Alternative Fuels: The industrial gas turbine

Investigation of alternative fuels for industrial gas turbines Tamal Bhattacharjee, Paul Nihill, Cormac Bulfin, Ishank Arora Contents 1. Abstract4 2. Introduction4 3. Hydrogen5 3. 1Production5 3. 1. 1Steam Reforming of Hydrocarbons5 3. 1. 2Water Splitting5 3. 1. 3Gasification of Waste & Biomass to produce syngas6 3. 1. 4The process7 3. 1. 5Application to industrial gas turbines8 4. Methanol9 4. 1Abstract9 4. 2Introduction9 4. 3History10 4. 4Manufacturing Process10 4. 4. 1 Production of methanol from synthesis gas10 4. Industrial Process11 4. 5. 1STEP-1: Feed Production11 4. 5. 2STEP-2: Reforming11 4. 5. 3STEP-3: Methanol Synthesis12 4. 5. 4STEP-4: Methanol Purification12 4. 6How it works on a gas turbine12 4. 7Feasibility15 4. 8Advantages & Disadvantages16 4. 9Conclusion17 5. Power Alcohol17 5. 1Introduction17 5. 2Chemistry18 5. 3Production18 5. 3. 1Ethanol from sugar cane18 5. 3. 2Fermentation18 5. 3. 3Distillation19 5. 3. 4Fractional Distillation19 5. 4Air pollution21 5. 5Advantage s23 5. 6Disadvantages23 6. References24 1. AbstractThe industrial gas turbine is a key part of modern electricity generation. In 1998 15% of electric power was produced by gas turbines. Due to their efficiency, compactness, reliability and relatively low capital cost 81% of new electric power demand will be met by industrial gas turbines. Gas turbines must meet very strict NOx CO and CO2 regulations. (GL Juste 2006). As the popularity of gas turbines and combined heat and power generation plants increases research has turned to cheaper and more environmentally friendly fuels for gas turbines.Methane C2H4 is the main fossil fuel used in gas turbines today but with increased regulations on carbon emissions combined with the increasing cost of fossil fuels, research is turning to alternative fuels which may power gas turbines into the future. This literature review explores potential liquid and gas alternative fuels for industrial gas turbines along with some of the latest research in the area and some examples of the successful industrial applications. 2. IntroductionThe increasing cost of fossil fuels, the fact that they are a finite resource and the environmental effects of their combustion means that research into alternative fuels is one of the largest and most varied areas of scientific investigation in progress today. As with all scientific research, some will be successful and form the basis of future energy production and some will be either too inefficient or impractical to be implemented in industry. It is interesting to note that some of the methods which seemed impractical even 10 years ago are now being introduced owing to the increasing cost of fossil fuels.Fuels derived from biomass and gasification of sewage sludge and municipal waste and some methods of hydrogen fuel production appear to hold the most promise. â€Å"Different global energy scenario studies indicate that in India biomass may contribute much more: up to 30% of the energy supply b y 2100† (K. K. Gupta et al 2010) Gas turbines and combined heat and power (CHP) systems are at the forefront of future European strategies on energy production with current efficiencies for combined cycle facilities above 60%. â€Å"The main CHP targets are the reduction of the overall costs and the development of above 40 kW biomass-fired systems†¦..Gas turbines enjoy certain merits relative to steam turbines and diesel engines. They have high grade waste heat, lower weight per unit power, dual fuel capability, low maintenance cost, low vibration levels, low capital cost, compact size, short delivery time, high flexibility and reliability, fast starting time, lower manpower, and have better environmental performance. † (P. A. Pilavachi et al 2000) This project focuses on alternative fuels as applied to industrial gas turbines owing to their projected increase in popularity in the short to medium term at least. 3. Hydrogen 3. 1Production 3. 