Asian Economic Growth Essays - Liberal Democracies,

Asian Economic Growth In his book Asia?s Miracle Economies, Jon Woronoff examines the dramatically quick economic growth of five Asian countries. The five countries examined are Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Through his study the author demonstrates that there was no miracle involved in these countries growth. They applied specific strategies that were adapted to their local environment. Some of these strategies worked some didn?t. The author says that by examining these nations, one may be able to repeat there success. The book is divided into three parts. In "Part One: Places" the author tells where these countries started from. Some were poorer than average. Some had little natural resources. The people of these countries had different outlooks on the world thus different behavioral tendencies. Part I is divided into five chapters each examining a countries. Woronoff begins Chapter 1 "Japan?s Two Miracles," by discussing Japan?s first industrial revolution. In 1853 when Commodore Perry opened Japan?s ports to foreigners, Japan was feudal society. It was not very evolved nor very modern. Agriculture was good but not enough for the growing population. Japan wanted to learn from the West. Japan sent many students to Europe and the United States. Soon Japan began industrializing. Groups called zaibatsu formed. These zaibatsu dominated industry and commerce. They manipulated politics to suit their own needs. Japan soon began concentrating own building a War Machine. After the Russo-Japanese War, the country went into a recession. But after the First World War, Imperial Japan began growing up until the end of the WWII. The war left Japan resouceless and heavily overpopulated. The victorious Allies gave or rather imposed democratization onto Japan. The zaibatsu were disbanded. Japan was left weak. The United States provided much financial support. Japan?s economy then began growing very fast. The Japanese protected themselves by implementing quotas and then non-tariff barriers. Companies such as Sony, Honda, and YKK improved production methods. Businessmen and bureaucrats worked together. Many firms formed keiretsu. Keiretsu was a sort of lateral conglomeration of banks and companies loyal to each other. The author concluded that the 1980?s, Japan?s economy had surpassed those of France and Britain and rivaled the United States? economy. The Japanese could now purchase many luxury consumer goods, but at what price. Their obsession with production as their prewar obsession with military might had its drawbacks. Lack of urban planning has led to urban congestion with subsufficient pluming and sewage. Their economic success came at the cost of living conditions, human relations and natural beauty. The author begins Chapter 2 "Taiwan, Industrial Island" with a brief history of Taiwan. Taiwan, the island of Formosa was once a Dutch trading center. Then it became a part of the Chinese province of Fukien in 1683. With this Chinese began immigrating. In 1895, Formosa was ceded to Japan. The Japanese realized the agricultural potential of the island. They built roads, railways and harbors. After the Second World War, the island?s economy which had been based on exporting food and raw material to Japan was now greatly weakened. In 1949 when the Kumintang moved to the island , so came over one million refugees, fleeing from the communist mainland. The first priority of the new Republic of China was its military. Aid came from the U.S. in 1953 in the form of the Mutual Security Treaty. Taiwan attempted many things to help its economy. These implementations made matters worse. The Nineteen Point Program of Economic and Financial Reform enabled local businessmen to act more efficiently and purposely. Despite many factors against it the Republic of China has been able to steadily grow economically and is likely to continue to survive into the future. In chapter 3 "Korea Man-Made Miracle" the author explores the history of Korea. Korea has long had a history of Chinese domination. But as China became more an more under western spheres of influence, Korea began to be dominated by Russia and Japan. Soon after Japan took control. Japan used Korea as mercantilist colony. Japan did build roads and develop the economy. After the war, Korea was left in bad shape. The country was divided into a U.S. zone and a USSR zone. The zone formed two separate nations. North Korea had all of the industry and the South had all of the agriculture. Soon the North invaded the South. The U.S. came the aid of the South, driving the communists back north. The United States provided financial assistance for reconstruction in 1954. Economic progress was slow coming. In 1961, General Park takes charge. He was a military man.

Longfellows The Rainy Day

Longfellow's 'The Rainy Day' Children across New England are familiar with the works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose Paul Reveres Ride has been recited at many a grade school pageant. Longfellow, born in Maine in 1807, became an epic poet of sorts for American history, writing about the American Revolution in the way bards of old wrote about conquests across Europe. The Life of Longfellow Longfellow the second-oldest in a family of eight children, was a teacher at Bowdoin College in Maine, and later at Harvard University. Longfellows first wife Mary died in 1831 following a miscarriage, while they were traveling in Europe. The couple had been married for only four years. He did not write for several years following her death, but she inspired his poem Footsteps of Angels. In 1843, after years of trying to win her over for nearly a decade, Longfellow married his second wife Frances. The two had six children together. During their courtship, Longfellow often walked from his home in Cambridge, crossing the Charles River, to Frances family home in Boston. The bridge he crossed during those walks is now officially known as the Longfellow Bridge. But his second marriage ended in tragedy as well; in 1861 Frances died of burns she suffered after her dress caught fire. Longfellow was himself burned trying to save her  and grew his famous beard to cover the scars left behind on his face. He died in 1882, a month after people around the country celebrated his 75th birthday. Body of Work Longfellows best-known works include epic poems such as The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline, and poetry collections such as Tales of a Wayside Inn. He also wrote well-known ballad-style poems such as The Wreck of the Hesperus, and Endymion. He was the first American writer to translate Dantes Divine Comedy.  Longfellows admirers included President Abraham Lincoln, and fellow writers Charles Dickens and Walt Whitman. Analysis of The Rainy Day This 1842 poem has the famous line Into each life some rain must fall, meaning that everyone will experience difficulty and heartache at some point. The day is a metaphor for life. Written after the death of his first wife and before he married his second wife, The Rainy Day has been interpreted as a deeply personal look into Longfellows psyche and state of mind. Here is the complete text of Henry Wadsworth Longfellows The Rainy Day. The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;It rains, and the wind is never weary;The vine still clings to the moldering wall,But at every gust the dead leaves fall,And the day is dark and dreary.My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;It rains, and the wind is never weary;My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blastAnd the days are dark and dreary.Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;Thy fate is the common fate of all,Into each life some rain must fall,Some days must be dark and dreary.

Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle - Essay Example Healthy lifestyle is directly related to longevity. However maintaining a healthy lifestyle means that besides evading the excessive use of certain drinks, one must keep an active and regular activity. Exercising contributes to the maintenance of normal weight. Physical activity benefits to your health by reducing the risk of hearth disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoporosis (World Health Organization report, 1998). In addition regular exercising improves the posture, strengthens the muscles and bones and provides you with better mental health. The statistics from the American Cancer Society report (2009) show that in 2006 23% of the U.S. population suffered from cancer and eventually died. Smoking is the single greatest preventable factor of premature death. 20% of the deaths in the U.S. were related to smoking. The data indicates also that there are 430 thousand premature deaths caused by smoking (American Cancer Society report, 2009). People who quit smoking might enjoy a considerable more healthy life after that.

