An Introspective Case Into James Joyce’s Araby Essay

He elegantly personifies the homes on North Richmond Street as â€Å"conscious of decent lives within them† which â€Å"gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces. † And the street itself â€Å"blind† (Joyce Pg. 328). These first few lines of the short fiction tale â€Å"Araby† indicate exactly what the story entails. What desperately awaits the reader, in James Joyce’s discovering tale of a young boy who comes to terms with his repressively strict yet illusory living environment, is a true reflection of the Authors own experiences as a Dubliner. The narration is intertwined with thoughts of escapism from a forever mundane existence which lacks form and emotional freedom. Whether the transparent symbolism, which balances this reflection, is strictly of religious reference or of purely psychological creed is not the discussion at hand. In fact, it is merely a coming of age tale with a religious undertone as Joyce never disappoints to tie his perspective on religion and life into his fiction. Araby begins by describing the town of Dublin, Ireland as quite forlorn and despairing; a place that is not necessarily filled with adventure and spontaneity, as through the narrators subjective eyes. â€Å"When we met in the street the houses had grown somber†¦towards it (the sky) the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. (Joyce Pg. 328)† With key words such as â€Å"somber† and â€Å"feeble† in the first few paragraphs alone, Joyce sets up a mood for the later plot. This description shows that the boy is not too fond of his surroundings in fact, undermining them. Traditionally this fictional plot may be best described as man verse society although, while relating Araby to Joyce we come to discover it may actually be man verses himself. The boy announces â€Å"the career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes†¦to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens† (Joyce Pg. 328). In one line alone the word â€Å"dark† becomes repetitive. Undeniably the author wishes to describe Dublin as the least of favorable places for a child’s youth. This may set up an indication into a piece of personal reference by Joyce. The boy, whose name Joyce chooses to remain anonymous, is apparently struggling with the ommunity he resides in just as Joyce had done. This struggle may be felt on a strictly psychological level; the boy feels trapped among various characters he comes into contact with throughout his daily routine; his guardians, the school master, the drunken men, bargaining women and shop boys of the market; and the English speaking girl of the bazaar. These characters all form a negative impression on his perspective of the community. The young boy recalls â€Å"my aunt hoped it was not some freemason affair† in response to his inquiry for leave to attend the Bazaar (Joyce Pg. 30). Freemasons are members of an underground brotherhood that were thought to be of extreme adversary to the ideals of the church (Griffin). During school the boy quotes â€Å"I watched my masters face pass from amiability to sternness† describing the strict, forceful education provided in Dublin (Joyce Pg 330). This may be a simple reflection of the various foes Joyce has dealt with during his time in Ireland. For example, Richard Ellman, a famous biographer of Joyce, notes that Joyce was, at one point, a slight alcoholic and had gotten in an altercation once in a bar in St. Stephens Green (Ellman 162). He also adds that while living with a man by the man of Oliver Gogarty, he was violently threatened with a pistol (Ellman 175). For Joyce, these are only a few of some of the harsh experiences living within Dublin. On the other hand, in Araby one character seems to contrast these emotions. An older, curiously mysterious girl, the sister of a close friend Mangan, seems to intrigue him in a spellbinding way. The young boy describes his first hand experience with her â€Å"Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door†¦. I had never spoken to her†¦and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood. (Joyce Pg. 329)† It seems the narrator is emotionally dominated by obsession. With the use of the term â€Å"foolish†, he apparently openly admits of the eventual conclusion to Araby when he realizes his befriending was merely a failed attempt at escapism. However, what sparks his interest in this specific girl is of the most riveting wonder. More importantly, what compels Joyce to construct such a romantic based use of symbolism is under more precise interrogation. He is using the romantic endeavor to figuratively illustrate the narrator’s inner struggle with society. A few indications amongst the introducing paragraphs that give clues to the narrator’s feelings are made apparent as he quotes â€Å"The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. (Joyce Pg. 329)† In this line, Joyce signifies that his indifference to the Catholic culture may have been hidden as a child. â€Å"If I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration† may show his confused feelings regarding this imbalance of emotions he experienced in Ireland (Joyce Pg 329). He intends to portray a story of youthful ignorance and naive nature, rather than a tale of heartfelt admiration. He uses this plot to represent a theme that mirrors his own conclusion of Ireland; Joyce could not absorb his own creative nature as a literary artist out of such a prosaic culture as a child. It may have lacked the necessary hunger, stimulation, and curiosity he so desperately desired. In â€Å"The Years of Bloom: James Joyce†, writer John McCourt speaks of how Joyce had a furiously tempting early relationship with the Irish Roman Catholic Church (McCourt). He adds that Joyce also had an alter ego, Stephen Dedalus, which may help illustrate this inner conflict with religion and the community. His confused, indifference can be portrayed through this alter ego as it has been through the naive journey of the young narrator in Araby. As the story of Araby eventually unfolds, we learn that the young boy is deluded by his â€Å"crush. † During his first actual encounter, he learned of her involvement with a convent, which in reality would have rendered her â€Å"off the market† but the narrator disregards this important point. His vain nature causes him to continue this obsession and transcend it into the anticipation for attending the bazaar rather than facing the reality that she has vowed to the church in becoming a Nun. In fact, this transfer of obsession only shows that the stories underlying theme is not of romance but of self-love. As one critic explains the outcome â€Å"He has come to accept as just a life in which children play in joyless streets, girls cannot attend bazaars because of convent duties, old ladies collect used stamps for pious purposes, aunts mark time as â€Å"this night of Our Lord,† and even drunken uncles cannot resist moralizing. † After a chronology of events strengthens the narrators doubt and weakens his hope on winning over Mangan’s sister; he suffers from a sense of disillusion. In reference to the concluding thoughts of the narrator, as Coulthard implies, â€Å"[most commentators] omit religion from their list of disenchanting influences and regard â€Å"anguish† as the most important word in the narrator’s climactic memory of his disillusioning boyhood experience†(Coulthard). The boy reflects â€Å"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger† (Joyce Pg. 32). This shows that the boy has not overcome but, in a sense, matured. He has learned of his mistake and has accepted his unfortunate circumstances. It has been said that Joyce traveled back and forth from Ireland to Trieste, to Rome, and then London, then finally Zurich by 1912 never to return to Ireland again (Geheber). It seems that the Narrators change of perspective throughout the tale reflects Joyce’s contrasting alter-ego and indecisive outlook of the Irish-Roman Catholic culture illustrated by his travels. This soul psychology of naive verses wise nature portrayed by the narrator’s emotional change seems to capture a piece of Joyce that has been seen throughout his confusingly indifferent feelings with his homeland and the foes he has encountered during his life. The narrator’s feelings towards the community also become more defined after his comment on a specific book discovered in the back drawing room of his home. Perhaps one of the most theme bearing points of the story, the narrator discovers three books. The first two speak of religious tolerance. â€Å"The Abbot† and â€Å"The Devout Communicator† are two stories that directly signal highly religious views of god fearing, law abiding people of extreme holiness. These are both two topics that have been known to frustrate Joyce (Geheber). An Abbot is a â€Å"superior of an abbey of monks† (Hyperdictionary) while being Devout is to be completely devoted to a pious belief (Merriam-Webster). This â€Å"Devotion† may go uncanny regarding whether the specific belief draws enormous sacrifice to livelihood. The last book, however, draws the boy’s interest; he quotes â€Å"I liked the last best because its leaves were yellow† in reference to â€Å"The Memoirs of Vidocq† (Joyce Pg. 328). The significance to Joyce and the theme of Araby provided by this single reference is intense. As Coulthard notes, â€Å"The Memoirs of Vidocq, the autobiography of a French policeman and soldier of fortune, would have provided vicarious escape from [this Catholic discipline]† (Coulthard). Eugene Francois Vidocq was a French man of the 18th century who is described as having a â€Å"mischievous nature† causing him to be â€Å"often at odds with his parents† (Fleisher). Joyce’s use of this reference in Araby has more significance than otherwise noted by the naked eye. Vidocq can also be compared to feelings of rebellion being that he ran away from home due to deceitful acts of betrayal towards his own father. â€Å"In the company of a young woman he ran off with, he traveled to various French seaports seeking passage to the ‘New World’ (Fleisher). † In the boy’s words as he describes the book as â€Å"yellow†, we notice a sense of relation to Vidocq as comparing the shade with a sense of bitterness and melancholy towards his own family and culture. Also, in a short biographical background of Joyce in â€Å"The Norton Introduction to Literature†, we learn that James Joyce had also â€Å"eloped† with a young woman Nora very similar to Vidocq’s journey of exile (Hunter Pg. 391)(Fleisher). This is merely a self-reflection by the author, who makes a strong note of incorporating his own experiences into this piece of literature. In the tale, Joyce continues to combine his own experiences living throughout Europe. It is said that immediately after graduating from the local University, as a young adventurous man, Joyce promptly fled to Paris (Ellman)(Hunter Pg. 91). Paris has always been known as a very artsy, open minded center of creativity (Walz). Descriptions of Paris in the early 20th century may draw upon one to conclude a grippingly lucid contrast to the setting so symbolically portrayed in Araby. Joyce describes the transportation during the young boys trip to the Bazaar â€Å"I strode down Buckingham street toward the station†¦I took my seat in a third-class carriage of a deserted train† (Joyce Pg. 331). He goes on to describe the slow speed of the train as an â€Å"intolerable delay. This is a great example of the large contrast to the well known metro system of Paris at the time. There is no question that Joyce’s comparison of Paris to his indigenous Irish ascetic culture greatly influenced the context of his work. In reference to the popular surrealist culture arising in 20th century Paris one critic quotes â€Å"In addition to its better known literary and artistic origins, the French surrealist movement drew inspiration from currents of psychological anxiety and rebellion running through a shadowy side of mass culture, specifically in fantastic popular fiction and sensationalistic journalism† (Walz). Surrealism was a movement of writers and artists that used fantastic images to represent unconscious thoughts and dreams very similar to the display of symbolism used by Joyce in Araby. Additionally, this â€Å"psychological anxiety and rebellion† are exactly the underlying emotions felt by the narrator through out his journey toward realism. Although Joyce was not a true surrealist, many of the techniques revolving around these literary methods can be easily seen within his work â€Å"Ulysses† (Ellis-Christensen). In this novel, Joyce uses the idea of a â€Å"stream of consciousness†. Although, less apparent, these same methods and techniques of thought will begin to emerge among the lines of Araby, but in a much more figurative sense. â€Å"I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire†¦Ã¢â‚¬  expresses the Narrator speaking of desire and an inner struggle with himself. These emotions by the narrator most certainly may be shared by the author as well, which initially drove him to Paris and throughout Europe as a young scholar. As Joyce tells the story through the narrators first person perspective, views on life and religion seems to become much more metaphorical than otherwise noticed upon a single reading of the text. Additionally, in â€Å"James Joyce’s Concept of the Underthough†, Michael Harding explains Joyce’s use of existential thought in many of his works. He goes on to describe how famous Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s works on logic relating to ethical and religious points of view had a profound impact on Joyce (Harding). As Robert C. Solomon defines existentialism, it is â€Å"disorientation† or â€Å"Confusion† from a world based on planned identity and freeing ones mind to think from a non-conditioned perspective (Solomon). This idea of â€Å"freedom† which can be seen in the line â€Å"when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free† is exactly what the narrator strived for in Araby. Alone, this line summarizes Joyce’s thoughts on religion and how it intrudes on his thoughts of existentialism. Therefore, the underlying religious context of the story is only added by Joyce as a reference to illustrate a conditioned existence. As Coulthard comments â€Å"But they were â€Å"freed† into an equally grim world where not even play brought pleasure†, he shows how the entire story clarifies an entire existence of conditioning which Joyce spends many years of external influence deflecting (Coulthard). This is the basis for the theme of escapism and is directly denoted by his many years of philosophic inquiring among other European nations. The entire theme, characters, and setting within the fictional tale of Araby have a much larger than fictional significance to Joyce’s life. Each line, phrase, and reference has a greater figurative meaning that applies to his struggles throughout his confused and imbalanced maturity while in Dublin. While never sure whether to accept the Irish Roman Catholic faith and always striving for something more, Joyce reflects on himself through the narrator of Araby and essentially uses this ale as his own form of escapism. He may have seen himself as an idealist, who felt hindered and limited in his childhood endeavors. From the description of a â€Å"dark† community, to the expression of initial hopefulness, and later self deceit he provides a plot to transcend his own feelings. With the addition of a romantic, yet philosophical context, Joyce clearly shows personal attachment of his perspective on religion and life into his fiction.

