Papers

1. Make some readings about the human person and it's nature. Then create an essay guided by the following questions: (a) What is the Human Person? (b) What is the nature of the human person; and (c) How does a person attain his highest potential that can create a possitive result towards society?. Your essay must be composed of at least 150 words 2. Utang na Loob and Bahala na are two of the most familiar characteristics of most filipinos. Choose one of these two characteristic and discuss your own opinion about it. 3. In your own observation, describe the feature of the Filipino Family nowadays. 4. Give what values are being pointed out by the following quotations: a. â€Å"treat life with respect and life itself will reveal its beauty to you. † b. â€Å"We can get so involved in what we are doing that we forget why we are doing it. We are so involved in living that we forget the purpose of living. We get so involved in pursuing the things money can buy that we forget the things that money can't buy. † c. â€Å"Justice is giving every man his due. † d. Each man may differ in worldly stature, but each one bears the same amount of dignity as another and all share one common destiny. † e. â€Å"There is no truth and no good in lies† f. † The real heroes among us are those who live their lives daily in genuine concern for the welfare of the others. g. â€Å"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure. â€Å"

Does Immigration Contribute to a Better America

Does Immigration Contribute to a Better America? Ever since this country was first discovered and settled, people from countries all over the world left their homelands and migrated to the â€Å"New World†. People from Spain, Germany, France, England and Asia traveled great distances to reach a new land of opportunity, to perhaps escape religious persecution or tyrant rulers. For centuries America has been viewed as a place for a fresh start, a place where anybody can come and begin a new life and follow their hopes and dreams. Even today people come to America for the exact same reasons that they did all those years before.However unlike the immigration of our ancestors, the immigrants of today aren’t able to just come here and do what they want without anybody noticing. Today most people view immigration as a problem to the United States. One of the most easily recognizable groups of today’s immigrants comes from Mexico. The Mexican immigrants often come here f or better economic and living opportunities than they had at home. But no matter how much these immigrants want to better their lives for themselves and their families, most Americans feel that they are trouble and a drain on our resources.Despite what many think, the Mexican immigrants are helping our nation. The immigrants take many low end jobs that Americans do not want or are over qualified for, they can also boost our economy with the money they earn from working, and they diversify the nation. Immigration does and will contribute to a better America. Most of the immigrants that come to America from Mexico are just looking for a better life for themselves and their families. The immigrants know that there are plenty of jobs in America for them and they are willing to risk being arrested just for a better opportunity.With all these people eager to work, you would think the immigrants would be more accepted by the American people. There are many jobs that most Americans simply w ill and do not want to take due to low pay and amount of work. But thanks to immigrants that would love to have the opportunity to work in our country these jobs are taken. With each immigrant that comes and gets a job, more money is spent within the American economy. The more money spent in the economy will eventually help it grow making us a more prosperous nation financially.The more money the immigrants spend in the US the more demand they cause for the people who make the goods they purchase. But the immigrants do not only help our country when they make money in the US, many send money home to their loved ones to help pay for things they need. Immigration does not only help the economy of the US, it also benefits the country that the immigrant comes from. According to Philippe Legrain, a journalist and economist, â€Å"migrants from poor countries working in rich ones send home much more – $200 billion a year officially,† (The Case for Immigration).With all this money coming and going from immigrants, it’s unbelievable that we look down on immigration. The people who make the immigration laws are blind to the fact that the migrants help our economy. Instead of trying to keep migrants out we should allow them easier access into our nation for work, and then when they are ready they should be allowed to leave. Once immigrants get into the US many become stuck and unable to go home because it is too risky. If we allowed them to move freely most would just come temporarily to get enough money for what they need back home.According to Legrain, â€Å"Most migrants do not want to leave home forever: they want to go work abroad for a while to earn enough to buy a house or set up a business back home. † (The Case for Immigration). Of course some of the migrants would want to stay, but there wouldn’t be an overwhelming number of them. The immigrants that do settle would not only contribute to our work force and economy, they will add diversity to our country. Having many people from all over the world is something that can be beneficial to any country. Many of America’s venture-capital backed start-ups have immigrant founders. Legrain) With introduction of new peoples come new ideas, cultural experiences, and skills that can all be used to benefit our country. High skilled people from other countries could help American companies develop new drugs, technologies, appliances and even new architectural ideas. † Twenty-one of Britain’s Nobel-prize winners arrived in the country as refugees. † (Legrain) The foreigners with new ideas could spark the next big American innovation with their different ways of thinking and perspective. Since they are new to our country they see differently than we do, and can have a completely different view on things.This cultural diversity can also transform little towns into cities with the new people inhabiting them. The immigrants could bring in their c ultures and help build our towns into culturally diverse cities that would maybe attract tourists and new residents. Although there are many benefits of immigration, many believe that the immigrants would take away from American workers and steal jobs. However this is not true, many immigrants cannot compete with American workers due to skill differences and jobs they are willing to do.Also, there aren’t a fixed number of jobs going around for everyone, and immigrant workers are not substitutes for American ones. These fallacies are really what deter many American people from lowering the immigration laws and allowing more immigrants into the country. If the people of our country knew the benefits of having more immigrants, the laws wouldn’t be so strict and more migrants would be allowed to come and work in our country. It is time that the government really recognizes the benefits of immigration to our country.More immigrants means more working people, more working pe ople means a lower unemployment rate and more money being spent in our country. The more money spent in the US means a better economy which is something that this country needs. We need to allow the immigrants into our country not only to help us, but to help them make money for themselves and their families. If America truly is an equal opportunity country, then we need to give all people the same opportunities. Sources: â€Å"Philippe Legrain. † The Case for Immigration :. N. p. , n. d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. http://www. philippelegrain. com/the-case-for-immigration/.

Semantic Web Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Semantic Web - Essay Example It may be said that these systems contained limited amount of research material. Rather than storing in cupboards, papers and books were stored in machines, which definitely improved the research strategy. It laid the basis of what we know as ‘Web’ today. With the advancement in technology, and initiation of internet, the landscape of research tools began to change. Late 1990’s is registered with some remarkable changes in the techniques of research tools (Baker & Cheung, 2007). In 2001, the introduction of ‘Web’ revolutionized the conventional ways of research. This initial Web design served as the storage of billion of documents. Researchers were allowed to access their desired content, and read it. This made Web an advance form of library. The first version of the World Wide Web, Web 1.0 facilitated the users to search ‘online library’ to the extent of reading only. The speed was fast, and the technology was new, so it got popular very quickly. The need of improvement was felt when the technology started revolutionizing, and access was limited. The updated version of web, Web 2.0, brought some drastic changes in the web research tools. It promoted human interaction with web. Now the Web did not serve the purpose of a just a library, but it became an interactive tool where people were allowed to alter the research content. The Web stuff was not a read-only material, but it also allowed users to make changes, write their own papers. It was the change that was instantly felt by the users. This laid the basis of the social networking. The Semantic Web is the next generation of the Web, which attempts a precise automatic filtering of information. For this, it is necessary to make the information that resides on the Web which is understandable by the machines. With this, we can determine that the Semantic Web is about different fields, first is a set of languages and procedures to add the semantics to information that is understandable by the

Financial Markets and Bank Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Markets and Bank Management - Essay Example The paper attempts to explore how HSBC Bank has performed on these parameters in year 2012 and 2013. The paper will also make specific recommendations for improving bank’s performance in the years ahead. HSBCs balance sheets for year 2012 and 2013 report its income from six sources: Net interest income, Net fee income, trading income, Net income from financial instruments at fair value, net earned insurance premiums, and other operating income. Of these, interest income is the largest component followed by income from fee. On comparing HSBCs performance in year 2013 with its previous year (2012), it can be seen that its interest income has gone up by ( £6,961- £6,519)/ £6,519 = 6.7%. While there is a marginal rise in fee income from  £3,309 million to  £3,336 million, there is a significant rise in its trading income from  £1,587m to 2,373m. In percentage terms, this amounts to nearly 50%. Income from financial instruments has increased by almost 660% from  £118m to  £900m; however, the banks earned insurance premium income has declined by around 10% from  £2,286m to  £2022m (HSBC Bank, 2013 p.10). While Banks net operating income has increased by almost 17% from  £10,133m to  £11,869m in year 2012 and 2013 respectively, the most noteworthy aspect is that its operating expense has reduced significantly from  £9,506m to  £8,575m. In percentage terms, expense reduction is almost 10% (HSBC Bank, 2013 p. 10). This had indeed a very positive impact on bank’s financial performance in 2013. With HSBC bank, deposits have increased from  £39,571m in 2012 to  £50,683m in 2013. Even loans and advances have increased from  £32,286 to  £53,228 – an increase of over 60% (HSBC Bank Plc., 2013 p.95). This reveals a full confidence of the customers on HSBC bank. Pre-tax profit is derived after making loan-loss provisions, and operating income is the

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN BUSINESS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN BUSINESS - Assignment Example By allowing trade with other countries consumers locally can get a wider variety of products or services to choose from. Such healthy competition is a double win for the consumer as it also can lead to reduction in prices as corporations fight out for market-share. A wise man once said that no man is an island. This wise man could well have been talking about countries. The world has grown to a point where it is a global village and nations quite literally depend on each other. Take airbus industry for example which has airplane parts manufactured in factories all across Europe and then brought to France for final assembly. This is only possible because of the conducive trade environment provided by the European Union. The middle east provides the world with most fuel, Europe and America build machinery while Africa and south America provide food. Without free trade, the world would, quite literally, stagnate. Two thumbs up to the World Trade Organization for its gallant efforts in ensuring all barriers to trade are effectively removed. I cannot agree more with my classmate on this matter. As I have pointed out in my arguments, free trade bears more good than harm for our world. On your part, you have pointed out one more benefit that international trade has for the world : assisting developing countries. Free trade allows poor nations access to resources they cannot manufacture on their own and also is a source of income for them through foreign

