Zoology

Your friend releases a pair of goldfish from an aquarium into a pond. The fish survive long enough to produce many young. Returning to the pond after several years, you find that only drab olive-brown offspring remain from the original brightly colored golden parents. Select any factors listed below that would have promoted the survival of olive-brown fish over the brightly colored variety. The fish in the wild spent most of their energy finding food and did not get enough calories to produce color.The somewhat muddy water found in the pond covered the scales, eventually making he scales become less colorful. The predators in the pond were mostly largemouth bass, which depend heavily on their good color vision to find prey. Although only olive-brown offspring are found, the original parents produced hundreds of gold, red, white and olive-brown offspring among the brown rocky and weedy †i shallows of the pond. The largemouth bass serve as a selector, picking out prey that are mo st visible and obvious.Natural selection Implies that there Is variety and that some of the forms are more adapted than others. In this case, the variety Is color of goldfish offspring and he drab colored fish proved to be more successful in producing young (because they survive to adulthood). If there was no color variation, or If a predator that tended to pick the brightly colored fish was absent, then there would be no natural selection pressure driving the species towards more drab colors. Which of the following facts Is least useful to a taxonomist trying to place animals In the same genus?Animals with shared ancestors have more DNA In common than animals that do not share ancestors. DNA contains the genetic Instructions that gulde the formation of traits In an animal. Environmental factors, such as diet or social status may cause one animal to behave or look quite different from another. An animal receives Its DNA from Its ancestors. In order for taxonomists to establish phylo genetic relationships, they have to understand the ‘family tree' of an animal. DNA has within Its structure, hints as to ancient branches of an animal's ‘family tree. Current behavior or response to the environment are not very useful for determlnlng ancestral lineages. You have probably seen at least one movie where aliens Invade the earth and umans find that their weapons are of little use In defending themselves against alien technology. In the end, the world (usually lead by the USA) has finally fgured out how to adapt human technology to defeat the Invaders. In nature we find a similar situation when humans transport an alien (nonnative) species from Its natural ecosystem to a new one.However, unllKe In tne movies, tne orlglnal species In nature frequently looses the war for survival and is overcome by the aliens? Choose the reasons that help explain why an animal species might not survive when n alien species is introduced into its ecosystem. Animals are adapted on ly to those pressures and threats that their ancestors experienced over many generations. They can not quickly change their anatomy or physiology to respond to a new type of alien attack. Since the alien is new to the ecosystem, there may not be a mechanism (e. g. redator, parasite, competitor) to control the alien species. Therefore, the alien may be able to* quickly increase its numbers, overwhelming resident species. Unlike humans, animals cannot change their behavior or learn how to defend themselves. †+ An animal may not even recognize that an alien is a threat to its survival until it is too late. Species within an ecosystem that interact with each other co-evolve, that is they are part of the natural selection pressure for each of the co-inhabitants of that particular community. An introduced species has evolved in a completely different environment.If the characteristics of the introduced species are of a type that gives an advantage to the newcomer, then it will out c ompete others -even to the point of driving others into extinction in some cases. The human population has been rowing rapidly and increasingly impacting our global environment. The impact that a given person has is directly related to that person's consumption of material goods. So when thinking about world population, we must consider two things: the number of people and the amount of material each consumes.The amount of energy used to produce goods and services consumed is one measure of a person's or country's impact on the global environment (which can be stated in terms of metric tons of carbon emitted ). Using this concept and the approximated numbers for population nd carbon production per capita (per person); rank Germany,Binomial nomenclature uses a two-part unique name assigned to identify each kind of organism.The two parts of the name are the family and species genus and family family and phylum genus and species names. Charles Darwin published convincing evidence of ev olution in 1703. 1524. 1859. is the study of the taxonomic classification and evolutionary relationships of living things. Physiology Cytology Entomology Systematics The science of life is called zoology. biology. organic evolution Includes tne concept tnat everything evolved from amoebas. organisms haven't changed since their origins. umans evolved from gorillas. organisms change over time.Similarity in feeding habits is good evidence for evolutionary relationships among animals. behavioral patterns a sequence of DNA Put these taxonomic categories in order from the one that is the broadest to the one that is the most specific: D-domain,