Binary numeral system

In many different characters encoding systems one byte is used to represent a single alphanumeric character such as a letter, number or a symbol like One of the most common system is ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange, another common character encoding system is ANSI – American National Standards Institute, the two although aren't compatible with each there with ANSI being used in early Windows Applications and ASCII is used even in the resent with simple text editors such as Notepad. M sure you have probably come across UNICODE depending on how familiar you are with terminal, Unicode is an extended version of ASCII. Graphics are stored in two ways, either ‘bitmaps' or ‘vectors'. Bitmaps are made of colored squares called pixels; one pixel is equal to 1 byte. A Peculated image is a term used to describe images that are enlarged too much and pixels start to become visible.Vector images work a little different, as hey are made up of lin es drawn between plotted co-ordinates, these shapes can then be filled with blocks of a single color, vectors therefore can be enlarged without becoming peculated and their file size is often much reduced then bitmaps because there is less information to be stored. Human use numbers in groups of 10, which is called ‘denary' or base 10, computer store either 0 or ones so only two values, which is called binary or base 2. Numbers in binary look like this: 01011011=91 Depending if it is a O or a 1 the number is used so the top sample is. 28 64 32 16 8 4 10 (64+16+8+2+1=91) Another method computers use to encode numbers is in hexadecimal or base 1 6, this method is usually used to represent color values, very comment in programming or web development. It is uses number from O to 9 and letter from A to Foot represent 10 to 15. 123456789ABCDEF These are very often in image editing , the color white is represented as #PAYOFF, the â€Å"#† isn't part of the hexadecimal number i t is just used to identify that the number is an hexadecimal number. Encoding recap: Encoding is basically done by pairing numbers or letters with different harassers.ASCII simply converts the number â€Å"2† to its equivalent in ASCII let's say 16, and this is then converted to binary, but bare in mind that 16 in binary is 00010000 where as what it would do is convert â€Å"1† and â€Å"6† to binary. Same happens with letters and special characters. And this is pretty much how encoding works, it is used in order too make the computer understand your input and to help you then understand what the computer outputs since if you would see 010101101 all over the screen would be odd as humans aren't naturally good with numbers.

Unifine Richardson Case

Executive Summary- This report will evaluate an analyze Unifine Richardson’s current purchasing strategy. The company currently purchases approximately one million pounds of honey per year. A majority of the purchased honey is a 50-50 blend of Chinese and Canadian honey. Unifine Richardson’s main honey supplier is Harrington Honey. Unfortunately, Harrington Honey has informed Unifine Richardson that they can no longer supply the company with honey from China. Harrington Honey’s decision to stop importing honey from China was based on China’s use of chloramphenicol, which is an antibiotic that is band for use in food-producing animals.As a result of the Harrington Honey’s decision to stop importing honey and not having secondary supplier, Rob Pincombe (Unifine Richardson’s purchasing manager) must make a decision on how to proceed. Because he does not have a secondary supplier which I think is the root of his problem, Rob has to make a decisio n based on the following analysis points: †¢He has a small window to make a decision †¢Honey expenditures make up 3 to 5 percent of the firms total expenditures †¢He must analyze the other import options oCanadian only will cost $1. 75/lb. oUS only will cost $1. 10/lb. US dollar) o50/50 Argentina/Canadian cost $1. 42/lb. ?US imposed a tariff tax on Argentina honey ?There’s a chance that the honey for Argentina may be recalled n by management. Recommendations discussed include: Problem Statement: In spite of meeting the company’s current delivery schedule, there are several issues that must be addressed by the Quality Assurance Director and the company’s other directors. As indicted by the General Manager there is, â€Å"lack of a quality attitude in the plant†. Because of that lack of quality Below are some of the identified issues; 1.Quality Processes are not being followed 2. Operations personnel are not properly trained to operate machin ery 3. Maintenance personnel are not performing the proper scheduled maintenance 4. Purchasing is not properly coordinating with the sales representatives. 5. Design and Packaging potentially developed a defective product, 6. Lack of coordination between manufacturing and the other department 7. Marketing poor coordination. These issues are reducing the quality of the product that’s being produced and probably costing the company a lot of money.Analysis Plans: For the analysis, a Strategic Factor Analysis Summary (SFAS) Matrix (Wheeler, 2011) will be used. This matrix will be used to identify the external and internal factors that are causing this company to produce products that are not meeting the desired specifications. Based on the data provide, the matrix will focused on the following factors: man, machine, materials, and methods. These factors appear to play a part in the product variations. Each factor will be weighed and ranked based on how the company responded to th e factor in the document.Assumptions/Other Data: B-Cycles are primarily locations are in downtown Denver, Cherry Creek and Denver University neighborhoods (Denver B Cycle, 2012). This case study is being generated under the assumption that if the rider does not live in these are primary locations of the bikes, they are commuters and they either commute via RTD or their private vehicles. So, the alternates cannot be fully eliminated from the equations. Conclusion – This company’s SFAS Matrix (Wheeler, 2011) weighted score is 2. 05 the average is score is 3. 0. This company is not paying attention to the factors that could lead to the production of a quality product. Based on the information provide, this company is more focused on meeting the order demand vice delivering a quality product. Employees are cutting corners and processes in order to meet the delivery schedules, there are no process related decisions being made. It appears that quality and safety come second to schedule The General Manager is the ultimate cause of these quality and safety oversights.His schedule is causing employees are taking shortcuts to meet it, which in turn, is causing variances that are leading to products that aren’t being product to the desired specification. Recommendation – My recommendations to Mr. Kolb are: 1. In the short term ensure that the over pressurize cans follow the proper process. If they require rework, for the safety of the employees he has to ensure that’s what happens no shortcut. 2. He has to bring his findings to the General Manager (GM), the GM may not have a clear understanding of how his schedule is effecting the entire plant. . I would recommend a Kaizen Event, that’s attended by all process owners from each business area. The groups can define their processes an identify how they impact other business areas. The group can make process improvements as needed Figure 1 Strategy Canvas of Alternatives to B-Cycle T able 1 Attributes for the Alternatives Figure 2 Strategy Canvas for B-Cycle Table 2 Attributes for B-Cycle Works Cited Denver B Cycle. (2012). Retrieved from Denver B Cycle: http://denver. bcycle. com/home. aspx Downtown Denver Bicycle Trends and Conditions: June 2012. 2012, Jun). Retrieved from http://www. downtowndenver. com/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=O8RegjT0HAs%3D&tabid=566 Hertz Global Holdings INC. (2011, 12 31). 2011-12-31 Annual/10K Report. Retrieved from 2011-12-31 Annual/10K Report: http://ezproxy2. library. colostate. edu:2735/documents. php? compnumber=116020 Partnership’s, D. D. (2012). State of Downtown Denver. Retrieved from State of Downtown Denver: http://downtowndenver. com/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=p%2bRv8bvTlF8%3d&tabid=538 Wheeler, J. D. (2011). Essenials of Strategic Management.