Business Strategic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Strategic - Essay Example number of mergers and acquisitions over the years have seen AB InBev increase its production, market and distribution of about of its beer 200 brands that include the popular global brand Budweiser Beck’s. In addition to brands such as Stella Artois, Klinskoye, Bud Light, Leffe Hoegaarden, Skol, Jupiler, Brahma, Quilmes, Harbin, Sedrin, Michelob, Sibirskaya, Chernigivske and Korona (Reuters, 2014; Solitro, 2013). The company’s production and distribution is based on a division of its brands into global, multi-country and local beer in order to take advantage of different tastes of its customers based on geographical and regional presence. The beer brands produced by AB InBev has been further been categorized into premium brands, mainstream, and sub-premium brands to take care of the economic aspects of their customers (Reuters, 2014). This essay explores value chain analysis of AB InBev PLC that will provide a clear perspective on how the company achieves maximum process effectiveness. Therefore, this analysis will rely on key aspects of the value chain hypothesis introduced by Porter where the main activities under review will cover inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service, which are all essential components in the operations of a company in the beverage industry (Porter, 2008). The importance of this value chain analysis is to find out how AB InBev PLC creates its competitive advantage and shareholder value that can only be attained through measures that ensure the cost of providing their products remains low. This is in order to generate a profit margin in addition to identifying and making assessment of competency in core areas of the company (Woodside, 2009). Inbound Logistics for any company covers all the necessary activities that take place to ensure uninterrupted supply of the necessary inputs and raw materials the company needs for a smooth production process (Dagoon, 2005). To have a have control over

The Most Important Feature of Life in Mesopotamia Essay

The Most Important Feature of Life in Mesopotamia - Essay Example The domestication of plants and animals such as cattle in the area not only changed the lives of people living in the area, it also had the effect of dramatically changing the course of human history. In order to care for their herds of animals an crops, it was necessary for people to live in one place and this necessitated that there be a shift from a nomadic lifestyle to people now settling in villages (Moorey, 1-2). The numerous branches of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris made it possible for farming activities to be conducted in Mesopotamia. However, the region was prone to frequent flooding in addition to suffering from the effects of hot and dry climatic periods at certain times of the year that made it impossible to conduct farming activities. To tackle this problem, the Mesopotamians became the first people to attempt a large scale control of water via the use of an integrated system of reservoirs, dikes, aqueducts, drainage channels, and canals. The use of this waterway system enabled the inhabitants of this region to conduct farming activities all year round (Pollock 29-32). Farming had a great impact in the lives of Mesopotamians as it led to the development of cities as people settled down and stopped leading nomadic lifestyles. It also ensured that they enjoyed food security throughout the year and this allowed for them to find time to venture into developing other occupations such as art and pottery in addition to developing writing (Pollock 29-32). Another remarkable aspect of life in Mesopotamia is that civilization had a political governance system. The political governance system was formed around the Sumerian cities each of which formed its very own city-state that was mainly composed of the city and the entire farmland that surrounded it (Hansen, 117).  Ã‚  

Prejudice experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Prejudice experience - Essay Example However, prejudice is not necessarily a disadvantageous phenomenon as explained by Ruchlis because it may be in our favor in a few instances. Being a male Indonesian of Chinese ethnicity, I have also been the recipient of prejudice based on stereotypical thinking. A number of stereotypes portray Indonesians as essentially lazy South East Asians who lack discipline, are illogical and resist change. In Indonesia, the Chinese ethnic group is seen as financially dominant people most of whom own businesses in important town centers. However, this impression is fundamentally flawed as various ethnic Chinese living in Indonesia also do menial jobs such as brick layering and may not earn even USD 2 per day. Because of the business outlook, many Indonesians feel that the Chinese are here to steal the resources from the locals and have occupied all the important and well paid positions. While the income gap may be present but it is not significant enough to conclude the monetary dominance of one ethnicity over the other. Doing so is plain generalization without consideration of complete facts. Various generalizations regarding Indo nesia exist including those regarding religion with many people viewing Indonesia as a predominantly Muslim country although it is explicitly a secular state with diverse ethnicities. Moreover, there exist various stereotypes about age and knowledge. This view stems from the understanding that bigger age implies greater experience which is acquired over a long period of time rather than over night. However, to use this stereotype to form a judgment of one’s knowledge level may be misleading. In this world of technology, the internet acts as a useful resource for children at a very young age to acquire knowledge which previous generations might not have thought of. So, young age does not imply irrationality or lack of knowledge in any sense. In fact, the correlation between age and knowledge is very flexible and

ART HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ART HISTORY - Essay Example It stands in a low sculpture that looks like an uneven terrain that is in a rectangular base (Hemingway 22). Eusebio Francisco Kino was dedicated in the year 1988 in honor of the Father Eusebio of Italy. He had traveled in 1645 to Americas as a missionary where prior to his death he traveled to Pimera and established 17 missions. This statue has three copies in the world. The Padre Kinos presence in the statute in Campbell carries dignity and craftsmanship that captures every wrinkle and muscle. Its 25 foot cast concrete bronze statute done by Julian Martinez in the year 1988. It is located in the drab corner surrounded by traffic and fulfills the promise of ADOTS in bringing public art to the town (Hemingway 11). Tucson town is full of contradictions. The Pancho Villa has been very controversial for nearly 3o years. The statute has already undergone three lawsuits which it has survived which were aimed at erecting it.The city has defended the statute where it has paid almost $2,000 for a sculptor to do some touch ups in the year 2006. This shows that the sculpture of the Pancho Villa does not get support from the local administration where it has outlived its usefulness. The cost of maintaining the sculpture is also high and needs to be replaced. The Villa has lost its purpose to serve as a political tool for the Villa future legacy in Mexico. It has provided many intense arguments due to issues of cultural diversity and politics. It is seen as the Robin Hood for the poor. The Kino and Villa statutes are no longer effective in their purpose of history resemblance and create a variety of cultural differences and, therefore, there is a need to replace them with new statutes in Tucson town. There are people in the world studying the history of Mexico and would like to see the cultural art used to describe the famous missionaries like Padre Kino. Therefore, the city experiences tourists from across the globe that come to

