Ap European History free essay sample

After reading and studying this chapter, you should be able to discuss the meanings of the term renaissance. You should be able to explain the economic context for the Renaissance, the new status of the artist in Renaissance Italy, and the meanings of the terms humanism, secularism, and individualism as applied by scholars to the Renaissance. Also, you should be able to explain how the Italian Renaissance affected politics, the economy, and society. Finally, be able to elaborate on the evolution of medieval kingdoms into early modern nation-states, and the spread of Renaissance humanism northward. Chapter Outline I. The Evolution of the Italian Renaissance A. Economic Growth as the Basis of the Renaissance 1. Venice, Genoa, and Milan grew rich on commerce between 1050 and 1300. 2. Florence, where the Renaissance originated, was an important banking center by the fourteenth century. B. Communes and Republics 1. In northern Italy the larger cities won independence from local nobles and became self-governing communes of free men in the twelfth century. We will write a custom essay sample on Ap European History or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2. Local nobles moved into the cities and married into wealthy merchant families. This new class set up property requirements for citizenship. . The excluded, the popolo, rebelled and in some cities set up republics. 5. By 1300 the republics had collapsed, and despots or oligarchies governed most Italian cities. C. The Balance of Power among the Italian City-States 1. City patriotism and constant competition for power among cities prevented political centralization on the Italian peninsula. 2. As cities strove to maintain the balance of power among themselves, they invented the apparatus of modern diplomacy. 3. In 1494 the city of Milan invited intervention by the French King Charles VIII. 4. Italy became a battleground as France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Emperor vied for dominance. 5. In 1527 the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sacked Rome. II. Intellectual Hallmarks of the Renaissance A. Individualism 1. Renaissance writers stressed individual personality, greatness, and achievement, in contrast to the medieval ideal of Christian humility. B. Humanism 1. The revival of antiquity took the form of interest in archaeology, recovery of ancient manuscripts, and study of the Latin classics. 2. The study of the classics became known as the â€Å"new learning,† or humanism. 3. Humanist scholars studied antiquity not so much to find God as to know human nature and understand a different historical context. 4. Humanists derided what they viewed as the debased Latin of the medieval churchmen. C. Secular Spirit 1. The secular way of thinking focuses on the world as experienced rather than on the spiritual and/or eternal. 2. Renaissance thinkers came to see life as an opportunity rather than a painful pilgrimage toward God. 3. Lorenzo Valla argued that sense pleasures were the highest good. 4. Giovanni Boccaccio wrote about an acquisitive, sensual, worldly society. Renaissance popes expended much money on new buildings, a new cathedral (St. Peter’s), and on patronizing artists and men of letters. III. Art and the Artist A. Art and Power 1. In the early Renaissance, corporate groups such as guilds sponsored religious art. 2. By the late fifteenth century individual princes, merchants, and bankers sponsored art to glorify themselves and their families. Their urban palaces were full of expensive furnishings as well as art. 3. Classical themes, individual portraits, and realistic style characterized Renaissance art. 4. Renaissance artists invented perspective and portrayed the human body in a more natural and scientific manner than previous artists did. B. The Status of the Artist 1. Medieval masons were viewed as mechanical workers/artisans. Renaissance artists were seen as intellectual workers. 2. The princes and merchants who patronized artists paid them well. 3. Artists themselves gloried in their achievements. During the Renaissance, the concept of artist as genius was born. 4. Renaissance culture was only the culture of a very wealthy mercantile elite; it did not affect the lives of the urban middle classes or the poor. IV. Social Change A. Education and Political Thought 1. Humanist writers were preoccupied with education for morality and virtue. 2. Baldassare Castiglione’s The Courtier (1528) presented an image of the ideal man as master of dance, music, the arts, warfare, mathematics, and so on. 3. Daughters of the elite received an education similar to sons and a few went on to become renowned painters or scholars. 4. In The Prince (1513), Niccolo Machiavelli argued that politics could not follow simple rules of virtue and morality—that it ought in fact to be studied as a science. B. The Printed Word 1. Around 1455 in the German city of Mainz, Johan Gutenberg and two other men invented the movable type printing press. 2. Methods of paper production had reached Europe in the twelfth century from China through the Near East. 3. Printing made government and Church propaganda much more practical, created an invisible â€Å"public† of readers, and stimulated literacy among laypeople. C. Clocks 1. City people involved in commerce had a need to measure time. 2. By the early fourteenth century mechanical clocks were widespread in Europe. . Mechanical clocks and precise measurement of time contributed to the development of a conception of the universe in measurable, quantitative terms. D. Women and Work 1. Early modern culture identified women with marriage and the domestic virtues. 2. Women were involved with all economic activity connected with the care and nurturing of the family, as well as working outside the home. 3. Women during the Renaissance worked in a variety of businesses—for example, sailmaking—and even in a few isolated cases managed large enterprises. Wealthy women were usually excluded from the public arena and instead managed their households. E. Culture and Sexuality 1. Women’s status in the realm of love, romance, and sex declined during the Renaissance. 2. Writers such as Castiglione created the â€Å"double standard†? women were to be faithful in marriage, while men need not be. 3. Penalties for rape in Renaissance Italy were very light. 4. In spite of statutes against â€Å"sodomy,† generally referring to male homosexuality, Florentine records from the fifteenth century show a lot of homosexual activity going on, usually relations between an adult male and a boy. F. Slavery and Ethnicity 1. In medieval and Renaissance Europe many Slavic, Tartar, Circassian, Greek, and Hungarian slaves were imported. 2. Beginning in the fifteenth century the Portuguese brought many black African slaves into Europe. 3. Within Africa the economic motives of rulers and merchants trumped any cultural/ethnic/racial hostility toward Europeans. They sold fellow Africans into slavery apparently without qualms. 4. Africans did not identify themselves as â€Å"black,† but as members of more than 600 different tribal and ethnic groups. 5. Black slaves were an object of curiosity at European courts. 6. The Renaissance concept of people from sub-Saharan Africa was shaped by Christian symbology of light and darkness? blacks represented the Devil. Race did not emerge as a concept until the late seventeenth century. V. The Renaissance in the North A. Northern Humanists 1. In the late fifteenth century students from northern Europe studied in Italy and brought the Renaissance home. 2. Thomas More (1478–1535) of England argued that reform of social institutions could reduce or eliminate corruption and war. 3. The Dutchman Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) was an expert in the Bible and Greek language who believed that all Christians should read the Bible. 4. Francois Rabelais (1490–1553) ridiculed established institutions such as the clergy with gross humor in Gargantua. 5. Flemish artists came to rival the Italian Renaissance painters. VI. Politics and the State in the Renaissance (ca 1450–1521) A. Centralization of Power 1. Some scholars have viewed Renaissance kingship as a new form, citing the dependence of the monarch on urban wealth and the ideology of the â€Å"strong king. In France Charles VII (r. 1422–1461) created the first permanent royal army, set up new taxes on salt and land, and allowed increased influence in his bureaucracy from middle-class men. He also asserted his right to appoint bishops in the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. 3. Charles’s son Louis XI (r. 1461–1483) fostered industry from artisans, taxed it, and used the funds to build up his army. He brought much new territory under direct Crown rule. 4. In England Edward IV ended the War of the Roses between rival baronial houses. 5. Henry VII ruled largely without Parliament, using as his advisers men with lower-level gentry origins. 6. Henry’s Court of the Star Chamber tried cases involving aristocrats and did so with methods contradicting common law, such as torture. 7. Although Spain remained a confederation of kingdoms until 1700, the wedding of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon did lead to some centralization. Ferdinand and Isabella stopped violence among the nobles, recruited â€Å"middle-class† advisers onto their royal council, and secured the right to appoint bishops in Spain and in the Spanish empire in America. . Popular anti-Semitism increased in fourteenth-century Spain. In 1478 Ferdinand and Isabella invited the Inquisition into Spain to search out and punish Jewish converts to Christianity who secretly continued Jewish religious practices. 9. To persecute converts, Inquisitors and others formulated a racial theory? that conversos were suspect not because of their beliefs, but because of who they were racially. 10. In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain.