Health Policy and Professional Practice- Assignment

Health Policy and Professional Practice- - Assignment Example The purpose of this essay is to discuss and critically analyze the Cancer Reform Strategy implemented by the Department of health in 2007 with reference to Clinical Nurse Specialist. The main focus of this essay will be on the Cancer Reform Strategy of 2007 (DOH, 2007). Various historical events related to cancer care that have influenced the development of the cancer Reform Strategy will be discussed. The essay will also examine the role of Clinical Nurse Specialists that has evolved as various developments took place in cancer care in England. In the mean time, various proposals of the coalition government, their policies, the role of Clinical Nurse Specialists and the implications of these policies and services on the patients will be discussed and critically analyzed. The role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist. Cancer is one of the major public health challenges all over the world including England. According to DOH (2007), each year, about 230,000 individuals in England are likel y to be diagnosed on cancer and more than half this number are likely to succumb to the disease. Thus, cancer is the leading cause of mortality under those 75 years of age. In 2005, 38 percent of premature deaths in population less than 75 years of age was because of cancer. 3 decades ago, the state of cancer therapy in England and other parts of UK were worst in the Western European region (DOH, 2000). Patients were referred late for treatment and those referred were diagnosed and treated late. There was no proper coordination between various health professionals and referrals were not made to the right place and in the right time. Also, there existed a wide gap and inequality in health care access. Those who were poor had poor access to health care facilities and were more likely to die once a diagnosis of cancer was established (DOH, 2000). Due to such and several other reasons, cancer patients in England has less survival prospects than those in other countries of Europe. For ca ncers like breast and bowel cancers, diagnosis was usually done in advanced stages due to lack of information for both the patient and general practitioner. Also, whatever services were available were patchy. The number of cancer specialists were less and the equipment for cancer detection, prevention, screening and management were outdated (Morries et al, 2007). The type of treatment delivered also was varied. While some received excellent care, others received neglected care in an insensitive manner. Long time periods of waiting and uncertainty of treatment outcomes harassed the patients. This was evident from the report by the Chief Medical Officers of England and Wales, popularly known as the Calman Hine report (1995), in which it was evident that the survival and services with reference to cancer had geographical inequalities. In this report, the authors suggested restructuring of cancer services in order to provide suitable access of cancer services to all communities, geograp hical areas and socioeconomic strata to high levels of expertise. They recommended improvements in cancer networks. In 1997, the government pledged that death rate due to cancer in those under 75 years of age will be reduced to by atleast 50 percent by 2010. It was then that the White paper for "Smoking Kills" was passed as a part of comprehensive tobacco control programme. The government also began to focus or energy and money for boosting up the

Mussolini and Matteotti Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mussolini and Matteotti Crisis - Essay Example He was executed on April 28, 1945 in Milan, Italy when economic depression and military failures in World War II led to his ousting and subsequent persecution. (Benito Mussolini, 2003; Benito Mussolini, 2007; Benito Mussolini) Mussolini began his political career when he became editor to Milan socialist paper "Avanti!" in 1911. A gifted orator and writer, Mussolini was brought to the notice of the socialist movement when he was arrested and imprisoned for leading demonstrators protesting the attack by the Italians on Libya. Under socialist concepts, war was merely a way for the rich to get richer at the expense of the common worker. Under his editorship, the newspaper gained popularity. (Benito Mussolini, 2007) Five months into World War I, however, Mussolini had a change of attitude, regarding war as an opportunity, and for this the socialist party expelled him. In August 1915, Mussolini answered his country's call to arms. In 1917, a mortar bomb signalled his discharge from the army with the rank of corporal. (Benito Mussolini, 2007) Mussolini developed a political ideology to tie in support of his group, later to be known as Fascism because he named the group Fasci di Combattimento or League for Combat. He was not the first to use the word fasci but his party was the most identified with it. (Rise of Mussolini: to 1922, 2006) World War I threw Italy into an economic crisis and the country was in turmoil. In response, Mussolini formed the National Fascist Party in 1919 and people looked to him to bring order into chaos. He formed the Black Shirt militia, officially the squadre d'azione but popularly described as armed thugs that used violence against all who opposed the Fascist party with special preference for socialist, communists and democrats, and little opposition from authorities. (Rise of Mussolini: to 1922, 2006) In 1921, Mussolini and 35 other fellow Fascists became members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. (Benito Mussolini, 2003) This was partly due to a coalition Mussolini forged with then Prime Mi nister Gioletti, who sought to restore authority over the Italian citizenry, which he promptly broke as soon as he gained membership. (Rise of fascism in Italy under Mussolini, 2007) The Pacification Pact between Mussolini and the socialists in Parliament was an attempt to forge an alliance, but this was strongly opposed by the radical members of the Party, the squadristi, especially by their leaders, the ras. Attempts to disband the squadristi failed and the pact was dissolved. (March on Rome, 2007) The March on Rome and Military Loyalty The ruling Leftist party initiated a general strike against the Fascists in August 1922, and Mussolini saw his opportunity for his party to grab power. Mussolini counted on the indecisiveness of the Italian government under Prime Minister Luigi Facta and the growing discontent of the citizenry to hedge his gamble. He threatened a march to Rome of 40,000 strong Black Shirts, ostensibly as an intervention necessary to uphold a weak government as solidified by its failure to the secure the Italian-speaking town of Fiume as due recognition for the contributions of Italy to World

Competitive use of Information at E-bay.com Essay

Competitive use of Information at E-bay.com - Essay Example Most relevant influencing factor that paved the way for a new thrust in doing business is the prolific use of technological advancement and application generated by the Internet. Global organizations reportedly operate within an Internet economy. According to Fichter (2003), â€Å"the term â€Å"Internet economy† emphasizes the networking of economic actors and processes by means of electronic communication media and the related change in structures of value creation, mechanisms of market function, professional life, and consumption patterns† (p. 26). Likewise, Bazdan (2011) asserted that â€Å"one of the newest evolving positive trends is electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or ecommerce. The process consists of buying and selling various products or services over electronic systems, such as the Internet and other computer networks† (p. 45). From among the most identifiable successful participants in the Internet economy, two organizations from the United States are prominent: eBay.com and Amazon.com (Bazdan 2011). The current discourse focuses on presenting a critical analysis of eBay, including its brief historical overview, strategies and analysis of its performance using Porter’s five forces and SWOT. History of E-Commerce (The Digital Age) Different studies have identified the origin of e-commerce from varied time frames. The earliest originating date was noted that â€Å"in its purest form, electronic commerce has existed for over 40 years, originating from the electronic transmission of messages during the Berlin airlift in 1948. From this; Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was the next stage of e-commerce development† (Obayi, 2011, p. 18). According to Hiser, Lanka, Li & Oliver (n.d.) the date that was identified to originate e-commerce was 1984 when â€Å"EDI, or electronic data interchange, was standardized through ASC X12. This guaranteed that companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably† (p. 1). Both sources have acknowledged EDI as commonly present and instrumental in the development and growth of e-commerce. The popularity of use and applications offered by the Internet in 1993 was noted to have made a wave of effects, specifically labeled as first and second waves of the internet economy (Fichter, 2003). This meant that the evolution of global organizations that increasingly relied on the Internet gradually shifted their focus from â€Å"stationary computers and terminal devices† (Fichter, 2003, p. 26), to the proliferated use of mobile and telecommunication devices that could be linked directly on the organizations’ Internet providers. The term e-commerce was likewise defined as â€Å"an electronic transaction is the sale or purchase of goods or services, whether between businesses, households, individuals, governments, and other public or private organizations, conducted over computer-mediated networks. The goods and servi ces are ordered over those networks, but the payment and the ultimate delivery of the good or service may be conducted on- or off-line† (OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), 2001; cited in Fichter, 2003, p. 27). Likewise, Obayi (2011) clearly stipulated that e-commerce includes the following essential ingredients, to wit: â€Å"1. Electronic trading of physical goods and of intangibles such as information. 2. All the steps involved in trade, such as on-line marketing, ordering payment and support for delivery. 3. The electronic provision of services such as after sales support

Casino questoin Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Casino questoin - Term Paper Example The casino is operational in 24 hours per day and provides relaxed house rules to meet the competing needs of clients (Morse & Goss 49). It has amazing bonuses and rewards, good online casino security features and excellent customer services. The business operates around its main core values, which include accountability, respect, integrity, honesty and citizenship. The core values guide the direction, and services offered in the business. In this perspective, the core values extend beyond the business practices and incorporate every team member since they are an integral part in the business. The casino employs skilled workers with the similar values and objectives as of the business. The advent of casinos on tribal land has improved employment and social amenities such as hospitals and clinic facilities and schools. Gambling provides individuals and the community with economic resources, which allows them to make investments in other industries and enterprise. Other economic impacts include the increase in tax revenues, enhance recreational and tourism opportunities and rising property value (Morse & Goss 89). However, gambling has increased job insecurity since workers have no regulations to secure their interests. Gambling has economic value to the business as well as to the society, and therefore, I could focus on increasing technologically advanced gaming facilities. The trend aids to increase the social and economic values to clients, society and the business (Kilby & Fox 90). Regular improvements, innovations and good customer services could ensure the business remains on its core

