Project Risk Identification

Identification of risks ascertains the risks with the potential of having effect on project as well as documenting the characteristics of risk. It begins after plan of risk management is constructed and continues through out the execution of project. It involves the identification of events or items that may have significant negative effect on a project. Identification of risk may be done through checklists, project participant’s reports, and comparison of historical data as well as through the contingency planning.Two criteria can be used in the process of identifying project risks that are not originally identified and include the analysis of risk as well as the prioritization of risk. Risk analysis employs cost risk analysis, decision analysis, schedule analysis, reliability analysis as well as other similar models and techniques in analyzing the identified risks. There are several methods that can be used in this analysis and one of them includes brain storming.Brainstormi ng may be important in identifying risks and especially those which had not been identified before since risks are shared instantly among the members the moment they notice them in the project. Brain storming can further bring a lot of results in very short time and thus the members in a project can bring out risks, which had not been discussed or identified before and decide on ideas and ways of solving them.Prioritization of risk employs quantification of risk as well as risk exposure and even using decision mechanisms that is statistically based. This process may involve the use of consulting experts who may have independent view in several fields that may involve risk and also identify risks which may not have been identified before. The advantage of using consulting experts is because they have knowledge and experience which is not in a certain company and they can identify risks that may have not been identified before.

Journeys Involve New Experiences and Personal Growth

â€Å"Journeys involve new experiences and personal growth† Growth and new experiences are themes that occur in most journeys which can strengthen individuals by learning from their past. Wright’s poetry contains themes that are addressed to the audience about journeys and also reflects on her personal experiences. A film called burlesque also shows Ali’s growth as a performer as she learns and practices at the club which reflects on her growth.The life of Pi trailer depicts a journey that is unexpected with new experiences and shows the personas grow in wisdom and knowledge. Judith Wright’s poem, ‘Legend’ is an example of a journey that involves new experiences and personal growth. This poem is about a boy who starts off his journey with his rifle, a black dog and his hat and aims to get the rainbow. Throughout the poem we realize that all his possession have abandoned and turned against him. Near the end of the poem we can see how the person a has accomplished his mission and aim without his possessions.From this we can how the persona at first thought he needed his possessions to help him but through his experience of losing them he realized he didn’t and accomplished what he aimed in the first place. The persona has achieves something he might possibly not realized he could without his possessions and this is an example of personal growth. ‘This Time Alone’ is another example where the persona faces new experiences. In the poem, the persona talks about her companions death and how she has struggled with it. The poet quotes â€Å"this time alone.This time alone. † The next stanza begins with â€Å"I turn and set that world alight†. Through these two stanzas we can see how the persona emphasizes her loneliness and her struggle to be alone and in the next stanza we see that her struggles might have to the point where she can’t take it anymore so she burns that world with her husba nd. Through these stanzas we can see how the persona is facing a new experience of death of her companion. We also see how this experience has made her lonely which can shape her personal growth.Through both of these poems we can see that ‘Legend’ and ‘This time Alone’ greatly supports the idea that journeys involve new experiences and personal growth. Burlesque is a film that continually shows Ali’s journey of growth as a performer. Ali’s journey started from working at a small pub around her area but she felt that she wasn’t getting paid properly so she left and tried to find a better career to pursue her dreams. As she finds a place she really likes she does what she can to get a job there.As Ali practices her routines and grows in confidence, her unidentified talent of singing became known and for this reason she became the star of Burlesque. From having no confidence and not being treated properly, she became someone who is a star and ends up saving Burlesque. From this film we can see how journeys involve new experiences and these new experiences depict the growth of the persona. She experienced working in a pretty busy club where her colleagues were very pretty. She experienced finding a job and how hard it was to find one that she was interested in and when Burlesque came up, she worked so hard just so she can get in.As she grows in confidence in performing on stage, so did her confidence in making friends and being sexually attractive. All her rehearsals and costumes depicted her confidence as a performer. Her growth has increased incredibly because of the experiences that have come her way and this has been shown through her confidence. Burlesque greatly supports the idea that journeys involve new experiences and personal growth. ‘The life of Pi’ trailer explains the personas journey and his struggles in the journey. The director explains it through picture and also music to set a mood and a tmosphere.At the start of the trailer we see 2 older men talking and one asking the other about how he heard he has an amazing story and then the trailer continues. Using this effect can suggest that the rest of the trailer is a flash back of his journey when he was young and the experiences he had. It also can be used to show a contrast between the younger version of him and how he has grown into someone different than what he was before; perhaps it was because of the experiences that have reflected upon him. Also throughout the trailer we see how the persona has moved his zoo half way around the world.Just from that image we can already think of many obstacles that the persona might have faced. The trailer depicts to the audience the persona’s obstacles of the waves and how this is all new to him and through these obstacles the persona experienced his personal growth. These ways raged into his ship and the ship was gradually going to sink. Also we see the tiger being used i n the trailer at first trying to kill the persona but as the trailer progresses we see that the persona acts like a tiger and overtime their bondage has changed and how they are on the same team.From this we can see the personas maturity and wisdom growing and how this experience has shaped his journey. ‘The life of Pi’ trailer is strongly supporting the idea that journey involve new experiences and personal growth. To conclude, Judith Wright’s poetry, Burlesque and the Life of Pi trailer are all examples of texts that support the idea of ‘journeys involve new experiences and personal growth’ to many extents. These have been explained in the above paragraphs with examples.

Synthesis and Electrochemical Characterization of Niobium Pentoxide/Carbon Nanotubes Composites

Synthesis and Electrochemical Characterization of Niobium Pentoxide/Carbon Nanotubes Composites Introduction In the last few years, a range of energy-storage device applications has expanded from portable electronics to large-scale energy storage systems, including renewable energy storage and electric transportation [1,2]. To fulfill the energy and power density requirements for energy applications, many researchers have given attention to the synthesis of nanomaterials based on oxides due to their chemical, physical, optical, and electronic properties [1–4]. In this way, niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) is a promising candidate because of its semiconductor properties with a band gap of ~3.4 eV, n-type, low toxicity, surface acidity, and good chemical and thermal stabilities [3,5–8]. It has been demonstrated that Nb2O5 can deliver high power through a mainly pseudocapacitive reaction of Li-ion (Li+), which could occur not only at the surface but also in the bulk of the Nb2O5 nanocrystals in non-aqueous Li+ electrolyte [2,9]. Moreover, the intercalation pseudo-capacitive behavior was highly dependent upon the presence of a crystalline structure, where amorphous and pseudo-hexagonal (TT-Nb2O5) exhibited lower specific capacitance values than the orthorhombic (T-Nb2O5) phase, however, nanoparticles aggregation is inevitable due to the high calcination temperature (>600  °C) for the orthorhombic phase formation of Nb2O5 [10–17]. Nonetheless, the application of Nb2O5 has been hampered by low bulk electrical conductivity (~3.4Ãâ€"10-6 S.cm-1 at 300 K) and by the difficult control of the ideal crystal structure [3,10,11]. Therefore, when T-Nb2O5 nanocrystals were fabricated into a relatively thick electrode, the power performance would be limited due to the impaired mobility of electrons. A possible effective method to improve these adversities in Nb2O5 is through of surface modifications (e.g., carbon coating), which could expose more redox active nanoparticles to the electrolyte as well as greatly i mprove the electronic conductivity [1,3,11–13]. It must be noted that the introduction of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) networks can enhance electron transport of the Nb2O5 and further improve the rate capability. Physical mixing of MWCNTs and Nb2O5 nanoparticles can fabricate composite with improved conductivity, but this type of mixing fails to fulfill a good interfacial interaction between the MWCNTs and Nb2O5 [3]. Wherefore, soft-chemistry methods like oxidant-peroxo method matched with hydrothermal treatment and heating by microwaves could be a promising alternative for niobium synthesis, mainly because it is performed at low temperatures which avoids the elimination of the hydroxyl groups in as-formed surfaces resulting in a material with high surface area and greater number of acid sites [6,18,19]. In addition, carbon materials have a good microwave radiation absorption, which facilitates the interaction with other particles [20]. The use of niobium oxides for energy storage devices is already well known and exploited [21] but its performance is only obtained by a hybrid supercapacitor based on lithium intercalation processes [21] where high values of energy and power density are obtained. These intercalation processes require the application of potentials between 1 to 3 V vs. Li/Li+, a careful and humidity-free assembly scheme and non-aqueous electrolytes [16]. In this work, niobium pentoxide with different structures and morphologies were grown onto the surface of carbon nanotubes were synthesized by MHS. Moreover, we evaluated some electrochemical properties of electrodes with high mass loading on Ni foam current collectors (Fig. 1) using aqueous electrolyte, which brings the material closer to real and practical applications. Methods The acid functionalization on the MWCNTs was performed to create functional groups through a controlled functionalization of the nanotube walls, which allowed the anchoring an d growth of the Nb2O5 nanoparticles. This functionalization is accomplished by exposing the MWCNTs in a concentrated HNO3/H2SO4 (1:3) as described by Goyanes, et al. 2007 [22]. Nb2O5 nanoparticles were synthesized by the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method followed by a heat treatment. The sample preparation started with the dispersion of the 50 mg of functionalized MWCNTs and 100 mg of SDS (1:2) in 100 mL of distilled H2O in an ultrasonic bath. After dispersing, 2 g of (NH4[NbO(C2O4)2(H2O)2] ·nH2O) and 1.6 mL of H2O2 were added under ultrasound frequency. The solution was ultrasonicated continuously for 30 min and then poured into a Teflon vessel reaching about 50% of its volume, the autoclave was sealed and heated in the microwave equipment (Electrolux, MEF41, Brazil). The synthesis was performed with amendments according to Marins, et al., 2017 [23], where the temperature was set at 160  °C during 30 min, under a constant pressure of approximately 6 kgf cm-2 using 2.45 GHz microwave radiation with a maximum output power of 1500 W. Temperature and pressure during synthesis were monitored and controlled with the aid of a shielded thermocouple inserted directly into the vessel and with a pressure transducer sensor connected to the vessel [5]. After cooling at r oom temperature, the obtained powders were washed and centrifuged at 5000 rpm six times with distilled H2O to remove unreacted reagents and surfactant. The washed powder was over dried with no air circulation at 50  °C for 48 h. This sample was identified as CNT+TT-Nb2O5. To obtain the samples under heat treatment, part of the powder was heated in a furnace (FT-1200 1Z, Fortelab, Brazil) at 400  °C for 120 min and 650  °C for 180 min with a heating rate of 10  °C/min under nitrogen atmosphere aiming to get the orthorhombic phase [12,22]. After cooling at room temperature, the powders were stored in an oven with no air circulation at 50  °C and identified as CNT+T-Nb2O5. PVB solution in ethanol was added to the mixture in the electrode preparation. The PVB content in the slurry was 3% of the total mass of Nb2O5 and MWCNTs to each sample. The obtained slurry was used for the impregnation of Ni foam current collectors with area of 1 cm2. The active mass loading was 32 mg cm-2.

