Analysis Of Larry Grubbs s Workshop Of A Continent ...

Larry Grubbs s â€Å" Workshop of a Continent : American Representations of Whiteness and Modernity in 1960s South Africa† is aptly named given the material he discusses. Grubbs argues that when American observers discussed South Africa s modernity, the signs and symptoms of a modern country they looked for were actually symptoms of whiteness. He argued that whiteness and modernity were conflated by western observers, who he believed defined modernity as being similar to the United States.1 These observers were unable to explicitly state that whiteness was why they supported South Africa due to the pressures of the Cold War, and after the American Civil Rights movement during the 1960s American observers consistently condemned the apartheid system in South Africa.2 Even while condemning apartheid, official United States foreign policy and public opinion tacitly condoned its existence in order to maintain South Africa as a stabilizing element in Africa that would further US in terests for most of the Cold War. Grubbs first sought to establish a definition of whiteness and modernity, which he argued were both â€Å"imagined categories.†3 He argued that consumption was the primary vehicle where the concepts of whiteness and modernity had become conflated by American observers. According to Grubbs, consumerism, modernity, and whiteness were presumed to be universal and normative by the 1960s.4 American observers believed that consumption was an expression of a modern society, and

Socs315 Week 5 You Decide Essay - 1089 Words

The Disagreement: Lenora and Joshua When you are in a relationship, arguments or disagreements can arise. They can often trigger strong emotions that lead to hurtful words and uneasiness. If these conflicts are not resolved in a healthy way, resentment and a dissolved relationship could follow. However, when they are resolved in a proper manner, it could promote growth between the couple and fortify the bonds of their relationship (Conflict Resolution Skills). In the case between Lenora and Joshua, they are having a disagreement about Lenora returning to the workforce, now, when Christa is only 3 months old instead of waiting until Christa is 5 years old. To handle this situation properly, there are ten guidelines that can assist†¦show more content†¦Joshua must understand that Christa’s needs are not just Lenora’s responsibility. His participation is detrimental towards the development of their child. Guideline 4: Avoid Mixed, of Double Messages Leonora needs to mitigate criticizing Joshua on how his income doesn’t cover the monthly expenses. She should demonstrate that if she returned to work, the financial burden would be reduced. Joshua’s perspective on day care should be emphasized because it will produce an unnecessary expense. Furthermore, a large part of their income would result in the consumption of day care. Guideline 5: When You Can, Choose the Time and Place Carefully Lenora and Joshua should set time aside to discuss their conflict instead of randomly arguing over the same issues. By doing this, it gives each other time to put thoughts together instead of saying something that they don’t mean or is derogatory. Guideline 6: Address a Specific Issue, Ask for a Specific Change, and Be Open to Compromise Lenora needs to express her desire to go back to work because it will benefit both Christa and the family. But at the same time, Lenora should consider the affect it will have on her when she goes back to work. Maybe the solution could be to compromise with Joshua, to stay at home for one more year, to nurture Christa. Joshua should sympathize with her desire to go back to work for the positive effects it will have on the family’s welfare. He should analyze the

Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 14 Free Essays

string(79) " in the plaster mold, the only way to release it was to break off the plaster\." Chapter 14 Meanwhile, back at the hotel room, Raziel has given up his hopes to be a professional wrestler and has resumed his ambition to be Spider-Man. He made the decision after I pointed out that in Genesis, Jacob wrestles an angel and wins. In short, a human defeated an angel. We will write a custom essay sample on Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 14 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Raziel kept insisting that he didn’t remember that happening and I was tempted to bring the Gideon Bible in out of the bathroom and show him the reference, but I’ve just started reading the Gospel of Mark and I’d lose the book if the angel found out about it. I thought Matthew was bad, skipping right from Joshua’s birth to his baptism, but Mark doesn’t even bother with the birth. It’s as if Joshua springs forth full grown from the head of Zeus. (Okay, bad metaphor, but you know what I mean.) Mark begins with the baptism, at thirty! Where did these guys get these stories? â€Å"I once met a guy in a bar who knew a guy who’s sister’s best friend was at the baptism of Joshua bar Joseph of Nazareth, and here’s the story as best as he could remember it.† Well, at least Mark mentions me, once. And then it’s totally out of context, as if I was just sitting around doing nothing and Joshua happened by and asked me to tag along. And Mark tells of the demon named Legion. Yeah, I remember Legion. Compared to what Balthasar called up, Legion was a wuss. I asked Balthasar if he was smitten with me,† Joshua said over supper. â€Å"Oh no,† said Joy. We were eating in the girls’ quarters. It smelled really good and the girls would rub our shoulders while we ate. Just what we needed after a tough day of studying. â€Å"You weren’t supposed to let him know we were on to him. What did he say?† â€Å"He said that he’d just come off of a hard breakup and he wasn’t ready for a relationship because he just needed to spend a little time getting to know himself, but that he’d love it if we could just be friends.† â€Å"He lies,† said Joy. â€Å"He hasn’t had a breakup in a hundred years.† I said, â€Å"Josh, you are so gullible. Guys always lie about stuff like that. That’s the problem with your not being allowed to know women, it means you don’t understand the most fundamental nature of men.† â€Å"Which is?† â€Å"We’re lying pigs. We’ll say anything to get what we want.† â€Å"That’s true,† said Joy. The other girls nodded in agreement. â€Å"But,† said Josh, â€Å"the superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue, according to Confucius.† â€Å"Of course,† said I, â€Å"but the superior man can get laid without lying. I’m talking about the rest of us.† â€Å"So should I be worried about this trip he wants me to take with him?† Joy nodded gravely and the other girls nodded with her. â€Å"I don’t see why,† I said. â€Å"What trip?† â€Å"He says we’ll only be gone a couple of weeks. He wants to go to a temple at a city in the mountains. He believes that the temple was built by Solomon, it’s called the Temple of the Seal.† â€Å"And why do you have to go along?† â€Å"He wants to show me something.† â€Å"Uh-oh,† I said. â€Å"Uh-oh,† echoed the girls, not unlike a Greek chorus, except of course they were speaking Chinese. In the week leading up to Joshua and Balthasar’s departure, I managed to talk Pea Pods into taking on a huge risk during her shift in Balthasar’s bed. I picked Pea Pods not because she was the most athletic and nimble of the girls, which she was; nor because she was the lightest of foot and most stealthy, which she was also; but because she was the one who had taught me to make bronze castings of the Chinese characters that were the mark of my name (my chop), and she could be trusted to get the most accurate impression of the key that Balthasar wore on the chain around his neck. (Oh yes, there was a key to the ironclad door. Joy had let it slip where Balthasar kept it, but I was sure that she was too loyal to him to steal it. Pea Pods, on the other hand, was more fickle in her loyalties, and lately I had been spending a lot of time with her on and off.) â€Å"By the time you return, I’ll know what’s going on here,† I whispered to Joshua as he climbed onto his camel. â€Å"Find out what you can from Balthasar.† â€Å"I will. But be careful. Don’t do anything while I’m gone. I think this trip, whatever it is that we are going to see, has something to do with the house of doom.† â€Å"I’m just going to look around. You be careful.† The girls and I stood at the top of the plateau and waved until Joshua and the magus, leading the extra camel loaded with supplies, rode out of sight, then, one by one, we made our way down the rope ladder to the passageway in the cliff’s face. The entrance to the passageway, and the tunnel for perhaps thirty cubits, were just wide enough for one man to pass through if he stooped, and I always managed to bruise an elbow or a shoulder along the way, which allowed me to show off my ability to curse in four languages. By the time I got to the chamber of the elements, where we practiced the art of the Nine Elixirs, Pea Pods had the small furnace stoked to a red heat and was adding ingots of brass to a small stone crucible. From the wax impression we had made a wax duplicate of the key, from that we’d made a plaster mold, which we’d fired to melt out the wax. Now we’d have one chance to cast the key, because once the metal cooled in the plaster mold, the only way to release it was to break off the plaster. You read "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 14" in category "Essay examples" When we broke off the mold Pea Pods held the end of what looked like a brass dragon on a stick. â€Å"That’s some key,† I said. The only locks I’d ever seen were big bulky iron boys, nothing elegant enough for a key like this. â€Å"When are you going to use it?† asked Pea Pods. Her eyes went wide like those of an excited child. Times like that I almost fell in love with her, but fortunately I was always distracted by Joy’s sophistication, Pillow’s maternal fussing, Number Six’s dexterity, or any one of the other charms that were heaped upon me daily. I understood completely Balthasar’s strategy to keep from falling in love with any one of them. Joshua’s situation, on the other hand, was harder to figure, because he enjoyed spending time with the girls, trading stories from the Torah for legends of the storm dragons and the monkey king. He said that there was an innate kindness born in women that he’d never seen in a man, and he liked being around them. His strength in resisting their physical charms astounded me perhaps even more than the other miraculous things I’d seen him do over the years. I couldn’t relate to the act of raising someone fr om the dead, but turning down a beautiful woman, that took courage beyond my understanding. â€Å"I’ll take it from here,† I said to Pea Pods. I didn’t want her to be involved any further in case things didn’t turn out well. â€Å"When?† asked Pea Pods, meaning when would I attempt to open the door. â€Å"Tonight, when you have all gone to live in the world of pleasant dreams.† I tweaked her nose affectionately and she giggled. It was the last time I ever saw her in one piece. At night the halls of the fortress were lit by the ambient light from the moon and the stars that filtered in from the windows. Everywhere we went we carried a clay oil lamp which made the serpentine curves of the passageways seem even more like the inside of a huge creature as they swallowed up the dim orange light. After several years with Balthasar, I could find my way through the main living quarters of the fortress without any light at all, so I carried an unlit lamp with me until I had passed the girls’ quarters, stopping at the beaded doorway to listen for their gentle snores. Once I was well away from the girls’ door, I lit my lamp using one of the fire sticks that I’d invented using some of the same chemicals we used to make the explosive black powder. The fire stick made a soft pop as I struck it on the stone wall and I could swear I heard it echo from the hall up ahead. As I made my way to the ironclad door I could smell burning brimstone and I thought it strange that the smell of the fire stick had stayed with me. Then I saw Joy standing by the door holding an oil lamp and the charred remains of the fire stick she’d used to light it. â€Å"Let me see the key,† she said. â€Å"What key?† â€Å"Don’t be foolish. I saw what was left of the mold in the room of the elements.† I took the key from where I’d tucked it in my belt and handed it to Joy. She examined it by lamplight, turning it this way and that. â€Å"Pea Pods cast this,† she said matter-of-factly. â€Å"Did she take the impression as well?† I nodded. Joy didn’t seem angry, and Pea Pods was the only one of the girls skilled enough in metallurgy to have done the casting, so why deny it? â€Å"Getting the impression must have been the hard part,† Joy said. â€Å"Balthasar is fierce about guarding this key. I’ll have to ask her what she did to distract him. Could be a good thing to know, huh? For both of us.† She smiled seductively, then turned toward the door and pushed aside the brass plate that covered the keyhole. In that second I felt as if a frozen dagger had been dragged over my spine. â€Å"No!† I grabbed her hand. â€Å"Don’t.† I was overcome with a feeling of revulsion that wrenched my insides. â€Å"We can’t.† Joy smiled again and pushed my hand away. â€Å"I have seen many wondrous things since I came here, but there has never been anything that was harmful. You planned this, you must want to know what is in here as much as I do.† I wanted to stop her, I even tried to take the key away from her, but she grabbed my arm and pushed into a pressure point that made my whole left side go numb. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask, â€Å"Do you really want to try that, knowing what I can do to you?† And I stepped back. She put the dragon key into the lock and turned it three times. There was a clicking of machinery finer than anything I had ever heard, then she withdrew the key and shot the three heavy iron bolts. As she pulled the door open there was a rush of air, as if something had moved by us very quickly, and my lamp went out. Joshua told me what had happened later and I put the timing together myself. As Joy and I were opening the room they called the house of doom, Joshua and Balthasar were camped in the arid mountains of what is now Afghanistan. The night was crisp and the stars shone with a cold blue light like loneliness or infinity. They had eaten some bread and cheese, then settled in close to the fire to share the last of a flask of fortified wine, Balthasar’s second that evening. â€Å"Have I told you of the prophecy that sent me in search of you when you were born, Joshua?† â€Å"You spoke of the star. My mother told me of the star.† â€Å"Yes, the three of us followed that star, and by chance we met up in the mountains east of Kabul and finished the journey together, but the star wasn’t the reason we went, it was only our means of navigation. We made the journey because each of us was looking for something at the end.† â€Å"Me?† Joshua said. â€Å"Yes, but not just you, but what it is said was brought with you. In the temple where we travel now, there lies a set of clay tablets – very old – the priests say that they date back to the time of Solomon, and they foretell the coming of a child who will have power over evil and victory over death. They say he will carry the key to immortality.† â€Å"Me? Immortality? Nope.† â€Å"I think you do, you just don’t know it yet.† â€Å"Nope, I’m sure,† said Joshua. â€Å"It’s true that I have brought people back from the dead, but never for very long. I’ve gotten better at healing over the years, but my back-from-the-dead stuff still needs work. I need to learn more.† â€Å"Which is why I have taught you, and why I am taking you to the temple now, so you may read the tablets yourself, but you must have the power of immortality within you.† â€Å"No, really, I haven’t a clue.† â€Å"I am two hundred and sixty years old, Joshua.† â€Å"I’ve heard that, but I still can’t help you. You look good though, I mean for two hundred and sixty.† At this point Balthasar started to sound desperate. â€Å"Joshua, I know that you have power over evil. Biff has told me of you banishing demons in Antioch.† â€Å"Little ones,† Joshua said modestly. â€Å"You must have power over death as well or it does me no good.† â€Å"What I am able to do comes through my father, I didn’t bargain for it.† â€Å"Joshua, I am preserved by a pact with a demon. If you do not have the powers foretold in the prophecy I will never be free, I will never have peace, I will never have love. Every minute of my life I must have my will focused on controlling the demon. Should my will fail, the destruction would be unlike anything the world has ever seen.† â€Å"I know how it is. I’m not allowed to know a woman,† Joshua said. â€Å"Although it was an angel that told me, not a demon. But still, you know, it’s hard sometimes. I really like your concubines. The other night Pillows was giving me a back rub after a long day of studying, and I started getting this massive – â€Å" â€Å"By the Golden Tenderloin of the Calf!† Balthasar exclaimed, leaping to his feet, his eyes wide with terror. The old man began loading his camel, thrashing around in the darkness like a madman. Joshua was following him, trying to calm him down, fearing he might have a fit any second. â€Å"What? What?† â€Å"It is out!† the magus said. â€Å"Help me pack up. We must go back. The demon is out.† I stood cringing in the dark, waiting for disaster to fall, for mayhem to reign, for pain and pestilence and no good to manifest, then Joy struck a fire stick and lit our lamps. We were alone. The iron door hung open into a very small room, it too lined with iron. The entire room was just big enough to contain a small bed and a chair. Every span of the black iron walls was inlaid with golden symbols: pentagrams and hex symbols and a dozen others I had never seen before. Joy held her lamp close to the wall. â€Å"These are symbols of containment,† Joy said. â€Å"I used to hear voices coming from in here.† â€Å"There was nothing in here when I opened the door. I could see in the second before the lamp blew out.† â€Å"Then what blew it out?† â€Å"The wind?† â€Å"I don’t think so. I felt something brush me as it passed.† Just then someone in the girls’ quarters screamed, then a chorus of screams joined in, primal screams of absolute terror and pain. Instantly Joy’s eyes filled with tears. â€Å"What have I done?† I took her sleeve and dragged her down the passage toward the girls’ quarters, snatching up two heavy lances that were supporting a tapestry as we passed and handing one to her. As we rounded the curves I could see an orange light ahead and soon I could see that it was fire blazing on the stone walls from broken oil lamps. The screaming was reaching a higher pitch, but every few seconds a voice was removed from the chorus, until there was only one. As we approached the beaded doorway into the concubines’ chamber the screaming stopped and a severed human head rolled in front of us. The creature stepped through the curtain, oblivious to the flames that licked the walls around it, its massive body filling the passageway, the reptilian skin on its shoulders and its tall pointed ears grating against the walls and ceiling. In its talonlike hand it held the bloody torso of one of the girls. â€Å"Hey, kid,† it said, its voice like a sword point dragged across stone, a yellow light coming from behind its dinner-plate-sized cat’s eyes, â€Å"it took you long enough.† As they rode back to the fortress, Balthasar explained to Joshua about the demon: â€Å"His name is Catch, and he is a demon of the twenty-seventh order, a destroyer angel before the fall. As far as I could tell, he was first called up to assist Solomon in building the great temple, but something got out of hand and with the help of a djinn, Solomon was able to send the demon back to hell. I found the seal of Solomon and the incantation for raising the demon almost two hundred years ago in the Temple of the Seal.† â€Å"Oh,† Joshua said, â€Å"so that’s why they call it that. I thought it had something to do with one of the barky sea animals.† â€Å"I had to become an acolyte and study with the priests there for years before I was allowed access to the seal, but what is a few years against immortality. I was given immortality, but only so long as the demon walks the earth. And as long as he is on earth he must be fed, Joshua. That’s the curse that goes with being this destroyer’s master. He must be fed.† â€Å"I don’t understand, he feeds on your will?† â€Å"No, he feeds on human beings. It is only my will that keeps him in check, or it was until I was able to build the iron room and put golden symbols on the wall that would hold the demon. I’ve been able to keep him in the fortress I made him build for twenty years now, and it has been some respite. Until then he was with me every minute, everywhere I went.† â€Å"Didn’t that attract enemies to you?† â€Å"No. Unless he is in his eating form, I am the only one who can see Catch. In his noneating form he’s small, the size of a child, and he can do little harm (except for being incredibly irritating). When he feeds, however, he’s fully ten cubits tall, and he can tear a man in half with the swipe of his claw. No, enemies are not a problem, Joshua. Why do you think there are no guards at the fortress? In those years before the girls came to live there, some bandits attacked. What happened to them is legend now in Kabul, and no one has tried since. The problem is that if my will were to fail, he would be set loose again on the world as he was in the time of Solomon. I don’t know what could stop him.† â€Å"And you can’t send him back to hell?† Joshua asked. â€Å"I can with the seal and the right incantation, which is why I was going to the Temple of the Seal. Which is why you are here. If you are the Messiah predicted in Isaiah, and on the clay tablets in the temple, then you are the direct descendant of David, and therefore Solomon. I believe that you can send the demon back and keep me from suffering the fate of his return.† â€Å"Why, what happens to you if he is sent back to hell?† â€Å"I will assume the aspect of my true age. Which I would guess, by this time, would be dust. But you have the gift of immortality. You can stop that from happening.† â€Å"So this demon from hell is loose, and we are returning to the fortress without the Seal of Solomon or this incantation to do exactly what?† â€Å"I hope to bring him back under control of my will. The room has always held him before. I didn’t know, I truly didn’t know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Know what?† â€Å"That my will had been broken by my feelings for you.† â€Å"You love me?† â€Å"How was I to know?† The magus sighed. And Joshua laughed here, despite the dire circumstances. â€Å"Of course you do, but it is not me, it’s what I represent. I am not sure yet what I am to do, but I know that I am here in the name of my father. You love life so much that you would brave hell to hold on to it, it’s only natural that you would love the one who gave you that life.† â€Å"Then you can banish the demon and preserve my life?† â€Å"Of course not, I’m just saying that I understand how you feel.† I don’t know where she found the strength, but the diminutive Joy came from behind me and hurled the heavy lance with as much power as any soldier. (I felt my own knees starting to buckle in the face of the demon.) The bronze tip of the lance seemed to find its way between two of the monster’s armored chest scales and drove itself a span deep under the weight of the heavy shaft. The demon gasped, and roared, opening his massive maw to show rows of saw-edged teeth. He grabbed the shaft of the lance and attempted to pull it out, his huge biceps quivering with the strain. He looked sadly down at the spear, then at Joy, and said, â€Å"Oh, foul woe upon you, you have kilt me most dead,† then he fell back and the floor shook with the impact of his huge body. â€Å"What’d he say, what’d he say?† Joy asked, digging her nails into my shoulder. The demon had spoken in Hebrew. â€Å"He said that you killed him.† â€Å"Well, duh,† said the concubine. (Strangely enough, â€Å"duh† sounds exactly the same in all languages.) I had started to inch forward to see if anyone was still alive in the girls’ quarters when the demon sat up. â€Å"Just kidding,† he said. â€Å"I’m not kilt.† And he plucked the spear from his chest with less effort than it might take to brush away a fly. I threw my own lance, but didn’t wait to see where it hit. I grabbed Joy and ran. â€Å"Where?† she said. â€Å"Far,† I said. â€Å"No,† she said, grabbing my tunic and jerking me around a corner, causing me to nearly coldcock myself on the wall. â€Å"To the cliff passage.† We were in total darkness now, neither one of us having thought to grab a lamp, and I was trusting my life to Joy’s memory of these stone halls. As we ran we could hear the demon’s scales scraping the walls and the occasional curse in Hebrew as he found a low ceiling. Perhaps he could see in the dark somewhat, but not a lot better than we could. â€Å"Duck,† Joy said, pushing my head down as we entered the narrow passage that led to the cliff above. I crouched in this passage the way the monster had to crouch to move in the normal-sized halls and I suddenly realized the brilliance of Joy’s choice in taking this route. We were just seeing the moonlight breaking in through the opening in the cliff’s face when I heard the monster hit the bottleneck of the passage. â€Å"Fuck! Ouch! You weasels! I’m going to crunch your little heads between my teeth like candied dates.† â€Å"What’d he say?† asked Joy. â€Å"He says that you are a sweet of uncommon delicacy.† â€Å"He did not say that.† â€Å"Believe me, my translation is as close as you want to the truth.† I heard a horrible scraping noise from inside the passage as we climbed out on the ledge and up the rope ladder to the top of the plateau. Joy helped me up, then pulled the ladder up behind us. We ran to the stable where the camel saddles and other supplies were normally kept. There were only the three camels that Joshua and Balthasar had taken, and no horses, so I couldn’t figure out why we were taking the time to stop until I saw Joy filling two water skins at the cistern behind the stable. â€Å"We’ll never make it to Kabul without water,† Joy said. â€Å"And what happens when we make it to Kabul? Can anyone there help? What in the hell is that thing?† â€Å"If I knew, would I have opened that door?† She was remarkably calm for someone who had just lost her friends to a hideous beast. â€Å"I guess not. But I didn’t see it come out of there. I felt something, but nothing that size.† â€Å"Act, Biff, don’t think. Act.† She handed me a water skin and I held it in the cistern, trying to listen for the sound of the monster over the bubbles as it filled. All I could hear was the occasional bleating of the goats and the sound of my own pulse in my ears. Joy corked her water skin, then went about opening the pig and goat pens, shooing the animals out onto the plateau. â€Å"Let’s go!† she shouted to me. She took off down the path toward the hidden road. I pulled the water skin from the cistern and followed as quickly as I could. There was enough moonlight to make traveling fairly easy, but since I hadn’t even seen the road in daylight, I didn’t want to try to negotiate its deadly cutbacks at night without a guide. We had almost made the first leg of the road when we heard a hideous wailing and something heavy landed in the dust in front of us. When I could get my breath again I stepped up to find the bloodied carcass of a goat. â€Å"There,† Joy said, pointing down the mountainside to something moving among the rocks. Then it looked up at us and there was no mistaking the glowing yellow eyes. â€Å"Back,† Joy said, pulling me back from the road. â€Å"Is that the only way down?† â€Å"That or diving off the edge. It’s a fortress, remember – it’s not supposed to be easy to get in and out of.† We made our way back to the rope ladder, tossed it over the side, and started down. As Joy made it to the ledge and ducked into the cave something heavy hit me on the right shoulder. My arm went numb with the impact and I let go of the ladder. Mercifully, my feet had tangled in the rungs as I fell, and I found myself hanging upside down looking into the cave entrance where Joy stood. I could hear the terrified goat that had hit me screaming as it fell into the abyss, then there was a distant thump and the screaming stopped. â€Å"Hey, kid, you’re a Jew, aren’t you?† said the monster from above. â€Å"None of your business,† I said. Joy grabbed the ladder and pulled me inside the cave, ladder and all, just as another goat came screaming past. I fell on my face in the dust and sputtered, trying to breathe and spit at the same time. â€Å"It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten a Jew. A good Jew sticks to your ribs. That’s the problem with Chinese, you eat six or seven of them and in a half hour you’re hungry again. No offense, miss.† â€Å"What’d he say?† Joy asked. â€Å"He says he likes kosher food. Will that ladder hold him?† â€Å"I made it myself.† â€Å"Swell,† I said. We heard the ropes creak with the strain as the monster climbed onto the ladder. How to cite Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 14, Essay examples