The eNotes Blog Just How Many Books Are There Googles Massive Project to Count ThemALL

Just How Many Books Are There Googles Massive Project to Count ThemALL Books to the ceiling, books to the sky, / My piles of books are a mile high. / How I love them! / How I need them! / Ill have a long beard by the time I read them.   ~Arnold Lobel Have you ever wondered just how many books are actually out there?   Well, thanks to Googles researchers, now we know: 128,854,790.   (A number, of course, which will continually change.) Googles Herculean effort is aimed at cataloging and indexing all existing books. The goal is to ultimately have every piece of literature in the world digitized and searchable. The project had some prickly problems with which to contend from the beginning, starting with what actually counts as a book.   You can read more about how they arrived at what counts here. Despite the altruism on many levels of Googles meta-project, there are some concerns about having a private company being in charge of all the worlds data.   But their work will accomplish what governments and/or non-profit entities have not been able to achieve:   the free dissemination of data to the masses, one of the biggest changes of access to knowledge since the printing press.

Learning Theory Into Practice Project Assignment

Learning Theory Into Practice Project - Assignment Example It is, therefore, crucial to link this game of opening the student mind to appropriate theories such that the process of teaching them may be more appropriate and comprehensive. Business simulation games are also referred to as economic simulation games. These are games focused at on making sensible decisions by the players towards financial management by forming business (Williams, 2010). Since these games are geared to make the players rich, they are also known as tycoon games. They help the player who is also the learner to develop managerial stimulation of pure business simulations devoid of a construction element with emphasis on micromanagement (Klassen & Willoughby, 2013). They have a design of a numeric form although they capture the player’s attention by the rich graphics they employ. However, what makes this games be of more educative value is an accurate recreation of the real world events using these algorithms (Klassen & Willoughby, 2013). Either the player’s actions can lead to either a consequence or a well-expected outcome Currently, business simulation games form an eï ¬â‚¬ective method of learning in management. They provide a modern way of approach in teaching and imparting of knowledge to business students in the modern enterprise. It is true that these games also help to form and develop an enterprising culture in learning techniques of modern management (Ahmad, 2012). A person, who has been through this process, has an excellent probability to be a business manager, with the ability to make right decisions in the current condition of cutthroat market competition. When these individuals start work in management position they find themselves in a situation they can make better financial risks of own decisions (Ahmad, 2012). Therefore, this game forms a basis of a different but crucial form of training for teachers and students in management as future leaders. This is why it seems so important to use diï ¬â‚¬erent forms of

Jordanian Economic System History to Modern day Term Paper

Jordanian Economic System History to Modern day - Term Paper Example This research will begin with the economical history of Jordan. Jordan gained independence in the year 1946 when the United Nations declared the nation Independent from the rule of the British. If we delve into the economic history of Jordan, it becomes clear that Jordan since its independence in 1946 and its takeover by the West Bank has managed to position itself in a prominent place in world economy. Soon after the annexation, Jordan experienced a great level of economic growth in different areas as a result of availability of large arable lands and a large amount of supply of water from West Bank. It is to be noted that it is one of the most flourishing periods in the economy of Jordan. The annexation opened up the doors for economic prosperity for the nation as it now stood to gain an upper hand in agriculture. The country however experienced a slump period in its economy since Israel defeated and took over West Bank and sent the people of Jordan back from West Bank. Jordan suff ered a major set back due to this as it experienced a great deal of loss in terms of resources and materials. The Black September Civil war, that Jordan fought in September of 1970, to quash the Palestine military served to create a major set back for the economic growth of the region. The Black September civil war put a stop to the economical prosperity that the nation faced after the annexation. Soon after recovering from the civil war, the country again got back to its full form and had a stable growth until 1980s.    A Short Lived Boon in 1980    In the 1980s the country had a  considerable  boon in the economy due to the nation's  capitalization on the oil economy. Oil market is one of the biggest commodities in the world today and is mandatory to move industries and promote

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Statement Example nd respected Business Schools in the United Kingdom, the International reputation of the department of Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations has attracted many local and international students, and I believe the institution will definitely offer one of the most intellectually stimulating environments to pursue my career goals. My interest in the study areas of marketing, public relations and advertisement was first aroused during shortly after I began my undergraduate studies in humanities foundation (Sociology, Media & Computer Information Technology) at Bellerby College, Oxford. Undertaking this course has not only enabled me to establish a solid theoretical foundation in communications and media but has also enhanced my quantitative as well as interpersonal skills. In addition, my preference for communication and sociology makes me to find public relations to be an instrumental field to my dream career of being a Communications and Media Manager in a well established organization. I am particularly enthusiastic to learn about how different business enterprises embrace varied social media utilities to remain relevant in face of the rapidly evolving marketing conditions. Besides, I want to learn about how a business’ responsiveness to social issues that unravel during its course of operation can impact the achievement of the overall strategic goals. I have also developed deep insights into ways of conceptualizing and developing creative communication actions for both advertisement and public relations. I posses exemplary skills in communication and media, which have been helpful in letting me tailor adverts in a way that suits the target group. Besides, I am proficient in matching different types of social media utilities with given audience in varied advertising contexts and marketing endeavors. In integrating these efforts into public relations, I believe that I will be better positioned to build cross-functional groups that are capable of executing

Carboxymethyl Cellulose On Blends Of Polyvinyl Alcohol Environmental Sciences Essay

