Friday, August 30, 2019

Green Computing Research Project Essay

Introduction: Currently many organizations are depending upon the computing environment to manage the process within the work place and become stabilized across different market group. Although most of them are not aware how far the computing environment is impacting the outer area but still to fulfill the requirements it is very much essential for them to go for it. Keeping these things in mind, we have come up with a new project called â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† that mainly aims to improve the computing technology by guiding the organization through better approaches (Deepak, 2005). This project mainly aims to enhance the work functionality by providing many new opportunities in the current market. By getting into this project, the organization will look into more software solutions to reduce energy, improving the performance and efficiency of data centers and focused towards green technology. Requirements: The project will drive each organization towards success path, but the only thing required is cooperation which will ensure a strong motivation for the project development team. As long as the teams support the development team, it will be easy for the organization to get more ideas and gain more techniques to create long term scenario for â€Å"Green Computing Research Project†. Secondly budget is needed timely to avoid any kind of discrepancy in the project development, in fact I will say if the project development has to be mother, it is necessary for all sponsors to look at the situation on regular basis (Stevens, 2002). Apart from that resourcing also plays vital role in deciding the play strategy for the project; a strong resource will take the best approach to make the project success at all possible points and draw the attention of each sponsors. As per the previous discussion, Ben is one of the sponsors for this project and the organization has selected Peter as the p roject manager. Looking at the previous experience of Peter, it is quite obvious to say that Peter could take the opportunity and the five member team led by Peter will have the better scope to manage the vision of this project. It is responsibility of Peter to ensure the correct strategy is made for each resource and they are capable enough to take up the challenges ahead. Here under is official documentation of the project requirements: Stakeholders : Ben ( Sponsor), Peter James (Project Manager), Steve Arnold ( IT support), Kelly Adams ( Researcher ), Sherry Michaels ( Researcher), Antony Gabbot (Researcher), Mohamed (Publisher and researcher) , Amr ( Expert Editor). Project Description: The Main output is to produce are a serious of research reports –one of each green computing technologies listed earlier plus one final report including all data. Also formal project proposal will be demonstrated for the best four recommendations for implementing some of these technologies. Challenges: Working in virtual environment where the whole team works together from different locations. Since different stakeholders will have different views of the requirements, so it is a good idea to create a requirements traceability matrix to trace each developed feature back to the person, group or entity that requested it during the requirements gathering . Test cases and previous project references are used in this RTM. ET is abbreviation to Environmental Technologies program , and GP is abbreviation to Green Computing projects . Questions for Sponsor: For every development activities, sponsors play vital role because they have to provide complete support to take the project ahead and create better opportunities for all major stake holders. It may not be correct to say that sponsors always look for the success because their investment does not allow them to look for failure situation; based on that they try to find out the resources to lead the project activity. For â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† Ben has taken the major sponsors role, in that case peter has to approach with certain questions that will clarify all confusions between development team as well as the sponsors. And also Peter must take few steps to go ahead with some proposal from the users because it will be benefitted for all those people who are fully dependent upon computing environment. The questions for sponsors are described below: What is expectation level from â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† Will you provide a complete support during any of the major disaster period Provide a complete description of your availability for this project What kind of priority you have for this project How will you accept the project result and make it use for other stake holders Will you facilitate proper problem solving skills Scope Statement: The project â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† will bear all necessary terms and conditions before being released to deliverable stage. We as in development expect the users will be facilitated with necessary information  to take the project in right way so that there won’t be any kind of miss understanding (Kousholt, 2007). After the entire project aims to provide opportunities to all stake holders who are dependent upon the computing environment. A. Deliverables: A complete structured wise computing environment to stabilize the computing activities and provide better opportunities to grab new opportunities A fine technology where the organization can create the base to run the process Highly efficiency and compatible devices to take up the major load activities across all units Technical guidance along with other support to ensure the safe installation B. Milestones: Project approved—Jan 1st Foundation poured—Jan 2nd QC and other parallel activities- Jan15th-Jun16th Final Inspection- May 16th-June 4th C. Technical Requirements: All stake holders must have complete knowledge about the project surrounding Technical experts must be available for any emergency Complete R&D support Additional Training programs for the developer Solid computing platform for conducting frequent test D. Limits and Exclusions: Team will be strict to the design as per the prior decision Continuous support must be needed during any of the emergency Measuring device will not be placed in the project Development team reserves all rights to ask if anything goes beyond contract Project manager is responsible for entire quality measure Working hours is limited From Mon-Fri 8.30 AM to 5.30 PM E. Final Review: CIO and Ben Organization will review four recommendations out of 20 projects. Proposal for recommended project Included documented researches, test cases, and Business case for each project. References: Khazanchi, Deepak (2005). Patterns of Effective Project Management in Virtual Projects: An Exploratory Study. Project Management Institute. ISBN 9781930699830, Retrieved from: http://www.pmi.org/en/Knowledge-Center/Research-Completed-Research/Patterns-of-Effective-Project-Management-in-Virtual-Projects.aspx Martin,Stevens (2002). Project Management Pathways: Association for Project Management. APM Publishing Limited, 2002 ISBN 1-903494-01-X, Retrieved from: http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Project_Management_Pathways.html?id=UaIuQpPM4yMC&redir_esc=y Bjarne, Kousholt (2007): Project Management: Theory and practice. Nyt Teknisk Forlag. ISBN 87-571-2603-8, Retrieved from: http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Bjarne-Kousholt/1780174067

Thursday, August 29, 2019

An examination of the cowardice of the character Johnny in A prayer for Owen Meany

An examination of the cowardice of the character Johnny in A prayer for Owen Meany In John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, protagonist Johnny experiences outward conformity while inwardly questioning throughout the duration of his entire life. An exemplar of cowardice, Johnny uses passive aggression and the voices of others to disguise his inability to take a stand. The tendency of Johnny to silently question while taking no action creates the trait of cowardice that dominates his character throughout the entirety of the novel. It is said that â€Å"actions, not words, create change†. Johnny, although inwardly critical of the Vietnam War, not only took no actions to create a change, but was not even vocal or expressive about his feelings. In a time dominated by protests, rallies, and demonstrations, Johnny could not even bring himself to voice his distain for the war, expressing that â€Å"even when the Anglicans asked me what I thought of Prime Minister Pearson’s â€Å"old point of view†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. I actually said I agreed! Eve though- as I’ve admitted- I’d never met a harsh deserter, not one† (463). The generation of the Vietnam soldiers, upon return to America, worked to create an America that supported and listened to those who had, previously, not been listened to. Arizona Senator John McCain is just one example. McCain, unsatisfied with the war and the treatment of those who served, ran for office to combat these issues with more productive policy. Johnny never s hared his opinion, let alone took action to combat the problems in society that he saw. Because Johnny was inwardly critical of the Vietnam War, but did not take any actions to create change, he was a coward. Prior to the Vietnam War, Johnny conformed to agree with his classmates within the Academy, leaving the questioning to Owen and The Voice. â€Å"I did, or tried to do, everything Owen did† (287), said Johnny, dependent on Owen to be outspoken due to his inability to use language and speak well. As Johnny struggled throughout his educational career to succeed in English, reading, and writing, he was willing to give Owen the power to speak on his behalf. â€Å"The Voice was our voice; he championed our causes; he made us proud of ourselves in an atmosphere that belittled and intimidated us† (295). Johnny was dependent on Owen to vocally question events and standards, even though Johnny shared the same criticisms and questions Owen did about society. Johnny was too much of a coward and simply lacked the confidence and ability to say so. He settled for conformity, never voicing his true feelings. Thus, the inward criticism and outward conformity spurred from his dependence on Owen and struggle in English and made Johnny a coward. Johnny is also a coward because he cared more about impressing people than standing up for his own beliefs. This standard led him to a life of inward criticism, and outward conformity. â€Å"I never actually said— to any of my Canadian friends— that I suspected these deserters were no more likely to become â€Å"public charges† than I was likely to become such a charge. By then, Canon Campbell has introduced me to old Teddybear Kilgore, who had hired me to teach at Bishop Strachan. We Wheelwrights have always benefited from our connections† (463). While working in a church and dedicating his life to teaching both English and the value of Christ, Johnny preaches morality and Christian superiority. However, this message conflicts with his actions as he inwardly criticized the war that represented the opposite of morality, while outwardly conforming in his words of support. Johnny placed more value on his societal status and networking abilities, thus hinderi ng his ability to stand up for what is right, even if it means standing alone, leading to a lifetime of conformity. Johnny’s interpretation of history and political issues showcases his cowardice. â€Å"When some of the Grace Church on-the Hill Anglicans asked me what I thought of Prime Minister Pearson’s â€Å"old point of view†Ã¢â‚¬â€ that the deserters (as opposed to the war resisters) were in a category of U.S. citizens to be discouraged form coming to Canada- I actually said I agreed! Even though- as I’ve admitted I’d never met a harsh deserter, not one† (463). The â€Å"Church on-the Hill Anglicans† is a reference to John Winthrop’s speech, A City on a Hill, from the founding and settlement of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop said that â€Å"America was to be a City on a Hill†, a model of superiority and moral purity. The phrase was used by both Presidents Kennedy and Reagan in major speeches. Johnny does not hide his love for Kennedy and despise for Reagan; his views strongly reflect the environments in which he was in- the popular opinion of the Academy strongly favored Kennedy, while the views of Canada in his time there did not support Reagan because of America’s involvement in Vietnam. The fact that both men had the same outlook on America shows Johnny’s cowardice as he is unable to go against what is popular and accepted in his environment. Johnny is a product of his environment as he cherry picks who he will criticize and who he will admire, thrusting him into a cycle of outward conformity. Over the course of his life, Johnny conformed to be like those surrounding him, while questioning society inwardly. A lifetime of silent protest and dependence on those around him to voice their opinions and teach him what to think caused him to be a coward and unable to form and voice his own opinions.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Essay Example His stepmother gave birth to seven children, three in Ecton and four after they had immigrated to Boston. However, after the demise of his mother, his polygamous father married a second wife, Abiah Folger, who bore ten children, bringing the total number of siblings to seventeen. This was at a time when America was a colony of Great Britain. As a result of the abject poverty that had ravaged the British colonies during this time, and bearing in mind the many siblings in the family, Benjamin attended Boston Latin school, a clergy school for a couple of years and was forced to end his studies prematurely due to lack of money. Contrary to this, his passion for acquisition of more knowledge, like all his brothers, grew by the day due to interest in books and the zeal for writing. Though his father had been against it from the start, he finally gave way after realizing his son’s undying enthusiasm for writing and the expense of college education, (Woodworth, 1). He finally took him to a school for writing and arithmetic where he really excelled in the former. Realizing he could not further his sons education, his father absorbed him into his tallow-chandler business newly acquired profession in New England. This sharpened his guidance skills especially when they went to forays with the boys in the sea. His zeal for reading grew by the day. All little money he got was spent on books with some of his first collections being John Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress and R. Burton's Historical Collections.(Woodworth, 3) The inception of a printing business by his brother James on his return to England further exposed him to a variety of books. He was made his apprentice and through this, he made many acquaintances like Mathew Adams, a resourceful businessperson, who exposed him to variety of books in his library collections, majorly poetry. His writing skills improved immensely for example when he wrote his first poetry of The Lighthouse Tragedy .This was further enhanced by acquisition of the book, Spectator and the inception of his brothers first newspaper, New England Courant, which he secretly contributed to under the disguise of Mrs. Silence Do-good. These articles attracted a lot of publicity in town and he eventually broke ties with his brother after he discovered the popular correspondent was his brother (Woodworth, 3) His journey to Philadelphia saw him work in different printing shops where he nurtured the idea of starting his own printing firm. With support from Sir William Keith, the then Pennsylvania governor, to travel to London to acquire printing gear, he would later establish the notion as unworthy of consideration (Woodworth, 21). However, he made several acquaintances like Charles Osborne, Joseph Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers of reading (Woodworth, 69). With the absence of forthcoming prospects, Ben went back to Philadelphia and established, together with other aspirants and tradesmen, a group called Junto with the noble inte ntion of bettering their community. This was done through excellent ideas that led to building of the library company of Philadelphia (Woodworth, 188). The pooling of enough resources from the junta group saw him begin his life of political lobbyism. Together with his trusted associate, Hugh Meredith, they established their first printing house in Pennsylvania. This led to the publication of their first newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. Through his diligence and unremitting obsession for freedom