Issac Newton and Paving the Way for Modern Physics Essay

Issac Newton and Paving the Way for Modern Physics - Essay Example It is thus no exaggeration to say that Newton paved the way for Modern Physics. The rest of this essay will flesh out this claim. Although retrospectively, Isaac Newton’s genius and legacy are now accepted facts, there was no inkling during his early years that this was destined him. Born in Woolsthorpe, England on a Christmas Day in 1642, there were odds stacked against Newton’s survival. He was born premature and his survival was uncertain. Just prior to his birth his father had expired. Even his youth was nothing illustrious, as he even ventured briefly into managing his family farm. The turning point for Newton’s life in science came with his enrolment in Cambridge University in 1661. Here, he came under the charge of distinguished cleric and mathematician Isaac Barrow, who mentored and inspired the young man, especially in mathematics. It was under the guidance of Barrow that Newton would conceive and articulate some of the most groundbreaking scientific dis coveries of the modern era.i As per an autobiographical account written for his nephews, the major streams of Newton's scientific work were all initiated during the plague years of 1665--66, when Cambridge was closed down due to an outbreak of plague and the young Newton went home for a short break. It was during this time that some of the cornerstone discoveries and inventions of modern physics came about. During this period, the inquisitive and penetrative mind of Newton started working on the laws of universal gravitation, the development of calculus, and the nature and behavior of light. The findings he made on these projects would enable him to make vital contributions to mathematics, theoretical physics, astronomy and experimental physics. Given the magnitude of some of these contributions, it is fair to say that Newton opened new vistas in these subjects and spawned the development of modern physics. In other words, he began to invent â€Å"a set of mathematical techniques, including what we call the binomial theorem and differential calculus. He did a set of optical experiments that demonstrated that white light is composed of a mixture of all colors of the rainbow. And he theorized that the Moon is maintained in its orbit around Earth by the same force that causes heavy objects near Earth's surface to fall to the ground--in other words, he began to think about the law of universal gravitation.†ii Although there is no precise answer to the date of origin of modern physics, a strong case can be made that it started in 1647 with the publication of Isaac Newton’s Philosophie Naturalis Principia Mathematica. In recognition of the momentousness of this publication, the Encyclopedia Britannica called Newton â€Å"’the culminating figure of the scientific revolution of the l7th Century’, and describes Principia Mathematica as ‘one of the most important works in the history of modern science.’ From its inception, modem science has quite simply dominated the human mind.†iii The sweep and influence of Newton’s work on subsequent scientific developments can be gleaned from the list of his important works. In Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Newton gives a concise account of his discoveries in terrestrial and celestial mechanics, which is a cornerstone for modern physics. In it, he explicated how universal gravitation is operant upon objects on earth as well as in the celestial space. Further, â€Å"

Gis mobile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Gis mobile - Essay Example â€Å"Outdoor enthusiasts, geocachers and anyone looking for adventure will love the eTrex. It combines intuitive, easy-to-use features and a rugged exterior into a lightweight package that is only 10 cm high and 5 cm wide. The result is a lightweight GPS navigator that will literally fit in the palm of your hand. You can operate your eTrex with just one hand using five buttons, which are located on either side of the eTrex within easy reach of your fingers. Thanks to its bright yellow case, the eTrex is easy to find in your boat or backpack. In addition, eTrex is IPX7 waterproof, so it can take an accidental splash or dunk in the water and continues to perform. One will notice that eTrex's 12-parallel channel GPS receiver locks onto satellite signals quickly and maintains accuracy, even in tough conditions. With eTrex, your adventure can last and last — up to 22 hours on just two AA batteries. While you roam, you can store up to 500 waypoints in memory for easy retrieval. Ju st enter the point you want to go to, and eTrex points you to your destination (no street or terrain maps). To get home, use Garmin's exclusive Trackback feature to reverse your track log and help you navigate back to your starting point† (, eTrex -). ... xamine the performance and accuracy in a specific area of Sliema in an effective way, these devices may come up with a question along with hypothesis. Collaboratively the group has decided on a question stating that the measurement of variability for satellite station amounts concluding that each individual GPS device implementation on various sample sites along with the features of whether the sample sites impede with the reception. AS GPS is defined as, â€Å"The Global positioning system is a satellite based radio navigation system provided by the United States department of defense. It provides unequalled accuracy and flexibility in positioning for navigation, surveying and GIS data collections. GPS is the shortened form of NAVSTAR GPS. This is an acronym for navigation systems with time and ranging global positioning system. One can easily locate oneself with respect to the objects that surround him and position oneself relative to them. But doing this in middle of a desert or in the middle of the ocean where there are no reference objects is a problem†. By considering these factors, we conclude that the hypothesis should highlight the expected expensive and high profile GPS receiver of Trimble Geo XH device. The device will facilitate to achieve increased amount of satellite stations at all the sites along with consistent rate of these satellites across the areas of sites. Although, analyzing the data we have collected until now in this initial stage, the hypothesis is turning out to be in correct in our case, therefore concluding that we have to analyze more. Day 2 In the second practical, we created a tourist map of Valletta with the illustration of places associated with war history in the town. The objective was to develop a multimedia illustration of

Comparison between 17th & 18th centuries in France,England and America Term Paper

Comparison between 17th & 18th centuries in France,England and America - Term Paper Example The first concept that can be seen with the different pieces of architecture is the characteristics that are from each region. The first comparison which can be made is within England, specifically between the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 17th century, the style was based on the Baroque influences, which consisted of finding balance within each type of work. This was combined with the styles which were influenced by the political and cultural associations, inclusive of the Tudor monarch changing to a different political structure. The main concepts which were associated with the Baroque style began to change by the 18th century, specifically because of social and cultural associations. The political realms moved through revolutionary changes, specifically with an altered regime and order. This was combined with the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, both which altered the materials used for architecture as well as the expectations of what should be included in the archit ectural styles. Many of the pieces of architecture began to change into experimentation with new materials, influences of structures that were romantic in style and which rebelled against the balance and form of the 17th century (Glennie, p 17). The examples of these changes show in the variety of architecture which was produced in England during the 17th and 18th century. The earlier work of the Hatfield House (1607) shows the Elizabethan style as well as how this related to the metaphor of the political and cultural structure, as seen in Figure 1. Figure 1: Hatfield House (1607) The architecture is one which is representative of the Elizabethan architecture first because of the distinct form of east and west wings as well as the central arches which remain even on both sides. The towers and the association with simplistic and ornate figures are also seen. The main concept was to keep an open region while offering a spacious area that represents the power of the political structure of the time. This was representative of the English time frame and the components which were associated with the 17th century balance and structure (Archer, 29). The changes in England can be seen with the progression of architecture, such as through the Chiswick House, (1725) seen in figure 2. Figure 2: Chiswick House (1725) The same references of balance are used with this, specifically with the association of columns and structure that was used. This is not only representative of the ideologies of the new political system and the thriving of the current status. Instead, there is a movement back to the ancient Greek structures for balance, seen through the columns and the dome that is used. The concept of architecture is one which combines several influences and uses experimentation of combining structures while keeping the balance as seen in the 17th century. The representation then shows the change in style with integration of different methods, specifically which is representa tive of the characteristics of the Industrial Revolution while keeping the same concept of balance and form as the central component of the time, which is specific to Neo – Classicism (Archer, 37). The movement from balance and into a sense of Romanticism was also seen in other regions, including France and Colonial America. The French had a similar alteration into the Enlightenment and Romanticism in the 18th century, specifically because

Politics in Cambodia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Politics in Cambodia - Essay Example Racial discrimination, in most cases, occurs in several ways. Mostly, racial discrimination takes the form of biological supremacy where those who discriminate believe they are superior and better than the rest. However, the superiority concept is not always a factor in racial discrimination. As was in the case of the genocide in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouges, the main native group, actively discriminated the rest of the groups not necessarily based on their biological identities. On the contrary, racial discrimination in the country was based on economics, politics and their cultural composition of the groups. Stereotyping of issues around these concepts mainly led to racial discrimination of the minority groups. For instance, wealth was an important factor that determined how the Khmer Rouge treated each person. In that respect, the Cambodians were divided into two broad categories; the base people mainly made of the peasant farmers in rural areas and the new people who lived in citie s. Consequently, the new people suffered the most; they were forced to handle tough jobs in extreme conditions. Later, the text will illustrate how the stereotyping of the urban new Chinese minority as economically endowed persons led to exploitation and discrimination policies under the regime. Stereotyping of the Chinese as being among the wealthy class groups resulted in racial discrimination where they  faced  harsher terms compared to the native Khmer.