To what Extent has the 'War on Terror' Undermined the Human Rights Essay

To what Extent has the 'War on Terror' Undermined the Human Rights Agenda in World Politics - Essay Example However, the ‘revenge’ was directed against Muslims in general because the aforementioned event, which was insignificant in comparison to the routine onslaughts in other countries, paved the way for incursions into specific Muslim territories. Under this pretext, the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and invaded Iraq in 2003 to further its geopolitical interests. The War on Terror is an implementation of Manichaeism, as it allowed the USA to make a new enemy after the collapse of the USSR. It is serving its imperialistic ambitions by painting the Muslim World as a new axis of evil and a threat to modern Western civilization. However, this enemy is more abstract than real and the situation is only leading to widespread irrational fear and unnecessary destruction. This war would therefore be more aptly described as a ‘War by Terror’ because the US is the real terrorist on its last vestiges of being a superpower. This paper shows how true this is and the e xtent to which this fake war is undermining the human rights agenda in world politics. It also examines how the US has managed to perpetrate these crimes and its aggression despite the existence of international laws to prevent abuse and what can be done to control the real evil which now poses a threat to the entire world. A cornerstone of the US actions post 9/11 has been its application of the doctrine of ‘pre-emptive military strike’. The US asserts that it has the right to take unilateral military action against other states and organisations if it perceives a threat. However, this is a dangerous trend that effectively makes the UN redundant and is out of conformity with international laws, conventions and resolutions (Gupta, 2008). America’s actions even transgress its own and international laws. Its leadership and military have committed serious crimes against humanity. The attempted moralization of the use of the military force, transgresses the norms of humanity (Schmitt, 2008). This situation hearkens back to the era before the UN existed and it could set a dangerous precedent for other nations which would then reverse decades of globalisation efforts to prevent wars. One of the biggest victims of this is human rights; the global agenda to protect human rights and guarantee human dignity and respect. This agenda at the international level began after World War II. In its new phase this century, the effort was to liberalise international relations to that they â€Å"conform to the liberal prescription for the good society† (Forsythe, 2006: 3). Numerous known and hidden human rights abuses have taken place by the US this century. Those that are known include kidnapping of innocent people and their torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and elsewhere. On a more widespread scale, the US invaded two sovereign countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) and has long been intimidating a third, namely Pakis tan. The US accused former honourable president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, of harbouring weapons of mass destruction. Fortunately, this baseless accusation was found to be just that when no such weapons were ever found, even by their own admission (Beaumont et al., 2004). This only showed the hypocrisy of the US because it itself possesses weapons of mass destruction yet it accuses others in the same way that it is the world’

Molecular Genetics Practical Write Up Lab Report

Molecular Genetics Practical Write Up - Lab Report Example typhimurium, and TA 1535, TA 1537, TA 1538 mutants. 2mL of molten overlay agar (kept in a 45 °C water-bath) was added in to a sterile tube. After waiting for the agar to cool slightly (roughly 37 °C), 0.1mL of the bacterial culture was added using a Gilson pipette fitted with a sterile tip. Immediately the molten agar was poured along with the bacterial strain onto a E-medium plate ensuring even distribution of the overlay agar on the plate surface. The plate was then allowed to cool before incubating at 37 °C overnight. 2mL of molten overlay agar was added in to a sterile tube and after slightly cooling, 0.2mL 0.5mM histidine + 0.5mM biotin solution was added. 0.1 mL of the bacterial culture was added using a Gilson pipette fitted with a sterile tip and immediately the molten agar was poured along with the bacterial strain onto a E-medium plate ensuring even distribution of the overlay agar on the plate surface. The plate was then left to cool and later incubated at 37 °C overnight. 2mL of molten overlay agar was added into a sterile tube. After the agar had slightly cooled, 0.2mL 0.5mM histidine + 0.5mM biotin solution and 0.1mL of the 0.1M histidine solution was added. Immediately pour the molten agar was poured onto a E-medium plate ensuring even distribution of the overlay agar on the plate surface and the plate allowed to cool. Six serial dilutions of the bacterial culture in  ¼ strength Ringer’s solution ( 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 10-5 and 10-6) were prepared by adding, for instance for the 10-1, 100ÃŽ ¼l of the bacterial culture in a sterile eppendorf tube and adding 900ÃŽ ¼l of  ¼ strength Ringer’s solution. This diluted culture was used to carry out the next dilution and repeat this was repeated six times in total in order to get the 10-6 dilution. The plate was divided into two halves using a marker pen and marking the bottom of the plate one side was marked 10-5 and the other side 10-6. 10ÃŽ ¼l of the 10-5 dilution was dropped using a Gilson

The Academic Benefits of a Structured Classroom Environment Essay

The Academic Benefits of a Structured Classroom Environment - Essay Example This helps in avoiding confusion due to miscommunication, thus increasing academic productivity. Some tried and tested methods in building structure in the classroom to increase academic success are: 3. Having realistic consequences for the student's actions that are consistently and firmly enforced inspires them to make better choices. The inherent lesson is to teach students that they can control life consequences by controlling their behavior. 4. Establishing clear cut expectations and directions .Students function better when they know what is expected from them. Probability of completion of assignments increases when precise directions are given for completing every assignment and when students know exactly how the teacher will be assessing their projects. 5. Giving constant feedbacks during large tasks and break-up of large tasks into smaller manageable ones increases success rate for completion especially with young children.( Zeiger,volume2, number2). With a million definitions and explanations in research books and web sites of what is meant by structure in a classroom ,one can safely conclude that it might not mean the sa

Smart Phones by Conch Republic Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Smart Phones by Conch Republic - Case Study Example Currently the company has its smart phone model in the market which has already earned company a good chunk of revenues. However, with the passage of time, Conch Republic keeps on investing more money in its research and development activities so that its major products continue to exist in the market without getting obsolete. As a result, the company has developed a new model of the existing smart phone which has different new features but the most popular one is that of Wi-Fi tethering. The company has planned to terminate the production of the existing smart phones in next two years, but have made the financial viability of the introduction of new smart phones. The proposed smart phones are estimated to have the useful life of around five years. The company has already incurred around $750,000 and $200,000 on the development of the prototype and the marketing campaign of the new smart phones respectively. However, both of these costs are not included in the investment appraisal co mputation of the new smart phones because they are assumed to be the sunk cost. Sunk costs are those which do not matter whether a certain project is either accepted or rejected, in this way, these two costs would have no impact upon the decision to accept or reject the new smart phone. ... Therefore, in the computation of net cash flows, the impact of loss of contribution in the existing smart phone model due to introduction of new smart phones, are also included and they are considered as a cash outflows. Assumptions All the amounts included in the computation are US Dollars ($). Taxes are assumed to be paid to the authorities in the year in which the tax liability of Conch Republic arises. Impact of inflation is ignored. Discount factor for Conch Republic is estimated to be 12%. Depreciation rates are assumed to 5-years MACRS. Conch Republic is assumed to pay tax at the rate of 35%. Investment Appraisal The project of introduction of new smart phones by Conch Republic has been mainly appraised with the help of traditional investment appraisal techniques which are Discounted Payback Period, Profitability Index, Internal Rate of Return and lastly but the most famous one, Net Present Value. The most important factor which is common in all the above mentioned techniques is the use of discounted cash flows so that the impact of time value of money can managed appropriately (Brigham et al, 2008). The main stream presentation of the computation of the overall investment appraisal of the new smart phones is attached at the end of this discussion along with workings of changes in working capital and loss of contribution of the existing smart phones due to launch of new smart phones. 1. Discounted Payback Period (PBP) Discounted Payback Period mainly depicts the duration in which the initial investment of any project is likely to be recovered (Eckbo, 2008). For the proposed new smart phones, the discounted payback period is found to be 3.94 years which means that in around 3.94 years, there is likelihood that the initial investment of $38.5 million is