Human Resources Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Essay Human resources involves a wide variety of activities related to the arrangement and implementation of organisational policies, the requirement of opportunities for monitoring, evaluation and change and the application of resources to the fulfilment of organisational ends. Aspects of people management include: * The recruitment, retention and dismissal of staff. * The training, development and promotion of staff. * Liaison with employee organisations and trade unions. These are areas with which the human resources staff is involved. The overall purpose of the human resources function can for that reason be identified as: * To attract and retain good high-quality staff. * To ensure that the organisation operates within the law in relation to employment and health and safety. The Philip Markham organisation believes they will not be successful if they do not have the commitment of all staff and intend to look after all their employees needs through the functions of the human resources department. Finance The overall contribution of the finance function can be grouped in to three main areas: Preparing accounts. Preparing wages and salaries. Obtaining capital and resources. Philip Markham employs ten members of staff in the finance department. The department makes sure internal customers receive the money they are owed and customers pay their bills. To keep control of finances the organisation allocates different department budgets and expects them to keep to there planned levels income and expenditure. Finance also has the task of preparing all the accounts each year so that they comply with legal responsibilities to the Inland Revenue. They also complete VAT returns to HM Customs and Excise. Pete Martin the management accountant at Philip Markham is responsible for checking that production levels and sales are on target. He advises all internal customers who are the directors, about the current financial health of the organisation on a weekly basis. An additional responsibility for the finance function is advising the organisation about more money for the purpose of expansion to buy raw materials or expensive equipment so it can remain competitive obtaining extra finance, called CAPITAL at the best rates possible. Production The contribution production makes to the overall business is to make a product and provide a service. The core function of the production department is to obtain the resources required by the organisation and transform those into a product. The production function is also concerned with organising the resources to produce the goods and service in the most appropriate way. Philip Markham carry out three different operations in their production department, these are as follows: Purchasing Manufacturing Despatch The layout of the production area has been designed to maximise the flow of materials when producing the shirts from cutting to finishing. The cutting area is near to the stores so that materials can be transported the minimum distance. Quality control is extremely important to Philip Markham and each team cutters, machinists and finishers is responsible for ensuring that quality is right at every stage of the process. The shirts and ties pass to the packing department, which is part of despatch. All items are boxed and labelled and goods linked to the correct paperwork and the dispatchers that each box includes the correct delivery note and advice note for the haulier. Also part of the production function is purchasing staff and the designers. Purchasing is responsible for obtaining the best quality fabrics at the best prices and making sure all raw materials are delivered on time. Sales and Marketing The contribution sales and marketing makes to the overall business is to identify what the customer needs and providing it. The activities of sales and marketing include: Market research to find out what customers need and customer opinions on proposed and existing products or services. Promotion to inform the customers that their particular organisation can fulfil these needs. Sales to provide the goods or service the customer thinks he or she needs. The contribution of sales and marketing is vital in that it directly influences the number of sales that are made and as a result the profitability of the company. Each functional area operates to support the business aims and objectives and a range of activities goes on in each one. How the functional areas interact with one another is important. For an organisation to be efficient and effective there must be links between the people who work in different functional areas, especially when their activities overlap. Philip Markham is aiming to set up an e-commerce site to sell classic menswear and their objective is to be the leading British supplier of this type of clothing on the Internet within the next two years and double sales home and abroad within the same period. In order to achieve such a particular set of aims and objectives the organisation will need the support of a representative from finance, production and sales and marketing. The finance representative can present all the facts and figures that need to be considered when exploring this venture. The overall budget set-aside for web-page development and marketing is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½80,000 in the first year. Tina the financial manager believes this is generous given the financial position of the company. She believes it will be vital to control costs of setting up this new venture and to focus on those products that will bring in the most profit for the company. Her key consideration is that the site should be secure (identified by a padlock symbol), as payments will be made over the Internet. She has also advised that because VAT regulations differ, a separate order form would need to be completed by purchasers from abroad. The site would have to have a communications link with finance as all payments must be logged, collected and recorded by finance before orders are fulfilled by dispatch. Finance would have to notify dispatch when payments had been received. Only then can goods can be sent. The production representatives Tariq Choudrey (Production Director) and Marsha Webb (Manufacturing Manager) have concerns about the Internet site. Marsha believes there is a limit as to how much production rates can increase to meet additional orders without sacrificing quality. Details which need to be addressed are as follows: The cutting tables new tables have been requested for two years. They are essential if orders increase at a cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½15,000 each. The eleven sewers produce on average five shirts a day each. The maximum which can be produced without additional staff is seven unless quality is sacrificed. The three finishers spend a lot of time on special orders. More staff will be needed in this area unless the website only allows for standard orders. The despatch manager advises unless more mechanisation is introduced more staff will be needed if orders have to be completed quickly. It would be easier to sell knitwear and overcoats on the website most of which are supplied by other companies. However the suppliers of knitwear and overcoats would need at least two months notice if the volume of orders were going to increase substantially. The manufacturing manager supports the overall ideas but stresses it is absolutely no use trying to sell goods which cannot be produced in a reasonable time period as this would do more harm than good to the companys reputation. Production need to be involved in the communication process at all times unless they are fully aware of what is happening at all times there wont be any goods to sell. The sales and marketing function are excited by this new venture. Jade Marsh (sales and marketing director) would like to see the task of setting the website given to a professional web development firm who are likely to charge à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40,000 to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50,000 for a site with multi-media images. This will be vital to show the type of fabric that can be selected, the colour and the designs especially for the ties. The site must be user-friendly quick to access and use and that it can cope with a large number of hits without crashing. She believes the key date for it to be finalised is September, so that the company can benefit from Christmas orders. In order for the site to be marketed it will cost money, it must be registered with good search engines. She would like to have special offers to tempt visitors to return again. All stationary must be reprinted to include the website address. During the first year the site needs advertising as widely as possible. The sales and marketing director believes that the e-commerce should be located in marketing (as it is a method of selling goods). Ideally she would like two more staff, one to join the mail-order team and be responsible for Internet orders and another to join customer services in case there are any problems with goods sold over the Internet. She believes this would minimise communication problems as all sales will be controlled in one area. She estimates that the company could sell 200,000 shirts and 150,000 ties if a good job of setting up and marketing the website was accomplished. The human resources function is concerned about three main aspects. Where the website operations will be controlled. How the website will be developed. Kim Fields the administration and IT service manager believes she should have control of website operations as she is IT manager especially as computer staff are responsible to her. She believes maintenance of the site will be crucial, it is important to set it up fairly quickly and then it can expand. Kim considers the most sensible route for website development would be to hire their own multi-media web developer to set up the page and sub-contract specialist parts to an outside firm if needed. In addition a programme/copywriter would be needed. The software and other associated costs would be about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10,000. Having these staff would mean that the website could be continually updated in house. Keith is concerned about the effect on staff, he is anxious that the mail-order clerks should be trained to be able to print off and process orders arriving through the website as well as carrying out their current job. He thinks they will need extra help at busy periods such as Christmas. If the website is to be successful than eventually another member of staff may be required. He believes it to be more sensible to move this group of staff to the HR/Admin department so there would be better communications with the computer staff. Keith considers any communication problems during planning the stages can be solved by regular meetings between the IT and sales staff. Finance will also need to be included. Philip Markham has always aimed to produce menswear of excellent quality at affordable prices. The fabric used for shirts is of highest quality and designers aim to produce new designs each year. The functional areas which relates to these aims is the production department, finance department, human resources and sales and marketing. The first action to take would be in human resources the company needs to recruit the best people for the job including cutters, machinists, and finishers and look after them whilst they work. The finance function make sure that a budget is maintained when buying materials, paying wages and embarking in market research when embarking on achieving these particular aims. The finance function can give up-to-date information on the level of expenditure at any time. The production function uphold quality control at Philip Markham ands each team cutters, machinists and finishers is responsible for ensuring that quality is right at every stage of the process. Production is responsible for obtaining the best quality fabrics at the best prices and making sure all raw materials are delivered on time Human resources relates to these aims because their function is to recruit and train staff to meet all customer needs in relation to providing a service. The function incorporates company policy to treat employees fairly and equally in all aspects relating to their employment. A content workforce will achieve a friendly atmosphere and staff are keen to help consumers as well as each other.