Project management assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Project management assessment - Essay Example A project is acknowledged as unsuccessful if it fails to offer what was needed, in line with prospects. In other words, in order to be successful a project has to be completed within estimated budget, with required performance, and on time; as well as it has to offer the advantages valuable in the business scenario. However, the project requirements should be apparent and absolute. Unluckily, it is not that simple. In addition, the second element of definition of project success is that the project has to be completed along the lines of expectations (Pritchard, 2004; Lewis, 2006; Mind Tools Ltd., 2011). In addition, in many cases a project had to cross its initial or expected budget, but the project still was considered as successful. On the other hand, if a project complied with all the instructions which were in the wide-ranging project designs, but it was still considered as failure in view of the fact that it did not comprise the fundamental elements those were required by primar y stakeholders. Though, it does not look reasonable, but project success and failure is not directly about the facts, nor is it simply about what was delivered. But, it is regarding how the project has to be completed (Pritchard, 2004; Lewis, 2006; Mind Tools Ltd., 2011). ... In this scenario, majority of projects fail due to the changes in time, budget and various other restrictions that can take place in a project. Additionally, there are a number of unique attributes connected with the project that direct to unnecessary as well as inherent problems, those increases risk profile of a number of projects which makes others less dangerous. In this scenario, the risk profile of each project is at extremely high level and this is for the reason that the reality that a lot of projects do not convene their performance aims and objectives. In addition, it should be kept in mind that project management literature is paying more and more attention on significance of different methodologies that could help project managers achieve desired competence and success (Kerzner, 2003; Hughes & Cotterell, 2002; Schwalbe, 2005; DevTechnologies, 2010). Furthermore, the literature also outlines that almost all the projects that are carried out by businesses and institutes are executed in parallel with each other. As a result, there is a high level stress on project managers and project team associates inside corporations to tackle with the demands of these parallel executing projects. On the other hand, the human resources inside a corporation are partial as well as the intellectual capital that is united with the project demands and deliverables is even additional limited. Thus, when the number of projects executing in parallel grows then a net shortage of the trained team associates takes place, which takes toward the opposition of projects for the intellectual capital essential for attaining its deliverables as well as performance objectives (Kerzner, 2003; Hughes & Cotterell, 2002;

Contemporary Issues in Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary Issues in Finance - Essay Example This paper is a brief article about the financial crisis which was being identified by the end of 2007 till the beginning of 2008. It was due to the ill-effects of the crisis that regulatory reforms were taken by US, UK and EU regions. This paper will thereby focus on the regulatory reforms adopted by these nations in the milieu of the 2008 financial crisis. Regulatory Framework of US Financial crisis is often termed as an unknown disturbance which leads to erosion of the total financial market of a country or a nation. By the end of 2007, with the identification of the financial crisis, US and other globalised economies become highly concerned about their survival as a global power. Most businesses ruined and were forecasted to lose approximately $ 2.7 trillion in this crisis (Rude, 2008). As a result, unemployment was at its highest stage. With this concern, the US government concentrated on keeping the banks and most significant businesses alive to overcome the unwanted danger. Th e crisis acted promptly drafting many important pieces of legislation or necessary changes and charting the post-crisis financial regulatory framework. But it was not an easy task; it comprised of numerous hurdles within it. The fundamental role in reforming the financial policies in the US was played by Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and Financial Stability Board (FSB). They developed a DFA (Dodd-Frank Act), which is a framework of reforms to prevent the consequences arising due to such turmoil (Rude, 2008). The vital elements in reformation of US economy relates to the steps taken to develop a financially stable future as well as resizing of the international financial system, so that the need of the economy can be better served (Rude, 2008). It is worth mentioning that the decline of capital regulation in US was not only due to the ad hoc financial events but was also due to a direct consequence of ineffective design and substance of regulatory capital initiates. T he detailed structure could not prevent the large financial institutions from failing. Apart from this, the unskilled leverage ratio turned out to be the most important constraint which ultimately proved beneficial (Rude, 2008). Requirement of capital was the most prevailing area of concern against bank failures after the crisis. Furthermore, the resolution procedures, another regulatory reform which was considered as a better process other than bankruptcy to deal with the problems of insolvency of financial institutions. This states that the framework of banks needed to be extended to other financial institutions in order to safeguard the large institutions in the financial services market. After the crisis, there was bail-out of many institutions due their inability to bear the failure of cross-border banks (Rude, 2008). This led to other regulatory reforms in the aftermath of the crisis, which resulted in dramatically increase of capital and liquidity buffers of the bank. The ref orms enforced after the crisis mainly focuses on two perspectives, i.e. market-restricting approach and market-harnessing approach. The market-restricting approach mainly concentrates on deflating the commercial institutions along with the intention to limit the size of these institutions and reduce the investments in the market. On the other

Sales of bonds backed by riskier US corporate loans have surged to Essay

Sales of bonds backed by riskier US corporate loans have surged to their highest level in seven years, helping to fuel a leveraged lending boom that is concerning regulators - Essay Example Furthermore, the low-interest-rate environment, more credit spreads, and promising laws have bolstered many performance metrics to better than pre-crisis levels. It is predicted that the asset class will experience growths stemming from the attractive returns offered by the CLOs in comparison to similar collaterals. A collateralized loan obligation can be argued to be the entire structured financial transactions where several degrees of equity and debt are delivered via special service vehicles that are primarily composed of commercial loans. Specifically, a distinction exists between a Collateralized loan obligation and bond obligations or mortgage obligations in that CLO in that they are debt securities that are collateralized by commercial loans. The Collateralized Loan Obligations work on a purchase basis. Typically, the degree and extent of the investment in the Collateralized Loan Obligations depends on the risk tolerance level of the investor, such that, risk tolerant investors receive more returns on their investment relative to risk averse investors. Comparatively, a case of a default on loans leads to the risk averse investors reaping the most (Westerfeld, & Weber, 2010, p. 75) Throughout the third quarter of 2008, the market experienced one of the worst financial crisis ever experienced in the twenty-first century. The crisis was characterized by the failure of major business and reduction in consumer wealth by huge margins (Westerfeld, & Weber, 2010, p. 70). Nevertheless, experts argue that the bursting of the housing bubble in 2006 led to the plummeting of the pricing in the real estate business, an issue that damaged most financial institutions. Key among the players in the causes was the Collateralized Loan Obligations that acted a substantial part in the sub-prime of the housing boom. With the continued growth of the CLO throughout 2005, more focus shifted to the use of subprime mortgages as collateral against

How are fashion and appearance central to the construction of social identities Essay Example for Free

