Sherlock hectives of holmes is a better detective then piorot and Essay

Sherlock hectives of holmes is a better detective then piorot and spade other detectives of his times - Essay Example Hercule Poirot was a Belgian detective who appeared in Agatha Christie’s novel Murder on the Orient Express to investigate the murder of a gangster named Ratchet or Cassetti. The case seems to be very confusing as some obscure clues are found during the investigation. The victim, Cassetti had previously murdered three members of the Armstrong family and their worker. As the case progresses some shocking things reveal which seem to involve thirteen of the passengers including the conductor in the murder of Cassetti. Poirot however does not inform the police about those guilty as he feels that they are justified. Samuel Spade, more commonly known as Sam Spade, appeared in The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett who was consulted by Miss Wonderly to follow Floyd Thursby who is later murdered shortly after Sam Spade’s partner, Miles Archer. It is then revealed that Miss Wonderly lied to Sam Spade and is found to have been guilty for the murders along with other players who a re trying to acquire the Maltese falcon. All the detectives differ in the style in which they approach the investigation and various cases however Sherlock Holmes of all seems to have a far more organized and scientific method of analyzing clues (Ginzburg and Davin, 6-7). Sherlock Holmes seems to have great observation and this is illustrated in A scandal in Bohemia when Holmes tells all the details about Dr. Watson when they meet (Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia, 3). Holmes accurately identifies how Dr. Watson wanted to be a practicing doctor but could not due to the wound he got during his participation in the Afghan war. Also, that Dr. Watson got himself wet and that his servant girl does not do her work well. Holmes seems quite shocked as this true but he does not understand how Holmes was able to tell because he changed his clothes after the walk in the country (Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia, 3). In The Red Headed League as well, Holmes demonstrates an excellent observation as he cor rectly identifies that Mr. Wilson was a laborer, takes tobacco, is a freemason, etc (Doyle, The Read Headed League, 3). He also deduces some important details from the hat in The Blue Carbuncle (Doyle, The Blue Carbuncle, 9). Holmes cleverly observed the minor details of cases so as to efficiently analyze clues to determine meaningful answers to the crimes. This method of noticing minor details was developed by Giovanni Morelli in art history (Ginzburg and Davin, 7). Hercule Poirot seems to be a very competent detective as he effectively speculates the clues so as to determine all the players in the murder of Cassetti. Poirot often has to interview the witnesses in order to gather information and does not rely much on observation of evidences and clues (Christie, 41). Sam Spade, on the other hand, does demonstrate critical thinking which helps him resolve the case regarding the murder of Archer and Thursby however he does not reflect superb observation skills in terms of clues (Hamm ett, 115). While every detective correctly investigated the cases which they are consulted to solve, there are some major differences in the style of investigation among the various detectives. Sherlock Homes presents a very effective method of information collection and evidence interpretation using an excellent observation. At many instances Dr. Watson seems to be surprised at Holmes’

Australian Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Australian Stereotypes Essay Stereotyping the Australians has always been a common practice by people all around the world. In fact, Australia has been classified as one of the most stereotyped nations in the world due to the sense that much of the international community believes that they have a solid understanding regarding Australian society, despite the fact that their beliefs bear little similarities to the realities of Australian life in the 21st Century. Australia is a complex nation that is riddled with assumptions that are downright false, and sometimes ridiculous. There’s no denying it – as soon the word ‘Australia’ is out, our mind automatically paints a certain glossy picture. For starters, people have assumed that the Australians love to barbecue all the time. Now, while everyone loves a scrumptious and moist barbecued chicken, who in the world would have the time (or patience) to spend the whole morning barbecuing steaks and chicken just to provide a simple breakfast, and repeat the tedious process again for lunch and dinner every single day? The baneful clean-up process and charcoal stains are simply enough to test my patience. However, people in the nationwide has evoke countless of preconceptions that the Aussies are found to be a bunch of barbecue-addicted people, much to the annoyance of the Australians. The real question is ; how did this Australian stereotype become so viral? Australia itself is culpable. Tourism Australia has tried to boost their tourism industries by commercializing Australians with a fresh and rejuvenating look such as the stereotypical â€Å"beach and bimbos† image popularised in the 1980s. However, the portrayal that Aussies loves hang out at the beach every day and ‘put another shrimp on the barbecue’ (or barbie, in the Australian slang) apparently bears a scanty resemblance with the reality. Nick Bryant, a Sydney correspondent also suggested that the popularity of television programs such as Neighbours and Home and Away only rendered the British public to carry a superficial perception of Australia that is not representative of the majority of the nation. Throw another shrimp on the barbie was a 1980s tourism slogan by Paul Hogan which remains as one of the most recognisable quotes associated with Australia within the international community. Another popular Australian stereotype is being belligerent drunkards. People have always assumed that the cities of Australia are full of drunken people, empty scotch bottles and foul alcohol stenches. However, if you happen to walk at the streets of Melbourne, you will realize that it is just like any conventional city, bustling with working ladies and man as opposed to the stereotypical view. Studies have also proved that the country only ranks 44th in terms of global alcohol consumption as opposed to the 17th ranking of the UK. In a nutshell, some of the stereotypical views on Australians are proved to be untrue although some parts of them that are quite true. Stereotypes can be hard to avoid, so my advice is DO NOT always believe what you hear! Many things are always not what they are seemed to be so always do a little research first before ascertaining its validity.