Who are you Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who are you - Essay Example The Canoe restaurant has to a great extent complied with the laid down regulations on food handling and storage. Referring to the Los Angeles county regulations, to evade food contamination, all frozen food should be prepared in a frozen state or refrigerated at a temperature of less than 38 degrees. From the assessment findings, it was noted that, staffs in the restaurant were reluctant in complying with the directives. The temperature in the kitchen was at 73 degrees which was far beyond the stipulated temperature. the kitchen staffs were extremely clean and had spotless and bright uniforms as required for by the Los Angeles county regulations. According to the existing regulations, potentially harmful foods such as fish, beef, and raw pottery ought to be prepared with sanitized and cleaned equipment. However, the inspection confirmed that, the kitchen staffs failed to act in accordance with the existing regulations. During the investigation, it was noted that, the chief assistant used one instrument to chop different meat without cleaning or sterilizing it. To ensure adequate hygiene in foo d preparation, the Los Angeles county regulations emphasizes on the significance of wearing a clean uniform, gloves, and hair nets. After investigation, it was observed that, the chef and its assistant wore gloves but they lacked a hair net. On the other hand, the restaurants did not comply with the regulations which define how foods should be handled when preparing them. At around one, the investigator noted a less frozen turkey on the counter. All foodstuffs are required by the law to be well wrapped and stored in a clean dry. During the investigation, the freezers and refrigerators were all well organized and spotlessly clean as required for in the regulations. The foods in the refrigerator were stored in sealed containers. However, it was impossible to recognize the stored food since the wrapped foods were neither dated nor labeled as specified by the

International Finance and Financial Crisis Case Study

International Finance and Financial Crisis - Case Study Example They should oversee if the sources of funds have an undisrupted flow and if they are able to pay their creditors. Having a clear understanding, the company should try to maximise the cash positions. In 2008, Woolworths had net cash flow of 39.2 millions in comparison to 27.1 millions in 2007. In due contrast to it, the company had 2.2 millions of net cash flow in 2003. So, it can be said Woolworths took required measures to have the increased cash flow during the time of crisis. Identify and aggressively minimise operational risks - The companies, amidst financial crisis, should try to identify and reduce all sorts of avoidable day-to-day risks. During crisis, it is desirable that the companies follow the basics. The operations generated over 61.7 millions in 2008, a drastic increase over the previous year. Conduct rigorous scenario planning - During crisis the companies should also take a proper stock of the economic scenario. They should strategise on the basis of the GDP growth, currency depreciations, etc. Woolworths Group scrapped the idea of paying interim dividend in 2008 considering the net loss it has incurred and the global meltdown. Review business performance and prepare for divestitures - The c... They should strategise on the basis of the GDP growth, currency depreciations, etc. Woolworths Group scrapped the idea of paying interim dividend in 2008 considering the net loss it has incurred and the global meltdown. Review business performance and prepare for divestitures - The company, to sustain and survive the crisis, should continuously review its performance and take necessary steps, as and when required. Also, the company should prepare itself for necessary divestments to increase the cash inflow. As the cash inflow was great for Woolworths, so we can say that the company took regular assessments of its business performance. Maintain the confidence of key stakeholders - Any company that wants to stay floated for long term, knows the value of its stakeholders. Relationship with shareholders, suppliers and customers if once lost can not be regained. The revenue has increased in 2008 compared to 2007 for Woolworths Plc and also there are no bank overdrafts in the year. Dividend Policies, Capital Structure and the Shareholders' Wealth Share-holders are the true owners of any company. And the dividend is the earning of the owner because of his stock holding on the basis of the company's profit. Apart from the capital yield (which a share-holder might earn, if he sale away the share), earning of dividend is the reason of purchasing shares by the shareholder. If a company earns profit from its professional and operational activities, the management can either retain the profit or future investments (called retained profit or retained earning) under the head of 'reserve and surplus' in the balance sheet or the management of the company can distribute the profit among its

Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Apollo 11 Landing

Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Apollo 11 Landing Phillip Scott Apollo 11 Landing: Fact or Fiction? Did the United States successfully land on the moon on July 20, 1969? Were astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin the first humans to walk on the surface of the moon? There are groups of people who would have us believe NASA faked the Apollo 11 landing and its accompanying moonwalk. They claim NASA staged and recorded this event in a studio or desert location and much of their proof of this is in the photographs and videos NASA provided to the public. There are many reasons why they believe it was a hoax. Some believe it was technically impossible to land on the moon in 1969, so the United States staged the landing to win the race to the moon against the Soviet Union (Braeunig). Others believe it was a hoax designed just to irritate the Soviet Union (Runde). They derive most of their claims from the photographs that NASA made available to the public. These conspiracy claims are simply untrue and have been easily refuted and explained by those familiar with NASA’s space prog rams and the science of space. The late Bill Kaysing, a former document cataloger at Rocketdyne, is the person many would consider the father of the moon landing hoax (Braeunig). He and other advocates of this conspiracy theory based their claims on many things, but they primarily point at perceived anomalies in the Apollo 11 photographs (Braeunig) and the inability to view the landing site on the moons surface using telescopes (Than). Their claims are erroneous, misguided and foolish. There are many experts from NASA and the private sector who have proven beyond a doubt that their claims are false. For example, Mr. Kaysing claimed the shadows in the photographs are not parallel to each other, indicating multiple light sources must have been present when they took the photographs (Plait, Fox Television and the Apollo Moon Hoax). The response to this claim is simple. While the sun is the only natural light source on the moon, its light reflects off the moon’s surface, the lunar module, and even the astronaut’s white space suits, so it appears as multiple light sources were present. However, as Dr. Phil Plait explains â€Å"Each object casts one shadow, so there can only be one light source† (Plait, Fox Television and the Apollo Moon Hoax). This, as well as elevation differences on the moon’s surface, is why the shadows do not always appear parallel to each other (Braeunig). Mr. Kaysing also claimed the American flag looked as if it was flapping or waving in the wind and that would not be possible on the moon. On the Fox television show Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?, Kaysing stated â€Å"This must have been from an errant breeze on the set. A flag wouldnt wave in a vacuum† (qtd. in Plait, Fox Television and the Apollo Moon Hoax). According to Dr. Plait, â€Å"In a vacuum or not, when you whip around the vertical pole, the flag will ‘wave’, since it is attached at the top. The top will move first, then the cloth will follow along in a wave that moves down. This isnt air that is moving the flag, its the cloth itself† (Plait, Fox Television and the Apollo Moon Hoax). Another of the conspiracy claims is that stars should be visible in the dark sky of the images. However, the bright conditions on the moon’s surface and the subjects that the astronauts photographed required them to use fast exposure settings on their cameras (Than). This limited incoming light and prevented the recording of the stars on film. These hoax theorist should remember that the astronauts were photographing their activities on the surface of the moon, not trying to capture pictures of the stars from the surface of the moon (Braeunig). As for the claim that the landing site and the hardware purportedly left at the site should be visible using Earth-based telescopes, it is simply not possible. â€Å"No telescope on Earth or in space has that kind of resolving power† (Than). As Dr. Plait further explains, â€Å"Even with the biggest telescope on Earth, the smallest thing you can see on the surface of moon is something bigger than a house† (qtd. in Than). There are many technical reasons why this is so, but as Dr. Plait explains, â€Å"the ability for a telescope to resolve an object is, as you’d expect, directly related to the size of the mirror or lens† (Plait, Moon Hoax: Why Not Use Telescopes to Look at the Landers? Bad Astronomy). This makes it impossible to resolve something as small as the landing site or the equipment left there using Earth-based telescopes. Even with the Hubble Space Telescope, with its 94 inch aperture, â€Å"the smallest object that can be resolved by HST is abo ut 300 feet† (Braeunig). However, in 2009, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, orbiting at an altitude of 15 miles above the moon’s surface, captured some outstanding images of all the Apollo landing sites. The images of the Apollo 11 landing site show the equipment they left there and even the tracks the astronauts left as they walked from the lunar module to the location of the various equipment items and even to a nearby crater (SPACE.com Staff). Still, the conspiracy theorist refute all the proof offered and continue to believe this was all a hoax. These conspiracy theorist have many other claims that the Apollo 11 landing was a conspiracy and various experts have refuted and explained every one of them. However, these conspiracy theorist continue to believe the United States created this hoax to fool the world. The only proof that might change their beliefs would be for one of their â€Å"trusted agents† to travel to the moon to witness the site wher e Apollo 11 landed. There are many reasons for their conspiracy beliefs, but the questions they should ask themselves is: Why would the United States spend billions of dollars on a hoax then leave such sloppy evidence in the very images they provided to the public as proof it happened? If this were a hoax, how could so many people involved in such a conspiracy remain silent for so many years (Cain)? The facts are not debatable. There is no reason to doubt that on July 20 1969, the United States successfully landed Apollo 11 on the moon and that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited their lunar module and walked on the surface of the moon. Works Cited Braeunig, Robert A. The Moon Hoax Debate. The Moon Hoax Debate. n.d. Web. 11 February 2015. Cain, Fraser. How Do We Know the Moon Landing Isnt Fake?. 14 April 2014. Web. 11 February 2015. Plait, Phil. Fox Television and the Apollo Moon Hoax. 13 February 2001. Web. 17 February 2015. —. Moon Hoax: Why Not Use Telescopes to Look at the Landers? Bad Astronomy. 12 August 2008. Web. 12 February 2015. Runde, Michael. 11 Proofs That The Apollo Moon Landings Were NOT Fake.. Ed. N.P. 18 July 2014. Web. 11 February 2015. SPACE.com Staff. Apollo 11 Moon Landing Site Seen in Unprecedented Detail | Moon Photos | Space.com.. 13 March 2013. Web. 11 February 2015. Than, Ker. Photos: 8 Moon-Landing Hoax MythsBusted. National Geographic Society. 16 July 2009. Webpage. 11 February 2015.