Competitive Strategy Tan Framework Organisation

Question: Describe about the Competitive Strategy for Tan Framework Organisation. Answer: Introduction The Adaptation Aggregation Arbitrage (AAA) framework takes about the various aspect of tan organization. The adaptation talks about the adapting to the changes of the environment and the market. The adaptation will help the organization to stay ahead of the competitors. The aggregation talks about the profit made by an organization. If the profit is more than the production rate of the organization, then the aggregation is said to be good for the organization. The merging and the acquisitions of an organization can be considered under arbitrage. If the organization has merged with another organization or has sold certain parts of the company for the enhancement of the business, then it will help in understand the arbitrage of the organization. In the present write-up, four companies will be evaluated on the basis of the AAA framework. The companies, Wesfarmers Woolworths have been chosen to measure the AAA framework of the retail industry. On the other hand, Zicasso and Australia One have been chosen to get idea about the AAA framework of tourism industry. The companies will be studied individually on the basis of AAA framework. The positive and the negative aspects of the organizations as analysed in the AAA framework will give an idea about the current position of the organizations as well as the industry. Retail industry Wesfarmers Adaptation The adaptation by Wesfarmers mainly focuses in the stakeholders. They have deiced to focus in the suggestions of the stakeholders to carry out they business. the list of stakeholders for Wesfarmers are Employees, Customers, Contractors, Suppliers, partners in business, Government andregulatory authorities, Local communities, Neighbors, Unions, Media, Industry associations, local Indigenous communities and Traditional Owners and Interest groups. They have adhered to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), where the organization mainly focuses on the reports that will help in enhancement of the business as well as the stakeholders (wesresources.com.au 2015). Thus, they have focused on the people who are associated with the organization. The organization has decided that better than focusing on the products, if they focus and adapt to the demands of the stakeholders they will be able to gain more from the market. They will be able to get an idea where they are underperforming and can wor k on those areas. Aggregation Wesfarmers suffered a loss in net profit in the year 2016. It has been seen that the net profit of Wesfarmers has been down by 83.3 percent, which amounts to a fall of $40.7 million (NewsComAu 2016). Even though, the organization has been able to gain in the revenue, which has been up by 5.7 percent, a total of $66 billion. The final divided of the company is 95 percent, which shows a downfall of $1.11. Even though Coles and Bunnings have showed a strong sale, target has been the weak performer put of all. Thus, Wesfarmers suffered a negative economic aggregation. The production is high, yet they have not been able to gain the profit in the similar manner. Arbitrage The arbitrage by Wesfarmers has helped the organization not just in enhancement in business in the homeland but also in the international locations. Wesfarmers is buying Homebase, a part of home retail group. The deal between Home Retail Group and Wesfarmers has been sealed by an amount of 340 million (Armstrong 2016). Argos, which is a brand owned by home retail group, will be now bidden by Sainsbury. On the other hand, Wesfarmers has asked Home Retail Group to remove the concessions that are given by Argos from the stores of Homebase. Removal of Argos from the stores of Homebase will reduce the profit of Argos by 10 million. For Wesfarmers, the buying of Homebase will be huge step towards spreading its business in the UK market and acquire more such business in the UK market in future. Woolworths Adaptation Adaptation to the natural environment is the best possible method that any organization can adhere to. Woolworths understood the importance of adaptation. The managers of Woolworths understood that if they pick up a change early it would help in enhancement of the business. They focus on fresh production of the baked items, the diary products and the delicatessens. They took initiative to reduce the labor components as well. Woolworths has adopted the technological developments so the labor components can be reduced in the distribution system. The technological system has helped Woolworths to save $4.5 billion in the operations (Sykes and Crawford 2012). Thus, it can be seen that adaptation is not limited to the environmental perspective, it is also applicable to proper management of the employees as far as the human resource management is concerned. Aggregation As far as the aggregation is concerned, Woolworths suffered a loss in the years 2016. The organization has suffered a loss of $1.235 billion (Chung 2016). The amount has resulted in a loss of 40.8 percent. The loss that Woolworths have faced in the year 2016 has been the highest loss for the organization in the past 23 years. The calculation of profit that has been dine in the first 52 week of the years 2016 has shown a steep downfall from the profit that has been gained in the year 2015, which had amounted to $2.146 billion. Arbitrage Arbitrage cannot be achieved just by buying new business or merging with any new organization, the organization should know when to sell the assets to gain the arbitrage. Woolworths sold the property of Masters Chain and gained $1.5 million in the home improvement department (Pash 2016). However, Woolworths have said that it will shift the employees who are working for the Masters department in other departments of the organization. If they are unable to provide the job, the will give full redundancy. Due to the business with masters, Woolworths have suffered a loss of $972.7 million in the starting of the financial year. Thus, it can be seen that arbitrage can involve selling for the enhancement of the business. The selling of Masters Chain can be termed as the economic arbitrage. The loss suffered by Woolworths in the starting of the year 2016 has resulted in the negative economic arbitrage of the organization. It can be called negative mainly because of the fact that it has sold t he product. Tourism industry Zicasso Adaptation The adaptation by Zicasso goes out from the real world and enters the world of fiction to attract the tourists. Since the starting of 2016, people were talking about the sixth season of game of thrones. The immense popularity of the show has made Zicasso to launch its new tour package designed after the game of thrones saga. The new tour package is for duration of 12 days and is named Gameof ThronesSeason 6 TourofSpain (Robb Report 2016). It will be a treat for the fans of game of throne and the lovers of history. The tour will take the tourists to the locations where then filming of Game of Thrones has taken place. Zicasso has focuses on innovation while thinking about this type of innovation in the market. The tour package has been priced $8,399 for each person and the bookings will be done based on double occupancy. Arbitrage The arbitrage by Zicasso can be understood when Zicasso merged with select Italy to give the customers a new level of luxury travel (Travelagentcentral.com 2016). When on hand, Zicasso specializes making personalized travel packages for the customers; on the other hand, Select Italy specializes in the online travel packages. The arbitrage by Zicasso is expected to give the customer the luxury of personalize tour packages along with the ease of online booking. At times, the online users get confused while booking for the tour packages, the expert advice will help the customers to get the most out of the tours by booking online (Ruhanen, Mclennan and Moyle 2013). It will help both Zicasso and select Italy to excel in their domain and satisfy the customers with the help of each other. The decision by Zicasso will be helpful in future and make their online presence strong in the market (Hughes 2013). Aggregation Zicasso specializes in personalized tour packages for the customers. As a result, it has been prepared with all kind of tour packages that will suit the taste and preference of the customers. Hence, the production rate is high for the organization. In spite of high production, one of the websites has reported that the daily income of Zicasso is $ 227.00 (Statvoo.com 2016). Thus, it can be seen that the aggregation rate of Zicasso is quite high. It has been able to keep up a strong daily income in spite of producing different kinds of products as per the demands of the customers (Morrison 2013). Australia one Adaptation Australia One may not be as famous as Zicasso in the market of Australia, yet it is not behind when it come to adaptation for the growth of the business. Even though the main base for business is in Australia, yet it has as strong network in the United Kingdom and takes proper measures to keep its base in the United Kingdom strong. It has assigned a tour operator in both New Zealand as well as Australia. It has kept one of the team members who is responsible for looking after the business in Italy, France and the United Kingdom. The member is responsible to arrange for stalls and promote the company in any travel fair. The member is responsible to meet the customers from Europe. The member has helped Australia one to adapt to the taste and preference of the customers in Europe. Aggregation Australia One has made its presence felt not only in Australia but also in other continents. Even though, it has strong contenders, the long list of suppliers is the proof that the aggregation rate of the company is high (Dredge and Jamal 2013). Arbitrage Australia One makes sure that their customers get the best of experience and hence, the arbitrage of Australia One says that they have tied up with some of the best suppliers in the market. Australia has a list of preferred suppliers, which helps the organization to satisfy the customers (Australiaone.com.au 2016). Some of the preferred suppliers are: Choice Fitzroy Island Intesislander AATkings Coral Sea Gray line Sealink De Vere Hotel Captain cook Cruises Down under tours Mantra group The partners of Australia One will be helpful for the organizations to stay ahead in the competition (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully 2013). The tourism industry is already going strong (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013). As a result it has become important for Australia One to maintain a strong arbitrage. Conclusion The write-up evaluates four companies on the based on the AAA framework. The AAA framework helped in understanding various aspects of the companies and the way those companies are working in the market of Australia. It has been seen that retailers Wesfarmers and Woolworths adapted themselves as per the stakeholder and sustainable business respectively. As far as the aggregation is concerned, both Wesfarmers and Woolworths have suffered a loss in the year 2016. When it comes to the arbitrage, Wesfarmers bought Homebase from Home Retail Group and Woolworths sold Masters Chain. Hence, it can be seen that both buying and selling can help an organization to enhance their business. it can be concluded that the aggregation is negative for the retail industry. On the other hand, the retail industry has adapted well and have progressed well with the arbitrage. The adaptation power of Zicasso and Australia One is high when on one hand Zicasso adapted tom the fictional world and gave the tourists the taste of game of thrones, on the other hand, Australia One sends its employees to Europe to adapt to the taste and preference of all kinds of people. The arbitrage is also strong for both the organizations. Zicasso tied up with the Select Italy to give the customers the ease of online booking and luxury of personalized tours. Australia One has some of the selected suppliers who help the organization perform well in the market. The aggregation rate for both the organizations is high and hence, as per the AAA framework the tourism industry is going strong in Australia. References Armstrong, A. 2016.Home Retail in 340m talks to sell Homebase to Australia's Wesfarmers. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/12098432/Home-Retail-in-340m-talks-to-sell-Homebase-to-Australias-Wesfarmers.html [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016]. Australiaone.com.au, 2016. Australia One - Australian New Zealand Inbound Tour Operator Wholesalers Wholesalers Testimonials. [online] Australiaone.com.au. Available at: https://www.australiaone.com.au/Wholesalers/WholesalersTestimonials.aspx [Accessed 12 Sep. 2016]. Chung, F. 2016.Woolworths unveils $1.235 billion loss. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/woolworths-unveils-1235-billion-loss/news-story/5a6cd1f33658f536b47d95b305c5bc67 [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016]. Dredge, D. and Jamal, T., 2013. Mobilities on the Gold Coast, Australia: Implications for destination governance and sustainable tourism.Journal of Sustainable Tourism,21(4), pp.557-579. Hughes, H., 2013.Arts, entertainment and tourism. Taylor Francis. Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013.Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Routledge. Morrison, A.M., 2013.Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge. NewsComAu, 2016.Wesfarmers takes $2 billion hit. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/wesfarmers-fullyear-profit-drops-833-per-cent-on-2-billion-writedown/news-story/ca70aa1e16fbe1824a5376a975a0d387 [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016]. Pash, C. 2016.Woolworths shuts Masters, sells the property, and now 7700 jobs are on the line. [online] Businessinsider.com.au. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/woolworths-is-about-to-announce-a-deal-on-its-masters-business-2016-8 [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016]. Robb Report, 2016.Tour Game of Thrones Locations in Spain With Zicasso. [online] The Best Luxury Cars, Jets, Yachts, Travel, Watches | Robb Report. Available at: https://robbreport.com/LuxuryNewswire/luxury-travel/tour-game-thrones-locations-spain-zicasso [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016]. Ruhanen, L. and Shakeela, A., 2013. Responding to climate change: Australian tourism industry perspectives on current challenges and future directions.Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research,18(1-2), pp.35-51. Ruhanen, L.M., Mclennan, C.L.J. and Moyle, B.D., 2013. Strategic issues in the Australian tourism industry: A 10-year analysis of national strategies and plans.Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research,18(3), pp.220-240. Statvoo.com, 2016. Zicasso.com Information Review and Overview Report - zicasso.com is worth $ 163,440.00 - Statvoo - Discover everything about a website. [online] Statvoo.com. Available at: https://statvoo.com/website/zicasso.com [Accessed 10 Sep. 2016]. Sykes, D. and Crawford, K. 2012.Get going with business. 2nd ed. redpeg.com.au, pp.55-63. Travelagentcentral.com, 2016.Zicasso and Select Italy Team Up to Expand Luxury Travel | Travel Agent Central. [online] Travelagentcentral.com. Available at: https://www.travelagentcentral.com/technology/zicasso-and-select-italy-team-up-expand-luxury-travel-28513 [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016]. wesresources.com.au, 2015.Wesfarmers Resources Sustainibility Report 2015. [online] https://www.wesresources.com.au/. Available at: https://www.wesresources.com.au/sustainability_report_2015/ [Accessed 9 Sep. 2016].