Eye diseases

Eye diseases 1. Introduction 1.1 Glaucoma Eye disease such as glaucoma, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are some of the common causes of reduced vision and blindness (Short, 2008). Glaucoma is a progressive eye disease where the damage of optic nerves resulted in visual field loss. In the year of 2010, it is estimated that 60.5 million people will be diagnosed with glaucoma, and by 2020, the number would be increased to 79.6 million (Quigley and Broman, 2005). According to International Glaucoma Association, some of the risk factors that contribute to the development of glaucoma are advanced age, race, long or short sighted, and genetic predisposition. Damage of the optic nerves in glaucoma is often due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) which occurs when there is an imbalance of aqueous humor production and drainage in the eye. This clear fluid produced by the ciliary body flows into the posterior chamber and exit through trabecular meshwork at the open angle where the cornea and iri s meet (1). Blocked drainage channel restricts the flow of aqueous humor out of the anterior chamber. This causes the pressure in eye to be increased to an abnormal level, thus damaging the optic nerves. Optic nerve plays an important role in transmitting impulses from the light sensitive tissue layer, the retina to the brain, where the visual information is interpreted. Therefore, early detection and treatment could prevent permanent and irreversible blindness from glaucoma. There are several classifications of glaucoma, the most common types are primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). The difference between these two types is the present of physical obstruction in the drainage channel in one and its absence in the other. As for the former type, an increase in IOP is caused by blockage of the drainage channel where the aqueous humor drains out (1) (Coleman,1999). This process occurs very gradually and often patient does not notice any early signs of sight loss such as blind spots, or patches of vision loss until severe damaged has been done to the optic nerves, thus causing blindness. Different ethnic group was shown to have different glaucoma prevalence. The African population was shown to be more prevalent to suffer from POAG in the study demonstrated by Ntim-Amponsah et al. (2004). The standardised age-specific glaucoma prevalence for that ethic group was 7.7% while the Caucasians have an overall lower prevalence than that. It was suggested by Herndon et al. (2004) that the blacks have an overall thinner central corneal compared to the Caucasians and this might contribute to the progression of POAG. As explained by Coleman (1999), in primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG), the angle between the iris and lens is very narrow. When the iris dilates, the iris-lens contact prevents the flow of aqueous humor into the anterior chamber. The continuous secretion of aqueous humor creates a pressure which pushes the iris forward onto the trabecular meshwork, closing the angle (1). This rapid onset causes sudden build-up of intraocular pressure leading to short-term loss of vision. Severe eye pain, blurred vision, headache, nausea, vomiting and halos around lights are among the symptoms observed in this eye disease. Asian was shown to have a higher prevalence of PACG compared to the Western population. Some of the studies concluded that Chinese are at a higher risk of suffering from PACG. This is related to the geometry of the anterior chamber where Chinese has a smaller corneal or a shallower anterior chamber, thus implying that there is a higher risk of developing angle closure and therefo re PACG (Wang et al., 2002). 1.2 Pharmacological therapy of glaucoma The goal in treating glaucoma is to delay the progression by giving immediate therapy for early stage glaucoma patient to prevent further loss of vision. Treatment aims to reduce IOP by either increasing the aqueous humor drainage or reducing the aqueous humor secretion rate. Several classes of drugs are used in the treatment of glaucoma, namely beta-adrenergic antagonists (beta-blockers), selective alpha2-adrenoceptor antagonist, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors and prostaglandin analogues. The choice of treatment depends on the effectiveness and side-effects of the drug, co-mobility and cost of treatment. Beta-blockers are one for the first line drug used in treatment of glaucoma but newer medications are increasingly being used as first choice of glaucoma therapy. The exact mechanism of beta-blocker in reducing IOP is not known, but it was suggested that beta-blocker reduces the aqueous humor production by blocking the beta2-receptor on the non-ciliary body epithelium. On average, no n-selective beta-blockers such as timolol, levobunolol, carteolol and metipranolol lower the IOP by 20-35% while beta1-receptor antagonist, betaxolol lowers it by 15-25%. However, when the pharmacological therapy is unsuccessful, laser or surgery are required to treat this eye disease (Soltau and Zimmerman, 2002). The most widely used ocular hypotensive agent is the non-selective beta-blocker, timolol. Timolol is often used as an adjunct therapy to other difference classes of IOP-lowering agents such as brimonidine, travoprost and acetazolamide. In one of the studies, combination therapy of latanoprost and timolol was proved to be more effective in lowering IOP compared to using lataoprost alone in glaucoma treatment (Olander K, 2004). The maleate salt of timolol is soluble in water and alcohol, and has a pKa of approximately 9 in water at 25Â °C. The current commercially available