example The procedures taken by the current generation have left them with bewilderment, pain, and sexual sin that they have had to encounter in spite of their best objectives. Reasons for such occurrences are pointed out in the subsequent body text. The amalgamation of sex organs for two persons that are sexually active for insemination purpose is referred to as copulation. The process consequently results in an internal fertilization process. In the contemporary world, men and women engage in a process of looking out for spouses with the aim of getting into marriage (Burton, 2010). However, the process raises numerous questions. The Christian religion professes that selection of a companion according to the Bible teachings should assist in securing an individual a perfect match for his or her values. Even though the terms dating and mating are not found in the Bible, Christians are presented with some guiding principles that they should adhere to prior to getting married. Whenever an individual is strongly committed in a relationship, be it mating and dating relationship, he or she should endeavor to acknowledge the Lord. In addition, individuals should adore and respect each other just in a similar manner they do to themselves. The condition is certainly spot on for a dating or mating relationship. Biblical principles present a perfect way of having a secure basis for a dating or mating relationship

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - Essay Example It resulted in loss and injury of 51,000 men. The characters of the book include General Robert E. Lee (commander of the Confederate army), General James Longstreet (General Lee’s second in command); and Union Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain (the participant of the fighting on Little Round Top, one of the most popular divisions of the Battle of Gettysburg). On June 29, 1863, Longstreet meets a spy, who tells him that the Union army is moving, which surprises him because he thinks that General Stuart is supposed to follow the Union army. He thinks it appropriate to catch the Union army from north. The Confederates move south-east in Gettysburg. Colonel Chamberlain finds out that there are a hundred new mutineers from the Second Maine, out of whom six join his Twentieth Maine after his speech. The Union army, under supervision of General Buford, arrives in Gettysburg to find out the Confederates already present there. Buford positions nearly 200 soldiers along the hills to confron t the Confederates, because he thinks it easier to fight from the top. George Pickett and many other Generals meet Longstreet in the Confederate camp. General Lee is irritated at the absence of General Stuart. On July 1, he meets Longstreet who tells that he wants to confront the Union army from south-east, to come between them and Washington D.C. Lee refuses. The Confederates attack the Union army at Gettysburg. Buford keeps back the Confederates with the help of General Reynolds, who gets killed. Lee arrives and finds the battle going on, and orders his Generals to attack the Union army from south. Chamberlain’s troops also move in the north of Gettysburg. The union army retreats to the hills and sets up cannons. Longstreet is perplexed at Lee’s decision, and is angry at General Ewell’s move of making the Union forces retreat in hills. The Union army blames Buford for the retreat. Chamberlain is still moving in the north of Gettysburg on July 2, where he meets an escaped slave. Lee approves of Ewell and Early’s plan to attack two flanks of the Union. He moves his forces toward the hill, where the Unions had already come down. Lee attacks, and the result is a scene of carnage from both sides. Chamberlain reaches the little Round Top. His troops run short of bullets. They scream and frighten the Confederates away, making the Unions possess the Little Round Top. Lee gets angry at Stuart when he arrives. Lee sets a new plan of attacking the middle flank of the Unions. He orders Chamberlain’s troops to take position, on July 3. Longstreet tries to convince Lee to leave the plan, but all in vain. He gives Pickett the charge of attack. The Confederates attack the Unions. Chamberlain is safe, though his troops are in the center. The attack is of less harm to the Unions, who attack back with cannons, causing the Confederates much loss. Confederates retreat, and the gory battle ends (Bailey). Shaara’s attempt at describing eve nts made this book the top best-seller (Wilson and Fischer 492). I loved reading the book, and appreciated the way the writer has conveyed the correct sequence of events. The way of writing is subtle yet imaginary, and I can feel myself present at the place of war while reading. The tone is expressive, and the style of writing, with which the chronological order of events has been presented, is lucid. While synopsis, I