Kelly Johnston Essays (256 words) - American Literature, Literature

Kelly Johnston Ms. Nicola Thomas ENG3UE-26 August 1, 2018 Oppression - Langston Hughes In the poem "Oppression" written by Langston Hughes the writer gives us incite about his views on the topics of oppression and emancipation. During the poem the writer shows that no matter how bad things get and how unfair you are being treated someday you will persevere though it all. Hughes writes: Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers Nor songs To the singers. (Hughes 1 - 5) This shows the readers that people are not being given rightful treatment in society and even though people have rights they are not being appointed them. Hughes also says: In some lands Dark night And cold steel Prevail (Hughes 6 - 9) When Hughes writes this, he enables the readers to see that regardless of who you are sometimes you will still be treated unjust and that a lot of people in the world are not being given rightful treatment making their lives a lot harder. Finally, at the end of the poem the author says: But the dream Will come back And the song Break Its jail (Hughes 10 - 15) The author is allowing the readers to understand that no matter how bad things get, that things can get better. In the last statement, Hughes is referring to emancipation displaying that you can become free from the unjust treatment. Works Cited Hughes, Langston, "Oppression" https://tdsb.elearningontario.ca/content/EL_ENG_ENG3UE-26BCC3_2018-07-17__1718ASS/eng3up/ENG3UPU01/ENG3UPU01A01/docs/Oppression_Poem_Hughes_Activity_One.pdf?_d2lSessionVal=bLZHuc6wEY4fmjTPnj6YmE0Juou=12379002

Group Areas Act No. 41 of 1950

Group Areas Act No. 41 of 1950 On April 27, 1950, the Group Areas Act No. 41 was passed by the apartheid government of South Africa. As a system, apartheid used long-established race classifications to maintain the dominance of the colonial occupation of the country. The primary purpose of apartheid laws was to promote the superiority of whites and to establish and elevate the minority white regime. A suite of legislative laws was passed to accomplish this, including Group Areas Act No. 41, as well as the Land Act of 1913, the Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 and the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950: all of these were created to separate the races and subjugate nonwhite people. South African race categories were set up within a few decades after the discovery of diamonds and gold in the country during the mid-19th century: native-born Africans (Blacks, but also called kaffirs or Bantu), Europeans or European-descended (Whites or Boers), Asians (Indians) and mixed raced (Coloured). The 1960 South African census showed that 68.3% of the population were African, 19.3% were White, 9.4% Coloured, and 3.0% Indian. Restrictions of the Group Areas Act No. 41 The Group Areas Act No 41 forced physical separation and segregation between races by creating different residential areas for each race. Implementation started in 1954 when people were first forcibly removed from living in wrong areas, leading to the destruction of communities. The Act also restricted ownership and the occupation of land to groups as permitted, meaning that Africans could neither own nor occupy land in European areas. The law was also supposed to apply in reverse, but the result was that land under black ownership was taken by the government for use by whites only. The government set aside ten homelands for relocated non-white residents, mostly scattered bits of unwanted territories, based on ethnicity among the black communities. These homelands were granted independence with limited self-rule, the main purpose of which was to delete the homeland residents as citizens of South Africa, and cut back on the governments responsibility for providing housing, hospitals, schools, electricity, and water supplies. Implications However, the Africans were a significant economic source in South Africa, in particular as a labor force in the cities. Pass Laws were established to require non-whites to carry passbooks, and later reference books (similar to passports) to be eligible to enter the white parts of the country. Workers hostels were established to accommodate temporary workers, but between 1967 and 1976, the South African government simply stopped building homes for Africans at all, leading to severe housing shortages. The Group Areas Act allowed for the infamous destruction of Sophiatown, a suburb of Johannesburg. In February 1955, 2,000 policemen began removing Sophiatown residents to Meadowlands, Soweto and established the suburb as an area for whites only, newly called Triomf (Victory). In some cases, the nonwhites were loaded onto trucks and dumped into the bush to fend for themselves.   There were serious consequences for people who didnt comply with the Group Areas Act. People found in violation could receive a fine of up to two hundred pounds, prison for up to two years, or both. If they didnt comply with forced eviction, they could be fined sixty pounds or face six months in prison. Effects of the Group Areas Act Citizens tried to use the courts to overturn the Group Areas Act, though they were unsuccessful each time. Others decided to stage protests and engage in civil disobedience, such as sit-ins at restaurants, which took place across South Africa during the early 1960s. The Act hugely affected communities and citizens across South Africa. By 1983, more than 600,000 people had been removed from their homes and relocated. Colored people suffered significantly because housing for them was often postponed because plans for zoning were primarily focused on races, not mixed races. The Group Areas Act also hit Indian South Africans especially hard because many of them resided in other ethnic communities as landlords and traders. In 1963, approximately a quarter of Indian men and women in the country were employed as traders. The National Government turned a deaf ear to the protests of the Indian citizens: in 1977, the Minister of Community Development said that he wasnt aware of any cases instances in which Indian traders who were resettled that didnt like their new homes. Repeal and Legacy The Group Areas Act was repealed by President Frederick Willem de Klerk on April 9, 1990. After apartheid ended in 1994, the new African National Congress (ANC) government headed by Nelson Mandela was faced with an enormous housing backlog. More than 1.5 million homes and apartments in the urban areas were located in informal settlements without property titles. Millions of people in rural areas lived in terrible conditions, and urban blacks resided in hostels and shacks. The ANC government promised to build one million homes within five years, but most of them were of necessity located in developments on the outskirts of cities, which have tended to sustain existing spatial segregation and inequality. Great strides have been undertaken in the decades since apartheid ended, and today South Africa is a modern country, with an advanced highway system and modern homes and apartment buildings in the cities available to all residents. While nearly half of the population was without formal housing in 1996, by 2011, 80 percent of the population had a home. But the scars of inequality remain.   Sources Bickford-Smith, Vivian. Urban History in the New South Africa: Continuity and Innovation since the End of Apartheid. Urban History 35.2 (2008): 288–315. Print.Christopher, A.J.  Apartheid Planning in South Africa: The Case of Port Elizabeth. The Geographical Journal 153.2 (1987): 195–204. Print.-. Urban Segregation in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Urban Studies 38.3 (2001): 449–66. Print.Clark, Nancy L., and William H. Worger. South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2016. Print.Maharaj, Brij. Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa. Urban Geography 18.2 (1997): 135–54. Print.-. The Group Areas Act and Community Destruction in South Africa. Urban Forum 5.2 (1994): 1–25. Print.Newton, Caroline, and Nick Schuermans. More Than Twenty Years after the Repeal of the Group Areas Act: Housing, Spatial Planning and Urban Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Jour nal of Housing and the Built Environment 28.4 (2013): 579–87. Print.