Responsible for most of the global economic problems Essay Example for Free

Responsible for most of the global economic problems Essay Neo-liberalism is a political ideology that suggests that ‘human well-being can be advanced by the maximisation of entrepreneurial freedom, characterised by private property rights, individual liberty, free markets and free trade’ (Geografiskar, A 2006). In today’s modern society neo-liberalism is widespread around the globe with various stakeholders offering conflicting views. Some advocates, namely the capitalistic portion of society argue that a liberal market is essential for economic growth whilst others hold neo-liberalism responsible for the global economic problems we are experiencing today. It is clear to many that the policies arising from this ideology have caused the poor to grow poorer and the rich to grow richer. Accordingly, this essay will argue that Neo-Liberalism greatly contributed greatly to today’s global economic problems and will shed light on the overriding reasons why a neo-liberalism is not ideal to foster a sustainable and healthy economic environment for all as the ideology proposes. One of the primary economic problems in the world is sub-standard living conditions and the major gap between the wealthy and the non-wealthy. The first argument that encapsulates the problems associated with neo-liberalism is the tendency for the ideology to foster inequality in society. Navarro (1998) agrees and extends to say that neoliberalism has caused increasingly declining living conditions for most of the world’s population, whilst the minority continue to grow wealthier. This is supported by the argument that the inequality arises from policies that exist in a neo-liberal society such as granting tax-cuts for the wealthy and decreasing minimum wages for the non-wealthy (George, 1999). Pro neo-liberals would combat these arguments and suggest that a free market will grow the prosperity of a society as a whole however, it has been argued that although wealth might be increased, it is supressed by the elite and  the non-elite do not share in the economic growth making neoliberal ideologies on positive for one level of society (Beder, 2006). A prominent example is in Brazil where in the early 1990’s the country liberalised the market considerably, as a result the inflation rate decreased and the economy was stimulated however the living conditions of the general society did not improve and inequality was greater than ever (Amann Baer, 2002). Brazil still continues to grow poorer as neoliberal ideologies now control the vast majority of Latin America increasing the inequality amongst majority of society. Therefore it can be concluded that neo-liberalism is a major contributor to global economic problems such as inequality and sub-standard living conditions. When governments implement neoliberal ideologies it causes regulatory agencies to be taken over by special interests and anti-government groups which reduces the level of protection for the general public. Deregulation is the â€Å"the reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry†. (investopedia, 2013). From a neoliberal supporter’s standpoint, deregulation allows corporations to increase their bottom line and profit margins by reducing regulations that may restrict them from certain income-producing activities. However, by reducing regulation there are large risks involved that can lead to catastrophic events. The enormous ecological and economic damage in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the British Petroleum oil spill is just one of many examples of the breakdown of regulation caused by neoliberalism. It has also come to light around the globe that the reduction of government oversight of the financial sector was a leading cause of the mortgage loan crisis and the severe economic recession that it triggered. The most prominent and possibly the most notable market crash is the ‘Global Financial Crisis’ which was a direct repercussion of the neo-liberal policies which were implemented at the time and for which many of today’s global economic problems has stem from. These policies predominately include the replacement of government functions and services with profit-seeking entities, or more commonly known as privatisation and most importantly the deregulation of the economic market (Beder, 2006). Due to the deregulation, financial institutions and other economic players were able to invest in more complex financial markets which were beyond their understanding and a result a market crash occurred and the detrimental effects were widespread. If regulation had been put in place to monitor investment activity then it has been argued that the Global Financial Crisis would not have occurred and the associated global economic problems we are experiencing today would not have eventuated (Dag Einar Thorsen, 2013). As neoliberal policies where implemented around the world casing the global financial crisis the world disparities in wealth and income increased as well as poverty, contradicting neoliberal theories that by increasing the wealth at the top everyone becomes better off. One of the largest areas of concern around the globe is the poverty levels. Over the last 40 years governments have been influenced by neoliberal ideologies and poverty has increased on a global scale. Neoliberalism has contributed to this increase by boycotting certain government regulations and cutting tax rates, providing private industries with more power to grow wealthier while the poor suffer the consequences. A representative from the World Bank stated â€Å"Reducing government regulation with tax rates and deregulation across most of the planet has not brought anything close to an end of poverty†, (World Bank 2001). Neoliberal advocates believe that wealth generated by reducing regulation and allowing private enterprises such as banks and financial institutions to hold more power will be passed down to all levels of society. However, this is not the case, an example is the United states, under Neoliberal governments child poverty rose by a third and in the â€Å"united kingdom between 1980 and 1990 when the government was run by neoliberal policies poverty rose by half†.( Navarro, Vicente. 1998). The high volume of capital movements caused by neoliberalism have led to much crisis, exposing developing countries to new risks. There are various reasons why neoliberal policies have failed to address the issues of poverty in society. One of these reasons being the stability policies neoliberalism has input into our governments, supported by tight fiscal and monetary controls which have provided neither growth nor stabilization within countries’ economies. (Geografiskar, A 2006). The liberalisation of foreign trade was put in place to remove the barriers of developing countries but maintenance of these barriers has given birth to an unfair international market. Thoroughly linked with poverty, another major economic human problem that neoliberalism has failed to resolve is  employment. Global markets have not generated anything close to enough waged work for the world’s labour force. Hundreds of millions of people remain unemployed or underemployed. Neoliberalism ideologies are set through government to generate wealth in private industries, this wealth aims to grow business’s and by doing this aims to increase employment. However, owing to the neo-liberal economic reforms, the higher costs of utilities like power and water are caused by the government reducing expenditure, when services become privatized, such as transport, health and education which the leads to business’s enhancing their turnover. â€Å"As a result of the diminishment government owned industries and the economic agents cut back on output growth rates and downsize the number of employees, inevitably generating unemployment† (Daniela Zirra, 2012.). Private industries continue to aim for increasing profits, this is achieved by lowering expenses and when their main expenses are wages the unemployment rate continues to rise. Current debates concerning the effects of neoliberalism ideologies have frequently separated between advocates who see only benefits and opponents who see only problems. In practice the results have been more one sided. Alternatively many people have faith in in the Neoliberalism ideology’s and argue towards supporting it as the way of the future. The mixture of positives and negatives has varied between one situation and another; the negatives of a neoliberal society are far more detrimental to our economy than what the positives produce. I argue that Neoliberals re responsible for most of the global economic problems we are currently experiencing today. It will be hard to stop governments enforcing Neoliberal policies and standards as ‘Neo-liberal theories have been embraced by big businesses because they provide legitimisation for their pursuit of self-interest and avenues for business expansion (Beder, 2006). However, we can look towards a more positive future for all levels of society, reducing the global economic problems we face today by standing together and fighting against Neo-liberal beliefs. Referencing Amann, Edmund and Werner Baer. 2002. â€Å"Neoliberalism and Its Consequences in Brazil.† Journal of Latin American Studies 34(4):945-959. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376 2011  Beder, Sharon (2000). Selling the work ethic: : From puritan pulpit to corporate PR. Australia Daniela Zirra, 2012. CURRENT NEOLIBERAL IDEAS ABOUT EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT . Romanian Economic and Business Review – Vol. 4, No. 1. — Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo Garcia, What is â€Å"Neo-Liberalism†?, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, January 1, 1997 George, Susan. 1999. â€Å"A Short History of Neoliberalism.† Presented at the Conference on Economic Sovereignty in a Globalising World, March 24-26, Bangkok, Thailand. Geografiskar, A. Series B, Human Geography , Vol. 88, No. 2, Geography and Power, the Power of Geography (2006), pp. 145-158 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography . Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/stable/3878384 Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order. Seven Stories Press. November 1998. ISBN 1-888363-82-7 1998†(John Williamsons Washington Consensus,1998. Navarro, Vicente. 1998. â€Å"Neoliberalism, ‘Globalization,’ Unemployment, Inequalities, and the Welfare State.† International Journal of Health Services 28(4):607-682. Neoliberalism, globalization, unemployment, inequalities, and the welfare state. Navarro V 2012. Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205-1901, USA. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/14/neoliberal-theory-economic-failure http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1220context=artspapers http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/as-expected-sequestration-cuts-are-neoliberal-blueprint-not-dumb-mistakes/ Title: Guidelines for Public Debt Management Published: 20010, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The Haber process for optimum performance