Chemical Engineering Innovation in Food Production

Chemical Engineering Innovation in Food Production The inherent safety, convenience, availability, nutritional content, aesthetic appeal, and variety that characterize food supplies are a hallmark of modern life. Chemical engineering knowledge can be accredited with improving the conversion of raw foodstuffs into safe consumer products of the highest possible quality. Among those, membrane-based separation and other filtration techniques are most common. Chemical engineers have applied their expertise to chemically synthesize fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides that promote crop growth and protect crops from weeds, insects, and other pests (AlChe, 2009). Its so easy to feel the contribution of chemical engineering in food sector if we observe the morning tea to late night beverage. All processed food stuffs around us is more or less subject to different types of filtration. One of the fastest growing parts of the whole sector is the mineral water and soft drinks sector, which has a sizeable requirement for fine filtration (Suther land, 2010). Modern techniques are used to improve the flavour, texture, nutritional value, safety, appearance and overall aesthetic appeal of various foods. Modern food processing can also improve the quality of life for people with food allergies and for diabetics. Foods processed using aseptic packaging retains their vitamins, minerals, and desired textures, colours, and flavours more effectively than those processed with traditional canning. Nestlà ©, Wal-Mart, Unilever, PepsiCo etc. are some world famous food companies without whom modern life cannot be imagined. Filtration in food processing Filtration is a process where solid particles present in a suspension are separated from liquid or gas employing a porous medium (Srikanth, 2012). Surface, depth and cake filtration are different types based on filtration mechanism. Two types of filtration theory are widely known which are gas filtration theory and liquid filtration theory. These theories have also some limitations. There are some criteria for choice of filter medium such as particle size that has to removed, permeability of clean medium, solid holding capacity of the medium, flow resistance of medium etc. Filter aid is a very important factor which forms a surface deposit to screen out the solids and it also prevents the plugging of the supporting filter medium (Srikanth, 2012). Chemical engineers have invented a variety of engineered processes that allow food processors to remove impure substances to improve food quality, safety, and aesthetics. Todays membrane-based separation is used widely to remove impurities during food processing by pressure to force unwanted substances in food ingredients to pass through a semi permeable membrane and it is also applied majorly in the dairy industry, mainly as a processing phase in production soft cheeses. Chemical engineers strive to maximize the available surface area in filter, reduce membrane pore size, minimize the pressure drop the fluid will experience when flowing through the unit and maximize cost-effectiveness (AIChe, 2009). For food industries, there are some specific requirements to choose filter media such as dissipation of electrostatic charges, high abrasion resistance, available clean-in-place system etc. In this dissertation, some food processing industries have been presented where different types of filtration are the key factor. Among those cane and beet sugar industry, starch and sugar industry, beverage industries like wine, beer etc. are notable. Filtration should be the most prior subject to enhance food safety management of an industry. It can help to remove physical, chemical and other microbiological contaminants with great efficiency. This also focuses on advantages of self-cleaning filters over manual and mechanical cleaning. Advances in filtration technology include the development of continuous processes to replace old batch process technology (Patel R. et al, 2010). FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES Chemical engineering innovation in food production If the grass on the other side of the fence appears greener . . . it must be all the fertilizer they are using. Kevin Rodowicz. The food industry is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population. Before modern engineering advances were widely adopted by the food industry, the variety of foods available at stores were determined by what was produced locally, since transportation limitations predicted the distance that perishable foods could travel (AIChe, 2009). Chemical engineers routinely develop advanced materials and techniques used for, among other things, chemical and heat sterilization, advanced packaging, and monitoring and control, which are essential to the highly automated facilities for the high-throughput production of safe food products (AIChe, 2009). Chemical engineering unit operations and procedures, established for other industrialized reasons, are used by the food industry like drying, milling, extrusion, refrigeration, heat and mass transfer, membrane-based separation, concentration, centrifugation, fluid flow and blending, powder and bulk -solids mixing, pneumatic conveying, and process mode ling, monitoring, and control. Among these, membrane-based separation and other filtration techniques are mostly common (AIChe, 2009). Technological milestones: Over the years, engineered solutions have increased the production of processed fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat and poultry, and seafood products, and have allowed more widespread distribution of such foods. The following are some of the most revolutionary improvements in food processing noted in the Milestones of the Twentieth Century by the Institute of Food Technologists (AIChe, 2009). 1900s: Vacuum packaging, which removes the oxygen from inside the food package, was invented to prolong the shelf life of foods, and the widespread practice of freezing foods began with fruit and fish. The first ready-to -eat cereals using many chemical engineering unit operations appeared as well (AIChe, 2009). 1920s: Fast-freezing practices for foods were first commercialized by Clarence Birdseye, whose name has become practically known with frozen foods. Birdseye found that by blanching vegetables (cooking them for a short time in boiling water) just before freezing, the process could deactivate certain enzymes that cause off-colours and off-flavours, thereby enhancing the quality of the thawed vegetables. The first commercial use of puffing to produce such cereals as Cheerios and puffed rice also began (AIChe, 2009). 1930s: Freeze-drying processes were pioneered in this decade, and frozen foods are dried after deep freezing, in which the entrained water is removed by a process known as sublimation by heating the frozen product in a vacuum chamber. Freeze-dried foods in turn become shelf-stored foods that quickly regain their original flavour, aroma, size, shape, and texture after rehydration. The removal of water slows spoilage, thus providing longer shelf life, and reducing the weight of the food, which makes it cheaper and easier to transport (AIChe, 2009). 1940s: The advent of automated processes to concentrate, freeze, and dehydrate foods enabled a greater variety of foods to be mass-produced and packaged for shipment overseas to military personnel during World War II. Disease-free packaging extremely improved food quality, safety, and nutrient retention (AIChe, 2009). 1950s: During this era, monitored-atmosphere packaging using plastic increased the shelf life of fresh foods. The process controls oxygen and carbon dioxide levels inside the packaging environment to reduce respiration by fruits and vegetables (similar to human breathing) and reduces the amount of off-gas ethylene produced, which delays maturing and damage (AIChe, 2009). 1960s: The first commercial-scale producing machine began producing cold-dried foods and coffee. Advances in aseptic processing allowed shorter heating times for sealed food containers (AIChe, 2009). 1970s: The period of the 1970s saw growing usage in the chemical process industries (paint, textile, oil recovery, pulp and paper). In this decade, the major effects of this technology is in the food and biotechnology processing industries, where ultrafiltration and cross-flow microfiltration are finding increasing uses as a gentle and efficient way of fractionating, concentrating and clarifying a variety of food from milk products, fruit juices and alcoholic beverages to fermentation broths, protein fractions and wastewaters (Cheryan M, 1986). 1980s: Advanced-atmosphere packaging began to be used widely during this era and It is a more progressive difference of controlled-atmosphere packing, in which the head space atmosphere within a food package or the transportation/ storage vessel is modified by flushing it with a blend of inert (nonreactive) gases (AIChe, 2009). 1990s: High-pressure processing was commercially applied first to fresh packaged foods to kill microorganisms that cause spoilage without altering flavours, texture, or appearance (AIChe, 2009). After 2000: Recent food trends are actually based on fat calculation but tasty, healthy and doctor-designed. Different types of cupcakes, cheese, pizza, fast foods etc. are peoples first choice. Also various types of grain made foods are getting popularity day by day (AIChe, 2009). Advances in chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides Early mankind experimented with human and animal wastes, seaweed, ashes and other substances to fertilize crops and increase productivity. Chemical engineers have applied their expertise to chemically synthesize fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides that promote crop growth and protect crops from weeds, insects, and other pests. Today, the use of these products is more important than ever to meet the needs of an ever-expanding population (AIChe, 2009). Fertilizers Nitrogen is the most plentiful part of the air we breathe, present at 79% by volume and a prime nutrient (most often in the form of ammonia). Modern fertilizers stem from a chemical engineering breakthrough pioneered by Fritz Haber in 1908 that developed a process to synthesize ammonia by reacting hydrogen with nitrogen and in 1918, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this discovery (AIChe, 2009). Working with industrialist Carl Bosch, Haber scaled up the successful Haber-Bosch process that allows ammonia to be produced cost-effectively in commercial quantities for use in nitrogen fertilizers. Habers original reaction was carried out under high pressures. The improved ammonia synthesis process carries out the reaction at lower pressures and temperatures, which helps save money by reducing the amount of energy required by the process (AIChe, 2009). Pesticides and herbicides Chemists and chemical engineers have also been helpful in the discovery, synthesis and commercial-scale manufacture of various chemical compounds that are used as pesticides (to kill insects) and herbicides (to kill weeds). For example, chemical engineers discovered that when glyphosate (the primary ingredient in Monsantos widely used herbicide Roundup) is applied to a crop, it inhibits a specific growth enzyme called the EPSP synthase. Glyphosate is rapidly metabolized by weeds, and unlike many other earlier herbicides, it binds tightly to soil so that it does not accumulate in runoff to contaminate surface waters or underground aquifers. According to its manufacturer, it eliminates more than 125 kinds of weeds, but does not affect mammals, birds, fish, or insects (AIChe, 2009). Advanced food processing techniques Today, imaginative and effective engineered approaches many drawn directly from the chemical engineers toolbox routinely add nutrients, improve aesthetic appeal (in terms of a foods flavours, texture, and appearance), enable longer distance transport (leading to multi-seasonal availability), extend shelf life, and remove microorganisms that contribute to spoilage and are responsible for food-borne illnesses. Modern food processing can also improve the quality of life for people with food allergies (by removing or neutralizing the proteins and other substances that create allergic reactions in certain people) and for diabetics (by reducing sugar content and providing sugar-free alternatives). The roasting of coffee beans requires exceptionally precise control of the chemical and physical reactions over time. Depending on the progressive bean temperature experienced during roasting, final flavours characteristics can vary widely. Chemical engineers have devised ways to make timely adjustments to the roaster to moderate airflow rates and manipulate bean temperatures without changing the flavours (AIChe, 2009). Sterilizing and packaging perishable foods Sterilization is a key aspect of any food -packaging operation. The ability to sterilize foods to protect them against spoilage by oxidation, bacteria, and moulds has always presented an important engineering challenge. Throughout history, people have experimented with the use of dehydration, smoking, salting, pickling, candying and the use of certain spices. They include high-temperature pasteurization and canning, refrigeration and freezing, chemical preservatives (using such compounds as sulphite, sodium nitrite, ethyl formate, propionic acid, sorbic acid, and benzoic acid), and irradiation (AIChe, 2009). Pasteurization In the early years, no one knew how Nicolas Apperts process preserved foods successfully, but the ability to can foods meant that Napoleons army fighting a long way from home could be fed properly and safely and that British sailors could maintain a healthier diet by feasting on fruits, vegetables, and meats while on long voyages overseas. More than 50 years later, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) explained the mystery by proving that the growth of microorganisms is the primary cause of food spoilage and food -borne illnesses and that a high percentage of them could be killed by heating liquids to about 130 °F (55 °C) or higher, for relatively short periods, without altering the chemical makeup of the food. This simple process became known as pasteurization and was quickly and widely adopted (AIChe, 2009). Aseptic packaging First introduced in the U.S. in the early 1960s, it provides major advantages over traditional canning. It allows many products once considered perishables such as milk and juice to be packaged, distributed, and stored for months or longer without the need for refrigeration, irradiation, or chemical preservatives. In general, during aseptic packaging, both the food and packaging are sterilized at high temperatures for very short periods (AIChe, 2009). The original technology superheated steam to sterilize cans. Pressurized heat exchangers and holding tubes allows the foods and beverages to be sterilized at around 300 °F. Foods processed using aseptic packaging retains their vitamins, minerals, and desired textures, colours, and flavours more effectively than those processed with traditional canning. In 1989, aseptic-packaging technology was voted the food industrys top innovation of the last 50 years by the Institute of Food Technologists (AIChe, 2009). Some world famous food companies In terms of corporate size, food manufacture has no companies to match the giants of other sectors (Sutherland, 2010). Although still by far the largest of the food producers, Nestlà ©, with annual sales in 2009 of about $95 billion (well down on 2008), is only a quarter of the size of the largest petroleum companies such as Exxon or Shell (Sutherland, 2010). (There are, of course, food retailers much larger than Nestlà ©, especially Wal-Mart whose 2009 sales of $400 billion made it the third largest company in the world in terms of turnover, with Carrefour a long way behind at second in the list of retailers, at $130 billion (Sutherland, 2010). The next largest company classified as a food producer is Unilever, with total 2009 sales of $53 billion (although the Unilever picture is complicated by its extensive range of non-food household goods businesses) (Sutherland, 2010). Unilever is closely followed by Cargill, the largest private company in the USA, and by Archer-Daniels-Midland, although both of these are large natural product commodity dealers as well. Then come ConAgra, Kraft Foods, Danone, Kellogg, General Mills, and H J Heinz (Sutherland, 2010). For some time, the leading beverage companies have been the soft drink makers Pepsico (2009 sales of $43 billion) and Coca Cola ($32 billion), some distance ahead of the brewers (Sutherland, 2010). This picture changed in 2008 with the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by InBev (itself the fairly recent merger of Interbrew and AmBev) to create a company larger than Coca Cola (although still behind Pepsi) and second in size of the brewers is now SABMiller (a 2002 creation), followed by Heineken and then Carlsberg (Sutherland, 2010). Further consolidation in the beverage sector is being driven by a search for markets, because beer drinking can be very regional. Thus, Heineken has acquired the beer business of Femsa in Mexico which holds 40% of its domestic market and nearly 10% of that in Brazil and one of the fastest growing parts of the whole sector is the mineral water and soft drinks sector, which has a sizeable requirement for fine filtration (Sutherland, 2010). FILTRATION Definition Filtration is a process whereby solid particles present in a suspension are separated from the liquid or gas using a porous medium, which retains the solid but, allows the fluid to pass through. It is a common operation used widely in sterile products, bulk drugs and in liquid oral formulation. The suspension to be filtered is called slurry. The porous medium used to retain the solids is known as filter medium and the accumulated solids on the filter are referred as filter cake and the clear liquid passing through the filter is filtrate (Srikanth, 2012). The pores of the filter medium are smaller than the size of particles to be separated. When feed is passed over the filter medium, the fluid flows through it by virtue of a pressure differential across the filter. Gravity is acting on the liquid column; the solids are trapped on the surface of the filter medium. After a particular point of time, the resistance offered by the filter cake is high that stops the filtration (Sambhamurthy , 2005). Types of filtration Based on the mechanism, there are 3 types of filtration which are surface filtration, depth filtration and cake filtration. Surface filtration It is a screening action by which pores or holes of the medium prevent the passage of solids. For this purpose, plates with holes or woven sieves are used (Matteson, 1987). An example is a cellulose membrane filter. Depth filtration This filtration mechanism retains particulate matter not only on the surface but also at the inside of the filter. It is extensively used for clarification. Ceramic filters and sintered filters are examples of depth filtration (Stephan, 2003). Case study of depth filtration (Carey, 2008): Several forces have driven changes in filtration technology during the last few decades, including environmental concerns, the health and safety of winery employees and wine quality. The major active component in traditional depth filtration is diatomaceous earth, which has several major problems. First, it is difficult to dispose because it does not decompose. Second, it can cause symptoms similar to coalminers black lung disease when inhaled over long periods of time. To overcome these drawbacks, cross flow filtration and ultra-filtration are being practiced in recent years. Cross flow filtration: It ranges between ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis and the nominal pore size of the membrane is typically below 1 nanometer (Wikipedia, 2012). Nano filtration membranes are still subject to scaling and fouling and often modifiers such as anti-scalants are required for use (Hillie, 2007). Ultra filtration: It is a pressure driven membrane transport process that has been applied on both the laboratory and industrial scale. It is becoming a powerful separation tool for the rapidly growing biotechnology industry (Goldsmith et al., 1974). Cake filtration By this mechanism, the cake accumulated on the surface of the filter is itself used as a filter. A filter consists of a coarse woven cloth through which a concentrated suspension of rigid particles is passed so that they bridge the holes and forma bed. Theory of filtration Depending on dispersing medium filtration theory is divided in two parts; Gas filtration Liquid filtration Gas filtration theory It mainly includes filtration of aerosols and lyosols. There are several mechanisms for this theory. They are as follows (Wilson Cavanagh, 1969). Diffusion deposition The trajectories of individual small particles do not coincide with the streamlines of the fluid because of Brownian motion. With decreasing particle size the intensity of Brownian motion increases and, as a consequence, so does the intensity of diffusion deposition. Direct interception This mechanism involves the finite size of particles. A particle is intercepted as it approaches the collection surface to a distance equal to its radius. Inertial deposition The presence of a body in the flowing fluid results in a curvature of the streamlines in the neighbourhood of the body. Because of their inertia, the individual particles do not follow the curved streamlines but are projected against the body and may deposit there. It is obvious that the intensity of this mechanism increases with increasing particle size and velocity of flow. Gravitational deposition Every particle has a definite sedimentation speed due to gravity. As a consequence, the particles deviate from the streamlines of the fluid and owing to this deviation; the particles may touch a fibre. Electrostatic deposition Both the particles and the fibres in the filter may carry electric charges. Deposition of particles on the fibres may take place because of forces acting between charges or induced forces. Liquid filtration theory The term solid-liquid filtration covers all processes in which a liquid containing suspended solid is freed of some or the entire solid when the suspension is drawn through a porous medium (Melia Weber, 1972). Kozeny Carman equation = . (1) Here, A = filter area V = total volume of filtrate delivered t = filtration time à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  P = pressure drop across cake and medium r = specific cake resistance  µ = filtrate viscosity l = cake thickness L = thickness of cake equivalent to medium resistance (Skilling, 2001). Limitations: This equation does not take into account of the fact that depth of the granular bed is lesser than the actual path traversed by the fluid. The actual path is not straight throughout the bed, but it is sinuous (Chowdiah et al., 1981). Poiseulles law This Law considered that filtration is similar to the streamline flow of a liquid under pressure through capillaries. = . (2) Cake resistance, RM = . (3) Specific cake resistance, ÃŽÂ ± = ÃŽÂ ±Ãƒâ€" ³Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  P. (4) The filter resistance is much less than the cake resistance (RC Filter media The filter medium acts as a mechanical support for the filter cake and it is responsible for the collection of solids (Srikanth, 2012). Minimum cake thickness of discharge for different types of filter is presented in Table 1 (Subramanyam et al., 2005). Table 1: Minimum cake thickness for discharge (Andrew et al., 2002) Filter type Minimum design thickness Belt 3.0-5.0 Roll discharge 1.0 Standard scraper 6.5 Coil 3.0-5.0 String discharge 6.5 Horizontal belt 3.0-5.0 Horizontal table 19.0 Materials used as filter media (Rushton, 2008) Different types of materials used as filter media for various applications industrially and domestically are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Type of filter media, features and their application (Patel R. et al, 2010). Type of filter media Features Application