Managing Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Organisations - Essay Example ld help an organisation handle stress and health and safety at workplace; and economics would provide theories applicable in labour market dynamics and productivity. Managers, even the highly educated would always be seeking for universal, simple management solutions which do not exist because the contingency theory defines each situation need with its unique approach (Pettus, Kor & Mahoney 2009). According to Searle (2003), organisational psychology employs scientifically-based principles in psychology and research methods in the identification and solving of problems at work places. It aims at giving managers the insights into understanding and measuring human behaviour so as to improve employee satisfaction, increase the ability of managers to identify and promote best performers and make the working conditions better. These would be achieved through creation of tests and understanding the evaluation of human factors. According to the expectancy theory, one of the motivation psychological theories, the first step towards the attainment of superior performance from an employee would be through expectancy which describes the level to which an employee perceives that application of sufficient effort would yield successful achievement in a task (Searle 2003). In the second step, referred to as instrumentality, the employee’s concern would be whether successful achievement in a task would yield rewards. Finally, the employees’ value of the reward would also be considered. As a matter of fact, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD (2005) points out at the equity theory which suggests that an employee would always compare oneself to other employees according to the contributions made and the reward received. Maslow also contributed to this discussion by defining the work environment and motivational effects where the scholar argued that several critical needs would be fulfilled through work, giving the hierarchy of these needs (Luthans et al.

Comparison between US and UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparison between US and UK - Essay Example Similarities lie in the way decisions are made economically, in the United States of America, decisions related to economic policies are made by the central bank, by the Federal Reserve Committee, headed by the Federal Reserve chairman. These decisions heavily rely on macro-level economic data, factors such as real estate trends, rates of inflation, patterns of economic growth and home values are indicators that are commonly used. The federal funds' rate is set by the central bank, consequently influencing the rates for consumer and business accounts for savings and loan. Monetary policies are majorly concerned with balancing healthy growth and reduced inflation, or increased prices. This is one of the ways the government tries to control the economy. The fast growth rate of inflation is as a consequence of increased money supply, and when inflation is down this means money supply is down. Generally, the US inflation target is set to maintain the steadiness of the inflation, which sh ould be between 2-3% (GÃ ¤rtner 46). The UK monetary policy is set in almost a similar fashion. It is set by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the bank of England. Though they are independent in setting the interest rates that will consequently influence the interest rates for savings and loans for individuals and businesses, they must put to consideration governments inflation target. The policy is key in influencing the spending of consumer and Aggregate Demand (AD).

Any topc about flying by Olga Mukhina Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Any topc about flying by Olga Mukhina - Essay Example This scene is to be analyzed in relation to the treatment or depiction of time. The scene actually was first described in Part Two of the play entitled Awe (Mukina, 2004, p. 55) where Blizzard, described as the VJ and streetfighting man, alleged that he has to go someplace for an interview. While he was looking for his car, which was a white Lexus, he was approached by Volodya, a character that Blizzard recognized to have seen somewhere. The reader could surmise that their initial encounter was actually at the cafà © where the group initially met Bushy-Tail, the 17-year old waitress. It was in this cafà © where Volodya apparently gave a suspicious glance at Blizzard for making advances to Bushy-Tail, whom Volodya was intently observing. As this, one recognized that there must have been some previous drug activities that Volodya was already apparently observing where Blizzard could have been identified as involved. Therefore, the setting and time element were clearly depicted to be related and where events were apparently intertwined. Due to the suspicion for Blizzard’s apparent involvement in drug activities, he was further searched in his apartment by Volodya and in the presence of Blizzard’s friends: Orangina and Snowstorm. It was in this setting where Volodya found several more evidences of drugs and when the opportune time was noted, when the door to the hallway that traversed to Orangina’s apartment was seen, Blizzard evidently rushed outside of the window and it was at this moment that it was described that he was actually flying. The description of that particular moment seemed to be unrealistic since the moment seemed like eternity. The manner by which the event seemed to be prolonged was the author’s style of describing separate events and situations which go back and forth like a broken continuum. It was during Blizzard’s supposed flight when it was likewise vividly narrated that a dog, named Yo-Yo, supposedly observed

The Differences Between CMM And CMMI

The Differences Between CMM And CMMI The recent attitude of the organisations to make the products complex in order survive the competitors, made them to employ software in their organisations. However, the community of information systems known for its poor product quality made them to research the methods to improve its efficiency. This led them to discover that the focus was needed more on the processes which in turn led to improve the quality of the software products. The process when used it an efficient way can make the organisations maintain the consistency and help to achieve their mission. Many models and programmes described the ways to improve the product quality. Of those, The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) found by SEI, in 1984, gave a clear sight to the organisations the efficient way to improve the process. Later, it was found that it can be employed in other fields too and thereafter it was employed to improve business processes. However this method had some drawbacks and those were superseded by the Ca pability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). This essay portrait the key differences between these models and describes the effectiveness of using CMMI. 2. Differences between CMM and CMMI 2.1 CMM Overview The first CMM, developed in 1990, was developed for the purpose to improve the process in software development [1]. This model proved to be a successful one and thereof, it became a generalised model for improving the processes other than SW development process like software engineering, system engineering, software maintenance, software management, risk management and also being employed in other industries, governments, organisations and also for business process improvement [1]. Fig.1 CMM Maturity Levels [2] The CMM for Software (SW-CMM) is a framework that provides the way to manage a process effectively. It is a stair-cased structure wherein each step is a maturity level describing the current capability of the process. It tells where the processes are. The CMM scales the organisation from 1 to 5 based on the KPAs achieved by the organisations. Fig. 2.2 Structure of the CMM [3] As shown in the figure 2, each maturity level defines the process capability at that stage and contains (other than Initial) Key Process Areas (KPA) defined of goals to be achieved. Each KPA has certain key practices that are to be strictly followed to achieve the goals. These key practices are arranged as groups (Common features) consisting infrastructure and implementation. 2.2 CMMI Overview à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"CMMI is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization.à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚  [4]. Both CMM and CMMI have the same five maturity levels. In CMMI, each process area has specific goals and generic goals that define the generic and specific practices respectively. Fig.3.1 CMMI Structure [5] There are two types of approaches à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ staged and continuous. In the case of the staged approach, KPAà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s are defined and then based on it the maturity level structure is drawn whereas in the continuous approach, a specific KPA is chosen and then it is relatively improved by using the capability levels [6]. The CMMI too scales the organisation from a scale of 1 to 5 based on the KPAs. It also provides an appraisal which focuses on improving the plans for the organisations. There are three classes of appraisals, namely class A, B and C [7]. 2.3 Key Differences The factors that distinguish CMM and CMMI during implementation are: 1.integration, 2.KPA, 3.approach and 4.paperwork [8]. 2.3.1 Integration: The CMM has individual models for each function. But when the individual processes when integrated led to few discrepancies like model overlapping, contradiction and each model had its own maturity level which lead to a confusion. This led to the increase in the costs of the companies that were put in training. But CMMI employs models that are classified on the basis of specific areas of interests. These models are those employed by industries successfully. To employ CMMI in an organisation, it must choose a model form the available 22 models wherein each module covers all the functionalities. 2.3.2 KPA: Both CMM and CMMI have 5 maturity levels. But there are differences in the KPAs of each maturity level. The differences in each model are as follows: 1. Initial: In both models, it covers the organisations without defined processes, having dynamic changes (ad-hoc) and undocumented. 2. Repeat: In CMM, the companies that seem to do the same process periodically attain this level. In CMMI, it requires a planned and defined ways of managing the requirements by estimating cost, time and resources. 3. Defined: CMM requires a standard, well-documented and consistent process with few degrees of changes to be followed. CMMI requires the process to be standardised, methodical and procedural with the use of tools. 4. Manage: CMM requires companies to quantitatively measure and monitor process thereby reducing risks. CMMI, n addition identifies and monitors the sub processes that contribute to overall efficiency. 5. Optimized: In CMM, the process is continuously improved by following the best software engineering practices but here the measures are taken simultaneously as the goals are satisfied. In CMMI, behaviour is selected and goals are set to support it. Behaviour is selected on the basis of goals and measures. 2.3.3 Approach CMM is an activity based model. It aims only in the completion of the process and does not care about the desired result and hence it does not motivate the company to make the necessary changes. But CMMI is a result oriented based on key performance areas and thereof it is a best practice for the companies and helps to avoid the possible risks at a very early stage. 2.3.4 Paperwork Both CMM and CMMI documentation has paperwork and meetings that leads to waste of effort and time of the personnel. However, in CMM is process-oriented whereas the CMMI is a goal-cum-result-oriented approach. 3. Benefits of adopting CMMI The organisations that adopted the CMMI reported the following benefits [9]: 3.1 Cost: The CMMI adoption led to reduced defect fix cost, reduced overhead rate, reduced cost of poor quality and increased the average cost performance index with decline in variation. 3.2 Schedule: It led to reduction in release turnaround time, reduction in average number of days late, increased percentage of milestones met, increased throughput that led to more releases per year, improvised and stabilised schedule performance index with decreased variance and increased time delivery accuracy. 3.3 Quality Reduction in software defects (KLOC), errors caused in the source code and the post-release defects and increased focus on quality by developers was observed after using CMMI. 3.4 Productivity Productivity was measured in metrics like number of statements produced per month, comparing the various builds, number of releases per year, software production etc, Productivity of the companies also increased. 3.5 Customer Satisfaction The customer satisfaction, measured using ratings and awards fees, increased since the time of delivery mentioned was accurate and also it was defect free. 3.6 Return on Investment (ROI) ROI ratio measured based on the defects that are overcome, the degree of automation activities and quality and process improvement, seemed to be on the positive side that motivated the organisations to employ CMMI. 4. Case Study of companies switching over to CMMI from CMM The following three points are the detailed reports [10] of the companies that evolved from CMM to CMMI which depicts the improvements and results of doing so. 4.1 Lockheed Martin M DS Initially, the organisation was assessed CMM level 2 in 1993. But later, in 1996 it moved to CMM Level 3 and then evolved to CMMI Level 5 in 2002 in integrating SE-CMM and SW-CMM. As a result of this, improvements in the customer satisfaction, productivity and the product cost were noted leading to the conclusion that the process improvement that lasted for nearly 10 years proved fruitful. Between 1996 and 2002, process improvement was continual and the company increased its productivity by 30% and decreased unit software cost and defect costs by 20% and 15% respectively. The customer satisfaction was achieved as there was an increase in percentage of the available award fees [10]. 4.2 Accenture Accenture, one of the reputed organisations, had a transition from the SW-CMM to the CMMI between May, 2001 and May, 2002. It attained the CMM Level 3 initially and when they moved to CMMI, during which they acquired CMMI Level 3. During the CMMI, the organisation focussed mainly on the processes related to the Measurement and Analysis, Decision Analysis and Resolution, generic goals and Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD). As a result of the transition, improvements in the costs of quality and ROI ratio were captured. The ROI ratio achieved was 5:1 in the quality [10]. 4.3 Boeing Limited, Australia The Boeing Limited process performance was not up to the mark. Initially they were using CMM and Electronics Industry Alliance (EIA 731). Thereof, they decided to improve the process by adopting CMMI so as to 1. Integrate SE and SWE 2.Universal acceptance by customers and suppliers and 3.Risk analysis using Defence Material Organisation (DMO) strategy. There were improvements seen in the product cost, schedule/cycle time and the product quality. The results of adoption made defect fix costs, turnaround time and test audits (pre and post) decrease by 33%, 50% and 60% respectively and product quality increase to a major extent [10]. 5. Factors that have major impact From the case studies it is clearly evident that the integration, approach styles and the need for continuous improvements of the process by the organisation led to the organisations to move from CMM to CMMI. However there are many organisations like Bosch Gasoline Systems, Thales Research Technology, Sanchez Computer Associates Inc, still are using the CMM and reporting benefits thereof. 6. Conclusion CMMI models should be still integrated and developed such the costs involved and the efforts are reduced.