Mussolini Policies Essay Example for Free

Mussolini Policies Essay a) Relations with the Catholic Church: Even though Mussolini had seemed anti-clerical and had written â€Å"God Does Not Exist† he had began forming a good relationship with the Roman Catholic Church because of its huge power and influence. He had begun forming this good relationship by getting married in a church in 1926 and having his two children baptized. He had also closed down some wine shops and nightclubs. In 1929 the Lateran treaty was signed after a series of meetings it had recognized the pope’s sovereign rule, the church had received 750 million lire cash and 1000 million lire in government bonds for the loss of the papal states in 1860. Catholicism had also become the state religion; church marriages became legal, religious education were a must in secondary schools, catholic action would continue as long as it was independent of political parties and it was subordinate to the church’s hierarchy. This treaty had gotten the church and it’s faithful followers on Mussolini’s side. However, this treaty had angered the radical fascists who were anti-clerical since the independence of the church meant there would be no totalitarian rule. The church had also been against communism and socialism therefore when the fascist destroyed the left this had brought Mussolini closer to the church. Mussolini had also strengthened this relationship by exempting the clergy from paying taxes in the mid 1920’s in return the Pius XI forced Dom Sturzo to resign since he was a fierce opponent of fascism. However, some friction remained between the fascist government and the Catholic Church as the catholic youth movements rivaled the fascist youth and student organizations. Moreover, some of the members of the catholic student organization were becoming influential and became significant leaders in the Christian Democratic Party in Italy after 1945 such as Aldo Moro in the 1930’s, which created problems for the fascists. The pope had also disapproved of the anti-Semitic laws introduced by Mussolini. However, he had approved of the invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 since it was similar to a crusade and his intervention in the Spanish civil war in 1926 to stop the Left. Mussolini’s relationship with the church remained well since they both gained a lot from their treaty. This policy had brought back the church’s power and had made Mussolini’s aim to build a new fascist generation impossible. b) Education and youth movements: Italian fascism like all other fascists had wanted to influence the young generation. In 1926 the Opera Nazionale Balilla was established bringing together fascist youth organizations and giving government funding. It was placed under the ministry of education in 1929 and they had begun closing rival youth organizations except the catholic youth groups. In 1932 the Ballila membership became obligatory. In 1937 the ONB joined with the young fascists to create one youth organization called Gioventu Italiana del Littorio for 6-21 year olds. The Ballila was political and it was militarized but it was also filled with sports and recreational activities, which attracted children, but 40% of the population had not joined showing the failure of this policy. At first Italian schools had some freedom but Mussolini had appointed the philosopher Giovanni Gentile to become the first minister of education. In 1923 Gentile had passed the education act which had changed education by promoting grammar schools, encouraging philosophy, classical studies and had not emphasized on technical and vocational education. To ensure that the schools would not spread anti-fascist ideas, anti-fascist teachers were removed and teachers were forced to take an oath of loyalty. Mussolini had started to really control schools in the mid 1930’s, as schools were obliged to use fascist textbooks. In 1936 there was also a history textbook that had to be taught which focused on promoting a part of Italian history that would create loyalty to Mussolini. Physical education was also important to have healthy kids who could go to war and be prepared for motherhood. Therefore, Mussolini had greatly impacted education in order to create loyalty to him. c) The battle of the births In order to make Italy a great power Mussolini had launched in 1927 a battle for the births so that Italy’s population could go from 37 to 60 million. The government started encouraging marriage by forcing more taxes on bachelors, awarding prizes to women with the most children, families with 10 or more children were exempted from paying taxes, loans were given to newly married couple, family allowances were introduced in 1934 finally the criminal code in 1932 had banned contraception, abortion and sterilization. This policy had failed since birth rate continued to fall in 1922 there was 147.5 births for every 1000 women of childbearing age while in 1936 it had fallen to 102.7 births. The population had only reached 44 million in 1940. However, this was only due to the falling of death rate and emigration but the government had failed to encourage early marriage as the average age at which they got married rose from the 1930’s. d) The media and the arts Mussolini wanted to suppress opposition so he started by censoring newspapers in 1923 and the fascists government had taken owned 10% of newspapers which meant it did not take over press but controlled what they wrote as the editors that would oppose him would be fined or banned from journalism. At first the fascist government saw radio and film as being insignificant but this changed when the government broadcasts increased and the ownership of radios went up to one million. Similarly, in 1924 a government film agency called Istituto Luce was created to make documentaries. In 1937 the government founded an Italian film studio called Cinecitta. However, Mussolini began really using propaganda in the 1930’s in order to form a new type of Italian, a heroic and energetic one. In 1925 the cult of the Duce was launched as was the biography of Mussolini called Dux. In this book Mussolini was presented as an athlete, hard working and loved the people. There were also many parades to elaborate rituals in order to revive roman spirit. The use of propaganda had aided Mussolini to become more popular in the years 1929-36. However, this popularity had begun to diminish once Mussolini became more radical as he applied the anti-Semitic policy and joined WWII. Mussolini did not get involved in art as much as Hitler had but there were division within the fascists as to which type of art to support. The neo-classicists preferred architecture and art that was inspired by ancient Rome while the modernists encouraged experimental art. Therefore, this lead to the formation of two artistic prizes, the Cremona prize for traditional art and propaganda while the Bergamo prize encouraged experimentation. To try to spread access to art the fascist government organized almost 50 art exhibitions a year. e) Racial policies (Anti-Semitic laws) Early on Mussolini had not shown any signs anti-Semitism however he had been racist against Africans in Libya and Abyssinia. One of the theories is that Mussolini had wanted to weaken the Jews because in the 1930’s he wanted to start a war and was not sure whether they would be loyal or not. Another theory is that in 1938 Mussolini was getting closer to Germany but while Hitler never pushed him to adopt anti-Semitism he might have chosen to adopt it in order to get closer to Hitler. Mussolini had started this policy by writing an article on reducing the number of Jews in 1938. He had then banned marriage between Jews and non-Jews, forbidden the Jews from jobs in civil service, teaching and PNF membership. The Jewish kids were also excluded from state schools and up to 10000 non-Italian Jews were deported. This law had caused Mussolini to become unpopular even within his own party who was made up of one third of Jews. The church that had a major influence had also criticized this law therefore making Mussolini even more unpopular. By 1941 6000 Italian Jews had left Italy among them were businessmen, professionals and academics therefore when they left the economy was badly affected. And wasn’t implemented systematically f) Other areas/ points of your own: Economic policies Mussolini had wanted to improve the economy to prevent foreign input this policy was called Autarky. He had adopted the battle of the grains in 1925 to improve agriculture to increase grain production in order to show economic strength therefore leading to nationalism. This policy had succeeded as imports were reduced by 75% between 1925 and 1935 therefore increasing Mussolini’s popularity. However, to increase production of wheat he needed more land to plant and he started using the land suitable for citrus which caused a decrease in their production and poverty in the south still continued. Another policy he had adopted was the corporate state in 1926 to manage relationships between employer and employee so as to cooperate therefore leading to more production. By 1934 22 corporations were set up and had succeeded to influence the economy. However, the corporations were just advisors that were dominated by fascists therefore they did what is best for them and left the worker’s interests aside. g) Conclusion Mussolini had adopted many policies that had gained him popularity and changed the Italian society such as the relationship with the church and influencing the media and the arts. However, when he had become more radical and adopted the anti-Semitic policy and tried to control education he had began losing popularity, which had eventually lead to his fall. To what extent was Mussolini influential in international affairs in the 1930’s? After the league of nations was undermined by the Manchuria crisis therefore when Hitler had began expanding and broke the treaty of Versailles by announcing his intention to build an army of 550000 men using conscription Mussolini decided to sign the stress front on 1935 with France and Britain. This stated that the three countries would take action if Germany broke the treaty of Versailles further. However, this agreement fell apart when Britain did not consult Italy or France before singing the Anglo-German naval agreement in 1935, which allowed Germany to expand its navy beyond what the treaty Versailles had allowed. Mussolini had also invaded Abyssinian, which Britain and France disapproved of. Therefore this shows that his international affairs with other countries had failed. Moreover, when Mussolini had invaded Abyssinia in 1935 it had changed his foreign policy completely his relationship with Britain and France was destroyed while his relationship with Germany was improving. Although Mussolini though France and Britain would not react to this invasion the League of Nations imposed economic sanctions since Britain was being undermined. However, Germany continued to trade with Italy and Mussolini ignored the sanctions therefore strengthening their relationship and weakening the league. In addition, Mussolini had also intervened in the Spanish civil war as he send 70000 troops to Spain to help support general Franco. Although he had failed he had sent them in order to weaken France who had a similar government as Spain and to have a naval base in the Balearic Islands to help promote Italian power in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, Mussolini’s relationship with Germany had also been strengthened as they had signed the Rome-berlin axis. Italy had also walked out of the League of Nations as Germany had done. It is also said that Mussolini had adopted the anti-Semitic policy in order to get closer to Germany and to make Italy more radical. As Mussolini became closer to Hitler he had changed his foreign policy towards Austria as he allowed Germany to increase its influence over Austria. In 1938 after the newly appointed chancellor Seyss-Inquart had invited Hitler to send troops, Hitler had attacked Austria and Mussolini had not rejected. Moreover, when a crisis broke out because Hitler had wanted to invade Czechoslovakia after he demanded that the Czech government allow the German speaking are of Czechoslovakia to unite with Germany. Therefore, it seemed that Britain and France would side with Czechoslovakia therefore causing war. Mussolini played the role of peacemaker and set up the Munich conference in 1938. Mussolini was also encouraged by Britain and France’s appeasement of Hitler to avoid aggression to start a more violent foreign policy. Mussolini had also been aware of him being the weak partner in the Italian-German relationship therefore this encouraged him to become violent to be more influential. He started by invading Albania in 1939. He then signed the pact of steel with Germany in 1939, which forced the two countries to support each other in case of war. This was an advantage for Germany who was likely to enter a war while Italy would be helped to expand.