Modern Political Thoery and Liberalism Essay -- Political Science Argu

Modern Political Thoery and Liberalism The subject given for this paper was to â€Å"assess the alienation from liberalism found in modern and contemporary political theory.† To be honest, I don’t see a correlation with alienating liberalism and modern political thought through the time line of political theory in the 18th and19th century and through the 20th century. So, for this paper, I will prove the opposite. I will show, in my opinion, how the rise of liberalism has kept alive modern and contemporary political thought and action. I will begin with what I know of the beginning of liberal ideas and move through time showing how these liberal movements have been the basis for major changes in countries and that liberalism, in my opinion, has not been alienated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The French Revolution marks the beginning of liberalism where the community lashed out against French society. This is where status was legally stratified by birth. In consequence, French citizens persistently negotiated with one another and with the crown for better and more human rights. This is the marking of citizens wanting â€Å"natural rights† and lashing out against a political organization/government in order to achieve this. Webster’s Dictionary defines Liberal as â€Å"a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties.†(Webster) I think that the rebel of citizens in the French Revolution fits perfectly into this definition and marks the basis for the subject of political thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the and after Industrial Revolution, due to liberalism, the social structure of society changed considerably. Before the Revolution most people lived in small villages, working either as farmers or craftsmen. With industrialization everything changed. The new enclosure law had left many poor farmers bankrupt and unemployed and machines capable of huge outputs made small hand weavers redundant. As a result, there were many people who were forced to work at the new factories. This required them to move to towns and cities so that they could be close to their new jobs. It also meant that they made less money for working longer hours. Add to this the higher living expenses due to urbanization and one can easily see that many families' resources would be extremely ... ...ere many outcries for women’s rights through liberalism and this was the basis of Political thought in the late 19th century and early 20th century. This is another example of how liberalism was kept alive in modern Political Thought. There are many feats in liberalism that lead the topic of Modern Political Thought The effect of liberal thought and ideals such as anti-welfare, anti-government regulation of business, anti-minimum wage, anti-income tax, pro-free trade, etc, is the basis for modern Political Thought which leads the way in conversation and essays about Modern Political Thought through liberalism. In this paper I have shown a timeline of modern liberal thinking which translates into Modern Political Theory and thought. I have shown how, in my opinion, the rise of liberalism has kept alive modern and contemporary political thought and action. I began with the French Revolution and showed the timeline of liberal movements and liberal thought which in turn a basis for political thinking was. All of which shows the opposite of the â€Å"Alienation form liberalism mound in modern and contemporary theory and thinking.† Works Cited http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