opthalmic therapies of timolol are timolol maleate topical opthalmic solution and gel-forming ophthalmic solution. Some of the local side effects of topical application of timolol include ocular irritation, burning, pain, itching, erythema and dry eyes. Beta-blocker is contra-indicated in patients who have bronchial asthma, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sinus bradycardia, heart block, or uncontr olled heart failure. In some cases, exacerbation of reactive airways disease and cardiovascular disease due to the systemic absorption of the non-selective beta-blocker has been reported occasionally in patients receiving topical timolol therapy (McEvoy G K, 2002). After long-term usage of timolol, tolerance might develop in some patients. This has been suggested that there is an up-regulation of beta-receptors in target cells in response to constant exposure of antagonist at the beta-receptors (Fechtner, 2008). 1.3 Drug delivery in treatment of glaucoma There are several approaches in delivering intraocular drugs, among them are topical application, systemic administration, intraocular implants and intravitreal injections. Each of these routes has its own advantages and challenges (Short, 2008). Topical administration is the most widely used route for drug delivery in treating eye diseases. The major challenge of this application to the posterior ocular tissues is poor drug bioavailability resulted from the ocular physiological and anatomical constraints, which include tear fluid turnover rate, nasolacrimal drainage and high efficiency of blood-ocular barrier. It was shown that only 1-5% of the topically applied drugs is absorbed across the cornea and reaches the target intraocular tissues. Furthermore, nasolacrimal drainage contributes to extensive precorneal losses that lead to poor bioavailability. In addition, systemic exposure through nasolacrimal drainage will also cause significant systemic toxicity. Blood-ocular barrier whic h is located at the retinal pigmented epithelium and the endothelium of the retinal vessels is also a major challenge in delivering topical drugs to the target tissues. This barrier limits the penetration of intraocular drugs to the back of the eyes. Unfortunately, systemically administered drugs are also having the same problem in penetrating the barrier. Hence, alternative drug delivery strategies such as intravitreal injections have been investigated and developed to overcome this problem (Tombrain-Tink and Barnstable, 2006). Intravitreal injection is the administration of intraocular drugs to the vitreous cavity of the eye and this route is becoming increasingly popular in treating glaucoma patients. Due to short half-life of drugs in the vitreous, frequent and repeated injections to the eye are needed to maintain the drug concentration at therapeutic level in the vitreous and the retina. Consequently, this procedure leads to complication such as infection, vitreous hemorrhage, and lens or retinal injury. Sustained release formulation has been developed and possible benefits of particulate drug delivery has been investigated and studied to overcome such complications. The particulate drug delivery systems include microparticles and nanoparticles such as liposome, microcapsule, nanocapsules, microspheres and nanospheres. Liposomes, microcapsules and nanocapsules allow encapsulation of the drug molecules while in microspheres and nanospheres, drugs are dispersed in a spherical polymer matrix. These particu lates act as a reservoir to control the release rate during periods of days and sometime even months (Short, 2008; Tombrain-Tink and Barnstable, 2006). 1.4 Microspheres Microspheres of biodegradable polymers such as poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) are a combination of drug and polymer. PLGA-based microspheres have several advantages over other controlled released drug delivery system. The administration of these microspheres to the body only requires syringes and needles, thus avoiding surgical implants of controlled-release formulations. Besides that, these PLGA are biodegradable and are biocompatible to the tissues, including the brain tissues (Fournier, 2003). Three microencapsulation techniques are being employed in producing PLGA microspheres these days. Solvent evaporation and solvent extraction process is one of the method which includes single emulsion process and double emulsion process. The former process involves oil-in-water emulsification and latter is the most commonly used water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) method used to encapsulate water-soluble drugs such as timolol maleate into microspheres. Final emulsions from both processes wi ll undergo solvent removal by extraction or evaporation. The solid microspheres that are produced from these processes will then be filtered or sieved, and finally dried. This technique is widely used because it is easy and does not involve complicated steps. Other methods such as phase separation and spray drying are also being used to encapsulate microspheres. The disadvantage of phase separation is that it needs a careful optimisation of some parameters, such as solvent and polymer type, salt type and concentration in order to obtain any microspheres at all. On the other hand, the limitation of spray drying is that small batches of drug are produced due to loss of product during spray-drying (Jain, 2000). PLGA, a copolymer of lactic acids and glycolic acids is commonly used in the production of controlled-release biomedical devices such as microparticles and nanoparticles. Incorporation of the active substance in polymer matrix allows drug to be released at a slower rate over