Jones Blair Case Study Essay Example for Free

Jones Blair Case Study Essay Jones †¢ Blair is a company that produces and sells architectural paint it also sell paint sundries which include paintbrushes and rollers. It caters to over 50 countries which are divided into two sectors the DFW area and the non-DFW area. Of the two the DFW area has been proven to be the most successful area for the company. In 1999 the company made 80 million in sales and 60% of this was contributed by the DFW area. There are two segments within the company’s main sales attributes and these are between the do it yourself market and the professional market. With regards to the professional market in the DFW area this accounted for 70% of sales In the non-DFW area 70% of sales were made through the do-it-yourself market. During a meeting the company discussed the problem of where and how to carry out marketing efforts. They were left with four options: 1) Cut the price by 20%. 2) Hire one additional sales rep. 3) Spend additional $350,000 on advertising. 4) Stay the same. A detailed look into each option. 1) Cut the price by 20%. The shopper research programme indicated that dealers will back off the brand when the customer appears price sensitive. By cutting the price by 20% this will allow the company to be on par with national brands. The current contribution margin for the company is 35% if the price was to be cut by 20% then the new contribution margin would be reduced to: 35% 20% = 15% with the current sale volume being $12 million and a price cut of 20% the sales would have to increase significantly for the price cut to be effective. According to Barrett â€Å"we are now the highest price paint in our service area† the fact that the company still has increasing sales despite being the highest cost brand of all the competitors this shows that the company is being perceived as giving high quality goods where people don’t mind about paying extra for their brand. If the company was to cut the price by 20% this may leave doubts in peoples minds about whether or not the brand is actually as high quality as they had thought. The fact that they can get away with charging a higher price for their brand they should stick with it. 2) Hire one additional sales rep. Currently the company has 8 sales reps which are responsible for the following tasks: Monitoring inventories. Taking orders. Assisting in store display. Coordinating cooperative advertising programmes. A survey indicated that the sales reps were very well liked, helpful, professional and knowledgeable with regards to paint. These reps are paid a salary and also a 1% commission. The cost of hiring an additional sales rep would be $60,000 a year, this is excluding commission. The vice president feels that the current sales reps aren’t aggressive enough and the fact that only 5 new accounts were made in the last 5 years something needs to be done. Only 16% of the accounts come from the non-DFW area so maybe a focus needs to be placed onto this area. If this was to be done, an additional sales rep be assigned to the non-DFW area this could lead to a significant increase in sales. 3) Spend additional $350,000 on advertising. The vice president of advertising believes that there is a need for an awareness level of 30% among do-it-yourselfers to affect their sales. An emphasis on television coverage will reach non-DFW consumers in 15 countries. Research shows that ads affect the buying process Since most consumers consider the store before the actual brand maybe the advertising should be focused more-so on corporate ads rather than brand ads. The company spends 3% of its net sales on advertising therefore the current cost of advertising is: 3% of 12 million = 360000 with an additional spend of $350000 on advertising the total cost of advertising would be: 360000+ 350000= $710,000. This would almost double the cost of advertising and since there’s an emphasis on television this could prove to be a risky option, especially since brand awareness isn’t the main attribution to buyer behaviour. Another factor to consider is the fact that 75% of the audience of the advert arent buying paint. 4) Stay the same. The final option for the company would be to keep everything the same which is advised by the vice president of finance. Since the company is continuing to make profit he feels that if you were to take the other options that there would have to be a significant increase in the sales volume which may not be a result. Although most of the options offer different benefits and of course different drawbacks we dont think there is an outright option to choose. With regards to the cut in price of 20% we dont believe this option should be chosen. The fact that the company is allowed to charge the higher price and is perceived as being a high quality brand why should they risk losing all of this by accepting the price cut. The next option with regards to hiring an additional sales rep we feel that the fact that they have 8 sales reps already would the addition of another really make a significant impact on sales. Rather than focusing on hiring a new one we believe that if they focused more-so and possibly retraining their current sales reps this could prove to be more effective. The fact that the sales reps are already considered highly by the customers is a bonus. If more effort was put into them and how they could improve efficiency then this could be worthwhile to the company. The company could divide up the sales reps into the necessary markets and possibly by offering them incentives this could increase their performance. By hiring an additional sales rep doesnt necessarily promise a change in sales. With regards to an increase of advertising spending of $350,000 we wouldnt recommend this option. As the company wants to put an emphasis on television and the fact that 75% of the audience dont buy paint, the 25% of the audience that do doesnt seem like a big enough market coverage to invest such a lot of money into. Instead we feel they should look into other marketing options. The fact that with regards to buyer behaviour that customers choose the store first before the brand maybe the company should look into advertising within the actual stores. They could look into what stores are proven to be more popular and focus advertising attention on these. With the last option as staying the same although the company is continuing to make profits we feel like this could be the easy option. Rather than just being content with what is currently happening with the business they should focus on improving the business. The fact is that more and more competitors may enter the market or even people may change their buying behaviour but ultimately the company should try and always be a brand considered.