Residual Stress

INFLUENCE OF RESIDUAL STRESSES ON FATIGUE FAILURE OF BUTT WELDED STAINLESS STEEL PIPE Areef A Department of Mechanical Engineering Chendhuran college of Engineering and technology Pudhukkottai, Tamilnadu [email  protected] com Abstract— This project is aimed to understand the influence of residual stresses on the fatigue failure of butt welded stainless steel pipe joints. In order to carry out this study it requires an experimental fatigue failure data and a computer aided analysis of these results. A finite element scheme will be developed to simulate the residual stress in weld using the experimental data.A Thermo-elasto-plastic analysis will be used to replicate the butt welded pipe joint and the residual stress will be determined. Residual stress that arises in welded joints by heating and cooling cycles during the welding process is another major factor in fatigue failure of welded structures. Welding residual stresses might lead to a drastic reduction in the fatigue st rength of welded elements. In multi cycle fatigue (N > 106 cycles), the effect of residual stresses can be comparable to the effect of stress concentration.The effect of residual stresses on the fatigue life of welded elements are significant as regards relieving harmful tensile residual stresses and introducing beneficial compressive residual stresses in the weld toe zones. The fatigue failure can be classified in to two categories based on the number of cycles taken to fail. A. High cycle fatigue High-cycle fatigue is when the number of cycles to failure is large, typically when the number of cycles to failure, Nf is greater than 103. B. Low cycle fatigue Low- cycle fatigue is when the number of cycles to failure is small, typically when the number of cycles to failure, Nf is less than 103.III. RESIDUAL STRESS ON WELD Residual stresses can be defined as the stresses that remain within a material or body after manufacture and material processing in the absence of external forces or thermal gradients. They can also be produced by service loading, leading to inhomogeneous plastic deformation in the part or specimen. Residual stresses can be defined as either macro or micro stresses and both may be present in a component at any one time. They can be classified as: Macro residual stress that develop in the body of a component on a scale larger than the grain size of the material.Micro residual stresses that vary on the scale of an individual grain. I. INTRODUCTION Welding has a number of detrimental effects on the structural integrity and in-service performance of the weldments. These detrimental effects are due to imperfections induced by the welding in the weldments, of which the structural shape change behavior, residual stresses and the weld solidification cracks are reported to have very severe degrading effects on the mechanical strengths and possibly can lead to catastrophic failure.Fatigue is a type of fracture that occurs in welds that are subjected to c hanging or varying stresses over time. Fatigue is mainly caused by the environment in which the welded joints are utilized. Fatigue fracture is a ductile fracture, and therefore occurs by non-uniform plastic deformation. Micro cracks and voids form after a certain number of cycles and grow proportional to the number of cycles eventually grow large enough to overcome recovery mechanisms and move quickly to fracture. The rate of this crack nucleation is proportional to the frequency of the applied stress.II. FACTORS IN FATIGUE FAILURES Fatigue failures of welded joint are initiated by many factors, such as stress concentration, environment, loading and residual stresses. Stress concentration is mainly caused by the geometrical discontinuity and thus initiates fatigue crack at the locations of discontinuity. Stress concentration may also result from weld defects and metallurgical discontinuity. Fatigue strength of weld component may also be significantly affected by the environment, su ch as oxygen, sulfur, and temperature.In addition to the axial stresses in the piping systems reduction in fatigue life also takes place by multiaxiality of loading or stresses. Micro residual stresses that exist within a grain, essentially as a result of the presence of dislocations and other crystalline defects. IV. CAUSES OF RESIDUAL STRESS Residual stresses are generated during most manufacturing processes involving material deformation, heat treatment, machining or processing operations such as welding, machining, grinding, and rod or wire drawing etc.It is possible to classify the origin of residual stresses in the following way: 1. 2. 3. Differential plastic flow Differential cooling rates Phase transformations with volume changes are one of the main factors leading to the origination and propagation of fatigue cracks in welded elements. The residual stresses in the welded joints are formed as the result of differential contractions which occur as the weld metal solidifies an d cools to ambient temperature. In fact, welding introduces high heat input to the material being welded.As a result of this, non-uniform heat distributions, plastic deformations and phase transformations occur on the material. These changes generate different residual stresses patterns for weld region and in the heat affected zone (HAZ). Residual stresses induced by shrinkage of the molten region are usually tensile. Transformation induced residual stresses will cause more critical phase transformations. When the effect of phase transformations is dominant compressive residual stresses are formed in the transformed areas.Tensile residual stresses are detrimental to the initiation and growth of fatigue cracks. Weld fatigue failure is often particularly sensitive to residual stress due to stress concentrations induced by the weld joint geometry and weld imperfections. Welding residual stress acts as a booster to the fatigue problem. Hence, crack growth rate becomes considerably highe r in the weld vicinity compared to that far from weld. The fatigue failure mechanism in the presence of weld residual stress is not well understood and it is the intent of this project to explore this mechanism.However, to quantify the effects of welding residual stresses in the design stage, one has to numerically simulate its distribution and redistribution and possible relaxation in a structure due to cyclic loading. This requires the need for a robust, reliable and numerically efficient method for modeling residual stresses. Previous studies reveals that depending upon mean stress, stress amplitude, and stress ratio of uni axial cycle stressing and two kinds of failures ratcheting failure and fatigue failure. Figure 3.Explains the variation of ratcheting strain with stress amplitude. In which we shall see that stress increases apparently with the increase in nominal stress amplitude. It implies that the effect of nominal stress amplitude on ratcheting is more significant than me an nominal stress. The variation of mean stress with ratcheting strain is explained in figure 4. In which we shall see that ratcheting strain also has an increasing trend with the mean nominal stress up to a particular limit. V. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUESWelding residual stresses are generated in a structure as a consequence of local plastic deformations introduced by local temperature history consisting of a rapid heating and subsequent cooling phase. During the welding process, the weld area is heated up sharply compare to the surrounding area and fused locally. The material expands as a result of being heated. The heat expansion is restrained by the surrounding cooler area, which gives rise to thermal stresses. The thermal stresses partly exceed the yield limit, which is lowered at elevated temperatures.Consequently, the weld area is plastically hot-compressed. After cooling down too short, too narrow or too small comparing to the surrounding area, it develops tensile residual stres s, while the surrounding areas are subjected to compressive residual stresses to maintain the self-equilibrium The distribution of residual stresses in a welded pipe is more complex, Fig. 1 shows the possible expansion and shrinkage in a butt welded pipe. In this case, shrinkage of the weld in the circumferential direction induces circumferential force, F, shearing force, Q, and bending moments, M, to the pipe.Figure. 2 shows a characteristic residual stress profile on a low carbon steel welded component. Also the distribution of residual stresses in a pipe is affected by many factors such as diameter, wall thickness of the pipe, weld geometry, and welding procedure. From the graphical plot we shall see that the maximum value of the harmful residual stress is about 360 N/mm2 (tensile stress) near the welding line and it decreases to be about 165 N/mm2 at the distance of 80 mm from the welding axis.The minimum residual stress is about 90 N/mm2 near the welding line and it becomes abo ut 60 N/mm2 in compression at the instance of about 60 mm, then it reduces to about 10 N/mm2 in tension at 80 mm distance from the axis. Such high tensile residual stresses are the result of thermoplastic deformations during the welding process and A. Sample Used The material used for the study is stainless steel material of grade SS304. The material is chosen because of its following properties. It has an excellent corrosion resistance in a wide range of atmospheric environments and many corrosive media.Considering its heat resistant property it is not suitable to use in a range of 425-860 °C if subsequent aqueous corrosion resistance is important. This material has excellent weld ability by all standard fusion methods, both with and without filler metals. Welding of 304 can be done with Grade 308 and 308L rods or electrodes (and with their high silicon equivalents). Heavy welded sections in Grade 304 may require post-weld annealing for maximum corrosion resistance. Tensile Stren gth (MPa) min 515 Yield Strength 0. 2% Proof (MPa) min 205 Elongation (% in 50mm) min 40 Rockwell B (HRB) max 92 Brinell (HB) max 201D. Finite element analysis Most of the residual stress studies were conducted based on either axi symmetric or 2D plane assumptions due to the limitations of the finite element codes and computer resources available during the time of the study. Moreover, the thermo-mechanical problem was assumed to be uncoupled where the thermal and mechanical responses were treated separately. Furthermore fatigue failure usually initiate at the stress concentration area and fatigue loading is usually not axi symmetric, and hence a two dimensional model can not simulate the fatigue failure response of weld joints accurately.In order to simulate the fatigue response of welded joints in the presence of residual stresses, it is essential to conduct a three-dimensional analysis. Figure 5. Illustrates the solid and FE model of the specimen RESULT AND DISCUSSION 3D finite e lement fatigue response analyses for a socketwelded joint were performed by using ANSYS. This is needed in order to include the calculated residual stress and strain fields as the initial stresses and strains in the fatigue analysis. A fixed boundary condition at the socket end is imposed.Same finite element mesh and the material model used in the residual stress analysis, are restricted to be used in the fatigue analysis. The following are some of the discussions we found out after the comparative experiments on Fatigue machine and computer aided simulation. High tensile residual stresses, at or above the yield stress level, exist near the weld toe area, especially at the weld start/stop location. The magnitude of the residual stresses reduces quickly as the distance from the weld toe increases. The residual stress distribution does not change much when the slip-on gap in the socket weld joint is reduced to zero.Hence, the increase in fatigue life of socket welds with no slip-on ga p is unrelated to residual stress. The improvement in fatigue life may come from the change in failure mode, which in turn, may be influenced by the change of the external load stress or strain distribution. REFERENCES [1] Guozheng Kang, Yugie Liu, and Zhao Li â€Å"Experimental study on ratchetting-fatigue interaction of SS304 stainless steel in uni-axial cyclic stressing† – International journal of Materials Science and engineering, Volume 435, 2006, Pages 396-404. N. S. Rossini, M. Dassisti , K.Y. Benyounis, A. G. Olabi â€Å"Methods of measuring residual stresses in components† International journal of Materials and Design, Volume 35, 2012, Pages 572–588. Y. Kudryavtsev and J. Kleiman â€Å"Fatigue of Welded Elements: Residual Stresses and Improvement Treatments† Integrity Testing Laboratory Inc. 80 Esna Park Drive, Units 7-9, Markham, Canada presented paper in the year 2005. Z. Barsoum â€Å"Residual stress analysis and fatigue of multi-pass welded tubular structures†International journal of Engineering Failure Analysis, Volume 15, 2008, Pages 863–874. M.Farajian-Sohi, Th Nitschke-Pagel, K â€Å"Residual stress relaxation in welded joint under static and cyclic loading† Issued from International Centre for Diffraction Data 2009 ISSN 1097-0002. Grade 304 Table. 1 Mechanical property of SS grade 304 Elastic modulus (Gpa) 193 Thermal conductivity (W/m. K) 16. 2 Specific heat (J/kg. K) 500 Electrical resistivity (ohm) 720 Grade Density (kg/m3) 304 8000 Table. 2 Physical property of SS grade 304 B. Stainless steel welding Methods There are three methods of stainless steel welding which are preferred over the rest.Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding, Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding, and Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW). Stainless steel welding requires a bit more finesse than welding mild steel or aluminum, because heat is an enemy in this process. Also the fumes made from any of these processes are very harmf ul, and great care must be taken to avoid breathing them. TIG welding utilizes a tungsten welding electrode, a filler metal rod and an inert gas to shield the weld. This welding method requires little or no post-weld finishing. The tungsten tip in the welding torch is touched to the material to be welded.This creates an arc that the welder dips the filler metal rod into and allows it to melt into the welding puddle. The shielding gas prevents contamination from entering the weld and allows the weld to flow out smoothly. Heat is controlled through a foot switch. So the suggested welding method is TIG welding. C. Fatigue test Butt welded piping joints were tested in a cantilever setup. In these test the welded joint to be tested is located near the heavy and stiff support column. The fatigue loading cycle is applied to the other end of the pipe using the actuator of a servo- hydraulic testing machine through a pin end fixture setup.The pin end fixture consists of a self-aligning ball bearing and a pin, which is snugly fitted to the ball bearing and tightly attached to the end fixture. One of the pin end fixtures is tightly screwed to the actuator rod and the other welded to the specimen. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] D. Akbari, I. Sattari-Far Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran â€Å"Effect of the welding heat input on residual stresses in butt-welds of dissimilar pipe joints† International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, Volume 86, 2009, Pages 769–776. [7] B. Brickstad, B. L.Josefson â€Å"A parametric study of residual stresses in multi-pass butt-welded stainless steel pipes† International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, Volume 75, 1998, Pages 11-25. Figure 3. Relation between ratcheting strain with stress amplitude Figure 4. Relation between ratcheting strain with Mean stress Figure 1. Distribution of longitudinal fillet weld Residual stress on a butt welded pipe Figure 5. Solid model (a) and FE model (b) of welded pipe Figure 2. Distribution of longitudinal fillet weld on a carbon steel welded component Axial residual tress distribution in a buttwelded joint