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Sustainability and Prefabrication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sustainability and Prefabrication - Essay Example However, the definition is insufficient since the definition for the term need is opposed to wants and luxury. The declaration linked global equity to degradation of the environment which calls for equitable consumption of resources to the global north and south. If linking the problems of consumption and poverty with pollution and resource degradation, then solutions require a lot of strategies (United Nations, 1987). This has led to complementary and contradictory definitions of sustainability. It is therefore necessary that the scope of a project be determined, the procedures outlined, so that critical terms of sustainability are defined. There are three integral dynamics that led to sustainability practices; On the other hand, a practice that neglects to address the discussed areas above fails to be sustainable. This is in accordance to Brundtland Commission Report. It may fall short along continuum or conscious misrepresentation (United Nations, 1987). Primary industries performing growing, harvesting, extraction, and processing of natural resources are the first in the chain of production. These industries deliver most of the necessities of human beings. A clear understanding of their activities develops a vivid understanding of sustainability. According to primary industries, sustainability is the ability of operating perpetually through adaptive management and scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge is relevant to maintaining the environment and the natural resources that communities and economies depend on. Just like other industries, construction industry has to reconsider its relationship with the environment. The aspects of green construction and accepting responsibilities to the environment through construction activities are important. It is necessary that construction activities explore better ways and analyze construction processes so that the industry contributes towards sustainable development.

Monday, August 26, 2019

International Marketing Strategy (Entry Mode) for Chinese Household Dissertation

International Marketing Strategy (Entry Mode) for Chinese Household Electric Appliance Enterprises into the UK Market - Dissertation Example Add into the mix a market on another continent, in a different language group, various political system, and a changing business culture and the process of successfully navigating the waters can be difficult indeed. In order for international companies to stay successful in today’s quickly changing and increasingly global business community, it is important to constantly be innovating and looking for viable expansion opportunities when they present themselves. The People’s Republic of China has countless small and medium sized companies that are well situated to move into global markets. Many of the industries are firmly rooted in the manufacture and sale of household appliances. A growing market for such appliances has been realized in the region of the United Kingdom. Expansion into the United Kingdom does not come without perceived risks. This study first looks at the market conditions that need to be evident before a Chinese firm can realistically explore moving int o the United Kingdom. The project also examines the unique nature of business in the UK and how those differences need to be accommodated by the Chinese company looking to expand. In the end, the study looks at the three main entry modes into a new international market, highlight the positive and negative aspects of each, in an effort to determine which might be best suited to the small and medium sized Chinese appliance company. The theory of cultural distance is also explored to determine how Chinese companies can best minimize the great divide that currently exists between the two companies. Since we know that cultural distance increases risk, an analysis is needed to determine just how much risk a given firm is willing to accept. In addition, various options for entry need to first be explored in order to narrow the cultural distance currently in existence. In the end, a primary objective of this project was to conduct actual field research by contacting various Chinese firms ei ther interested in the UK market or they are already conducting business there. Advice and insight was solicited about how small and medium sized Chinese appliance companies should best explore future expansion into the United Kingdom. What follows is a synopsis of these findings. 1. Introduction International business, by its very nature, is a complex and difficult landscape to navigate. Various legalities exist that certainly provide a barrier to entry into many markets. While it is certainly feasible, many companies struggle to justify the time, expense, and expertise to successfully enter into a new market and to be financially prudent at the same time. China is obviously an international manufacturing powerhouse, making nearly every type of conceivable product available on the market today. Domestic consumption alone, however, can only carry an economy the size of China so far. It is prudent to explore international markets and to make a successful entry into various product ca tegories and often and seamlessly as possible. China has long been known for its household

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Aviation Meterorology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Aviation Meterorology - Essay Example The state run Lao Airline is one of the airlines that have witnessed an accident blamed on bad weather. This discourse seeks to analyze the Lao plane crash in the context of the meteological factors. Airplane crashes are a rare occurrence all over the world. Gorham (2013) attributes this to the fact that it is the safest mode of transport today with a lot of safety measures instilled within the industry. Any airplane accident regardless of how small it may be tends to attract a lot of public attention. The media, for example, tend to focus much on airplane accidents more than any other accident. This is because it is a very rare occurrence (NASA, 2011). Nevertheless, like the other transport means, airplanes also do experience mishaps resulting in accidents. As earlier mentioned most airplane accidents are very tragic with a minimal chance of survival. The recent Lao Plane crash that killed all 44 passengers on board plus the five plane crews is a case in point (news.com.au, 2013). Reports indicate that poor weather has been one of the the leading causes of airplane accidents. The ATR-72-600 passenger airplane operated by the Lao Airline crashed on October 16, 2013. The accident has been blamed on poor weather. Spamer (2013) notes that on the fateful day, the Lao Airline departed from Vientiane, Laos to Pakse, Laos. The airplane had 44 passengers on board at the time and five crews. In total, the airplane carried 49 people and was en route to Pakse. Unfortunately, the plane crashed in poor weather before landing at Pakse (Head, 2013). Reports indicate that scheduled flight was delayed at Nari because of a heavy tropical storm that had hit the central and southern provinces of the country. After waiting for the weather to clear, the plane finally took off en route to its destination. Eyewitnesses indicated that the ATR 72 plane was just about to land on Pakse’s runway 15 in very poor weather but could not

PM questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PM questions - Assignment Example It is also important that the company continually provides training in the latest innovations and ideas for their employees, so that they have the best tools necessary to improve their, and the companies, overall performance. The company can then periodically rate the performance of its employees to provide feedback. Positive feedback and good performance should be rewarded and encouraged. If there is negative feedback it is important to then uncover areas that are in need of improvement. Due to the fact that performance management allows employees to fill a sense of ownership in their work and goals, it generally greatly increases the productivity of the organization. The fact that the employees are receiving continual training, and rewards for their improved performance also improves the employee’s overall sense of worth and well being. This provides a win- win situation company wide (Daniels 1-10). 2. There are two groups of people involved in business behavior, the leaders and the followers. The behavior of one of the two groups can either positively or negatively affect the behavior of the other. So what exactly is business behavior and are their any laws to govern what is acceptable and what is not? Despite what you might see marketed in various books and journal articles today as the, 100 unbreakable business laws, there are actually not a set group of laws that governs business. This is due to the fact that every business and company interaction is as different as the people that compose them. There are, however, guidelines for how business should be conducted. One of the guidelines is to not reward bad behavior. This is for both managers and employees. As Dr. Edwards noted, â€Å"well over 90% of the problems of quality are due not to frontline employees, but to management†. The rule of, â€Å"I don’t care how it gets done just get it done,† no longer applies. Ethics and moral responsibility in the process of achieving your goals sets a higher sense of morale and trust among the organization. As a result performance is actually improved. Behavior is the key to quality because you do not lead people in business you lead their behavior (Daniels 48 – 50 + 94). 3. Pinpointing is the act of trying to find the exact spot or issue that could be changed to improve overall effectiveness. Having the ability to accurately pinpoint is essential to performance management because allows the manager and employee to go to the source of the problem and uncover methods for irradiating it. Pinpointing should not be viewed or approached as a negative, but as a positive means for growth and development. Managers not only have the right but the responsibility to overview the work f their department and pinpoint areas that can be improved. It is not the sole responsibility of the managers to pinpoint, however, effective managers will train the employees to pinpoint problems as well. Since employees deal with the more day to day operations of the company if they are able to pinpoint and do away with problems early on, it helps to elevate a later possibly larger issue from occurring. This helps to improve overall managing performance because the more areas of concern that are pinpointed and eradicated the smother the department and company as a whole will run (Daniels 99-101). 4. Performance feedback is an essential tool in performance management. It should be ongoing between both managers and