The Haber process for optimum performance Research Question: What are the conditions for running the Haber process for optimum performance Abstract In this essay I will find out what are the best conditions for the production of the maximum yield in the Haber process, by running simulations of the Haber process at different conditions to determine the best conditions. From the Experiment I found that the lowest temperature possible and the highest pressure possible would provide the best conditions to operate the Haber process at for the maximum yield possible. Introduction The Haber process is an important Process used in chemical Industry to manufacture Ammonia from Nitrogen and Hydrogen that originate in the air. The reason why its very important is it turns an inert gas Nitrogen (N2) and a very volatile and reactive gas Hydrogen (H2) into ammonia which is a stable compound but reactive enough to be used in different aspects. Why was the Haber process discovered? During the First World War Britain Cut off Germany Supply route to Chiles salt peter natural deposits (Quotehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process#History) Since the Allies (Russian Empire,United Kingdom,France,Canada,Australia,Italy, theEmpire of Japan,Portugaland theUnited States) (Quotehttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090621130235AABthrs) has gained control over the natural deposits of saltpetre from natural deposits found in Chile, therefore cutting off Germanys access to materials that the needed to produce necessary items such as food, guns, bombs other war materials. Germany has to find ways to produce its own hence the Haber process which was discovered in 1909 by a German chemist named Fritz Haber to produce ammonia was set into industrial scale in 1913; the produced ammonia was later processed into a Synthetic Form of Chile saltpetre Introduction (Part 2) The Haber process is the process that uses extracted nitrogen from the atmosphere and reacts the nitrogen (N2) gas would react with 3 moles of hydrogen (H2) gas by using a medium temperature around 473K-673K (200- 400oC) High atmospheric pressures such as 250 atmospheres (25331250 Pascal) and a catalyst to create ammonia (NH3). Due to advancements made to technology we are able to do reaction at extremely high temperatures such as 2300K (2026oC) and we know that a reaction occurs faster when conducted at the highest temperature possible but the Haber processs success is not calculated on the speed of the reaction but on the yield of the ammonia that is produced during the reaction. Although increasing the temperate would surly increase the rate of reaction in a normal forward reaction the problem with using this method on the Haber process is its not a normal forward reaction type of reaction but is an equilibrium type of reaction. The Chateliers Principle states increasing the temperature will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the left side of the reaction resulting in a lower yield of ammonia because the forward reaction is exothermic. N2(g) + 3H2(g) Very High heat, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) nitrogen hydrogen ammonia Reducing the temperature will cause the equilibrium system to change the point of equilibrium to minimise the effect of the change, and hence it will produce more heat due to an increase the exothermic reaction therefore causing the wanted increase in the yield of ammonia. N2(g) + 3H2(g) Low heat, High pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) nitrogen hydrogen ammonia However, the rate of the reaction at very lower temperatures is exceptionally slow, and so a higher temperature should be used to increase the speed of the reaction which results in a lower yield of ammonia but a temperature low enough to create more ammonia than use in the reverse reaction hence we have the final equation is an which an above normal ammonia production. N2(g) + 3H2(g) High TEmperature, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) nitrogen hydrogen ammonia Increasing the pressure condition of the haber chamber causes the equilibrium position to shift to the right resulting in an increased yield of ammonia because ammonia has more gas molecules (more moles) on the left hand side or the forward reaction of the equation (4 in total 3 Hydrogen and 1 Nitrogen) than there are on the right hand side or backwards reaction of the equation (2 in total 2NH3). N2 + 3H2(g) High Temperature, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) nitrogen hydrogen ammonia Increasing the pressure means the system will have to adjust to reduce the effect of the change, which is reducing the pressure built up by reducing the amount of moles that can be located in the equilibrium reaction. The most important use of nitrogen is in making ammonia (NH3), which is a colourless gas with a strong odour, similar to the smell of urine. The reason is because urine contains some ammonia. The production of ammonia changes the non oxidation properties of nitrogen as the Oxidation reaction. Pharmaceuticals Used in the manufacture of drugs such as sulphonamide which inhibit the growth and multiplication of bacteria buy the removal of replacing the aminobenzoic acid for the synthesis of folic acids and minerals as well as vitamins and thiamine. http://www.ausetute.com.au/haberpro.html Fertilizer A major use of ammonia is in making fertilizers. Ammonia can be used directly as fertilizer by adding it to irrigation water for plants that needing much nitrogen. It is also used to produce the urea (NH2CONH2), which is used as a fertilizer. Another important use of ammonia is to create nitric acid (HNO3), which is then also used to make fertilizer the Haber Process didnt lonely provide the Germans with Saltpetre but revolutionized the agriculture industry with an increased yield in crop production enabling them to continue. Cleaning Products Many people use household ammonia as a disinfectant. Nitric acid-made form ammonia-is used in explosives. Ammonia is also used in the plastic industry and as a feed supplement for livestock. The dipole moment of this compound and this is consistent with its geometry, a triangular Pyramid due to its electronic arrangement obeying the octet rule, Four pairs of electrons three bonding pairs and one lone pair repel each other giving the molecule the triangular pyramid shape of bond angles of 107 degrees is close to the tetrahedral angle of 109.5 degrees. The electronic arrangement of the valence electrons in nitrogen is described as sp3 hybridization of atomic orbitals. The NH3 molecules and their ability to make hyrodgen bonds explains thir polarity and high solubility of ammonia in water. A chemical reaction occurs when ammonia dissolues in water as it acts as a base acquiring a hydrogen ion from H2O to ammonium and hydroxides ions NH3(aq) + H2O(l) NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) The production of hydroxide ions when ammonia dissolves in water gives the solution of ammonia its alkaline characteristics (basic properties), The double arrow in the equation states that an equilibrium has been reached between the dissolved ammonia gas and ammonium ions. The ammonium ion acts as a weak acid aqueous solution because it dissociates to form Hydrogen ion and ammonia. (Shakhashiri, 2008) This is why dissolved ammonia is used in cleaning products because its able to react with both and acid stain and alkaline stain meaning its an all round cleaning products even though the acid is weak its strong enough to deal with domestic stains. Explosives Sodium Nitrate is a Chemical compound with the chemical compound of NaNo3 has been referred to as Chile saltpetre before. And is produced by a reaction of a metal and an acid to produce a salt and is highly soluble in water. (Quote) Sodium Nitrate can be used as a fertilizer and as a material from the production of explosive gunpowder. Naturally gun powder is a rapid burning compound made of Carbon (C12) potassium nitrate, KNO3 and Sulfur and is used in guns because of its capacity to burn in a rapidly producing enough pressure to propel a bullet and not explode.(Quote) Sodium nitrate has antimicrobial properties when used as a food preservative. It can be used in the production of nitric acid by combining it with sulfuric acid. It can used as a substitute oxidizer used in fireworks as a replacement for potassium nitrate commonly found in gun powder. Because sodium nitrate can be used as a Phase Change Material it may be used for heat transfer in solar power plants. Imporantance of Nitrogen. Nitrogen gas (N2) is often used as a substitution for air which is a mixture of 78% nitrogen 78%), Oxygen 20%, and 1% of other gases such as Water Vapour Argon and Carbon dioxide (0.03%). where oxidation is undesirable. One area for use is to maintain the freshness to food products by packaging them in nitrogen gas to reduce the spoilage of food due to its properties for preventing oxidization which can cause Rancid unpleasant odour or taste of decomposing oils or fats (Quote). Argon has been used as replacement for air in light bulbs to prevent the heated tungsten filament from reacting with the oxygen found in air because Argon is an inert gas but is expensive so ammonia can be reverted back to Nitrogen gas by the process gentrification to replace Argon in light bulbs and is cheaper inert material than Argon. Nitrogen is also used as a controlled storage and Transportation measure food packages due to its capabities to be used as a noble gas, to extend the sheld life of fruits and vegetables and is now used during storage to displace most of the oxygen in the containers, thereby , slowing down the repiration and deterioration of food as proven in biochemistry as in aerobic respiration 32 ATP molecules are created from one glucose molecules and 2 ATP molecules are created from one glucose molecule which is a clear sign that respiration and deterioration of food occurs at 16 times slower during anaerobic respiration which respiration without the presence of oxygen, than respiration occurring aerobically which is respiration with oxygen present. Investigation Design To do this Investigation I will be using a simulator that allow we to change the conditions of the Haber process chamber and notice the change in the yield and work out the direction that the equiliburm will take with extra options such as catalysis. Firstly I had to decide what the 2 variables I would be looking at during this investigation and decided that the dependant variable will be the yield of ammonia that I would receive from running the simulations. The Controlled variable will be the temperature and atmospheric pressure that the reaction will be taking place. Another variable that I looked at was if the reaction will be taking place in the presence of a catalyst of not. It was decide that due to the lack of acquiring two or more simulations that were able to run the haber process reaction in the presence of a catalyst The uncontrolled variable would be required in this reaction because the aim of the reaction is to achieve a dynamic equilibrium which is a reaction in which the forward reaction and backward reaction are equal in a closed environment. Meaning all variables and atoms present are controlled and accounted for. Set both simulations at the same pressure and temperature to and begin the reaction recorded both results and create a table of results and find the mean of both tables. Redo the experiment changing the controlled variables every time and recording the yield of the reaction at those conditions Create a Graph using both the mean table to display the results that where shown in the table. This Is the haber process taking place without the presence of an iron catalyst at the temperature of 300oC and 191 atmospheric pressure. Which will give me the amount of ammonia produced in grams and will be working out in percentage of the nitrogen used to allow compatibility of the 2 different simulations that one will be using. Screen Shot 2 (Screen Shot to be taken off website ) (Blocked by school.) Is the Haber process taking place without the presence of an iron catalyst at the temperature that the Chateliers Principle indicates will be the most effective in the promotion of increasing the Yield. Because this Simulation cannot give the yield of the Haber process ammonia moles or grams I have to change the data received from the first simulation into compatible data. Results Simulation 1 (Changing the Temperature but keeping the pressure and 200) Pressure 1000 800 600 400 200 Temp 150 150 150 150 150 Yeild 57% 55% 53% 48% 35% From these results obtained in the diagram above we notice an increase in yield as we increase the pressure of the reaction while keeping the temperature the same which agrees with the information placed in the beginning of the introduction which states icreasing the pressure will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the right side of the reaction resulting in an increased yield of ammonia since there are more gas molecules Simulation 2 (changing the Pressure but keeping the Temperature at 150) Pressure Yield 1000 57% 800 55% 600 53% 400 48% 200 35% From these results obtained in the diagram above we notice an increase in yield as we increase the pressure of the reaction while keeping the temperature the same which agrees with the information placed in the beginning of the introduction which states the   Chateliers Principle states increasing the temperature will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the left side of the reaction resulting in a lower yield of ammonia because the forward reaction is exothermic. And the 0.8 ( r) shows that there is a high positive correlation between the yield amount The Curve tends to show that if the pressure was increased any more that 1000 the increment in the production of ammonia may not be justified for the amount of effort that will be put into creating a haber process camber at that atmospheric pressure. The equilibrium expression for this reaction is: Keq =[NH3]2/[N2][H2]3 Temperature (oC) Keq 25 6.4 x 102 200 4.4 x 10-1 300 4.3 x 10-3 400 1.6 x 10-4 500 1.5 x 10-5 As the temperature of increases, the equilibrium constant decreases as the yield of the ammonia decreases. http://nawabi.de/chemical/ammonia.asp The results of the Ka test agree with the graphs that simulation 1 and simulation 2 provided. As the Ka increases the PH reduces towards the more acidic range meaning the NH3 concentration increases meaning for the best yield of the Haber process, industry must obtain the highest level Ka. Conclusion. In conclusion the from the graphs and from the working out of the Keqi can state that the best conditions to process the haber process under is the lowest temperature that is usable because it increases the yield of the haber process in a linear regression which is a positive feedback increase in the yield of ammonia the optimized temperate was 200oC because it provided the highest yield. The other condition that was optimized during this experiment was pressure and after the experiment I found that the highest possible pressure is the optimum condition for this reaction to take place under. Because it gave the highest yield of ammonia compared to lower pressures which all provided lower yield. Evaluation The simulations that were used during this Essay were accurate enough to accept as possible theoretical yield but did not take into account of the possibility that some materials would be lost during the preparation for the haber process. It would have been better if I had more simulations and different type of simulations to check if the results I received from using these simulations were accurate or not and would increase the reliability of this experiment. The limitations to using this method were the some simulations couldnt operate a catalyst which limited the amount of results I was able to obtain and didnt factor in any cost effectiveness into the reaction. The haber process occurring in the presence of a catalysis does not affect the amount of NH3 that is produced by the reaction yet it only hastens the reaction by lowing the activation energy is takes for atoms to react. This would increase the rate of reaction without taking into consideration the geometric position that theses atoms need to react. A catalyst is a chemical that is used in a chemical reaction to speed up the rate of reaction with out the compound being used up in the reaction itself, meaning after the reaction the catalyst retains its structure and physical properties it had before the reaction took place. It works by lowering the activation energy of the reaction. The iron catalyst acts as a platform on which the Nitrogen and hydrogen atoms will bind on to before under going the reaction. The binding on to the catalyst is creates a transactional compound N2(g) + 3H2(g) = 2NH3(g) nitrogen hydrogen Fe ammonia Another Factor that I should have researched was the rate of reaction and possibly to the cost effectiveness of having a lower rate of reaction over the time effectiveness of having a high rate or reactions. Looking at the effect that the rate or reaction would have on at equilibrium And working out possible ways to reduce the forward reaction to increase the yield of ammonia by adding a rate determining step for the forward reaction to encourage the forward reaction to reaction and produce ammonia but would discourage the backward reaction from according either by adding third party molecule such Sulphuric acid to create ammonium sulphate and can easily to separated by heating to 235oC because it sublimes to create ammonia and sulphuric acid and the gases are at different weights meaning using a gases filtration method and condense then separately. (NH4)2SO4(s) NH3(g) + H2SO4(g) Another improvement would be to calculate the H of the reaction while looking at and S of the reaction to allow to choose the most accurate best conditions for the reaction and most accurate cost effective option for the reaction. Because the having a positive H means the need more energy placed in which reduces the cost effectiveness of the reaction but may increase the yield of the ammonia while the G which measure reactions ability to reaction at room temperature which would increase the rate of reaction and the low temperature would mean the equilibrium would shift and allow the ammonia to be created in much more yield making the reaction cost effective and maximum conditions for the maximum yield. By working out the S and H I could use them to work out the amount of unused heat which is lost to the surroundings during the reaction, after this work out which reaction conditions provide the less heat lost to the surrounding while still providing an acceptable amount of yield. Afte r working out the H, G and S if would help me make a more informed decision on which of the reaction conditions provided current industry yield and cost and work out which conditions provided either current industry yield at a lower cost or improved yield at a higher cost and ultimately work out which conditions produced greatest yield and at the lost possible cost. Another improved for this experiment would be increasing the range of pressure that was used during the simulations because I noticed in the graphs that increasing the pressure post 1000 would make the production of ammonia not as effective as lower pressures are.