1. Steam Reforming of Hy drocarbons The bulk of hydrogen fuel production is currently via steam reforming of natural gas this process involves the reaction of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons with high temperature steam to produce varying amounts of CO and H2. Steam reforming of hydrocarbons does not eliminate CO2 but it greatly reduces the amount which is discharged into the atmosphere. Steam reforming of hydrocarbons is an efficient way of reducing CO2 emissions. In addition to the H2 produced during gasification a low temperature gas shift reaction with the remaining carbon monoxide can produce further H2.The process of steam reforming natural gas along with the gas shift reaction are governed by the chemical equations below. (K. K. Gupta et al 2010) Steam Reforming: CH4 + H2O – CO + 3H2 ? H = +251 kJ/mol Gas Shift: CO + H2O – CO2 +H2 ? H= -42 kJ/mol (K. K. Gupta et al 2010) The release of CO2 can be completely eliminated in a large plant where the CO2 is captured and injected into an oil or gas reservoir. It is currently disputed between scientists whether or not the production of H2 in this way releases more CO2 than directly burning fossil fuels. 3. 1. 2Water SplittingThere is currently a lot of research concerning the splitting of water to produce H2. This method is yet to find industrial application as it takes a lot of energy to split water and the only sustainable method is the use of renewable technologies to provide the energy. The hydrogen is more likely to be used as a storage medium when the power generated by renewable technologies is not required. An example of this would be the storage of power from a wind turbine during the day. There is a lot of very interesting research into water-splitting with many methods being explored simultaneously.Thermo chemical water splitting using solar power is an interesting option. Direct thermal water splitting is impractical due to the energy requirements to heat the water to 25000K. But if the water is reacted with metal oxides and redox materials it can be achieved at a much lower temperature. The oxygen and hydrogen are released at different stages eliminating the need for separation. This process can be conducted in a cycle that produces H2 more efficiently from solar radiation. 3. 1. 3Gasification of Waste & Biomass to produce syngasA Practical Example of waste to energy conversion is the Pyromex waste to energy facility in Germany. The Pyromex system is currently being used successfully to gasify industrial waste in a purpose built plant in Munich Germany. Due to the fact there are no gaseous emissions from the system there is no need for the construction of smoke stacks and the system is considered separate to incineration by EU authorities. Emissions from the plant are in the form of solid sand like dry waste. The waste composition is tabulated below and shows how far below allowable limits the process is.The raw material in the process is otherwise unrecyclable waste products and the system can treat sewage sludge, plastics, fly ash from power plants and various other waste products. The system has the potential to be a major contributor to the Hydrogen Economy. The prototype plant working on a throughput of 25 ton/day had the potential to produce approximately 2150 kWh by a combined heat to electricity and syngas engine generator system. If used in combination with an industrial gas turbine there is no doubt that owing to the greater efficiency this power output could be improved.Fig. 1 – Exhaust gas emissions (Pyromex ®) 3. 1. 4The process The material to be gasified is introduced into the slowly turning reactor through a two stage tank system. With this setup an oxygen free environment can be ensured inside the reactor pipe, where the conversion of the organics to syngas takes place at over 1000 °C. The produced gas is then cleaned with a simple acid and an alkaline scrubber. Even though the temperatures within the reactor are far above 1000 °C, the surface remains cool enough to be touched by hand.The PYROMEX gasification is a closed circuit process and therefore no emissions are released into the environment. The process flow chart below gives a better understanding of the workings of the plant. This process can be easily scaled. And there are numerous plants completed and in the process of construction in Germany and the U. S. Fig. 2 – Gasification process of producing syngas from waste & biomass (Pyromex ®) 3. 1. 