Production of Hydrophobic Bioplastics using Silicon Dioxide

Production of Hydrophobic Bioplastics using Silicon Dioxide ABSTRACT Silicon dioxide (SiO2), also known as silica, is a chemical compound that comes in different forms and has a variety of uses. One form is silica gel, which is used as a desiccant in shoe boxes and bags to prevent rupturing, and to prevent molds in food products. Silica is the main material in our project because it has water-repelling properties and our group planned to create hydrophobic bioplastics with these properties. The purpose of this study is to benefit people in many ways. One way is the protection for electronic gadgets from water. Another method is to speed up the cleaning of food containers. With the hydrophobic properties of our plastic, water has less contact with it making washing containers easier. To test our plastics we produced for hydrophobic properties (or wetability), we used a testing method known as the drop contact method. Twelve pieces of 2cm x 2cm plastic samples were prepared – with 3 pieces per concentration. A graduated dropper was used to drop 1mL of water on each plastic sample over a dish. The amount of water on the dish shows how much water each plastic sample repels. Our results show that as the concentration of the silicon dioxide increases, the water repelled decreases.  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­ Background of the Study: SiO2 is a substance used to produce modern plastics. The group came up with an idea of making use of the said substance to produce hydrophobic plastics which could be a big help in latest technology and practical activities in our daily lives. Through this, we could also expand the capability of the silicon dioxide which may be used also in different ways. Research Hypothesis: If silicon dioxide is added as a material in the production of plastics, then a more hydrophobic plastic will be produced. Objectives of the Study General Objective: This study was conducted to test the effectiveness of silicon dioxide in producing hydrophobic plastics. Specific Objectives: Produce an inexpensive and durable hydrophobic bioplastic material. Test the hydrophobicity of the bioplastic produced using the drop contact testing method. Significance of the Study The researchers chose the topic because of the advantages that could be given to us people not only in our homes but on other fields of industries by the product. Plastics are widely used all over the world; it is the main reason why the researchers would like to introduce new technology in the form of hydrophobic plastics. If the project would be successful, hydrophobic plastics would be a big help in cleaning surfaces of plastics. For instances, dusts on plastics could be easily washed away by pouring water into the surface of the plastic. Hydrophobic plastics could also be alternative casings to our gadgets and appliances. It could protect our modern technologies from water penetration. It would also bring advantages in storing food products in the refrigerator like meats and fishes. The product will also be a good container for soaps, toothbrushes, plates and other household materials. Scope and Limitations The research shall only focus in the ability of plastic to repel water. Other characteristics of a plastic shall be maintained. In the production of the plastic, silicon dioxide will be the only addition to the regular raw materials of the process. Review of Related Literature Repellant Plastics GE accomplished this by modifying a material that’s a mainstay of its plastics business. And they took their inspiration from the leaves of the lotus plant, which is naturally super hydrophobic; microscopic inspection of lotus leaves reveals their nanocrystalline wax structure. The lotus leaf surface has cells 5-10 micrometers wide, on top of which are tiny wax crystals that are tens of nanometers wide. On a lotus leaf, water beads look almost like perfect spheres. GE set out to mimic this pattern on the surface of its polycarbonate material, essentially by â€Å"roughening† the surface in a specific way. Tao Deng, materials scientist at GE, is tight-lipped about the process, but says it was done with a â€Å"chemical treatment of the surface.†GE succeeded with its prototype last summer, but only began discussing the advance in recent weeks. One of the significant downsides is that the process leaves the plastic opaque, not transparent. That means it would not work for plastic windows or clear food containers. But a clear version is not far off. â€Å"That’s coming,† Deng says. Even getting the opaque versions into real products will take some time. GE estimates it will be at least five years before commercialization, once the manufacturing issues are resolved. Five years isn’t that much time, though – about how long it takes for all the ketchup to drip out of today’s plastic bottles. Hydrophobic Glasses BalcoNano stated that there are two categories of what is known in the market as â€Å"self-cleaning† glass. These two categories are: glass coated or applied with hydrophilic layer that uses photo catalytic decomposition, and glass coated or applied with a hydrophobic protective coating. The microscopically rough surface of glass is what makes it hard to clean. Dirt, bacteria and other particles can get deep into the glasses that it cannot be removed with any cleaning material. To solve this problem, we can make the surface of the glass very water repelling or hydrophobic. Applying a hydrophobic coating to the glass gives it a sort of shield. Dirt particles are picked up by water droplets due to the surface created by the hydrophobic coating. This form of glass works in a similar way to Teflon works on a frying pan. It produces a non-stick surface and water will run off of this surface quickly and not streak. The coating or applications of this type are silica based and create a nano-scale film that covers the microscopic valleys and peaks on the surface of glass. This type of self-clean coating prevents the contamination, dirt and grime from clinging onto the glass or fixing to the surface. There are advantages and disadvantages of hydrophobic coated glass. An advantage is that everything that gets put on the glass can be easily removed with water. Dirt, graffiti, and paint can get washed off with just a splash or two. A disadvantage is that coatings may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, and that application is not easy. Factory applied coatings, depending on the exact product, have a life span of 3 to 10 years in external conditions. Cost wise the hydrophobic coatings and applications are usually about half the cost of the hydrophilic type glasses. Many industries and manufacturers commonly use silica powders alone or in combination with other ingredients. The mineral has moisture absorbing and thickening properties. These characteristics make silica useful in construction materials, cosmetics, and some foods. Silica is one of the most common minerals on the planet. It is a component of sand and quartz along with other minerals. Manufacturers obtain natural silica by mining and grind the substance into granules or fine powders. Some companies make synthetic silica, but both types commonly start with silica sand. Both natural and synthetic silica powders are frequently found in non-food products. Microscopic diatoms, which are hard-shelled skeletal remains of single celled plants, also contain silicon dioxide. These remains exist in salt and fresh water beds. These types of silica are frequently referred to as amorphous silica. They are frequently ground into granules or a fine powder, sometimes called silica flour. Diatomaceous earth silica may be used in food or non-food products. Quartz powders or glass powders are silica sand heated to extreme temperatures and melted. Artisans and manufacturers mold and shape the molten material. When cooled, the substance becomes glass. Paints, plastics, polyvinyl chloride glue, and corrosive resistant coatings all contain silica powders. In some of these products, the silica acts as a thickening or hardening agent. Some cleansers and detergents contain silica powders. The granulated mineral scrubs surfaces by means of mechanical abrasion. Silica detergents might be used for washing clothes, dishes, or be found in general powdered cleaners. Abrasive action is also desired in some toothpastes, which contain diatomaceous earth silica as one of the ingredients. When used in hand cleaners, the abrasive nature of silica may cause rashes or other skin irritations. Silica cosmetics contain the silky translucent powder to absorb skin oils. The mineral is thought to be hypoallergenic and some believe the substance reduces the visibility of facial lines and wrinkles. Consumers may purchase silica powders and add the substance to lawns or soil to increase moisture retention. Some believe the powdered form also deters or eliminates insect pests, though inhaling the product may lead to serious lung inflammation or possibly cancer. Food and pharmaceutical industries commonly use silica powders for the mineral’s ability to absorb up to 50% of its weight in moisture. Food grade, or the diatomaceous earth form of silica powders, is commonly used as an anti-caking agent in coffee creamers, powdered foods, and seasonings. The self-contained gel packs frequently found in medications and over-the-counter supplement bottles usually contain some form of silica. Bioplastics Bioplastic isnotmade from petroleum, which is a non-renewable resource. Bioplastics come fromsustainable renewable resources. Corn regrows in a year. They arenon- toxic:no harmful toxins will leak into the food compostable. Best case scenario it ends in a commercial compost facility where it composts, and is used to feed the soil and grow more plants. Biodegradable Bioplastic takes longer to biodegrade in home composts, where conditions are uncontrolled and are rarely optimal. If it does end up in a landfill it will biodegrade if it is exposed to bacteria, moisture and heat. There are different biodegradable plastics available, each with their own properties: PLA is made from fermented corn starch, and is a great alternative to conventional petroleum based plastic in many applications. PLA is transparent and heat sensitive to 40 C. It’s used on its own, or as a thin sheet over bagasse or cardboard to act as a moisture or grease barrier. It is used to make our  bags, bowls,  cupsand  lids. CPLA is a combination of PLA, chalk and other biodegradable additives and can withstand temperatures of up to 95 °C without deforming. It is usually opaque in colour and is used for making our disposable  cutlery  and  coffee cup lids. Definition of Terms For this research study, one must know and understand the following terms: Plastics are one of class of organic compounds made from hydrocarbons, proteins, cellulose, or resins that can be molded, extruded, cast, or otherwise fabricated into various shapes. In this study, we use bioplastics which are just plastics developed from cornstarch. Hydrophobicity is a characteristic of a material to repel water. Drop contact is a testing method to determine the hydrophobicity of the material. It is done by dropping a constant amount of water on a sample material over a dish. The amount of water on the dish shows how much water the sample repels. METHODOLOGY Procedure Preparation of materials The researchers prepared the various raw materials that make up the bioplastic: powdered silica, starch, vinegar, glycerin and water. Three different 7 cm x 7cm x 1 cm containers were also prepared and were labeled A, B and C. The materials and then placed in different containers, grouped as: ‘A’ for 0% concentration, ‘B’ for 1% concentration, ‘C’ for 2% concentration, and ‘D’ for 3% concentration.[Sir Jay1]  ­Ã‚ ­Production of the Plastic The materials mentioned above are mixed then heated until the mixture boils and creates a clear substance. After heating, the mixture is placed on a flat surface depending on the desired thickness. The mixture was set aside to dry until it produced a durable plastic. For the constant group; the researchers mixed 48g of cornstarch, 314ml of water, 8ml of vinegar, and another 8ml of glycerin. Thus 330 ml of mixture is produced which is divided into three making it 110 ml for each plastic sample. For 1% concentration; 3.3 ml of the 330 ml mixture is removed and replaced with 6.3g of powdered SiO2. The 330 ml with 1% concentration is also divided into three making it 110 ml of 1% concentration for each plastic sample. For 2% concentration; 6.6 ml of the 330 ml mixture is removed and replaced with 12.6g of powdered SiO2. The 330 ml with 2% concentration is also divided into three making it 110 ml of 1% concentration for each plastic sample. For 3% concentration; 9.9 ml of the 330 ml mixture is removed and replaced with 18.9g of powdered SiO2. The 330 ml with 3% concentration is also divided into three making it 110 ml of 1% concentration for each plastic sample. Testing and Data Gathering The produced plastic is tested on its hydrophobic properties by comparing the amount of water repelled by each of the concentrations (using the drop contact testing method). The dimensions of the sample material for each concentration that we used are 2 cm by 2 cm. The statistical test we have selected for this study is one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. Analysis If the silica-concentrated group shows a noteworthy distinction to the control, we can conclude that SiO2 is effective in making hydrophobic plastic. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION TABLE 1 Amount of water repelled by the produced bioplastics with different silica concentrations Reflected in Table 1 the evidence showing variability in the amount of water repelled by the plastics produced using different concentrations of silica. The minimum mean (0.63 mL) is in the control and the maximum (0.78 mL) is shared 2% and 3% concentration. FIGURE 1 Line graph showing the correlation between the values of the amount of water repelled Then, the researchers tested the data obtained using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test to see if there is a significant difference among the control and independent variables. According to the results of the test, there is a very significant difference (0.0002) on 0% vs 1% and extremely significant differences on 0% vs 2% and 0% vs 3%. However, the 1%, 2% and 3% concentrations show no significant differences when compared with each other. Furthermore, there is positive correlation (0.9012). CONCLUSION The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of silicon dioxide (SiO2) powder to the production of hydrophobic bioplastics. According to the results of our experiment, adding silicon dioxide to the contents of a bioplastic evidently makes it more hydrophobic. However, varying the concentration does not affect the hydrophobicity of the plastic. RECOMMENDATION The research group recommends adding more variations to the concentrations to give a better comparison of the experiment. Adding more trials to each concentration is also recommended to make the results more accurate. Also, using Tapioca starch is a great alternative for making the bioplastic. Remember to make the right calculations for the concentrations. Maintain the same shape, area, and weight for all trials of the plastic so that the comparison is accurate.  ­ BIBLIOGRAPHY BalcoNanoâ„ ¢. (n.d.). Hydrophobic Glasses. Retrieved from BalcoNano: http://www.balconano.com/HydrophobicGlass.aspx Craig Freudenrich, P. (n.d.). How Plastics Work. Retrieved from Howstuffworks: http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic5.htm Hall, M. J., Barwick, S. (2013, April 10). What Are the Different Uses of Silica Powders? Retrieved from wiseGEEK: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-uses-of-silica-powders.htm Mempro Materials. (n.d.). Silicon Dioxide Nanofiber Materials. Retrieved from Mempro: http://mempro.com/products/ceramic-nanofiber-materials/silicon-dioxide-nanofiber-material/ Rice University News Release. (2010, September 1). Silicon oxide circuits break barrier. Retrieved from Understanding Nano: http://www.understandingnano.com/silicon-oxide-nanowire-memory.html Talbot, D. (2006, February 23). Super-Repellent Plastic. Retrieved from MIT Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/405378/super-repellent-plastic/ http://www.greenhome.co.za/raw-materials/plant-starch/ APPENDICES Appendix A Total Cost of the Project Total project cost: à ¢Ã‚ ±Ã‚ £ 863.00 APPENDIX B Ordinary One-Way ANOVA (at ÃŽ ± = 0.05) APPENDIX C Tukey’s Multiple Comparisons (at ÃŽ ± = 0.05)  ­ 1 [Sir Jay1]revise