Growth in William Faulkner’s Barn Burning and James Baldwin’s Sonny’s B

Growth in William Faulkner’s â€Å"Barn Burning† and James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† The word family evokes an image of trust and a bond of loyalty. In William Faulkner’s â€Å"Barn Burning† and James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, the main characters in both these stories demonstrate the idea of family loyalty in several ways. While they continue to express the values of family loyalty, the main characters have to overcome several obstacles. Searching for ways to communicate effectively with their families and maintaining their changing identities trap the characters. In â€Å"Barn Burning†, Sarty is conflicted with being loyal to his family and being loyal to himself and in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, the brother has to deal with being loyal to Sonny’s values. During this process, it changes their character and forces them to change and learn about themselves. In â€Å"Barn Burning†, Sarty is emotionally torn by two personalities, one being loyal to his Father, and the other is being loyal to society because in his mind, he knows he’s doing the right thing. But in the beginning of the story, Sarty’s personality starts to pull when the Justice of the Peace is questioning him. Sarty has the need to tell the truth yet with his Father’s dominating presence there, he cannot do it. â€Å"He aims for me to lie, he thought again with that frantic grief and despair,† (p.398). In one sentence, there is an instant clear meaning that Sarty is distraught in making decisions having to involve his Father. In this moment though, he also feels his Father’s emotions penetrating right into his body through his Father, â€Å"did not even look at him† (p.398). Sarty’s sense of loyalty sides strongly with family due to the fact of how he was raised. The time period in which the stor... ...nally figured out what Sonny’s dream was when he saw him play his music and the joy that Sonny felt, he felt it too and understood music is Sonny’s way of living, his life unleashed through music. Even though both stories tell a different tale, this quote applies to the brother and Sarty because they both had to rely on their self-intuition to help them understand the ordeals they went through to reach a final decision. â€Å"Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (P.216) Works Cited Baldwin, James. "Sonny's Blues." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction Poetry, and Drama. 7th edition. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 1999. 272-295. Faulkner, William. "Barn Burning." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. 3th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 1554-66.

Romeo and Juliet Fate Essay

Some believe that whatever happens during the course of their lives is inevitable and every event destined and laid out before them like a map to their life; in other words, fate. Fate is defined as a force, principle or power that predetermines events, it is the inevitable events that are destined by this force. Why do Romeo and Juliet meet? Why do Mercutio and Tybalt have to die? Why does Juliet awaken seconds after Romeo dies?These occurrences are caused by fate. Romeo and Juliet's fates were linked from the beginning. In the Prologue it states â€Å"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life†. This sentence expresses that from the start that the fate of Romeo and Juliet was written in the stars, and they were cursed to death. In the play, fate directs the lives of the characters. Secondly, it foreshadows events that were yet to come. Lastly, the characters are aware that they are controlled by their destiny and fate. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, fat e plays a significant role.Fate directs the lives of the characters in the play. Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting isn’t purely coincidental. A servant of Capulet crosses paths with Romeo and Benvolio, and invites them to the Capulet party, not knowing that they are Montagues. â€Å"My master is the great rich Capulet, and, if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a cup of wine† (I. ii. 78-80). It is by fate that Romeo and Benvolio run into the Capulet servant and learn of the party. It is not just an accident that the servant tells the two cousins about the party at which Romeo is destined, yet still unaware, that he will meet his one true love. Also, it is not by coincidence that Friar John is unable to deliver the letter of Friar Lawrence’s plans to Romeo. It is destined for Balthasar to tell Romeo that Juliet had died. â€Å"Her body sleeps in Capel's monument, And her immortal part with angels lives† (V.i. 18-19).Even thou gh he says what he believes is true and had good intentions, Balthasar’s news is the cause of the tragedy. He is the final piece of Romeo’s puzzle of fate. Romeo, being oblivious to Friar Lawrence’s plan, returns to Verona only to take his life next to his â€Å"dead† wife. In the play, fate controls the paths of life of the characters. Fate is an omen for bad things to come various times during the story. The first time fate foretells the future was before the Capulet ball. Romeo has a strange feeling before he arrives to the party; he says:Some  consequence, yet hanging in the stars, Shall bitterly begin his fearful date With this night’s revels, and expire the term Of a despised life closed in my breast By some vile forfeit of untimely death (I.iv.107-111)Romeo predicted that fate isn’t on his side that night; going to the party would set Romeo on a life altering course which would lead to his utter demise. The death of both Romeo and J uliet is the â€Å"consequence† Romeo speaks about. Another prime example of foreshadowing by fate is the last time Romeo and Juliet meet being alive and well. Juliet proclaims â€Å" O God, I have an ill-divining soul†(III.v.54); it is God’s will that her soul forebodes evil and malice. Juliet then remarks that it appears as though Romeo is in a tomb and that he looks deathly pale. Romeo’s death is envisioned yet again, making it impossible to deny that his fate will lead him to any other outcome. Fate is a harbinger of Romeo and Juliet’s definite future: death. Characters believe that fate controls their destiny.This realization is made by Romeo after fighting and killing Tybalt, he says â€Å"O, I am fortune's fool.†(III.i.135). Romeo is upset over slaying Tybalt, subsequently destroying his future with Juliet and the possibility of ceasing the feud between the two families. He sees himself as a subject to his â€Å"fortune† or fat e, and recognizes that he cannot control his actions. Later on, when Romeo learns of Juliet’s apparent death, he exclaims â€Å"Then I defy you, stars!†(V.i.24). Romeo tries to oppose the stars, or fate by expressing his independence by saying that he is in charge of his own life and that he is not ruled by some fixed series of events.However, Romeo cannot change his fate and everything that happened to him was going to happen no matter what and he was destined to fall in love and come to an unfortunate end. Committing suicide next to his love Juliet is exactly what fate had in store for him. In the end, Romeo did the opposite of defying his fate by fulfilling it. In conclusion, in Romeo and Juliet, fate plays a powerful and meaningful role. Fate has a plan laid out for each character. It is a prediction of the couple’s doomed and tragic end. Also, the characters are aware that their life’s course is decided for them by fate.As Lemony Snicket once said â €Å"Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.† ; Nobody will truly know what fate has in mind for them; every experience and outcome happens for a reason. Whether it is good or bad, fate will always get its way no matter the cost. Romeo and Juliet Fate Essay Some believe that whatever happens during the course of their lives is inevitable and every event destined and laid out before them like a map to their life; in other words, fate. Fate is defined as a force, principle or power that predetermines events, it is the inevitable events that are destined by this force. Why do Romeo and Juliet meet? Why do Mercutio and Tybalt have to die? Why does Juliet awaken seconds after Romeo dies? These occurrences are caused by fate. Romeo and Juliet's fates were linked from the beginning.In the Prologue it states â€Å"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life†. This sentence expresses that from the start that the fate of Romeo and Juliet was written in the stars, and they were cursed to death. In the play, fate directs the lives of the characters. Secondly, it foreshadows events that were yet to come. Lastly, the characters are aware that they are controlled by their destiny and fate. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, fat e plays a significant role. Fate directs the lives of the characters in the play.Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting isn’t purely coincidental. A servant of Capulet crosses paths with Romeo and Benvolio, and invites them to the Capulet party, not knowing that they are Montagues. â€Å"My master is the great rich Capulet, and, if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a cup of wine† (I. ii. 78-80). It is by fate that Romeo and Benvolio run into the Capulet servant and learn of the party. It is not just an accident that the servant tells the two cousins about the party at which Romeo is destined, yet still unaware, that he will meet his one true love.Also, it is not by coincidence that Friar John is unable to deliver the letter of Friar Lawrence’s plans to Romeo. It is destined for Balthasar to tell Romeo that Juliet had died. â€Å"Her body sleeps in Capel's monument, And her immortal part with angels lives† (V. i. 18-19). Even tho ugh he says what he believes is true and had good intentions, Balthasar’s news is the cause of the tragedy. He is the final piece of Romeo’s puzzle of fate. Romeo, being oblivious to Friar Lawrence’s plan, returns to Verona only to take his life next to his â€Å"dead† wife. In the play, fate controls the paths of life of the characters.Fate is an omen for bad things to come various times during the story. The first time fate foretells the future was before the Capulet ball. Romeo has a strange feeling before he arrives to the party; he says: Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, Shall bitterly begin his fearful date With this night’s revels, and expire the term Of a despised life closed in my breast By some vile forfeit of untimely death (I. iv. 107-111) Romeo predicted that fate isn’t on his side that night; going to the party would set Romeo on a life altering course which would lead to his utter demise.The death of both Romeo and J uliet is the â€Å"consequence† Romeo speaks about. Another prime example of foreshadowing by fate is the last time Romeo and Juliet meet being alive and well. Juliet proclaims â€Å" O God, I have an ill-divining soul†(III. v. 54); it is God’s will that her soul forebodes evil and malice. Juliet then remarks that it appears as though Romeo is in a tomb and that he looks deathly pale. Romeo’s death is envisioned yet again, making it impossible to deny that his fate will lead him to any other outcome. Fate is a harbinger of Romeo and Juliet’s definite future: death.Characters believe that fate controls their destiny. This realization is made by Romeo after fighting and killing Tybalt, he says â€Å"O, I am fortune's fool. â€Å"(III. i. 135). Romeo is upset over slaying Tybalt, subsequently destroying his future with Juliet and the possibility of ceasing the feud between the two families. He sees himself as a subject to his â€Å"fortune† o r fate, and recognizes that he cannot control his actions. Later on, when Romeo learns of Juliet’s apparent death, he exclaims â€Å"Then I defy you, stars! †(V. i. 24).Romeo tries to oppose the stars, or fate by expressing his independence by saying that he is in charge of his own life and that he is not ruled by some fixed series of events. However, Romeo cannot change his fate and everything that happened to him was going to happen no matter what and he was destined to fall in love and come to an unfortunate end. Committing suicide next to his love Juliet is exactly what fate had in store for him. In the end, Romeo did the opposite of defying his fate by fulfilling it. In conclusion, in Romeo and Juliet, fate plays a powerful and meaningful role.Fate has a plan laid out for each character. It is a prediction of the couple’s doomed and tragic end. Also, the characters are aware that their life’s course is decided for them by fate. As Lemony Snicket once said â€Å"Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. † ; Nobody will truly know what fate has in mind for them; every experience and outcome happens for a reason. Whether it is good or bad, fate will always get its way no matter the cost.