5Application to industrial gas turbines Once the hydrogen has been produced it can be mixed with carbon monoxide which can also be produced efficiently using solar power.This syngas can be used in an Industrial gas turbine with some modifications to the fuel nozzle system and careful control of the fuel air ratio to produce electricity. In the case of liquid fuel turbines the hydrogen can be converted to various hydrocarbons using the Fischer-Tropsch process. The use of hydrogen in a gas turbine is a r elatively new concept with the use of high hydrogen content syngas becoming an attractive area for research. Unfortunately the use of hydrogen rich gas in a conventional gas turbine involves some tweaks to the ystem. The natural gas lean-premixed combustors have to undergo some modifications if fed with hydrogen rich fuels due to the combined effect of hydrogen shorter auto-ignition delay and faster flame speed. (Paulo Gobbato et al 2010) One of the routes with the highest potential is the pre combustion route utilizing coal in an integrated gasification and combine cycle (IGCC). The challenge in utilizing hydrogen rich fuel is principally associated with its reduced auto-ignition delay time, which can be addressed in one of three approaches: 1.De-rating the engine – allowing the same mixing time by increasing the auto-ignition delay time through altering the characteristics of the vitiated air (i. e. the inlet temperature of the flow to the SEV). 2. Decreasing the reactivity of the fuel – i. e. by dilution with an inert gas. 3. Modifying the hardware – either to reduce the mixer residence time in line with the reduced auto ignition delay time or develop a concept which is less influenced by the reactivity of the fuel. (Nils Erland et al 2012) 4. Methanol 4. 1Abstract 5.When methanol is intended to be used as fuel for gas turbine, it is very important to enhance overall thermal efficiency of the gas turbine system, and to make it competitive with conventional oil or gas fuels. There are many ways to accomplish this. Combined cycle is not, however, a proper way, as this could also be applied to conventional fuel. Noting the unique characteristic of methanol, the steam reforming regenerative cycle was investigated by many institutions. In this scheme, wasted heat of the gas turbine exhaust gas is transferred to reformed gas.And it is recycled back to the gas turbine as a part of fuel, thus resulting in increased overall efficiency of the gas turbine. Thermal decomposition of methanol is also an endothermic reaction and may be applied to the regenerative cycle. In either case, however, only a part of the waste heat is recovered. Hence the hybrid system with combined cycle was proposed to achieve additional heat recovery. But this is a complex system. 4. 2Introduction 6. Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH. . 8. Fig. 3 – Chemical formulation of Methanol 9. Methanol can be used as alternative fuel in gas turbine. Methanol is made from natural gas, coal, and biomass. This was one of the older alternative fuels. Like Ethanol, Methanol is very good for blending with gasoline to replace the harmful octane enhancers. The benefits of using Methanol are that it reduces emissions, which has a significant effect on bettering the environment. Methanol can easily be blended with gasoline. It also has a lower risk of flammability than normal g asoline.Another benefit of Methanol is that it is made from domestically renewable sources. Methanol can also be used to make the octane enhancer MTBE. Another huge possible benefit of Methanol is that it can be made into hydrogen. 10. 4. 3History 11. Methanol has been tested as a gas turbine fuel in the U. S. In 1974, a 12-hour test was conducted by Turbo Power and Marine in a 20 MW gas turbine at the Bayboro Station of Florida Power Corporation. The methanol was fired as a liquid. NOx emissions were 74% less than those from No. 2 Distillate, and CO emissions were comparable (Power 1979).In 1978 and 1979, EPRI and Southern California Edison Company sponsored a 523-hour test at SCE’s Ellwood Energy Support Facility, using one half of 52 4. 4Manufacturing Process 4. 4. 1 Production of methanol from synthesis gas 12. Carbon monoxide and hydrogen react over a catalyst to produce methanol. Today, the most widely used catalyst is a mixture of Cu (Copper), zinc oxide, and alumina f irst used by ICI in 1966. At 5–10 M Pa (50–100 atm) and 250  °C, it can catalyze the production of methanol from carbon monoxide and hydrogen with high selectivity (>99. 8%): 13. CO + 2 H2 > CH3OH†¦..It is worth noting that the production of synthesis gas from methane produces three moles of hydrogen gas for every mole of carbon monoxide, while the methanol synthesis consumes only two moles of hydrogen gas per mole of carbon monoxide. One way of dealing with the excess hydrogen is to inject carbon dioxide into the methanol synthesis reactor, where it, too, reacts to form methanol according to the equation: 14. CO2 + 3 H2 > CH3OH + H2O. 15. Some chemists believe that the certain catalysts synthesize methanol using CO2 as an intermediary, and consuming CO only indirectly. 