World Trade Organisation

The WTO TRIPS traces its origins from the 1994 General Agreement on Trade Tariffs (GATT) Uruguay Rounds which proposed its existence. The TRIPS in essence spells out the standards for divers forms of regulations that touch on the intellectual property rights. To this effect, it divulges on standards each nation must meet to enforce the copyright laws, patenting, trade marks, the protection of confidential information, and the geographical indications. After the narrowness and the limitations that were found in the TRIPS, DOHA was then proposed. The DOHA is a multilateral commercial system that has been enshrined in the World Trade Organization(WTO) and seeks to make enhancements on economic growth, expansion and establishment. Having existed over fifty years, this multilateral trading system aims at working towards the entrenchment of international trade by ensuring a system that promotes the liberalisation of trade and international trade policies that catalyse the recovery of the economy, its growth and development. It is on this backdrop that the DOHA multilateral commercial system is against protectionism in international trade, following the objections that were created in the World Trade Agreement, the Marrakesh Agreement (Yeaman, 2003 pp. 39). Recent developments in the DOHA and TRPS meetings and their impacts on the LDCs' agriculture and industries. The latest DOHA development and TRIPS Agreement national workshop meeting was held on 22nd February, 2007 in Indonesia, under the aegis of the WTO which was in liaison with the ministry of foreign affairs (Oberg, 2002 pp. 14). In the meeting, there were pressure from the developed economies on the developing countries to fulfill their obligations spelt out in the TRIPS Agreement Article 66. 2. This demanded that the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) facilitate and carry out technology transfer so as to introduce and maintain an efficient technological base that will make international trade feasible. The LDCs were censured for only submitting r eports that touch on technological training and capacity erections (Zhang, 2001 pp. 66). This is normally taken as a failure on the side of the developing economies, yet their financial base is too narrow to support this undertaking. The main issue here is the time and the financial resources that are needed to realise the policy- and this is not being well considered by the developed counterparts (Tawfik, 2000 pp. 138). The fourth WTO conference was held in November 2001, in Qatar, to ensure that TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) member states are helped to interpret the TRIPS policies so as to be able to take comprehensive measures on public health. Even in the WTO which is still a confederation of different states which have come together for the sake of trade, interests still thrive. The interests range from interstate competition to competition taking on the form of regional blocks pitted against each other (Plat, 2000 pp. 92). In this sense, regions and states will always seek to have policies that are favourable to them, entrenched by the WTO. For instance, Europe, the biggest global importer of agricultural and farm produce wants all forms of local support accorded to farmers plummeted. Europe's main import zones include the developing economies and few developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. In the same wavelength, it wants all the export subsidies offered to the same farmers extirpated by 2013. On the other end, it is pushing for lower tariffs (Taylor, 2003 pp. 40). The European Union says that it is pushing for global accessibility of all industrial goods in the international market. For this, it is aiming at pressuring the WTO to cut out high tariffs. From the facade, this seems a good idea, but it is, under close scrutiny, an artifice to strengthen Europe. Reduced subsidies will increase farming expenses for the farmers while at the other end, plummeted tariffs will only enable Europe to acquire agricultural and farm imports at a very affordable rate (Probs, 2002 pp. 155). From the days of the WTO's General Agreement on Trade Tariffs (GATT), there have been serious cases of structural imbalances and over protectionism in some trading regions, compared to the others. Therefore, Developing countries in the Uruguay Round expected that the heavily protected sectors (textiles and agriculture) would be made more accessible so as to make it possible for the LDC products to have sufficient international access. Howbeit, the two sectors remain locked being characterised by highly proscriptive tariffs with some striking and passing the 200%- 300% mark (Correa, 2004 pp. 244). This comes in the wake of the OECD's Domestic subsidies having soared from 275 American billion dollars to 326 billion. In the textiles and fabrics domain, very minimal items produced by the LDCs have been removed from the quota list even after ten years of corrective implementation period has elapsed. According to the Bureau of International Textiles, only thirteen out of seven hundred and fifty have been exempted from the quota list by the US, while Europe has only excised fourteen out of two hundred and nineteen, and Canada, twenty nine out of two hundred and ninety five. This made it obvious that most of the quotas will not have been eradicated by the arrival of the targeted period of 2013 (Thomas, 2005 pp. 39). At the turn of the century, the realisation towards this exercise was retrogressed by America's announcement that she would in order to protect her local steel industry, impose a 30% tariff on her steel imports. This demonstrates clearly the fact that most developed nations in the WTO are not ready to forfeit their interests just to facilitate international trade (Rajan, 2005 pp. 139). Inspite of the fact that the developed countries have not carried out all of their liberalization obligations, yet LDCs are the ones currently under pressure to expedite their liberalisation of their investments and imports from the international financial entities and regional trade facilitators. The paradox of these developments is that the developed countries who propose these policies ask for more time to restructure their textiles and agriculture while the LDCs having been forced to restructure, are told to persevere the pains thereof for a time. For instance, the proscription of investment subsidies and measures makes it very difficult to facilitate the domestic or local industries. This in turn ushers in poverty and then consequently, dependency syndrome. The liberalization of the agricultural sector is also a setback to small scale farmers since their products become subject to international competition which is characterised by cheaper foreign products ,making incursions into the market. The products from the developed countries are always cheap, following the fact that the dealers in them enjoy huge government subsidies. On the other hand, the developing economies do not have a financial pool, large enough to facilitate the issuance of subsidies to its farmers. This amounts to nothing else but unequal competition ( Tomilson, 1998 pp. 106). WTO TRIPS tolerates very high standards of IPR ( Intellectual Property Rights) type of leadership. This leads to the entrenchment of high prices on medicine, health services and other essential services at the behest of Northern corporation patenting. These Northern corporations deal in biological materials which come from the south and their patenting leads to high costs and at the same time, diminishes the accessibility of industrial technology to developing countries (Trebilcock, 2000 pp. 91). Again, on the 15th May, 2003 WTO TRIPS Meeting that was aimed at implementing policies that were to aid development seemed to lack sincerity and good will. The TRIPS were to engage in the technical support and assistance of the LDCs. However, even the Secretariat was not accorded with chance to air the key issues as touching on the options of the LDCs. This means that should this plan be carried out, the assistance may not be that which will truly meet the needs of the LDCs (Hoekman, Philip and Mattoo, 1996 pp. 45). The matter of patenting of the pharmaceuticals that have been proposed by the WTO TRIPS is also posing a potential threat to the LDCs. The developed economies know this well and this is why, in liaison with the movers and shakers of these ministerials, are trying to hoodwink the LDCs by exempting them from subscribing to the Sections 7 and 5 fully, citing an extended grace period that stretches to January 2016 (Gamharter, 2004 pp. 9). However, they are quite sure about the accruals that will begin to trickle in on the inception of these sections. This period is not enough for the LDCs to improve their health sectors to match the competition that will be coming from the international medical and health care practitioners. LDCs are likely then to face untold miseries in the public health sectors, taking the form of the in ability to provide comprehensive medicinal services and health acre due to price fluctuation from the international dealers. The local medical care givers will also face a lot of disillusionment, stemming from competition from the international medical care givers. In the agricultural sector, the TRIPS has also been a let down to the LDCs. This is because, although the LDCs have not yet industrialised, meaning that their economic mainstay is agriculture, yet, Paragraph 11 of the Agricultural Section of the TRIPS only lists down matters pertaining to agriculture, in relation to the LDCs' development, but does not elaborate further how the issues are to be tackled. This section contains serious matters such as the LDCs being excluded from the exercise of curbing the subsidies, so as to extirpate cases of cheap foreign food products from inundating the local food products and market, the ratification of a market access that is quota free to the LDCs agricultural products (Evenson and Staniello, 2004 pp. 203). This section also was supposed to tackle the issue of LDCs being given the chance to re- evaluate their bound tariff rate to ward off cases of disillusionment of local farmers in the LDCs . Inspite of the seriousness of this provision, it has never been developed or revised for ratification, since it seems that the accruals will now not be trickling so much more to the developed economies (Carvalho, 2002 pp. 97). The local service providers in the developing world have also been left non- viable due to the fact that developing economies have been forced to open up to international market, their service sectors. For instance, it is on this backdrop that national telecommunication corporations in Africa, are closing down following the arrival of the international telephone service providers such as the American originated Vodaphone company, and the European telephone service provider known in Africa as the Celtel (Trendl, 2002 pp. 49) LCDs' frustrations stemming from inconsistencies in the running of the WTO programmes. Apart from these glaring facts about the competitive interests of the states, developing countries encounter setbacks in the realisation of its goals due to lack of structural balance and some pitfalls within the WTO. For instance, in 1999 Seattle ministerial and in the 2001 DOHA ministerial, developing economies presented these realities with the intention of making the WTO revoke the pristine stipulations, only for the developed economies to state that developing economies had entered commitments that were legally binding, and that it is incumbent upon the developing economies to complete their payments first before such matters of abrogation of policies are considered. In the fifth Ministerial which was convened in Singapore, 2003, the LDCs were being prevailed upon to postpone the issues for the new agreements but at the same time, the LDCs were still subject to the many concessions on their side. This does not only betray the lopsidedness of the WTO, but also acts as a pointer to the fact that the developing economies were going to continue being subjected to double payments (Twiggz, 1989 pp. 80). Hitherto, the developed countries had not accrued any anticipated