Limiting Reactant Essay

In chemical reactions, the significance of knowing the limiting reactant is high. In order to increase the percent yield of product, increasing the limiting reactant, possibly, is the most effective. In this experiment we were able to calculate limiting reactants from the reaction of CaCl2. 2H2O + K2C2O4.H2O(aq). As a group, we obtained our salt mixture of calcium chloride and potassium oxalate, and weighed the mixture. We were able to make an aqueous solution from the mixture and distilled water. We boiled and filtered off the solution, leaving the precipitate. Once the precipitate was dried overnight, it was weighed and the mass was measured. Then we calculated the moles of the precipitate. From these calculations, we established moles of the limiting reactant, were the same amount of moles in the product based on the stoichiometrically balanced equation. Next the percent yield of the limiting reactant was calculated. In Part B of this experiment, two solutions were added to the aq ueous product in order to determine the limiting reactant. Once each solution was added, we were able to visibly see the precipitate forming when 0.5 M CaCl2 was added. This made us conclude the limiting reactant was in fact CaCl2. Introduction Stoichiometry is a section of chemistry that involves using relationships between reactants and/or products in a chemical reaction to determine desired quantitative data. Doing stoichiometry can calculate masses, moles, and percent’s with a chemical equation. The use of stoichiometry is how we were able to find the limiting reagent in this lab. We know that the limiting reagent is the chemical that will be used up first. Two factors affect the yield of product in a chemical reaction: the amounts of starting materials and the percent yield of the reaction. Under certain conditions such as temperature and pressure, can be adjusted to increase the yield of a desired product in a chemical reaction but because the chemicals react according to fixed mole ratios, only a limited amount of product can form from measured amounts of starting materials. A way for us to better understand this concept of the limiting reactant is to observe the reaction in our experiment. The reaction of cal cium chloride dehydrate, CaCl2 ·2H2O,  and potassium oxalate monohydrate, K2C2O4 ·H2O, in an aqueous solution. For the reaction system in this experiment, both the calcium chloride and potassium oxalate are soluble salts, but the calcium oxalate is insoluble. The ionic equation for the reaction is Ca2+(aq)+2Cl-(aq)+2K+(aq)+C2O42-(aq)+3H2O(l) ®CaC2O4 ·H2O(s)+2Cl-(aq)+2K+(aq)+2H2O(l) presenting only the ions that show evidence of a chemical reaction, formation of a precipitate, and by removing the spectator ions, no change of ionic form during the reaction, we have the net ionic equation for the observed reaction: is Ca2+(aq)+ C2O42-(aq)+H2O(l) ®CaC2O4 ·H2O(s). In Part A of this experiment the solid reactant salts CaCl2 ·H2O forms and K2C2O4 ·H2O form heterogeneous mixture of unknown composition. The mass of the solid mixture is measured and then added to water-insoluble CaC2O4 ·H2O forms. The CaC2O4 ·H2O precipitate is collected by gravity filtration and dried, and its mass is measured. In Part B, the limiting reactant for the formation of solid calcium oxalate monohydrate is d etermined from two precipitation test of the final reactant mixture from Part A. The first test we tested the mixture for an excess of calcium ion with an oxalate reagent and the second test the mixture is tested again for an excess of oxalate ion with calcium reagents. Materials and Methods Materials Lab coat Safety goggles 1 250ml beaker 1 piece of filter paper funnel 1-2 grams of salt mixture A hot plate A weighing scale Methods 1. Experimenters obtained one 250 ml beaker and weighed it on the weighing scale and recorded the results 2. The 250 ml beaker was then filled with 1-2 grams of the salt mixture and weighed again 3. 100 ml of distilled water was added to the salt mixture 4. The beaker was placed on the hot plate and brought to a boil then removed 5. After cooling, the experimenters filtered the mixture using the filter paper and funnel 6. Experimenters left the filter paper to air dry overnight 7.The air dried filter paper was then placed on the weighing scale and results were recorded Results In experiment A the results from the precipitation of CaC2O4 H2O from the salt mixture were obtained by weighing the items listed on Table 1 on a scale. Table 1. Mass of Beaker (g) 102.994g Mass of Beaker and Salt Mixture 104.683g Mass of Salt Mixture (g) 1.689g Mass of Filter Paper (g) 1.336g Mass of Filter Paper and CaC2O4 H2O (g) 2.000g Mass of Air-Dried CaC2O4 H2O (g) 0.664g In Experiment B the limiting reactant was determined to be CaCl2 when two drops of the test reagent 0.5 M CaCl2 was added to the supernatant liquid in test tube 1, and a precipitate formed. Since there was a reaction, there was C2O42- in excess and Ca2+ is the limiting reactant in the original salt mixture present in test tube 1 . This was further confirmed when two drops of the test reagent .05M K2C2O4 was added to the supernatant liquid in test tube 2. There was no precipitate because Ca2+ was not present since it was the limiting reactant and instead C2O42- was in excess. Table 2. Moles of CaC2O4 H2O precipitated (mol) .0045 (mol) Moles of limiting reactant in salt mixture (g) CaCl2 .0004 (mol) Mass of limiting reactant in salt mixture (g) CaCl2 .4995 (grams) Mass of excess reactant in salt mixture (g) Ca2C2O4 1.113 (grams) Percent limiting reactant in salt mixture (%) CaCl 34% (34.1%) Percent excess reactant in salt mixture (%) K2C2O4 66% (65.8%) Discussion The data of the mass of the salt mixture was a big key for finding the moles of CaC2O4 precipitated. The molar mass of CaC2O4 H2O was 146.097 grams. The mass of the air-dried CaC2O4 H2O CaCl2, was .664g as recorded in table 1. Using a calculation of .664 x 1 mole / 146.097 a result of .0045 mol was recorded in table 2. The test done in Experiment B allowed us to know without any calculations that Ca2+ is the limiting reactant. This allowed us to conclude that the moles of the limiting reactant were .0004 (mol) of CaCl2. In order to achieve the grams of the limiting reactant, the moles of the limiting reactant must be multiplied by the molar mass of the limiting reactant. Therefore the mass of the limiting reactant was .0045 moles and multiplied by its molar mass of 111g to result in .4995g of the limiting reactant in the salt mixture. Next the mass of the excess reactant in the salt mixture was calculated using the same method as the limiting reactant except the molar mass of the excess reactant was used to result in 1.113 (grams) Ca2C2O4 . The final step in the process was to find the percent by mass of the limiting reactant. Since Experiment B allowed us to determine that Ca2+ is the limiting reactant, therefore to find the percentage composition it is necessary to divide the limiting reactant mass by the mass of the original sample then multiply by 100. This provided a result of 34%, and to find the excess percentage, this value was subtracted from 100 to yield 66% of K2C2O4 as the percent of excess reactant in salt mixture. Error Analysis Possible errors might be attributed to careless errors in reading the scale to measure the mass of the beaker, salt mixture or filter paper. Even when  proper care is taken in reading the instruments, systematic errors can present themselves in the instrument used to measure mass. Here, a calibrated scale was used to measure mass, and the systematic error is unknown since it is one of the hardest errors to detect. These two sources of errors might help explain the .1% missing from the CaCl2 and K2C2O4 salt mixture recorded in Table 2. Precision and Accuracy While accuracy deals with how close a measured value is to a true or accepted one, precision deals with how reproducible a given measurement is. Here the mass of the beaker, salt mixture, and filter paper are all precise because they are easily reproducible since it simply involves putting the items on a scale. If the process was repeated 50 times the results would not vary or at the least by .0001 grams based on some outside factor. The mass of the air-dried CaC2O4 H2O is accurate because it was calculated as true by subtracting the mass of the filter paper from the mass of the filter paper and the CaC2O4 H2O. Conclusion As we have stated previously, CaCl2 was our limiting reactant based on the precipitates observed. We were able to rule out Ca2C2O4 because of the lack change in our precipitate.. It was important to note that a limiting reactant in a chemical reaction limits the amount of product that can be formed. The reaction will stop when all of the limiting reactant is consumed. The excess is the reactant in a chemical reaction that remains but there is nothing with which it can react. Taking this knowledge we have gained in appropriately observing the results, we can apply it to future experiments in chemistry in order to evaluate how much product one might want to produce in a given chemical reaction. Reviewing other experiments, from other schools, it is apparent that the need for appropriate data collection in this type of experiment, will help in identifying the excess and limiting reagents. As was the case in UCCS’s Chem 103 Lab Manual, following the procedures and doing them in the proper order are vital to ensuring success in proper reactions. References Tro, Nivaldo. Chemistry A Molecular Approach. 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.; Beran, J. A. Laboratory Manual for Principles of General Chemistry. 8th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2009 Beran, J. A. Laboratory Manual for Principles of General Chemistry. 9th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley; 2010 UC Davis ChemWiki. Stoichiometry and Balancing Reactions. http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Analytical_Chemistry/Chemical_Reactions/Stoichiometry_and_Balancing_Reactions UCCS Chem 103 Laboratory Manual. Experiment 3 Limiting Reactants. http://www.uccs.edu/Documents/chemistry/nsf/103%20Expt3V-LR.pdf Masterson, W, Hurley, C. Chemistry: Principles and Reactions. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning; 2009.