a prolonged period, thus reducing the frequency of drug administration and hence improving patients compliance. The main target of controlled-release drug delivery is to produce a zero-order release pattern, but this was not achieved very often. Some of the small molecules are associated with undesirable initial burst phase during where drugs on the microsphere surface are being released through rapid diffusion, followed by a slow release or no release. During the initial burst phase, excessive release of potent drugs from the polymer for a prolonged time causes severe side effects. However, during the second phase, only a small fraction of drug will be released from the matrix due to decreased driving force in d rug depletion (Berkland et al., 2002). In the study conducted by Mao et al. (2007), the effect of different preparation of water-in-oil-in water emulsion on the burst release of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled dextran from the PLGA microspheres was being investigated. It was found that an increase in drug loading, polyvinyl alcohol concentration and homogenisation speed resulted in a decrease in initial burst. This is due the changes in morphology of the by using different preparation techniques. The main mechanism of drug release from microsphere can be divided to two processes, which are drug diffusion from the polymer network and drug release through polymer degradation. Once PLGA is administered to the eyes, water fills into the network of pore by a negative water gradient and the active compound subsequently diffuses out of the co-polymer. However, this gradient will disappear gradually within a period time and thus the drug molecules are released at a slower rate at a later stage. This process is often coupled with the breakage of ester bonds of the polymer by hydrolysis and it can also be autocatalysed by the accumulation of acidic degradation products and hence leading degradation of PLGA-based microsphere. During this process, oligomers at the surface of microsphere escape from the matrix, leaving behind those who are entrapped inside the matrix core. Size of microsphere plays a very important role in manipulating the rate of degradation. In one of the study, it was shown that larger particle size will degrade more rapidly. This is due to the inner core of the polymer is more acidic compared to its external environment (Grizzi et al. ,1995) Effect of several factors such as polymer composition and preparation condition on the drug release patterns were being investigated by several studies. It has been demonstrated by Janoria and Mitra (2007) that different lactide/glycolide ratio resulted in different release rate of a lipophilic prodrug (GCV-monobutyrate) from PLGA-based microsphere. PLGA with higher lactide content (65:35) was found to have higher glass transition temperature than lower lactide content (50:50) of PLGA polymer. This was suggested that the former ratio had slower drug diffusion through the polymer matrix, hence longer releasing time. On the other hand, an addition of surfactants, polyvinyl alcohol or Triton X-100 to the primary emulsion obtained from the double emulsion solvent evaporation technique resulted in the production of larger particle size, thus slower releasing rate was observed (Bouissou et al., 2006). Besides that, inclusion of additives in the formulation will also affect the release prof ile of microspheres. Kang F R and Singh J (2001) found out that the addition of PEG 1000 and tricaprin increased the porosity of the PLGA, thus changing its surface characteristics. This has lead to a higher initial releasing rate of bovine serum albumin due to rapid diffusion of the protein through the large pores on the surface of microspheres. Different preparation methods effect the morphology and drug distribution of microspheres. A change in the process condition will yield different size distribution and porosity of the microsphere. Some of the critical parameters of determining the microparticles morphology are volume ratio of oil to internal water, homogenisation speed and type of solvents used. Surface morphology of microspheres is shown to be influenced by the volume ratio of oil to internal water in a research conducted by Yang et al. (2000). An increase in size and initial burst of the microspheres was observed by decreasing the volume ratio from 40:1 to 12:1. More porous microparticles were also observed in lower volume ratio. Homogenisation speed was also proved to be important in determining the morphology of microparticles by Sansdrap and Moes (1993). When homogenisation speed was increased, the microparticulate was found to be smaller. Similarly, different organic phase solvent was proved to produce differen t size distribution of particles. Song et al. (2006) showed that partially water-soluble solvents such as ethyl acetate and propylene carbonate produced smaller mean particle size compared to the fully water-soluble solvents, acetone and dichloromethane. Since there are limited studies based on the effect of method parameters on the morphology and drug release profile of timolol maleate encapsulated microsphere, this study aimed to further investigate the effect of volume ratio of oil to internal water, homogenisation speed and type of solvents used. Timolol maleate is encapsulated in PLGA by double-emulsion solvent evaporation method. The surface morphology and particle sizes of the microspheres were being studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). On the other hand, the effect on the drug release profile was determined by analysing the released drug sample from the microspheres using ultraviolet spectrophotometer.