Carboxymethyl Cellulose On Blends Of Polyvinyl Alcohol Environmental Sciences Essay ABSTRACT Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blends were prepared and found that Poly(vinyl alcohol) Poly(ethylene oxide) are inherently immiscible and therefore incompatible. So, a compatibilizer Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is added to PVA and PEO and the influence of CMC is studied on the compatibility of blends of PVA and PEO. It is found that on adding CMC, PVA and PEO become partially miscible. Here, we describe the preparation of PVA/PEO/CMC blends having weight percentage of CMC 5, 10, 20 wt% and the influence of concentration of CMC on the blends of PVA and PEO is studied and the miscibility of the blends was characterized by using wide-angle X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infra-red (ATR-FTIR) techniques. Also, swelling ratio of the different blends is studied. Keywords: Hydrogels; Polyvinyl alcohol; Polyethylene oxide; Carboxymethyl cellulose; Miscibility, Immiscible. *Correspondence to: Prof. Bhuvanesh Gupta, Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India. E-mail: [emailprotected] INTRODUCTION Designing new materials with improved properties is one of the main goals of the chemists. Two common ways are chemical synthesis and blending which mainly used to get a material with improved or new properties. Chemical synthesis is an unlimited method to get new substances with well-defined properties but it is often time consuming and not seldom costly. On the other side, blending is a well-known and simple method to combine the advantages of different materials [23,65], efficient way to prepare new materials with improved properties. [8] The blending of hydrophilic/hydrophobic polymers produce phase-separated composite hydrogels. Polymer blends exhibit superior and rare properties, unexpected from homopolymers. The physical, chemical and radiant methods can be applied to prepare polymer blends. [6] Polymer blends are physical mixtures of structurally different polymers or co-polymers, which interact through secondary forces such as hydrogen bonding, dipole-dipole forces and charg e transfer complexes for homopolymer mixtures with no covalent bonding [34,36-38] that are miscible at molecular level. Polymer blend hydrogels are composed of water-soluble or swellable polymers, such as poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) [25,26] poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) [24] and, other synthetic water-soluble polymers and degradable or nondegradable water-insoluble or swellable polymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) [25], poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PGLA). [24] The most common method used to blend polymers is through solvent-casting techniques. In this process, two or more polymers are dissolved in a mutual solvent and the blends are obtained by evaporating the solvent. The resulting materials have a microphase separated structure [25,26] and often improved miscibility via hydrogen bonding among polymers [24], resulting in transparent materials. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water-soluble polyhydroxy polymer, used in practical applications because of its easy preparation, excellent chemical resistance and physical properties, appropriate mechanical properties [68,71], and it is completely biodegradable and cheap and the -OH groups can be a source of hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) and hence of assistance in the formation of polymer blends. Polyvinyl alcohol has excellent film forming, emulsifying, and adhesive properties. It is also resistant to oil, grease and solvent. It is odorless, nontoxic and has high tensile strength, flexibility, as well as high oxygen and aroma barrier. The chemical structure of PVA favors the formation of intramolecular [1] hydrogen bonding because of favorable disposition of relatively small -OH groups attached to alternate carbon atoms of PVA [20], thus it is used in the preparation of various membranes and hydrogels. Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymers having three-dimensional networks [27], and ar e most often defined as two-component systems where one of the components is a hydrophilic polymer and the second one is water. These have the ability to swell in the presence of water without dissolution because of a three-dimensional network joining as chains. The interactions responsible for water absorption by hydrogels include the processes of hydration, which is connected to the presence of such chemical groups as -OH, -COOH, -CONH2, -CONH-, and -SO3H, and the existence of capillary areas and differences in osmotic pressure. [67] PVA blends can be cast as films and applied as functional materials including biomedical materials such as dialysis membranes, wound dressing, artificial skin, cardiovascular devices and as vehicles to release active substances in a controlled manner. [69-71] PVA hydrogels have been studied extensively but their properties need to be improved further for special applications. [2,6,7] In order to improve or modify the properties of PVA hydrogels, PEO is used to blend with PVA to form hydrogels which is hydrophilic semicrystalline polyether with a glass transition temperature below room temperature, biocompatible, non toxic, non polar, non antigenic and non immunogenic [45] and is highly desirable in most biomedical applications requiring contact with physiological fluids. For these reasons, PEO hydrogels are applied as wound coverings, drug delivery systems, hemodialysis membrane [1], as a component of a tissue sealant [15,16] and as a coating for medical devices [17], both poly(ethyl ene oxide) (PEO) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are industrially important polymers [75] and their blends can be of significant practical utility, but it is found that PVA and PEO are immiscible and incompatible blends [1, 75] which do not possess a tendency for extensive mutual solubility. [1] Also it is found that hydroxyl-containing polymers are self-associated and hence the competition between self association and interpolymer interaction plays an important role in determining the miscibility behavior of their blends. For example, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is miscible with three tertiary amide polymers poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) [54-58], poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) [59] and poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) [60], but is immiscible with another tertiary amide polymer poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOx). [61] PEO is etheric in nature. However formation of weak H-bonds between PEO and PVA cannot be ruled out. The C-O-C bond angle in PEO is normally 108Â ° and when a -OH group from a neighbouring PVA chain approaches the etheric oxygen atom in order to form a H-bond, the C-O-C bond angle deviates from 108Â ° so that the lone pair of the etheric oxygen is positioned nearer to the approaching OH from PVA. It would therefore be interesting to investigate the structure and thermal properties of the composites formed in the PEO-PVA system with different proportions of the components. We have found that mutual miscibility of PEO and PVA is likely to exist over only a small range of compositions. The mixtures otherwise seem to form only microscopically immiscible blends which do not possess a tendency for extensive mutual solubility. They are referred to as incompatible polymer blends or simply blends. [77] To make them compatible, a compatibilizer i.e. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is added. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) obtained from natural cellulose by chemical modification is a water soluble cellulose ether derivate [3] and is formed by its reaction with sodium hydroxide and chloroacetic acid. It has a number of sodium carboxymethyl groups (CH2COONa), introduced into the cellulose molecule, which promote water solubility. The various properties of CMC depend upon three factors: molecular weight of the polymer, average number of carboxyl content per anhydroglucose unit, and the distribution of carboxyl substituents along the polymer chains. The most important properties of CMC are viscosity building and flocculation. Among all the polysaccharides, CMC is easily available and it is also very cheap. It has high shear stability. The structure of CMC is shown in Figure 1. [78] Figure 1 Structure of (a) Poly(vinyl alcohol), (b) Poly(ethylene oxide) and (c) Carboxymethyl cellulose CMC has good water solubility, broadly used due to its low cost, biodegradability, biocompatibility [51] and lack of toxicity. [8,29-33] CMC is an ionic polyelectrolyte [30] that contains carboxyl groups and exhibits pH sensitivity as it has lot of carboxylic groups. [48-50] It has been used in several medical applications [10] and more recently as a component of an antiadhesion gel. [11,12] CMC and PVA in different ratios can be mixed homogeneously in an aqueous solution without evident phase separation, and this can be attributed to the interaction between the components. [49] The hydrogen bonds that form between the carboxylic groups of CMC and hydroxyl groups of PVA, and form semi-interpenetrating polymer networks [49] while with PEO, CMC undergoes micro phase separation to form a two-phase system. [9] Berg et. al. [9] found that the turbidity results of CMC/PEO gels are demonstrated by transparency data. It is found that gels prepared either from CMC alone or from PEO alone were transparent. However, for CMC/PEO composite gels, the transparency of gels changed as the ratio of the two components changed. The gel composed of equal amounts of CMC and PEO had the highest turbidity while the gel having 20% CMC has more than 90% transparency so 20% CMC concentration is taken as the optimized concentration for further studies. The polymer-polymer interaction for the miscibility is thought to be due mainly to hydrogen bonding between three hydroxyl groups in the anhydroglucose unit of CMC and the functional groups of the synthetic polymers PVA and PEO. However, since each of the three hydroxyl groups in the repeating unit of the cellulose is quite different in terms of regiochemistry and polarity, the hydrogen bond formation is not easily clarified. Kondo et.al. [47] proposed the mechanism for the development of interaction in the cellulose/PEO blend and showed that the hydrogen bonding between the C6 position hydroxyls and skeletal oxygen of PEO is more favourable, at first the two polymers are trapped to form a large adduct, which is a complex between cellulose and PEO, by the hydrogen bond, and the mobility of the molecules is restricted. Then another PEO molecule interacts with the adduct either by hydrogen bonding between the remaining free hydroxyls in cellulose and oxygen in PEO, or by Vander Waals b onding between PEO molecules. [79] The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the influence of concentration of CMC on the blends of PVA and PEO. In this article, we report the characterization of PVA/PEO/CMC blends by various techniques such as X-Ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, Differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermal gravimetric Analysis (TGA). EXPERIMENTAL Materials Poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) of Loba Chemie Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India having degree of polymerization 1700-1800 and molecular weight 1,15,000, Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) of Sigma Aldrich of molecular weight 3,00,000 were used. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) sodium salt of high viscosity was received from Loba Chemie Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India. Distilled water was used for all experiments. Preparation of Blends of PVA and PEO Preparation of the pure film of PVA and blends of PVA and PEO were carried out in the following manner. PVA was dissolved in distilled water under constant mechanical stirring at temperature 60 -70 Â °C to get 5% PVA solution and then about 15 g. of PVA solution is poured to form layers 2 mm thick in a petridish at room temperature. The solution was first dried in air for 2 days and then in a vacuum oven at 100Â °C to remove solvent from it. Then, the blends of PVA/PEO/CMC were prepared by dissolving different concentrations of each polymer in distilled water, the total polymer concentration in the solvent remains 5% by weight. Water constitutes a suitable reaction medium, because PVA, PEO and CMC are soluble in water. Each polymer having concentration as shown in Table 1 were added in distilled water one by one and then dissolved under constant mechanical stirring at temperature 60 -70Â °C. As shown in Figure 2, it was found that blend solutions formed with CMC shows compatibility as compared to the solution having no CMC i.e. solution (a). It is clear from the Figure 2 that compatibility in the blend increases as the CMC concentration increases from 5% to 20%. These blend solutions were then poured in petridishes at room temperature. The solutions were first dried in air for 2 days and then in a vacuum oven at 100Â °C to remove solvent from it. The films so obtained are then characterized by XRD, TGA, DSC and ATR-FTIR techniques to determine miscibility. Table 1 Samples taken for characterization Figure 2 Solutions prepared from the polymer sample to test compatibility Swelling Ratio (%) All the samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) in film form were accurately weighed and placed in a beaker having fixed volume i.e. 50 ml PBS (pH 7.4) and then kept in a water bath undisturbed for a fixed interval i.e. 24 h. The samples were removed after 24 h., and the excess surface water is removed by pressing gently between filter paper and weighed. The Swelling ratio(%) i.e. SR (%), was calculated as indicated in Equation given below. SR (%) = (Ws Wd) / Wd x 100 where Wd is the weight of dry film, and Ws is the weight of swollen film. Density of blended films Density measurements of the samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) were carried out by taking into account the thickness of membranes of specific size by measuring thickness of the film by thickness tester and by measuring the weight of the sample. Weight in gram per cubic centimeter was represented as the density of the membranes. Wide angle X-Ray diffraction (XRD) X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the samples are recorded in the 2ÃŽ ¸ range of 5-40Â ° on a Phillips X-ray diffractometer equipped with a scintillation counter. CuKÃŽ ± radiation (wavelength, 1.54 ÇÂ º; filament current, 30 mA; voltage, 40 kV) is used for the generation of X-rays. A polymer can be considered partly crystalline and partly amorphous. The crystallinity parts give sharp narrow diffraction peaks and the amorphous component gives a very broad peak. The ratio between these intensities can be used to calculate the amount of crystallinity in the material. Crystallinity (%) = (AC/AT ) X 100 Where AC is the area of crystalline part of the samples and AT is the total area of crystalline and amorphous part of prepared samples. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) The thermal stability of the prepared samples is evaluated by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) performed on a Perkin- Elmer TGA, using a nitrogen stream as purge gas, at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min within the range of 50- 600Â °C. For this, the prepared samples are firstly vaccum dried at 100Â ° C and then loaded in the crucible and the thermograms are run under nitrogen atmosphere from 50- 600Â °C. Attenuated Total Reflectance- Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (ATR- FTIR) Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier-transform infra-red (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful techniques to investigate multicomponent systems because it provides information on the blend composition as well as on the polymer-polymer interaction. Infrared spectra of both the blends and the pure components were obtained using the films on an ATR-FTIR spectrometer. It is used to characterize the presence of specific chemical groups in the materials. IR spectroscopy of the thin films of samples are recorded on a Perkin-Elmer spectrophotometer in the wave number range of 650-4000 cm−1 using transmittance mode. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is done to study thermal properties such as melting temperature, glass transition temperature and melting enthalpies of dry samples. The DSC studies on the samples are carried out with a Perkin-Elmer DSC-7 system, in aluminium pans under nitrogen atmosphere. For this vacuum-dried samples were loaded, and the thermograms were run in the following temperature range under nitrogen atmosphere at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min. The weight of sample used in DSC was in the range of 5-10 mg. The melting temperature was obtained as the peak of the thermogram. The heat of fusion (ΔHf) is obtained from the area under melting thermograms. The heat of crystallization (ΔHf(crys)) of 100% crystalline pure PVA is obtained from the literature. The crystallinity of samples is obtained by the following expression: Crystallinity (%) =ΔHf/ΔHf(crys) X 100 where ΔHf is the heat of fusion of the sample obtained from the melting thermogram and ΔHf(crys) is the heat of fusion of 100% crystalline PVA and is taken as 150 J/g.[64] in high temperature DSC, all samples as shown in table 1 were heated from 50 to 150Â °C at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min, kept 5 min at 150Â °C, cooled to 50Â °C at the same rate, and kept 5 min at 50Â °C. Then, the samples were heated from 50 to 350Â °C at the same rate to record DSC curves. The thermal properties of the polymer blends were determined using two scans. The first heating scan, which was conducted to eliminate the residual water and solvent. The results reported in this work correspond to the second heating scan. In low temperature DSC, all samples as shown in table 1 were heated from 30 to 120Â °C at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min, kept 5 min at 150Â °C, cooled to -50Â °C at the same rate, and kept 5 min at -50Â °C. Then, the samples were heated from -50 to 230Â °C at the same rate to record DSC curves. The thermal properties of the polymer blends were determined using two scans. The first heating scan, which was conducted to eliminate the residual water and solvent. The results reported in this work correspond to the second heating scan. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Swelling Ratio (%) Figure 3 Effect of concentration of CMC on the Swelling Ratio (%) of the blends in PBS (pH 7.4) in 24 h. Figure 3 clearly shows that as the concentration of CMC increases from 0 to 20% in the blends of PVA/PEO/CMC, the Swelling Ratio of blends (%) increases. It is because as the concentration of CMC increases in the blends number of hydroxyl group increases thus increasing the interaction. Density Measurements Table 2 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films Figure 4 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films As shown in Table 2 and Figure 4, it can be clearly concluded that there is not appreciable difference in the density of air dried films with the increase of the concentration of CMC from 0 to 20%. But as the concentration of CMC increases in the blends the density of air dried films slightly increases as the hydrogen bonding between three hydroxyl groups in the anhydroglucose unit of CMC and the functional groups of the synthetic polymers PVA and PEO increases, thus making the blend more dense. Also it can be seen that the density of pure CMC is more as compared to pure PVA and PEO. X-ray diffraction Figure 5 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure PVA, pure PEO and sample (a) Figure 6 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure CMC, samples (b), (c) and (d) X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the blends and the pure components are shown in Figure 5 and 6. It may be seen that pure PVA exhibits only a broad and shallow diffraction feature around the 2ÃŽ ¸ value of 16.9Â °, indicating the presence of low-degree crystalline ordering. PEO has two well-defined reflections at 2ÃŽ ¸ values 18.9Â ° and 23.2Â °. These reflections are consistent with literature reports on crystalline PEO. The blend (a) having PVA/PEO 90/10 shows only one reflection at 2ÃŽ ¸ values 19.8Â °. XRD analysis showed that CMC exhibits a very small crystallinity which can be seen in the Table 3 given below. Table 3 Percentage crystallinity calculated by XRD of samples In samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) as