SABMillers Strategic position

SABMillers Strategic position Identify SABMillers Strategic position: In order to Identify the companys position; it is important to carry out its Business external analysis; it is also essential to identify its core competences and capabilities as well as stakeholder expectations in order to successfully identify the companys strategic position. SABMillers External Analysis: In order to asses SABMillers external analysis; I have constructed a PESTEL analysis (appendix 1); Porters 5 forces (appendix 2); THE BCG matrix (appendix 3) and its competition Analysis (appendix 4). After conducting Porters five forces of the Brewing Industry; I have found many interesting outcomes relating to SABMiller as the overall markets of the brewing industry arent clearly attractive; its performance depends on the ability to expand its market share and exploit opportunities in the emerging markets. However, the brewing industry in growing markets, which SABMiller operates, is highly attractive but not for new entrants; its especially attractive for the dominant players in the Industry; which in this case SABMiller is one of them. After analysing my Porters 5 forces; it is conclusive that it would be extremely hard for new entrants to compete in these emerging markets due to the high dominance of the main competitors. I have also observed other good points such as the low level of power within suppliers; however the power of suppliers is increasing especially in USA due to the rising costs of energy and Aluminium but in under developed countries; it is conclusive that SABMiller has the overall power of its suppliers; as its an international brewer; finding suppliers wouldnt be a major issue. Its Conclusive that the power of Buyers is very high; due to the end consumer having a growing number of choices from other brewers as there are no switching costs; the end consumer can choose any drink to have so its up to the brewing companies to emphasise its targeted customers to drink its products. It is also conclusive that the power of substitutes is low but it is significantly growing. Due to the modern consciousness of healthy living; low calorie beers and non alcoholic beverages are increasing in volume; this doesnt affect SABMiller as much compared to other brewers as the company it self produces alternative products to beer such as the low calorie versions; SABMiller has also recently entered wine and soft drinks market in Africa as Im predicting more of this similar strategic activity will occur in other markets. From the PESTEL; Porters 5 forces and the Competition Analysis; I am concluding that SABMiller operates in developing as well as matured markets. These markets include very challenging aspects which in the past has limited the threat of new entrants. These markets include very tough competition; as rivalry in the Brewing Industry is increasingly high. These markets tend to have a fragmented brewing industry and it is essential to have extensive capital and knowledge to setup a brewing enterprise. In developed and more matured markets the industry is consolidated and dominated by a few, larger players. As such, these large companies, like SABMiller tend to own multiple brands with different market positions. In this market, it is much easier for competitors to launch rival products that compete directly on price and thus eroding market share. After analysing the companys competition; SABMiller has and still is experiencing this problem; For example in North America; especially recently where InBev has bought Anheuser-Busch; this has helped the dominant Brewer to enlarge a further space between themselves and SABMiller; which has affected the companys market share future plans deeply. SABMiller now has to come up with new innovative ideas to try and close the gap between them and A-B InBev. The American Industry is the largest brewing market by value as rivalry is now more intense than ever; meaning more competitors are entering into a price war with SABMiller. This has become a huge threat for SABMiller; but it does also hold opportunities to weaken this threat down. For example the company has the opportunity to acquire more stakes in the Brazilian Market; or become the owner of China resources which is the largest brewer in China. Both these markets I have mentioned are matured yet and still hold many growing estimates. After conducting a stakeholder analysis; I have come up with simple assessments that SABMiller had to make some strategic choices to please its key players. SABs acquisition of Miller was largely due to the pressure from the London Stock Exchange. It is felt that SAB was at risk due to its over reliance of soft currencies in certain market. This resulted in a poor performance in the London Stock Exchange in the year of 2000. Even though their core competences were elsewhere, SAB went on with the takeover to please the stakeholders. Media and analysts have come out with unfavourable reports on SABMiller. These particular stakeholders needed to be pleased. From my BCG Matrix; its conclusive that its Western European operations are a dog and SABMiller should ideally get out of the market as further investment will end up little positive results. But this wont be possible due to the investors expectations of a market presence in Western Europe. Internal Analysis: SABMillers Core Competences: Core Competences are the skills and abilities by which Resources are deployed through an Organisations activities and processes such as to achieve competitive advantage in ways that others cannot imitate or obtain. (J.S.W. 8th Edition; p852: Glossary) From the very beginning, SABMiller had developed unique competences in analysing its business environment; meaning that the company expertises in analysing a market that is aiming to operate in. SABMillers activities are heavily influenced by the political, social and legislative environmental factors within which it operates; meaning this has made the company proactive when dealing with macro factors. SABMillers South African culture has shaped the strategic development of the company. It is this culture, which makes their distinct capability of entering emerging markets less imitable. As highlighted in the case study, SABMillers strategy represents a synthesis of learning based on the historical developments of the company (J.S.W. 8th Edition; Case Study: SABMiller; McQuade, 2006). Mapping out the early days in South Africa, SABMillers strategy was flexible and responsive to the market. SABMiller acquired local brewing businesses to enable them to grow and overcome certain business restrictions through acquisition. SABMiller also expanded their portfolio to include wine, matches and the Sun City casino resort. When the political regime and the regulatory environment lifted, SABMiller developed three mega-breweries in South Africa. By being at ease in these types of challenging environments it enables SABMiller to aggressively grow and capture market share when arguably other firms would be paralysed by fear. Instead, SABMiller are able to scan their external environment and turn threats into opportunities. In doing so, providing a distinct set of capabilities, which is very difficult to imitate. The tough African roots have given SABMiller the confidence and self belief to come up with solutions during tough conditions in developing markets. The company is also very experienced in dealing with very sensitive governments and local communities. These efforts also show that they are very flexible. SAB used its expert management skills learnt from Africa, to turnaround Millers fortunes. Traditional SAB system of employee performance rating was used in Miller. These efforts earned them the name turnaround specialists. The parenting style of SABMiller adds value to the breweries. In the new markets they retain the brand, but transforming the business by adding quality and consistency to the beer. They develop the marketing, distribution productivity and capacity of the business. SABMiller is highly experienced in acquisitions and takeovers. This competency gave them the confidence to take risks and takeover high profile targets like Grupo Empresarial Bavaria. As in the case of Miller, SABMiller added further value in to the company by bringing its own operating practices and management skills. After conducting the companys analysis; it is conclusive that SABMiller has shown outstanding flexibility from its very origin. Its decisions during the apartheid period show a core competency in developing strategic choices and environmental scanning. The emergence of competitors in its prime markets is a case of concern. In future, SABMiller will have to face tough competition from its rivals; a glimpse was seen in the USA market. The key to SABMillers success will be its strategic brand management and its brand portfolio. SABMillers generic strategy and core competences The BCG Matrix mainly relates to the markets which SABMiller is currently operating in. These tools all relate to the brewing Industry; as its the industry which relates and particularly affects SABMiller. The chosen sequence for the analysis not only provides an insight into SABs environment, but also facilitates assessing opportunities for the future, as most investors see a need for SAB to enter the developed market.

Affirmative Action Essay -- essays research papers

Pros on Affirmative Action Affirmative action refers to a variety of programs and policies that are race, gender, national origin, and ethnicity conscious. Such programs are targeting women and minorities that had suffered discrimination in the past. History tells us that women and minorities suffered severe discriminations until the middle of 20th century. Women and minorities were treated as inferiors and subordinate status. According to Gilroy, "women were not allowed to enter entire areas of employment such as mining, fire fighting, law, and medicine." They were not even allowed to vote until the early 1920s. The racial segregation in one form or another forced American Indians, African Americans and Latinos into low-wage, dead-end jobs. No one can deny this historical truth, not even opponents of affirmative action reluctantly admit this (Gilroy 79). Critics of affirmative action have argued that because of affirmative action, white males are discriminated against as a group. They call this a "reverse discrimination." This argument sounds somewhat believable but it is simply wrong if we look at the facts. Women and minorities today are still significantly underrated in spite of the enforcement of affirmative action programs. 'According to a 1995 government report, white males hold 95 percent of senior management positions although they make up only 29 percent of the workforce. White males are still, by a great margin, over represented in most high st...