Polymers and plastics in biomedical applications

Polymers and plastics in biomedical applications Introduction Polymers are increasingly being used to fabricate biomedical materials for tissue engineering and wound treatment applications, as well as for drug delivery. For tissue engineering and wound treatment applications, the mechanical properties of the polymeric material have to be matched to the specific application. An example of tissue engineering is the use of bioresorbable polymeric orthopedic materials for bone regeneration applications. The degradable material supports the growth and adhesion of new bone cells (chondrocytes) and is porous so as to provide a large, continuous surface for cell proliferation throughout the matrix. The degradable material serves to maintain mechanical integrity while the bone heals itself. The materials are designed to degrade in a time suitable for the particular application, but may be on the order of six months to twenty-four months. An example of an external wound treatment application is artificial skin, where the polymeric material provides protection as new growth develops. Other materials are used internally to separate organs after surgical procedures. In tissue engineering and wound treatment applications the mechanical properties of the materials have to meet requirements specific to the application. In this experiment you will determine how the tensile properties of films of plasticized biopolymers depend on the chemical formulation of the material. Such applications are based on the polymer materials being degradable as well as biocompatible. Other applications might require materials that are biocompatible and nondegradable, such as long-term polyethylene implants. Polymers Polymers can be synthetic or biological. Synthetic polymers are almost always made from nonrenewable fossil feedstocks, mainly petroleum. Examples are polyethylene, polystyrene, poly(vinyl chloride), and polypropylene, all of which are polyolefins. Poly(ethylene terephthalate) [PET] is a synthetic polyester. None of the above-named polymers are degradable, the main reason being that the polymer backbones contain only carbon-carbon single bonds. Examples of biodegradable polymers derived from petroleum are poly(vinyl alcohol) [a polyalcohol], poly(ethylene glycol)[a polyether], and the polyesters polycaprolactone and poly(glycolic acid). Polymers with heteroatoms in their backbones are generally biodegradable, although there are exceptions. Biological polymers (biopolymers) are found in nature; they are intrinsically biodegradable. Abundant biopolymers include plant polysaccharides such as starch (composed of amylose and amylopectin), cellulose, agarose, and carrageenan, and animal polysaccharides such as chitin and the glycosaminoglycans. Abundant proteins include gelatin(denatured/hydrolyzed collagen), casein, keratin, and fibroin. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is an example of a synthetic commercial polymer in which the monomer, lactic acid, is produced in large amounts through fermentation; the polymer is then synthesized by conventional methods. PLA is biodegradable. Mechanical Properties In implant and wound healing applications, the mechanical properties of the materials are of critical importance. In this experiment you will carry out tensile tests—tests in which specimens are placed between two clamps (grips) and drawn. The instrument measures and displays the force being applied (the load) and the resulting increase in the length of the sample (elongation, also called extension). From the dimensions of the film specimen (width and thickness), the instrument software calculates and displays the tensile stress (ï  ³), equal to the load (F) per unit area of cross section (A = width x thickness). It also calculates the (tensile) strain (ï  ¥), equal to the elongation (extension) divided by the original length of that portion of the specimen being measured (called the gage length). [In our experiment, the gage length is simply the separation of the grips securing the specimen.] The instrument will display percent elongation, which is the strain multiplied by 100. As the tensile test proceeds, the instrument generates and displays a tensile stress-strain curve, which is a diagram that displays values of tensile stress (in MPa) plotted against tensile strain (%). The test continues until the specimen breaks. From the stress-strain curve, the software determines, and reports the following results in table form: (1) Tensile strength at break (or ultimate strength), which is the tensile stress at break. (2) Elongation at break, as a percentage. (3) Youngs modulus (also known as elastic modulus or modulus of elasticity or sometimes simply as modulus). It is calculated as the initial slope of the stress-strain curve, which is usually observed to be linear with plastic films. This initial region reflects the elastic deformation of the specimen, in which the stress varies linearly with strain, analogous to Hookes law for the expansion of a spring. Beyond the linear region, the behavior is termed viscous; polymers and plastics are said to be viscoelastic materials. Modulus is a measure of the stiffness of the polymer or plastic. Table 1. Typical tensile properties of materials Material t.s.(MPa) elong.