Komatsu vs Catterpilar – Comparative Essay

These key success factors can be categorized in three different roofs namely, manufacturing or production, distribution and brand image. First, manufacturing higher quality products was crucial since machine dependability and reliability was important for contractors. Many construction companies all over the globe operated under severe cost and time constraints and companies' main target was to schedule machine use efficiently and minimize downtime.High capital and energy costs made some construction companies to use their machines longer. Consequently, providing the replacement and spare parts on short notice and continuous Improvement of the parts were essential. Also, profit margins for parts ND attachments were significantly higher than for whole machines which encouraged most suppliers to pay more focus on providing these parts to their customers on a timely manner. Moreover, the ability to manufacture product capacity ahead of demand was Important.For Instance, Caterpillar's ex cess capacity policy served not only as deterrence to competitors but also as a mechanism enabling company to respond to the industry' wide swings in demand. This also helped companies to successfully maintain their low cost manufacturing position through higher scale of volume. In addition, a full and diversified product line was necessary or companies to gain completive advantage over others. Also, the ability to be a shock absorber provided some companies flexibility and ability to adapt to cyclical downturns more easily than others.Spare parts were much less prone to cyclical downturns and the vast variety of machines In the field provided a baseline of business. Next, heavy Investment In product quality and upgrading programs Like Total Quality Control (ETC) led to higher quality and efficient equipments where research and development programs provided the ability to produce great quality products with the use of new technology to meet customer needs and new trends. Second, dis tribution of high quality products and worldwide service through dealers was another vital factor.Internationally, the MME manufacturers sold through dealers, who provided direct and after-sales service. Although the sales were made direct, it was often the dealers who provided marvelous service to customers. The worldwide network of dealers was very crucial because these dealers were capable of providing service and spare parts backups to customers in no time. Being able to service and repair equipment and supply spare parts anywhere around the globe on a timely manner was a powerful strategy for the construction companies to be nominative.For Instance, 100 Independent dealers handled Comates products and were backed by the company's computerized parts supply system, which guaranteed a replacement part within 48 hours anywhere in the world. Also, the typical overseas 1 OFF were a major marketing asset and a valuable entry barrier in this industry. Third, brand image was another ess ential factor to attract loyal customers and respected dealers. Reputable name for high quality products and services in the construction industry provided the companies a competitive advantage over others. For instance,Caterpillar had built an unmatched reputation for its quality and services in the construction equipments where its loyal network of dealers in North America, Europe and Latin America were the important source of its strength. A survey conducted in the late asses showed that the reputation of a manufacturer and capability of its loyal dealers were the most critical factors that customers would take into consideration when selecting a supplier. With a great reputation and highly loyal network of dealers a manufacturer had a better opportunity to dominate the MME construction industry successfully.As for Caterpillar & Kumquat's nominative position in 1985, Caterpillar was the largest player in the MME industry with a market share of 43% worldwide, while Comates was the second largest player with a market share of 25% worldwide and 60% in their home country Japan. They both face competition from other established players like Clark Equipment, J. J. Case, International Harvester, Fiat-Allis, and John Deere, as well as specialized local players in North America and Europe. Generally, profit margins were substantially higher for parts and attachments than for whole machines.With the benefit of a labor cost advantage relative to U. S. ND European competitors, and of the postwar Japanese construction boom, Comates has managed to focus on extensive advertising, lower price and higher quality of their products to maintain their competitive position. Their products were priced 30% to 40% below the equivalent Cat products, allowing them to increase their market share very promptly; their cost reduction plans consisted in reducing the cost by 10% while still maintaining and improving product quality. Simplification was about reducing the number of parts. Va lue Engineering† re-designed the products to save cost and to increase added value, maintain low-cost ND high productivity. Moreover, Comates noticed that the Japanese domestic construction industry was leveling off in the sass's, and elected to aggressively expand abroad, developing several exclusive dealer networks where it saw potential future growth like in markets like USSR, China, Western Europe, North American, Asia, and Latin America. In Europe, as part of their geocentric strategy, their marketing subsidiary handled distribution and provision of field service.Comates used internal yen/dollar exchange rate to make them more profitable at the worst-scenario rate. In order to better compete against Cat's product line made of more than 120 products, Comates increased their product line as well, always applying total quality control to ensure the highest quality in every aspect of operations, and always making sure to incorporate the latest technology thanks to its own R&D laboratory – since these are some of the key successes factors in the industry – and launched customized lines with focus on markets with needs that were different from the Japanese market.Consumers' confidence was increased by the product's longer durability and double Engel of warranty period compared to Cat's, and by their efficient assistance service networks, another key industry key success. Caterpillar's competitive position in 1985 relied on their huge reputation due to high quality products backed by effective operating 605 branches worldwide, low dependence on debt and excellence at servicing/repairing equipment and supply parts anywhere around the globe and especially locations where these dealers were a major marketing asset and important entry barrier to its competitors.Hence, Caterpillar was able to charge a price premium of up to 20% over competitive products, while maintaining the low cost manufacturing position. Heavy investments were constantly made in R&D to assure product leadership, as well as widespread advertising in specialized magazines like the prominent Engineering News Record, since these are industry key success factors. Manufacturing wise, Cat was highly integrated backward – nearly 90% of its products were substantially the same and parts were made in-house, which facilitated flexibility and quality control.Therefore, their products were sophisticated, durable, reliable, and constantly adapted – they boasted 120 different machines serving almost as many market segments. Enabling all this depended on hiring high quality human capital, who was receiving higher wages than Comates, and who were trained continuously such as having to read newsletters emphasizing the importance of increasing productivity to meet foreign competition. Dealers were regularly taken care of as well: Cat helped them maintain inventory, and conducted regular training programs for them and product demonstrations for their customers .Based on the current state of Caterpillar, specific actions are needed to be taken immediately to help regain some of the sales and profits lost in the last three years. After extensive research, our group's initial recommendation is to not overreact. It is important to realize that this company has had an outstanding amount of success based on its classic strategic position instilled throughout the company of high- quality products and effective service. The company still has a 43% share in the industry and although this figure has dropped in recent years, it is still very respectable.Throughout Caterpillar's entire history, it now has four years where it incurred losses, which would be considered very successful by many companies worldwide. With that said, three of those four years of losses have happened these past three years so some changes are necessary to bring the company back to acceptable amounts of sales and profitability. The first order of business it to eliminate the recent communication issues with our customers. For years our differentiation strategy has led to our products being known for their exceptionally high-quality and reliability.Over the last half of the decade, the disconnection between Caterpillar and their consumers has become alarming. When our major competitor is sending out personnel to specific countries, specifically Australia, in an attempt to better understand their individual needs and create a product to cater to those needs. We have been charging a premium on all of our products and without any real value-added features. A bulldozer in America is the same bulldozer in India and in Australia. To maintain our differentiation strategy, we need to create individual products that cater more to the needs of specific customers.A Comates dealer is quoted as saying â€Å"When you are selling against number one, you need some price advantage. But we tell contractors we can give them 10% more machine for 10% less money. That's not selling price in my book†. That is a clear indication that we to send our employees to the construction sites to find out specifically what they need to succeed. The biggest task for construction companies are managing time. They are forced to meet deadlines and use their resources correctly.We have to take the same mentality, and create products that not only allow them to meet their deadlines in a more efficient way, but for us to utilize our resources in the most appropriate way. One final point to this topic comes from the current global economy we are in. Distressed economies and weak currencies are not likely to buy products eased on reputation alone. Our price premium can be a hindrance to these developing economies and unless we differentiate ourselves with product lines that appeal to their countries needs, it is unlikely they will choose us.Local differentiated products are the key to the future success of our company. The second order of business is to take a good h ard look at our company financial. The most alarming statistic we found was that Caterpillar has to sell $6. 8 Billion dollars a year in products Just to break-even. In 1983, we would have had to command 63% of the market Just to break-even ($6. /$10. 95 – Ex. 1 Comates). Our recommendation would be to reduce the production levels in the U. S. And spread it out across the globe. Although we have reduced the number of facilities in the U.S. In recent years, our current production levels are still too high resulting in high labor costs and foreign exchange issues and ultimately lower profits. The consistency of the company has been great, â€Å"All CAT products were the same, no matter where they were made†. This leads us to believe that the company can see the same type of success it has seen in the past while saving on costs. We have been hurt badly over the last couple of years because 68% of our non-U. S. Sales were manufactured in the U. S. And the U. S. Dollar has appreciated around 40%.This has resulted in our company receiving fewer profit margins in overseas sales, which is a major concern because our margins were much higher in the U. S. Before the recession (20% to 7%). Based on our recommendation, we would utilize the assembly plants we created in years past in countries around the globe and enhance their capabilities. This would allow for Caterpillar to maximize their production levels in certain areas of the world, as well s utilize the first recommendation and customize machinery as it pertains to a certain area of the world.This would not only lower export costs and mitigate foreign exchange risk, but it would also lower our exceptionally high labor rates to a more respectable level. When our labor costs are two-thirds of overall costs of the product, something needs to change. By increasing production in countries such as China, Japan, Indonesia, or India our company could lower the overall cost and gain a much higher margin based on our current differentiation strategy. Lastly, this would help eliminate some of the excess capacity issue the industry is currently experiencing.When the industry was experiencing great times, our capacity levels were less than 75% which could mean two things: either we have the capability to produce more if demand increases or we have too much capacity for the current industry environment. Clearly, we have seen that we had too much extra capacity which has resulted in our closing of ten U. S. Plants. By implementing this recommendation, we can gain more respectable levels of around 95% capacity as we enter the maturity stage of the industry. A third recommendation we would make involves the use of

The Molly Mcguires of Pennsylvania Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

The Molly Mcguires of Pennsylvania - Essay Example Though their life in Ireland was fraught with famine, poverty and arduous labor conditions, life in America was no less hard. At least in Ireland, they were not the subject of bigotry based simply on their heritage, accent or religion. Irish Catholics were thought of as almost sub-human. Two Catholic churches were burned to the ground while occupied in Philadelphia on May 6, 1844 causing 16 people to lose their lives. One of the only places in the country that the Irish were welcomed was in the coal mines of Pennsylvania where the owners of the mines were more than happy to employ those disenfranchised persons of Irish nationality who were desperate enough to take the dirty, dangerous jobs. It was in these Pennsylvania mining camps that the Molly Maguires experienced a rebirth in America. In 1860, following a typical tough day of mining, several Irishmen were heavily drinking and bemoaning the harsh working conditions at their usual location, the Girardville, PA lodge of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a group established by Irish Catholics (Liljegren, 1964). The Irish working class had a long history of acting violently when they believed that they were being taken advantage of and the addition of being drunk and extremely unhappy served to light the fuse for actions against their oppressors. This is when they reformed the Molly Maguires, a group that had its roots in Ireland during the 1700’s. This very secretive brotherhood was originally formed to exact retribution upon their cruel English landlords who were infamous in their treatment of Irish tenants. The English would actually kill their tenants so that they could raise the rent on new renters. The ‘Mollies,’ as they were commonly called, took this name from such an instance of cruelty. Molly Maguire was an aged widow who was one of the people being evicted from her home by one of these evil

