Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Benchmarking Essay

Essay on Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a tool that provides goals for realistic process improvement and helps you understand the changes required to improve performance. You may use benchmarking to identify and rectify problem areas, implement strategic change initiative, or for continuous process improvement. Benchmarking is the practice of being humble enough to admit that someone else is better at something, and being wise enough to learn how to be as good or even better than them. (McCall, Jr. & Kaplan, 2003)

Companies benefit from benchmarking through improved performance and productivity levels. Benchmarking helps, organizations understand their industry better, which leads to innovative thinking. Innovative thinking helps you to achieve the desired performance level more rapidly. Other benefits include the identification of the best practice to use in a particular process. Savings are generated using benchmarking because it allows you to continuously improve performance and productivity, therefore eliminating costly errors.

Benchmarking also enables competitors to talk to each other through structured studies and shared findings, which can raise the standard of excellence industry-wide. Since global competition is increasing, the need for competitive advantage is necessary. Benchmarking can help your business gain that competitive edge through improved performance and productivity. (Evans, 2002)

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People often mistake benchmarking for competitive analysis. Competitive analysis typically looks at intelligence data: facts and figures, product breakdown and strategic goals. It is a guessing game as to how to achieve the competitive advantage. (Evans, 2002)

Types Of Benchmarking
There are four types of benchmarking used, process, performance, strategic and internal. Each one has its benefits and its shortcomings and may be more useful in some situations than in others. Benchmarking is a necessary decision making tool for any business that wants to be successful.

Process
Process benchmarking focuses on discrete work processes and operating systems. It can look at customer service, billing, the way orders are filled, recruitment or the strategic planning process. Process benchmarking tries to identify the most effective operating practices from many other companies who perform similar work or deliver similar services. These practices become independent industry standards and this type of benchmarking has the ability to produce results that are seen immediately in performance improvements. These are evident in increased productivity, lower costs or improved sales with a result of improved financial performance. (Koskinen, 2000)

Performance
Performance benchmarking is competitive benchmarking and allows managers to assess their competitive positions through product and service comparisons. Also known as direct competitors benchmarking, this application focuses on elements of price, technical quality, labor product or service features, speed, reliability and other performance characteristics. This application uses direct product or service comparisons and the analysis of statistics as primary techniques. Many industries use performance benchmarking as a standard competitive tool. To protect confidentiality, of proprietary information, a third party is usually used. (Koskinen, 2000)

Strategic
Strategic benchmarking examines how companies compete. It is seldom industry focused and moves across industries looking for winning strategies (best practices) that have enabled high-performers to be successful in their markets. Also called outside-of-industry, this method is used widely by Japanese corporations as it influences the long-term competitive patterns of a company. As a result, benefits are slow to accrue compared to the immediate benefits, which can be had from process benchmarking. (Koskinen, 2000)

Internal Benchmarking
In addition to the three primary types, there is also internal benchmarking. This effort looks for internal best practices and tries to establish them uniformly throughout the company. This method is achieved by comparing all the functions in the various operations in a business organization. The main advantage of internal benchmarking is its ease of implementation and low requirement of time and resources. However, being internally focused, it targets only internal standards. For competitiveness, the internal standard should be measured against the best in class to determine if there is a gap and how wide it is. Most firms start benchmarking with an internal benchmarking exercise. (Koskinen, 2000)

Benchmarking at Work
We use both performance and process benchmarking with my current employer. Performance benchmarking is used to compare our help desk to other help desks in the industry. We belong to the “Help Desk Institute”. The “Help Desk Institute” sends us reports on what the industry standards are for reporting, resolution time, calls logged, average call length and many other standards. We continually review these reports and try to meet or exceed the industry standards (of which we have been very successful.)

Process Benchmarking is used when we choose to upgrade and change equipment and systems. Sometimes we use benchmarking measurements from the companies that we are considering buying equipment from, this is usually if we are looking to just buy on piece of equipment, such as a new server. Standard S.O.P. is to get an example of several different types of systems and test them against our own benchmarking standards; this is normally used when we are replacing several systems in the environment.

Limitations of Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a great decision making tool when you are comparing your operations to the industry or when you are planning and purchasing new equipment (such as is used in my place of employment.) Benchmarking is limited to processes that you have time to make decisions. This would not be a good decision making technique if you had to come up with an instant answer to a problem. This also would not be appropriate for deciding layoffs or terminations, unless you were to use the argument that the people being laid off or terminated did not meet the industry standards for abilities and knowledge.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Kohlberg's Moral Theory Essay

Essay about Kohlberg's Theory

The first of Kohlberg's three levels of moral development is the pre-conventional level. During this level a person is concerned with the consequences of their actions and it contains two stages. Stage one is avoiding punishment, a child will behave in a way that will not result in punishment. Stage two is satisfying a need. A child will do what it takes to meet a need or want they have.

The second level is the conventional level. It is when a person's decisions are based on society's standards of right and wrong, It contained the next two stages of moral development. The third stage is winning approval, a person will try to gain the approval of others using the standards of right and wrong. A person will do the right thing not for the sake of doing something good but to get the approval of others. The fourth stage judgements are based on law and order. A person will have respect for authority and try to follow laws as best they can.

The third and final level of moral development is the post-conventional level. Stage five judgements are based on personal values. While law and order are still considered important, but if a need is great enough, they will break the law and follow their own values. Sixth stage reasoning is based on universal values like justice, dignity, and life. A person will make decisions heavily based on their values and will not follow laws that they don't agree with.

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As people get older they start to get wrinkles because the skin loses elasticity. The senses can sometimes dull, bones get weaker, reactions get slower. What a person can do to deal with these problems is eating well and exercising regular it helps keeps the body fit and flexible.

While most people don't experience any significant cognitive problems as they age, some can develop a dementia, a serious loss of cognitive ability. People with a dementia can have serious memory loss, speech problems, difficulty concentrating on things, or even performing simple tasks. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. It usually causes severe memory loss and confusion. Researchers do not yet know the exact cause of Alzheimer's but there are many theories.

When a person reaches about 65 - 70 they may be forced to retire. Many people looks forward to the freedom of retirement, while others worry about what they will do wth all their free time. When most people first retire, they begin to do the things that they wanted to do, but didn't have time for. However, when they have done all they wanted, or realize what they wanted wasn't as good as they thought, they often join volunteer groups, or get a part time job to occupy their time. Older people often have grandchildren, which they seem to have a better relationship with than their own children as they don't have to bear the responsibility of raising the child, but can still enjoy it's company. Many people believe that when a person has retired they either go to a nursing home, live with their children, or move into a condo in a warmer climate, this assumption is false. Most older people stay in their home town because of the familiar surroundings, and they normally own their own home as well.