gain from the textile or agricultural concessions. Developing countries are, concerning the issue being told that their proposals that they be given access to the Northern markets, will only, as a pay package deal, be considered in the post DOHA meeting schedule. However, this was to be on condition that they conform with new WTO issues. It is a fact that the new agreements may not usher in gains since the WTO lacks reciprocity, as is being seen in the international trade imbalance. This is also intimating the fact that even in the face of new agreements, developing countries will still be poised to be shortchanged. Furthermore, there is no clear pointer to the fact that there will be the WTO systems and policy re- evaluation or balancing. Neither is the access to the Northern market by the developed countries, nor the abrogation of these policies going to take place so easily (Wu, 2003 pp. 120). Many developing countries also find themselves receiving difficulties in the form of plummeted prices of commodities and the incapacitation on the side of the developing countries to diversify or to adjust upwards, their exports, due to the limitations on the side of the supplies and the accessibility of the market. This problem also arises out of the imbalances within the trading system of the WTO (Wong, 2002 pp. 75). Even the process by which consensus is reached in the WTO is wanting. The will of the developed countries always seem to inundate that of their counterparts in the developing countries. While it is true that the majority in the WTO comprise the developing economies, yet their unified voices cannot secure their interests against their developed counterparts. When the LDCs presented their objections to the WTO, the developed economies maintained that there was no apparent need for WTO systems and rules being rebalanced. The developed economies being the minority, yet could still prevail upon the WTO panel to have it that the recommendations by the LDCs be reviewed in peace meals. This is the reason why even after several years before and after the DOHA, no re- balancing or review of these inequalities have been carried out. On the contrary, appeals by the developing economies that there be the reviewing of the problems before the inception of negotiations on new areas were drastically scuttled (Vohra, 2000 pp. 19). Upon these development, the developed countries also arose to exert pressure on the WTO to lengthen its mandate to make rules so as to integrate the new areas that were being opposed by the LDCs, an action which the developing economies countered together with other groupings from other regional blocks (Benson, 1996 pp. 102). Apart from stating their case that they were not set to have new negotiations and/ or to adhere to the subsequent rules, the underdogs stated it clearly that they were not in full knowledge of what the newly proposed issues could portend, in terms of obligations. In addition to the above reasons, the developed economies maintained that the newly proposed agreements would add to their already inundating burdens, more obligations which would continue to further derail their development progress. As a result, the LDCs maintained that these newly proposed agreements be still considered for discussions but without being given first hand priority (Burke, 1999 pp. 33) . However, spates of unusual and enigmatic methodologies in WTO decision making, made it possible for the views of the developing countries not to be considered in Geneva DOHA Ministerial Declaration. This state of affairs elicited disgruntlement from the developing countries' side since they saw in this, nontransparent and unrepresentative draftings. The LDCs posited that a draft elaborating the differences between the two sides be availed in lieu of the one sided draft which tended to carry some elements of deception that it was drafted on a consensus. Strangely enough, once again, these proposals were disregarded and the document that favoured the new issues was adapted as the premise of the negotiations. This gave the developed economies an upper hand. At Doha, in the Green Room meeting, only very few countries were allowed in, to act as the representatives of those left out. The process turned out to be unrepresentative, nontransparent, and not the true representation of their views. Objections arose at the last session at DOHA when the chairperson at the meeting declared that a consensus touching on modalities and the newly proposed agreements was a prerequisite for the negotiations to begin in the next sitting (Chan and Sherman, 2000 pp. 54). The prospects of the post DOHA constructions and how they are likely to affect the LDCs. Experts posit that the talk is to touch on nineteen areas which are broad scaled, touching on politics and economy, as opposed to the Uruguay Round agenda which only touched on economics. The Post DOHA program is said to be heavy since it touches on human resources, time and technical expertise which the developing countries lack. Other issues that are likely to come up are subsidies, electronic commerce, dumping, and the new work program which at the present is said to promote the imbalance between the developed and the developing economies in the WTO. Instead of seeking to offset the inconsistency between the two spheres, the WTO has on the contrary, accorded special handling of the high areas of interests to the developed economies and neglecting the high areas of interest to the least developed economies (Shan, 2007 pp. 203). This has translated into situations whereby areas that are considered to portend deep interests are being rushed after by the developed countries while in the mean time the developing economies try to deliberately hinder these areas from being seized by the developed economies. Some of these areas of interest touch on matters such as electronic commerce, matters touching on the environment and employment (Tsuruoka, 1995 pp. 89). More problems are bound to arise since, whereas the the developing countries consider the implementation issues such as the provisions of the balance of payments, textile and agriculture, these matters have not been slotted anywhere in the work programmes main text book. On the other hand, matters that are considered more important by the developed countries compared to the developing counterparts, – matters such as science, technology, and finance are already in the main text book of the main program. Matters such as special and designated treatment are also considered important by the developing countries since this party wants to tackle the issue in the next DOHA ministerial, to instill precision, effectiveness and efficiency. In the main text book of the work program, this matter has not been featured anywhere, meaning that the developing countries will in the meantime continue to be subjected to the whims of those with the upper hand in the WTO. This system of special and designated provision plummet the substantive extent of the obligations that are to be presided over by the developing economies. It is thus very clear that even the work programs provision, or its running is lopsided and is therefore of no benefit at all to the developing economies. Instead, it is a stepping stone to the developed countries for their beneficence, yet, these countries give nothing to the developing countries (Schuller, 2002 pp. 144). This happens in the face of total contravention to the GATT/ and the WTO Reciprocal Principle since the process of negotiations amongst all members of the WTO must be guided by the chief principle of reciprocity. The concept of reciprocity according to experts should not be pegged on particular commitments in the agreements, but should also be based upon the designation of items for close attention . Albeit, it must be noted that it is quite paradoxical that the WTO new face started with a promotion of an imbalance. Interestingly enough, this same work program has been at times referred to alternatively as the development plan. It is commonsense that if the development plan itself is faulty, and has also been totally fixed by the top developed countries to suit their own economic interests, given the fact that nothing has been reflected in it to give priority to the developing countries, then the world should anticipate nothing else but the widening of the gulf between the rich countries and the poor countries ( Chan, 2002 pp. 002). Not only this, but if the situation is not turned around (for which there is a very slim chance), then capital is likely to continue flowing from the developing countries into the metropoles, making the metropoles richer day by day, while leaving the poor more emaciated upon every actualisation of an international business deal. As touching on the imp lementation issues, the decisions by Doha has not been very satiating. For instance, it is now a WTO policy that agreements and countervailing policies touching on subsidies in the least developing countries with a Gross National Production (GNP) less than 1,000 US dollar per annum, keep on being included in the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement measures list. It is only upon exceeding this line for three consecutive years that a country will be expunged from this list. On any country's GDP falling below this mark, the country will automatically be re- included in this list (Chan- Gonzaga, 2001 pp. 21). This portends more problems to the Developing economies since they are the ones who are highly susceptible to fall into these traps, given their small scale economies and hence, low GDP. Although there have been proposals by developing economies that these systems that cause imbalances and give rise to problems be revoked, yet as far as touching on these substantive matters, there has been hardly development made on the issue. It is on this premise that many developing economies will be given no priority in the oncoming post DOHA meetings, since these countries will be falling within this rubric of countries that fall below the mark of 1,000 US dollars per annum. Much to the chagrin of these developing nations, the matters already designated for negotiations (the Singapore issues) are not only very sensitive, but are also posing higher potential of reaching the negotiation status. This makes it harder for the rest of the developing countries, should there be need to reach consensus through a plebiscite, which is usually a game of numbers (Das, 1999 pp. 120). Following the stipulations from the Uruguay Round, part of the oncoming designated agenda for the WTO will touch on the negotiation on agriculture. The previous DOHA declaration spells out that in the agricultural negotiations, the principal focus will be working out towards total excision of the export subsidies. This will also include the working towards making governments desist from issuing local support offered to the farmer and the trader, since this local support, they say, distorts international trade. Mostly, this will demand that developed countries be prevailed upon to to revoke the issuance of subsidies (Elchelberger and Allen, 2000 pp. 55). Experts point out that the major developed countries can use these terms to point out that the measures of the domestic support that were included in Annex 2 are not to be subjected to reduction talks. This will lead to the major developed nations being exempt from the reduction injunctions. This will be catastrophic to the farmers and traders in the developing economies since they will not be liable to receiving subsidies while their counterparts in the developed economies will be receiving the subsidies. This brings about unequal competition in the international market yet at the same time, it poses high protectionism in the developed countries. This is an outright application of double standards. The oncoming negotiations will also include the part of services as one of the set- in agenda. This will follow in the wake of the realisation of the fact that the WTO branch, the General Trade on Services, the GATS, is also imbalanced. The developed economies poses far much greater power in the services sector, while the developing countries on the other hand, are very feeble in this sense. In addition