In group we shrink Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

In group we shrink - Essay Example I am proud to be part of that minority. I have been through plentiful experiences in my own life in which I have experienced the phenomenon of â€Å"diffusion of responsibility† in the people’s behavior. I have myself displayed this kind of behavior over a few occasions early in my life. However, it was a very bad feeling that I carried with myself later on when I reflected back on those experiences. I felt like guilty for not having done something about those incidents while I could. Probably, it was the very realization that changed my behavior towards such incidents for the better, so that now, when I am part of a group, and something odd happens in front of me, my response to the situation is hardly any different from what it would have been had I been alone. During my childhood, I saw a little puppy with a broken and bleeding leg limping an moaning aside the road. It had probably been caught in some accident and was bleeding badly. Just from the look of it, I felt so pity for the little puppy. I wish somebody could take care of that, and I actually waited for that to happen. At that time, I was holding my mother’s hand, waiting to cross the road to reach the school. I was in a hurry anyway, though I have not been able to convince myself ever since that I could not spare a minute or two for the puppy. I saw people seeing that puppy, pointing their fingers at it, and passing by as they watched it. The image of that bleeding puppy was carved in my memory, and I felt bad about not doing anything about that. Probably, only if I had washed its leg with the water in my bottle and wrapped my handkerchief around its leg, I would have felt satisfied. While I always regretted not doing anything in this particular incident, this reflection and realization did change my behavior positively. Few days ago, I noticed two people fighting with each other. One of them had bumped his car into the other’s and the other person’s car was severe ly damaged. He had got out of his senses, and had immediately got into a violent verbal fight with him, that was at the verge of transforming into the physical fight, but I intervened. At the location, about fifty people had gathered in no time to observe the matter and had been standing there watching the heated verbal argument like a circus game. As soon as I caught glimpse of the sight, I instantly knew what feeling was holding them back and what I needed to do about it. I stepped ahead and came in between the two of them. One of them was holding a brick and was just about to throw it over the other person. I instantly took the brick from him, and tried to calm him down. Meanwhile, other people also started to approach and intervene. Probably, they were waiting for someone to take the initiative. I do not doubt their feelings of sympathy and humbleness, but it was certainly the â€Å"diffusion of responsibility† that was holding them back, as Tavris says in the article; â €Å"Most people do not behave badly because they are inherently bad. They behave badly because they aren't paying attention, or they leave it to Harry, or they don't want to rock the boat, or they don't want to embarrass themselves or others if they're wrong† (Tavris). However, â€Å"diffusion of responsibility† is not the only factor that holds people back in such situations. A

Research Notetaking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research Notetaking - Assignment Example to more readily irrigate land in Mexican territory- in 1904 the company excavated a more direct opening at a site a few miles south of the California/Mexico border† (Wiltshire, Gilbert and Rogers 2) Jackson relates that the roots of the Hoover Dam project stretch deep into a long-term goal by the private sector to secure the irrigation of the Imperial Valley in the southern section of California. These efforts can be traced back to the 1900’s, when such irrigation aims became central to the existence of the Colorado Development Company. The successful early efforts resulted in a large tract of the Imperial Valley being nicely irrigated. There were problems however with canal siltation, even when the valley was being successfully irrigated, so that the firm had to redouble its efforts building another canal on top of the original canal that tapped the Colorado River and connected the valley to it (Wiltshire, Gilbert and Rogers 2). â€Å"Constructed in the 1930s, the concrete arch-gravity structure was intended to prevent flooding as well as provide much-needed irrigation and hydroelectric power to arid regions of states like California and Arizona. It was originally known as Boulder Dam, but was renamed in 1947 in honor of Herbert Hoover, who as U.S. secretary of commerce and the 31st U.S. president proved instrumental in getting the dam built. At 726 feet high and 1,244 feet long, Hoover Dam was one of the largest man-made structures in the world at the time of its construction, and one of the worlds largest producers of hydroelectric power† (A&E Television Networks). The History Channel notes that the Hoover Dam was originally named Boulder Dam, but that in 1947 the dam was renamed to honor the late President Edgar Hoover. Hoover was also US Commerce Secretary, and it was Hoover who was credited with having done a substantial part of the work to erect the iconic structure to the benefit of the people of states like Arizona and California. For those states,

Discussion 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Discussion 4 - Essay Example uring his era for revolutionizing the painting style with his style that was definitive, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a blinding shaft of light. Caravaggio pioneered the method of acute observation of physical and psychological reality in his subjects as the foundation of all the paintings he was commissioned to do. He proved that it was possible to work speedily on a painting. He finished painting the Sistine Chapel, his most notable work still in existence, in a matter of 7 years. He was an expert at working with live models and was frowned upon by his peers because he preferred to paint directly on the canvass rather than drawing sketches on paper and working from those models for the final product. This was a unique skill of Caravaggio that at the time was considered to be detrimental to an artists masterpiece or commissioned work. However, Caravaggio proved his detractors wrong, creating his masterpieces exactly how he saw them, directly on the canvass. Your description of a typical reinassance painting is highly accurate and was obviously well researched. I am in agreement with you regarding the influence of Florentine painters over this particular era of the arts. However, you failed to fully or even partially discuss the actual influences in the painting style of Giotto di Bondone. Although his style was later on classified as Renaissance, there is no information as to which particular aspects of the art form can directly be attributed to him. My research actually shows that there were other artists from the same era who pioneered the same style so it may be likely that Bondone should not be ascribed to as the Father of Reinassance Art. Overall, you presented a very interesting discussion. You failed to present what it was that made the Reinassance Art era special. How these drawings and paintings were defined by the artists of their time and why these became part of the basis of modern art. You did not point out the method by

Hunger, How is Our Perception of Hunger Different From That of Essay

Hunger, How is Our Perception of Hunger Different From That of Starving Children and How We Have Become Immune to the Plight of Others - Essay Example Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness. Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs. When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help. (http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html) Although the problem of hunger has been addressed by the Governments and numerous non-governmental organizations including the UN, the problem still looms large and requires adequate measures and serious tackling. However, do we really realize what is it like to be hungry How do people who are actually affected by it feel and how do they respond to this malady Could we, the so-called problem-solvers and solution-givers find a way out for these craving for a loaf of bread and do we really realize the extent of suffering How do we perceive hunger and how do those affected by it see it This paper tends to critically appraise these questions and tries to find answers to them. It is indeed very easy and simple to make assumptions regarding hungry people when one himself/herself is well-fed and is sitting in cozy rooms trying to find perfect solutions for the hungry and ill-fed masses. In such a scenario, the whole problem of hunger and poverty is seen through rose-tinted glasses and it becomes very convenient for the people on this side of the bridge to indulge themselves in a myriad of facts and figures and toy around with them. Our perception of hunger is vastly... This essay approves that the present age of industrialization and Mcdonaldization has also brought with it some negative symptoms as well. Due to the values of materialism, commercialism and consumerism becoming a part of the psyche of modern man, we no longer care and show respect to the needs of other men and women that are our fellow beings. We, in negation of all humanitarian values and morals, no longer seek to help out those who are less fortunate or are caught in unfavorable situations and circumstances. Thus, we just because are not affected by such maladies forget about those who are caught up in such problems. This paper stresses that there are people and organizations that still care about people that are hungry and do not enjoy all privileges as the minority of world does. There are various organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, that are trying their level best to alleviate the sufferings of the hungry millions and who think of this problem as their own. This report makes a conclusion that people need to contribute more and more to anti-hunger causes and governments should take steps to end the unequal distribution of wealth and ensure a mechanism for quick and efficient supply of food products to all. Organizations should, in their individual capacity as well as with collaboration with various Governments should think of ways to do the same. Only then we would be able to achieve the dream of a hunger-free world where no child goes to bed without food.

How, if at all, are 'Thatcherism' and 'New Labour' interrelated Essay

How, if at all, are 'Thatcherism' and 'New Labour' interrelated - Essay Example He was the first serious politician of the left to appreciate the legacy of Mrs. Thatcher and was able, unlike his predecessors, to operate in the post-Thatcher world. Blair identified where the new centre was and quickly occupied it, leading to many branding him as a ‘closet Tory’. However, we have to decide whether he merely stripped down socialism to make it acceptable in post-Thatcher Britain or whether he has taken certain social democratic values and added them to a variant of free market neo-liberalism that was prevalent in Thatcherism. Although there seems to be a significant continuation of policy in many areas, this may have been necessary for Labour to win back lost electoral ground by pursuing a large degree of conformation to the highly successful Thatcherite campaigns. It is therefore necessary to compare Thatcherite and New Labour policies before we can say how interrelated the two ideologies are. Is the ‘Third Way merely a more compassionate version of Thatcherism or is it a new ideology, combining traditional social democratic values with neo-liberal tendencies that have grounded themselves in British politics? Free trade ideology developed out of Adam Smith’s distinctive contribution to the eighteenth-century European Enlightenment and reached its apogee in the Liberalism of William Gladstone, and so forth. (3) The importance of Thatcherism, therefore, lay not in the novelty of its ideas but in the context of their operation in the late 1970s and 1980s. Thatcherism as an ideology stood for a limited but firm government, the rolling back of the welfare state, the end of consensus politics and a staunchly anti-European and independent attitude on many vital issues. (Adams 1998, p. 95) The question of just how successful the Thatcher revolution was in making Britain a better place is a matter of fierce controversy. How