When preparing for a test it is important to gather information about it, find out when and where it will be, what type of questions there will be, and what areas should be studied. A student should practice by studying on a regular basis and making up their own test questions to practice with. Group studying can be beneficial. Studying on a regular basis will make sure that a person isn't caught off guard by a pop quiz. It is also important to know how to take a test well. Carefully read all instructions and follow them exactly. Make sure you come prepared with right equipment for the test be it pens, pencils, scrap paper, a calculator, etc. Getting stressed over a test doesn't help anything; and there are steps that can be taken to avoid this anxiety. Be prepared for the test, study the material on a regular basis instead of cramming the night before. Over-learn the material; when you think you know something, keep reviewing it and you will know it even better. Think positive thoughts. Negative thoughts will only make the experience harder, before you even take the test, tell yourself you will pass, higher confidence results in higher performance. When answering an essay question a person should first make sure they completely understand the question so while writing their essay they will not stray off topic. Read the directions, looking for keywords that will guide you in what to do. Before you write the essay make a quick outline to keep your ideas organized. It is important to express your strongest idea first, and the rest of the essay can be support.

Health psychology is concerned with the relationship between psychological and physical conditions, and the treatment and prevention of related physical illnesses. Stress can reduce the effectiveness of the immune system. When a body is stressed, it is stimulated to release steroids, which inhibits the functioning of the immune system, and interferes with the production of antibodies. The most common type of headache is the muscle-tension headache. When a person is stressed, the muscles in the scalp, forehead, shoulders, and neck tend to tighten up. The longer the stress, the longer the muscles stay tense and a feeling of pain sometime accompanied by a feeling of pressure, will set in. Headaches can become a cycle as the headache itself is a source of stress, causing the headache to get worse. There are many causes of heart disease but there are three main stress related causes. Having a Type A personality makes a person more likely to get a heart disease because of all the stress they put themselves into. A constant need to control and repress intense emotions like anger and hostility can be very stressful, and lead to a heart disease. Job strain is also a significant cause. Overtime work, a repetitive job, and conflicts in the work place are all stressful, and con contribute to the development of a heart disease. Cancer is yet another disease that stress can worsen. A person's body is subject to cancer cells rather frequently, but the immune system normally destroys them. However, if a person is stressed to the point where their immune system isn't functioning properly than a tumor can start and the cancer can spread. It has also been shown that stress can effect how the cancer will develop.

The main biological treatment of psychological disorders is drug treatment. It generally works quite well for many disorders. Anti-anxiety drugs help people deal with anxiety disorders and serious distress in their lives. The drug works by reducing the nervous system's activity, lowering the heart and breathing rates, and decreasing the stressed feelings. While the drugs can temporarily dela with the symptoms they will not cure the disorder, so the drugs are usually used for just a short period of time. The most common side effect of these drugs is fatigue, people may also develop a dependence for the drug. Antidepressant drugs are used to treat people with major depression, and sometimes they are used for eating disorders and panic disorders. Anti depressants increase the amounts of noradrenaline and/or serotonin. They increase activity and reduce the symptoms of depression, the drugs need time to build up in the system to be properly effective, it can take days or weeks. Some studies have shown that antidepressants are no more effective than cognitive therapy, and since cognitive therapy has no side effects, and helps a person deal with the problem on their own, many experts believe that antidepressants should be reserved only for people who don't respond to cognitive therapy. Antidepressants also have the side effects of increased heart rate and weight gain. Lithium is used to treat bipolar disorder, it isn't understood exactly how it works but it flattens out a person's mania and depression cycles. The main side effects of lithium are impaired memory, shakiness, and excessive thirst. Antipsychotic drugs treat people with schizophrenia. They reduce levels of agitation, delusions and hallucinations. With the use of this drug, people who would normally have to live in a mental hospital, can now live relatively normal lives. The side effects are balance and coordination problems, tremors, and twitching, but these only appear after prolonged use.

Electroconvulsive Therapy, also known as ECT, is a method now used rarely, and only for people who don't respond to less extreme measures. A patient is knocked unconscious with an anesthetic, and an electrical current is passed through the brain, it causes violent involuntary convulsions. It is known to help severely depressed people who didn't respond to drug therapy. The ECT treatment is very controversial because it is not understood how it works, and it has severe side effects like memory loss.

A method even more controversial than ECT is psychosurgery. It is brain surgery to treat psychological disorders. The most common technique is prefrontal lobotomy, it is used to reduce violence and agitation in a person. The procedure involves cutting the nerve connections in the brain between the prefrontal lobes and the thalamus. This treatment has severe side effects such as overeating, reduced learning ability, seizures, apathy, social withdrawal, distractibility, reduced creativity, and sometimes death.

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Teambuilding Essay

Building team and being a team member, first you have to recognize the concept and meaning of the team. Teams are one kind of small groups. A team is not only when people get together to work. “A team is a set of interpersonal interactions structured to achieve established goal” (David W. Johnson, Frank W. Johnson, Joining together: Group Theory and Group skills-8th Edition). To be more specific, a team includes two or more people who have these following characteristics. Firstly, people who are responsive of their optimistic in interdependence as they try hard to accomplish common objectives. As well as individuals who are cooperate among other team members. Thirdly, those who know who is your team companionship. Finally, persons who have exact roles and responsibilities or tasks to carry out.

To form productive teams, clear cooperative objectives, effective communication, good quality leadership, successful decision-making, practical conflict management, and positive applying use of power are all necessary. It brings a team to obtain extraordinary tasks done. However, it is not simple to build a team effort.

Successful team performance has a need of careful organizing of collaboration between team members. The efficient team formation will be more productive than team structured competitively and individualistically. It will also result in more dedicated team members are to each other, and the better members’ social capabilities. Moreover, by developing the success of continuing work teams, they may be provided team-building experiences. Team-building focuses on the analysis of work processes and actions of ongoing work teams performance to improve team efficiency, the high-quality relationships among associates, the level of members’ communication skills, and the ability of the team to develop to adjust to altering circumstances and demands.

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There are several concerns in building teams:

Having a size of small team can be beneficial. The greater number of people, the smaller they put effort into work. Members may feel isolated which can be resulted in not as much of task participation and lack of responsibility for the team’s achievement. It is quite difficult to deal with a large number of people through their diversities. Huge groups face more multifaceted restrains on sharing the point of views required to make a team.
Choosing members based on their knowledge and skills. Individual will have expertise in his or her own area. Ability requirements are divided into two types: task work skills and teamwork skills. Among members, they have to know what kind of ability that is being needed to accomplish its mission.
Bringing and researching the information that will want to operate in the team by considering a well planned and preparation.

When a team has been built, organizing must be occurred by the following:

Present and clarify the team with its mission, encouraging interdependence between team members and appoint in the procedure of changing the mission into specific objectives to the team. Winning teams require a persuasive purpose and need to recognize that what is going on now among collaborators. They must operationally connect their goals in terms of quantifiable tasks. All the way through this method, it will create a sense of ownerships of its goals toward each member and enhance its performance potential.
Ordinary meetings have to be often set up to offer chances for team members to act together face-to-face and support individual’s success. Team members need to assist or cooperate to each other, planned and unplanned, specifically at the first start. The requirements of inventive insights and personal bonding are also essential.
Concentration is needed, especially in the first meetings. When the team initially assembles, members observe the signs provided by teammates to corroborate, or dismiss hypothesizes and concerns. The team leader will be selected to supervise or authorize the team.
Creating understandable rules of manner. All operative teams improve rules of manner at the beginning to assist individuals carrying on their purpose and functioning goals.
Exactly determining the movement of the team in reaching its goals to ensure certain responsibility. The allocation of the tasks will be shared and distributed equally.
Provide the new ideas, resources, or information that make mission, purpose, and goals easier to understand.
Ensure regular team-processing gatherings. The team needs to observe how well it is functioning and discuss techniques to progress its success frequently.