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Cash Management Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cash Management Paper - Essay Example When a company is strapped for cash there are various alternatives can be implemented to ensure the company stay solvent for a longer period of time. One of the approaches that can be utilized in cases where there is an imminent cash flow problem is to reduce costs. During the global economic recession that started in 2008 the world has seen how many global corporations have chosen to reduce their payroll expenses through massive layoffs in order to keep the businesses going. The US government created a special bailout package bill for the US automakers because companies such as GM could not keep operating because of cash flow problems. Cash flow problem can also occur due to the inability of a company to collect its account receivables. IF clients are not paying on time the best alternative is to terminate the credit privileges to such vendors. A technique that is utilized by companies to improve its collection function is by utilizing electronic transactions such as direct debit from a checking account. One of the four primary financial statements is called the statement of cash flow. The statement of cash flow is the best anal ytic tool that can be used to manage the cash flow of an enterprise. This financial statement provides an outlay of the cash that is entering and going out of a firm as well as the type of transaction associated with the movement of cash. The three categories that measure cash movement in the statement of cash flow are financing, investing, and operating activities (Besley & Brigham, 2000). Due to the importance of the cash asset of a business there are various alternatives that a company can utilize to obtain cash through short term financing. Short term financing are alternatives that provide a company with immediate cash to be utilized to cover its short term operating activities such as paying payroll, buying materials, maintenance activities among

Friday, August 23, 2019

Sports Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sports Management - Assignment Example The article therefore, clearly defines the research scope by emphasizing the necessity of professional improvement strategies for sports managers like HR training. The literary analysis in Millar and Stevens’ (2012) article primarily revolves around the theoretical concepts of training transfer. This framework encompasses supporting concepts like the learning theory, individual performance, and overall organizational performance. The article also addresses factors that mediate training transfer including motivation to move, extant training design, as well as, organizational climate. This theoretical model clearly covers the most significant study areas in the research. For instance, theory on learning and its outcomes, which has its roots in psychology and sociology, provides insight into how individuals gain or build new ideas. The rest of the theoretical information also forms a crucial background on the factors capable of contributing towards or impeding sports managers’ learning ability and subsequent administrative proficiency. Unlike most quantitative studies, which simply have the research and null hypotheses, Millar and Stevens’ (2012) investigation has several, since it examines more than one mediating factor. For instance, H1 stipulates that managers’ learning heightens after training, while H2 asserts that learning level is highest immediately following training. H3 and H4 denote the positive correlation between individual performance and learning, while H5 and H6 draw a similar analogy between organization performance and training. Finally, H7 indicates that motivation to transfer, organizational climate, and training design mediate the link between management proficiency and individual performance. Though not explicitly outlined, the null hypothesis contravenes these research suggestions. The study adopted a quasi-experimental and longitudinal design, characterized by three measurement stages including

Thursday, August 22, 2019

A Review of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins Essay Example for Free

A Review of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins Essay Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins, is supposed to be a book about the author’s real life activities as a covert agent of the United States. Unlike other agents, Perkins alleges that he and others, operated to undermine the economic stability of other nations. While this book uses a number of references, few of these books seems to have any economic relevance at all. One book, The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy, by James S. Henry, does make similar claims to those of Perkins; however, unlike Perkins, Henry investigates worldwide economic crimes that are both overt and subversive in nature. Perkins states that he was recruited to work as a covert agent of the government shortly after graduating from college. In his role as an economic hit man, Perkins was expected to meet with leaders of various countries, to convince them to make large investments and to accept loans for which they can ill afford to make the payments. These machinations resulted in these countries being in debt to larger powers, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, often in more ways than one. After a time, Perkins claims, he grew uncomfortable with his role and left his position as an economic hit man. Perkins claims that now that he is no longer a part of this corrupt operation, he feels compelled to tell his story. Perkins claims that he has good reason to write this book. By telling his story, he claims that not only can he make people aware of what is happening all over the world, but that he can also create solutions to the world’s economic problems. If this book has any one flaw, however, it is in Perkins’ credibility. Despite his claims that he was responsible for economic subterfuge, Perkins never backs his claims with undeniable facts, statistics, or figures. Neither does he connect his work with any other texts or documents that have a firm factual grounding. His bibliography is not scholarly in nature; rather, virtually all of his sources are secondary. The points that Perkins makes may have some validity. While this book was interesting to read, however, a critically thinking reader would have to question his role in the events that he claims occurred.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The History of Graffiti Art

The History of Graffiti Art Literally graffiti means the writing on the wall. It is a way for people to make a public visual expression anonymously. Most often it is an expression that is not endorsed by the authority, and is thrown up without permission.  Since the beginning of time, graffiti was meant to send the viewer a message about the artists feelings concerning society, art and politics or to mark territorial boundaries. The earliest form of graffiti was created by the cave dwellers in prehistoric times. However, the first known graffiti artists lived in ancient Rome in Pompeii. There archeologists have found examples of graffiti in the form of words that include, Once you are dead, you are nothing; Restitutus has deceived many girls; Lucius painted this, amongst many others. Urban graffiti the type of graffiti that we associate with today started in the 60s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The graffiti artists who started the first bombings are CORNBREAD and COOL EARL. Their names appeared all over the city, attracting the attention of the community and local press. Shortly after, graffiti quickly spread to New York City. One of the first recognized urban graffiti artists, Taki 183 was a Greek youth who came from a working-class family in Washington Heights. As a messenger, Taki, traveled all over New York City throwing up his name tagged with a marker on subway stations and subway cars. A New York Times reporter tracked down and interviewed Taki 183, and published an article titled Taki 183 Spawns Pen-Pals. The article had an unexpected effect as hundreds of writers turned to the streets to express their feelings. Tagging exploded all over the city. as graffiti artists tried to upstage each other with their names and styles. As one graffiti writer put it, How many people can walk through a city and prove they were there? Its a sign I was here. My hand made this mark. Im fucking alive! Eventually taggers were searching for different ways to gain notoriety. Taggers began embellishing their names with additional designs, some for visual effect and some for relevance. The most famous tag in the cultures history was STAY HIGH 149. This tagger used a smoking joint as the cross bar for his H and a stick figure from the television series The Saint. Tagging got bigger and more defined. Taggers increased the thickness of their letters and outline them with other colors. They discovered that the caps from spray paint cans increased the width of the spray. This led to the development of the masterpiece a much more involved form of graffiti than the throw up. The first credited masterpieces were to taggers called, SUPER KOOL 223 of the Bronx and WAP of Brooklyn. They used the thick letters and decorated the inside with a variety of designs. Their pieces covered subway cars from top to bottom.   The art of graffiti was gaining recognition so much so that Hugo Martinez, sociology major at City College in New York founded the United Graffiti Artists. This organization picked top subway artists from all over the city and gave them the opportunity to display their work in the venue of an art gallery. The Razor Gallery was very successful Hugo Martinez help many graffiti artists gain fame and recognition. Not everyone agreed with gaining the notice of the art elite. Many artists were against putting graffiti on a white canvas. They didnt like the idea of people criticizing their work or having it displayed in galleries. They wanted to stick to the origins of their art and felt like they were betraying the art by turning their work into a product that art dealers could buy and sell. In the mid seventies artists started creating graffiti with scenery, illustrations and cartoon characters surrounding the masterpieces and a new wave of creativity was borne. The creative expression of graffiti artist boomed until the mid 80s and then the culture declined rapidly. The use of crack cocaine became rampant in the inner city and guns were easily acquired. New laws prevented the sale of paint to minors and merchants had to place spray paint in locked cages. The biggest change was the increase in the Metropolitan Transit Authoritys anti-graffiti budget and the penalties for tagging became harsher. The lack of resources and places to tag caused many graffiti artists to become territorial and aggressive If one artist tagged in another taggers territory they risked being beaten and robbed of their painting supplies. Physical strength and unity as in street gangs became a major part of the Graffiti experience. The next big resurgence in graffiti came with the explosion of Hip Hop and music videos that depicted New York City street culture of the 80s. Books like, Subway Art, Spray Can Art, and films like Style Wars, prompted attracted people from all over the world to emulate the street culture style. This was the catalyst for the expansion of aerosol art world-wide. Overseas graffiti artists came to New York to tag and New York artists went to Europe. The New York artists were so sought after that many were given air fare, accommodations, and paint! New places and new things to paint emerged. Graffiti art began appearing on highways, roof tops and walls. Magazines like International Graffiti Times, videos like Video Graf, and websites like Art Crimes also increased the world wide popularity of this art form An art form that was oncepracticed by low-income urban youth is now popular with an entirely new array of creative youths and adults. Today about one-half of graffiti artists come from white middle and upper-class homes, mostly in suburban areas.   Kids from the suburbs connect with the messages that the inner-city kids communicate. They are also trying to break free from the culture of materialism and rejecting and protesting some of the moral values of society. Middle- and upper-class youths in suburbs, have free time and money to do what they wan and are educating themselves to reject the sterile, superficial culture of their surroundings and look for an alternative way of life with more meaning. Recently, several prominent graffiti artists have turned their creative talents into new business opportunities. They have clothing lines, design for major labels and sneaker manufacturers, and consult with big companies who seek street accreditation for their brands.However, in many graffiti artists minds a conflict arises when graffiti is used for advertising consumer goods. It goes against the original message of graffiti, to stand up against the ruling class and to not be exploited. From this perspective, using graffiti to promote a commercial product is ironic. Graffiti is being used to encourage people to spend their money on products they dont need. Whether graffiti has lost its origins and meaning, the attraction for most graffiti fans today may or may not be solely for the social motives.With Shepard Fairys, Obama Hope posterwhich was featured in the presidential race,Pixnits stenciled store fronts, and Banksys Oscar nod for his graffiti based film Exit Through the Gift Shop, graffiti art has absolutely become mainstream and its popularity is flourishing.The creative and original side of graffiti attracts a new generation of artists that are looking for different ways to express themselves. They are also attracted to the fact that graffiti developed outside of the traditional avenues for artistic expression. Recently, the Smithsonian solidified the importance and power of this art form announcing their newest exhibit, Hip-Hop Wont Stop: The Beat, The Rhymes, The Life, which features the works of many graffiti elite.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