Welsh Migration in the late 19th century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Welsh Migration in the late 19th century - Essay Example Wales occupies the western part of the island of Great Britain facing the sea across Ireland. It was settled by Celts thousands of years ago and, by nature of the rugged mountainous terrain that isolated it from the rest of the island, the Welsh developed a culture, language, and history that is distinguishable from the rest of the U.K. With three sides facing the sea - the Irish Sea to the north, Bristol Channel on the south, and St. George's Channel and Cardigan Bay in the west-Wales developed to become a major source of seafarers and a centre of shipping. Cardiff, the Welsh capital, has one of the best natural seaports in the kingdom. Tucked at the south-eastern corner and close to the boundary between Wales and England, Cardiff's seaport towns of Tiger Bay and Butetown provided a perfect crossroads for ships and their cargoes of goods and people to and from England and the rest of the world. This explains partly why the Welsh are tough, universal, and open to other cultures as the exposure to other peoples have taught them to be tolerant in human nature and temperament. This also justifies why the Welsh are amongst the most daring of English peoples to settle in far-off lands like Australia and Patagonia. Wales is also a land rich with natural resources, mainly coal, iron, slate, gold, and other metals. This is why mining was the main industry and source of employment for many years, supported by the presence of shipyards and ports that brought in workers from over the world to mine the land and ship out coal and other minerals that were sold to the world. Industrial Revolution and Immigration The industrial revolution in late 18th century England caused a huge demand for coal, the fuel that provided the energy needed by steam engines in so-called manufactories producing anything from steel pins to textile. The wealth boom is much like what we are witnessing with the oil-producing nations of our century, as coal was then the oil of industry. The revolution caused a huge demand for raw materials and minerals and, because of economic wealth, a parallel demand for gold and building materials was generated. This led to the opening of more mines to extract natural resources and finding new and more efficient ways to transport these materials to other parts of England and the world. Amongst the results was an explosion in the demand for workers. Initially, these workers consisted of British and Welsh farmers displaced by the drop in agricultural labour demand due to higher wages being earned by work in factories instead of farmlands. This resulted in internal migration from other parts of Wales and the British Isles until the middle of the 19th century into the southern counties of Bridgend, Rhondda, Glamorgan, Merthyr, and Cardiff. However, in such a rough and sparsely populated land, the supply of labour was soon exhausted, so the people had to come from abroad. The magnitude of the immigration phenomenon can be grasped by looking at Welsh population figures in the early, middle, and later 19th century: 600,000 in 1801, 1.2 million in 1851, and 2 million by 1901. In the last decade of the 19th century, an estimated 240,000 immigrants moved into the coalfields of South Wales. Glamorgan's population boomed from 70,000 in 1801 to 1.1 million by 1901, whilst Rhondda's exploded from

Understand Group Dynamics Essay Example for Free

Understand Group Dynamics Essay I.Introduction To understand Organizational Behavior and Management, we must study three different levels. The first is the individual level, because every individual has its own unique perception of the world and what surrounds him. Individuals behave following how they interpret this and their environment. Each individual is different from the next one, because of its personality and characteristics. However, it’s possible to organize them by categorizing their perceptions. Categories such as Appearance, Social behavior and Status are often considered. Individual’s motivations must be analyzed to understand the next level : the Group. A Group is composed by 2 or more individuals, who come together to accomplish a particular task or goal, which is why their behavior is very important and has to be studied first. A manager leading a group will have to take into account each of the individual characteristics in order for it to work. As individuals join and create a group, shall it be a formal or informal one, we slowly change focus. The individual needs, perceptions and motivations get absorbed and the Group creates its own norms of acceptable behavior for all the individuals to follow for as long as they are part of the Group. They don’t, however, chance the individual itself when he is by himself. As Groups develop its own norms and statuses, its behavior evolves. The third level, is Organizations. That level is different from the Group one because it involves systematic efforts and organizations are engaged in the production of goods and services. It’s also different from the sum of the individuals perceptions because it can impact how individuals behave with each other, thus influencing their perception. An organization though, is comparable to an individual because each is unique and has its own culture. Moreover, if the values of the organization match the values of the individuals, they will enjoy being part of it more than if it’s not the case. The second level, Group Dynamics, is the one that will be focused on in this report. II.Group Characteristics. a)Formal and informal groups. There are different kind of groups, but they can mostly be split into two categories : Formal and Informal. Formal groups are groups officially planned and created by the organization to do a specific task. At ESSEC, we could compare them to the individuals who, in groups, did the OB presentations. They were officially planned in the course to do a presentation. In an organization, a formal group could be the Marketing (or any other) Department. In a formal group, there is a structure. Often, individuals are given specific tasks to complete within the main final task. Sometimes, there is a hierarchy and written rules. Informal groups are not official per say. They are natural social formations established by individuals rather than organizations, and unplanned. In a workplace, it could be a group of employees meeting once a month for dinner to discuss their Fishing hobby. At ESSEC, it could be an unofficial football team made especially for a tournament within the school. The purpose of an informal group can be pursuing a special interest, be social, or even just have fun. b)Group effectiveness Group dynamics concern how groups form, their structure and process, and how they function. Some groups are more successful than others. Why ? A common mistake would be to say that if your group members or employees are hard working, happy, competitive or smart, the group only can function well. But as a matter of fact, that doesn’t mean they are honest, productive, loyal or creative. However, teamwork and communication between members is capital. Managers can help increasing a work group’s performance when they create it by taking into consideration the characteristics of members they assign to particular groups. The members should have tasks assigned to them according to their domain of expertise and appropriate interpersonal skills to facilitate interaction and communication with others. Moreover, a degree of diversity among group members has shown to usually add to performance. If members are attracted to the group because they like members of the group, or the group activities/goals or just because it fills a need for affiliation, they are more likely to be productive. The size of the group also has an influence on the group’s performance. According to recent research, medium sized groups of 5 to 7 people seem to have the higher performance in organizations. If the group is smaller, there’s a chance it can highlight the individual differences and harm the group cohesiveness. If group are too large, people tend to work more by themselves (â€Å"Free riding†) rather than with the whole group, or create smaller teams within the group. c)Group norms. Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the members of the group. Norms define the limits of what is acceptable and what is not in terms of behavior. They are typically imagined in order to facilitate group survival, make behavior more predictable, avoid embarrassing situations, and express the values of the group. Each group will establish its own set of norms that may determine anything from the appropriate clothes to wear at a dinner to how many comments to make in a meeting. Groups pressure members to force them to conform to the groups standards. The norms often reflect the level of commitment, motivation, and performance of the group. The majority of the members of the group must agree that the norms are appropriate in order for the behavior to be accepted. There must also be a shared understanding that the group supports the norms. However it may happen that the norms are broken from time to time by some members. If the majority of members do not adhere to the norms anymore, then there is a chance they will eventually change and will no longer serve as a standard to study the group’s behavior. From there, group members who do not conform to the norms risk being excluded, ignored, or asked to leave the group. d)Group Roles Having a diversity of skills and ideas within a group often enriches the group process and can improve the final product. It can, however, also be seen as a challenge to work with people different from ourselves and avoid exacerbating individual characteristics. One way to structure group functioning and benefit from each other’s expertise is to assign roles to each member of the group based on individual’s strengths. It can also be a good idea to switch roles between members periodically so every member understands why those roles are important. I have found that four roles that have the potential to maximize group performance and help understanding group’s dynamics and behavior in the workplace. A group should not be composed of just those 4 people, but the others would only have tasks assigned to them. They are as follow : The first is the Leader, also called Facilitator. He’s the one who clarifies the aims of the group and helps the members set smaller tasks for themselves to work on. Leaders also make sure that all group members understand the concepts of the project and that the group’s conclusions make sense. If the group has meetings, he is the one who introduces the agenda of tasks to complete until the next meeting, mind oriented towards the final goals. Then, the Monitor, also called Arbitrator. Its key role would be to monitor carefully if the group is functioning well. Regularly, he will initiate discussions on group climate and process, especially if he senses tension or sees there could be a conflict between two or more members. During disagreements or conflicts, he will explain each sides arguments and suggests solutions to resolve the conflict. He makes sure that all group members have a chance to participate and learn from the process. There’s also the Note/Time Keeper. Note and Time Keeping are two different things, but the role could be taken by just one person. He keeps a record of what has been decided, shall it be tasks that are assigned to who or other any other information by taking notes when the group meets or when talking to group members. He makes a summary of previous discussions/decisions and makes it available for all the members to see. He also presents the group progress to the supervisor regularly to make sure the group is headed in the right direction. The Time Keeper keeps track of time during meetings to avoid spending excessive time on one topic. This is best handled by deciding how much time will be allocated to each issue in the agenda, and letting everyone know when this time is up. It is also useful to point out when time is almost up so that issues can be wrapped up appropriately. Finally, there’s the Devil’s Advocate. It’s someone who takes a position he does not necessarily agree with, for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devils advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative discussion process. The purpose of such process is typically to test the quality of the original argument and identify weaknesses in its structure, and to use such information to either improve or abandon the original, opposing position. He must keep his or her mind open to problems, possibilities, and opposing ideas at all times. e)Group or Team ? We could say a group is just a collection of people whereas a team is that same collection of people who are working together on a common goal. Example: A group of people get in an elevator. They all have different goals and agendas for being on the elevator, they don’t even know each other, or maybe they do, it’s irrelevant. The group becomes a team when the elevator breaks down. Now they all have the same goal : figure out how to get out of the elevator. The difference between Group work and Team work can be resumed as follow. A group will focus on individual goals. Each member will produce individual work products. Individual tasks, roles and responsibilities will be assigned. Also, in a group, the manager is the one who sets up the purpose, goals, approach to work. A team is slightly different. The focus is on team goals. It also defines roles, responsibilities, and tasks but will often share and rotate them to help team do its work. The goals and approach to work w ill be shaped by the team members together.