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Fractional Distillation Essay

Essay on Fractional Distillation

In this experiment there were many conclusions that could have been drawn from the data collected. When I first obtained the unknown alcohol it appeared to be a clear liquid. After the distillation was performed the amount that was left in the flask had turned into a pinkish color indicating that there was impurity, probably due to the addition of the boiling chips in the beginning of the experiment. After the first drop of distillate had been collected the temperature tended to fluctuate slightly throughout the distillation process.

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The average temperature was around 88ДaC indicating that it might be 1-propanol +water. The fluctuations in the temperature could have been caused by several reasons. One could include the fact that 1-propanol is not a pure alcohol, since it contains water which might make this solution have various boiling points. Another point could be a source of error where I lowered the hot plate to see how much distillate I had left to distill. By doing this it decreased the temperature dramatically since the flask was away from the heat source for a brief period of time. As well it was difficult trying to find a proper temperature setting on the hot plate to gain a constant distillation temperature. I tended to find myself turning the temperature higher when it appeared low and lowering the temperature at certain high points. Another source of error included the amount of distillate I had left in the flask. I did not distill all of the liquid; I left some of it in the flask so that it would not let the flask boil dry and crack. My final amount distilled was 3.7 ml, which was about 74% amount recovered. The volume per drop was about 0.0336ml throughout the distillation period. My graph has 2 plateau's one at 10 to 20 drops and one at 55 to 70 drops. I also have 4 maximas and 2 minimas.

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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Essay on Fermentation Rate

Fermentation Essay

The original questions were: do carbohydrate sources have an effect on the rate of fermentation? And, which carbohydrate source has the greatest effect on fermentation? Our hypothesis stated that carbohydrate sources will speed up the process of fermentation and polysaccharides will it up the fastest, disaccharides will be relatively fast, and monosaccharide will be the slowest.

Carbon dioxide change is indicative of fermentation therefore, we set up an experiment that included six carbohydrate sources: glucose, lactose, maltose, starch, and cellulose. The answer to the first question to our hypothesis is yes carbohydrate sources do have an effect on fermentation rate; however, the answer to the second question was the reverse of our original hypothesis. Monosaccharides have the greatest or fastest effect, followed by disaccharides, and polysaccharides have the least or slowest effect on the rate of fermentation.

According to our data, Table 2. and Figure 2., the mean decrease in water level with the test tube containing glucose was 8 mm. Maltose and lactose showed a mean decrease of 4mm, and starch and cellulose showed a mean decrease of 2 mm. Why does this occur though?

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Yeast has the ability to ferment glucose to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Yeasts are found to belong to a group of organisms known as fungi. They are known to reproduce quite rapidly by fission, or otherwise known as budding (Kowalczyk 2000). Their cell wall swells at a region, and becomes a bud. The bud breaks off from the rest of the cell and becomes an independent cell. Yeast does not contain chlorophyll, so therefore cannot produce its own food. They feed on sugar from a variety of sources (Delfin 2002). Yeast is used by the wine and beer industry to ferment carbohydrates in their food to alcohol. Yeast is able to take in solutes across their cell membrane by diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and active transport. Glucose is water soluble because of its hydroxyl groups that stick out around it so therefore, simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose, are taken up by facilitated diffusion (Yip 2000). Only under anaerobic conditions, such as alcoholic fermentation, is yeast able to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide. In alcoholic fermentation in yeast, electrons are transferred from NADH to pyruvate which is then converted to alcohol while releasing CO2. This process is also the cause of bread rising, and also produces the alcohol in beer and wine.

This explanation makes it clear why disaccharides and polysaccharides tend to be slower which conflict with our results. Disaccharides are two monosaccharides linked together. Polysaccharides are long chains of monosaccharide subunits linked together. Plants use starch to store food. Cellulose which makes up cell wall structures are designed not to be metabolized and is a primary component of dietary fiber and for most animals is indigestible.

In conclusion, the results of the experiment are consistent with the first part of our hypothesis: carbohydrate sources speed up the rate of fermentation. However, they are not consistent with the second part: polysaccharides will speed up the process the fastest, followed by disaccharides, and finally monosaccharide. The reverse to this is true. Our findings indicate that the monosaccharide glucose had the most profound effect on fermentation rate; carbon dioxide change under laboratory conditions. The things that we controlled were temperature of the water bath, 50-60 degrees C, the number of test tubes, and the amount of contents in the test tubes. However, there were weaknesses in the experiment. I do not think the addition of corn syrup was necessary because it did not serve as an indicator for anything throughout the experiment. In addition, I think that we used too little yeast in the experiment. If we used more yeast, fermentation could have occurred faster. Additionally, we probably could have seen when the rate of fermentation exhausted in each of the tubes with the carbohydrate sources.

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Facilitated Communication Research Essay

Essay about Facilitated Communication

The purpose of this study is to test the methodology of facilitated communication in order to prove what is really taking place, beyond appearances, whether disabled subjects are actually able to communicate as a result of their own free will using facilitated communication, or are subjects being intentionally or unintentionally persuaded by the facilitator to type messages not of their own volition. The hypothesis posed in the introduction is as follows: that subjects are indeed being influenced by the facilitator as a result of the facilitators interaction with the subject, therefore subjects are not typing of their own volition.

The general design of this study was experimental. The dependent variable was the number of correct or incorrect responses to stimulus cards throughout the sessions. The independent variable was the manner in which the stimulus was presented, and the method or absence of communication or contact. There were three different ways to present the stimulus cards, the facilitated condition which specified that the subject be shown a stimulus card, but the facilitator is not, the not facilitated condition which specified that conditions would be the same as the facilitated condition except the facilitator was not allowed to physically interact with the subject, and the distractor condition which specified that subject and facilitator would both be shown stimulus cards, but half of the time the cards would be the same, and half of the time they would be different.

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This type of design was probably used because it is the best way to test a hypothesis involving a cause-effect relationship. The hypothesis dealing with facilitated communication clearly has a cause-effect relationship, (the cause being the influence of the facilitation, and the effect being the subject not typing the correct response of their own volition) This kind of design is also very effective in proving a hypothesis because it takes place in a laboratory and allows for a strong control of variables, therefore if a change is observed in the dependent variable, one can be sure it is a result of the independent variable without interference from outside sources. In contrast the design is also limited in the sense that the subject is not in their natural environment, (all though attempts were made to reproduce normal facilitated communication sessions, i.e. the cards were the same ones used in previous facilitated communication sessions), and may act differently than he or she normally would.

The key graph of the experimental results showed the responses recorded from the subjects in facilitated, and distractor conditions. The graph shows there were zero clearly correct responses in the facilitated condition sessions, and that there were twelve out of sixty responses in the distractor-different condition, where the subject typed the correct response to the facilitators card that they could not view. The rest of the responses in the distractor-different condition were incorrect. In the distractor-same condition there were fourteen out of sixty responses in which the subject typed correct responses to their card, and the facilitator’s card, the rest of the responses in the distractor-same condition were incorrect. This data supports the initial hypothesis because of the overwhelming lack of any clearly correct responses in either the facilitated or distractor conditions, as well as the percentage of responses in the distractor-different condition where the subject typed the correct response to the facilitator’s card that they were unable to see, seemingly there could be no other explanation for this occurrence than that the facilitator was influencing the subject’s responses.