(%) modulus(MPa) polyethylene, low density 10 620 166 polycaprolactone 26 600-1000 435 polypropylene 36 1380 poly(lactic acid), biaxially oriented film 110/145 160/100 3310/3860 keratin(human hair) 526 46 6700 copper, annealed 240 30 100,000-130,000 steel 380-700 200,000-250,000 glass 2160-4830 50,000-70,000 Encyclopedia of Chemistry, 4th ed.; Handbook of Physics, 2nd ed. Experimental Procedure 1. Film casting Prepare the following cast films of plasticized biopolymers. Sample 1 Place 32 mL of 2%(v/v) aqueous glycerol solution in a 200 mL beaker. Add 88 mL water and 2.40 g starch and 4.8 g agar. Heat with stirring to approximately 85-95  °C or until the polymer is in solution; do not boil. Slowly pour the solution into the big petri dish on a flat level surface. Try to remove all imperfections (bubbles) from the surface. Sample 2. Repeat using 32 mL glycerol solution, 88 mL water, and 1.20 g starch and 3.6 g agar. Sample 3. Repeat using 48 mL glycerol solution, 72 mL water, and 1.20 g starch and 3.0 g agar. Sample 4. Repeat using 48 mL glycerol solution, 72 mL water, and 2.40 g starch and 3.5 g agar. Allow the solutions to set for approximately one hour then place the petri dish in the drying oven. Label all petri dishes. 2. Film conditioning After the agar films have been in the drying oven for about 24 hours, remove the petri dishes from the oven and place them in the large relative-humidity conditioning box (maintained at approximately 50% relative humidity) for 24-48 hours. 3. Preparing test specimens After conditioning, the films are ready to have test specimens prepared from them. Working with one sample at a time, remove the petri dish from the conditioning box. Slowly and carefully remove the film from the petri dish by first peeling one corner and then applying fairly equal pressure to the entire width of the film as it comes off the petri dish lengthwise. Place the sample on a piece of cardboard. Using the 1/4 wide aluminum template as a straight edge, and the cutting knife, cut a rectangle approximately 3.5 x 3 from the center of the film, so as not to include any edges, as they are often not as uniform in thickness as the center. Align the sample on the cardboard as follows: Place the 1/4 wide aluminum template vertically near one of the edges. Using the cutting tool, cut on both sides of the template to produce a specimen 3.5 long and 1/4 wide. Cut as cleanly as possible so as not to notch or tear the specimen. Cut six or seven additional strips, but do not use the second cut of the previous specimen as the first edge of the next; make two new cuts to produce each specimen. Place the cut specimens on a piece of filter paper and transfer them into the dessicator located next to the Instron instrument. Similarly prepare specimens from the other three film samples. 4. Measuring mechanical properties of test specimens During the laboratory you will measure the mechanical properties of the fours cast films. Measure at least five specimens for each of the four film samples. As you remove each specimen from the dessicator, you will be measuring the thickness of the specimen with a digital caliper. 5. Operating the Instron Testing Instrument Refer instrument manual. 6. Laboratory Report 1. Express the compositions of the four film samples in terms of the weight percent of each component to two significant figures (excluding water); i.e. % agar, % glycerol (the density of glycerol is 1.26) and, if present, % starch. 2. Prepare a summary table of results showing the mean values of tensile strength (Mpa) (to 3 sig. figs.) and its standard deviation, elongation (%) (to 2 sig. figs.) and its standard deviation, and elastic modulus (MPa) (to 3 sig.figs.) and its standard deviation. [ASTM specifies these numbers of significant figures; a smaller number of significant figures would otherwise be justified given the observed standard deviations.] 3. For the three agar-glycerol films what correlation do you observe between the effect of glycerol on one property and its effect on the others? Prepare a graph for each of the properties showing variation with composition. In Excel you can show a standard error for each point separately by using a separate data series for each point. Do not show a trend line and do not attempt to connect the data points.

The Second Tradition of Thanksgiving Essay -- Essays Papers

When the great holiday of Thanksgiving comes to mind, most people think of becoming total gluttons and gorging themselves with a seemingly unending amount of food. Others might think of the time spent with family and friends. The whole basis of the holiday is family togetherness, fellowship, and thankfulness for blessings received during the previous year. Every family has their own unique way of spending time together with loved ones only seen during the holidays. In the Stock home, there is only one thing we enjoy doing. Sure, like every other family we have our grand and elaborate dinner, which is composed of all the greatest delicacies my mother and grandmother can whip up. Of course, as is expected, after stuffing ourselves as if this was our last meal the men in the family congregate in the living room. We sit and wait for our tradition to begin by discussing how each of our lives has been unfolding since last Thanksgiving. Finally, the moment arrives, kick off of the first of many Thanksgiving Day football games. There are thousands of fans who watch football with religious devotion. At the Stock house that is not the case. However on Thanksgiving, our eyes glaze over and we rise to the highest of football enthusiasts. Every man sitting around our big screen T.V. has his own team to cheer for, which usually causes many spirited discussions during the four quarters of testosterone induced insanity. As the game plays on we all grow further and further engrossed in watching. As the women talk in the kitchen and the children run around, sometimes even right in front of the television, our stares never stray from the glowing giver of joy. It might seem silly... ...nderstand and appreciate the games my dad and the rest of my male family members have been watching for years, I became that much closer with all of them. As John Madden said â€Å"The turkey brings the family together, but the football keeps them together† (www.espn.com). As a tradition Thanksgiving’s football watching extravaganza has become an occasion I have begun to look forward to for months. After spending this great tradition with my father and my family those geezers are looking a lot younger. Work Cited Stock, John, Personal Interview, 11-29-03 www.espn.com, Friday, Nov. 21, ESPN, 11-21-03 www.football.com, Friday, Nov. 21, NFL Internet Network, 11-21-03 http://rats2u.com/thanksgiving_events.htm, 2001, St. Clair Associates, 11-21-03 http://www.dezmin.com/Mtarchives/000-122.html, Nov. 21, 2001, Dezmin’s Archives and It’s Contributors, 11-21-03