Cry , the Beloved Country: Post-Colonial Literary Theory :: Cry the Beloved Country Essays

Cry , the Beloved Country: Post-Colonial Literary Theory Bibliography w/4 sources Cry , the Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a perfect example of post-colonial literature. South Africa is a colonized country, which is, in many ways, still living under oppression. Though no longer living under apartheid, the indigenous Africans are treated as a minority, as they were when Paton wrote the book. This novel provides the political view of the author in both subtle and evident ways. Looking at the skeleton of the novel, it is extremely evident that relationship of the colonized vs. colonizers, in this case the blacks vs. the whites, rules the plot. Every character’s race is provided and has association with his/her place in life. A black man kills a white man, therefore that black man must die. A black umfundisi lives in a valley of desolation, while a white farmer dwells above on a rich plot of land. White men are even taken to court for the simple gesture of giving a black man a ride. This is not a subtle point, the reader is i mmediately stricken by the diversities in the lives of the South Africans. The finer details of the book are what can really be looked at in terms of post-colonial theory. The fact that a native Zulu, Stephen Kumalo, is a priest of Christianity and speaks English, communicates how the colonized are living. Neither of these practices are native to his land, but they are treated by all as if they were. Small sentences are woven into the plot to further this point, such as the reoccurring European greetings. Another emphasis is on the learned customs of the people. In court when Kumalo finds that his son will be hanged, he is touched that a white man breaks the custom to help him walk outside. When the white boy raised his cap to Kumalo, he, "felt a strange pride that it should be so, and a strange humility that it should be so, and an astonishment that the small boy should not know the custom." (p. 234). The fact that this small courtesy was taken so heavily is overwhelming from a post-colonial point of view. Kumalo is so accustomed to the way of the land that he does not dare think that he deserves even this respect. Napoleon Letsisi is the character that reveals the significant political belief of the author.

The Class Struggles of 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe Essay

The Class Struggles of 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century the proletariats were controlled and oppressed by the bourgeoisie until they took on the responsibility of acquiring equality through the Communist Manifesto. First it is important to understand the French economy during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The working class people were struggling with their need to get by in life and feed their family and the internal call to make a choice and gain equality. The problem was that the proletariats did not have much of a choice at the time because if they did not work then they did not survive. The struggling class had to agree to what all the owners said and â€Å"whatever their status, the peasants continued to pay to their lord feudal dues on such land as they held on his estates." 2 It was clear that a social change was needed since the workers were being so abused and getting no reward for their efforts. The European society during the eighteenth and nineteenth century consisted of ... ...equality. WEB LINKS http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850-csf/csf.htm http://eh.net/Clio/Conferences/ASSA/Jan_99/hadeishi.shtml http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/towns.html http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yamashir/History.htm End Notes 1. Karl Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848 (France), 1. 2. John Lough, An Introduction to Eighteenth Century France (New York: David McKay Company Inc., 1960), 18. 3. Craig Calhoun, Habermas and the Public Sphere (London: The MIT Press, 1992), 187. 4. Lough, 53. 5. Gerhard Grempel, "The Eighteenth Century Town" The Eighteenth Century Town, <http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/towns.html> (October 1 2001). 6. Herbert Wilson, The Old Regime in France. (New York: Howard Fertig, 1970), 278.

how Is Helium Produced? :: essays research papers

"How Is Helium Produced?" Production: Although Helium is one of the most common elements in the universe it is a rare gas on earth. It exists in the atmosphere in such small quantities (less than five parts per million) that recovering it from the air is uneconomical. Helium is produced as a by-product of the refining of natural gas, which is carried out on a commercial scale in the USA and Poland. In these areas natural gas contains a relatively high concentration of Helium which has accumulated as a result of radioactive decay of heavy elements within the earth's crust. Helium is supplied to distribution centres throughout the world in liquid form in large cryogenic containers. The Helium is filled into liquid containers, gas cylinders and cylinder packs as necessary. History of Helium Production: Government involvement in helium conservation dates to the Helium Act of 1925 which authorized the Bureau of Mines to build and operate a large-scale helium extraction and purification plant. From 1929 until 1960 the federal government was the only domestic helium producer. In 1960, Congress amended the Helium Act to provide incentives to natural gas producers for stripping natural gas of its helium, for purchase of the separated helium by the government, and for its long-term storage. With over 960 million cubic meters (34.6 billion cubic feet) of helium in government storage and a large private helium recovery industry, questions arise as to the need for either the federal helium extraction program or the federally maintained helium stockpile. In a move which would take the federal government out of the helium business, Congress passed the Helium Privatization Act (H.R. 873) as part of the Seven- Year Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act of 1995 (H.R. 2491). Although the measure died when the President vetoed the Budget Act on December 6, 1995, the Administration has made a goal the privatization of the federal helium program. On April 30, 1996, the House suspended the rules and passed H.R. 3008, the Helium Privatization Act as agreed to in the House-Senate conference on the Budget Act. Subsequently, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee amended the bill to provide for the National Academy of Sciences to study how best to dispose of the helium reserve. On September 26, 1996, with limited time remaining for the 104th Congress, the House again suspended the rules and passed H.R. 4168, a new bill containing the Senate Committee language. This would avoid the need for a conference if the Senate would also pass the same bill. The Senate did so on September 28, 1996. This report reviews the origin and