A Survey Fatigue Monitoring System

A Survey Fatigue Monitoring System Abstract: This is a fatigue detection system implemented in smartphone. This system will detect the drowsiness of the driver while he is driving. And if the reverie is detected by the system then it will generate an alert. In this the parameters are blinking of eyes, mouth yawning and head shaking. Head shaking is the new parameter which is used in this system. These parameters are calculated to identify drivers weariness. The Canny Active Contour method is used for detecting yawning and the Harr-like technique is used for detecting face and eye blinking. INTRODUCTION Now a days because of the reverie and fatigue of the drivers daily the huge amount of accidents are occurs which becomes the reason of deaths, injuries, etc. For preventing accidents it is essential to monitor the fatigue and vigilance level. With the help of various active safety systems we can monitor the fatigue of driver, drowsiness of the driver, traffic on the roads, the vehicle and the F providing alerts to the driver. Using a statistically anthropometric face model the important facial points are automatically detected [2007]. Many researchers have focused on drivers behavioral measures using various techniques such as visual based detection and Physiological detection. For face detection the Adaboost algorithm is used [2016]. Optic nurve fatigue correspondingly causes the eye blinking when the driver goes in state of reverie. Fatigue and distraction detection can be observed by head orientation and head shaking is used only for fatigue detection. Table1: Summary of the face detection techniques Algorithm OrTechnique Description Neural network based face detection Neural network based system examines small windows of an image and choses whether each window contains a face. Hidden Markov Models Method It deals with images which have variation in facial expression as well as orientation and also different lightning. Fisherface Method It considers the ratio between the variation of one person and that of another person. Eigenface Method It works with differences between face images, rather than with single face images. Adaboost boosting algorithm It improves the classification accuracy. It works with two inputs training dataset and set of features (classification function) . Haar-like technique It focuses on only image intensities such as the RGB pixel values of each and every pixel of image. Feature Base Face Detection It is more accurate and it uses low execution time. Geometric Base Face Detection It is effective approach and easy to implement. To detect the face the Gravity Center Template method is used. Also for detecting the mouth corner Gray Protection and Gabor Wavelets technique is used. LDA technique is used for yawning. For detecting the lips motion features Spatial Fuzzy C-means clustering (s-FCM) method is used. Also for the face detection skin color texture are used. For identifying color shape we can use the color values like RGB, YCbCR and HSV and so on. Tracking algorithm is used to Face detection. Based on face detection Kalman Filter Motion Tracking algorithm is used. RELATED WORK : A DROWSINESS AND POINT OF ATTENTION MONITORING SYSTEM FOR DRIVER VIGILANCE Jorge Batista [1] proposed a system which represents a framework which combines a robust feature location of face with face modeling having elliptical shape to measure the drowsiness and fatigue of driver in 2007. The solution works with the two parameters that are computation of eyelid movements and attention of head point. By using statistically anthropometric face model it detect the facial points automatically. It is one of the advantage in this paper. The measures the features of human face, it is calculated by anthropometry models and it deals with the biological area. But the disadvantage of this system is that the parameters used for detecting the vigilance level of driver are not sufficient, the parameters such as yawning should be considered for detecting the drowsiness. DRIVER DROWSINESS MONITORING BASED ON YAWNING DETECTION Shabnam Abtahi, Behnoosh Hariri, Shervin Shirmohammadi [2] proposed a system for monitoring and detecting drivers drowsiness in 2011. For identifying drivers fatigue and drowsiness it can detect the various techniques like yawning, eye tiredness, eye movement, face tracking and drowsiness monitoring. The use of existing systems that monitor a vigilance level of drivers is important to prevent road accidents. Some of the main warning signs that can be measured or identified as indications of driver fatigue are : daydreaming while on the road driving over the center line, yawning , feeling impatient, feeling reacting slowly, heavy eyes, sleepy face, blinking of eyes and motion of lips. For the purpose of the detection of the face region using the difference among two images. Drivers yawn is then tracked on the bases of the distance between the midpoint of nostrils and the chin uses Gravity-Center template to track the face. Detection of mouth corners we can use grey projection and Gabor wavelets. Finally to detect yawning LDA is applied to classify feature vectors. Then, through spatial fuzzy c-means (s-FCM) clustering a mouth window is extracted from the face region, in which lips are tracked. The advantage of the existing system is that yawning detection system is newly included which is not present in previous system. Also it recognizes face by using the face color and texture. The color shape can be recognize by RGB, YCbCR and HSV [2]. A METHOD OF DETECTING DRIVER DROWSINESS STATE BASED ON MULTI-FEATURES OF FACE Ping Wang and Lin Shen [3] proposed a system to detect face region because of its high correct rate the AdaBoost algorithm is used in 2012. So then the final solution found is that the exact positions of drivers eyes and mouth are placed depending upon their geometric features respectively. Not only the technique of PATECP (Percentage And Time that Eyelids Cover the Pupils) and PATMIO (Percentage And Time  that Mouth Is Open)   but also the new judging rules and techniques are used to find out whether the driver is drowsy or not. The actual tests with current driving videos represents that our technique of detecting drivers drowsiness is based on eye as well as mouth features makes the conditions of detecting the drivers reverie state wider and most accurate. Finally, in short in the format of summary this existing paper represents the working of facial reverie state, state tracking, formatting, region location and AdaBoost algorithm are used. The advantage of this system is that it is well and high accurate system and without influence from light. AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY USER ATTENTIVENESS BASED ON FATIGUE DETECTION Syed Imran Ali, Dr. Prashant Singh, Sameer Jain [4] proposed a user alertness identification system which is based on fatique detection in 2014. In this system the web camera continuously captures images of the subject. By using efficient image processing techniques it focuses on lips and eyes to monitor their behavior. It firstly captures the image that is input RGB image and convert it into gray image. By using erosion and dilation techniques the gray image is converted into blur image. The Sobel edge detection filter algorithm is used to find the edges of blur image. After detecting the face, this image is cut into two halves eyes part and mouth part. Again the first halve i.e. eye part image is cut into two parts left eye part and right eye part. If the drowsiness is detected in these images then it generates alert. The advantages of this system are that it works efficiently with even in the presence of different illumination sources background , also it is light weight and it requires less CPU execution time. Fig 1. Flowchart of the system FEER Drivers vigilance monitoring Ismail Shaykha, Ahmad Menkara, Michel Nahas, Milad Ghantous [5] propsed a Non-Intrusive Facial Expression and Emotional Recognition for Drivers vigilance monitoring. In this system, using an integrated camera with on-board processor face features such as eyes and mouth are detected and quickly analyzed. Firstly the facial detection is done using Adaboost boosting algorithm. After that the various features are extracted. The eye analysis and mouth analysis is done. The analysis is done and based on that analysis the decision is taken. The main advantage of this system is that it is able to distinguish between normal eye blinking and beginning of sleepiness and complete sleep. The disadvantage of this system is that it requires an integrated camera. A SMARTPHONE-BASED DRIVER FATIGUE DETECTION USING FUSION OF MULTIPLE REAL-TIME FACIAL FEATURES Yantao Qiao, Kai Zeng, Lina Xu and Xiaoyu Yin [6] proposed a fatigue monitoring system which focuses on fusion of information, it is implemented and designed in smartphone. The drivers fatigueness indicators are eye blinking, head nodding and yawning are detected. The face and eye blinks are detected by using Harr-like technique. And the mouth yawning is detected by using Canny Active Contour method. In this system the new parameter is added for detecting the fatigue is head nodding i.e. head shaking. The main advantage of this system is that it uses smart phone for detecting the fatigue of driver for preventing him from accidents and does not require other equipments such as camera. COMPARISON : All the methods that are used for detection of drowsiness has different approaches. The methods differ from each other such that different methods uses different algorithms, tools and techniques for detection of drowsiness. The various algorithm used for the detection of drowsiness are shown Table1: Summary of the face detection techniques. Harr-like technique is used for the face and eye blinks detection. And for the mouth yawning detection Canny Active Contour method is used. By using this techniques the various facial features can captured to detect the reverie of driver. The main advantage of this system is that it does not require other equipments such as camera. So by surveying all these systems we can conclude that the A SMARTPHONE-BASED DRIVER FATIGUE DETECTION USING FUSION OF MULTIPLE REAL approach can be considered as advantageous. CONCLUSION : In this way we have surveyed few techniques which are used for driver fatigue detection. Some of the technique or algorithm uses single facial feature to detect the fatigue of driver and prevent from accidents. From above mentioned approaches the last approach is having addition features to detect fatigue of driver. We can use the various facial features to detect drivers drowsiness such as eye detection, face detection, yawning, head shaking. This approach is more advantageous in sense that it uses a new concept that is head shaking for the detection of driver fatigue because of these it will easily found the drowsiness of a driver. This system is based on smart phone so there is no need of other equipments. REFERENCES 1] Jorge Batista, A Drowsiness and Point of Attention Monitoring System for Driver Vigilance in Proceedings of the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference Seattle, WA, USA, Sept. 30 Oct. 3, 2007. 2] Shabnam Abtahi, Behnoosh Hariri, Shervin Shirnohammadi , Driver Drowsinss Monitoring Based on Yawning Detection in Distributed Collaborative Virtual Environment Reasarch Laboratory University Of Ottawa, Canada- 2011. 3] Ping Wang, Lin Shen, A Method of Detecting Driver Drowsiness State Based on Multi-features of Face in Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on Image and Signal Processing (CISP 2012) 2012. 4] Syed Imran Ali, Dr.Prashant Singh,   Sameer Jain, An Efficient System to Identify User Attentiveness Based on Fatigue Detection 2014. 5] Ismail Shaykha, Ahmad Menkara, Michel Nahas, Milad Ghantous, FEER: Non-Intrusive Facial Expression and Emotional Recognition For Drivers Vigilance Monitoring   in Proceedings 57th International Symposium ELMAR-2015, 28-30 September 2015, Zadar, Croatia. 6] Yantao Qiao, Kai Zeng, Lina Xu, Xiaoyu Yin, A Smartphone-Based Driver Fatigue Detection Using Fusion of Multiple Real-Time Facial Features in Proceedings 13th IEEE Annual Consumer Communications Networking Conference (CCNC) 2016

Monday, August 19, 2019

Changing Cultures in the book North and South :: essays research papers

The way of life in England was quite different depending weather a person was in the north or the south. From the types of houses to living standards, working conditions to types of jobs, who you talked too to they way you buried the dead, the north and south had completely different ideas about how a person should live. The book North and South depicts the changing cultures of the north and south of England through the industrial revolution in the mid eighteen hundreds. In the town of Milton, which is in the northern part of England Strikes have aroused throughout the factories. The strikes were the immediate cause of the social unrest. The people in Milton are dissatisfied with the working conditions of the factories. They work long hours in bad breathing conditions, children and women work, and they are paid extremely poorly. These factors created a causal chain which led to the strikes. The class distinctions are the remote effect of the North and south. In the South the predominant class is the middle to upper class. It is the people who can afford to have servants. The minority in the south is the servants. In the North the predominant class is the factory workers. They are the lower class. They have a hard time making enough money to buy enough food to put on their families tables, even Edwards 2 though normally in a family the father, mother and most children work. Class distinctions are more then just working conditions they are also how the people conduct themselves. For example in the higher class when someone dies, the women do not generally attend the funeral because they are stereotyped as being too emotional to attend. Also in the higher class they do not observe the body after it has died. In the lower class everyone attends a person’s funeral. It is almost rude not too attend a person’s funeral, they celebrating the person who has just died not morn over them. The lower class also has a viewing of the body for friends and family. The Industrial Revolution played a major role in the creation of the North and of the South. Until factories started being built everything was rural. Once factory town started being built ways of life changed and class standards changed.