stock market :: essays research papers

The Stock Market Crash   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1987, the DOW lost 500 points. This was a major occurrence and many countries worldwide were suffering the same thing. Even at that time there was a lot of concern when the DOW goes down that much, because the usual reaction is a depression. This however was not even close to the disastrous events that were eminent after the depression of 1929. As a matter of fact there are measures to make sure this sort of thing never happens again. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was created after the depression to ensure this would not happen again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The crash had happened with many people who had seen it coming. But the business were making money at the time so they had much less concern. The stock market is a very interesting tool for business’s. Most capital in the United States was represented in stocks at the time. Capital is the tools needed to make things of value from basic raw material, such as a building or a machine. Owners of the corporations took stocks into the form of shares of stocks, which are essentially apart of the company. These stocks were then sold on the Stock Market. A lot of hope was riding on the stocks of many men. They had even borrowed to get the stocks. From 1920 to 1929 stocks nearly quadrupled in value. This shows how much faith a man must have had in a stock after it being worth so much. What made the market popular was the fact that you could go to a broker and purchase stock on margin. This made it so that they could buy them on credit and pay cash upfront for some of it. Now the economists knew about this and had been very worried seeing the frenzy for people playing the stock market. The Government also sort of knew what was happening but in a way decided to let things be for they might be held accountable if things were not going so well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first decent of The Crash was on October 24, 1929. On this day alone 12,894,650 exchanged hands. This on Wall Street was unheard of. On an average day 3,875,910 were exchanged and this was when the market was at a very high playing field. At the time many ordinary people were even getting a piece of the action.

Bilingual Education Beneficial for Kinderkarten

Bilingual Education: Beneficial for Kindergarten to Catch it Young By M. H 7th December 2012 Abstract: Research has shown that bilingual education has positive effect on kindergarten children. The purpose of this research was to study the benefits of bilingual education, which further helped in recommending marketing campaign for the Canadian kindergarten school to increase enrolments. Several analyses were taken into account like â€Å"Simon Task† and core group task to understand the benefits. Study reveals that bilingual children perform better cognitive, analytical tasks and have better success rate than monolingual children.Keywords: Children, Bilingualism, Kindergarten, Cognitive, Bilingual, Education, Monolingual Page | 1 Introduction This report aims to address positive effects of bilingual education on young children and to provide recommendations to Canadian kindergarten school through marketing campaign to increase kindergarten student enrolment. Different research methodology taken into account in this report, which has been extracted from researches done by PhD students, professors, doctors and scientists to provide evidence on the benefits of learning in two languages.One of the approaches considered in this report was â€Å"Simon Task† conducted by Ioulia Kovelman and Ellen Bialystok, PhD student of York University, Canada. This provides empirical evidence that bilingual kids outperform cognitive tasks than monolingual flock. Moreover, Bilingual children are more creative, intellectual and have longer attention span. Findings 1. 1 Perform Cognitive Tasks Better Several researches were undertaken in the past 20 years; to prove bilingual children are superior to monolingual kids.In the recent past, Ioulia Kovelman and Ellen Bialystok, PhD student of York University, Canada evaluated children aged between 4-6 years. During their research, they made two core groups, one group was monolingual who were fluent in their native language . i. e. French or English and another; group was bilingual (with proficiency in both the languages, written and oral). The idea was to test cognitive ability of the core group for which â€Å"Simon Task† method was considered. It is a universal method practised by scientists to understand how human mind functions and performs certain tasks.The aim was to understand how kids respond to different colours and visuals. Hence, kids were asked to separate different shapes as per their colour and size, generated by computer which popped up from different sides of the screen. Results were surprising as bilingual children were more accurate than monolingual group. Study depicts that bilingual brain functions faster and has divergent thinking skills which allows brain to recognize and differentiate different objects at the same time. Therefore, bilingual children tend to be smarter than monolingual peers and perform cognitive tasks better. . 