to this, they are faced with limitations in supply. This leaves the developing economies with the incapacity to fairly compete with the developed countries. General impact of the WTO stipulations on the LDCs Having looked at that pitfalls of WTO and its bodies (the DOHA and the TRIPS), it is now incumbent that the consequences of these pitfalls on developing economies be looked at. It is also important to note that some of these implications have already been dealt with. The WTO deals with other nations through the two Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is these two Bretton Woods institutions that some times make sure that the policies carried out in the WTO to promote the international financial transactions are implemented or carried out by the developing countries. It is to this effect that these institutions are known to carry out draconian measures on developing countries to ensure that these countries ratify the implementations. For instance, the 1990s saw most African countries and other developing countries being denied foreign aid because they were still resisting the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programs. Apart from the fact that this measure stagnated the development process and the financial growth rate, most countries were left paralysed, not being even able to support even the running of the daily domestic economic activities (Guo, 2002 pp. 100). These Structural adjustment programs were in themselves not suitable to the developing economies' prospects and programs ( it must be remembered that the Structural Adjustment Programs were the initiatives of the WTO which then was out to bolster international trade). To be more precise, the Structural Adjustment Programs had one of its guidelines being cost sharing. Herein, developing countries were to reduce their debt- to- revenue ratio by accepting this methodology of cost sharing. This policy was being heralded by the developed economies and the two Bretton Woods Institutions as the panacea that was to extirpate the widespread cases of over reliance on foreign aid (Lewis 2000, pp. 208) In the first case, African countries and their developing counterparts were told that they were spending too much on their educational programmes. To turn around the situation, these countries were supposed to withdraw permanently, the custom of issuing allowances to students. In addition to this, access to educational loans was to be plummeted, meaning that only students with high outstanding performance were to access these loans. The governments in the developing countries, and especially Africa, were to invent ways of making money from the educational sector, and for this, the Module Two Programs emerged. These Module Two Programmes, otherwise known as Parallel Programmes run autonomously from the government funded, or subsidised conventional university programs (Hu, 2001 pp. 255). These measures on the educational programs have lead to massive cases in the developing economies not being able to expand their educational programmes, to match the rising educational demand that stems from the growing population. As a result, many students who merit going to the university miss securing admission. In addition to this, the Parallel programmes are too expensive for the ordinary citizens in the developing countries to afford. In a nutshell, this measure of cost sharing in the educational sector only succeeded in making education in the developing countries inaccessible, and thus making these countries susceptible to massive cases of brain drain. For the first time, in the 1994, four years after the inception of the Structural Adjustment Programmes, there were cases of university students being dismissed from universities due to fee arrears in the eastern Africa region. At the same time, those students with good grades and a fair financial pool who fail to make it to the government subsidised programmes opt for oversees studies in the developed countries. Upon completion, these students prefer to work in these developing countries. This massive cases of transnational exodus for greener pastures has left the developing countries more and more subjected to brain drain and lack of skilled labour (Kang, and Feng, 2002 pp. 107). Still on the concept of cost sharing, the governments in the developing countries were prevailed upon by the two Bretton Woods Institutions to reduce their expenditures by carrying out a massive exercise of downsizing the civil service so as to trim its size. These exercises were to be carried out starting from 1995- 2005 in most African economies for example. In Latin America, the measure was to be carried out in phases starting from 1992- 2002. However, contrary to what developing countries were told, the carrying out of this exercise only proved to be a Pandora box, ushering in untold catalogues of untold misery at the hands of poverty. Simply put, the myriad numbers of the retrenched civil servants found themselves subject to poverty ( Low, 1997 pp. 124). In the same spectrum, the concept of international trade which was formed by the WTO and heralded by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that nations cede away the production of certain products to other countries with specialisation ( both natural and human resources, together with technological endowment), does not ager well with the developing nations. Developing nations are kept from realising their dreams of indutrialisation through this concept. Moreover, the concept itself is innately twisted since a nation can be having adequate natural resources and man power, but can be a fledgeling economy that has not yet fine tuned its technological advancement with its indutrialisation programmes (Lyon, 1996 pp. 51). More importantly, the exercise translates into more problems since it leads to more cases of jobs being forfeited, especially in the developing economies, since developing economies have not yet fully been industrialised. This strain of international outsourcing coupled together with its twin, the downsizing of the civil service, has increased the level of unemployment in the developing sector. The problem proves to be hydra headed since the potential tertiary education students who miss out on learning opportunities together with the retrenched civil servants, add to the bulk of the unemployed population with no means of livelihood. It is on this backdrop that all the developing economies have national security matters making it to the top five national agenda in the annual review of national programmes (Shrybman, 2001 pp. 7). World trade, an undertaking which the WTO Is chiefly interested in, is in itself also bedeviled by many issues that touch on the entrenchment of political, cultural and economic domination of the developing countries by their global trading counterparts, the developed countries. For instance, although the developed countries form the minority in the WTO DOHA, yet their will is highly predominant over the developing countries' (Wong and Mc Ginty, 2002, pp. 40). In addition to this, the same institutions that are used to channel foreign funds to the developing economies, the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Funds (IMF), belong to the developed economies. In addition to being the conduit through which foreign fundings reach other countries, these two Bretton Woods Institutions are supposed to offer advisory services, and at the same time, carry out investigative and monitoring activities on the developing economies' progress (Mah, 1998 pp. 120). In the course of the monitoring progress, the developing economies are supposed to submit their statements of accounts to either the WB or the IMF. This exposes easily, the developing countries to political manipulation by the developed countries, especially those in the west (Markel, 2000 pp. 43). It is also through the WTO's international outsourcing that different multinational corporations have been able to make incursions into the developing nations territories to indulge in the provision of goods and services in the developing countries. Some of these companies include the shipping company, Maersk, the petroleum companies such as the British owned, British Petroleum (BP) and the Shell, and the American and British owned Kenol Kobil (Lauffs and Singh, 2000 pp. 173). Any country that wants to take part in the trade that uses the sea routes in the eastern African region must register with the Italian shipping and handling company, Maersk. This in itself amounts to economic domination since these countries are accorded a laissez faire condition, devoid of domestic competition. In the same vein, the companies that come from the developing countries are not accorded by the WTO and the international trade counterparts any chance to trade in the developed countries' backyard ( Lewis and Rhodes, 2002 pp. 88). It is a well known fact that the process of international trade relations is mostly hinged upon the concept of instantaneous exchange of information in a trans border sense. Because this process is aided by the existence of technological advancement, the previous WTO DOHA ministerials and the TRIPS meetings have been characterised by the prevailing upon the developing countries to hasten the process of technology transfer and installation (Li, 2002 pp. 187). This was in accordance with the aim to have free and efficient flow of information in an interstate manner that could promote trade. Although this measure being considered by the TRIPS under the aegis of the WTO is not geared towards any harm, yet the WTO has not yet looked at the full repercussion of this measure. For instance, it is on this backdrop that developing nations have fell for serious cases of cultural domination. Since the developed countries exceed the the LDCs in commercial and technological knowledge and skills, most of the trans border exchange of information flow from the developed countries to the LDCs. However, with this huge volume of needed information, also comes, information that always insinuate the socio- cultural traits of the developed countries as being superior to the LDCs'. At the same time, the Socio- cultural practices in the developed economies are insidiously permeated into the social fabric of the developing economies (Lewis, 2002 pp. 62). It is on the above premise that small factions have come up to resist these spates of developments by using terrorist attacks. While these attacks are always aimed at the major developed economies, yet to instill pressure on the developed nations, these quasi religious military ragtags also aim at the trading allies of the major developed countries who are normally, the LDCs. It is because of these state of affairs that there were twin bombings in the two most lucrative capitals in the eastern African region in August 1998 by the Al Qaeda forces. Similar cases are also widely common in the world of the developing countries (Mukherjee, 2000 pp. 172). Conclusion. Therefore, it can be seen clearly that the LDCs in the international trade through their relations with the developed countries, courtesy of the WTO, has elicited more pain than gain. Nevertheless, all is not lost for the LDCs, since the Doha declaration posits that it, as an organisation, has an aim of making the development of the LDCs actualise. To this end, the development needs of the LDCs such as food security and health will continue to remain core issues that will control the implementation of other policies. The LDCs should seize this provision to illustrate that their indutrialisation and development will not come without food security, and food security will not be realised by their economies since the mainstay of their food source remains, small scale farming. These small scale farmers being economically challenged, deeply need government subsidies and domestic support. In nearly the same manner, the LDC factions within the WTO such as the the Group 15 that is made up of the heads of the governments should continue working towards collaborations among the LDCs in calling for new global approaches, as it was agreed upon by the same in the 11th Summit that was held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Free Essays on The Weekend