How are fashion and appearance central to the construction of social identities Essay We live in a world were physical appearance is the measurement of our self-worth. Media advertisements more often than not show how people can improve their appearance and why it is important. From job interviews to social events, how people look and dress determine other people’s impression. In this age of increased self-consciousness, fashion and appearance play a crucial role in establishing the social identity of a person. Fashion, as defined by many books and other resources, can be defined as the prevalent style and custom at a certain point in time and the word may also mean the study of this certain fashion trends. Even though there are many things that can be considered prevalent at a certain time, fashion more often than not points more to clothing or clothing style. Different periods of time have different fashion. There is no other applied art which affects the everyday lives of the people other than fashion. Fashion design is responsible for the clothing that we wear since the ancient times. Clothing does not only help us keep warm but it also shapes us in the psychological and social aspect. Basically, clothing forms a basis of a person’s social identity. Fashion has become a part of the culture since the early times. Different ethnic groups have different clothes which reflect their culture. Fashion based on some researches done by cultural scientists played a role in social and cultural structure, social differentiation and social integration (Davis, 1994, p. 16). Social identity is the way people are categorized or label themselves. This can be in forms of their race or ethnicity. This can also be defined as how people associate or identify themselves into certain groups which serve to heighten their self esteem because they have the same social identities. Since people are social animals, sociologists deemed that social identity is an important aspect of a person. People want to be assured that they belong to one group or they positively compare with other group of people. When talking about social identity in terms of fashion, it is more than how majority of sociologist in the world restrict the concept as mere social class or status. Social identity includes how people communicate with others through symbolic means such as the way they dress or through clothing. It is also the configuration of attributes and attitudes which people seek to attain and discuss about themselves. Fashion contributes to the redefinition and reconstruction of a certain social identity by continually adding something new to cultural artifacts. Everything undergoes evolution and perhaps fashion is one thing that changes fast it is fashion. People change the way they dress when the weather changes. People change the way they carry their clothes when something in their environment shifts. Studies and researchers which were geared towards understanding the culture of a certain society more often than not focus on artifacts which are evidences of the past and present culture of a place. The woven pieces of clothing are often considered as indicators of social customs and social hierarchies. Anthropologists consider clothing as less prone to changes done by the capitalist market and are therefore richer or more stable indicators of sociological and cultural truths. Because of this, anthropologists invested far more energy and resources in investigating and examining the significance of the structure, form, and pattern of clothing than other cultural artifacts. For an instance, the way American Indians wear their clothes which were originally made from animal skin is still the same as before. Emergence of new ways of clothing did not change their original culture (Breward, 2003, p. 64). Fashion and its effect on nineteenth century Attempts to reform the way people dress first appeared during the nineteenth century. The people were starting to get tired of the constricting features of clothing and the too elaborate features of dresses. Women who were fighting for their rights such as Elizabeth Stanton, Elizabeth Miller and Amelia Bloomer were the women who designed the then very famous bloomer dress which was consisted of an uncorseted mid-calf dress which was set over pantaloons (Stearns, 1994, p. 12). Many improvements were made since then to people’s clothing. Different eras reflected different styles of clothing and are more often than not also reflective of the prevalent social identity. For example, during the Victorian era it can be said that the clothing of the people were like straitjackets which aimed to constrict the movements and manners of people. Women during the Victorian era were expected by the society to move and behave only when instructed by their male counterpart. Another example of how clothing or fashion plays a role in the construction of social identity is the wearing of uniforms of the military, police or religious personas. The wearing of uniforms based on social researches done impose an aura of confidence and authority so that they can make the people around them follow their orders either willingly or unwillingly (Crane, 2001, p. 3). Clothing also affected the way people measure their social status or whether they were rich or poor during the early nineteenth century. Clothes were generally considered as one of the most valuable possessions during this time. During the Industrial Revolution, clothes were started to be manufactured by machines or in factories and these clothes cost more than average. Newly made clothes were not available to the poor because of the cost and they were left to use hand-me-downs or used clothing. Clothes were very expensive that it was even considered a form of currency by the rich and often replaced gold as means of payment. Fashion and clothing are also means in which people differentiate themselves from others. Rare fashion finds such as antique clothes are used by people who want to express their uniqueness from others. They may wear it as everyday clothing or on special occasion. Regardless of when they will wear it, these kinds of clothing are worn by people to establish an identity which is different from others (Barnard, 2002, p. 61). Another example of how clothing constructs social identities was when large immigrants arrived in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century. The immigrants who arrived immediately disposed their new clothing and used the new clothes available in the country. Through this method, anthropologists were able to deduce that the people wanted to start a new social identity so they immediately dropped their old ways of clothing. Hats were also famous article of clothing during the nineteenth century and it played the most important role in distinguishing the social status of a person. The bowler hat which was designed in England in 1850 was originally made as an occupational hat but was soon adopted by the people from the upper class for sports. It was not too long until people from all social strata adopted the bowler hat for everyday use. Another example, the cap with visor which was mainly used by military officers, was also adopted by the working class by the middle of the nineteenth century. The visor cap, then known as the peaked cap was considered to be the most common head covering for the working man. Fashion and its effect on the twenty-first century In the recent years, especially the twenty-first century, clothes were not deemed with the same economic importance unlike in the previous centuries. Because of the cheap ready-made clothes that were made available to all social classes, clothes were not used as replacement for gold unlike before. Even though the economic value of clothes was not as significant as before, their symbolic value remained as important as before. The availability of clothes to all social classes made it possible for those who are not so very affluent to still express their individualities and own cultures. Another example of how clothes changed the way people perceive their social identities is if before women were not allowed to wear tight clothes or those which confine their body. Today women can wear tight clothes such as leotards and spandex whenever they like because of their liberalization. Women of today are not expected to conform much to how the society expects them to behave or to act. They are also not forced to stay at home anymore but women are now doing what the men do. Indeed, the gender equality experienced in this century is reflected in the way women dress. Cross-dressing or the wearing of clothing that is associated with a different gender, is also another way of how fashion reconstructed the social identity of people (Bullough, 1993, p. ). Homosexuals before were forced to follow the prescribed way of dressing for their gender. Unlike today where in homosexuals are free to dress the way they want, without being afraid of other people and punishments. They can wear women’s clothing and express their identities freely unlike before. Teenagers or adolescents also use fashion to set their own social identity from their parents or those fro m an older generation. If we turn on the television or visit a high school, we can see teenagers strutting outrageous clothes such as those with bright colors or elaborate designs. If people from an older generation prefer simpler designs of clothes, teenagers prefer those with dramatic effects to highlight the generation difference (Sloan, 2009). Perhaps this is how the youth of today’s generation set their social identity. If ever we see an old person dressing up the way the teenagers do, these persons are often considered out of the ordinary. This social identity is somehow embedded in the minds of the people and teenagers are now remembered this way. People who prefer work than leisure or vice versa can also be determined by the way they dress. During they first years of the twentieth century, the three-piece business suit was considered by many to be the epitome of the high social class and are often worn during important events. Though some wear the business suit as everyday apparel, others still consider it as a social class distinction. There were also strict regulations as to how a business should be worn and made. There were exact measurements for the lapels, collars and sleeves. The strict regulations about business suits were deemed as a factor in how people will achieve success. The use of the popular T-Shirt was associated with leisure. Because of its availability and cheap cost, majority of the public during the early twentieth century prefer shirts over the business suits. As time passed, t-shirts were used by people to set off political agendas such as imprinting political statements on t-shirts or other humorous statements. No matter what social class people belong in, rich or poor, t-shirts are favored by these people. Fashion transmitted by popular culture or music come and go very rapidly. Clothes designed because of the effect of the popular culture and the entertainment media are often highly androgynous. There are people who call themselves gothic and they are identified socially by their gloomy appearance and wearing of black colored clothes. Established rock groups also affect the fashion scene by popularizing leather clothes. Rap musicians like rock groups popularized the baggy clothes worn by some teenagers today. Indeed fashion drew a line between different genres of music and avid fans of the different music genres also follow this fashion therefore setting a social identity for them. Fashion undoubtedly constructs and affects the social identity of a person in more ways than one. Fashion and all the attributes it entails are a vast reservoir of meanings and culture of a certain society. From fashion magazines to television advertisements, fashion is a way of introducing something new to the public. Because of what they see in these popular advertisements, the people’s way of thinking is affected. People also depend on clothes and trend of fashion to express themselves and their uniqueness. Without this part of our culture, people will have lesser chances of expressing themselves and their individuality.

Jorge Eduardo Urrutia Schnyder Essay Example for Free

Jorge Eduardo Urrutia Schnyder Essay John Cinque was a son to a headman from Sierra Leone’s Mani Village known as Mende who was a renowned trader and rice. Available records show that Cinque was born in (c1813- 1879). Cinque is also known as Sengbe Pieh. and is popular for staging a mutiny against slavery in Cuba in 1839 in a Cuban Amistad Ship. Originally he was called Sengbe Pieh. but Spaniards renamed him as John Cinque. His move was a milestone to the slaves who were escaping from slavery as it was ruled that slaves freeing from shackles of slavery be treated as free men. Cinque like other blacks found his way into slavery due to rice debts he had not cleared and for that reason he was captured and sold to the slave masters who were looking for slaves to work in their plantations in the New World. This paper is going to conduct an in depth research on the life of Joseph Cinque as an enslaved man, his trials and achievements in his life. Joseph Cinque was originally known as Sengbe Pieh and the later name was given to him by the Spanish (Dalzell, Fred). He was a married and had three children when he was illegally captured and sold to slave masters who put him in their ship, Portuguese slave ship Tecors. Contrary to the international law prohibiting slavery, Cinque was captured in Sierra Leone and sold to a notorious Spanish slave dealer at Lomboko Island that is located at river Gallilas’ mouth. Later in 1839 he was resold by the Spanish to another slave dealer at Havana together with other 51 Mendians where they were destined to be taken to Cuban sugar plantations at Guanaja, Puerto Principe. According to 1814’s treaty that was signed between Spain and Great Britain, slavery was to become an illegal activity after 1820 and thus what the Spaniards were doing was a violation of the treaty. â€Å"The ship was bound for Cuba in contravention of laws agreed to by Spain that had outlawed the importation of salves into the New world† (Miller 158) In Havana, the captured persons were sold at night on auction and that was how Joseph Cinque among other fifty three Africans found themselves in the hands of Pedro Monte and his colleague Jose Ruiz. They bought one African man at four hundred and fifty dollars and were destined to be slaves for ever as they were now their property. The two slave dealers decided to relocate them to Puerto principle using their boat, the Amistad but fortunately or unfortunately this boat as it approached the Cuban Coast on 30th June, Cinque incited the other slaves to attack their captors, a mission they accomplished without much difficulties (Horton 258) What exactly happened was that enslaved persons led by Cinque freed themselves and broke the ships’ arsenal and armed themselves with weapons that were stored there and attacked the Spaniards. This incident was not very different from other slave rebellions that were occurring in the Americas such as the Southampton uprising of 1831 that was spearheaded by Nat Turner. In this case, Cinque killed the ship’s captain and the cook and then they took the two masters hostage commanding them to steer the ship back to Sierra Leone. Monte had no other option but to do as he was ordered but he was cunning enough to ride the boat slowly towards African coast during the daytime but at night he would reverse the direction and ride the boat fast heading northwest, a direction that landed him to the coast of the Long Island sometimes back in August, 1839 (Horton 259). The journey was long as it was not anticipated to last that long and to make the matter worse, they had already killed the cook. For this reason, ten of the captured slaves did not make it and were found dead by the American officers who were on patrol in the sea and the stable one were taken to the Port of New London on 27th August where slavery was not yet illegal. Later, they were taken to a court where Andrew T. Judson, the judge ordered an inquiry into the incident and ruled that the Africans be temporarily taken to New Haven before they would be taken to Hartford where they would meet the United States Circuit Court jury (Muller 158). According to Niemi (23), the judge was particularly very concerned with this case and wanted the African captives to be set free in fact, contrary to the expectations of many, he referred to these men as heroes for resisting slavery likening them to the African leaders who sold them off to the Spaniards. He tried to liaise with other influential people like Theodore Sedgwick and the son of one his best friends. The case was a complex one and had some serious issues that had to be deliberated for example the ‘Evening Post’ posed the question whether it was the jurisdiction of the American Circuit Court to deal with Spanish criminal affairs but the weight of the first question was added by the reference that was made by the same paper which termed Spanish acts as a threat to the family unit and a despicable barbarous action. As Bryant was very determined to see that the enslaved Africans were freed, using his technical expertise, he build a case against the Spaniards arguing that the Africans were taken to the Cuban island in contravention to the law and thus were neither to be returned to the hands of the executers of rebellious people or be doomed to be enslaved for the rest of their lives but the Spaniards were determined to have them returned to Cuba where they would be charged with murder of the cook and the captain. Anti slavery like James Pennington and Lewis Tappan came to add their voices to that of Bryant and others who were openly opposed to slavery claiming that though slavery was allowed in Cuba, the importation of Africans to Cuba was illegal (National Portrait Gallery Home). Cinque’s courage to stage an attack against his enslavers was deemed to be a heroic deed by abolitionists who maintained that it was in order to kill the captors who had illegally held them captive as it was the only way through which they could have preserved their freedom. In 1841, the federal government was charged by the then American president John Quincy Adams who went to visit the enslaved Africans of interfering with the court cases and obstructing justice by being partial in dealing with the issue of slavery and condemning Blacks who were fighting for their freedom. As a result of his strong advocacy for the release of the captives, the Supreme Court judge ruled in their favor in March 1841 by ordering the remaining thirty five Africans, Joseph Cinque among them to be taken back to their countries and in 1842 they were returned (National Portrait Gallery Home). When Cinque returned home, he found his wife was killed and thus had to start his life from the scratch again perhaps this is one of the reason why he lost hope in the abolitionist campaign and ended up turning into a slave trader just like his captors. The abolitionists using Joseph Clique’s case as an example, they embarked on an African mission and formed a Clique’s party which was to be used as a platform for fighting slavery but this did not materialize as they had anticipated as some so called independent African thinkers opposed their moves led by Cinque who is said to have deserted the party and turned to be a slave trader till his death (Niemi 25). In short it was not the wish of Joseph Cinque to be enslaved by the Spaniards but he just found himself captured and sold to the slave dealers for failing to clear somebody’s debt. To him this was dream that he was not ready to wait for it become a reality and that was why he did all that he could to ensure that he returned back to his country even if it meant staging a rebellion. Luckily enough, he managed to do this and headed back home but his journey was not as successful as he thought it would but at long last he ended up returning home after the Supreme Court of USA ruled that the enslaved persons be deported back to their countries and that was how Cinque found himself back in Sierra Leone. Works Cited: Dalzell, Fred. Cinque (Sengbe Pieh) Mende, captive, leader. Mystic Seaport Museum. 1997. Accessed at http://amistad. mysticseaport. org/discovery/people/bio. cinque. html Horton, Lois E. Slavery and the making of America. Oxford University Press US, 2004. National Portrait Gallery Home. The Amistad Case. Available at http://www. npg. si. edu/col/amistad/index. htm Niemi, Robert. History in the media: film and television. ABC-CLIO, 2006 Muller, Gilbert H. William Cullen Bryant: author of America. SUNY Press, 2008