6. CO2 + 3 H2 > CH3OH + H2O; where the H2O byproduct is recycled via the gas shift reaction: 17. CO + H2O > CO2 + H2, 18. This gives an overall reaction, which is the same as listed above. 19. CO + 2 H2 > CH3OH 4. 5Industrial Process Fig. 4 – Industrial process for creating Methanol 4. 5. 1STEP-1: Feed Production 20. The two main two feed stocks, natural gas and water, both require purification before use. Natural Gas contains low levels of sulphur compounds and undergo a desulphurization process to reduce, the sulphur levels of less than one part per million.Impurities in the water are reduced to undetectable or parts per billion levels before being converted to steam and added to the process. If not removed, these impurities can result in reduced heat efficiency and significant damages to major pieces of equipment. 4. 5. 2STEP-2: Reforming 21. It is the process which transforms the methane and the steam to intermediate reactants of hydrogen, carbon-dioxide and carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide is also added to the feed gas stream at this stage to produce a mixture of components in the ideal ratio to efficiently produce methanol.This process is carried out in a Reform er furnace which is heated by burning natural gas as fuel. 22. Reaction: Reaction: 4. 5. 3STEP-3: Methanol Synthesis 23. After removing excess heat from the reformed gas it is compressed before being sent to the methanol production stage in the synthesis reactor. Here the reactants are converted to methanol and separated out as a crude product with a composition of methanol (68%) and water (31%). Traces of byproducts are also formed. Methanol conversion is at a rate of 5% per pass hence there is a continual recycling of the un- reacted gases in to the synthesis loop. 24.Reaction: 25. 4. 5. 4STEP-4: Methanol Purification 26. The 68% methanol solution is purified in two distinct steps in tall distillation columns called the topping column and refining column to yield a refined product with a purity of 99% methanol classified as Grade AA refined methanol. 27. The methanol process is tested at various stages and the finished product is stored in a large secured tank age area off the pla nt until such time that it is ready to be delivered to customers. 4. 6How it works on a gas turbine 28. Chemical reaction involved is: It reacts with water to form carbon di oxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H). 9. CH3OH + H2O = CO2 + 3H2 30. The reaction is endothermic and absorbs waste heat at about 300oC. The system performance was predicted using in house process simulator called CAPES and found thermal efficiency of approx. 50% (LHV) when turbine inlet temperature is 1,100oC and compression ratio is 14. The schematic diagram given below illustrates its function. 31. 32. Fig. 5 – Methanol fueled gas turbine process 33. 34. The performance of the gas turbine with steam reforming was recalculated using PRO/II. The same adiabatic efficiency of 87% for compressor and 90% for turbine were used.Similar value of overall thermal efficiency of approx. 50% was obtained as shown in Table-1. For reference, the performance of air heating system was also investigated. In this case, thermal eff iciency was in the same level as reforming but total heat transfer area is 1. 7 times of steam reforming case. Let’s explain model making of steam reformer by PRO/II. After defining stoichiometric data for steam reforming reaction, Gibbs reactor was used for equilibrium calculation at specified temperature. For combustor design, two combustion reactions were defined.Then two conversion reactors were connected in series and set the conversion parameter to 1. Both reactors are defined as adiabatic. 35. Heat exchangers having phase change were split into 10 to 20 zones and flow configurations were set to true counter flow. Minimum pinch points were set to 10 to 20 oC. Pressure drop of each exchangers were set to 0. 02-0. 01 atm and overall heat transfer coefficient were set to100kcal/h C. Flow Scheme| unit| Fig-1| Fig. -2| Waste Heat Recovery| | Air Heating & Methanol Evap. | Steam Reforming, Water Injection & Methanol Evap. Turbine Inlet Temperature| oC| 1,100| 1,100| Compressi on Ratio| -| 14| 14| Methanol Rate| kgmol/h| 0. 133| 0. 133| Stoichiometric Air Rate| kgmol/h| 1| 1| Air Rate| kgmol/h| 4. 150| 2. 600| Reforming Water Rate| kgmol/h| -| 0. 