I am fully convinced that the authors conclusions are valid. The experiment was conducted in a way that it is very unlikely that the subjects performance could be affected by anything but the independent variable. The results of the experiment strongly support the idea of facilitator influence.

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Saturday, June 26, 2010

Tao Te Ching Essay

Essay on Tao Te Ching

Today we are living in a world of declining values. At one time we lived in a world of innocence. A world that taught a strict code of what was right and what was wrong. Morality was viewed as objective, meaning that these moral codes where universal, that everyone had the same values. In the last few decades that has drastically changed. Morality is no longer viewed as objective, it is now subjective. The individual is free to decide what is moral for him or her. Making these decisions are hard to do in a society that has abandoned almost all ties to morality. People are shocked when young children or teenagers turn to crime. They can’t understand how or why it happened. I believe to solve this problem, we must create a set of values that today’s youth can understand. This is why the Tao Te Ching was intensely interesting to me. Not because it solves today’s moral dilemma, but because I believe it is part of the cause. Yes, it teaches that we should all live a balanced life. And yes it teaches that we can live in harmony. What it lacks, is consequences, as well as a strong foundation of right and wrong. It teaches that there really is no sin. Isn’t that why the world is where it is at today? In reading these verses of the Tao Te Ching I saw a very articulate collection of proverbs. Proverbs which have a good message, but due to its lack of moral fiber it is not something I want to base my life on.

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Throughout my reading of the Tao Te Ching I considered many verses to focus on. The one I found myself drawn to was verse 44. This verse teaches that we must not look to others for happiness, but we must instead find it in ourselves. Also, it teaches money can’t make you happy, and to be satisfied with what you have. It teaches that you must take an inventory of the things you have, and only then will you be happy. If we as humans could just put away our desires to have the most material objects, and celebrate what we already have, we would be content. This in my opinion is a very sensible idea, but it is not without flaw. If we just sit down and are content with what we have, what direction does our life have? Many toddlers are happy wearing diapers, but in order to grow and mature they must learn to change and not be content with the diaper wearing routine. The same could be applied to any ones life. I could have been content at the Electronics Institute, but I chose not to be.

I took a proactive roll in my own life, and am now on track to a more successful future then I ever imagined I had ever imagined . Our country would not be where it is today if we weren’t a people of drive and determination. If the Puritans would have followed the ideas of the Tao Te Ching, and where content with their oppression, we would not be here today. We would not be enjoying the freedoms we delight in. But on the positive side, I agree that we must find happiness through ourselves. We must strive for integrity, and to a certain extent, be delighted in the things we have. This verse seems to sum up everything I have learned in the past semester. When I read it I thought of Willie Lowman in Death of a Salesman, who tried to find happiness through others and the pain it caused. I also thought of The Overworked American, and our use of money to measure satisfaction. This connection between the two is why this verse is my favorite. Both these books have had a profound impact on my life.

Growing up I was raised in a Southern Baptist home. In fact, my father was a Baptist minister. I was raised to have strong Christian values. Yet, as soon as I was old enough I quickly abandoned what the church had taught me. Throughout my teenage years I had no religious affiliation. In truth, I probably broke almost all of the Ten Commandments. But through all of my defiance, I have found in the past couple of years that the Bible, a book I shunned for many years, may have some good ideas.

Although I do not consider myself to be a Christian, I see that the teaching of the Bible seems to be our only way go get a grip on morality. Before the separation of church and state, values and morals where openly taught. Children and adults alike, had a reason to live moral lives. But as soon as we took away accountability in this country, immorality began to run out of control. Books, such as the Tao Te Ching, are a part of the moral decay in today’s society. The book of Genesis in the Old Testament, the serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, promising her that she will gain the knowledge of God, if she will just eat the fruit. I see a direct relationship to the temptations Eve was faced with, to ideology such as the Tao Te Ching and Zen Buddhism. Both which promise we can achieve enlightenment, and become gods ourselves.

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Elasticity Extended Essay

Essay about Elasticity

What is elasticity? Elasticity is a property in certain substances that when one stretches it repeatedly, it will return to its original shape. However, there is an elasticity limit to every object, or how much stress can be applied to the object without it breaking or forming permanent deformation. When the stress applied to the elastic object is tolerable, it yields to the pressure and restores to its original shape when the stress is released; when the stress becomes too great, and it breaks or forms permanent deformation. The elastic property that allows elastic matter to return to its original shape is called elastic rebound. The elastic rebound and the elasticity directly varies as the temperature. Lots of materials have elasticity; a very good example is an elastomer, or rubber.

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Most rubber contains only one kind of molecule. The rubber molecules are interconnected by chemical bonds called springs in a vibrating structure. At a normal state, they are always in a vibrating state, called vibration heat. Although it vibrates, it has a solid structure and unlike liquid, it has a definite shape; and unlike gas, it has a definite volume. This property allows the molecules to move around easily and be in motion yet maintaining an overall shape. Due to this vibration, rubber can yield to stress unbearable to other substances and still return to its original shape. The molecules in the rubber are in a state of entropy, or having no specific order and structure, “they just wind and tangle around each other in one jumbled mess (Elastomers).”

When stretched, their chains will be forced to line up in an orderly fashion and be crystallized, or lose their state of entropy. When the stress is released, they are no longer crystallized by force and naturally return to their original structure of entropy. According to Hook’s Law, if a rubber is thrown to the ground, its structure stretches to yield to the force. Then, when the impact of the stress is absorbed, it returns to its original shape with a force. This force is what makes a tennis ball or basketball bounce. To get an even higher bounce, some elastomers have chains of molecules that are cross-linked, joining all the molecules into a single network.

The elasticity of elastomers, as well as all substances having the property of elasticity, is greatly affected by the temperature. The basic rules is that the hotter the elastomer is, the more elastic it is, assuming that the temperature is not hot enough to make the elastomer liquid or gas.

Elastomer molecules, as mentioned above, can withstand great stress because of their vibration heat, because the vibration almost gives the elastomer a liquid like quality. Thus, if the vibration heat cools off, the molecules will have a hard time moving around, and the elastomer will not be able to withstand as much stress. The temperature that allows elastomers to be cooled to the point where it acts like a rigid object such as a marble is called the class transition temperature, or Tg. When a rubber ball is at or near its Tg, it will behave like a marble when thrown to the ground; it will either not bounce, bounce a little, or shatter like glass. The ball will even have a different sound when bounced at different temperatures! A famous experiment demonstrating the relationship between temperature and elasticity is placing a rubber ball in liquid nitrogen, which is -160 Celsius, and breaking it on the ground.

The elasticity of elastomer is related to the temperature because the temperature controls the movement of the molecules in the elastomer and therefore determining its ability to yield to stress. If a rubber ball is place under cool temperature, then its elasticity will decrease.