Using Thin Layer Chromatography To Monitor Reactions Environmental Sciences Essay

Using Thin Layer Chromatography To Monitor Reactions Environmental Sciences Essay Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a very useful technique for monitoring reactions. It can also be used to determine the proper solvent system for performing separations using column chromatography. TLC stationary phases are usually alumina or silica. They are polar for standard experiments or non-polar for reverse phase chromatography. The mobile phase is a solvent whose polarity is chosen by the person conducting the experiment. In most laboratory work standard phase silica plates are used. Different compounds will travel different distances up the plate depending on the polarity of the components of the mixture. The more polar compounds will be more attracted to the polar silica gel and travel shorter distances on the plate. Mon-polar substances will spend more time in the mobile phase and as a result will travel larger distances on the plate. The measure of the distance a compound travels is called the retention factor (Rf ) value. The retention factor, or Rf, is defined as the distance traveled by the compound divided by the distance traveled by the solvent. For example, if a compound travels 2.1 cm and the solvent front travels 2.8 cm, the Rf is 0.75: The Rf for a compound is a constant from one experiment to the next only if the chromatography conditions below are also constant: solvent system adsorbent thickness of the adsorbent amount of material spotted temperature Since these factors are difficult to keep constant from experiment to experiment, relative Rf values are generally considered. Relative Rf means that the values are reported relative to a standard, or it means that you compare the Rf values of compounds run on the same plate at the same time. 1.1 Thin Layer Chromatography There have been a numbered of important milestones in the evolution of chromatography in the last 100 years. Each of these milestones has signalled the start of an important branch of chromatography. Some examples of these are; partition chromatography (1941), gas chromatography (1951-1952), high performance liquid chromatography (mid- 1960s), capillary electrophoresis (1980) and capillary electrochromatography (past decade). In all the chromatographic techniques mentioned, separation is carried out in a column. However, it is also possible to carry out separations on a planar surface. Two examples of this are paper chromatography (1944) and thin-layer chromatography (1937-1938). Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) replaced paper chromatography as the most popular, routine chromatographic technique. TLC was first used in 1937 to 1938 by Nikolai A. Izmailov and Maria S. Shraiber at the Institute of Experimental Pharmacy of the State University of Kharkov. At the time Izmailov was the head of the institute and Shraiber was his graduate student. They were searching for a method for the rapid analysis of galenic pharmaceutical preparations (plant extracts). As classical column chromatography would have taken too much time they felt that if the absorbent would be prepared in the form of a thin-layer on a glass plate. They believed that it would behave like a column but the characterization time would be much shorter. They coated microscope slides with a suspension of various adsorbents (calcium, magnesium and aluminium oxides). They deposited one drop of the sample solution on this layer and added one drop of the same solvent used in a column to develop separation. The test was a success as the separated sample components appeared as concentric rings that fluoresced in various colour s under a UV lamp. They showed that the sequence of the concentric multicoloured rings on the plate would have been identical to the sequence of coloured rings obtained on a normal chromatographic column. They called this technique spot chromatography and the result on the microscope slides ultrachromatograms. The paper on this experiment was published in a Russian pharmaceutical journal that was practically unknown outside the then Soviet Union. Its abstract was included in a Russian review journal and through it in chemical Abstracts. It was then read by M. OL. Crowe of the New York State Department of Health. He then adapted the technique for his own use. Crowe prepared the adsorbent layer in a Petri dish, added a drop of the sample solution in the centre and then added the developing solvent dropwise until sufficient separation was obtained. In 1947 T.I. Williams described a further improvement of the method of Izmailov and Shraiber in his textbook on chromatography. He prepared the adsorbent-coated glass plates in the form of a sandwich. The adsorbent layer was covered by 2 glass plates and had a small hole which the sample drops could be applied through. Meinhard and Hall made the next major step in the development of TLC at the University of Wisconsin. They used corn starch, which acted as a binder, to hold the coating on the glass plate and added a small amount of Celite powder to the adsorbent particles to improve the consistency of the layer. They called this surface chromatography. They used it to separate inorganic ions. Modern TLC started 50 years ago with the work Department of Agriculture Fruit and Vegetable laboratory in Southern California. He investigated the flavour components of the juices of citrus fruits. However, he stated that very large volumes had to be processed because the amount of flavour material was extremely small. Another problem was in finding an analytical method for the investigation of the juice concentrate composition. He followed the method of Meinhard and Hall that he read in Chemical Abstracts. However, instead of adding just a drop of the developing solvent he developed the plates as in paper chromatography. The plates were developed in a closed chamber and one side was dipped into the solvent. The solvent then ascended through the plate by capillary action. It carried with it the sample components and they were separated as a result. The experiments carried out were published and are considered the start of modern TLC. Egon Stahl was responsible for TLC becoming a universally accepted technique. He was also the first to use the term thin-layer chromatography to characterize the technique. This choice of name was almost immediately accepted. Stahl investigated various essential oils and obtained good results using adsorbent-coated glass plates. However, neither the method nor the adsorbent to be used had been optimized. Also, the adsorbents had to be modified and treated before they could be used for the coating of plates. Stahl started investigating the operational parameters and the adsorbent preparations. In the spring of 1958 his efforts were fulfilled as the necessary basic instrumentation, made by Desaga and silica gel G according to Stahl for TLC, made by E. Merck were both introduced at the international Achema exhibition of chemical equipment in Frankfurt. Stahl also published an article outlining the use of the system and a wide range of applications. Because of this standardized method TLC became a widely used laboratory technique. He also went on to publish a TLC handbook in 1962. Although TLC had a wide application it was still thought to be a qualitative technique for the analysis of simple mixtures. As a result advances were directed toward improving the technique. Instrumentation which permitted more precise spotting of the sample onto the plates and the quantitative evaluation of the separated spots was developed. Faster analysis and higher separation power was also achieved. As a result of the higher performance ability the name was change to high-performance TLC (HPTLC) by R.E. Kaiser, who was instrumental in its development. The particle size and range of the adsorbent was the main difference between TLC and HPTLC. The silica gel for TLC had broad particle sizes of 10-60 µm with an average of 20 µm whereas HPTLC has an average of only 5 µm. the HPTLC plates were also smaller in comparison with TLC plates, 10 x 10cm and 20 x 20cm respectively. The improved method and design allowed reduction in the diameter of the starting spots. These improvements lowered the analysis time and increased the efficiency. Problems arose with flow rate which Kaiser overcame by applying pressure to the TLC plate. This in turn led to forced-flow TLC. Due to the constant condensation-evaporation process associated with developing TLC plates in developing chambers problems can be encountered because of the changing velocity of the mobile phase. To overcome this forced-flow TLC (FFTLC) was developed by Tyihà ¡k, Mincsovics and Kalà ¡sz. In this method the spotted plates (dry) are placed into a pressurized development chamber. The stationary-phase layer is tightly covered and sealed on its side by an elastic membrane and pressurized by an inert gas or water filling up the cushion above the layer. The mobile phase is delivered via a pump at a constant velocity through a slit in the membrane to the stationary phase. There are various configurations which can be handled using this method. TLC is a very simple technique. As a result very little instrumentation is needed. Application of samples to the stationary-phase is carried out using a micropipette or syringe. The developing chambers are simple glass structures. Detection is carried out by visual inspection or made visible by spraying the plate with reagent. Also, a wide variety of precoated plates are available so coating equipment isnt needed. In more advanced systems the samples may be spotted by automated loading devices (dosimeters). This allows the application of small and uniform sample spots. More sophisticated developing chambers are also available (FFTLC). The plates can be scanned by densitometers and quantitatively analysed using absorbance or fluorescence measurements. Chromatograms with peaks of the individual separated spots recorded against the length of the plate are produced with such analyses. Their area is also a proportion to the amount present. More complex systems can also be created by combining TLC systems with other systems such as mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared. 1.2 Ink Analysis Ink analysis is a very important forensic procedure. It can reveal useful information about questioned document. Modern inks contain many substances which are aimed at improving the ink. The most important component of the ink is the colouring material. It comes in the form of a dye, pigment or a combination of both. Dyes are soluble in the liquid body of the ink, also known as the vehicle. Pigments are finely ground multi-molecular granules that are insoluble in the vehicle. The vehicles composition affects the flowing and drying characteristics of the ink and can consist of oils, solvents and resins. 1.3 Chromatography Studies Djozan et al developed a new and fast method for the differentiation of inks on a questioned document. They designed specific image analysis software for evaluating thin layer chromatograms. They sampled forty-one blue ballpoint pens which were purchased from their local markets in Iran (Table 1). They first wrote a circle of diameter 5 mm uniformly by pen on a paper. One fourth of this was then punched out for extraction. They carried out extraction in 1 ml glass tubes and added 0.1 ml of methanol. This was then vigorously shaken for 1 min. the ink component was then fully dissolved in methanol. The supernatant methanoic solutions were then used to spot the TLC plates. A blank sample of paper with equal dimensions was also treated in the same way. Table 1. List of blue ballpoint pens studied List of blue ballpoint pens studied 1 Cello pyramid 0.7 mm fine TC ball 2 OBA 3 AIHAO 4 Bic 01 5 Cenator 6 PARKER 7 A.T.CROSS FINE 8 Pelikan STICK 918 9 Marvy SB-10 1.0 mm 10 Bic 02 11 PIANO crystal 12 My pen 2001 PENS High Quality Bluce CE 13 AIBA 14 STAEDTLER Stick 430M A IRAN 15 Reynolds Medium 048 France 16 EIFEL Elegance 17 CASPIAN STICK 2001 M 18 STABILO liner 308 19 FABER-CASTELL 1.0 mm Medium (transparent) 20 BIC 08 21 Bocheng A-100 22 SCHNEIDER TOPS 505 M Germany 23 FIBER-CASTELL 1.0 mm Medium 24 MILAN PI 1 mm 25 Reform 26 PAPER = MATE FLEXGRIP ultra MED 27 PARKER UK 28 CANDID-DINI 2853 29 STABILO-galaxy 818 M 30 No name 31 No name 32 Zebra Rubber 101 33 SANFORD SAGA 34 Bensia 35 Girls 36 EUROPEN 37 PARS swiss Refill 606 38 STAEDTLER stick 430 M TBRITAIN 39 Lus HF 500 40 No name 41 STABILO bill 508 TLC analysis was carried out on Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) 20 cm x 20 cm silica gel 60 TLC plates without fluorescent indicator. The plates were activated at 60  °C for 20 min and immediately spotted after cooling in a desiccator. The plates were developed in a developing chamber. The mobile phase used was: ethyl acetate/ absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v). Chromatographic development of the plates was carried out at room temperature for 40 min. All mobile phases were prepared daily with analytical grade chemicals. Enough was prepared to supply the tank for each run. The plates were air-dried after development. The separated compounds were visible on the plate by their natural colour and the plates were scanned into a computer using an office scanner. An IBM compatible PC (Pentium IV) with a 2.6 GHz microprocessor, 256 MB random access memory (RAM) and a hard disk with 40 GB capacity for external storage was used for processing the colour images. The computer was equipped with an on-board graphic card (NviDiA Geforce 7300LE) and a scanner (CanoScan 4200F) was connected to the computer for scanning (300 dpi) TLC plates as digital images. The images were saved as bmp files. Matlab (Version 6.5, The Math Works, Inc.) was used to write a new program to process the previously saved images. Previous studies indicated that Pyridine is the solvent used with ballpoint pen inks. Djozan et al preformed extraction with different solvents using various extraction modes. These modes were immersion of paper into solvent and simple agitation for 1 min, ultra-sound assisted extraction and micro-wave assistance extraction. The results showed that the immersion of paper into methanol or pyridine and simple agitation resulted in complete extraction of the inks from paper (Table 2). Table 2. List of solvents used for extraction of ink components from paper Solvent Solubility of ink colours Ethyl acetate Ethanol Acetic acid Acetone Butanol 1,2-Dichloroethane Butyl acetate Tetrachloroethane