The Year of the Zombie :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

The Year of the Zombie Now a high-school senior, I still remember my freshman year with a shudder; it was the year my friends and I joked about as the "Year of the Zombie." It wasn't that I had contracted a rare medical disorder that transformed me into one of the walking dead. I had done what many diligent students do: sacrifice most of my sleep time for the sake of academic success. Don't get me wrong; my parents never mandated that I take all the honors classes I could gain admission to. No one told me to take three honors classes. No one, that is, except the little voice in my head that convinced me scholarly success was based upon the number of "H's" on my high-school transcript. The counselors cautioned me not to do it, students who had fallen into the trap before warned me against it and my parents just left it up to me. Through it all, I just smiled and reassured them, "Don't worry; I can handle it." The trouble was, I didn't have the slightest idea what lay ahead. I soon found myself mired in work. For a person whose friends teased her about being a neat freak, I grew increasingly messy. My room and desk looked like my backpack had exploded. There was no time to talk to friends on the phone, not even on the weekends. Going to bed at midnight was a luxury, 1 a.m. was normal, 3 a.m. meant time to panic and 4 a.m. meant it was time to go to sleep defeated. Most days, I would shuffle clumsily from class to class with sleep-clouded eyes and nod off during classroom lectures. There was even a month in winter when I was so self-conscious of my raccoon eyes that I wore sunglasses to school. My parents applauded my academic success, but hardly knew the price I paid for it. I vividly remember one night when my mother couldn't fall asleep. She kept going to bed and getting up again. Every -, time I heard her get up, I'd turn off my light so she wouldn't catch me still awake. By 5 o'clock that morning, I was so sleepy that I didn't hear her footsteps as she shuffled down the hallway. When she saw the light under my door, she came in and demanded to know why I wasn't sleeping.

Babies Killing Babies :: essays research papers

BABIES KILLING BABIES National Institute of Mental Health: Thinking About Violence in Our Schools Office of The Surgeon General: Youth Violence Two teenagers entered a high school in Colorado and opened fire on their classmates. The young gunmen end their lives, but not before taking the lives of fifteen students, and injuring twenty, finalizing the tragedy. In recent years we have experienced a rampage of violence in our schools. Researchers have yet to pinpoint the answer to this plague of violent disorders. The National Institute of Mental Health, and The Office of the Surgeon General have focused their research to the areas of stages of violence development, prevention and intervention, and methods of identifying the most effective treatments. Studies by the Office of the Surgeon General have concluded that there are two paths for the materialization of youth violence. One is identified at an early age of puberty, the other in the adolescent stage. The research shows that if there is violence demonstrated in the early childhood stage of a child, the degree of violence in the child rises, as the child grows older, concluding in severe violent behavior. The group that is said to be in the early-onset group, or before puberty, is said to have a greater and more serious number of violence incidents during the adolescent years. This also leads to a determining factor for violent behavior during their adulthood, (see research by Stattin and Magnusson, 1996; and Tolan and Gorman-Smith, 1998). Research has shown that violence offenses committed by young men, between the ages of sixteen or seventeen, can be traced back to their puberty stage (D’Unger et al., 1998; Elliot et al., 1996; Huzinga et al., 1995; Nagin and Tremblay , 1999; Patterson and Yoerger, 1997; Stattin and Magnusson, 1996). This is proof that the majority of offenders began their violent behavior during the younger years. However, the study also shows that those who began in the puberty stage did not commit the most serious and persistent acts of violence; moreover, by those who’s violent behavior began during adolescence. The study also concludes that there is very little support to the claims that youth violence can be easily identified at an early age. We can see an example of this in the violent shootings that took place in Jonesboro, Arkansas; where two boys, ages eleven and thirteen years old, opened fire during a false fire alarm, killing four girls and one teacher.

F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby as Criticism of American Society

  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes American society in the 1920?s for its tendencies to waste, advertise, form superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances. The work has been praised for both its brutal realism and its keen depiction of the age that The New York Times referred to as the era when, 'gin was the national drink and sex was the national obsession'(Fitzgerald vii).   ' . . . indifference is presented as a moral failure - a failure of society, particularly the society of the American east to recognize the imperatives of truth and honesty and justice? (Gallo 35).     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the wasteful tendencies of American society.   He uses the valley of ashes to refer to this ugly aspect of American society.   The valley of ashes is a bleak area situated between the West Egg and New York City, 'where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air'(Fitzgerald 23).   This unpleasant wasteland is located right along the roadway and train route between the eggs, home of the lofty aristocrats, and New York City, the exciting and fashionable metropolis where many of the nations wealthiest people live, work, and entertain themselves.   'There is no essential difference between the moneyed wastelands of New York City and Long Island and the valley of ashes,' (Gallo 49)  Ã‚   Referring to an eye doctor's billboard in the valley of ashes, Nick, our narrator comments:   Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice   in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal   blindness or forgot them and moved away.   But ... ... Moment: The Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1970. Whitley, John S.   F. Scott Fitzgerald: "The Great Gatsby." London: Edward Arnold, 1976. Outline Thesis statement: In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes American society in the 1920?s for its tendency to waste, advertise, form superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances. I. Introduction   A. Literary Classic   B. Societal Criticism    1. wasteful tendency    2. advertising obsession    3. superficial relationships    4. appearances fixation II. Wasteful Tendency   A. Valley of Ashes   B. Gatsby   C. Tom and Daisy III. Advertising Obsession   A. Billboard   B. McKees   C. Tom   D. Daisy   E. Gatsby III. Appearances Fixation   A. Myrtle   B. Catherine   C. Gatsby IV. Superficial Relationships   A. Billboard   B. Myrtle?s Party