133| Total Water Rate| kgmol/h| -| 0. 720| Excess Air Mol Ratio| -| 4. 150| 2. 600| Water/Air Mol Ratio| -| 0. 000| 0. 277| Water/Methanol Mol Ratio| -| 0. 000| 5. 414| 1st Compressor Power| kW| -12. 472| -7. 814| 1st Turbine Power| kW| 24. 128| 19. 750| Water Injection Pump| kW| -| -0. 006| Net Shaft Power| kW| 11. 656| 11. 930| Power Output| kW| 11. 423| 11. 691|Methanol Heat of Combustion (HHV)| kW| 47. 149| 23. 574| Methanol HHV| kJ/mol| 638. 10| 638. 10| Overall Thermal Efficiency (HHV)| %| 48. 45| 49. 59| Compressor Adiabatic Efficiency| %| 87| 87| Turbine Adiabatic Efficiency| %| 90| 90| Generator Efficiency| %| 98| 98| Methanol Evaporator Area/Pinch Point| m2/oC| 0. 140/10| 0. 138/5| Methanol Reformer Area/Reaction Temp. | m2/oC| -| 0. 201/300| Air Heater Area/Pinch Point/Max. Temp. | m2/oC| 2. 972/10/525 | 0| Water Evaporator Area/Pinch Point| m2| -| 1. 452/10| Total Surface Area| m2| 3. 112| 1. 791| Exhaust Temperature| oC| 335. 3| 102. 5| Table 1 – Methanol Fuel Gas Turbine with Steam Reforming & Water Injection or Air Heating 4. 7Feasibility 36. MW, twin engine, gas turbine generator unit supplied by Turbo Power and Marine Systems, Inc. (Edison Co. 1981). The methanol was fired as a liquid. Some fuel system modifications were performed to permit the higher mass and volumetric flow of methanol to achieve base load output. Some elastomers in the fuel system were replaced with materials impervious to methanol attack. The tests showed: â€Å"Operations on methanol are as flexible as on natural gas or distillate fuel.The ability to start, stop, accelerate, decelerate, perform automatic synchronization, and respond to control signals is equal to operations on either natural gas or distillate fuel. Turbine performance on methanol is improved over other fuels due to higher mass f low and the lower combustion temperatures resulting from methanol operations. Oxides of nitrogen emissions on them ethanol-fueled turbine, without water injection, were approximately 80% of the emissions of the distillate-fueled turbine with water injection. There was a significant reduction in particulate emissions during methanol operation.An additional reduction in oxides of nitrogen emission was obtained during operations of the methanol-fueled turbine with water injection. No significant problems occurred during the test that could be attributed to methanol. The hot end inspection indicated cleaner components within the methanol-fueled turbine. † During 1984-1985, GE conducted methanol combustion tests of heavy-duty gas turbine combustors in a private study for Celanese Chemical Company, Inc. This work is unpublished. The tests were conducted at GE’s Gas Turbine. Development Laboratory in Schenectady, N . Y.Tests were performed with an MS6001B full-scale combustor representative of GE heavy-duty gas turbine combustors, and an MS7001 developmental dry low NOx combustor. Then ethanol was fired as a liquid, â€Å"dry† and also with water addition. A high-pressure centrifugal pump was used to supply the methanol to the combustor. The tests demonstrated that methanol fuel can be successfully burned in GE heavy-duty combustors without requiring major modifications to the combustor. NOx emissions were approximately 20% of those for the same combustor firing NO. 2 distillate at the same firing temperature.With water addition, NOx levels of 9 ppmv could be achieved. Liner metal temperatures, exit pattern factors, and dynamic pressures were not significantly affected by methanol combustion and met GE criteria for acceptable performance. The results are valid for 2000 F firing temperature machines (E-class). Additional work would be required to confirm performance with methanol fuel, elevated firing temperatures of the F series of machines. Vapor ized methanol will reduce NOx 5% to 10% (relative to CH4 emissions) whereas liquid methanol will reduce NOx 30% relative to CH4 emissions.Water content in the methanol provides further NOx reduction. In 1984, a field test demonstration was performed at the University of California at Davis (California Energy Commission 1986). Methanol was fired in a 3. 25 MW Allison 501-KB gas turbine for 1,036 hours. Low NOx emissions were observed and were further reduced by mixing water with the methanol. Problems encountered with the traditional gas turbine fuel pump were bypassed by using an off-board centrifugal pump. 4. 