Acetyl acetate Cyclohexane Methanol Pyridine Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Soluble Soluble No improvement was found using ultra-sound or micro-wave assisted extraction. Methanol was chosen as the extraction solvent due to the safety of the solvent. The selection of the plate was down to the fact that silica gel plates provided the best resolution of dye spots. They selected five mobile phases (Table 3) and found that ethyl acetate/ absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v) was effective in separating nearly all the dye mixtures. The spot capacity obtained was more than 15. Table 3. Different solvent systems used to develop plate Solvent System Ratio Spot capacity Butanol:ethanol:H2O Ethyl acetate:cyclohexane:methanol:NH3 Ethyl acetate:Butanol:NH3 Ethyl acetate:ethanol:H2O Toluene:acetone:ethanol:NH3 50:15:10 70:15:10:5 60:35:5 70:35:30 30:60:7:2 9 5 10 15 5 Fig. 1. Typical TLC results of 10 different ink samples (Djozan et al, 2008) Fig. 1. shows a typical chromatogram that they achieved in their experiment. To confirm complete separation of all components in the studied sample, two-dimensional (2D) TLC was carried out using various solvent systems. The results proved that the one-dimensional (1D) TLC is able to provide sufficient separation. The first stage carried out was colour image normalization. A function of the input images was computed that is invariant to confounding scene properties but was discriminative with respect to desired scene information. The calculation is as follows: Stage 2 is to compute a colour image profile. The intensity profile of an image is the set intensity values taken from regularly spaced points along a line segment in an image the intensity values are interpolated for points that dont fall on the centre pixel they computed an intensity profile for r, g and b images along the line passing through the centre of the image on the chromatographic development straight of each ink spot. Fig. 2. RGB characteristic of an ink after TLC (Djozan et al, 2008) In stage 3 the colour image profiles were correlated. The intensity profiles were considered as sequences and the normalized cross-correlation of sequences were computed. Cross-correlation is a measure of similarity of two signals. It is used to find features in an unknown signal and compared to a known signal. It is calculated as follows for discrete functions: Eq. (1) For image-processing applications in which the brightness of the images can be due to lighting and exposure conditions, the images can be first normalized. It is calculated as follows: Eq. (2) Stage 4 involved computing image similarity. The weighted mean of and were computed as follows: Eq. (3) The ability of the method to differentiate between various blue ballpoint pens was evaluated by comparing the similarity of different inks according to Eq. (3). Fig. 3. Screen shot of Matlab software running (Djozan et al, 2008) Fig. 4. All possible combination of comparing inks with TLC-IA (Djozan et al, 2008) In 2006 Liu et al published a paper on the classification of black gel pen inks by ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatography. They stated that black gel inks usually contain several dye components. These components all have different colours and are mixed together proportionally to give the black colour. They used reverse-phase ion-pairing high performance chromatography (RP-IP-HPLC). It was done in such a manner as the dyes couldnt be reversed on the C18 column due to their high polarities. The maximum UV absorption bands of the black gel pen inks obtained were between 500 and 700 nm. The wavelength of the detector was set to 580 nm as most of the dyes had a maximum UV adsorption near 580 nm. They investigated the influence of both volatile and non-volatile ion-pairing reagents on the HPLC analysis of black gel pen ink dyes. All the reagents had different alkyl chain, ammonium acetate, triethylamine (TEA), tributylamine (TBA), dihexylamine (DHA) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBABr). The results revealed that the dyes were nearly not retained using ammonium acetate or TEA as the ion-pairing reagent. Using TBABr, TBA and DHA as the ion-pairing reagent, individually, the dyes were separated. TBABr was selected as the ion-pairing reagent as the retention times were shorter than the others and sharper peaks were obtained. They also investigated the buffer solution concentrations and the effect of pH on the separation. The optimum result was: 40 mmol/L TBABr buffer solution (pH 7) with acetonitrile as the organic modifier for IP-HPLC analysis and an identical proportion of the buffer and acetonitrile (v/v = 40:60) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. these optimum conditions were used to separate 50 dye-based black gel pen inks by IP-HPLC. Liu et al carried out another study on ion-pairing HPLC in 2006. This time, however, they studied the degradation of blue gel pen dyes and also used electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. They used ion-pairing reversed phase liquid chromatography as the inorganic compounds they were analysing have weak retention on the ordinary reversed stationary phases when separating on HPLC. This is due to their high polarities. The UV detector was set at 580 nm for the analysis as most dyes have a normal maximum absorption near 580 nm. The UV absorptions of the fluorescence whitening reagents in paper are usually below 500 nm and they had no interference for the detection of the gel pen dyes at 580 nm. Fig. 5. Chromatograms of blue gel pen inks using different ion pairing reagents (Liu et al, 2006) The tested various mobile phases: eluent A: eluent B (acetonitrile) = 50:50 (v/v); eluent A was the buffer of ion pairing reagent with concentration of 40 mmol Là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 (pH 7.0), and the ion pairing reagent was (a) ammonium acetate, (b) TEA acetate, (d) TBA acetate, (e) DHA acetate and (f) TBABr, respectively. (c) Ammonium carbonate as eluent A (40 mmol Là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1, pH 9.5) and eluent A:eluent B (acetonitrile) = 50:50 (v/v). they found that 10 mmol-1 TBA acetate (pH 7.0) was suitable ion-pairing agent for the purpose and ink samples stored in different conditions were analyzed by IP-HPLC. Significant changes of ink composition were observed. The noticed that the natural aged inks had the similar but weaker degradation trend than the light aged inks. They used HPLC-MS/MS with ammonium carbonate as ion-pairing reagent to obtain the information of the light aged inks and their photodegradation mechanism. In 1994, Varshney et al analysed ink from typed script of electronic typewriters by HPTLC. They used script from seven electronic typewriters. They used the resultant Rf values and in-situ visible spectra of each resolved band of all the chromatograms indicated that the same chemical composition is being used in six typewriter ribbon inks. However, the seventh one is completely different. Fig. 6. Wavelength maxima values of in-situ visible spectrum bands of electronic typewriter scripts (Varshney et al, 1994) Fig. 6. shows the densitograms obtained after scanning and integration of the chromatograms of tracks of individual typewriters and blank paper. The seven electronic typewriter inks could be categorised into two groups after analysis. The first group resolved the sample to four bands including the base. The second group did not resolve the samples at all with the solvent systems used. Several varieties of blue ballpoint pen inks were analysed by HPLC and IR spectroscopy by Kher et al in 2006. The chromatographic data extracted at four wavelengths (254, 279, 370 and 400 nm) was analyzed individually and at a combination of these wavelengths by the soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) technique. They used principal components analysis (PCA) to estimate the separation between the pen samples. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) measured the probability with which an observation could be assigned to a pen class. The best resolution was obtained by HPLC using data from all four wavelengths together, differentiating 96.4% pen pairs successfully using PCA and 97.9% pen samples by LDA. PCA separated 60.7% of the pen pairs and LDA provided a correct classification of 62.5% of the pens analyzed by IR. They stated that HPLC coupled with chemometrics provided a better discrimination of ballpoint pen inks compared to IR. Kher et al effectively combined LDA and PCA to classify the HPLC and IR data. PCA gives a general idea of how different a given pair of pens is, whereas LDA can quantify the predictive ability of a generated classification model. The two techniques of PCA and LDA were shown to be complimentary to each other. The PCA and LDA results indicated that although IR cannot differentiate between all classes of pen inks, it can still provide a reasonable discrimination, which can be enhanced further by improving the quality of the spectra. The analysis of such an enhanced IR data with chemometric analyses would provide a valuable non-destructive tool for forensic analyses. Raman Spectroscopy Studies Mazzella and Buzini used Raman spectroscopy to analyse blue gel pen inks in 2004. They sampled 55 blue gel pens. They first separated them into two groups using a preliminary solubility test in methanol. They discovered that 36 were pigmented inks, which arent soluble in methanol, and 19 were dye-based inks, which are soluble in methanol. They applied Raman spectroscopy to the 36 pigmented blue gel inks. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique. Spectra were first obtained using the 514.5 nm argon ion laser which proved the observation of 4 different groups. They then used the 830 nm NIR diode laser and divided the inks into three groups. They then combined the two lasers and a separation into 5 groups was obtained. They then attempted to identify the pigments contained in the gel by comparison to standard pigments. Two main pigments were detected in the analysed samples: PB15 and PV23. PB 15 is pigment blue 15 and belongs to the class of phthalocyanines. PV23 is the pigment violet 23 and belongs to the class oxazines. The argon laser allowed the detection of a mixture of PB 15 and PV 23. This was a better result than using the NIR diode laser. The results showed that the same gel pen ink (same model and brand) from different geographical locations showed the same Raman spectra. However, it was stated that the Raman technique obtained low discriminating values. 2. Materials and Method 2.1 Materials: Blue ballpoint pens Merck silica gel 60 TLC plates (20 cm x 20 cm) Methanol Ethyl acetate Ethanol (absolute) Paper Dessicator Developing chamber Puncher Glass tubes (0.1 ml) Capillary tubes 2.2 Experimental 13 blue ball-point pens (Table 1) were bought from a number of different shops in the town. A circle with a diameter of 5mm was written by the pen on paper. One fourth of it was punched out for extraction. The samples are placed in 1 ml glass tubes. 0.1ml of methanol was added and vigorously shaken for 1 min. The ink component was fully dissolved in methanol. The supernatant methanoic solutions were used for spot application on TLC plate. A blank of paper only is also treated as was a control which was a permanent marker. TLC analyses were preformed using Alugram 20 cm x 10 cm silica gel/UV plates (Macherey-Nagel). The plates were activated at 60 °C for 20 min and immediately after, cooled in a desiccator, and spotted. The plates were developed in a horizontal developing chamber. The solvent system included: ethyl acetate/absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v). Development was preformed at room temperature for 40 min. All mobile phases were prepared daily. After develo pment the plates were air-dried. All 13 different pens were tested in triplicate. Retention factors were calculated using the results from the plates and photographs taken using a digital camera were loaded onto the computer and analysed using image analysis software. Table 1: List of pens analysed Number Description 1 No Brand (blue) 2 Pilot G-207 3 BIC ReAction 4 BIC Medium (Bought in Tesco) 5 BIC Medium (Bought in Dunnes) 6 No Brand (Purple) 7 Staedtler Stick 430M 8 Roller Pen 9 Papermate 1.2M 10 Scripto Stick Pen 11 Papermate Write Bros. 12 Comfort Touch 13 No Brand (Tesco Click Pen) 3. Results and Discussion Before carrying out the experiment it needed to be researched. This research pointed out the importance of the correct solvent to remove the ink from the document. Djozan et al used methanol as their choice of solvent after considering other solvents (Table 2). They stated that Pyridine was the reported solvent used with ball-point pen inks. However, they carried out extractions with different solvents using various extraction modes. They realised that immersion of the paper into methanol with agitation resulted in complete extraction of the inks from the paper. Methanol was also chosen because of its safety. Table 2: List of solvents used for the extraction of ink components from paper Solvent Solubility of ink colours Ethyl acetate Slightly Ethanol Slightly Acetic Acid Slightly Acetone Slightly Butanol Slightly 1,2-Dichloroethane Slightly Butyl acetate Slightly Tetrachloroethane Slightly Acethyl acetate Slightly Cyclohexan Slightly Methanol Soluble Oyridine Soluble Different concentrations of the solvent system (Table 3) were analysed to see which gave the greater separation. It was found that the concentration given by Djozan et al, (ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water (70:35:30, v/v/v)) gave the best results. The Alugram silica Gell/UV plates were also found to work better than the suggested, Merck silica gel 60, plates without fluorescent indicator. Table 3: Concentrations of solvent system investigated Number Solvent system 1 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:35:30, v/v/v) 2 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:30:35, v/v/v) 3 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:25:40, v/v/v) 4 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:40:25, v/v/v) Table 4: Retention factors for all separated components pen spot 1 spot 2 spot 3 spot 4 spot 5 Solvent RF1 RF2 RF3 RF4 RF5 1.1 70 73 0.958904 1.2 70 73 0.958904 1.2 70 73 0.958904 2.1 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 2.2 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 2.3 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 3.1 57 60 62 70 0.814286