Evidence Based Practice Aseptic Technique for Peripheral IV Insertion Essay

The significance of asepsis in the intravenous IV therapy is integral in the modern patient care because of the increased patients number requiring IV therapy due to changes in patterns of prescription and the today’s illnesses which has acute nature (Bofah et al, 2012). Peripheral Intravenous Cannulation according to Bofah et al (2012), is a procedure in which patent’s skin is punctured with a needle allowing a device to be temporarily inserted into the hand or forearm veins in administering intravenous medications or fluids, although other body sites can be used. It is vital to use intravenous drugs in the management of the patients who are hospitalized. The infections linked to the intravenous therapy may affect the blood stream or the skin around the insertion site of the catheter (Bofah et al, 2012). For this reason, Bofah et al (2012) suggested that general infection control and universal precautions measures need to be taken into considerations when undertaking a clinical procedure. However, specific measures need to be taken into consideration when administering intravenous therapy especially those in the home setting and the vulnerable patients. Kampf et al (2013) conducted an observational intervention study on â€Å"Improving Patient Safety during the Insertion of Peripheral Venous Catheters. The aim of the study was to determine the application of specific steps for peripheral venous catheters insertion in clinical practice and implementation of a multimodal intervention with an aim of improving both optimum order and compliance with the steps. Results indicated that 202 insertions were observed during the intervention period and 207 in the control period (Kampf et al, 2013). Compliance significantly improved for 4 to 5 steps that are 11.6% – 57.9% for disinfection of hand before contact with the patient (Kampf et al, 2013). Skin antisepsis of the site of puncture compliance was high after and before intervention (99% after and 99.5% before). Specific steps performance in the correct order also improved, which is from 7.7% – 68.6% when 3-5 steps were done. From the description of the intervention by partici pants, 46.8% said it was helpful, 46.8% as neutral and 6.4% as disruption (Kampf et al, 2013). This indicated that a multimodal strategy, of improving compliance with peripheral venous safety steps of insertion of catheter and optimum procedure performance, was effective and regarded as helpful by the health professionals. Bofah et al (2012) conducted a study, â€Å"Peripheral Intravenous Therapy: Focus on Asepsis Systematic Literature Review.† The aim of the study was to describe the principles that are involved in the preparation, management and administration of peripheral IV in the clinical setting. Systematic literature review was conducted on the published studies describing asepsis principles involved in the preparation, management and administration of peripheral IV in the clinical setting from the year 2005 to 2012 January (Bofah et al, 2012). The findings from the 1135 publications suggested that the healthcare professionals should consider the patients always as being susceptible. Additionally, practices of standardizations will help in a reduction of infection risk. Lastly, all healthcare professionals must be educated to ensure procedures and practices are consistent and are adhered to with the day-to-day practices (Bofah et al, 2012). O’Grady et al (2011) developed guidelines for healthcare workers who insert the intravascular catheters and also for the people responsible for control and surveillance of infections in outpatient, hospital and healthcare hoe settings. The report was compiled by members of professional organizations that represent the disciplines of infectious diseases, critical care medicine, surgery, healthcare infection control, interventional radiology, anesthesiology, pediatric medicine, pulmonary medicine and nursing (O’Grady et al, 2011). The guidelines are to provide recommendations that are evidenced based for preventing infections related to intravascular catheter. The major areas of emphasis by the guidelines include (1) training and educating healthcare workers who maintain or insert catheters;(2)using sterile barrier precautions maximally during central insertion of venous catheter; (3) using alcohol with >0.5% chlorhexidine skin preparation for antisepsis; (4) avoiding the routine central venous catheters replacements as a strategy of preventing infection;(5)using sponge dressing that are impregnated by chlorhexidine and short-term central venous catheters that are impregnated by antibiotic/antiseptic if the infection rate is not reducing despite adherence to strategy 1 to 4 (O’Grady et al, 2011). The strengths of the current research of Kampf et al (2013)was that the methodology of observations applied provided direct access to the variables under consideration rather than relying on some form of self-report like asking questions in questionnaires and interviews. The strength of Bofah et al (2012) was that it used 1135 publications that were a good sample size. The guidelines recommended by O’Grady et al (2011) had a strength of the input from different professional bodies and expert hence reliable. The weaknesses of Kampf et al (2013) research is that might be having observer bias hence undermined its validity and reliability. The weakness of Bofah et al (2012) was that systemic review was not done under a set of guideline and standards hence could be unreliable. The weakness of O’Grady et al (2011) is that with the presence of many professionals, coming to a common ground in scenarios of disagreements affects the validity of the recommendations and guidelines. Future research should address pediatric infections and resistant organisms in Aseptic Technique for peripheral IV insertion. There are much evidence supporting current nursing practice on different techniques of IV insertion including aseptic technique. Moreover, guidelines have been provided by a collection of all relevant heath professional and organizations. In addition, the current nursing practice is the best since it is widely used, it is supported by many different researches, and it is standardized. Meaning all healthcare professionals have a standard procedure of practicing as elaborated in the guidelines agreed by all professionals and healthcare bodies. Conclusion In conclusion, the essay discussed the evidenced based Aseptic Technique for peripheral IV insertion. The essay defined Peripheral Intravenous Cannulation before detailing what the paper will analyze. Three studies has been analyzed, and their strengths and weakness discussed. The paper then provided an area for future research before elaborating that there is enough evidence supporting current nursing practice. Lastly, the paper elaborated why the current practice is the best practice. References Bofah, Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu, Josephine Adu-tutu, & Lay, Albert Alexander. (2012). Peripheral intravenous therapy : focus on asepsis : Systematic literature review. Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD8QFjAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theseus.fi%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10024%2F42656%2FBofah_Josephine.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1&ei=hJ_AVKnGHaTV7QagyoCwBA&usg=AFQjCNHQcdW7lEuoXASBbH-A3ZNVZ7-nvQ&sig2=hCJEBzRL69lu8TtTSNFDHQ&bvm=bv.83829542,d.ZGUKampf, G., Reise, G., James, C., Gittelbauer, K., Gosch, J., & Alpers, B. (January 01, 2013). Improving patient safety during insertion of peripheral venous catheters: an observational intervention study. Gms Hygiene and Infection Control, 8, 2.). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3850230/O’Grady, N. P., Alexander, M., Burns, L. A., Dellinger, E. P., Garland, J., Heard, S. O., Lipsett, P. A., †¦ Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) (Appendix 1). (January 01, 2011). Summary of recommendations: Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-related Infections. Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 52, 9, 1087-99. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106267/ Source document

Poetry †Alliteration Essay

The first poem ‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare has a humorous view on the traditional ideas of beauty. The poem is a five duplet metre with the stressed sounds starting on the second word of each line. Each line has the same amount of stressed and unstressed patterns which is very common for sonnets to make it quick and easy to read. The five duplet pattern never mimics human speech in the way a four duplet pattern does. The end of each alternating line has a distinct rhyming pattern which goes on throughout the poem. There is also an assonance pattern with each of these words. The first line ‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’ shows use of a simile the same as most of the last line ‘I think my love as rare as†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ More use of similes could have been made in the following lines. There is an example of weak alliteration in line eleven ‘I grant I never saw a goddess go’ There is a metaphor in line four when he talks about his mistress’ hair, saying they are ‘black wires’, this view today would be a completely different view from when the poem was written. In our modern time we think of electrical wires coming out of her head. Most of the poem gives negative connotations, the words ‘sun’, ‘red coral’, ‘perfume’ and ‘music’ provides beautiful images. The denotations are her eyes do not shine like the bright sun, her breath ‘reeks’ unlike the smell of perfume and her voice is not pleasant to hear unlike music. The second poem Philip Larkin’s ‘The Trees’ is a twelve line poem that seems to compare the life of a tree to human life. In each stanza the first and fourth line, the end word rhymes with one another along with the second and third last word also rhyming. There is a four duplet pattern with the stressed pattern on the second syllable of each line. Each of these words show a clear assonance pattern with the words ‘thresh’ and ‘afresh’ repeated three times, when spoken aloud almost sound like the wind rustling through the leaves of the tree.