Hip Hop vs. Ethics Essay -- World Cultures Music Morals Essays

Ethics of The Music Industry Works Cited Not Included Hip-hop culture has been socially labeled as deviant, a counter-culture, un-American because of its lack of moral. Specifically, "gangsta rap" which glorifies guns, sex, violence, drug use and gang activity has been castigated. This type of rap promotes a nonconformist and rebel adaptive behavior. As a result, it gives hip-hop culture a deviant label. A simple definition of deviance is "behavior that does not conform to group-shared norms; behavior that (in some way) does not meet the expectations of a group or a society as a whole and is subject to social control" (Liska 2). Mr. Kirkland, along with rap entrepreneur Russell Simmons, Grammy award-winning Chuck D, Charles Fisher and the NAACP are major moral entrepreneurs of the nascent grass-roots reform movement and pillars to the hip hop culture industry. Raptivism, "At the core of their campaign is a conviction that amounts to heresy in some quarters of the rap world: Artistic images do influence behavior, especially when it comes to young people, and that the industry has a responsibility to counter the glorification that empowers kids, rather than landing them in jail" (Marks 1). The deviance label of rap music has created an atmosphere for moral panic in which big names in the hip hop culture are acting as morale entrepreneurs to counter-act and make a transformation. According to act-utilitarianism, the controversial lyrics of hip-hop artists may have a greater balance of good consequences over the bad consequences. Therefore, they create the greatest happiness within hip hop culture. The function of "raptivism" is feasible because of the potential power of this grass-roots movement to create a flux of positive m... ...ing hip-hop's survival will be their choice. "Raptivism" aims to attain overall greatest happiness. It is a plan to overcome it's immoral image that larger society has labeled it to have. Russell Simmon's "raptivism" movement is the most acceptable choice due to the extremity of other possible solutions. One possible solution could be the censorship of hip-hop music, which has been proven unconstitutional and has never held up in court due to the constitution's freedom of speech amendment. Another solution is to leave hip-hop the way it is now. Creating this movement is an effective way to respond to the moral dilemmas and negative image that hip-hop has obtained, while not trying to censor nonconformists. Besides, it will be lead by the most influential leaders and creators of the industry, whom which also has support from the most respected and famous rappers.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Lord Byron’s Darkness Essay -- essays papers

Lord Byron’s â€Å"Darkness† Lord Byron’s â€Å"Darkness† illustrates a dark and pessimistic outlook for the world as we know it. The world loses all sense of hope and is left with only despair and darkness after the loss of the provider of thought and hope-sunlight. With the extinction of sunlight comes the destruction of social classes due to inevitable fear of death, and, as a result, all that is left is chaos. The psychological mind drastically changes its mannerisms and mode of thinking when faced with life and death situations. In the solitude of pitch-black infinite space, â€Å"men forgot their passions†-all values were lost, hopes and goals were put on hold, and only darkness existed. A world living in darkness was forced to displace its social classes and live one in utter darkness. All ...