Research Paper on Extraction of Pectin Essay

Sampalok, being of prehistoric introduction, is planted throughout the settled areas of the Philippines and is cultivated for its many uses. The plant is a large tree from 12 to 25 meters in height. The pods are oblong, thickened, and 6 to 15 centimetres by 2 to 3 centimeters, slightly compressed, and provided with a thin, crustaceous epicarp and a pulpy, acid, edible mesocarp. The young leaves flowers, leaves, and young pods are being used by people for seasoning foods like â€Å"sinigang†. The pulp surrounding the seeds, called â€Å"malasebo† is eaten outright either with or without salt (E. Quisumbing, 1951). Sampalok pulp contains Pectin which can be useful in our society and possibly be extracted. Pectin is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. The main use for pectin (vegetable agglutinate) is as a gelling agent, thickening agent and stabilizer in food. On this account, the researcher would like to experiment on tamarind pods, which has Pectin content and to extract it for further use, which can help in the food industry here in our country. Statement of the Problem The study aims to extract Pectin from Sampalok (Tamarindus indica) pods. Specifically to answer, the following questions: * How can Pectin be extracted from Sampalok? * How much Pectin can be extracted from the Tamarind fruit? * What general characteristics did the Pectin from the Tamarind fruit exhibit? Hypotheses * Pectin cannot be extracted from Tamarind. * No amount of Pectin can be extracted from the Tamarind. * The tamarind fruit did not exhibit characteristics of Pectin. Significance of the Study This study will help reduce the country’s importation of pectin from other countries. . Based from Government’s statistical data, our country had imported about 93,150 kilos of pectin in 2008. The cost incurred in importing Pectin is about P27, 000 per kilo. Finding an alternative source of pectin from locally grown plants like tamarind will help reduce the country’s dependence on pectin importation as well as help the local economy. If proven that pectin can be commercially extracted from tamarind then the local populace will be encouraged to cultivate tamarind as extra income. Scope and Limitations In this study, the researcher is only limited to use the tamarind pulp surrounding the seeds, called â€Å"malasebo† Tamarind pulp is the main independent variable in the extraction of pectin except for the materials needed for the extraction process. This project is limited only in extracting pectin from tamarind pulp. Review of Related Literature Pectin is defined as complex mixtures of polysaccharides that make up approximately one third of the cell-wall dry substance of most types of plants (Van Buren, 1991). The function of pectin in plants is to contribute structural integrity to the cell wall and adhesion between cells.   The methods of extraction will vary based on the actual makeup for each particular plant type. For example, protopectins are brought into solution by hot dilute acids. The general makeup of the pectin content varies with ripening of the plant and it is fairly easily brought into solution depending on the plant type (Van Buren, 1991). Commercial pectin extraction is mainly from citrus peel and apple pomace, but several other sources exist such as sugar beets and sunflower heads.   Because it is a natural additive for foods, pectin is being considered for a number of applications beyond the traditional jams and jellies. Pectin is now used as thickeners, water binders, and stabilizers. It is used in yogurts and pastry glazes and as a stabilizer in drinkable yogurts and blends of milk and fruit juices (May, 1990). Pectin is also being used as a texturizing fat replacer to mimic the mouth-feel of lipids in low-calorie foods and shorter chain galacturonic acids have been considered as clarification agents in fruit juices (Braddock, 1999). Pectin is also being used as a texturizing fat replacer to mimic the mouth-feel of lipids in low-calorie foods and shorter chain galacturonic acids have been considered as clarification agents in fruit juices (Braddock, 1999). Pectin has also been investigated for its usefulness in the pharmaceutical industry. Among other uses it has been considered in the class of dietary fibers known to have a positive effect on digestive processes and to help lower cholesterol (Braddock, 1999). It also is utilized to stabilize liquid pharmaceutical emulsions and suspensions. Pectin is capable of forming gels with sugar and acid. Because of this gelling ability one of the well-known uses of pectin is in high sugar jams and confectionery jellies, dating back to at least the 18th century (IPPA, 2001). METHODOLOGY The subsequent materials were used in the study: 1 kg fresh tamarind fruit, 750g water, kettle, a large bowl, cheese cloth, sieve, isopropanol, and drying oven. The fruit pods will then be put in the kettle and boiled for one hour. When boiling, heat to low and stir occasionally to break up pods. Transfer cooked pods with water in the large bowl and strain using a sieve, pressing pulp against it to extract all the juice. Then, strain the extracted juice again using the cheese cloth to produce a clear liquid extract. To remove impurities, use the most common method in which, mix the liquid extract with an organic solvent in which pectin is insoluble. As International Food Standards permit the use of only methanol, ethanol, or isopropanol as an organic solvent, the researcher treated the liquid extract with isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) in the ratio of 1 part liquid extract to 2 parts alcohol. In this process, when the liquid extract is mixed with sufficient alcohol, it solidifies the extract, making it firm enough to be handled. This precipitate (Pectin) is then washed several times to further remove other impurities. Once the pectin is isolated, it is dried in a drying oven overnight at 45 degrees Celsius, then ground to powder. Definition of Terms Pectin – is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It is used in food as a gelling agent particularly in jams and jellies. It is also used in fillings, medicines, sweets, as a stabilizer in fruit juices and milk drinks, and as a source of dietary fiber. Tamarind – is a long-lived, medium-growth, bushy tree, which attains a maximum crown height of 12.1 to 18.3 metres (40 to 60 feet). The crown has an irregular, vase-shaped outline of dense foliage. The fruit is an indehiscent legume, sometimes called a pod, 12 to 15 cm (3 to 6 inches) in length, with a hard, brown shell. The fruit has a fleshy, juicy, acidulous pulp. It is mature when the flesh is coloured brown or reddish-brown. The tamarinds of Asia have longer pods containing six to 12 seeds, whereas African and West Indian varieties have short pods containing one to six seeds. The seeds are somewhat flattened, and glossy brown. The tamarind is best described as sweet and sour in taste, and is high in acid, sugar, B vitamins and, oddly for a fruit, calcium. Extraction – the process of obtaining something from a mixture or compound using physical or chemical means. BIBLIOGRAPHY Book Sources: * Quisumbing, E. (1951) Philippine Medicinal Plants. Genus TAMARINDUS Linnaeus pp. 434-436, Manila * Srivastava, P. & Malviya, R. (2011) Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources Vol. 2 (1) Sources of pectin, extraction and its applications in pharmaceutical industry. pp. 10-18 * May, C. D. Handbook of Hydrocolloids pp. 169-188 * Huang, J. M. G. Improved method for the extraction of Pectin, PO Box 4200 Highstown, New Jersey 08520

Nixon’s Checker’s Speech

â€Å"The Checkers Speech† It was the midst of the 1952 presidential campaign when the New York Post’s newspaper story came out accusing Senator Richard Nixon of having a secret political fund. This accusation caused Nixon to face the reality of virtually being dropped as the presidential candidate of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s running mate. On September 23, 1952, Nixon sat down to address one of the largest television audiences in political history until Nixon’s 1960 debate with John F. Kennedy.While millions of American’s tuned into prime-time television, they sat and watched Senator Richard Nixon defend himself by delivering his influential and famous speech, which is known as his â€Å"Checkers Speech. † From the beginning of time, as seen in all political campaigns, the fight to win over the American public is mainly shown through these persuasive political speeches. In this particular speech, Nixon uses the art of rhetoric to persuade, mani pulate, and gain the trust of his audience. By using the empowerment of the new medium of television, he uses this political tool to manipulate.He bares his heart out through his words, and gives himself credibility by portraying himself as an honest, family man with good character. These key elements of a rhetor such as gaining the audiences’ approval by their persona, tone, and structure in which they deliver their thesis. All of these are important for a political speaker, so it enables them to overpower the numerous accusations that come along with the campaigning. Richard Nixon was a former Navy marine, which then led him to win a seat in the House of Representatives.Two years later he became a member of the House Committee, and investigated an espionage case, which turned him into a national figure as well as a controversial one. After two terms he was elected into the U. S. Senate. The young Richard Nixon had only six years of a political background when Dwight D. Eise nhower nominated him as his running mate in the 1952 election. With the rise of Nixon’s political career, it came to a halt when the New York Post’s headline stated, â€Å"Secret Rich Men’s Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary. Having relatively no political experience, he showed his virtuous qualities through this speech, knowing that had his future on the line.Richard Nixon was accused of accepting secret funds for his election campaign, but he cleared himself of these accusations and changed his audiences’ point of view through this speech. He used a brilliant political maneuver to directly address the public via the new medium of television. He began with stating, â€Å"†¦I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might obtain it. After this, he structures his speech through persuasion to give explicit reasons examples as to how he is the one that the people sh ould be confident in. Charged with accepting $18,000 from a group of his supporters, he confidently stated that he did not take one cent of it. He went into detail about the lack of funds he used, his earnings throughout the years, and how his wife was a main contributor to his campaign. He brings in the opposition of his opponent, how he puts his wife on the pay roll with his power, which is a gain in income for him and his campaigning.By doing this, Nixon clears the competition by having the He recited the audit that was taken on him through Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, one of the biggest law firms in Los Angeles. It concludes that Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the fund by Dana Smith. He gains his credibility by his hard and honest efforts throughout his life to get him where he is today. By the end of the message he informs the people that he did in fact accept a gift during the election—Checkers, their cocker spaniel dog.He e xplains how a Texas man heard his wife on the radio mention how their two children wanted a dog, and the next day he sent them a little cocker spaniel. Nixon explained how it is the one and only gift that he would keep for the sake of his children. Through this, it touched the hearts of Americans, giving him the image of a family man. After all of his truthful evidence, he submits the decision to the Republican National Committee whether his position on the ticket will help or hurt.With this influential speech, he changed the points of views of millions, and saved his name on the ballot, which potentially helped Eisenhower to win. The Checkers Speech is a widely known for its positively argumentative structure against the accusations of the press. He takes into account that being a politician it comes along with the rumors and scandals. He wanted to clearly state that these charges are an honest misunderstanding and he pleads to tell entire truth of his funds.Embedded in an extensiv e and complex listing of his personal finances, he closes by announcing that he did receive a gift and intended on keeping it—the dog. This is the point that caught the attention of millions and saved his political career, as well as possibly saving Dwight D. Eisenhower’s. Having read this speech, I would like to go into further research on why this speech was so persuasive. I would like to research the kind of language Nixon used, and if this speech wasn’t publicly televised, if it would have had a greater impact. Which of the theoretical lenses did he use?