8Advantages & Disadvantages 37. Methanol is a liquefied form of methane, a naturally-occurring gaseous hydrocarbon produced by decomposition.Currently, methane is burned as a ‘waste† gas at oil drilling platforms, coal mining sites, landfills, and sewage treatment plants. The advantage is methane, and its derivative methanol is that it is extremely plentiful; drill ing for oil, mining coal, and the decomposition of organic matter all produce methane already. As a hydrocarbon similar to propane and petroleum, methane is a very powerful, explosive gas that can easily take the place of petroleum without marked decline in power or major retooling of existing technologies.The disadvantages of methanol is the process by which methane is converted into a liquid at normal temperatures; by mixing methane with natural gas and gasoline, methane is converted into methanol. But the need for gasoline does not entirely wean the United States off of oil, so its â€Å"alternative† status is questionable. Additionally, the process to capture, store, and convert methane is prohibitively expensive compared to gasoline. 38. 4. 9Conclusion 39. Methanol is considered a superior turbine fuel, with the promise of low emissions, excellent heat rate, and high power output.The gas turbine fuel system must be modified to accommodate the higher mass and volumetric f low of methanol (relative to natural gas or distillate). The low flash point of methanol necessitates explosion proofing. The low flash point also dictates that startup be performed with a secondary fuel such as distillate or natural gas. Testing to date has been with methanol as a liquid. GE is comfortable with methanol as a liquid or vapor. GE is prepared to make commercial offers for new or modified gas turbines utilizing methanol fuel in liquid or vapor form based on the earlier experience.Some combustion testing may be required for modern machines applying for very low NOx permits. 5. Power Alcohol 5. 1Introduction Power Alcohol is a mixture of petroleum and ethanol in different proportions and due to these proportions different names are given to each blend like:- 1. As a blend of 10 percent ethanol with 90 percent unleaded gasoline called â€Å"E-10 Unleaded†. 2. As a component of reformulated gasoline, both directly and/or as ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE). 3. As a primary fuel with 85 parts of ethanol blended with 15 parts of unleaded gasoline called â€Å"E-85. (Rex Weber 2003) When mixed with unleaded gasoline, ethanol increases octane levels, decreases exhaust emissions, and extends the supply of gasoline. Ethanol in its liquid form, called ethyl alcohol, can be used as a fuel when blended with gasoline or in its original state. Well the production of ethanol fuel began way back in1907 but Ethanol use and production has increased considerably during the 1980s and 1990s not just due to the lack of fossil fuels but was also due to several other factors 1.Ethanol reduces the country’s dependence on imported oil, lowering the trade deficit and ensuring a dependable source of fuel should foreign supplies be interrupted. 2. Farmers see an increased demand for grain which helps to stabilize prices. 3. The quality of the environment improves. Carbon monoxide emissions are reduced, and lead and other carcinogens (cancer causing agents) are removed from gasoline. 5. 2Chemistry Glucose (a simple sugar) is created in the plant by  photosynthesis. 6 CO2  + 6 H2O + light > C6H12O6  + 6 O2 During  ethanol fermentation,  glucose  is decomposed into ethanol and  carbon dioxide.C6H12O6  > 2 C2H5OH+ 2 CO2  + heat During combustion ethanol reacts with  oxygen  to produce carbon dioxide,  water, and heat: C2H5OH + 3 O2  > 2 CO2  + 3 H2O + heat After doubling the combustion reaction because two molecules of ethanol are produced for each glucose molecule, and adding all three reactions together, there are equal numbers of each type of atom on each side of the equation, and the net reaction for the overall production and consumption of ethanol is just: Glucose itself is not the only substance in the plant that is fermented. The simple sugar  fructose  also undergoes fermentation.Three other compounds in the plant can be fermented after breaking them up by  hydrolysis  into the glucose or fructose molecules that compose them. Starch  and  cellulose  are molecules that are strings of glucose molecules, and sucrose  (ordinary table sugar) is a molecule of glucose bonded to a molecule of fructose. The energy to create fructose in the plant ultimately comes from the metabolism of glucose created by photosynthesis, and so sunlight also provides the energy generated by the fermentation of these other molecules. Ethanol may also be produced industrially from  ethene  (ethylene).Addition of water to the double bond converts ethene to ethanol: C2H4  + H2O > CH3CH2OH This is done in the presence of an acid which  catalyzes  the reaction, but is not consumed. The ethene is produced from petroleum by  steam cracking. 