the concentration of CMC increases, the % crystallinity shows not much difference as shown in Figure 7 given below. But as shown in Figure 6 the merging of all the peaks of pure PVA, PEO and CMC shows that on adding CMC to the blend of PVA and PEO, the compatibility increases. Figure 7 Graph of percentage crystallinity vs concentration of CMC by XRD Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) Figure 8 TGA of thin films of samples for studying the effect of concentration of CMC on the thermal stability of the samples The thermal stability of the dry superabsorbent hydrogels was determined from 50Â °C to 600Â °C. Figure 8 shows the thermograms for different hydrogel compositions at various temperatures. Generally, in the initial stage of the thermograms from 50Â °C to 200 Â ° C, the weight loss was due to the dehydration process of the water contained in the hydrophilic hydrogels. From the figure 8, three degradation steps can be observed in PVA sample. The first weight loss process, is associated with the loss of absorbed moisture and/or with the evaporation of trapped solvent, the second weight loss process correspond to the degradation of PVA by a dehydration reaction on the polymer chain and the third weight loss process is due to the degradation of the polyene residues to yield carbon and hydrocarbons while PEO undergoes one step degradation. In samples a, b, c, d two step degradation process takes place. The hydrogels having concentrations equal to 100% CMC showed a single-step thermogram, whereas the major weight loss of ~ 50% occurred from 250 to 350Â °C. This weight loss was attributed mainly to the thermal degradation of the two component polymers of the hydrogel, whereas the weight loss up to 600Â °C was ~ 70%. This means that hydrogels having 100% CMC showed high thermal stability. On the other hand, the thermogram of blends is two-step thermogram. The first step was from 200 to 300Â °C, which was also attributed to thermal degradation of the side chains. The second step took place from 350 to 450 Â ° C with a major weight loss equal to 80%. This weight loss was attributed to some thermal degradation of the main chain C-C- bond of the hydrogel components. TGA of CMC showed two distinct zones where the weight is being lost. The initial weight loss is due to the presence of small amount of moisture in the sample. The second loss is due to the loss of CO2 from the polysaccharide. As there are COO- groups in the case of CMC, it is decarboxylated. Attenuated Total Reflectance- Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (ATR- FTIR) Figure 9 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples pure PVA and PEO Figure 10 FTIR of pure CMC powder Figure 11 Comparison of ATR-FTIR of blend (d) with pure samples From Figures 9, 10 and 11, in the IR spectra of the CMC, we can notice the characteristic bands of COO- at 1610, 1419 cm-1, COOH groups at 1055.9 cm-1, -OH at 1419, 1319.54 cm-1 and the ether groups at 1055.9 cm-1. It is worth to remark that in the CMC a part of the carboxylic groups are in acid form and a part in ionic form. The spectrum of CMC shows the stretching vibrations of at -CH-O-CH2 1055.9 cm-1. The band at 1610 cm-1 and 2878.37 cm-1 are assigned to the stretching vibration of the carboxyl group (COO-) and the stretching vibration of methine (C-H), respectively. Pure CMC displays two characteristic absorption bands at 1610 cm-1 and 1419 cm-1, which represents symmetry stretching and asymmetry stretching of COO− group, respectively. It shows a broad band at 3433.59 cm-1, due to the stretching frequency of the -OH group. The band at 2878.37 cm-1 is due to C-H stretching vibration. The presence of a strong absorption band at 1610 cm-1 confirms the presence of COO- group. The bands around 1419 and 1319.54 cm-1 are assigned to -CH2 scissoring and -OH bending vibration, respectively. The FTIR spectrum of pure PVA reference sample is shown in figure 9 and 11. It clearly reveals the major peaks associated with poly(vinyl alcohol). For instance, it can be observed C-H broad alkyl stretching band 2933.33 cm-1 and typical strong hydroxyl bands for intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonded band at 3286.66 cm-1. This vibrational band at 1140 cm-1 is mostly attributed to the crystallinity of the PVA, related to carboxyl stretching band (C-O). The band at 1140 cm-1 has been used as an assessment tool of poly(vinyl alcohol) structure because it is a semicrystalline synthetic polymer able to form some domains depending on several process parameters. The band at 1420 cm-1 is due to -CH2 group and at 1087.11 cm-1 is due to C-O-C group. The IR peak of interest in the C-O-C asymmetric stretch is at 1095.88 cm-1. This peak in the spectrum of blends has been shown to shift due to hydrogen bonding to PVA and CMC. The spectra obtained for blends are shown in Figure 12. Figure 12 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) From Figure 12 it can be concluded that all the blends show characteristic peaks of all the polymers present. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) The melting temperatures were determined from maximum in the melting endotherm, the glass transition temperatures were taken as the mid point of the heat capacity change. One of the most commonly used methods to estimate polymer-polymer miscibility is the determination of the Tm of the blend compared with the Tms of the two components separately. In the case where one component is crystalline, observation of a melting point depression of this polymer may also be used as evidence to support the miscibility of the polymer pair. Figure 13 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, PEO and CMC Thermal properties and crystallinity of the prepared samples are examined by DSC method (Figure 13 and Table 4). PVA exhibited a relatively large and sharp endothermic peak at 222.2Â °C, PEO at 70.2Â °C and CMC at 265.9Â °C. It is observed from Figure 14 that the melting point and melting enthalpies of the samples a, b, c, d are somewhat decreased from the pure PVA sample. This decrease in melting temperature might be related to a decrease in the crystallinity of the sample and proper alignment of the chains due to the interference of other polymers present in the blend. Figure 15 shows the glass transition temperature i.e. Tg of the pure PVA sample. The melting points of the blends show that the interaction between CMC and PVA weakens the interaction between PVA chains and hinders the crystallization of PVA. Figure 14 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 15 DSC curves showing the glass transition peak of PVA Figure 16 DSC curves showing the melting temperature peaks of PEO and samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) PEO exhibited a relatively large and sharp endothermic peak at 65.5Â °C. It is observed from Figure 16 that the melting point and melting enthalpies of the samples a, b, c, d are somewhat decreased from the pure PEO sample and the melting peaks are widened. This decrease in melting temperature is also related to a decrease in the crystallinity of the sample and proper alignment of the chains due to the interference of other polymers present in the blend as shown in Table 4. It was found that the melting temperature of PEO shifts towards a lower temperature when the PVA is added to the PEO, the change in Tm shows the change from semi crystalline to amorphous phase. Table 4 Percentage crystallinity calculated by DSC of samples Figure 17 Graph of Percentage Crystallinity vs Concentration of CMC In Figure 17, the percentage crystallinity data obtained by DSC for different polymer compositions (a), (b), (c) and (d) are plotted against compatibilizer CMC concentration, to clarify the effect of the CMC content on the crystallinity of the present system. This is also clear from the Table 4 given above that as the concentration of CMC increases in the blend the crystallinity % decreases this is due to the decrease in the proper alignment of the chains due to the interference of other polymers present in the blend. Figure 18 Graph of Melting Temperature (Tm) vs Concentration of CMC In Figure 18 and table 4, the Tm data obtained by DSC for different polymer compositions (a), (b), (c) and (d) are plotted against compatibilizer CMC concentration, to clarify the effect of the CMC content on the thermal property of the present system. It is clear from the figure that as the concentration of CMC increases in the blend the melting temperature firstly increases then decreases. CONCLUSIONS We have effectively produced PVA/PEO/CMC hydrogels via aqueous route. These hydrogel blends were properly characterized by using XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, TGA and DSC techniques. FIGURES CAPTIONS Figure 1 Structure of (a) Poly(vinyl alcohol), (b) Poly(ethylene oxide) and (c) Carboxymethyl cellulose Figure 2 Solutions prepared from the polymer sample to test compatibility Figure 3 Effect of concentration of CMC on the Swelling Ratio (%) of the blends in PBS (pH 7.4) in 24 h. Figure 4 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films Figure 5 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure PVA, pure PEO and sample (a) Figure 6 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure CMC, samples (b), (c) and (d) Figure 7 Graph of percentage crystallinity vs concentration of CMC by XRD Figure 8 TGA of thin films of samples for studying the effect of concentration of CMC on the thermal stability of the samples Figure 9 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples pure PVA, PEO and CMC Figure 10 FTIR of pure CMC powder Figure 11 Comparison of ATR-FTIR of blend (d) with pure samples Figure 12 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 13 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, PEO and CMC Figure 14 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 15 DSC curves showing the glass transition peak of PVA Figure 16 DSC curves showing the melting temperature peaks of PEO and samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 17 Graph of Percentage Crystallinity vs Concentration of CMC Figure 18 Graph of Melting Temperature (Tm) vs Concentration of CMC TABLES CAPTIONS Table 1 Samples taken for characterization Table 2 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films Table 3 Percentage crystallinity calculated by XRD of samples Table 4 Percentage crystallinity calculated by DSC of samples