Heart Attacks Essay -- essays research papers

A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to a portion of the heart muscle is severely reduced or stopped. This happens when one of the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle is blocked by an obstruction. This blockage can be due to a condition called atherosclerosis (a build up of fatty like substance along the wall of the artery), a blood clot or a coronary vessel spasm along with a total obstruction. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart stops, that area of the heart will no longer receive the oxygen or nutrients needed to carry out its function and will die. If it is a very small part of the heart involved, it will be able to work without it. If a large portion is damaged, irreversible damage will happen which can lead to death.Damage to the heart muscle may be so severe that it may cause abnormal heart rhythm, called arrhythmias. Most people who are of a myocardial infraction or a heart attack do so within a few hours due to a type of arrhythmia The heart attack victim will complain of pressure, discomfort or a squeezing sensation in the centre of the chest. There may be pain radiating to the arms or the neck. There may also be shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and or indigestion. The pain that occurs is the result of heart tissue ischemia (decreased blood supply). The area that is not receiving enough blood is literally crying out for help. When a person complains of any of the symptoms mentioned, they should be transported ...

disinvestment :: essays research papers

DISINVESTMENT OF PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS IN INDIA TODAY THE RUSSIAN ECONOMIC MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT CONNOTED THROUGH THE RUSSIAN FUR DOES NOT EXIST. TODAY THE CHINESE ECONOMIC MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT CONNOTED THROUGH THE MAO SUIT DOES NOT EXIST. Margaret Thatcher disrobed them. The concept of the GOLDEN STRAIGHT JACKET is avowed, to whether it were the Democrats or the Republicans, the Conservatives or the Laborites, the BJP or the Congress. The concept of the golden straight jacket has been embraced by all countries including India. It endeavors to shift the economic decision making from the government to the markets. The concept of Disinvestment being it’s major tenet. The Nehruvian temples of economic growth, better known as the Public Sector Undertakings were born as the outcome of the conscious policy of the government to speed up industrialization of the country with a view to giving added impetus to economic growth as well as achieve certain socio-economic goals. These undertakings account for  ¼ of our GDP. They also account for 1/3 of our exports and have made contributions to import substitution. Also government undertakings employ more than 70% of the workers employed in the organized sector. These undertakings have helped reduce imbalances in regional development and a few of them have earned reputation for excellence at international level. But the picture is not as rosy as it seems, rather the scene in most of the PSU’s is very chilling. According to figures upto March ‘99 losses incurred by 29 PSU’s trebled within one year from approx. Rs.1050 crores to Rs. 3600 crores. The major reasons for the non performance of the PSU’s can be summarized as: Political Interference, High Cost of Delay, Fear of Scams, Headless Plants, Ineffective Management, Huge Inventories, Trade Unionism and Unutilized Capacities. A comprehensive policy on public sector was set out in the Industrial Policy Statement of July 24, 1991 - the year when the country had to tide over an unprecedented economic crisis reflected in its internal and external finances. The steps adumbrated included a review of public sector investments to focus on strategic and essential infrastructure enterprises and new procedures to tackle chronically sick and loss-making units. â€Å"Rationality is least expected from an economist who is best defined as a man who tells you tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday did not happen today.† The DEPARTMENT OF DISINVESTMENT has the following rationale: Because of the current revenue expenditure on items such as interest payments, wages and salaries of Government employee and subsidiaries, the Government is left with hardly any surplus for capital expenditure on social and physical infrastructure.