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Michael Jackson Essay

If you were asked, "who is the most famous person in the world" then one name would immediately pop into your mind. Michael Jackson. An American singing superstar who has been at the forefront of the music industry for virtually his entire life. But who is the Michael Jackson off stage? Through years and years of media speculation the answer to this question is unclear. Jackson's reputation had been at it's highest when he was just 11 years old. It seemed as though the world did not want him to gorw up. And when he did, the world watched with intrigue and cynnicism.

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Changes to his face were made firstly due to the result of going through puberty. His first nose job was because of an injury that had occured. It seems though he liked what he saw after his face was altered, so he kept going back routinley to try to achieve complete perfection and to fill his naivity he had had since he was teased as a teenage boy. Yet, after studying his face carefully, we can see that his face has not undergone the number of changes that the media would like us to believe. Because of his race, the media made a hge deal of his "nose jobs" and when he contracted the vitiligo diseases (that destroys pigmentation of the skin)the media and public had drawn to the conclusion that he had reached a state of thinking that white equaled beauty.

However, contrary to popular beliefs that this was the motvie behind his frequent visits to his plastic surgeon, we have never heard him to be ashamed of his race nor does he have a reason to be. For instance, it certainly isn't going to affect record sales, as "Thriller" was a phenomenal hit which became the biggest selling album world-wide and is still selling, yet he still had black skin and had not yet been affected by the disease.

Providing the downslide of his reputation though, record sales decreased although the music did not. This problem has deepy affected his career but ultimately, is insignificant to him as the enormous fan base will pull him through, charting his albums highly once they're released, proving that an international pop icon will never fade out, not according to his massive number of fans, anyway...

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Religion in African Society Essay

Essay on Religion in Africa

Women have a very important role in the African society and religion. Africans believe this because of the various myths different clans accept as true. The African god, also known as Uwolowu, placed one woman on this earth. She was the first person who was known to be on this earth. God and this woman bore one child and continued to bare more children until the population grew form there. Another myth believed is about a woman and a man who were both infertile and could not have any children. God was said to have mixed salvia with sand and created a human sand figure. He then instructed the woman to place this figure in a pot and add milk to it for nine months. After she did this, limbs began to become real and later a child was born. Different clans believe different things about how life came to be but they all believe a woman was the main reason for how life came about. “A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is fenced around it.” This saying from a proverb from Ghana shows that a woman is highly respected and taken care of in the African society and religion. They are a huge sign of fertility as well. They are also held high because they are allowed to become priestesses. Priestesses take a huge part in medical practices. After each child is born they pray with their clan giving thanks for the ability to have a child and recreate life.

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Also in the African religion crime is also a big deal and held as an offense not only to you but to God and the entire clan. The whole religion has a great understanding of what and what is not legal. They do not have written down laws but they are understood. They are basically all of the rules we have as a society but included is also things that Christianity has in their bible such as adultery. If a crime such as stealing is committed, the clan refers that person to the gods for punishment. This could result in torture, illness, or maybe even partial blindness. Also they could be made to go public and explain to everyone in the community why they did it and what they did exactly. This shows again that community and religion are intertwined.

. These supernatural powers are also seen in the African religion. They are also on a journey. However, in their religion they are on a journey from the time they are born. This kind of journey is called a spiritual journey. A spiritual journey can be defined as a journey in which one is trying to discover what lies underneath of their religion and trying to figure out exactly what that something may be. Their journey seems to be to believe and be grateful for the supernatural powers and the powers of nature. In the African religion, adventure of a journey is evident everywhere. Africans have to pass a certain threshold and once they do they are somewhat trapped in adventure. Their journey is extremely important in finding truth and light in what they believe.

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DNA Testing Essay

Essay on DNA Testing

In 1998, Josiah Sutton, 16, was convicted of kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to twenty-five years in jail. His arrest has been based on a false identification and misinterpreted semen testing. The police were looking for a man who was 5’7” tall and weigh 135 pounds; however, Josiah was 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds, but they arrested him because they thought that the DNA test proved that he was guilty.

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When the results came back as a positive match for Sutton, so they thought, he was convicted of his crime in under two hours and he set out to figure out what went wrong. When reviewing the evidence and the paper work that came with the tests, Anna Werner and David Raqiz were shocked at how many mistakes their were. Looking over Sutton’s case specifically, an expert figured out that the sample that said Sutton was guilty was not even in the back seat where it was said to have been. Also examining the other samples, he proved Sutton’s innocence. When Sutton’s DNA evidence was re-examined, his DNA was nowhere to be found so the judge let him out on his own recognizes. The Houston Crime Laboratory is now undergoing investigations dealing with this incident. Of the convictions based on DNA testing, many are being retested and some of the convicts have turned out to be innocent. DNA testing is a really really really bad thing.

In 1998, Josiah Sutton, 16, was convicted of kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to twenty-five years in jail. His arrest has been based on a false identification and misinterpreted semen testing. The police were looking for a man who was 5’7” tall and weigh 135 pounds; however, Josiah was 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds, but they arrested him because they thought that the DNA test proved that he was guilty.

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Essay on Parents are the Best Teachers in Our Life

In Japan, where I live, some people consider that parents are not the best teacher. I, however, I agree with the statement that parents are the best teacher for the following reasons.

First, when I had a difficulty educating my son, my mother gave me an outstanding suggestion. Her suggestion enabled me to help my son. Since then, I have felt sure that my mother is the best teacher for me. My son used my visa card for gambling without my permission when he was returning to Japan from the US. He lost around $9,000 dollars. I was very upset and got angry at my son. I am very strict and demanding to my son so that I tried to punish him. However, my mother was against me because my son had had difficulties in the US for many years and therefore had decided to come back to Japan. On the way to Japan, he had gambled and lost the money. When he came back to Japan, he was extremely depressed. My mother considered that getting mad at my son would make my son’s situation worse so that she suggested me not to be angry at him. She believed that my son would be rejuvenating himself since he had been an outstanding student. In Japan he was the captain of the soccer club and the president of the students' body at high school. She just told me to encourage him. I followed her suggestions. Two months later, in Tokyo, my son received a job offer from one of the biggest four companies in the field of consulting business in the world. Thus, I learned that encouragement sometimes work to help young people, not punishment. Since then I have felt that my mother is the best teacher for me to educate my son. Excellent example with very good details!

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Second, my mother taught me how to handle people who give me difficulties. She used to say, “Give sweats to a person who puts the blame on you.” This is an old saying in Japan. The old saying sometimes works to solve problems with mean people. For example, when I had lived in an apartment, a person next to my door constantly had made noise so that I could hardly sleep every night. I had told this to my landlord, however the landlord was unable to rectify the situation. One day, I had recalled my mother’s quotes as in my earlier statement. I purchased sweats from my hometown and visited my neighbor. I handed the sweats to her and chatted a little about my hometown and the sweats. I had also indicated her that I hardly sleep every night. Since then, she stopped annoying me. Another very nice paragraph—good explanation and good example.

Thus, for these reasons, I agree with the statement that parents are the best teacher. My mother has given me a fair amount of suggestions about how to solve problems in a real world. In this sense, my mother is my best teacher for me.