Critical Themes in the Writings of Hemingway: Life & Death, Fishing, Wa

Critical Themes in the Writings of Hemingway: Life & Death, Fishing, War, Sex, Bullfighting, and the Mediterranean Region Hemingway brought a tremendous deal of what is middle class Americanism into literature, without very many people recognizing what he has done. He had nothing short of a writer’s mind; a mind like a vacuum cleaner that swept his life experiences clean, picking up any little thing, technique, or possible subject that might be of use (Astro 3). From the beginning, Hemingway had made a careful and conscientious formula for the art of the novel (Hoffman 142). This preconceived formula contained certain themes that recur with great frequency and power throughout Hemingway’s writings. Such themes include an obsessive fascination with life and death, an interest in fishing, war, bullfighting, a strange perception of sex and an unusual fixation on the Mediterranean region. In Hemingway’s writings, the symbols are implicit; they follow the laws of reality to such a degree that in themselves they form a whole story (Wilson 2). Hemingway’s hero’s battles consist of conquering dread, a dread which is connected with earlier experiences, and which appears as a fear of life or death. These two elements, life and death, seem to take two opposite forms, but in reality they are the same. Life ends with death, because death is a constituent part of life, therefore life includes death (Scott 24). If you follow the main lines through Hemingway’s writings, you will very easily discover that everything deals with a sick, mortally wounded man’s fight to overcome the dread arising from his meeting with life (Young 21). In Hemingway’s world, death begins in childhood, as described with unsurpassed mastery in the short story â€Å"Indian Camp.† This story tells of young boy, Nick, who is present while his father, the doctor, performs a cesarean section on an Indian woman, without anesthesia, equipped with only a jackknife and fishing leaders to sew the wound up with. The Indian woman’s husband lies in the upper bunk during the operation, with the woolen blanket drawn up over his head. When they lift up the blanket, he has cut his throat. It is here that Hemingway’s long autobiography begins; this is how it feels to be human. Nick, the hero, has received his wound. He is scared to death, and all of his later experiences are more or less repetitions... .... Detroit: Gale, 1973. 142. Geismar, Maxwell. â€Å"Ernest Hemingway: At the Crossroads.† American Moderns: From Rebellion to Conformity. (1958): 54-8. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 142. Fiedler, Leslie A. â€Å"Hemingway.† Love and Death in the American Novel. (1966): 316-17. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 143. Frohock, W.M. â€Å"Ernest Hemingway-The River and the Hawk.† The Novel of Violence in America. (1957): 166-98. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 141. Oliver, Charles M. Ernest Hemingway A to Z. New York: Facts on File, 1999. Reynolds, Michael S. Hemingway’s First War: The Making of â€Å"A Farewell to Arms.† New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976. Rovit, Earl. Ernest Hemingway. Boston: Twayne, 1963. Scott, Nathan A. Jr. Ernest Hemingway: A Critical Essay. Michigan: William B. Eerdman, 1966. Wilson, M. â€Å"Ernest Hemingway.† Lost Generation (1993). 16 Feb. 2001 {http://www.lostgeneration.com/hembio.html}. Young, Philip. Ernest Hemingway. Great Britain: The Oxford University Press, 1964.