5. 3Production Ethanol can be produced by various methods but the most commonly used in today’s world is by the method of fermentation and distillation of sugarcane, grains, corn etc. 5. 3. 1Ethanol from sugar cane The first stage in ethanol produ ction is to grow a crop such as sugar cane. The sugar cane of cut down and undergoes fermentation and distillation. 5. 3. 2FermentationCrushed sugar cane in placed in fermentation tanks. Bacteria in the tanks acts on the sugar cane and in time produce a ‘crude’ form of ethanol. This is then passed on to the ‘distillation stills’ where it is refined to a pure form. 5. 3. 3Distillation The impure/crude ethanol is heated in a ‘still’ until it vaporizes and rises into the neck where it cools and condenses back to pure liquid ethanol. The impurities are left behind in the still. The ethanol trickles down the condensing tube into a barrel, ready for distribution. When burned it produces fewer pollutants than traditional fuels such as petrol and diesel.Fig. 6 – Distillation process of impure/crude ethanol The production of petroleum is done by the fractional distillation of crude oil. 5. 3. 4Fractional Distillation The various components of cru de oil have different sizes, weights and boiling temperatures; so, the first step is to separate these components. Because they have different boiling temperatures, they can be separated easily by a process called  fractional distillation. The steps of fractional distillation are as follows: 1. You  heat  the mixture of two or more substances (liquids) with different boiling points to a high temperature.Heating is usually done with high pressure steam to temperatures of about 1112 degrees Fahrenheit / 600 degrees Celsius. 2. The mixture  boils, forming vapor (gases); most substances go into the vapor phase. 3. The  vapor  enters the bottom of a long column (fractional distillation column) that is filled with trays or plates. The trays have many holes or bubble caps (like a loosened cap on a soda bottle) in them to allow the vapor to pass through. They increase the contact time between the vapor and the liquids in the column and  help to collect liquids that form at var ious heights in the column.There is a temperature difference across the column (hot at the bottom, cool at the top). 4. The  vapor rises  in the column. 5. As the vapor rises through the trays in the column, it  cools. 6. When a substance in the vapor reaches a height where the temperature of the column is equal to that substance's boiling point, it will  condense  to form a liquid. (The substance with the lowest boiling point will condense at the highest point in the column; substances with higher boiling points will condense lower in the column. ). 7.The trays  collect  the various liquid fractions. 8. The collected liquid fractions may  pass to condensers, which cool them further, and then go to storage tanks, or they may  go to other areas for further chemical processing Fractional distillation is useful for separating a mixture of substances with narrow differences in boiling points, and is the most important step in the refining process. The oil refining proc ess starts with a fractional distillation column. On the right, you can see several chemical processors that are described in the next section.Very few of the components come out of the fractional distillation column ready for market. Many of them must be chemically processed to make other fractions. For example, only 40% of distilled crude oil is gasoline; however, gasoline is one of the major products made by oil companies. Rather than continually distilling large quantities of crude oil, oil companies chemically process some other fractions from the distillation column to make gasoline; this processing increases the yield of gasoline from each barrel of crude oil.Fig. 7 – Fractional distillation of crude oil 5. 4Air pollution Compared with conventional  unleaded gasoline, ethanol is a particulate-free burning fuel source that combusts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, water and  aldehydes. Gasoline produces 2. 