June Yip proposes post colonialism to evaluate Taiwanese films Essay Example for Free

June Yip proposes post colonialism to evaluate Taiwanese films Essay June Yip analyzes Taiwan in the book Envisioning Taiwan as a new breed of country in the postcolonial era which has least interest in the idea of nation-state, maintaining it’s very local faces as well as open to international influences with much surprise. Yip takes a look at Taiwan’s post-national territory status through its fiction and cinema movement concentrating her attention to filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien. (Winterton) Taiwan has a long history of colonialism and suppression, but the multinational capitalism, mass migration, the arrival of new electronic media; all these encouraged a postmodern culture and have questioned the traditional limit as well as made the notion of nation irrelevant. June Yip emphasizes the hybrid nature of identity as fallout of postmodernism, is vastly reflected in the present form of Taiwanese films. The earlier versions were more conventional and guarded the theme of nationhood. She points in her book Hou’s films present a picture â€Å"the island as an increasingly complex and hybrid social space, an ever-changing formation†. (Yip, 230) Yip focuses that Taiwanese New Cinema, emerged in the 1980’s and its patrons are fascinated with displaying the socio-historical qualities of modern Taiwan’s experience and also to form a sense of Taiwanese cultural identity with centralizing on the search for nationhood in their works. They represent the tough transition period of Taiwan’s history through which the island came to the global order and try to depict the same in their films with â€Å"a quest for an understanding of a modern Taiwanese experience† and rising questions from present and future. (Yip, 10) Yip also presents the grim picture of Taiwan’s history where under various regimes; either Japanese or Chinese, the linguistic medium of films was strictly regulated by the ruling authorities. Most of these languages were foreign to the locals while the local medium was eclipsed. So, in modern Taiwanese cinema, a global touch could be felt where characters easily switch from Taiwanese to Mandarin to Japanese to English, showcasing a multicultural effect. (Yip, 6) Yip clarifies that Taiwan’s cultural awareness took time to surface itself on cinema due to its colonial Hanover. As there is a strong link between cinema and the idea of nationhood but in the later half of the 20th century the cinema carried a huge responsibility of nation building as being a visual medium. Government was always involved in making of Taiwanese films but in 1990’s it felt the need to loose the belts as to get back commercial as well as critical acclaim. Most of the film personalities have grown the age of rigidity, so when they started working they tries their best to free themselves from the knuckles and criticized the government under its banner itself as well as displayed the new experiences with global changes. The films Three Times and Puppetmaster have shown the changes of post colonialism. Three Times is a film consisting of three episodes based in three periods of Taiwanese history showcasing the problems of the turbulent times in the history, urge for freedom and also the confusion prevailing in a contemporary city. The Puppet master recollects the life of a puppeteer spanning during the period of Japanese occupation of the island and portraying the sorry state of the Taiwanese people and their hardships and also depicts the loss of tradition under suppression and western influence. Both the films in their respective themes lament sufferings of the history and urge to come out of the rigid circumstances supporting Yip’s thesis. (Schumann) While The Wedding Banquet is a drama with humorous touch where personal relationships, based on generation and cultural conflicts within individuals of slender theme rather matching the concept of analysis of Yip of Taiwanese cinema.