America Is A Nation of Immigrants Essay -- Ethics of Immigration, Cate

For over 300 years, various ethnic, cultural, and social groups have come to this country to seek economic opportunity, reunite with family members, and find a place where they can be free from political and religious persecution. I suspect a majority of American-born citizens believe that immigration is a bad thing in this country that is harmful. Those particular Americans believe that this country is being infested by foreigners who cannot even speak our own language. However, if one were to look at the truth behind these fallacies, he/she would see that immigration is beneficial to our country and should not be abandoned. Instead, it should be increased. Approximately 800,000 immigrants enter the United States each year. Of this number, 480,000 of them are family sponsored, meaning that they are immediate relatives to American citizens, such as a spouse, child, or sibling. Employment-based immigrants total 140,000 each year. This means that they are, â€Å"skilled professionals with exceptional ability and other priority workers, immigrating to jobs for which the U.S. Department of Labor has certified that no qualified U.S. worker is available† (â€Å"Legal Immigration to the United States†). Contrary to popular belief, only 1% of the population constitutes illegal immigrants. People commonly view these immigrants as â€Å"dirty Mexicans† crossing the border, when in fact, six out of the ten illegal immigrants enter the United States legally with a student, tourist, or business visa. Many become illegal when they stay in the United States after their visas have expired (â€Å"America is Immigration†). Refusing immigrants into this country will not alleviate the problem of illegal immigration. If they are able to get in now, then... ...e and greater opportunities. If it had not been for immigration, none of us would be in the position we are today. WORKS CITED â€Å"America is Immigration.† American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. 2014. Web. 28 May 2015. . â€Å"Five Immigration Myths Explained.† American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. 2013. Web. 28 May 2015. . â€Å"Legal Immigration to the United States.† American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. Web. 28 May 2015. . Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1999. Sumption, M. "The Economic Value of Citizenship for Immigrants in the United States" 2012 Web. 4 June 2015. http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/mpi_econ_value_citizenship_01.pdf Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. America Is A Nation of Immigrants Essay -- Ethics of Immigration, Cate For over 300 years, various ethnic, cultural, and social groups have come to this country to seek economic opportunity, reunite with family members, and find a place where they can be free from political and religious persecution. I suspect a majority of American-born citizens believe that immigration is a bad thing in this country that is harmful. Those particular Americans believe that this country is being infested by foreigners who cannot even speak our own language. However, if one were to look at the truth behind these fallacies, he/she would see that immigration is beneficial to our country and should not be abandoned. Instead, it should be increased. Approximately 800,000 immigrants enter the United States each year. Of this number, 480,000 of them are family sponsored, meaning that they are immediate relatives to American citizens, such as a spouse, child, or sibling. Employment-based immigrants total 140,000 each year. This means that they are, â€Å"skilled professionals with exceptional ability and other priority workers, immigrating to jobs for which the U.S. Department of Labor has certified that no qualified U.S. worker is available† (â€Å"Legal Immigration to the United States†). Contrary to popular belief, only 1% of the population constitutes illegal immigrants. People commonly view these immigrants as â€Å"dirty Mexicans† crossing the border, when in fact, six out of the ten illegal immigrants enter the United States legally with a student, tourist, or business visa. Many become illegal when they stay in the United States after their visas have expired (â€Å"America is Immigration†). Refusing immigrants into this country will not alleviate the problem of illegal immigration. If they are able to get in now, then... ...e and greater opportunities. If it had not been for immigration, none of us would be in the position we are today. WORKS CITED â€Å"America is Immigration.† American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. 2014. Web. 28 May 2015. . â€Å"Five Immigration Myths Explained.† American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. 2013. Web. 28 May 2015. . â€Å"Legal Immigration to the United States.† American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. Web. 28 May 2015. . Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1999. Sumption, M. "The Economic Value of Citizenship for Immigrants in the United States" 2012 Web. 4 June 2015. http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/mpi_econ_value_citizenship_01.pdf Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Manipulations of Memory Used by Orwell and Williams

The steady development of â€Å"Big Brother† as the all-controlling entity in George Orwell’s 1984 is the premise for the role truth plays throughout the novel. Truth is functioned against society for the benefit of the government. Similarly, Tennessee Williams creates a uniquely different environment for his characters in The Glass Menagerie while maintaining the same function of truth as a source of distortion and control. Collectively, the themes of dehumanization in 1984 and distortion of memory in The Glass Menagerie relate to one another regarding the function of truth in each work to substantiate a sense of authority and deception. Oppression in 1984 as a direct instrument of dehumanization is made quite evident within the text. The inner-party uses several brainwashing and torture tactics to rid society of past memories and experiences. The effects these tactics have upon truth are substantial in their regard. The intent of â€Å"Big Brother† is to reduce human beings understanding to a more basic, easily manipulated and empty slate where the agendas of the inner-party can be executed with ease. We see the extent to which understanding of the past affects one’s attitude about the present when Winston states, â€Å"And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested† (Orwell 93). This quote is said following Winston’s frustrating conversation with the old man about life prior to the Revolution. Winston is coming to terms that the party has deliberately set out to weaken people’s memories in order to render them unable to challenge what the Party claims about the present. If no one remembers life before the Revolution, then no one can say that the Party has failed humanity by forcing people to live in conditions of scarcity, filth, ignorance, and famine. Rather, the party uses rewritten history books and falsified records to prove its good deeds. This proves the theory that truth is dependent of memory and without memory truth is subject to manipulation and in this case dehumanization. Orwell not only suggests this theory through the events observed in Winston but also through Winston’s own surrender to â€Å"Big Brother† and its definition of truth at the end of the novel. After the inner-party’s relentless attempt to purge Winston of any prohibited thoughts, they achieve their goal of dehumanizing him. The narrator brings closure to the novel as he describes Winston’s â€Å"new† character. â€Å"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother†, said the narrator (Orwell 297). Winston’s curiosity towards â€Å"Big Brother† was prevailing during the earlier parts of the novel. This curiosity soon transforms into animosity urging him to join a rebel group to overthrow â€Å"Big Brother†. Despite these negative feelings, the power of dehumanization works against what years of curiosity have said to Winston to be true. His memory of â€Å"Big Brother† as being counterproductive to society is no longer existent because his present situation says that â€Å"Big Brother† should be loved unconditionally. The fact that Winston’s conversion was successful should focus the reader on truth and memory and how they are comparable. The dehumanization of memory stands as a principle theme in 1984 and it is through this theme that Orwell functions truth to reveal the desire of deception. Tennessee Williams takes a corresponding approach to truth and its function in his play, The Glass Menagerie. The characters, Amanda, Tom, and Laura all face the similar dilemma of a falsified perception of reality. The mother, Amanda, is the most blatant character in denial. Her situation as a single mother raising two children has subliminally deceived what she sees as factual. In a conversation with Laura Amanda is quoted â€Å"Why you're not crippled, you just have a little defect — hardly noticeable, even! When people have some slight disadvantage like that, they cultivate other things to make up for it — develop charm — and vivacity — and — charm† (Orwell 18)! Seemingly everyone is quite aware that Laura is crippled however, Amanda will not come to terms with this occurrence. She deals with this unfortunate fact by lying to herself that her daughter is not crippled thus proving there to be little veracity to any memories she has. Throughout the play Amanda is full of deceptions. Amanda changes her style of speech to a southern accent when Laura’s gentleman caller arrives. Amanda states â€Å"â€Å"light food an’ light clothes are what warm weather calls fo†Ã¢â‚¬  (Orwell 63). The reader is told that Amanda was born in the south. In spite of that, this is the first time she speaks with a southern accent. Amanda explains her newly discovered accent as her â€Å"rejuvenated† personality but the reader can assume this is her attempt to mislead the people around her to believe she is something that she is not further revealing her deceitful memory. Consequently, Tom and Laura are trapped by this illusion Amanda creates. Laura is highly dependent upon her mother therefore she is influenced by Amanda’s views. Tom carries the burden of providing for his family and cannot leave from this world of lies and untruths. Amanda’s present state has distorted her memory and essentially distorted her sense of self and reality. Her ability to do this has given her control of what she can feel and therefore how she can live her life despite not being able to escape from the poverty stricken life. Despite having contrasting influences behind their respected themes, 1984 and The Glass Menagerie share a common purpose to gain control over reality through the manipulation of truth. In 1984 Winston observed and experienced the tactics that â€Å"Big Brother† used to give the public a misleading view of truth. Through dehumanization, â€Å"Big Brother† achieved full authority over its citizens by erasing all memories of life before the revolution. With no memories to go by society was at the mercy of â€Å"Big Brother† and what the inner-party considered acceptable. People could not judge right from wrong because â€Å"Big Brother† was all they ever knew. The Glass Menagerie is comparable is the sense that Amanda needed to gain control over her life which seemed to be spinning into the ground. She was helpless and this feeling led her to shape her own reality in order to regain this sense of control. People are typically fearful of things they cannot conquer. Amanda could not achieve freedom from her environment therefore she created her own path through a deceptive memory. Her children were trapped in this life of lies just as Winston was in 1984. In both works we see a desire of power to control their respected situations. 1984 sought for the control of society whereas The Glass Menagerie sought for the control of the Wingfield future. The power of memory is existential to the human ability of perceiving the present. George Orwell’s 1984 and Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie manipulate memory in such a similar fashion that their functions of truth are nearly identical concerning their purpose. In 1984 truth is functioned against society for the sake of â€Å"Big Brother† and the inner-parties agenda through dehumanization. Similarly, Orwell uses Amanda’s character in The Glass Menagerie to demonstrate the importance of memory and how one’s own deception of truth can distort their reality dramatically. Both pieces of work complement one another and solidify the case that memory or a deceitful memory for that matter is vulnerable to exploitation and the effects can be substantial in regard to one’s sense of actuality.