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Essay on Blended Families

College Essay on Blended Families

This essay will be about blended families, mainly my own. I will discuss how my family is categorized as a blended family and how we as family, deal with these unique situations that sometimes arise. A blended family is defined as family whose members were once part of other families. I myself just have my family, which include my husband and my four children. Holly, (8 years old) is the daughter with a man that is not my husband and we never married. Sienna, (5 years old) Nicole, (2 years old) and Nicolas (1 year old). The last 3 children are my husbands and mine. So this brings me to Holly my oldest daughter and how she has a blended family and how that work for her and her two families.

Holly (my daughter) is a very lucky little girl. Some people my look at her situation a think that it might be sad to be the only individual in each family that is considered a "stepsister". But on the contrary, Holly sees things so much more different. Instead she has 2 families and that means she gets twice the love then a regular "normal family". Two families, mine (her moms) and her dads.

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The majority of her time is mostly spent us. Here with our family she has her mom, stepfather and her 3 younger siblings. All 3 siblings, which include Sienna, Nicole and Nicolas, are technically her half sisters and half-brother. But in our home they are not viewed like that. I believe that they were all born from the same mommy the same tummy that means they are all one in the same. We love and treat her no different than any one else in our household. Holly doesn’t call my husband "dad" but that because she has a wonderful father who is very much a huge part of her life.

Every weekend and most holidays Holly spends with her dad’s family. Her dads family is made up of Bob (her dad), Patty (her stepmother), Nathan (stepbrother), Samantha (half sister) and Monique (half sister). Nathan is Her dad’s wife’s son from a previous marriage. Samantha and Monique are the daughters of her father and stepmother. Holly also views her father’s daughters as her "real" sisters. When she goes to her father’s house she gets the same equal treatment just like the other 3 children in their home.

Holly is a happy kid. She is blessed with two wonderful families that love and adore her. Her blended family have worked hard to put all differences and history aside to give her a life full of happiness and health. She is one kid that has it all, the best of both worlds. For Holly this special family situation has worked for her.

With two families that show her and guide her in all the wonderful things that life has to offer. No one family more important and no pressure to have to choose. All she has to worry about is being a kid. Holly’s blended family is heaven sent. Now that is one lucky kid, even with her blended family.

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Essay on The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal Essay

Many people do not know why the Panama Canal was built or what the troubles were in building it. Many people believe it was built for control over the oceans or having a stronger military. This essay paper will explore the problems and the importance of building the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal was completed in the year 1914 and is ranked as one of the world’s greatest achievements. The United States built the Panama Canal as a cost off 380 million dollars. For ten years, thousands of workers worked on it (The World Book Encyclopedia 122).

It was during the Spanish American war when many had learned that there should be a canal built across the Central America isthmus (Bailey et al 673). Theodore Roosevelt became the President of the United States in 1901. Roosevelt believed that the United States needed a strong navy who could patrol the oceans of the world. In Roosevelt’s mind the canal was the perfect idea to make it easier for the navy to move between oceans and become stronger. During Roosevelt’s presidency he devoted himself to building the Panama Canal (Mann 11).

The first step in building the canal was to get an O.K. with Colombia because at that time Panama had belonged to them (Mann 12).

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The United States had the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which gave them sole right to build and operate the Panama Canal (The World Encyclopedia 125). The same treaty also provided that the United States would give Colombia an initial payment of 10 million and pay 25,000 annual rent for use of the zone (Bailey et al 672). Roosevelt wanted the government of Columbia to sign the treaty, but many Colombians thought it was unfair (Mann 12). Although the treaty sounds pretty tempting the Colombian legislature refused to approve the treaty because they felt is was not enough money (The World Encyclopedia 125). Many Panamanians did not like being part of Colombia and wanted their independence. United States sided with Panama to support Panama’s Rebellion against Colombia. The revolution lasted three days and Panama had won their independence twelve days later Panama signed the treaty with the U.S. to have the Panama Canal built (Mann 15).

The greatest obstacle in building the Panama Canal was disease. The Isthmus of Panama was one of the most disease-ridden areas in the world (The World Encyclopedia 126). When the Americans took over to build the canal many diseases took the lives of laborers. Roosevelt realized the job would never get done if workers were getting sick and dying (Mann 15). After his realization Roosevelt sent a world famous expert on tropical disease to Panama to lead the fight against yellow fever and Malaria. Dr William Gorgas had earned his good reputation by completely wiping out yellow fever in an island in Cuba (internet 1). Unfortunately Gorgas did not get the job done right away in Panama because in 1905 there was an outbreak of yellow fever that caused a panic in the Canal Zone. Many workers left the country and the Canal Construction came to a hold. Dr. Gorgas had a sanitary department with 4,000 workers who worked hard to eliminate the mosquitoes that spread yellow fever (Mann 16). By 1906, Dr. William Gorgas had completely wiped out yellow fever and eliminated the rats that carried the bubonic plague. Between the years of 1906 and 1914 he reduced the number of malaria cases by 90% (Mann 17). The Panama Canal was certainly ready for some more building.

Many thought the diseases was enough and nothing else could go wrong, but there was still a tremendous problem that came up in Panama. Americans were building the Panama Canal according to the French Plan (The French tried to build the canal before the Americans and failed.) the French Plan called for waterway to move at sea level from end to end (Mann 19).

That part of the plan was impossible. Roosevelt ignored the impossibility to build the canal so he stayed with the idea of having a sea level canal. But by 1905 John Stevens was the chief engineer of the Panama Canal. He had changed Roosevelt’s mind to building a lock canal that would be less digging (Mann 20-22).

The Chagres River was another large and dangerous obstacle the Americans overcame. I was the largest river in Panama and with rainfall it could destroy almost everything in its path including the canal (Mann 26). The lock canal plan had solved that problem. It called for a dam and the river was backed up behind the dam creating Gatun Lake. The American’s were able to control the wild river enough to make it part of the canal. This was part of the canal required no excavation and saved Americans time and money (Mann 28).

Although the Americans were saving time and money there was still a greater challenge over their heads. It was called the Cordillera Mountains and tremendous digging had to be done. It turned out to be the most difficult, dangerous, and heart breaking part of the job (Mann 30). The builders had to remove earth and rock. The removal was done by hand with picks and shovels, but mostly with dynamite and heavy machinery (Mann 30). The dynamite they worked with was unstable in the heat and had cause death to the builders with explosions, debris, and fire. Digging through the mountains mudslides had become a serious problem (Mann 33). Many acres of mud destroyed steam shovels, railroad tracks and filled up the bottom of the mountain that had just been dug out. The mudslides meant more digging and most workers thought the digging would never end (Mann 33).

Some workers had living conditions provided for them in Panama, which made up for risks and discomforts many of them had (Mann 37). The workers had comfortable houses, free medical care, good food, higher salaries, and inexpensive clothing. Good schools were provided for children along with churches and social clubs (Mann 37). Many of the workers were not Americans. The majority of the workforce was black and did not have the provided living conditions like other workers. They were often paid less and lived in the shacks in the jungle or a crowded slum (Mann 39).

Although there were many delays the canal was completed six months ahead of schedule. The S.S. Ancon made the first official passage through the Panama Canal (The World Encyclopedia 126). The boat was decorated with bright flags and it sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific and made the reality of the canal slogan, “The Land Divided is the World United” (The World Encyclopedia 126).