Case Study Of A Patient With Diabetes Mellitus Nursing Essay

Case Study Of A Patient With Diabetes Mellitus Nursing Essay Patient Mr. NCS is a 53 year old Chinese man with the height of 1.72m, and weighs 82kg where his BMI is 27.7kg/m2 (overweight). Patient runs his own business and is currently staying with his wife and 3 children. He claims that he does not smoke and does not drink at all. According to the patient, the paternal side of his family has family history of hypertension and kidney failure where else for the maternal side, hypertension was known to be the family history. Patient has no known drug or food allergy. Patient was known to have had hypertension 15 years ago and also a history of pulmonary tuberculosis 35 years ago. Patient denied of being diagnosed with diabetes mellitus in the past. As for drug history, patient was only on 10mg of lovastatin (tablet) once at night and according to the patient, he was compliant to the medication. 1.2 Clinical Progress Patient was admitted into Accident and Emergency department and complained of shortness of breath (SOB) and mild giddiness. He also complained of having chest pain and a first episode of shortness of breath earlier before he was admitted into the hospital. On examination, he was found to be alert and conscious. Venous blood gas sampling was done and pH was found to be 7.306 (low), pCO2 was 44.2mmHg, pO2 was 45.8mmHg and HCO3 was 24.7mmol/L. Blood pressure was found to be 157/95mmHg, pulse rate was 72bpm, SPO2 was 97%, body temperature was 35.4 °C and respiratory rate was 21 breaths per minute. Reflo value was also obtained and it was found to be 17.1mmol/L and blood ketone was 0.9. Lungs were clear and abdominal was soft and non tender. Cardiovascular testing was done and it showed dual rhythm no murmur. The initial impression of this patient by the general practitioner in the hospital was impending diabetes ketoacidosis. Patient was immediately given 6 units Actrapid subcutaneousl y and the GP also planned to give O2 3L/min and to prescribe GTN 1/1 subcutaneously and Aspirin 1/1. Later on day 1 of admission, patient complained of increased in sweating, shortness of breath, body weakness and vomiting for 3 times in the morning. Patients blood pressure was 123/76, pulse rate was 82bpm, SPO2 was 99% and respiratory rate was 20 breaths per minute. When patient was asked, he mentioned that he has not done body check up and blood pressure measurement for at least 5 years now. Later in the afternoon, patient complained of excessive sweating and lack of appetite for the past 3 days. Patient then denied of having any chest discomfort or shortness of breath, headache and abdominal pain. Besides that, patient also complained of having polyuria and needed to wake up more than 3 times at night for micturation. He also complained of having polydypsia, lethargic and vomiting for 2 times in the morning. Patient was examined and he was found to be alert and conscious where he responded fully to Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). Patient was also found to have good hydration and his ca pillary refill time (CRT) was less than 2 seconds. Vital signs were obtained and temperature was back to normal, 37 °C, blood pressure was 151/69, SPO2 was 97%, pulse rate was 88bpm and reflo value was 14.6. The management plan by the local GP was to continue monitoring the reflo value, prescribe 10mg lovastatin (tablet) once at night and 10mg amlodipine (tablet) once daily and have the patient to rest in bed. As patient was able to tolerate orally, IV drip was off and patient was allowed to take fluid orally. On day 2, patient was found to be comfortable. However, patient complained of having poor oral intake and that he was sweating profusely. He was still feeling mild giddiness and lethargic but no more chest or abdominal pain. Vital signs were observed and temperature was 37 °C, blood pressure was 128/84, pulse rate was 96bpm and reflo was 14.9mmol/L. Fundoscopy was also done and patient was found to not have any signs of retinopathy and chest X-ray was found to be clear. The management plan for day 2 was to continue 10mg amlodipine once daily, allow fluid intake orally, continue reflo monitoring 4 hourly and to trace and review the fasting blood sugar (FBS). On examination, patient was found to be alert and responded well to the GCS with the score of 15/15. Blood pressure was taken and it was 145/100 when patient was lying down and 130/90 when patient was standing. Renal profile was normal except for low potassium level of 3.0mmol/L. Impression for this patient was newly diagnosed d iabetes mellitus. Further management plan for this patient was to conduct a stress test on patient after discussing with the specialists and to monitor patients blood pressure for both lying down and standing up position 4 hourly for a day. Further plan was to start 500mg metformin (tablet) twice daily, 150mg aspirin (tablet) once daily, 20mg lovastatin (tablet) once at night, trace urine full examination microscopic examination and to refer the patient for diabetic counseling. Besides that, local GP also decided to off amlodipine and to change it to 4mg perindopril (tablet) once daily. Table 1 : Patients laboratory findings on Day 2. Sodium 129 mmol/L à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" [135 145mmol/L] Potassium 3.0 mmol/L [ 3.5 5.0mmol/L] Creatinine 83  µmol/L [27 62  µmol/L] Glucose fasting 14.1 mmol/L [3.9-5.0mmol/L] Total Cholesterol 5.7 HDL 0.82 Triglycerides 6.7 AST 24 IU/I [10-37IU/I] ALT 45 IU/I [10-65IU/I] Bilirubin 11  µmol/L [2-24  µmol/L] INR 1.03 Trop I 0.02 CKMB 0.5 Disease Overview and Pharmacological Basis of Drug Therapy. Disease Background The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) varies vastly from population to population and throughout the whole wide world. In United Kingdom (UK) itself, diabetes prevalence increased from 2.8% in the year of 1996 to 4.3% in the year of 2005. The incidence of type 2 DM showed an increase from 2.60/1000 person-years in 1996 to 4.31/1000 person-years in 20059. As much as the incidence of DM is increasing, it was estimated that up to half a million more have not had their condition diagnosed and treated10. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disorder in which blood glucose level is persistently above the normal range. This hyperglycaemia is thought to be due to either deficiency of insulin secretion or resistance to the action of insulin, or it could also be a combination of these6,7. DM is classified into four different types which include Type 1 DM, Type 2 DM, DM due to specific mechanisms and diseases and lastly, gestational DM8. Only type 2 DM will be discussed further here. Type 2 DM is normally caused by a combination of insulin resistance and decreased insulin secretion to overcome the resistance. It is the more common form of DM and it comprises of approximately 90-95% of the total DM cases8. The common risk factors associated with type 2 DM include increasing age, high caloric intake, overweight, central adiposity and sedentary lifestyle8. In type 2 DM patients, insulin secretory peaks every 5-10 minutes seen in normal subjects are hardly or absolutely not seen. In normal cases, when intravenous glucose is administered into a humans body, this will stimulate normal insulin secretion and is illustrated by a biphasic pattern, with an initial peak rising immediately 3-5 minutes after the administration, and lasted for 10 minutes, then followed by a deliberat e and more progressive phase, which lasts throughout the glucose infusion period. In type 2 DM, initial phase insulin secretion is not seen and the late phase occurs later and to a lesser extent11. For the diagnosis of DM, hyperglycaemia must be established before confirming that the patient has DM. Persistent hyperglycaemia needs to be confirmed and in order to do so, at least two plasma glucose measurements must be taken on separate days. There are three different types of plasma glucose test that can be used which include casual plasma glucose, fasting plasma glucose and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). According to WHO, there are three main criteria to be met to confirm diabetes in patients. The first would be symptoms of diabetes which include thirst, polydipsia, loss of weight and polyuria are seen in patients and their casual plasma glucose à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 11mmol/L. The other two would be if patients fasting plasma glucose à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 7.0mmol/L and patients 2-hours plasma glucose à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 11.1mmol/L during OGTT being conducted by giving the patient 75g of glucose load6. OGTT is the most effective test to detect glucose metabolism disorder where it assesses the rate of glucose excretion after administration of glucose. OGTT is strongly recommended when fasting blood glucose is within 7.0-7.8 mmol/L in the diabetic range where OGTT is practical to clarify the diagnosis6,8. Summary of Drugs Pharmacology Aspirin Aspirin with the dose of 150mg is used as an anti-platelet agent or as prophylaxis to cardiovascular events. The mechanism of action of aspirin as an anti-platelet agent is strongly associated with the permanent inactivation of prostaglandin synthase and cyclooxygenase12. It also inhibits the formation of thromboxane in the platelet concurrently. The common side effects of aspirin include bronchospasm, gastrointestinal haemorrhage and also other forms of haemorrhage13. Lovastatin Statin reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease events without taking into account of the serum cholesterol concentration and is often used as the drug of first choice in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The mechanism of action of statins involves competitive inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG CoA) reductase, which is the enzyme involved in the synthesis of cholesterol13. As liver is the major site of cholesterol biosynthesis, it appears to be the main target organ for the statins14. Statins can cause several muscular adverse effects which include myositis and other side effects include gastrointestinal disturbances, sleep disturbances, dizziness, paraesthesia, fatigue, sexual dysfunction and alopecia13. Metformin Metformin is so far the only biguanide available in the market now. It is an antihyperglycemic agent that improves glucose tolerance in patients with type 2 DM by decreasing both the intestinal absorption of glucose and the hepatic glucose production, and improves insulin sensitivity in the tissues. Metformin was also found to have potentially favourable effects on decreasing serum lipid levels and fibrinolytic activity15. Gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea are common with metformin and may persist in some patients13. Lactic acidosis due to metformin is rare, and the risk of this complication is higher in patients with renal impairment13,15. Amlodipine Amlodipine falls in the calcium channel blockers group which act by interfering with the inward entrance of calcium ions via slow channels present in the active cell membranes. They act mainly on the myocardial cells and the vascular smooth muscle cells which then lead to reduction of myocardial contractility. It affects both the electrical impulses and vascular tone within the heart where they may be depressed or diminished13. 2.2.5 Perindopril Perindopril is an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor where it acts by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II. ACE inhibitors are the preferred initial drug to be used for hypertension13. ACE is the enzyme that converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II where angiotensin II causes increase blood pressure, systemic vasoconstriction, Na2+ and fluid retention and etc16. Thus, ACE inhibitors act by directly blocking the formation of angiotensin II and also increase the bradykinin level at the same time. This results in reduced vasoconstriction and increased vasodilation through the release of bradykinin. The common side effects of perindopril include profound hypotension, dry cough, angioedema, rash and gastrointestinal disturbances13. Actrapid (Soluble Insulin) Insulin plays an important role in the regulation of carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism where it helps to increase the glucose utilization in human body. Actrapid, soluble insulin, is a short acting form of insulin where it is normally injected into patients 15 to 30 minutes pre-meal. Actrapid is normally given in emergency cases especially in patients suspected with diabetic ketoacidosis4. It is normally administered subcutaneously as it gives a rapid onset of action (30 to 60 minutes) and a longer duration of action of up to 8 hours. One of the potential problems of insulin is hypoglycaemia where patients can be advised on how to avoid it13. 2.2.7 Glyceryl Trinitrate (GTN) Nitrate plays a key role in the prophylaxis and treatment of angina. It causes direct relaxation on vascular smooth muscles and also dilation of the coronary vessels which improves oxygen supply to the heart. Dilation of the blood vessels results in reduction of preload and afterload and thus, myocardial oxygen consumption is reduced17. Sublingual form of GTN is one of the most effective drugs to provide a fast symptomatic relief of chest pain but it is of short duration of action. Dose of 300mcg is appropriate as the starting dose for patients who have not used GTN before previously. Side effects of nitrates include postural hypotension, tachycardia, dizziness, throbbing headache and possible nausea, vomiting, flushing and heartburn13. 2.2.8 Oxygen Oxygen is normally prescribed for patients experiencing hypoxia to raise the alveolar oxygen tension and to lessen the workload of breathing in patients. There are generally four types of oxygen therapy which include long term oxygen therapy, short burst oxygen therapy, emergency oxygen and ambulatory oxygen. It is commonly given in emergency cases to achieve oxygen saturation within the normal range, just like in this case. The administration of the correct oxygen concentration is important as inappropriate concentration of oxygen may result in serious or fatal outcomes13. Evidence for Treatment of The Condition. Metformin Metformin is one of the main therapeutic drugs used in managing Type 2 DM and many clinical studies have been conducted to support the clinical use of metformin in the management of type 2 DM. In one of the Cochrane Review, it confirms that metformin as a single agent is one of the key therapeutic options for type 2 DM in patients with overweight or obesity problems, as it may prevent some cardiovascular complications events and mortality as well. Just as mentioned in this patient, he is a newly diagnosed diabetes patient who is overweight and he was given metformin 500 mg twice daily. In the study, 29 trials with 5259 participants were included in the analysis, comparing metformin (2007 participants) with sulphonylureas (1167), placebo (702), diet (493), thiazolidinediones (132), insulin (439), meglitinides (208), and glucosidase inhibitors (111). Obese patients who are given metformin as blood glucose control agent showed a superior benefit than glibenclamide, chlorpropamide, or insulin for any diabetes-related consequences (P = 0.009), and for mortality (P = 0.03). Besides that, patients assigned to metformin as a single therapy showed a significant greater benefit for blood glucose control, weight, dyslipidaemia, and blood pressure18. Besides that, the Comparative Outcomes Study of Metformin Intervention versus Conventional (COSMIC) study was done to compare the incidence of serious adverse effects, mortality and hospitalization in patients receiving metformin and also those who are on other usual care treatments. Among the patients, 7,227 of them received metformin and another 1,505 of the patients received usual care. To the end of the study, there were only 89.7% of the metformin group and 76.9% of the usual care group remained receiving their initial intended treatment. Serious adverse events were reported in 10.3% of the metformin group and in 11.0% of the usual care group, where both the groups reported similar adverse events. Cardiovascular events were found to be the most ordinary cause of death in DM patients where 0.7% occurred in metformin group while 0.9% in usual care group19. A population-based cohort study was also done to study on the mortality rates with the use of sulphonylureas compared to metformin. The mean age of the patients was 66.3 ±13.4 years old where 43.4% were female and their mean length of follow-up was 4.6 ±2.1 years. A greater risk of mortality was observed with higher daily doses of the first-generation sulfonylureas and glyburide but not metformin20. 3.2 Insulin secretagogues (Sulphonylureas and Meglitinides) Sulphonylureas is another group of antidiabetic treatment used after metformin in Type 2 DM. Patients blood glucose level remained high on day 2 and thus should be monitored closely after administering metformin. If blood glucose level has not been brought down, addition of sulphonylureas or meglitinides should be considered. The sulphonylureas act by enhancing insulin secretion. The sulphonylureas act at the pancreatic ÃŽÂ ²-cell membrane by causing closing of ATP-sensitive potassium (K+) channels. Closure of the channels occurred when sulphonylurea binds to the sulphonylurea receptor (SUR) subunit of the K+ channel. Meglitinides, which is not a sulphonylurea, act through the same mechanism where it also binds at the sulphonylurea binding site. Examples of sulphonylureas include tolbutamide, gliclazide, glibenclamide and glimepiride. Meglitinides is referred as an alternative to sulphonylureas as it does not cause additional stimulation of insulin excretion when patient failed to respond to maximal dosage of sulphonylureas. Examples of meglitinides include repaglinide and nateglinide21. Adding on a sulphonylurea or meglitinide to metformin as a therapy to type 2 DM was found to have a better control of blood glucose level. 318 patients (61 from metformin group, 126 from glimepiride group and 131 from glimepiride + metformin group) completed the study to compare the effectiveness of metformin monotherapy, glimepiride monotherapy and the combination treatment in controlling blood glucose level. It was found that the greater efficacy of combination treatment in reducing HbA1c levels than either glimepiride alone (p Comparison was conducted in a study where 124 patients were randomly given either repaglinide 1 mg daily or glimepiride 1 mg daily. The dose of study drug was given over an 8 week titration duration, which then followed by a 12 months treatment length. FPG levels, HbAlc values and PPG levels significantly fall from baseline in both groups after 6 and 12 months of treatment. However, after 12 months, fasting plasma insulin (FPI) levels on the other hand were significantly increased in the repaglinide group (p So far, the most commonly reported adverse event in sulphonylureas was hypoglycaemia. 605 people over 34,052 person-years were diagnosed with hypoglycemia during sulphonylurea therapy, which equals to an annual risk of 1.8%24. There is also high risk of hypoglycaemia in diabetic patients who are taking ACE inhibitors at the same time. Therefore, the use of sulphonylureas in this patient should be used in caution as he is currently taking perindopril as his anti-hypertensive drug. Several studies suggested that there is an increase in mortality due to cardiac events in patients treated with sulphonylureas. In one of the studies, 120, 4138 and 1537 patients were given a first-generation sulfonylurea, glyburide monotherapy and metformin monotherapy respectively. 24.8% of the total deaths were found to be due to an acute ischaemic event. Those given first-generation sulfonylurea monotherapy had the highest mortality (67.6 deaths per 1000 person-years), compared with metformin monotherapy users (39.6 deaths per 1000 person-years). As higher doses are used, higher rates of death are observed as compared to those who are on lower doses20. Other less common side effects of sulphonylureas include weight gain, nausea, diarrhoea, gastrointestinal pain and cutaneous reactions such as rashes, urticaria and pruritus21. Further Management Thiazolidinediones, gliptins (GLP-1) mimetic, also known as exenatide and insulin administrations are the further management in type 2 DM if the above oral anti-diabetic agents are not able to control the high blood glucose level. Pioglitazone and rosiglitazone are examples of thiazolidinediones where they are the newer oral anti-diabetic agents which are more expensive but present better adverse effects profiles. A thiazolidinedione can be added on instead of a sulfonylurea as second-line therapy if sulphonylurea is contraindicated or not well tolerated or it can be added on to the sulphonylurea therapy if metformin is contraindicated. Another recommendation is to add on a thiazolidinedione to metformin plus sulphonylurea when the blood glucose is not well controlled and the use of insulin therapy is not suitable25. Two randomised trials were conducted and in the first study, 317 patients who are already on metformin received an add-on therapy of pioglitazone at the dose 15-45 mg/day and another 313 patients received gliclazide at the dose 80-320 mg/day instead. In the second study, 319 patients who are already on sulphonylurea therapy were randomly assigned to receive add-on therapy of pioglitazone at the do se 15-45 mg/day and another 320 with metformin at the dose of 850-2,550 mg/day. After 2 years, the mean reduction in HbA1c from baseline was found to be 0.89% for pioglitazone and 0.77% for gliclazide addition to metformin. The reduction in mean FBG after 2 years was statistically significant between the two add-on therapies where a decrease of 1.8 mmol/L for pioglitazone and a decrease of 1.1 mmol/L for gliclazide was seen (p Another option is adding on a GLP-1 mimetic agent as third-line therapy to first-line metformin and a second-line sulfonylurea25. Effectiveness of exenatides in bringing down the blood glucose level in type 2 DM patients was extensively studied. One of the studies includes patients at the age of 22-76 years old and had type 2 DM treated with at least the maximally effective dose of a sulfonylurea as monotherapy for at least 3 months. After a 4 weeks single-blind, placebo period, 377 patients were randomized (60% men, age 55 ±11 years, BMI 33 ±6 kg/m2, HbA1c 8.6 ±1.2%) and began either at 5  µg subcutaneous exenatide twice daily(before breakfast and dinner; arms A and B) or placebo for 4 weeks. Patients in arm B were then increased to 10  µg bd of exenatide. At week 30, HbA1c changes from baseline were -0.86 ±0.11, -0.46 ±0.12, and 0.12 ±0.09% ( ±SE) in the 10- µg, 5- µg, and placebo arms respectively (p à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0.001). FPG values also showed a significan t reduction in the 10- µg arm compared to the placebo arm (P à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0.05) 28. If all else fails to control blood glucose, insulin therapy should be introduced in patients with poorly controlled type 2 DM. It was believed that there is possibility that the oral anti-diabetic agents mentioned above might be useful in combination with insulin therapy in enhancing better blood glucose control, reducing insulin dose requirement, or minimizing side effects of insulin therapy. A study was conducted to compare the efficacy of adding once-daily basal insulin with switching to twice-daily premixed insulin in type 2 DM patients uncontrolled by oral anti-diabetic agents (OADs). It was a 24 weeks period clinical trial where 371 patients with poor glycaemic control (FBG à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥120 mg/dl, HbA1c 7.5-10.5%) were randomized to once-daily morning insulin glargine plus glimepiride and metformin or to only 30% regular/70% human NPH insulin (70/30) twice daily without any OADs. It was found that mean HbA1c decrease from baseline was significantly better in the presence of O ADs than the one without OADs (p = 0.0003). More patients reached HbA1c à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤7.0% without confirmed nocturnal hypoglycemia (45.5 vs. 28.6%, p = 0.0013) with glargine plus OAD than with only 70/30 NPH insulin. In addition, decrease in FPG was greater with glargine plus OAD (p Conclusion In this patient, he was newly diagnosed with type 2 DM and was given metformin 500mg twice daily initially to control his high blood glucose level, which was appropriate according to the guideline. If blood glucose is still not well controlled, changing of medication or further management as above should be considered. As hypertension and overweight are risk factors of DM, hypertension should be well managed in this patient and the patient should be advised on complying with his medication. Besides that, patient should also be advised on healthy diet and lifestyle to control his weight.