Saturday, August 17, 2019

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Essay

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) that disables the immune system.  It was discovered in 1983 .HIV enters the body through the bloodstream and duplicates itself rapidly.  The victim is susceptible to infectious diseases that eventually are fatal (1). Statistically, HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of African-American women ages 25 to 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Between 2000 and 2003, they were nineteen times more likely than White females and five times more likely than Hispanic females to contract the disease.  African-American men were seven times more likely than White men and three times the rate of Hispanic men to contract HIV/AIDS (2). In 2008, there is still not a cure for AIDS.  Instead, scientists have discovered drugs that can slow down the progression of the disease. Protease inhibitors (PIs) are antiviral drugs that slow down the spread of HIV (1). The virus produces a protein called protease so that it can replicate itself.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Protease cuts long chains of proteins and enzymes into shorter chains, the first step in the process by which HIV infects a cell† (1).  If this doesn’t happen, replication does not continue. In 1987, AZT was the first anti-HIV medication that was created.   It showed hope and kept people healthier longer.   However, the side effects were very high for men.   Since that time, more HIV medications have evolved.   Antiretroviral therapy usually consists of combinations of nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, or fusion inhibitors, which are prescribed in the later stages of HIV (19). Dual protease inhibitor therapy is also being used clinically (3).  They are also associated with improving morbidity and mortality of HIV-positive persons (5).  Although these drugs are expensive, they have proven to be the most successful therapy in managing HIV.   However, some patients don’t comply 100% with their treatments.   This is largely due to the side effects. Sometimes they make a patient feel worse than the actual disease. The most commonly reported ones are abdominal pain, abnormal bowel movements, diarrhea, fatigue, headache, and nausea.   Children usually develop a skin rash. The more serious side effects are liver problems and pancreatitis.   Some patients have also seen large increase in triglyceride ad cholesterol levels.   Diabetics saw an increase in their blood sugar levels.   Other patients developed diabetes while taking protease inhibitors (16). Presently, nine PIs have been approved for use in the United States and Europe:   amprenavir, atazanavir, fosamprenavir, lopinavir, indinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, tipranavir, and nelfinavir. Three non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) are used for treatment of HIV:  nevirapine, delavirdine, and efavirenz (7). Drug treatment selection depends on factors such as drug resistance, tolerability, drug interactions, and effectiveness. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) â€Å"has been proposed so that practitioners may better maintain appropriate plasma concentrations of drugs in their patients by identifying interactions with other medications and assessing medication adherence   (7). Figure 1 shows the structures of these compounds. Fig. 1. Chemical structures of protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. About 50% of â€Å"treatment-naà ¯ve patients† don’t have continued antiviral response after one year of therapy (18). In some cases, there is a development of drug resistance and metabolic complications.   Also, â€Å"there is increasing evidence that virological treatment failure is correlated with variations in the pharmacokinetic parameters of drugs (20).   This can be due to drug interactions, low bioavailability, and variations in metabolic enzyme activity.   Atazanavir (ATV) has good oral bioavailability and a favorable pharmacokinetics profile (18).   With this in mind, patients can mostly take a once-daily dose. A separate analytical method has been recently published for quantifying ATV in human plasma using solid phase extraction and HPLC with PDA (photodiode array) detection at 201 nm (18).   This method provides excellent separation of ATV from its internal standard, clozapine (CLZ) and the other PIs, thus, obtaining an accurate measurement of the drug (see figure 2). CLZ elutes at 8.9 minutes, and ATV elutes a 24.4 minutes. A 40-ml injection resulted in a recovery yield of 100%. Fig. 2.   Chromatogram of ATV with PIs/NNRTIs (8000 ng/ml) spiked with CLZ Nelfinavir mesylate has been shown in phase III controlled clinical trials to significantly reduce viral load and increase CD4+ cell counts when used with reverse transcriptase inhibitors. It’s prescribed as part of triple drug combination therapy (9). CD4+ are helper T cells.   They are important for immune reconstitution in patients that are receiving antiretroviral therapy (10).   After a large number of these cells are destroyed, AIDS develops (7). Six clinical trials was conducted in the past ten years using 2, 148 HIV-infected children enrolled in the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group treatment trials (10).   Patient ages varied from 2 to 7 years of age.   The focus was to observe short-term variability of CD4 percentages.   The study found that 49% of patients had CD4 percentages above 25%.   32% of patients had CD4 counts between 15% and 24%; 19% were less than 15%.   Finally, 5.4% had a CD4% of less than 5% (10). In June 2006, Darunavir (DRV) was licensed in the United States.   It is a promising PI that is active against HIV strains that are resistant to the other PIs that currently on the market (17).   It is prescribed in 600-mg doses that are taken twice daily with 100 mg of ritonavir that acts as a booster. Protease inhibitors are associated with unfavorable pharmacokinetics and many side effects such as gastrointestinal disturbances and lipid abnormalities (5).  Four of the most common PIs used are indinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, and nelfinavir (3).  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Monitoring blood concentration of PIs, which can indicate both therapeutic and toxic levels of the drugs as well as patient noncompliance with the medication, may improve the care of both HIV-infected adults and children† (3). When ritonavir was first introduced, it was given in doses of 600 mg every 12 hours. â€Å"However, patient intolerance of full doses led to its primary use as a pharmacologic enhancer to increase the concentrations in plasma of a second protease inhibitor to improve the convenience of antiretroviral regimens by extending the dosing interval, reducing pill burden, and /or eliminating food-induced reductions in pharmacokinetic exposure† (8).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Researchers used High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to determine concentrations of PIs in blood.  Various methods have been used to study the pharmacokinetics and drug interactions. Interpreting plasma levels can be used to â€Å"individualize drug dosage of antiretrovirals (4). Quality control (QC) procedures must be done to ensure that these methods are accurate and precise.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Such procedures usually include intralaboratory (internal) method validation, intralaboratory QC procedures, and participation in an interlaboratory QC program for antiretroviral drugs† (4). Since the latter hadn’t been done before, it was established so that laboratories can obtain better measurement results of antiretroviral drugs. Nine laboratories participated in the first part of the program.  The first part of the experiment involved the measurement of the protease inhibitors:  indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, and saquinavir.  All had a specified purity of 99% or higher.  QC samples were prepared by spiking blank plasma from HIV-negative volunteers with PI standard. The low concentrated standards ranged from 0.087 to 0.15 mg/L while the intermediate concentrated standards contained ranged from 2 to 3 mg/L of all four PIs.  Finally, the high-concentrated standards contained approximately 5 to 11 mg/L of drug.  All drugs were dissolved in methanol following accurate weighings and diluted with blank plasma (4). High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to analyze twelve samples.  All laboratories measuring more than one protease inhibitor used as assay for â€Å"simultaneous determination† (4).  Six laboratories used HPLC/UV and three labs used HPLC-MS/MS. Mass spectrometry detection is often recommended for measurement of low concentration levels.  Also, this type of analysis is usually faster and â€Å"does not require complete resolution of drugs for detection and quantification† (5).  Only five laboratories were able to measure all four PIs.  Three laboratories were not able to determine nelfinavir.  One laboratory only measured indinavir (4). Acceptable accuracy results are between 80% and 120%.  Only indinavir resulted in an acceptable accuracy of 80%.  The remaining PIs had between 36% and 74% accuracy.  These results should encourage laboratories to improve their analytical methods and QC procedures.  Other PIs, such as amprenavir and lopinavir, can be analyzed as well (4). HIV-positive plasma samples are heat inactivated before analysis, approximately 58 °C for 40 minutes, to decrease the risk of infection to the operator.  They may also go through a freeze/thaw cycle. As with the QC study, blank plasma was spiked with seven PIs (indinavir, amprenavir, atazanavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, lopinavir, and nelfnavir) at low, intermediate, and high concentrations measured in ng/ml.  Certain assays only require 100  µl of plasma for analysis.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"This is advantageous when measuring PI concentrations as part of clinical studies as they often necessitate hourly sampling to generate complete PK profiles; therefore less blood can be drawn from the patient† (5).  In addition, seven PIs can be quantified in one assay, but impossible to assay all seven in a single preparation. â€Å"The use of liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) has emerged as the developmental method of choice supporting clinical and pre-clinical pharmacokinetic studies† (13). Recovery for the HPLC-MS/MS methods was above 87% for all seven drugs at all three concentration levels (5).  It was successful in quantifying seven PI concentrations in plasma of HIV positive persons that participated in a run time of nine minutes.  Therefore, the assay may be used for determining PI concentrations in semen, lymphocytes, and cerebrospinal fluid (5). A fast and highly-sensitive LC-MS-MS method was developed that could analyze five protease inhibitors (amprenavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, and saquinavir) in one run using an internal standard.   Sample sizes were small (ng/ml) and run times were approximately 5 minutes.   Recoveries for all five PIs were between 87% and 92%(11). Tipranavir is part of a class of non-peptidic PIs that works against both â€Å"wild-type virus and variants resistant to current PIs†(6).  It also has a high genetic barrier.  Tipranavir is prescribed in a 500-mg dose taken in combination with 200 mg of ritonavir twice daily as part of antiretroviral therapy for patients with HIV-1 strains that are resistant to multiple PIs (6). Fig. 3. Tipranavir chemical structure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An HPLC-UV method has been validated and is currently applied when monitoring tipranavir (TPV) plasma levels in HIV patients.  Samples were prepared for solid phase extraction (SPE) by conditioning the cartridges with 0.1% phosphoric acid, pH 7.  TPV stock solutions with a concentration of 5 mg/ml were diluted from with 50% methanol. Samples were spiked with TPV at 1.875, 7.5, 18.75, 37.5, 60, and 75  µg/ml in triplicate. QC samples were diluted with blank plasma and phosphate buffer to 5.625, 22.5, and 67.5  µg/ml.  Clozapine was used as the internal standard (6).  5-ml aliquots of blood samples were obtained from HIV infected patients.  The plasma obtained from centrifugation was heated at 60 ° C for one hour in a water bath. TPV in plasma was measured at a UV absorbance of 201 nm with a retention time of 32.2 minutes. Its internal standard, clozapine (CLZ) has a retention time of 8.3 minutes (6). Figure 4 below shows the chromatogram of TPV, its internal standard, and all other PIs and NNRTIs  present.   Figure 5 shows TPV and its internal standard CLZ only. Fig. 4. Chromatogram of plasma control sample of TVP (22.5 mg/ml) spiked with internal standard and all PIs and NNRTIs. Fig. 5. Chromatogram of calibration sample of TVP (37.5 mg/ml) spiked with internal standard CLZ. Isocratic HPLC methods combined with the use of UV and fluorescence detection produces more sensitivity. Amprenavir is a fluorescent compound.   Its internal standard PR25 can also be seen under fluorescence (see figure 6). Fig. 6.   Blank plasma with 100 ng/ml amprenavir and 1000 ng/ml of PR25 seen under fluorescence. In conclusion, much progress has been made in the development of protease inhibitors and other antiretroviral therapy. HPLC with UV detection has been the most commonly used method of analysis.   It is rapid, simple, and highly sensitive.   LC-MS-MS has been noted at the developmental method of choice for clinical and pre-clinical pharmacokinetic studies (13).   More compounds can be analyzed in less time.   Also, they can be used for methods using other human biological matrices. For the majority of protease inhibitors, all side effects are not known. In 2007, darunavir was the new HIV protease inhibitor with eleven other antiretroviral agents on the market.   They can affect patients that have diabetes, liver problems, and hemophilia; their conditions can worsen as a result of taking PIs. Only a patient’s health care provider can determine the best treatment option REFERENCES Nagel, Rob. 2007. Protease Inhibitors. UXL Encyclopedia of Science; [cited 2008 May 8], Available from http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docnum=cv2644301082. Health Hotline:   HIV and Genital Herpes [cited 2008 May8]; Available from http://www.ebony.com. â€Å"HPLC Assay for Common Protease Inhibitors Developed.†Antiviral Weekly; [cited 2008 May 07; Available from http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docNum=A60069570. Aarnoutse, Rob E., Verweij-van Wissen, Corrien P.W.G.M., van Ewijk-Beneken Kolmer, Eleonora, W.J., Wuis, Eveline, W., Koopmans, Peter P., Hekster, Yechiel A., and Burger, David, M. 2001. International Interlaboratory Quality Control Program for Measurement of Antiretroviral Drugs in Plasma; Antimicrobial Agents and Chemo 46(3): 884-886. Dickinson, Laura, Robinson, Lesley, Tjia, John, Khoo, and Saye, Back, David. 2005. Simultaneous determination of HIV protease inhibitors amprenavir, atazanavir, indinavir, lopinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir and saquinavir in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; J of Chrom. B 829:82-90. Colombo, S., Beguin, A., Marzolini, C., Telenti, A., Biollaz, J., and Decosterd, L.A. 2006.   Determination of the novel non-peptidic HIV-protease inhibitor tipranavir by HPLC-UV after solid-phase extraction; J of Chrom. B 832:138-143. Rezk, Naser L., Tidwell, Richard R., and Kashuba, Angela D.M. 2004.   High-performance liquid chromatography assay for the quantification of HIV protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in human plasma; J of Chrom. B 805:241-247. Shelton, Mark J.,Hewitt, Ross G., Adams, John, Dela-Coletta, Andrew, Cox, Steven, and Morse, Gene D. 2003. Pharmacokinetics of Ritonavir and Delavirdine in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Patients; Antimicrobial Agents and Chemo 47(5): 1694-1699. Zhang, Kanyin E., Wu, Ellen, Patick, Amy K., Kerr, Bradley, Zorbas, Mark, Lankford, Angela, Kobayashi, Takuo, Maeda, Yuki, Shetty, Bhasker, and Webber, Stephanie. 2001.Circulating Metabolites of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus protease Inhibitor Nelfinavir in Humans:   Structural Identification, Levels in Plasma, and Antiviral Activities; Antimicrobial Agents and Chemo 45(4): 1086-1093. Carey, Vincent J., Pahwa, Savita, and Weinberg, Adriana. 2005.   Reliability of CD4 Quantitation in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Children:   Implications for Definition of Immunologic Response to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy; Clinical and Diagnostic Lab Immunology 12(5): 640-643. Chi, Jingduan, Jayewardene, Anura L., Stone, Judith A., Motoya, Toshiro, and Aweeka, Francesca. 2002.   Simultaneous determination of five HIV protease inhibitors nelfinavir, indinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir and amprenavir in human plasma by LC/MS/MS; J of Pharm and Biomedical Analysis 30:675-684. Verbesselt, R., Van Wijngaerden, E., and de Hoon, J. 2007. Simultaneous determination of 8 HIV protease inhibitors in human plasma by isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography with combined use of UV and fluorescence detection: Amprenavir, indinavir, atazanavir, ritonavir, lopinavir, saquinavir, nelfinavir and M8-nelfinavir metabolite; J of Chrom. B 845:51-60. Frerichs, Valerie A., DiFrancesco, Robin, and Morse, Gene D. 2003. Determination of protease inhibitors using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; J of Chrom, B 787:393-403. Gangl, Eric, Utkin, Ilya, Gerber, Nicholas, and Vouros, Paul. 2002. Structural elucidation of metabolites of ritonavir and indinavir by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; J. of Chrom. A 974:91-101. Turner, Michele L., Reed-Walker, Kedria, King, Jennifer R., and Acosta, Edward P. 2003. Simultaneous determination of nine antiretroviral compounds in human plasma using liquid chromatography; J. of Chrom. B 784:331-341. 2008. Kaletra. [Cited 2008 May 16], Available from http://www.heartandsoul.com. D’Avolio, Antonio, Siccardi, Marco, Sciandra, Mauro, Lorena, Baietto, Bonora, Stefano, Trentini, Laura, and Di Perri, Giovanni.2007. HPLC-MS method for the simultaneous quantification of the new HIV protease inhibitor darunavir, and 11 other antiretroviral agents in plasma of HIV-infected patients; J. of Chrom. B 859:234-240. Colombo, S., Guignard, N., Marzolini, C., Telenti, A., Biollaz, J., and Decosterd, L.A. 2004. Determination of the new HIV-protease inhibitor atazanavir by liquid chromatography after solid-phase extraction; J. of Chrom. B 810:25-34. Weller, Dennis R., Brundage, Richard C., Balfour, Jr., Henry H., and Vezina, Heather E. An isocratic liquid chromatography method for determining HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and protease inhibitor concentrations in human plasma; J. of Chrom. B 848:369-373. Sarasa-Nacenta, Maria, Lopez-Pua, Yolanda, Mallolas, Josep, Blanco, Jose’ Luis, Gatell, Jose’ M., and Carne’, Xavier. Simultaneous determination of the HIV-protease inhibitors indinavir, amprenavir, ritonavir, saquinavir and nelfinavir in human plasma by reversed-phase high- performance liquid chromatography; J, of Chrom. B 757:325-332.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Psychology of Human Sexuality