Enager Industries

Enager Industries, Inc. Accounting Consultant’s Report  · Introduction Enager Industries, Inc. was a relatively young company that consisted of three divisions with distinct services and products. At the urging of CFO Henry Hubbard, Enager’s president, Carl Randall, had decided to begin treating each division as an investment center, so as to be able to relate each division’s profit to the assets the division used to generate it profits.  · Analysis However, several issues arose regarding this performance evaluation method and other management control choices. First of all, profitable new project at Consumer Products Division, whose return was 13% calculated from Exhibit 3, could not get approved from upper management because it could not reach the pre-determined universal target return of at least 15 percent, even if all the divisions had completely different line of business. This could potentially discourage product development managers’ incentive to engage in new projects. More importantly, the company could miss out the opportunity on new products in the long-run, although it might not have a large return right away in the short-run. Secondly, the president of the company, Carl Randall, was both puzzled and disappointed at the discrepancies among the performance evaluation parameters of the company in 1993. Both ROA and gross return dropped from 1992, while return on sales and return on owners’ equity increased. There were also discrepancies across different divisions, as Professional Service easily exceeded the 12% gross return target; while other two divisions, especially the Industrial Product division had a ROA that was only 6. 9%. These discrepancies could increase the difficulties for the top management to understand the performance, thus hindered manager’s ability to make good decisions. Last but not least, general manager of Industrial Product Division was put much pressure by Randall, the president, because the division â€Å"fell behind† compared to the other two in terms of ROA. The divisional general manager argued that they could have achieved a higher ROA if they had older assets as Consumer Products Division did, but Randall could not understand the relevance of the argument. This is not only a communication problem, but also an evaluation problem caused by the inappropriate treatment of the assets value that is used in calculating ROA. By analyzing the management problems mentioned above, in can be concluded that these problems are the consequences of several management control mistakes, including unreasonable target setting, inefficient method of performance evaluation, and problematic treatment of assets value. Top management of Enager should not set an identical goal for all the divisions since all the divisions engaged in distinct service or production. The nature of those distinct businesses certainly required different amount of assets to operate, and they would face different levels of competition, and they would surely have different profit margins. Therefore, it was unreasonable only using one single target return to evaluation all the new projects from all three divisions to determine if the projects were profitable. In the case, McNeil’s proposal was rejected because it did not meet the 15% target return. However, the new project did have a favorable residual income and demonstrated the a return of 13%, which can increase the EPS for the company. If any benchmark were to be set to evaluate the profitability of new projects, it should be carefully engineered according to specific situation that can be applied to specific division, with the comparison to other competitors in the industry or to past performance. For example, Enager can establish a standard costing system based on historical and external information (including financial information, market information, etc) that can allows management to create a standard profit level. A standard costing system can further allows cost and profit variance analysis, which can be a very powerful tool for management control later on. There were also too many confounding factors in calculating ROA in Enager’s case. Firstly, using net book value of assets (as shown in Exhibit2) in calculating the ROA would surely put those divisions with newer assets in disadvantage. With less depreciation, divisions with newer assets will have lower ROA due to a larger denominator of assets value. The more reasonable way in this case is to use the fair market value, which can better represent the assets’ value in producing profit. Secondly, it is unreasonable to allocate corporate expenses and assets to certain divisions based on divisional revenue. Since each division had different services and products, revenue could not be the basis of allocating those corporate expenses and assets that did not reflect performance of each division. These confounding factors may be able to explain those discrepancies Randall was confused about. As such, the use of ROA in this case is an ineffective method of performance evaluation.  · Recommendation Based on the previous analysis, the solution to this case is to implement a new method of performance evaluation since ROA is such an ineffective method of performance evaluation. One alternative worth perusing is to use the Balanced Scorecard method to evaluate division performance. Instead of measuring the performance only using financial data, Balanced Scorecard methods requires business units to be assigned goals and then measured form the perspectives of financial, customer, internal business and innovation and learning. For example, Enager can evaluate the divisions based on the quality of the products, level of innovation, employees’ contribution to the whole company, etc. Balanced Scorecard can be a very critical supplement to financial data because it is part of strategy planning. The Industrial Products group may no longer be under evaluated because of less-than-perfect financial data. Essentially, a Balanced Scorecard method allows the manger to see the big picture on the strategic level. A Balanced Scorecard method can also promote balances among different strategies in an effort to achieve goal congruence, thus encouraging employees to act in the organization’s best interest. Profitable new projects, like the one that McNeil had proposed, would have a chance of getting approved because it would benefit the company as a whole since it could increase Enager’s EPS. Another advantage of implementing Balanced Score card is that it promotes comparability among different divisions with distinct line of business. Unlike ROA, Balanced Scorecard taken in to accounts of different perspective of the business into account, since the comprehensive value of the division is reflected in the Balanced Score card design. By implementing Balanced Score card method, the upper management of Enager can obtain a broad-base view of the company in terms of goals and strategy. Although it requires additional work for executives to choose a mix of measurement that accurately reflect the critical factors that will determine the success of the company, it is a better alternative here than ROA as a performance evaluation method.

A Separate Peace The Dying Legacy essays

A Separate Peace The Dying Legacy essays By early 1918 in Russia, the Bolsheviks controlled only the north-western area of the Russian Empire (Petrograd and Moscow) together with the areas between and around them. Various opposition groups were formed against the Bolsheviks, under the new Provisional Government. The provisional government had proposed elections for a new assembly in late 1917; Lenin had seen that the Bolsheviks must act before this democratically elected government convened, but once in power, he allowed the elections to proceed. In the November 1917 polls, Bolshevik candidates won just under 25 per cent of the vote, while the moderate socialists polled over 40 per cent. Lenin sent his loyal troops to close down the constituent assembly the day after it convened. Russia was about to enter a bloody civil war, which was a culmination of the efforts of varied opposition groups to defeat the Bolsheviks, from which it would emerge into Leninist and Stalinist tyranny. The causes of the civil war are diverse. A confusion of governments and opponents existed, some based on minorities and nationalities. From these, the Lithuanians, Moldavians, and Ukrainians declared independence. There was a Polish dispute over rights of sovereignty which raised tensions between Poland and her communist neighbor that would lead to war. Moreover, leaders of anti-Bolsheviks known as the Whites went to rebellion with the aim of establishing a power base and advancing from it to the Bolshevik stronghold (Years of Change, 402). With the ideal of Russia one and indivisible (Alexeyev), the White forces consisted of three main groups: revolutionary groups hostile toward the Bolsheviks, former officers of the Imperial army resentful of betrayal at Brest Litvosk (T A Morris) and national groups seeking independence for their particular minority. Lastly, according to T A Morris, the revolt Czechoslovak Legion was the greatest catalyst of civil confl...