Internal and External Analysis of Tesla Essay

Tesla motors is able to differentiate itself from its rivals by offering a product that has yet to be matched. No other automotive company has been able to produce a car that is all electric and can travel 250 miles on a single charge. In addition, no other company has a network of charge stations allowing Tesla owners to drive across the country if desired. Finally, Tesla motors has created a brand of elite cars, it has been said that Tesla owners may be more of a cult than that of Mac owners. The Tesla Model S is equipped with nothing but the best. From its 24 inch LCD screen, to its leather seats. The 90 kWH battery allows the Model S to travel 300 miles without being charged. This allows the Model S to be very light weight and travel 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. In addition, some intangible strengths of Tesla are its leadership, drive for innovation, and customer service. Tesla is run by Elon Musk, a man driven for success, and also has capital to support the company. Tesla is the first car of its kind, and hopes to continue to deliver quality products. Tesla hopes to be among the first to offer an auto-pilot car. Soon they will be launching their Model X, an SUV of equal quality to the Model S. In the near future Tesla is looking to launch a pick-up truck as well. Tesla offers quality customer service, if ever there is problem Tesla representatives will quickly arrive to pick up your car and leave you edition of the Model S, while yours is quickly repaired. Tesla plans to deliver the best cars in the world, and so far they are succeeding. Tesla processes are highly automated, allowing them the advantage to save on labor costs. Most of the manufacturing is done using 10 ft. tall robots. These robots are able to weld, rivet bond and install different components. Eight robots work on a single car, and are able to produce 83 cars a day. These robots can also be programmed to develop the Model X as well. One area which a Tesla receives a bit of grief for, is not allowing other dealerships to sell Tesla vehicles. While this may cause some bad press it allows Tesla to keep full proceeds, and ensure that all who are interested  in investing in a Tesla receive the full experience and learn from an expert. This also comes into play when selling used vehicles; it allows for greater salvage value and allows the Tesla Model S to retain value for a longer period of time. Lastly Tesla, spends no money on advertising, and does not plan to. Tesla has a small in-house marketing team and an internal team to help run the Tesla website. â€Å"Right now, the stores are our advertising. â€Å"We’re very confident we can sell 20,000-plus cars a year without paid advertising . . . It may be something we’ll do years down the road. But it’s certainly not something we feel is crucial for sales right now,† said spokesperson Alexis Georgeson.

John Paul Vann

John Paul Vann is the central character of Sheehan's book, the character around whom the whole Vietnam War seems to turn. Fearless, misguided, Vann appears to stand for America itself. American ambassador and commanding general were informing the Kennedy administration that everything was going well and that the victory was theirs. Vann saw Vietnam War otherwise. In the end Vann was killed when his helicopter crashed and burned in rain and fog in the mountains of Vietnam's Central Highlands, leaving behind a most extraordinary legend.He succeeded in imposing himself as the real commander of a whole region in Vietnam, and the Pentagon, in an unprecedented move, gave him authority over all U. S. military forces in his area. He commanded as many troops as a major general. Vann never hesitated to use whatever level of force was necessary to achieve his ends, but considered it morally wrong and stupid to wreak violence on the innocent (another reason for his popularity with the anti-war p eople). The influence he wielded both within the U. S.civil-military bureaucracy and the Saigon government made him, by general agreement, the most important American in Vietnam after our ambassador and commanding general, a position recognized at his Arlington funeral, attended by the entire Washington military establishment. Neil Sheehan's book is now popular with both critics and public, and Hollywood would even think of making a film portraying an American military hero from the Vietnam War with such sympathy. DEVELOPMENT OF THEME Both John Paul Vann and Neil Sheehan went to Vietnam in the early 1960s, Vann as a military advisor, Sheehan as a reporter for United Press International (UPI).As the months passed, Vann’s disillusionment with the war’s progress eventually led him to share his frustrations with Sheehan and other reporters, and the advisor became one of the correspondents’ most valuable sources of information on the true dynamics of the situation ou t in the countryside. In the mid-1960s Sheehan left Vietnam for assignments in the United States, but Vann remained and, after assuming a civilian position, rose to become one of the most powerful Americans in the country.In 1972, a short time after Vann’s death in a helicopter crash, Sheehan began work on a biography of the soldier. Sixteen long years later, the book was finally published to a chorus of critical praise. John Paul Vann went to Vietnam in March 1962 at age thirty-seven. A lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army, he served as senior advisor to the South Vietnamese Army’s 7th Infantry Division, which was headquartered at My Tho in the Mekong Delta south of Saigon. An intelligent, fearless man possessed of terrific stamina and a deeply held belief in the legitimacy of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Vann was an ideal advisor in many respects. Sheehan wrote in A Bright Shining Lie that the military man’s character and education had ‘‘combined t o produce a mind that could be totally possessed by the immediate task and at the same time sufficiently detached to discern the root elements of the problem. He manifested the faith and the optimism of post–World War II America that any challenge could be overcome by will and by the disciplined application of intellect, technology, money, and, when necessary, armed force. (134)’’But as the months passed and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops that he was advising continued to flounder, Vann’s frustration grew. South Vietnamese commanders proved reluctant to commit troops to confrontations because of political concerns back in Saigon and their own instinct for self-preservation, and the rosy forecasts of American policymakers troubled him as well. Moreover, Vann felt that both the South Vietnamese government and U. S. officials did not appreciate the significance of the social problems plaguing the country, and he argued that U. S.bombing po licies and the Strategic Hamlets program (in which peasants were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in group encampments) were eroding already tenuous support for the Diem regime out in the countryside. By the end of his first year in Vietnam, wrote Sheehan, ‘‘Vann saw that the war was being lost. The ambassador and the commanding general in South Vietnam were telling the Kennedy administration that everything was going well and that the war was being won. Vann believed then and never ceased to believe that the war could be won if it was fought with sound tactics and strategy† (102).Sheehan and the other members of the Saigon press corps bucked attempts by U. S. and Vietnamese officials to spoon-feed the media information on the war’s progress, and relations between the camps quickly deteriorated. Within a matter of months, however, the adventurous UPI reporter had developed an effective network of independent sources and established a productive p artnership with David Halberstam of the New York Times. One of the correspondents’ best sources in the U. S. military was John Paul Vann.Writing in A Bright Shining Lie, Sheehan described the relationship between Vann and the reporters in similar terms: ‘‘Vann taught us the most, and one can truly say that without him our reporting would not have been the same†¦. He gave us an expertise we lacked, a certitude that brought a qualitative change in what we wrote. He enabled us to attack the official optimism with gradual but steadily increasing detail and thoroughness’’ (254). Sheehan noted that he and most of the other correspondents initially supported America’s presence in Vietnam.‘‘We believed in what our government said it was trying to accomplish in Vietnam, and we wanted our country to win this war just as passionately as Vann and his captains did,’’ (211) Sheehan said. But the reports of Vann and other sourc es, coupled with their own firsthand observations out in the field, convinced the press corps that the U. S. prosecution of the war was fundamentally flawed. While attending the funeral for John Paul Vann in 1972, Sheehan was struck by the stature of those in attendance (from General William Westmoreland, who served as a pallbearer, to Ellsberg, who had been one of Vann’s closest friends).Upon returning home, Sheehan secured a two-year leave of absence from the New York Times, along with a contract from a publisher, and began work on a biography of Vann. The writer felt that by studying Vann’s life, he would also be able to examine America’s role in Vietnam. As he wrote in A Bright Shining Lie, ‘‘The intensity and distinctiveness of his character and the courage and drama of his life had seemed to sum up so many of the qualities Americans admired in themselves as a people. By an obsession, by an unyielding dedication to the war, he had come to person ify the American endeavor in Vietnam.He had exemplified it in his illusions, in his good intentions gone awry, in his pride, in his will to win† (325). As the 1970s blurred into the early 1980s, Sheehan’s obsession with Vann’s story grew. Month after month passed by as the writer tried to reconcile Vann’s dark secrets (a troubled childhood, a sexual appetite that doomed his army career) with the honorable soldier he had known in the Mekong Delta. And over it all lay the shadow of the war itself, the contradictions of which Sheehan continued to see encapsulated in Vann. Sheehan fell into a reclusive routine in which his waking hours were dominated by the book.In August 1986 Sheehan finally completed the manuscript for A Bright Shining Lie. Over the course of the next year, the author pared the book down to 360,000 words, still a massive work. In 1988—sixteen years after Sheehan began work on the Vann biography—A Bright Shining Lie was finally published. Paralyzed by our own Newtonian paradigm, we defeated ourselves by persistently viewing the Vietcong as being different from us in degree, when in fact they were different in kind. Underestimating them as being different only in degree, the U. S.military often contemptuously referred to them as â€Å"those raggedy-assed little bastards† (205). To Americans, the Vietcong simply had less technology to fight with; but the Vietcong knew they had a different kind of technology – the land, and they used it to great advantage against U. S. technology. In his A Bright Shining Lie, Sheehan relates a story that perfectly expresses how the Vietcong used nature in concert with their kind of technology. A Captain James Drummond is told by a prisoner that â€Å"the most important Vietcong training camp in the northern Delta is located in clumps of woods above a hamlet.When he gets there, Drummond finds . . . four thatched-hut classrooms furnished with blackboards under th e trees . . . † (88). The very idea that â€Å"blackboards under the trees† – a virtual oxymoron in American thinking -could be used to defeat the United States, is, once again, â€Å"unthinkable. † It represents what psychiatrist Charles J. Levy calls â€Å"inverted warfare,† which Gibson explains as â€Å"the sense in which American common sense on how the world operates was reversed or inverted in Vietnam†.A Bright Shining Lie confirms, that the core of the U. S. news operation in Vietnam during the crucial years from 1961 to 1963, came under the influence of a mid-level U. S. Army adviser, Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann, who was convinced that he had solved the riddle of how to galvanize what was essentially a fifteenth-century South Vietnamese army into a twentieth-century fighting force: Get rid of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, and have the United States take over the war, in toto.On January 2, 1963, the ARVN 7th Infantry Division, which was under the command of General Huynh Van Cao, carried out orders to destroy a Vietcong radio transmitter located in the hamlet of Tan Thoi in the Mekong Delta. Acting on intelligence that indicated that the transmitter was protected by a force of about one hundred Vietcong in nearby Ap Bac, Vann and his staff settled on a plan of attack that featured his usual precise calculations. ‘‘Vann saw an opportunity to use the ARVN’s advantages in mobility, firepower, and armor to destroy a Viet Cong unit,’’ noted Harry G.Summers, Jr. in the Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War. But instead of wreaking havoc on the guerrillas (whose hit-and-run tactics had frustrated the American advisors over the preceding months), the operation proved disastrous for Cao’s troops. Larger-than-expected Vietcong forces at Ap Bac and Tan Thoi were ready for the attack, having intercepted radio messages concerning the upcoming operation. When the raidâ⠂¬â„¢s first helicopters arrived, they were met with withering ground fire, and three of the H-21 helicopters and one Huey (UH-1) gunship were promptly downed.The first few minutes of the battle set the pattern for the rest of the clash. As the hours dragged by, ARVN forces committed a series of strategic blunders—some over the objections of Vann and his staff—that served to further deteriorate their position. Finally, Vann felt that Cao’s forces showed little appetite for battle, a factor that further contributed to the debacle. By the next morning the Vietcong guerrillas had slipped away, leaving behind eighty ARVN dead and another one hundred wounded. Significantly, three Americans had been killed as well.Later in the morning, Cao ordered a fraudulent air strike on the area, nearly killing Sheehan and two other Americans who were surveying the long-abandoned battlefield. In the battle’s aftermath, U. S. and South Vietnamese officials tried to call the clash at Ap Bac a victory, but Vann and his staff quickly disabused the press corps of any such notions. Enraged by the whole operation, Vann called the ARVN effort ‘‘a miserable damn performance,’’ and even though correspondents who used the quote did not reveal his identity, U. S. officials familiar with Vann knew whose voice it was.‘‘As a battle it did not amount to much, but Ap Bac would have profound consequences for the later prosecution of the war,’’ wrote Summers. ‘‘Prior to Ap Bac,’’ Sheehan pointed out, ‘‘the Kennedy administration had succeeded in preventing the American public from being more than vaguely conscious that the country was involved in a war in a place called Vietnam†¦. Ap Bac was putting Vietnam on the front pages and on the television evening news shows with a drama that no other event had yet achieved’’ (421). Vann retired from the army several mont hs later.When those who knew him learned of his departure, many assumed that he had selflessly sacrificed his military career so that he could comment on the war with greater freedom, and his reputation was further enhanced. His admirers were unaware that Vann’s myriad sexual indiscretions (including a valid statutory rape charge that he ultimately beat) had permanently scarred his record, effectively limiting his advancement anyway. In 1965 Vann returned to Vietnam as a civilian, serving as a provincial pacification representative for AID (the Agency for International Development).As American involvement in the war expanded, Vann’s authority increased, even though he continued to be an outspoken critic of some aspects of the war’s prosecution. ‘‘His leadership qualities and his dedication to the war had assisted his promotion, as had a realization by those in power in Saigon and Washington that his dissent over tactics or strategy was always meant t o further the war effort, not hinder it,’’ wrote Sheehan (436). In May 1971 Vann was promoted to an advisory position that gave him authority over all U. S. military forces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and adjacent provinces along the central coastline.The unprecedented arrangement gave Vann more power than he could have ever wielded had he stayed in the army. By this point, some people who knew Vann felt that the years of involvement in the war had changed the man, and not for the better. They noted that Vann had adopted a much more lenient philosophy about appropriate methodologies for winning the bitter war. Those who recalled his harsh criticisms of bombing strategies earlier in the conflict for the toll that they exacted on civilians found that he had become an enthusiastic proponent of intensive bombing campaigns.Sheehan wrote about an exchange between Vann and Washington Post reporter Larry Stern that dramatically reflected Vann’s change of heart : ‘‘Anytime the wind is blowing from the north where the B-52 strikes are turning the terrain into a moonscape, you can tell from the battlefield stench that the strikes are effective,’’ (365) Vann reportedly told Stern. In March 1972, North Vietnamese forces launched the three-pronged Easter Offensive, a bold effort to overwhelm South Vietnam by attacks on three strategic regions.All three thrusts were ultimately turned back, however, as the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) was handed a major setback. Vann was widely credited with being a key figure in the defense of An Loc, a site seventy-five miles north of Saigon that had been one of the NVA’s primary targets in the offensive. In June of that year, however, Vann was killed in an air crash when his helicopter, flying low over an otherwise treeless valley at night, hit a small group of trees standing over a primitive Montagnard cemetery (Montagnards are aboriginal tribespeople who make their homes in so me of Vietnam’s more mountainous areas).EVALUATION OF THE THEME AND BOOK PRESENTATION As the months passed, and disastrous events such as the Ap Bac debacle and the Buddhist uprising erupted, Sheehan emerged as one of the war’s finest—and most controversial—correspondents. He did so despite struggling with an almost paralyzing certainty that death would claim him when he went out into the field. When he first arrived in Vietnam, Sheehan had been exhilarated by violent, dangerous excursions out in the countryside, but the events at Ap Bac changed his attitude in dramatic fashion.While surveying the scene of the battle, Sheehan and two others (reporter Nick Turner and Brigadier General Robert York) had nearly been blown apart by General Cao’s fraudulent attack against the abandoned Vietcong positions in the area. In June 1964 Sheehan left UPI for the New York Times. A year later he returned to Saigon, where he stayed until 1966, when he was transferr ed to Washington, D. C. That same year he wrote an article, ‘‘Not a Dove, but No Longer a Hawk,’’ that reflected his growing disillusionment with America’s involvement in Vietnam. In the late 1960s he served as the newspaper’s Pentagon and White House correspondent.By 1971 Sheehan had come full circle; he emerged as a critic of the war. In 1971 Ellsberg’s disenchantment with U. S. policies led him to give Sheehan a massive collection of confidential government memorandums and reports on the war that came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. To opponents of the war, the records in this archive—commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara back in 1967, they included reports dating back to the 1940s—provided stark evidence that U. S. involvement in Southeast Asia had too often been characterized by deceit, misjudgments, and bureaucratic arrogance.Sheehan’s massive tome garnered many awards (Pulitzer Prize, National Book A ward for nonfiction, Columbia Journalism Award, Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and others) and laudatory reviews in the months following its publication. Boosted by the recognition, the book became a best-seller. Reviewers were almost unanimous in their praise for Sheehan’s work (the harshest dissent with the critical consensus appeared in the National Review). New York Times Book Review critic Ronald Steel commented that if there is one book that captures the Vietnam War in the sheer Homeric scale of its passion and folly, this book is it.Indeed, reviewers recognized that the book worked in large measure because of its choice of subject matter. Critics felt that, in John Paul Vann, Sheehan had found a larger-than-life figure whose experiences in Vietnam offered valuable insights into the character and nature of American involvement in the conflict. Making more sense of what happened in the conflict than most books, this is a thoughtful, well-made work. References Sheehan, Nei l. (1988). A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. New York: Random House.