65 million people are living with an incurable STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) in the United States. This is an extremely high number which includes many different types and forms of diseases. Some are curable and others are not. So this is a huge problem in the USA and all over the world that I had no idea about or put much thought into. It is incredible the outstanding number of people with STI’s and the growing rate. This truly is in every sense of the word a pandemic as referred to in the book. I will discuss a few things from this chapter about STI’s that I found most interesting besides the STI’s themselves that almost made me hurl due to some of the graphic pictures. Some issues that are related and need to be learned include the lack of symptoms, lack of accurate information, unhealthy sexual emotions and attitudes, poor sexual communication, and substance abuse and its relation to STI’s. All of the above mentioned things I will discuss are important to me because they are risk factors that I needed to learn and be aware of. For example, not all STI’s have symptoms or show signs of physical problems such as rashes or a discharge. Most sexual transmitted infections have symptoms that are often absent. That is scary due to the fact people may not know they are infected and maintain their normal sexual activity with no knowledge of infecting others. This is a huge problem to me because it’s not like people carry their results with them of their last STI test results. In my case I get tested in 3 days due to the fact ignorance is bliss and I don’t want to be irresponsible in my actions. I also think that some people don’t get tested for the mere fact they just don’t want to know even if they have been involved in risky sexual behaviors. Asymptomatic means that symptoms may not be produced at all. Not know if you are infected and affecting others leads to a bigger problem because most STI’s leads to greater health problems down the road. A sexual act of of love or lust can turn into a nightmare. Lack of knowledge is a huge risk factor because the number of our youth participating in sexual activities is indeed increasing. They partake in oral sex and think it is ok because pregnancy can’t occur. However, being one of these ignorant kids’ years ago myself I didn’t know that oral sex increases the chances of STI’s or what an STI was. Especially, these hormone and sexually driven kids don’t care or have the knowledge of knowing the ease at which STI’s can spread through sexual activity and oral sex, or even the lack of knowing how severe this problem can occur. I’ve heard a lot of my friends say oh man I just got tested after I hooked up with that slut and I’m clean, guess I dodged a bullet. It is a complete joke and the severity of these issues is not driven home properly. Sexual emotions and attitudes are something I have learned to be true. I know a lot of girls who were told sex is bad by their parents and they seemed to take it out on their college exploits. Avoiding the safe sex talk and that sex is not a horrible thing when handled correctly can lead to better understanding and decision making by the child. Also, the the fear and stigma of people who have STI’s or don’t want to be tested for fear they might have one creates more issues for them and may lead to them not telling their partner out of shame and embarrassment. This I thought I knew but this chapter justified that thought. I for sure learned that sexual communication is important for a healthy sexual relationship. It is healthy for my relationship and makes things more comfortable and easy. I learned that not just condoms and knowledge are important in preventing STI’s, but communication has an essential role as well. Parents must discuss safe sex with their children and openly discuss sexual matters due to the fact it is normal eventually inevitable. Talking to your partner about being tested or that you have an STI is the responsible thing to do. I knew that substance abuse had to play a role in increasing the chances for the spread of STI’s. it only makes sense due to the fact we all know what it feels like to be under the consumption of alcohol where our morals and principles go at that point. Things become more in the moment as mentioned in the book and risky sexual behavior is more likely to occur. For example, I know a lot about this from attending San Diego State University a big party school in California, but the statistics provided in the book that 1 in 5 teens reports having unprotected sex while under the influence of drugs and lcohol just solidifies that theory. I learned a lot and was shocked about the STI pandemic and all the issues related such as the lack of information and health risks associated with it. This really does scare me to know that my previous partners could have unknowingly passed an STI to me. I was tested before my girlfriend and I started dating but I will get tested again in three days just to be sure. It is really important to do so and people should be made aware of the severity and problems related to STI’s followed by knowledge and prevention methods. I am thankful for this class and my newfound knowledge.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Daphnia Dissection

Effects of Drugs on Heart rate Michelle Dilgard Undergraduate Student Education Major Biology Concentration Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN 38505 December 3, 2006 Table of Contents Page Abstract 1 Key Words 2 Introduction3-6 Methods and Materials7-8 Expected Results and Benefits 9 Results 10-11 Discussion12 Conclusion13 Literature Cited 14-15 Abstract This experiment is designed to find out how drugs affect heart rate. This experiment will use Daphnia in order to monitor the effects certain drugs have on heart rates.I will observe the changes in heart rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine, Ibuprofen, Alcohol, and Nicotine. I will have several separate samples of Daphnia in my study. Each community will be exposed to a different drug and observe how the heart rate of the Daphnia changes accordingly. I believe the Daphnia heart rate will increase when the Daphnia are exposed to Caffeine and Nicotine because both of these drugs are stimulants. I believe the Daphnia heart rate will decrease and slow down when the Daphnia are exposed to Ibuprofen and Alcohol.This experiment will show not only the effects of these drugs on Daphnia but also what they similarly do to the human body when it is exposed. Daphnia are used as a humane alternative to Humans when performing this type of experiment. The results on the Daphnia will be very similar to how the human heart would react if exposed to these drugs. Key Words Nicotine Alcohol Caffeine Ibuprofen Effects of Drugs Daphnia Magna Heart rate Drugs Heart Introduction My experiment deals with the affects of different drugs on the heart rate of daphnia. I will focus on the daphnia’s body itself first.Then I will give information pertaining to the drugs used: Caffeiene, Ibuprofen, Alcohol, and Nicotine. Daphnia are small crustaceans that live in the water. They are commonly called water fleas. Daphnia are freshwater zooplankton and consume phytoplankton and some other zooplankton as well. The daphniaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s bodies are transparent and their internal structures can easily be seen. The heart is the internal organ I focused on within the daphnia. The heart can be easily seen within the body cavity of the daphnia which made it easy to find and easy to count the heartbeat (Villegas-Navarro 2003).Caffeine is a very important drug to consider because 90% of American consumes caffeine on a daily basis. Half of all American consume more than 300 mg of caffeine a day which makes it America’s most consumed drug to date. Caffeine is found in coffee, soda, tea, chocolate, etc. Caffeine is known as trimethylxanthine in the medical community. Caffeine can be used as a cardiac stimulant and also as a mild diuretic. Cardiac stimulants increase the heart rate, and diuretics increase urine production. Caffeine is a very addictive drug and operates just like amphetamines such as cocaine and heroin (Nehlig 1992).Caffeine not only stimulates the heart of humans but also the heart of daphnia ( Foster 1997). Ibuprofen is commonly used to relieve pain, tenderness, swelling and stiffness caused by arthritis. It is also used to relieve mild to moderate pain in the body and reduce fever. Ibuprofen is called a NSAIDs. It works by stopping the body’s production of a substance that causes pain, fever, and inflammation. Ibuprofen is most often used to treat arthritis (Cluevers 2004). Alcohol is often used as a solvent in medical drugs, because of its low toxicity and ability to dissolve non-polar substances.Ethanol is often used as an antiseptic, to disinfect the skin before injections are given. When processed correctly Alcohol is drunk in recreation. Alcohol affects the body as a nervous system depressant (Wong 1997). Nicotine like caffeine is a stimulant. This stimulant is found in cigarettes. Cigarettes contain 8 to 20 milligrams of nicotine but when smoke only 1 mg of nicotine actually enters the body. Nicotine can have two effects on the body, it can relax a perso or it can stimulate a person, this is based on the amount and the regularity of smoking or nicotine intake.Nicotine works by causing a releas of adrenaline into the body. Statement of Problem How do certain drugs affect heart rate? Objective/Hypothesis Statement This experiment is designed to find out how drugs affect heart rate. This experiment will use Daphnia in order to monitor the effects certain drugs have on heart rates. I will observe the changes in heart rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine, Ibuprofen, Alcohol, and Nicotine. I will have several separate samples of Daphnia in my study.Each community will be exposed to a different drug and observe how the heart rate of the Daphnia changes accordingly. i. e. Foster 1997 I hypothesize that the Daphnia heart rate will increase when the Daphnia are exposed to Caffeine and Nicotine because both of these drugs are stimulants. I hypothesize the Daphnia heart rate will decrease and slow down when the Daphnia are exposed to Ibuprofen and Alcohol. The null hypothesis to this is: I hypothesize that drugs will have no effect on the Daphnia’s heart rate. Methods and Materials Data Form |Resting Heart Rate |Heart Rate 1 |Heart Rate 2 |Heart Rate 3 | |Alcohol 1 | | | | | |Alcohol 2 | | | | | |Alcohol 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |Ibuprofen 1 | | | | |Ibuprofen 2 | | | | |Ibuprofen 3 | | | | | | | | | | |Caffeine 1 | | | | | |Caffeine 2 | | | | |Caffeine 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |Nicotine 1 | | | | | |Nicotine 2 | | | | | |Nicotine 3 | | | | | ProcedureI used a modified version of the experiment performed by Jasmine Kamai and Varner Allbrett when they studied the effects of Kava on the heart rate of Daphnia. My procedure is as follows: Before beginning my experiment I must mix the drug solutions to be used. First I will dissolve ibuprofen and caffeine tablets into a solution of water in two different containers, that I will later determine what strength to make each. I will also tear open cigarettes and mix the tobac co with water and let sit for 24 hours after which I will drain the water off into a container which will make up my nicotine solution. For alcohol I will just mix vodka and water to a desired strength in a 4th container. Next I will cipher out a daphnia and drop it onto a slide to be viewed under a microscope.I will record its normal heart rate. Next I will add a drop of the alcohol solution and over the next 5 minutes I will record the changes in heart rate after one minute of exposure, 3 minutes of exposure and then 5 minutes of exposure. After recording my results I will dispose of this Daphnia. I will do this same portion of the experiment with two more daphnia. I will then continue with this procedure while using the other three drugs. I plan to use the lab facilities in the Biology Building on Tennessee Tech’s Campus. Along with most of their lab equipment including: microscope, slides, vials, Petri dishes, droppers and other equipment. Materials Water Depression Slide sCover slips Droppers Daphnia Magna Microscope Watch Petri Dishes Daphnia Anatomy Chart Cigarettes 80 proof vodka No-dos Ibuprofen tablets Expected Results and Benefits After performing this experiment I expect to find that the Daphnia’s heart rates will increase with Nicotine and Caffeine because both of these drugs are stimulants and that the Daphnia’s heart rates will decrease with Alcohol and Ibuprofen solution. This experiment will show not only the effects of these drugs on Daphnia but also what they similarly do to the human body when it is exposed. Daphnia are used as a humane alternative to Humans when performing this type of experiment. Results Normal |w/Caffeine |w/Alcohol | |84 |100 |89 | |80 |102 |85 | |86 |105 |90 | |88 |109 |91 | |82 |109 |88 | |84 |103 |85 | |90 |110 |93 | |86 |106 |89 | |80 |90 |84 | |84 |88 |87 | Heart Rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine and Alcohol Change in Heart Rate of Daphnia when exposed to Caffeine Change in Heart Rate of Daphnia when exposed to Alcohol Discussion After performing my experiment I found that Daphnia Magna heart rate greatly increases when exposed to Caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant and should produce that affect (Nehlig 1992). Caffeine has similar affects on humans (Foster 1997).The heart rate increased anywhere from 10 to 20 beats per minute. As seen in my data table the heart beats sometimes jumped from a normal heartbeat in the 80s to a heartbeat in the 100s when exposed to caffeine. Gerald Adams also found the same result when he tested his hypothesis. I also found that Daphnia’s heart rate slightly increased with the exposure to Alcohol. The heart rate does not have as drastic a change when exposed to Alcohol as it did when exposed to Caffeine. The heart rates just increased by about 5 to 10 beats per minute. As seen in my data table the heart beats only jumped from a normal heartbeat in the 80s to a heartbeat in the 90s when exposed to Alcohol.This was disproved by sever al different experiments (Wong 1997). Wong found that the heart rate of daphnia decreased. Since alcohol is a depressant it should have lowered the heart rate of daphnia. I feel that the increase in stress on the Daphnia may have called this time of increase. When Daphnia is exposed to Nicotine and Ibuprofen, the heart rate of the daphnia could not be seen as any different. (Sollman 1999). Although Cluevers said that there should be a change in the heart rate (Cluevers 2004). Conclusion In conclusion I have determined that the heart rate of Daphnia can be affected by adding different drugs. Daphnia heart rate increased by ten to twenty beats per minute when exposed to Caffeine.Daphnia heart rate increased by five to ten beats per minute when exposed to Alcohol. Unfortunately the results for Ibuprofen and Nicotine could not be seen. There was not enough evidence to determine how the Heart rate changed when the Daphnia were exposed to Ibuprofen and Nicotine. By doing this experiment i t can be assumed that the some of the same reactions could be found if Humans are exposed to these Drugs. Literature Cited Cluevers, Michael. 2004. Mixture toxicity of the anti-inflammatory drugs diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetylsalicylic acid. Exotoxicology an Environmental Safety 59: 309-315. Foster, Rachel. 1997. A stroboscopic method to investigate the effect of caffeine on Daphnia hear rate.Journal of Biological Education 31: 253-255. Nehlig, A. , J. L. Daval, and G. Debry. 1992. Caffeine and the central nervous system: mechanisms of action, biochemical, metabolic and psychostimulant effects. PubMed. com. Villegas-Navarro, Arturo, Esperanza L. Ross, and Jose L. Reyes. 2003. The heart of Daphnia magna: effects of four cardioactive drugs. Comparative Biochemisty and Physiology Part C Toxicology and Pharmacology 136C: 127-134 Wong, Diana C. L. , Philip B. Dorn, and Eric Y. Chai. 1997. Acute toxicity and structure-activity relationships of nine alcohol ethoxylate surfacta nts to fathead minnow and Daphnia magna. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 16: 1970-1976. . Appendix Normal |w/Caffeine |w/Alcohol | |84 |100 |89 | |80 |102 |85 | |86 |105 |90 | |88 |109 |91 | |82 |109 |88 | |84 |103 |85 | |90 |110 |93 | |86 |106 |89 | |80 |90 |84 | |84 |88 |87 |