The Panama Canal is a vital commercial and military waterway. About 12,000 vessels travel through the canal a year. Many of the ships carry about 168 million short tons annually. The most frequent users are the Americans who are traveling to or from the United States. Other users are Canada and Japan. Huge quantities of war materials and thousands of troops passed through the canal during World War II, The Korean, and the Vietnam War (The World Encyclopedia 126).

The Panama Canal still stands today and is in use. It is the greatest accomplishment of the 20th century. It is a masterpiece of engineering and as smoothly today as it did in 1914. It was still built in spite of the difficult work and working conditions (Bailey et al 635). Stevens, Gorgas, and Gothals are the best-known heroes of the canal but were the only ones (Mann 42). Many of the workers received medals for their commitment, hard work, and dedication (internet 1).

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Biotechnology Essay Example

Sample Essay on Biotechnology

How does the world view Biotechnology? My previous understanding to this question has been not very well. Now I have been presented with the opportunity to somewhat research how various sources view Biotechnology? My findings were mixed however and mostly based upon by the source depicting the article. I found two varying articles by two very different sources. One source was from a (CBS) article, while the other source was from Scientific American. After reviewing these two articles, I found that depending on the type of media, the views on Biotechnology can be on opposite sides of the spectrum.

The CBS article was on Restaurants Say No to Biotech Seafood. This article was printed in 2002 and in fact there was a whole series of websites with restaurants that posed the same view. This view behind genetically engineered seafood was stated boldly in the first sentence of the article. “The idea of genetically engineered seafood is leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths.” The article goes on to say that approximately two hundred or so restaurants have decided to not allow any type or form of genetically engineered seafood into their restaurants.

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What bothered me the most about this article was on how one sided it was. CBS used an executive chef of New York restaurant Le Bernadin as their major proponent against genetically engineered seafood. The backing not to use genetically engineered seafood was a quote from the chef from New York who said, “Scientists and corporations are playing with genetics without knowing the consequences.” That quote was all CBS used. No scientific background on how genetically engineered food has ever caused people to become sick or ill, nothing. Why would I support this view solely based on one chef’s statement? Why did they not use a scientist who would give a more substantial unbiased opinion? Could this be because CBS wants the general public to frown on genetically engineered foods?

The voice of support for genetically engineered came from a Vice President of Aqua Bounty, a company that sells genetically engineered fish. He states that concerning the FDA that, “What’s disappointing is that their objective here is to avoid finding out the facts and this is tantamount to prior restraint.” I found this very interesting that there was no more said on the issue other than how the genetically engineered salmon with high hormones could possibly breed with unaltered salmon and create weird genetic mutations of offspring. The ending to this article left me with more questions than answers.

This article was based on two very weak quotes from both sides of this issue of genetically engineered salmon. Neither substantially based on the source. There was more of a reason to believe the view expressed by the Vice President rather than the chef; because his was statement was not just an open opinion. I feel most of the general public would view this article on the side that genetically engineered seafood is a very bad thing. The majority of the beginning into close to the end of the article was all negative. How else would most of the general public view this article, but negatively?

My second article was from the Scientific American. The article was entitled Innocence Lost and was on biotechnology needing to be protected from falling into the wrong hands. From the opening paragraph, I could tell that there was a huge difference on how biotechnology was portrayed. In this article there were more facts and not random quotes stating one sides view. This article was more open to both sides, stating the importance of biotechnology. There was more of a reverenced theme and not hidden fear on what lurks behind biotechnology’s doors.

The main body of this article was based on biological weapons and how if Biotechnology advancements could fall into the wrong hands, bad things could take place. This article discusses how biotechnology is rapidly evolving. “You can now finish before lunch projects that use to consume a Ph.D. thesis, says Gigi Kwik, a fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies.” This statement demonstrates the potential for biotechnology “to continue to speed up and shrink down and automate the work of genetically engineering microorganisms.” Meaning that if these incredible machines or technology was to fall into the wrong hands, Anthrax could appear like the common cold.

This article discusses that since October of 2002, it is illegal to possess any biological agent without a research or medical excuse. Another interesting point made in this article was that Allergan, a biotech firm, paid a settlement of $824,000 in 1998 for making 412 shipments of botulinum toxin to customers all around the world. However, there is no special license to sell DNA synthesizers and sequencers and other automated machines that could easily enhance a countries ability to genetically engineer certain microorganisms. The article goes on to explain the need for further development and discussion to take place in order for the safety of continued growth in the biotechnology field to be safeguarded.

I thoroughly enjoyed the view that was given by the Scientific American. I feel the general public would be more informed and less swayed on the aspects of Biotechnology. These articles helped me understand the importance of not just taking the word of one article, but to collect my own opinion with several different sources. Only then can the public truly be informed and not mislead. Biotechnology is certainly viewed in several different lights and I feel more often than not the view is negative. Why is still a question left to be answered? What benefits do the media have in portraying a topic in a certain way? Is it sometimes just for the number of sales $? I feel it is unfortunate that most of the media today is biased and that all the sides to the story are not always told. This certainly accounts for the perception that most of the public has on a certain issue and why Biotechnology is viewed the way that it is.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Bio-Chemical Welfare Essay

Essay on Bio-Chemical Welfare

There is a surmounting fear across the United States concerning the possibility of a bio-terrorist attack. Out breaks of such diseases as the West Nile Virus and Anthrax have had all genre of scientist ranging from biologist and zoologist running back to there microscopes and analyzing anything that could even possibly be used as a biological weapon against the United States.

Though there are catalogs and catalogs that tell of various diseases that have been used as biological weapons down through centuries of hatred and malice, there are still many that have no know cure or treatment.

To really get a firm hold on what the dangers of a bio-terrorist attack on America could mean you first have to know exactly what bio-terrorism is. Essentially bio-terrorism is the use of biological weapons with the intention of genocide or the annihilation of class, gender or race of people. Biological warfare agents are most commonly classified as living microorganisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, rickettsia, viruses or fungi, and toxins produced by microorganisms, plants or animals. Many are in fear of a bio-terrorist attack. Many of the question being asked are, Do we have what it takes to counter a bio-terrorist attack?; Are there vaccines for some of the more prominent biological warfare agents and if so can they be mass produced?; How can we prevent or protect our selves against an agent of biological warfare? Considering the proficiency and lethality of some of these agents these are some very adequate questions.

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No matter how much we know about these agents there are still some that we probably do not know of but of the many that we do know, some of the most lethal are ricin, botulinum, anthrax and tularemia. Ricin is found in the seeds of a plant known as the Castor plant. It is said that just one seed of the plant is enough to kill a child and one kilogram is enough to kill an adult. Anthrax is another lethal disease. Anthrax is a naturally occurring disease that occurs among plant eating animals and is caused by th bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Tularemia caused by Franisella tularensis is also one if the most infectious diseases know to man Tularemia occours naturally in small animals such as mice, squirrels and rabbits. One would contract the disease by way handling and infected animal or being bitten by an infected insect. Botulinum would fall in the category of a toxin. The toxin is usually found in the form of a white powder and is soluble in water and though the toxin decomposes by heat, acidity, and extended exposure to air there are proteins that are believe to stailize the toxin in the digestive tract.