Spa Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Spa Industry - Essay Example With globalisation, the trade and business has experienced tremendous growth. It is the backbone of an economy’s growth and success and hence, the government regulatory always aim to develop trade and business by enhancing industrialization. Besides, the lifestyle of modern people has changed as there have been major improvements in their economic conditions and through process. The entrepreneurs have identified opportunities with the changing time and preferences, and they have commercialized their creative mind for business purposes. Due to emerging demands, necessity and innovations, there are a number of new industries have emerged in recent years for example spa industry, higher education industry, medical tourism industry etc. These industries have successfully identified the potential necessities in existing market and the companies in these industries are able to generate higher profitability. This high profitability also attracts a number of potential investors for in vestments purposes in these emerging industry and business opportunities (English, 2001, p.70). This paper will attempt to analyse the global spa industry and its market for UK. The spa industry is a new emerging industry, and due to its increasing demand of spa treatments, the industry growth rate is high. The primary of aim of this industry analysis is to assess the investment opportunities in spa industry. The industry will be analysed using various business analytical models like PEST, Porter’s five forces and SWOT analysis. Next, the prevailing industry trend and its strategies used by its major companies will be explained followed by an analysis for the industry’s present financial attractiveness. Then, a brief report will be presented showing the future outlook of this industry. Finally, based on analyses and findings proper recommendations will offered for making investments in this industry. Brief Overview of Spa Sector The hospitality and leisure industry are one of the booming industries. The increasing disposable income of people and their changing lifestyles has led to bring significant developments in this industry. Hospitality and leisure industry includes a number of sectors like tourism, medical tourism, hotel, spa and other entertainment sectors. As this paper will deal with spa sector, this section will provide a brief introduction of spa sector. Spa is an emerging service industry that provides body and beauty care treatments. Spa treatments includes non-medical measures like for aromatherapy, hot tub treatment, various types of massages and baths, yoga, meditation etc. These treatments are meant to provide relaxation to human body for increasing the physical wellness. The increasing popularity of these services raises the innovations in this sector and many spa companies are now introducing multiple medical treatments (Ellis, 2009). The following chart shows the different services categories that are included in Australian sp a industry. Figure 1: Structure of Australian Spa Industry (Source: Smith and Puczko, 2008, p.123) As per industry life cycle, this industry is at its growing stage and profitability of this industry is expected to increase at higher rate. Generally, the major players in hotel industries have taken forward integration strategies and offer spa services. However, the increasing popularity has led to develop retail spa sector. This industry targets large group consumers including