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Lord of the Flies Coursework Essay

â€Å"Show how Golding creates a world of increasing violence in the novel Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, written shortly after the Second World War. It tells a story of school boys deserted on a island , and their struggle to manage, by an omniscient narrator who comments on setting and movement. This is similar to the story of Coral Island, however Golding is challenging the ideas in this, instead of the boys resorting to team work and success like expected, they resort to activism and create a environment of â€Å"increasing violence†. By purposely setting the novel on a isolated island Golding can show his impression of the true nature of humans, and that he believes they would act sadistically and slowly become more and more distant from any means of civilisation. Golding manages to create a small world and community filled with violence by the end of the novel through a number of aspects; the settings, the characters and their behaviour, events, and general themes that run through the novel. Golding purposely sets his novel Lord of the flies on an isolated island so the boy’s natural behaviour can emerge when taken away from rules or boundaries. This setting creates a small community, and the island is like a microcosm of the world. The first setting we are introduced to when reading Lord of the Flies is the lagoon along with when we meet Piggy and Ralph. This setting is peaceful, â€Å"Dazzling beach† this is an idealistic setting which is parallel to the boy’s behaviour at this point. The first aspect of any violence in the novel is when Ralph pretended to be a fighter plane and â€Å"machine gunned Piggy† this in contrast to the behaviour in the final chapters emphasizes Golding’s point and shows the huge difference in the boy’s actions and the amount of violence. The protagonist Ralph is not a violent character, his main aspect whilst on the island is being rescued. Whilst being the leader in the beginning of the novel he tries to maintain civilisation and a sense of democracy however Jessica Johnson 10h violence, activism and sadism takes over any sense of development. An example of this is when a group of boys including Jack where told to keep the fire alight; instead of keeping it alight so they could be rescued the boys decide to hunt, they use violence instead. This is where it first becomes clear the boys are starting to lose interest in being rescued and are more engrossed by the power from using violence and hurting other living beings. Ralph doesn’t represent savagery or violence he represents democracy, courage and is associated with the conch, he â€Å"clutches† it. The conch is also a symbol of civilisation. Furthermore the conch in Greek mythology was used by Triton the sea god, to raise or calm the oceans; this is exactly what it does in Lord of the Flies with the boys during the meetings. The boys increasingly lose their moral values and innocence in the novel, this is shadowed by the way the conch loses it’s colour. The antagonist Jack could be seen as Golding’s main tool that increases the boy’s use of violence in the microcosm setting. Jack is first described as wearing black and having â€Å"red† hair, these colours could be symbolic of the devil and relevant to Golding’s themes of evil. He becomes the chief after Ralph and leads the boys to act savage like and use violence towards each other, and to hunt. Jack is shown to have a lust for hunting as it gives him a sense of power, and pleasure, it becomes clear through his character the evil that can be latent within man kinds character. Because of the literal period that Lord of the Flies was written in, Jack could be seen as a representative of Hitler as he constantly uses violence and increases the use of it in others; this makes him essential to Golding’s increasing of violence in the novel for example his first prime instinct in the novel was to hunt. The use of hunting, violence and unkindness the boys use continues to grow through out the novel, by chapter nine all the boys are involved in a ritual dance which results in the â€Å"accidental† killing of Simon. This death is foreshadowed by Golding’s use of pathetic fallacy, â€Å"storm clouds built up over the island† , â€Å"thunder roars† and Piggy- the wise, intelligent character also predicts trouble. After Simon’s meeting with the â€Å"beast† he returns to talk to the boys however they are involved in the ritual dance and they mistake him for the beast, chanting and shrieking they beat him to death. Here is a obvious turning point in the novel, as the first â€Å"murder† is committed, and that is notified by Piggy, the boys are losing innocence and use of violence is clearly increasing. Jessica Johnson 10h In Chapter eleven the violence has increased so much it becomes out of hand, and whilst Ralph and Piggy try to negotiate with Jack’s tribe Roger kills Piggy and breaks the conch. In the beginning of the novel Roger through rocks, however â€Å"he aimed to miss† because he still considered rules, morals and society. Now the violence has clearly increased in the world the boys are living in as Roger is now enabled by the current environment to push a balder onto Piggy’s head and kill him. It has also become clear here that Roger has become mindlessly atavistic. Piggy’s death is not as personal as Simon’s is described. When Piggy is killed he lands â€Å"on his back across that red square, red rock in the sea† this positioning and description is highly symbolic along with the colour imagery Golding uses, of possibly a sacrifice on a primitive altar. After his death nature’s indifference is described similar to after Simon’s death, â€Å"the sea breathed again†, this may change a reader’s response to Piggy’s death perhaps adding more sympathy as it makes it seem like it is insignificant. This scene and the final Chapter where Ralph is betrayed and is being viciously hunted by all the boys are obvious increasing of the boy’s use of violence. In the final chapter the boys are finally rescued, ironically it isn’t by the signal fire as the aspect of that was taken over by savagery and violence. However it is a fire that is symbolic of violence as the use of it was meant to help kill Ralph. However it summons a ship, when the boys are met once again with a well groomed civilised human, they are described by the omniscient narrator as little boys and their use of violence disappears. Heightened by the character Percival who at the beginning of the novel could say his name and address, however by the end has completely forgotten his true identity. â€Å"Ralph wept for the end of innocence† the tears that Ralph weeps could be symbolic of his realisation of failure to fight the evil within man kind. Ralph can no longer see the world as a secure safe place where violence won’t be used against him, as he has seen it increase and the pleasure from it overtake people. When looking at the full grown groomed adult compared to the dirty â€Å"little boys† in front of him, it is ironic that the little boys now have more knowledge about the innate desire within all man kind.