Today’s American society is working more, only to have less leisure time. There seems to be an increasing trend to work an increasing amount of hours. People are not valuing there leisure time like they should. American families are evolving around what Juliet Schor calls, the work and spend cycle. This is an idea of working, not to save money, but only to spend it on material goods. Americans are mass consuming goods at an increasing rate. Many American households consume as much as three to four times as what a European family household might consume. I believe the United States may have a waste management problem that will not be able to be solved. With all this consumption of goods, I would like to think that Americans would put a higher degree of importance on their leisure time. This is not the case; American families seem to be enjoying the television a lot more than any other culture. Is watching television really a form of leisure? People all around the glo be work day after day waiting for that two day period of time which is called the weekend. This is when the real ideal of mass consumption takes place. From the ideals of Juliet Schor’s â€Å"The Overworked American† to Witold Rybczynski’s â€Å"Waiting for the Weekend† today’s families are working longer hours only to mass consume. The mass consumption of goods mostly takes place during a two-day increment, The Weekend. According to Schor (1992), â€Å"Americans report that they only have sixteen and a half hours of leisure a week, after the obligations of job and household are taken care of†(p.1). Americans really need to start putting a higher degree of importance on their leisure time. The rise of capitalism has made many Americans extremely greedy. American families are consuming so many material goods, if productivity doesn’t increase, prices will have to fall. The trend of buying goods only to keep up with a status quo (The Jones’) will kee... Free Essays on The Weekend Free Essays on The Weekend Today’s American society is working more, only to have less leisure time. There seems to be an increasing trend to work an increasing amount of hours. People are not valuing there leisure time like they should. American families are evolving around what Juliet Schor calls, the work and spend cycle. This is an idea of working, not to save money, but only to spend it on material goods. Americans are mass consuming goods at an increasing rate. Many American households consume as much as three to four times as what a European family household might consume. I believe the United States may have a waste management problem that will not be able to be solved. With all this consumption of goods, I would like to think that Americans would put a higher degree of importance on their leisure time. This is not the case; American families seem to be enjoying the television a lot more than any other culture. Is watching television really a form of leisure? People all around the glo be work day after day waiting for that two day period of time which is called the weekend. This is when the real ideal of mass consumption takes place. From the ideals of Juliet Schor’s â€Å"The Overworked American† to Witold Rybczynski’s â€Å"Waiting for the Weekend† today’s families are working longer hours only to mass consume. The mass consumption of goods mostly takes place during a two-day increment, The Weekend. According to Schor (1992), â€Å"Americans report that they only have sixteen and a half hours of leisure a week, after the obligations of job and household are taken care of†(p.1). Americans really need to start putting a higher degree of importance on their leisure time. The rise of capitalism has made many Americans extremely greedy. American families are consuming so many material goods, if productivity doesn’t increase, prices will have to fall. The trend of buying goods only to keep up with a status quo (The Jones’) will kee...