Automated Grading System

If bridges and buildings were made like we make software, then we would have disasters happening daily. I have heard this several times from many people. It is sad but true. Buggy software is the bane of the software industry. One of the ways of increasing software quality is by proper education. Several professionals from the software industry also attest to this. They believe that a greater emphasis should be given to quality and testing in university courses. But simply explaining the principles of software quality is not sufficient.Students tend to forget theoretical principles over time. Practical exposure and experience is equally important. Students should be put in an environment where they can appreciate the importance of quality software and can experience the benefits of processes that enhance quality. Many universities have a period of internship for the students in which they work in a software company and experience these factors first hand. However because the internsh ip usually is of a duration of 3-6 months, it is not sufficient to instill the importance of quality.Emphasis on code quality should be made a part of the entire software curriculum for it to have proper impact. Every assignment that the students submit should be subjected to the same quality standards that an industrial project would be subjected to. Having university assignments adhere to industrial standards will result in the faculty having to spend more time grading the assignments. The faculty can no longer just give an assignment, wait for the students to submit it, and grade them. The faculty must be more like a project manager who constantly mentors the students and helps them improve the quality of their work.Along with spending a good amount of time mentoring students off class hours another challenge is timely evaluation of student assignments. Faculty members are already overloaded with the task of teaching, designing projects, grading, and research. Once we incorporate testing and quality into the curricula, each assignment will have to be graded along many more dimensions, such as quality of the tests, coverage of the tests, etc. This can be very time consuming. We need a mechanism which will automatically grade student assignments to the best possible extent, so that students are iven a timely feedback, and faculty can focus more on providing feedback on the style, design, and documentation of the project. Such a system will also bring consistency to the grading process and will eliminate discrepancies due to instructors bias and lethargy. A good automated grading system should be capable of executing the test cases written by students as well as the faculty on the project, determining the coverage of the test cases, and compiling and executing the submitted programs. It should be configurable so that faculty can determine the importance of various factors that make up the final grade.Several efforts have been made to design and implement autom ated grading systems in universities. Some existing systems are: 1. WEB-CAT[1] 2. Curator[2] 3. ASSYST[3] 4. Praktomat[4] 5. PGSE[5] 6. PILOT[6] In this article I will briefly explain two such automated grading systems – WEB-CAT, and the Praktomat systems, and propose a system that contains useful features from them as well as some new features. WEB-CAT WEB-CAT was created at Virginia Tech university to address the need for incorporating software testing as an integral part of all programming courses.The creators realized the need for a software to automatically grade student assignments to enable faster feedback to students and to balance the working load of faculty members. Since Test Driven Development (TDD) was to be used for all the assignments, the students had to be graded not only on the quality of code, but also on the quality of their test suite. WEB-CAT grades students on three criteria. It gives each assignment a test validity score, a test correctness score, and a code correctness score. Test validity measures the accuracy of the students tests. It determines if the tests are consistent with the problem tatement. Test coverage determines how much of the source code the tests cover. It determines if all paths and conditionals are adequately covered. Code correctness measures correctness of the actual code. All three criteria are given a certain weight-age and a final score is determined. WEB-CAT’s graphical user interface is inspired by the unit testing tool JUnit[7]. Just like JUnit it uses a green bar to show the test results. A text description containing details such as the number of tests that were run, and the number that passed is also provided. Basic features provided by WEB-CAT are: Submission of student assignments using a web based wizard interface †¢ Submission of test cases using a web based wizard interface †¢ Setup of assignments by faculty †¢ Download of student scores by the faculty †¢ Automatic gr ading with immediate feedback for student assignment WEB-CAT follows a certain sequence of steps to assess a project submission. A submission is assessed only if it compiles successfully. If compilation fails, then a summary of errors is displayed to the user. If the program is compiled successfully then WEB-CAT will assess the project on various parameters.It first tests the correctness of the program by running the student’s tests against the program. Since these tests are submitted by the students, and it is expected that 100% of the tests will pass, because we do not expect students to submit a program that fails their own tests. After this the student’s test cases are validated by running them against a reference implementation of the project created by the instructor. If a student’s test case fails on the reference implementation then it is deemed to be invalid. Finally the coverage of the student’s test cases is evaluated.Once the scores are obtain ed a cumulative score out of 100 is calculated applying a certain formula on the scores from all criteria. The results are displayed immediately to the student on an HTML interface. It was observed that the quality of student assignments increased significantly after using WEB-CAT. It was found that the code developed using WEB-CAT contained 45% fewer defects per 1000 (non commented) lines of code[8]. Praktomat Praktomat was created at Universitat Passau in Germany. The purpose of creating Praktomat was to build an environment which would help students enhance the quality of their code.Along with automated grading it also has a focus on peer reviews. The creators of Praktomat felt that reviewing others software and having one’s software reviewed helps in producing better code. This is the reason why Praktomat has a strong focus on peer review and allows users to review as well as annotate code written by other students. Students can resubmit their code any number of times til l the deadline. This way they can improve their code by adopting things they learned by reviewing other students code as well as lessons they learned by others feedback of their own code.Praktomat evaluates student assignments by running them against a test suite provided by the faculty. The faculty creates two test suites – a public suite and a secret suite. The public suite is distributed to the students to help them validate their project. The secret test suite is not made available to the students, but they are aware of its existence. An assignment is evaluated by automatically running both the test suites against it, and also by manual examination by the faculty. Praktomat was developed in Python, and is hosted on SourceForge[9]. ObservationsMy contention that student project submissions should be backed by a process to encourage best practices, and a software to automate as well as facilitate the process, has become stronger after reviewing WEB-CAT and Praktomat. What b est practices should we incorporate in the process? What are the features that an automated grading software should contain? WEB-CAT, Praktomat, and several other software give a good starting point. We can learn from their successes and failures, and enhance the offering by adding our own experience. WEB-CAT and several other sources[10] have shown us that TDD is definitely a good practice.In a university environment TDD will work best if it is complemented by instant feedback to the students. We want to have a process that will encourage students to improve the quality of their code. They should be graded on the best code they can submit till the deadline. Two things are needed for this – instant feedback and the ability to resubmit assignments. WEB-CAT achieves this by assessing submissions in real time, and displaying the results to the students immediately. WEB-CAT allows students to re-submit assignments any number of time till the due date.Since faculty members are alr eady overloaded with work, the software should take some of the faculties responsibilities. WEB-CAT automatically evaluates and grades the student’s assignments, leaving faculty with time for more meaningful activities. Praktomat has shown us that there is a definite benefit to peer review. When we review code written by others, we can go beyond the paradigms set in our own mind. Having our code reviewed by others can help us see our shortcomings which we may have earlier overlooked. Praktomat allows students to review code written by others.However the review is hidden from the faculty, to ensure that it does not impact grading. Praktomat does not rely on 100% automatic evaluation of the assignments. Praktomat evaluates certain aspects automatically and the rest are evaluated manually. Factors like code quality, documentation, etc are reviewed and evaluated manually by the faculty. There may be two reasons for this. Software to support automatic evaluation of these things ma y not have been available when Praktomat was written, or the creators felt that certain things are best evaluated by the faculty.A proposed system for automated grading Based on my observations from reviewing the above software systems and from my own experience, I have defined a process and the functional expectations of a software system that supports TDD and automated grading. The Process †¢ Every project should have a deadline, just like the real world †¢ The project should be defined as a set of use cases and a functional test suite. Both should be made available to the students. †¢ Students should start developing their project using the TDD philosophy. †¢ They should also be provided a source code repository like CVS or VSS. Once the students have completed their project they should tag the build and should upload the tag number to a web based submission software. †¢ It must be clearly defined how the students should submit their unit test suite. â₠¬ ¢ They should also provide one file which will trigger the remaining unit tests.†¢ The software will pull the source from the repository, and evaluate it. o Failure is reported to the student if the project fails to compile. Failure here does not mean that the student fails in the assignment. Assignments can be corrected and submitted any number of time till the deadline. Once the compilation succeeds, the software will run the unit tests written by the student on their code. o After collecting results from the unit tests, the test coverage is measured. o Then the functional tests created by the faculty are executed against the software. o The software is then run through a source code format checker which evaluates it for adherence to coding standards,The software is then run through a source code quality checker which evaluates the quality of code based on known best practices, and anti patterns. o The software is finally channeled to the faculty who evaluates it for design . Results from all the tests are given out of 100%. o After collecting all the results a formula (provided by the faculty) is applied to derive the final score. The Software †¢ The software should provide an account with a username and password to each student and faculty. †¢ The software should be web based so that it can be accessed from anywhere using a standard web browser. †¢ After logging in students should be able to browse to the homepage for a particular assignment and view the details, such as specification, due dates, and any other details posted by the faculty. When a student completes her assignment, she should be able to upload the CVS tag number to the server.†¢ Once the tag number is uploaded the server should pull the source code from a CVS repository and perform the checks mentioned above. †¢ Results from each check is recorded in the database. †¢ The detailed result is then displayed to the student. †¢ Students should be able to resubmit an assignment any number of times till the deadline. †¢ Student code should be available for peer review and annotations if the faculty desires. The faculty should be able to create an assignment and upload details and files. †¢ The faculty should be able to trigger the final evaluation of all assignments either manually, or at a scheduled time. †¢ An evaluation should take the latest tag numbers provided by the student and perform tests on the respective source code. †¢ Results should be made available to the faculty, and students. †¢ The faculty should be able to add their own scores for parts that were checked manually. †¢ The final result is computed by applying a formula provided by the faculty. The final results should be downloadable as a csv text file. Several technologies such as Java, Python, PHP, . NET, and Ruby can be used to implement such a system. Each have their pros and cons. We will not cover the implementation technology in t his paper. Evaluation of these technologies and a final choice based on the evaluation will be dealt with in a separate paper.Reference: 1. http://scholar. lib. vt. edu/theses/available/etd-05222003-225759/unrestricted/Web-CAT. pdf 2. http://www. cs. vt. edu/curator/PublicInfo/CuratorIntroduction. pdf 3. http://portal. cm. org/citation. cfm? id=268210 4. ]http://www. infosun. fmi. uni-passau. de/st/papers/iticse2000/iticse2000. pdf 5. Jones, E. L. Grading student programs – a software testing approach. J. Computing in Small Colleges, 16(2): pp. 185-192. 6. http://www-2. cs. cmu. edu/~rsbaker/pilot. pdf 7. http://www. junit. org 8. Using Test Driven Development in the Classroom: Providing Students with Automatic, Concrete Feedback on Performance. http://web-cat. cs. vt. edu/grader/Edwards-EISTA03. pdf 9. http://sourceforge. net/projects/praktomat/ 10. http://www. testdriven. com