Of the four mentioned the toxins, ricin and botulinum, are the most lethal and effient bio-chemical warfare agents. Most people contract ricin by way of ingesting a castor bean. There is also another toxin present in the castor bean, RCA, which causes red blood cells to agglutinate and burst by hemolysis but it is the ricin that causes abdominal pain, a decrease in blood pressure, and severe vomiting and diarrhea that eventually lead to dehydration and death. Ricin is made up of two different chains; the A chain and the B chain. The A chain is a 267 amino acid globular protein that has 8 alpha helices and 8 beta sheets and the substrate binding site is the cleft marked by the substrate adenine. The B chain is a 262 amino acid protein that is shaped like a barbell. It ahs a binding sit for galactose at each end. These two sites allow hydrogen bonding to specific membrane sugars. Botulinum is usually contracted by way of either ingestion of inhalation.

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The Big Bang Theory Essay

Essay on The Big Bang Theory

First there is nothing - no time, no space, not even emptiness for there is no space to be empty. Then from this void suddenly explodes a universe far smaller than the tiniest speck of dust. And from this speck of dust, this infinite darkness will emerge all of creation.

The entire cosmos began as an incredibly dense primitive atom. Approximately 15 billion years ago this atom exploded with an intense force. This was not a usual blast, but rather an explosion filling all space with all of the particles of the developing universe charging away from each other. In 1927, the same year he got his PhD from MIT, Georges LeMaitre, a Belgian Jesuit priest and cosmologist proposed the theory in which he stated the expanding universe was the same in all directions (Big Bang 1). LeMaitre had no data to substantiate his theory; so many scientists ignored his theory.

Two years later in 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies were moving away at high speeds. Imagine the galaxies hurrying away as in a movie; run the movie backwards and after a time all those galaxies will rush together. Hubble’s discovery showing the universe was expanding supported LeMaitre’s theory of 1927. An expanding universe, much like the after effects of an explosion, must have at one time been “unexploded,” a single mass in space and time (Hubble 1)

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The Big Bang symbolizes the instant the universe began, when time and space came into existence and all matter in the cosmos launched into expansion. Prior to this all four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces) were combined. The explosion was one of space within itself. It was not like the explosion of a bomb where fragments are thrown outward (LaRocco 1). The galaxies were not clumped together. During the first second or so of the universe large amounts of energy, known as photons, smashed together and changed their energy into mass. This caused the four forces to split into their separate identities. As the universe continued to cool, protons and neutrons combined to form helium and other light nuclei. It was not until around one million years after the Big Bang, nuclei and electrons were cool enough to unite to form atoms. The universe did not start to look as it does today until small deviations in the matter distribution were able to squeeze to form the stars and galaxies as they are known today.

The Big Bang Theory does a remarkable job of describing the universe, as it is known today. It explains the development of the universe, predicting the correct profusion of hydrogen and helium (the most common elements in the universe) and it accounts for the cosmic background radiation. Though it was very successful and few scientists doubt its validity, the Big Bang Theory was too simple to be complete.

Despite the name “Big Bang,” the big bang premise is not really a theory of a bang at all. It describes the aftermath of the bang. The theory expresses how the early, hot dense universe expanded and cooled. Light chemical elements were synthesized during the expansion and matter clotted to form galaxies and stars (Guth 1).

Yet, there is further evidence for the Big Bang. In 1964, two astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, in an effort to detect microwaves from outer space, accidentally discovered a noise of an extraterrestrial source. The noise did not seem to originate from one location but came from all directions at once (LaRocco 1). What Penzias and Wilson heard was radiation from the outermost reaches of the universe, which had been left over from the Big Bang. These radioactive leftovers from the initial explosion gave credibility to the Big Bang Theory.

In 1990 NASA’s Cosmic Explorer Background satellite took a detailed spectrum of microwave background radiation. These studies showed the radiation is in nearly perfect agreement with the Big Bang Theory. Two years later, the same instrument was used to discover tiny deviations in the background radiation, the earliest known proof of the structure of the universe (Big Bang Confirmed 1)

The Big Bang attempts to clarify the origin and structure of the universe. It includes the talents of many individuals through the course of more than 150 years of study. The Big Bang Theory offers a feasible solution to one of the most pressing questions of all time --- how did the universe begin. It is vital to understand, though, that the theory itself is continually being adjusted. As more observations are made and more research is conducted, the Big Bang becomes more complete and our knowledge of the origins of the universe more significant.

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Friday, June 18, 2010

Baroque Music Essay

The definition of Baroque refers to a large, irregularly shaped, pearl that was used in extremely fanciful jewelry during the post-Renaissance period. In relation to music, the Baroque style is described as luscious, ornate, and emotionally appealing. This type of music was written between the periods of 1600-1750. The Baroque Era came directly after Renaissance, which was a re-birth of good art and music, and before the Classical Era, which was that birth coming into its maturity. Therefore, the Baroque Era of music was that "growing up" period; that in-between, awkward stage where rules were broken, new creativity exploded, and emotions ran wild.

Baroque composers began to write music for specific instruments and vocalists. They used quick, strong contrasts in timing and volume. The Baroque era in music played a crucial part toward the development of modern musical language. Since composers were now writing for individual voices and instruments, some changes evolved. Instruments had to be re-developed so they could be played in any key. Keyboard music was abundant due to the technological changes and improvements in musical instruments.

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Some forms of Baroque music include fugues, suites, concertos, sonatas, and cantatas, and the three "pillars" of Baroque music were Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi.

As a team, we chose to analyze a Baroque piece by Antonio Vivaldi, who was considered to be one of the masters of the concerto. Vivaldi was a native of Venice and spent at least fifty of his sixty-three years there. He is credited for writing numerous sonatas, operas, cantatas, and over 450 concertos. The Vivaldi concerto was shaped during the period between 1710 and 1720 and was described as wild and irregular. The type of concerto created by Vivaldi was not only a new musical genre; it also brought about a new quality in the development and understanding of instrumental composition in general.

The concerto we analyzed by Vivaldi, was "Concerto for 4 Violins & String Orchestra in B-flat Major". Our description of this concerto would be that it was an extremely emotional piece that gave us a feeling of peacefulness, and relaxation. We could feel the emotions in the different tempos and contrasts in volume, and when the tempo would change, so would our mood. We also thought of a variety of movies that have used Baroque music for their soundtracks. Movies such as: On Golden Pond, Dangerous Liaisons, Camelot, Mr. Holland's Opus, and Fantasia all represent the Baroque style and all of these movies appealed to our emotions.

It was a definite group consensus that we all like Baroque music and that it does stimulate the senses and leave a feeling of calmness and relaxation. It is fitting that the definition of Baroque as a large, irregular shaped pearl also seems to describe the music because it has that magnificent quality, and ornateness of fancy jewelry. Its harmony, structure, and form laid the groundwork for the music that was yet to come and its legacy can still be heard today. We would recommend listening to Baroque music for everyone because it has a soothing, calming effect on the senses, and we will end our journal entry with a new saying "If it's not "Baroque" - don't fix it!"

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