Primary and secondary standard solutions Essays

Primary and secondary standard solutions Essays Primary and secondary standard solutions Paper Primary and secondary standard solutions Paper Primary standards, such as potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP) (C8H5KO4), display unique characteristics such as high purity, maintain stability during storage within a long period of time whether in solid or liquid form, large molar mass as calculated to be 204 (RMM), low reactivity with the surrounding air, high stoichiometry and low hygroscopicity (property of absorbing water from its surroundings), which makes them ideal in making precise assessments of the unknown concentration of a known chemical. Secondary standards such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) do not have the properties listed above, therefore it is low in purity, it is highly liable in absorbing the water molecules (H2O) from the atmosphere, it has high reactivity, it’s concentration changes over time, has lower molar mass known to be 40 (RMM). They are used in standardisations by comparing against primary standards. Primary standards are high in purity; whereas secondary standards have a low purity. Primary standards such as potassium hydrogen phthalate (C8H5KO4) remain stable when stored and the concentration does not alter over time whether it is in solid form or liquid form; however, secondary standards, for e. g. sodium hydroxide (NaOH), does not remain stable and the concentration changes rapidly over time. The primary standard, potassium hydrogen phthalate for example, has a higher molar mass (204 RMM) than the secondary standard, sodium hydroxide (40 RMM) for e. g. Primary standards’ reactivity with the surrounding is low in oppose to secondary standards where it is high and react with the water molecules in the atmosphere. The function of the both standards is to provide as a reference to be used when standardising a solution. Initially, a primary standard is used to standardise a secondary standard. Titration is the quantitative technique used to identify the concentration of an unknown solution by using a solution of which its concentration is known. The known solution, named titrant, is added into the analyte (unknown solution) from a burette until the reaction between the two is identified as complete by the colour change of the indicator. Colorimetry is also used to identify the concentration of an unknown sample, however it is typically used for the identification of concentration of coloured solutions. The colorimeter enables to pass different wavelengths of light through the sample, hence measures the amount of light absorbed by the sample. Titration Errors * Using diluted titrant and analyte: Once the burette is rinsed with distilled water, if it is not rinsed with the titrant, which was the sodium hydroxide (NaOH); it will become slightly diluted. This error will lead onto introducing a little more of sodium hydroxide with the vinegar, which means that the calculated mass for vinegar will be a little higher than usual and that will increase the percentage of the concentration of the vinegar. The same goes with the pipette when filling it with analyte, which was the acetic acid (vinegar-CH3COOH); if the pipette is not rinsed with the analyte after being rinsed with distilled water, the analyte will become slightly diluted and it will mean that a little more sodium hydroxide will be introduced and it will increase the percentage of the vinegar concentration more than it was supposed to be.   Preparation of the standard solution: A standard solution has to be mixed well in order to become a homogenous solution. This is necessary in order to estimate the percentage of the concentration of the analyte, in this case it was the potassium hydrogen phthalate. If it is not mixed properly, it may lead on to introducing more or less titrant, sodium hydroxide, into the standard solution of potassium hydrogen phthalate, to reach the end point. Therefore, the calculations for the estimation of sodium hydroxide concentration will be inaccurate, which means that the concentration could be higher or lower than it is in actuality. Colorimeter Errors 1. The absorption-concentration graph for the calibration curve of identifying manganese in manganin wire could have been drawn inaccurately. Hence, this will directly give an inaccurate result as to what the concentration of manganese will be in manganin wire. 1. If the calibration of the colorimeter is not done before making any measurements, it will give the wrong result of the wavelength of the rose wine samples. Hence, the absorbance cannot be measured accurately and an inaccurate result for the actual concentration of the rose wine will occur. 1. If the serial dilutions for rose wine are performed incorrectly, meaning excess water remained in the test tubes and burette initially, before even beginning the serial dilutions, due to washing them with distilled water, the rose wine samples added into the test tubes will be extra diluted. Therefore, the absorbance of the coloured compounds will be slightly reduced and when drawing out the calibration curve, it will correspond to the inaccurate rose wine concentration. Improvements for Colorimetry:Instead of using a hand-drawn calibration curve, it could have been drawn on a computer program â€Å"Excel† to ensure the accuracy of the graph and hence the calibration curve. Therefore, the absorbance measured can correspond to the accurate concentration of the solution being identified. Using equipment such as a â€Å"spectrophotometer† (difference between) which has 3-4 decimal places instead of a 2 decimal placed would give a much ‘precise’ result when measuring the absorbance of the samples such as the manganese in manganin wire. Also, to prevent inaccurate absorbance results, the calibration of the colorimeter must be done each time before measuring the wavelength of rose wine samples. It is done by putting deionised water into the cuvettes previously from measuring the absorbance of the actual wine being which is being identified, by pressing the ‘R’ button as reference. Finally, â€Å"automatic pipettes† could be used for the serial dilutions. Using automatic pipettes will increase the accuracy of the amount of manganese sample being measured to form the serial dilutions. Improvements for Titration: In order to prevent the sodium hydroxide (titrant) from becoming slightly dilute in the burette, the burettes must be washed with the sodium hydroxide, right after they are rinsed with the deionised water. This way, an accurate amount of titrant will be introduced with the analyte (potassium hydrogen phthalate). Consequently, this reduces the possibility of calculating a higher mass, therefore a higher concentration percentage for vinegar than its actual concentration. When preparing the standard solution (for e. g. the potassium hydrogen phthalate), it is important to shake the solution in order to have a homogenous solution. This is to ensure that there are no solid particles left in the solution that may interfere with the calculation of the concentration percentage of sodium hydroxide (titrant). The solution must be shaken in order to introduce an accurate amount of titrant with the analyte (potassium hydrogen phthalate) to reach the end point and therefore gain a more accurate concentration percentage of sodium hydroxide (titrant). Conclusion: The concentration percentage for vinegar was obtained as 7%, which is close to the actual range of concentration which had to be 5-6%. It could be said that it is fairly accurate. In order to ensure the accuracy of the titrations, they were performed several times until three consecutive results were obtained. Therefore, the volume measurements of the solution in the burette is quite reliable, due to being repeated. The preparation of Potassium Hydrogen Phthalate as a standard solution was carried out accurately (it was shaken until the potassium hydrogen phthalate dissolved properly) and therefore this allowed to gain an accurate result in the concentration of Sodium Hydroxide, which was 1. 11627 molar. The results obtained for the rose wine concentration percentage was 4% for sample A, 46% for sample B, and 84% for sample C. All the absorbance values found for each of the samples -A, B and C- were within the range of the serial dilutions absorbance. Preparing a serial dilution allowed the results of concentration to be more reliable and therefore more accurate, as when forming a graph of calibration curve for the rose wine samples, the line of best fit was drawn much more accurately. The manganese concentration in manganin wire was identified as 9%, however it was to be about 12%. This could be due to the calibration curve being drawn inaccurately for the manganese sample. Using a computer program such as ‘Excel’ in drawing the calibration curve could have improved the result of concentration for the manganese sample, as it would make the line of best fit for the calibration curve graph much more accurate. Overall, the results gained were not ‘entirely’ accurate, however by repeating certain parts of the techniques, the reliability of the technique was increased as well as the accuracy.

Americans need to take a lesson on happiness from the source where it Essay

Americans need to take a lesson on happiness from the source where it has endured for over twenty-five hundred years, Buddhism - Essay Example Americans need to take a lesson on happiness from the source where it has endured [, and fulfilled] for over twenty-five hundred years, Buddhism. This pursuit will improve a person’s health, strengthen American society, and build an enduring emotional foundation.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Buddhism, in its philosophical discourse has clearly provided equal stress over both physiological and psychological well being of an individual. According to this rich and ancient philosophy both mind and body act as complementary and supplementary to each other. The ancient scholars of this philosophical discipline have clearly suggested that there a human being, both from physical and psychical perspective, is dependent over the surrounding ecosystem. (Wiseman, n.d.) Unless it is possible for an individual to attain a hold over his/her psychological conditions, it will not be possible for him/her to live a healthy life, physically. Buddhism regards mind as a separate entity that takes a very important part in proper governance of a person’s physical condition. â€Å"Mind is defined in Buddhism as a non-physical phenomenon which perceives, thinks, recognizes, experiences and reacts to the environment.† (Wiseman, n.d.) On the other hand, it wil l also be impossible for the person to encourage actual controlling of the mind unless he is not able to keep his body fit and let it function properly.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now, if we look at the American social condition, we will see that most of the people are busy in competing with each other in this era of cutthroat competition. Such tendency is more conspicuous among young generation of today’s society as they are consider attaining more material gain will give them the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. It is due to such thoughts and attempt to gain more material benefit they often suffer from psychological tensions that lead them to different types of physical ailments.

Homelessness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Homelessness - Essay Example A nurse can also create awareness of where people can go to visit such people through websites and also asking for help from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Campaigning for gender equality for the women feel the burden the most. Such women do not have people to depend on .Therefore, to make them feel as a part of the society, having campaigns to educate people on gender equality would help to curb such situation (The Homeless Hub, 2015). At personnel levels, a registered nurse should support and encourage reorganization of such people by the government through the set policies. A nurse should also join campaigns like ‘walk the talk† which are meant to assist on reduction of racism which is one of major factors that has led to increase in aboriginal homeless population. It is also necessary to create change in the community systems to enable people treat homeless population as part of society and involving them in projects that will reduce their cultural and historical trauma (Somerville,