Chinas Ancient Dynastys

The government in ancient China was established by Dynasties. Dynasties were mostly a sequence of rulers or emperors from the same family. As I said, a Dynasty was ruled by an emperor. This emperor had total control of the land and would make all the final decisions. Some of the most popular Dynasties in china were: †¢Xia Dynasty About 1994 BCE – 1766 BCE †¢Shang Dynasty 1766 BCE – 1027 BCE †¢Zhou Dynasty 1122 BCE -256 BCE (skipped because Celeste did it) †¢Qin Dynasty 221 BCE – 206 BCE (skipped because Celeste did it) †¢ Han Dynasty 25 AD – 220 AD †¢Sui Dynasty 589 AD – 618 AD Ming Dynasty 1368 AD – 1644 AD †¢ Qing Dynasty 1644 AD – 1912 AD The Xia Dynasty was the first dynasty in the history of China. There is no real archeologal evidence of this dynasty but it is said to be that the Xia ruler was overthrown when he started mistreating his people. The first real evidence found was of the Shang Dynas ty. This dynasty mainly ruled the northern part of china, it was based a lot on agriculture like; millet, wheat, and barley were the primary crops grown. In addition to the crops, silkworms, pigs, dogs, sheep, and oxen were raised.Apart from this the Shang Dynasty also had a lot of income from metallurgy. Some things like bronze ships, weapons, and tools were found from that time. This dynasty was a society where the kind ruled over military forces. This was called an aristocratic class. Under this class came the priest class. The priests were mainly in charge of religion but also keeping records for the government! The religion in this dynasty was based on a worship of many gods, there were many gods but the main god was known as Shang Ti, the lord on high.The fall of the Shang dynasty was much like the Xia dynasty except the ruler wasn’t overthrown but killed by another smaller kingdom. After the civil war China had, which lead to the death of the leader Qin Shihuangdi, chi na was reunited by the rule of the Han dynasty. This dynasty is divided into two main times, the Western/Former Han (206 BC- 9AD) and the eastern/later Han (25-220 AD). The rules and the boundaries that the Qin dynasty put and then reinforced by the Han have shaped up Chinese culture.An example of this is the Western Han Capital, Chang’an, which in present day is called Shaanxi Province. It is a monumental urban center with places, residential wards, and two loud and big market areas. This Dynasty was where they established Confucianism. It was officially chosen over Legalism. After this Dynasty came the Sui dynasty. Under this Dynasty china was brought together again. This dynasty only lasted about 8 years, but there were a lot of things going on during this time. The Sui dynasty introduced china to new religions, such as Taoism and Buddhism.They weren’t official but people started to take notice in them. The one that people found most interesting was Buddhism, people valued it a lot. Another thing that happened, the Great Wall was repaired, and a canal system was built through china. The canal today is The Gran Canal. The Sui dynasty fell because of losses in the South Manchuria and Northern Korea. Once they were defeated rebels started taking over. Chu Yuan-Chang was the first guy to re gain control power over china since the Mongols had been ruling. This was when the Ming dynasty started.The Ming focused a lot on literature, schools, and justice systems. Apart from this they improved the Great Wall and the Grand Canal again! As they did so they divided china into 15 provinces, in each province there were 3 commissionaires. One commissioner was in charge of all the finances, another one was for military orders, and the last one was judicial matters. Eventually the financial commissioner got someone who ruled over him and supervised everything was going good. Over time the Ming dynasty got stronger and started spreading.They started taking over non Chinese lands and eventually defeated the Mongol tribe. Chinas army became so strong that over the first quarter of the 15th century China had influenced many places such as South Asia, India, and even Madagascar! After a period of time the Ming started to grow weak, so weak that the Dynasty couldn’t provide food for its people. This caused a rebellion from the population, the Manchurians saw this as a way in and offered help against the rebellions. Once the rebels were out, Manchurians refused to leave. Since the Ming was so weak, it had to move south.Like most previous invaders that came to China, they adapted pretty fast to this culture. The government was based on the Ming Dynasties government. Although it was based on the Ming, it was more centralized. There was a new institution called the Gran Council, it had both a Manchurian and a Chinese leader. The Grand Council would check and authorize political and military affairs that were lead by the emperor. Even after all this time the Ming had not given up yet and had kept fighting back but eventually; by the end of the 17 century the Manchurians finished them.The Manchurians became so powerful they controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinxiang, and Tibet! Because of this other countries began to see China as a super power since it was controlled by Manchurians. During the population replaced/superseded the economic growth. Due to this the economy started to go down and decline. Because of this and because of foreign expansion the government funds were gone! They had used them all up. They had nothing left so they had to give into trading with the West. Their main trading partners were the French, the US, and the British.The British obviously wanted to gain a lot from trading with China so they started integrating Indian opium in their trades. This made Chinas silver reserves depleted. Apart from this there were still a few people who believed in the Han Dynasty who resented the Manchurians, which ca used a rebellion. Apart from this Manchurians became a way of imperial which causes even more rebellions. And especially once Western ideas started influencing in china people started adapting to them and this brought then Qing dynasty to an end.