The Scarlett Letter Review :: essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter is a movie that has changed many times and in this summary I will try to stick to this one movie, even though I may compare it to the novel. As you already know, The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne dealing with the times of the Salem witch trials and puritan life. It is said that Hawthorne was very focused on these times because he felt guilty because his ancestors sent many men and women through various trails including burning and drowning them. Hawthorne is a great writer and one of my personal favorites, he writes in such a way that a vision is formed in your mind and he shows the feelings of those in his stories, real or imagined.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For preset the movie is told from Pearl’s eyes as if looking back on the lover her mother and father shared and their trials to be together. It begins with Mistress Hester Prin coming to the colonies without her husband, which many viewed as odd anyway. Hester finds her a nice cottage on the coast and precedes to buy help and live fairly normal. Many look down on her because she is alone and they expect something terrible of her. There is a group of women that take her in because they too are shunned from society, this group includes Harriet, she is very helpful and friendly to Hester throughout the movie. One day while Hester is gardening she sees a red bird and follows it to where she sees a young man swimming in the nude. On the Sabbath on her way to church her carriage gets stuck in the mud, and the nude swimmer helps her and admits that he has been trespassing on her property. The two get to town and he disappears before she can get his name. Then she enters and sits and he enters the pulpit. After the service they are properly introduced and he finds out that she is married. You can see in his eyes that this truly hurts him especially since many, many women introduce her to him as Mrs. Roger Prin. The two a obviously very intrigued with each other and eventually their passion is freed on a chance meeting. Hester then realizes she is pregnant and one of the ladies that also joins her at Harriet’s told the elders, because she had saw Hester throw up in the morning hours. Hester refused to reveal the father and lie in prison until her child was born. Rev.

Europes Software Patent Law Essay -- Patenting Economics Essays

Europe's Software Patent Law Today in Europe, the issue of software patentability is a heated and controversial topic amongst the software industry. Currently Europe’s software patent law is unclear and inconsistent. There has been a wide spread effort by major players in Europe’s software industry and governmental bodies to try to formalize and disambiguate the law on the patentability of software. But up to know there has been very little progress in the formalization of this law. What has resulted is an ongoing controversy amongst the Europeans. Proponents of software patenting have been calling for an extension of the scope of software patenting. However, its opponents have been calling for a drastic reduction of what should be patentable software. We begin our discussion with the roots of how patent law came to be in Europe and then focus our attention to the current law of software patentability. We then turn to a current controversial issue in Europe’s software industry and then get key ethical perspectives on this issue. We then finish up with my defense on particular position of a proposed ethical issue on the current software patent law. Established by the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (EPC) in 1973, the European Patent Organization was created to establish a uniform patent system in Europe. The European Patent Organization is an intergovernmental body setup by the EPC1, its members are made up of contracting states of the European Union (EU) including the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to name a few. The executive arm of the European Patent Organization is the European Patent Office (EPO) whose function is to grant European patents to each of its contracting states. The administrat... ...ww.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,37721,00.html 3.Donald, James A.,"The American Revolution - an HTML project," Locke's Second Treatise (Chap V) On Property, 1997, http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/LockeOnProperty.pdf 4.Duke L. & Tech., SOFTWARE PATENT LAW: UNITED STATES AND EUROPE COMPARED, 2003, http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2003dltr0006.html 5.European Patent Office, The European Office, 2003, http://www.european-patent-office.org/index.htm 6.European Software Patent Horror Gallery, European Software Patent Horror Gallery, 2003 http://swpat.ffii.org/vreji/pikta/index.en.html> 7.Spinello, â€Å"Frameworks for Ethical Analysis,† Chapter 2 of Ethical Aspects of Information Technology, Prentice Hall, http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/framework.pdf 8.The Patent Office, The UK Patent Office, 2003, http://www.patent.gov.uk

Newspaper Report On The Conviction Of Macbeth :: essays research papers

Topic: If macbeth was still alive show a newspaper article showing the trial that would take place concerning his conviction of murder (INSERT TOWN HERE) - After a long and arduous trial, MacBeth was found guilty by the Brisbane Court House yesterday. The former King of Scotland pleaded not guilty in the (INSERT TOWN HERE) sittings of District Court to murder and premeditated murder. It was revealed by the defence, that MacBeth was a former battle hardened soldier, who was given the title ?Thane of Cawdor? for his glorious effort on the battlefield. It was also portrayed that MacBeth was a character who set aside concern for his own life, a trait that was quickly dismissed by the prosecution throughout the trial. It was heard by the jury that, when MacBeth was returning from the battlefield to Duncan?s camp, he first encountered the mysterious and enigmatic three witches. It was here that the prophecy of MacBeth becoming king was announced by the witches. MacBeth testified upon hearing this, that he disbelieved the allegation. However witnesses put forward that when MacBeth arrived back at his castle, he was overheard conspiring with Lady MacBeth regarding Duncan?s murder. Further into the trial it was exposed that MacBeth could not become king, as the Scottish lineage to the throne moves from father to first-born son. However, members from within the same bloodline could lay claim to the throne if Duncan had no living sons. The prosecution then brought forth D.N.A evidence, which revealed that MacBeth was in fact Duncan?s cousin. Since Duncan had already named Malcolm the heir to the Scottish throne, Duncan had to be murdered. Information gathered from a nearby witness shows that at the hour of 12:45 am, Duncan the former king of Scotland lay peacefully in his humble chambers. The prosecution revealed that the servants guarding the kings? bedroom were drugged in order to gain a silent entry. MacBeth then quietly crept towards the king lying asleep. From the evidence revealed in the autopsy of Duncan, and the statement given to police by witnesses, it was discovered that he was stabbed a total of seven times in the chest area causing death to the victim. With murder weapon in hand, MacBeth then continued to murder the two drugged servants to ensure total silence on their part. A well beloved and honoured king now brutally dead. It was then conveyed by the prosecution that MacBeth proceeded to blame the deaths, on the two dead servants.