Table clinic paper on Oral piercings Essay Example

Table clinic paper on Oral piercings Essay Example Table clinic paper on Oral piercings Paper Table clinic paper on Oral piercings Paper 2000 Oct). Those with pre-existing heart problems are more at risk for endocarditis  because of the increased risk for infection. Common symptoms of endocarditis include fever, chills, nausea, decreased appetite, weight loss, and a full feeling in the upper part of the stomach. More severe symptoms include enlarged spleen, swollen feet, legs, blood in urine, swollen stomach, and shortness of breath (Friedman, 2014). Signs and symptoms vary from person to person depending on the specific bacteria, fungus, or microorganism that they have been infected with. When diagnosing endocarditis a blood test should be performed to confirm what microorganism is responsible as well as an echocardiogram to see if the heart has been  damaged. Endocarditis caused by bacteria is treated by antibiotics until the infection is gone; this on average takes six weeks. Damage to the heart would require surgery to remove damaged heart valves and replace them with artificial heart valves. Patients with artificial heart valves are usually prescribed antibiotics to be taken 1 hour prior to the dental treatment to prevent spread of bacteria to the heart preventing potential infection. This antibiotic premedication should be determined by the individual’s physician (Friedman, 2014). Another infection that can be caused by oral piercings is Ludwig’sAngina. Ludwig’s  Angina is a severe infection of the floor of the mouth and mandible caused by bacteria (Appendix A). The diagnosis is usually based on clinical observation where the head, tongue and neck will appear red and swollen. If these visual signs aren’t present, then there are other ways of diagnosis which include a CT scan or an MRI. Symptoms include swelling of the ORAL PIERCINGS 7 tongue, neck pain, and breathing problems. â€Å"Ludwig’s angina can lead to more serious complications including, airway blockage or sepsis, a severe inflammatory responds to bacteria† (Pietrangelo, 2012). Symptoms may vary from person to person. It’s crucial to  recognize and get treatment for this condition before serious complications occur. For severe inflammation, the first line of treatment in a patient with Ludwig’s Angina would be to clear the airway. This can be done by inserting a breathing tube through the mouth or nose into the lungs or by performing a tracheotomy. Surgery is sometimes performed to drain excess fluids that are responsible for the severe swelling of the oral cavity. The most common cure for this condition is antibiotics to fight off the infection (Pietrangelo, 2012). When prescribed an antibiotic, it is essential to take the entire dose as prescribed to  prevent bacterial resistance. Although infection can be a severe complication that can develop, there are other harmful effects that can occur with oral piercings. People with tongue piercings may develop mouth ulcers from constant irritation. These ulcers can result in oral cancer if the area is constantly irritated over a long period of time. There is a need for more cell reproduction to replenish the cell population due to the damaged cells in the area of irritation. According to WebMD, with an increased cell production there is an increased chance of cell mutation or cancer cells (Friedman, 2014). If  the lesion is caught early, then it is more likely to be benign or non-cancerous and treated by surgical excision. On the other hand, if the lesion has not been detected for a long period of time, it has a higher chance of being malignant or cancerous. A malignant lesion can sometimes be treated and removed with surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. This may ORAL PIERCINGS 8 or may not be life threatening, depending on how far the cancer has metastasized and how soon the cancerous lesion was detected and treated. â€Å"Oral piercings are a potential risk factor for the transmission of diseases like herpes B  and C, HIV, and the herpes simplex virus† (Academy of General Dentistry, 2010). These diseases can be transmitted via poorly sterilized instruments, the contamination of jewelry, and virus entering the piercing site. The transmission of disease is extremely rare via the oral piercing, but has been known to happen. â€Å"Although any piercing is prone to infection or disease transmission, a recent study in the Journal of Adolescent Health (January 2011) found that stainless steel jewelry can accumulate more microorganisms than jewelry made from plastics such as Teflon (or polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE)† (Academy of General Dentistry,  2010). This study shows that there is a higher risk of infection and disease transmission when wearing metal jewelry. Pulpal sensitivity can occur from the contact between the galvanic currents in the stainless steel jewelry and other intraoral metals (Balzac, n. d. ). Other risks and complications can occur with oral piercings such as nerve damage, but is rare when compared to injury to teeth and gingival recession. The penetration of the needle through the tissue can more often cause temporary but sometimes permeant nerve damage. The loss of taste and feeling can be part of this temporary or permanent nerve damage. Injury to teeth can happen when teeth and jewelry come into contact with force (Appendix A). This can cause gingival recession, cracked, or chipped teeth. Stated by WebMD, â€Å"Forty- seven percent of people who have worn tongue jewelry for four or more years have chipped teeth† (Friedman, 2014). Gingival recession can cause hypersensitivity because of the exposed roots (Appendix A). The dentin, underlying the thin layer of cementum, can be ORAL PIERCINGS 9 exposed if there is recession and an individual is brushing too hard wearing away the cementum. The dentin contains thousands of tiny tubules that lead to the center of the tooth,  which is where the nerve is located. This allows for stimuli to affect the nerve more readily, which creates sensitivity with hot, cold, or sweet foods. Not only can recession cause tooth sensitivity, but can progress in its more severe form to cause tooth mobility or tooth loss. Cracked or chipped teeth then could result in trauma to the gingiva such as a laceration. This lacerated tissue could proceed to infection or ulcers from repeated irritation and trauma that could develop into oral cancer. Individuals are getting oral piercings for many different reasons, but they may not take  into account the long-term effects and /or potential risk of infection to their oral cavity and overall health. During the healing process, which is four to six weeks for tongue piercings and between one and two months for lip piercings, the individual should be advised by their dentists or hygienist to stay on top of their oral health care to avoid infections and other serious complications. If an individual were to decide to proceed with oral piercings, there are essential steps to follow to maintain the piercing and keep it clean. According to Dr. Balzac in his article Oral Piercings, â€Å"to help protect your teeth it is recommended that the  jewelry should be removed before each meal, as well as before bedtime and after the piercing has fully healed† (n. d. ). Some piercing parlors sell plugs that can be placed in the hole when the jewelry is removed. After the tongue has healed following the piercing, remove the jewelry each night and brush it using the same brushing technique that teeth would be brushed. â€Å"Avoid things such as, alcohol, smoking or tobacco use, spicy foods, and hard and sticky foods† (Mouth Jewelry, Oral Piercings and Your Health, 2011). Use an antiseptic mouthwash after every meal to decrease the number of bacteria in the oral cavity. Dr. Balzac ORAL PIERCINGS 10 suggests â€Å"removing the jewelry before any strenuous activity to avoid traumatic injury to the teeth from metal studs, which can lead to tooth fracture and chipping (n. d. ). So, if an individual were to insist on getting an oral piercing, as long as their mouth stays free of infection and their oral piercings do not interfere with normal function, there shouldn’t be any issue with having an oral piercing. The most important recommendation though, would be to see the dentist and/or hygienist regularly so they can evaluate the health of the oral cavity and the piercing. Resources Academy of General Dentistry. (2010). Piercing Warning. In Englewood Dental. Retrieved September 9, 2014, from http://englewooddental. com/piercing-warning. htm ORAL PIERCINGS 11 Academy of General Dentistry. (2010, March). Tongue piercing. In Delta Dental. Retrieved September 8, 2014, from deltadentalins. com/oral_health/tongue_piercing. html American Dental Association. (2014). Oral Piercings. In Mouth Healthy. Retrieved September 9, 2014, from mouthhealthy. org/en/az-topics/o/oral-piercings Balzac, F. (n. d. ). Oral Piercing. In Consumer Guide to Dentistry. Retrieved September 9,  2014, from yourdentistryguide. com/piercing/ Friedman, M. (2014, May 22). Dental Health and Oral Piercing. In WebMD. Retrieved September 9, 2014, from webmd. com/oral-health/guide/oral-piercing? page=2 Holbrook, J. , Minocha, J. , Laumann, A. (2012). Body Piercing. American journal of clinical dermatology,13(1), 1-17. Mouth Jewelry, Oral Piercings and Your Health. (2011, December 12). In The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Retrieved September 9, 2014, from http://my. clevelandclinic. org/health Pietrangelo, A. (2012, September 11). Ludwigs Angina. In Healthline. Retrieved September  9, 2014, from healthline. com/health/ludwigs-angina#Overview1 Ramadan, F. B. Beanlands, D. S. , Burwash, I. G. (2000). Isolated pulmonic valve endocarditis in healthy hearts: a case report and review of the literature. The Canadian journal of cardiology, 16(10), 1282-1288. ORAL PIERCINGS 12 Singh, A. , Tuli, A. (2012). Oral piercings and their dental implications: a mini review. Journal Of Investigative Clinical Dentistry, 3(2), 95-97. doi:10. 1111/j. 2041- 1626. 2011. 00108. x The piercing truth about tongue splitting and oral jewelry. (2012). Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), 143(7), 814. Ziebolz, D. , Hornecker, E. , Mausberg, R. F. (2009). Microbiological findings at tongue piercing sites–implications to oral health. International journal of dental hygiene, 7(4), 256-262. Appendix A ORAL PIERCINGS 13 Uvula piercing Infection associated with an oral piercing ORAL PIERCINGS 14 Tongue piercing in an 18-year-old male without oral hygiene. There is visible plaque and calculus deposition around the bar of the tongue. Individual with Ludwig’s Angina Picture of chipped #25 and #8 from an oral piercing and associated trauma ORAL PIERCINGS 15 Gingival recession lingual #24 and #25 from an oral piercing.