2 More Creative with Analytical Abilities A rese arch conducted by Dr Lauchlan in Scotland and Sardinia, Italy- 121 children under age of 9 were taken in a group with monolingual and bilingual abilities, and were asked to perform different mathematical, creative, linguistic and physical assignments. The emphasis was to evaluate how children respond to different tasks. The bilingual learner’s performance and intellectual capabilities were significantly higher i. e. (52%) than monolingual peers (48%) (Refer figure 1. 2) Page | 2Figure 1. 2 Pie chart adapted from data provided by Dr Strathclyde research. 1. 3 Greater Success Rate There has been sufficient evidence, which reveals that bilingualism is an asset, as it provides higher employment rates over monolingual person. As stated in 2006 Canadian census, knowledge of French and English provide more job opportunities as compared to knowledge of French or English alone. Refer to the following graph (figure 3. 3) Fi gure 3. 3 Page | 3 It is apparent from the graph that bilingua l people have higher job prospects.This is an era of globalization, where most of the organizations are multinational. Hence, organizations prefer to hire employees who are proficient in different languages and understand diverse cultures. 1. 4 Brain Development â€Å"Children who learn a second language before the age of five have been shown to have denser grey matter in their brains than their monolingual peers† (Dai, 2012). According to Cumming (2005) research shows brain has two prominent tissues visible to eyes known as white and grey matter. Source: Mechelli, A. Nature, October 2004; vol 431: p 757.In 2004 research conducted by Dr Mechelli and his team at University College, London, revealed similar results. During their research they evaluated brains of monolingual and bilingual people who were introduced to second language early in their life. One set of group started learning second language at the age of 2 and another people were introduced to new language at the ag e of 30. The study reveals, those who initiated learning second language early had better command and proficiency in second language. Furthermore, density of grey matter on the left side of their brain was higher. Grey matter is combination of â€Å"head† nerves functions for coordination and communication) Conclusions: It is apparent that children who start learning in two languages at early age have cognitive and linguistic benefits over children who are mono-linguistic. Also, it prepares children for future to get better employment. Diversity comes naturally to bilingual children as it helps them to grow, understand different aspects of life and prepares them to adjust in multicultural environment, as they imbibe certain characteristics during the course of time.Due to these characteristics it makes children smarter and more confident as they learn in two languages. Page | 4 Recommendations: ? Canadian kindergarten school should work on integrated marketing methodology to lure and educate parents on the benefits of bilingual education. Publicise print ads in newspaper, magazines and different educational websites focusing on curriculum inculcated by school, to ensure their focus is to flourish analytical and cognitive skills of kids while they learn two languages as bilingual kids tend to become sharper day by day. ? School should conduct ducational fairs near school vicinity to provide information and familiarise parents about bilingual education. Especially for a strong economy like Canada where people are expected to speak two languages. When children are introduced to second languages early in their life they learn quickly, master the art of language and become proficient as they are agile and creative. ? Prospective parents should be invited for personal webinar and chat sessions on school website. Prime focus should be on how dual language learning can transform kid’s life in a positive manner as it provides exposure to different culture and diversities.Perhaps, helps children later in their life for better employment opportunities. ? E-mailers and Direct mailers should be sent to parents emphasizing the fact that a child’s brain grows faster with bilingual education . Also, it builds analytical, mental, linguistic and creative skills by allowing brain to respond to two different languages. Page | 5 References 1. â€Å"Bilingual children ‘better at problem-solving skills† 2012, Scotland (UK),United Kingdom, Scotland, viewed on 24th Nov 2012, ; http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19109883; 2. 3.CummingW(2005),† The capacity of the brain in learning multiple languages†, London Sage Dai, A,2012, It’s a Small World After All from, viewed 23 rd Nov 2012 http://www. thethunderproject. org/its-a-small-world-after-all/#more-1053 4. Genesee, F 2004, ‘What do we know about bilingual education for majority language students? ’, in TK Bhatia & W Ritchie (eds ), Handbook of bilingualism and multiculturalism, Blackwell, Malden, pp. 547576. 5. Hitti ,M,2004,†Being Bilingual Boosts Brain Power† MDHelth news, viewed 25 th Nov 2012 6. Lowry ,L, â€Å"Are Two Languages Better than One†, The Hanen Centre, viewed 24 th Nov 2012, ; http://www. anen. org/Helpful-Info/Our-Views-on-the-News/Are-Two-Languages-Better-Than-One. aspx; 7. â€Å"Language Learning and the Developing Brain† (1996, winter). Learning Languages, 1 (2), 17. 8. MarianV, Faroqi-Shah, Y, Kaushanskaya,M, H. K & & Sheng,L. 2009, â€Å"Bilingualism: Consequences for Language, Cognition, Development, and the Brain†, Asha Leader, vol. 14, no. 13,pp. 10-13, viewed 20th Nov 2012. 9. Mechelli, A. Nature, October 2004; vol 431: p 757 10. â€Å"The advantages of bilingualism in Canada† 2008, Canadian council on learning, viewed on 25 th Nov2012, Page | 6