Motorola Phone Company

Motorola Phone Company Company history Initially, Motorola Corporation was a multinational company in the telecommunications industry and was based in the Illinois. However, the company was later divided into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, with each operating as an independent company (Spencer, 2011). The move took place in early 2011 after the company ran into massive losses between 2007 and 2009.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Motorola Phone Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, of the two branches of independent companies, Motorola Solutions stands out as immediate replacement of the entire Motorola Corporation. The corporation was founded in 1928 and was initially known as Galvin manufacturing Corporation. Later in 1930, the corporation introduced a Motorola radio that was used in cars. The company was founded under â€Å"the stewardship of Paul Galvin together with bill Lear as the investor, who later created the brand name Motorola† (Spence, 2011, p.38). With massive developments in the line of telecommunication, Motorola demonstrated the first portable phone in 1973. The corporation continued in production and sale of mobile phone handsets, until when it was overtaken by the Nokia Corporation in 1998. Over time, the corporation was involved in a series of innovations in technology; for instance, production of the first GPRS cell phone in 2000, first wireless cable modem gateway in 2002, production of the first handset that used a Linux operating system and java technology in 2003 among many other innovations. After the split of the entire Corporation in 2011, Google purchased the Motorola Mobility later in the same year and it has its headquarters At Libertyville where it deals with the production of mobile handsets (Spencer, 2011). Company’s culture Researchers call for businesses to have their own, but unique styles in running day-to-day affairs of the organizations. The culture practiced within an organization is quite crucial as it determines a company’s direction towards achieving its goals and objectives. Culture incorporates several aspects that include the working environment offered to employees and the company’s vision (Mitchell, 2008). Vision and mission statements of an organization guide employees and the entire organization towards ensuring success. Within the culture of Motorola Mobility Company, many bureaucracies are applied within the company, hence causing more stress to employees. However, the company applies high technology in their production, hence the high quality phones marketed under the company’s brand name all over the world.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In trying to increase its efficiency, the company has been involved in constant reorganization since 1990s (Crockett Kharif, 200 8). During this time, many job relocations took place within the organization. For instance, many engineers were relocated to overseas branches in Europe, China, and India among other countries. However, the company values its employees for they form part of the entire company’s investment plan. Consistent and to some extent compulsory training is offered to employees to equip them with different skills and experience. Training is part of a development initiative taken by companies to ensure the wellbeing of employees. In addition, this move also acts as a form of motivation to employees as they are recognized and rewarded though not on a monetary basis. Value addition in employees also calls for improved quality of output, hence the overall success of the entire organization. However, things changed when the company replaced the good values it had acquired over time with bad ones. For instance, job security was not a guarantee, especially if one was not innovative. Random ch anges took place within the management and stringent measures were put upon employees, especially their modes of dressing and working hours (Crockett Kharif, 2008). Labor laws do not advocate for detrimental work environments, which cause stress to employees due to insecurity and long working hours. As for Motorola Mobility, this requirement was a complete opposite as employees worked for long hours without proper compensation, apart from the usual salary. Over the years, Motorola enjoyed success due to exemplary governance and leadership offered by the Galvan family. However, since its acquisition by Google, the management has been on the gradual change. For instance, employees are allowed to have fun after work and stringent regulations on modes of dressing were removed. After Chris Galvin left the company in 2002, employees did not receive the quality of training they could get in the past. In addition, the management team that took over did not put into consideration motivation of employees as they experienced unaccounted deductions, salaries postponement for months before payment, and bureaucracies were implemented in all sectors of the organization (Crockett Kharif, 2008).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Motorola Phone Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although the culture depicted by Motorola is quite the opposite that of Google, Google Corporation is working tirelessly towards a positive change in the organization. Purpose After the split of the initial corporation, Motorola Mobility, which is currently owned by Google, deals with the production and marketing of mobile phone devices. The company utilizes various technologies and innovations to come up with mobile phone devices that suit various needs in the market. Apart from the production of mobile handsets, the company also produces tablets, wireless accessories, and a wide range of other accessories within the telecommunic ations industry. The company’s purpose is to bring together people through the utilization of innovative technologies to enrich their lives. In their production plans, the company ensures involvement of customers to ensure that various needs in the market are met, which is also a strategy towards implementing improvement in its products in future (Spencer, 2011). The company’s executive team Initially, the entire corporation ran under the leadership of Paul Galvin as the CEO and Bill Lear as an investor. The company’s management remained within the family as Chris Galvin took over from his brother. The company’s CEO assumed the responsibility of ensuring overall wellness of the corporation and that of employees. In addition, the CEO ensured that overall challenges of the organization were addressed and that all teams within the organization worked together to ensure success within the organization. In 2002, Chris Galvin stepped down as the CEO of the comp any leaving it under the leadership of Edward Zander. However, Zander went on to overhauling the management structure and came up with stringent rules that led to a near-downfall and poor performance of the company. After the acquisition by the Google Corporation, Motorola Mobility is currently under Denis Woodside as the chief executive officer. Under the CEO, there are senior vice presidents heading various sections within the company (Crockett Kharif, 2008).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Successes and failures of Motorola Phone Company Over the years, the company has been in a position to produce and sell high quality mobile devices that suit various needs of the market. Innovations in technology and provision of quality training to employees were attributed to the success that the company enjoyed in the past. In addition, the company has not lagged behind in the telecommunication industry. Production and marketing of smart phones and tablets was one of the crucial moves made by the company. During the era of Chris Galvin, the company had successfully implemented a plan that saw proper training of employees, hence a form of motivation, recognition, and empowerment (Crockett Kharif, 2008). However, the company along its history made various mistakes not only in connection to its culture, but also other areas, which resulted to poor performance witnessed between 2007 and 2009. Motorola’s culture comprised of bureaucratic procedures and most products were based on ideas from engineers and not consumer’s tastes and preferences. In addition, the company failed to provide job security to its employees among other complaints. On the other hand, the company failed to come up with and implement a proper marketing strategy (Crockett Kharif, 2008). However, these missteps hinged on the shoddy culture as depicted by the company. The company’s deteriorating culture led to its inability to produce and release phones as quickly as possible in the market. For instance, mid 1990s era was characterized by a shift from analogue to digital mobile phone devices in the market. However, engineers and the company’s management team failed to put a serious consideration on effects of such a shift. However, the corporation introduced digital phones in the market, but could not keep up with the competition posed by the Nokia Corporation (Crockett Kharif, 2008). Later on, the corporation invested in some sort of entrepreneurial skills that w ere implemented by various leaders. For instance, under the management of Edward Zander, the company improved its efficiency in production of slim phones. However, this success did not last for long when consumers shifted their focus from hardware and laid strong emphasis on software that ensures additional phone functionalities. The company also failed to enter into the 3G phone market, a step that its competitors had already taken and the company remained completely disconnected from the market (Crockett Kharif, 2008). Recommendations Since the company’s acquisition by Google in 2009, Mr. Jha took over as the company’s chairperson. He implemented various strategies aimed at overhauling the entire business culture that existed in the Motorola Corporation. For instance, he introduced casual wears to replace the strict dressing code that existed as he noted that the dressing code had nothing to do with the declining sales volumes (Crockett Kharif, 2008). Mr. Jha also worked hard to ensure consistent contact with the market, which involved a change on the company’s culture that was mainly engineering oriented; for instance, focusing on market need as they evolve from time to time. In this case, Mr. Jha implemented several improvements on the hardware and software to include the emerging developments to suit various needs of customers in the market. On the other hand, Google should focus on a recruitment drive to enrich the company’s human resources and tap upcoming and fresh talents. Mr. Jha realized the need to overhaul some of the members of staff and replace them with new employees. Some staff members that worked for Motorola Corporation failed to produce a new product for years, and this aspect underscores lost opportunities. In addition, some top talent and well performing employees had left the company for competitors like Apple Corporation and the like. The cost of hiring new employees can be quite high, but it is avoidable w ith the implementation of appropriate measures. However, the company should think of a motivation package and new ways to improve the existing workforce instead of conducting a fresh recruitment process. Reference List Crockett, R., Kharif, O. (2008, Aug. 6). Motorola: The New CEO’s Real Challenge.  The Economic Times, p.21. Mitchell, C. (2008). A short course in international business culture: Building your international business through cultural awareness. Petaluma, CA: World Trade Press. Spencer, A. (2011, Jan. 5). Motorola is split into two. The Wall Street Journal, p.38.

Case analysis of NO GO Railroad Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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