The American Family: Then and Now Essay -- Sociology, American History

What exactly is a family? Some would say it is a father, mother, and possibly children, but is this an outdated definition? With the world adapting and changing at such a high rate, it proves difficult to create definite boundaries for what constitutes a family. As events that are either detrimental or beneficial to society occur, family lives adapt to better suit the current state. The differences in culture, religion and traditions can offer possible explanations for why families are not the same, locally and globally. Sociological relationships change to fit the people involved in them, so it only makes sense that family groups would differ by location. This paper will discuss the ways that families in America have evolved over time. Also, I will explain what occurrences caused the need for such changes. The comprehension of any new concept starts with a basic definition. According to Macionis, family is a â€Å"social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including children† (2009:375). The diversity of families in America dates back to the colonial period. There were a variety of different family types that coexisted or competed in colonial America (Coontz 2005: 27). In this time period, the husband would work all day and leave the children at home with the mother. The mother, however would rarely tend to the children. She would do house work and leave the children with an older sibling or servant. This caused a lack of sentimental feelings in childhood because the mother was not the nurturer. Coontz states that among wealthy, white families specifically, the basis of the relationship was built on power, not love (2005: 28). The modernization and industrialization ... ...order for America to continue as a successful country, there will need to be strong family units who are prepared to face the downfalls that will come due to a changing government and economy. The success rates of a family, however, are much deeper than economic or government issues. Hard work, compassion, and communication are components that can be seen in almost any successful family at any time period. In striving to achieve these aspects of a family unit, America’s families would find much more stability than previously seen and be better equipped to face hard times. References Coontz, Stephanie. 2005. â€Å"The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the â€Å"Traditional† Family.† National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal Summer: 27-34. Macionis, John J. Society: the Basics with Additional Readings in Sociology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Animal Farm.The role of Stalinism

The book that I decided to do was Animal Farm. I have read this book once before and it really shows the role of Stalinism. Napoleon, the head pig and the ruler of the farm is most similar to the Russian leader during the Russian Revolution, Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is similar to Stalin in the way that they share most character traits such as intelligence and leadership. Although it seemed in the book that Napoleon never displayed in interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, instead he was worried more about the power he was able to hold over the farm.Stalin did not start off with power from the start. Joseph Stalin was first appointed to serve on the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. The Bolsheviks were able to seize power over Russia in 1917 and the Soviet Union came about shortly after. Through the next years Stalin was able to make his way up the party rank. He was promoted to General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922 by the parties’ first leader, Vladi mir Lenin. Having this role allowed him to appoint people that were loyal to him and help him collect information on other members of the party.Once Lenin died in 1924, Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals with his intelligence and soon become the dictator of the Communist Party. The book Animal Farm was published during the same time that Stalin was starting to take over Russia. The farm is taken over by the overworked and mistreated animals. Once they are able to run off the farm owner the main pig, Napoleon is able to use his smarts and leadership to get the other animals to follow his command. Napoleon is best portrayed as Stalin in this book as they both were able to rise up from the bottom by using their cleverness to overcome any of the obstacles in their way.They both were great leaders and were able to get a lot of followers that had the same beliefs that they did. The author has more than one way that he uses to describe totalitarian power throughout Animal Farm. He first start s off by using Mr. Jones as an example by stating that he runs Manor Farm based on the idea that human power over the animals is the natural order of things. Once the animals heard Old Major give his speech on the chance to have a better life without any humans, the animals decide to rebel and overthrow Mr.Jones. As this revolution happens, Napoleon and the other pigs start to run the newly named, Animal Farm with the declaration that they are all fighting for animals against evil humans. The way that I understand the way totalitarian government is used is that one leader is able to do certain things that are able to persuade people to follow in their beliefs. They are able to use such things as power and smarts to get a person to do such things and anyone that does not will usually have those people killed.Also those who hold power in totalitarian regimes only care about one thing while they rule and that is maintaining power by any means possible. I feel that Orwell was able to de scribe totalitarian in several ways by using the humans as an example then using the animals. Adolf Hitler and Stalin are the two most known totalitarian leaders in Europe. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party and is to blame for World War II and causing the holocaust which led to the suffering of many nations. The two leaders were both very cruel and strict.The circumstances in which the two leaders were able to take power were very similar because they were able to take advantage of the situation they were in and rise to the top. The method in which they used were a little bit different, as Stalin built his way up the ladder slowly and had to remove anybody that seemed to be a threat whereas Hitler’s road to power was shorter to where he was able to become the only leader in just 19 months. Overall the roads to power for the two were different.Hitler took power by means of election where Stalin had to make his way by outmaneuvering many people. In the book the animal tha t becomes the main leader is the pig, Napoleon. I feel that even though he is modeled as Stalin his rise to power is mostly similar to that of Hitler’s. He is the smartest animal on the farm. By being the smartest he was able to use that ability to get the other animals on his side and believe whatever he said which ultimately led to the animals just accepting him as leader. What I have learned about the totalitarian style of government is that once he leader is able to get to the top he ultimately only cares about one thing and that is staying leader. Such as Stalin was able to outmaneuver people to get to the top and he made sure he appointed people that would be loyal to him from the start so they would not get in his way in the future. Bibliography â€Å"Joseph Stalin. †Ã‚  History. com. A&E  Television  Networks, n. d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. â€Å"Animal Farm: Themes. † LitCharts. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 8 Dec. 2012 Orwell, George. Animal Farm;. New York: H arcourt, Brace, 1954. Print

Midaq Alley as the Woman

The women of the Middle East would continue to uphold their traditional image, even though in their heart of hearts many of them may be yearning for plain liberty.   The chief character of Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley (1992) is a woman by the name of Hamida, who must put up acts to stay true to her traditions, at the same time as she yearns for something beyond the ordinary.   Yet, her passage into a world where men and women must be considered equal is a narrow one. As a matter of fact, her life is the Midaq Alley, which â€Å"resembles a ‘trap,’ with walls on three sides, making darkness one of its pervasive features (Deeb).†Ã‚   What is more, there is a very narrow entrance and an equally narrow exit to the small alley – away from the big, outside world – that the Middle Eastern woman has come to represent in Mahfouz’s novel (Deeb). Yet, Hamida is not the kind to give up easily.   She sneers at her husbands-to-be simply because she wants something better than them, most definitely a life that is more prosperous, and outright superior, that is, the big, outside world.   She considers her husbands-to-be as nonentities because she thinks she can achieve well for herself without them.   At the same time, she is bounded by Middle Eastern customs and culture to choose one prospect and get married like ordinary girls (Mahfouz). Hamida admires the women who have escaped their marital bonds.   She is especially inspired by the factory girls she knows – who all happen to be Jewish.   She informs her mother about the same, â€Å"If you had seen the factory girls!   You should just see those Jewish girls who go to work.   They all go about in nice clothes.   Well, what is the point of life then if we can't wear what we want? (Mahfouz)† According to Middle Eastern customs for women, Hamida must control her true desires before the cultural expectations that are attached to all women.   All the same, Mahfouz brings to the mind’s eye the picture of Middle Eastern women that are longing to free themselves from the bonds of patriarchy, and all the rules of society that are connected to the same.   Apparently, the Middle Eastern women would also like to free themselves from the difficult clothing they are forced to wear. Perhaps they would like breaks from such clothing.   While women such as Hamida may genuinely face a problem with restrictive customs, Mahfouz also describes the ‘proper’ girls that are not expected to show their desires anyway.   Boys of the Middle East, on the contrary, are allowed various other facilities, also according to the author.   Boys are permitted, among other things, access to sex, nightlife, and friendships outside the family (Mahfouz). When Hamida gets married to Abbas, she only does so to escape her mother’s home.   Escape seems to be her only wish.   She turns into a prostitute as soon as her husband leaves home for an indefinite period of time.   But, does she find her eventual escape route through this act?   It appears that while many Middle Eastern women may be searching for escape routes from traditions, once and for all, it was only Hamida who actually managed to escape.   Whether she had dreamt of reaching a brothel or not is not the point of Mahfouz’s tale. The fact remains that Hamida had no choice to live a liberated life as a Middle Eastern woman, except as a prostitute.   Most Middle Eastern women would shun the idea of prostitution altogether, calling it a major sin.   However, Hamida was so desperate to escape that she defied the common image of the Middle Eastern woman to truly escape her cultural constraints, once and for all.   Whether she also found happiness is not the concern of the author either.   Hamida’s liberation, on the other hand, is an important message of Midaq Alley (Mahfouz). Hamida was the kind who merely upheld the traditional image of the Middle Eastern woman, just as many other Middle Eastern women probably do.   At the same time, she was desperate enough to express her suppressed desires of liberation that she chose the career of prostitution so as to escape all associations with the patriarchal traditions.   Perhaps, therefore, Mahfouz’s writing is a warning for the extremely strict movements that reduce people to suppressed desperation, which eventually bursts into crimes and various other problems (Mahfouz). Works Cited Deeb, Marius. â€Å"Najib Mahfuz's Midaq Alley: A Socio-Cultural Analysis.†   Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 10, No. 2 (1983), pp. 121-130. Mahfouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley. Reprint edition. New York: Anchor, 1992.