44  CO2  equivalent  kg/l and ethanol 1. 94. Since ethanol contains 2/3 of the energy per volume as gasoline, ethanol produces 19% more CO2  than gasoline for the same energy. The  Clean Air Act  requires the addition of  oxygenates  to reduce carbon monoxide emissions in the United States.The additive  MTBE  is currently being phased out due to ground water contamination; hence ethanol becomes an attractive alternative additive. Annual Fuel Ethanol Production by Country (2007–2011)[2][64][65][66] Top 10 countries/regional blocks (Millions of U. S. liquid gallons per year)| World rank| Country/Region| 2011| 2010| 2009| 2008| 2007| 1|   United States| 13,900| 13,231| 10,938| 9,235| 6,485| 2|   Brazil| 5,573. 24| 6,921. 54| 6,577. 89| 6,472. 2| 5,019. 2| 3|   European Union| 1,199. 31| 1,176. 88| 1,039. 52| 733. 0| 570. 30| 4|   China| 554. 76| 541. 55| 541. 55| 501. 90| 486. 00| 5|   Thailand| | | 435. 20| 89. 80| 79. 20| 6|   Canada| 462. 3| 356. 63| 290. 59| 237. 70| 211. 30| 7|   India| | | 91. 6 7| 66. 00| 52. 80| 8|   Colombia| | | 83. 21| 79. 30| 74. 90| 9|   Australia| 87. 2| 66. 04| 56. 80| 26. 40| 26. 40| 10| Other| | | 247. 27| | | Table 2 – Annual fuel ethanol production by country Table 2 – Annual fuel ethanol production by country | World Total| 22,356. 09| 22,946. 87| 19,534. 993| 17,335. 20| 13,101. 7| 5. 5AdvantagesEthanol has a higher octane number (113) than regular unleaded gasoline (87) and premium unleaded gasoline (93). Complete combustion: Ethanol molecules contain 35 percent oxygen, and serve as an â€Å"oxygenate† to raise the oxygen content of gasoline fuel. Thus, it helps gasoline burn completely and reduces the buildup of gummy deposits. Prevent overheating: Ethanol burns cooler than gasoline. Fuel Type| Ethanol| Regular Gasoline| Premier Gasoline| E10 Gasohol| E85 Gasohol| Energy Content (/Gallons)| 84,600| 125,000| 131,200| 120,900| 90,660| Table 3 – Energy content of fuelsEnergy content: As shown in Table 2, fuel et hanol contains around 33 percent less energy content than regular gasoline. The energy content of gasohol blends (E10 or E85) is determined by the energy content of ethanol and gasoline, and their ratio. Emissions from ethanol are about 48% of diesel; it is lowest of any of the fuels. â€Å"The clean burning characteristics extend turbine life, possibly by as much as 100%. † (K. K. Gupta 2010) 5. 6Disadvantages Loss of power and performance – Pure ethanol is over 100+ octane, and provides the fuel with much of its octane rating.Because Ethanol burns at a lower temperature than the older (MTBE) gas, boaters can expect to see a 2 to 3 % drop in RPM. â€Å"Use of ethanol in the pure state or as a blend would probably require replacement of any white metal or aluminum in the system as well as some elastomers. † (K. K. Gupta 2010) 6. References Hydrogen Journal Papers G. L. Juste (2006) Hydrogen injection as additional fuel in gas turbine combustor. Evaluation of eff ects. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 2112 – 2121 K. K. Gupta a,*, A. Rehman b, R. M.Sarviya b, (2010) Bio-fuels for the gas turbine: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14 (2010) 2946–2955 P. A. Pilavachi (2000), Power generation with gas turbine systems and combined heat and power, Applied Thermal Engineering 20 (2000) 1421 ±1429 Paolo Gobbato*, Massimo Masi, Andrea Toffolo, Andrea Lazzaretto (2010) Numerical simulation of a hydrogen fuelled gas turbine combustor. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 36 (2011) 7993- 8002 Nils Erland L. Haugena, Christian Brunhuberb and Marie Bysveena (2012) Hydrogen fuel supply system and re-heat gas turbine.Combustion Energy Procedia 23 ( 2012 ) 151 – 160 Website Pyromex ® Technology Description http://www. pyromex. com/index. php/en/pyromex-technology/technology-description Methanol & Power alcohol â€Å"A Special Report: Burning Tomorrow’s Fuels,† Power, S14-S15, Febru ary 1979. â€Å"Test and Evaluation of Methanol in a Gas Turbine System,† Southern California Edison Company, EPRI Report AP-1712, February 1981. â€Å"Methanol. Clean Coal Stationary Engine Demonstration Project. Executive Summary,† California Energy Commission, Report P500-86-004, February 1986. Methanol Power Generation – Demonstration Test Starts for a Power Source at Peak Demand† Japanese High-Technology Monitor, 5 April 1993. â€Å"Ethanol blended fuels† – Rex Weber 2003 of Northwest Iowa Community College in cooperation with the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. â€Å"Fuel Ethanol† – Zhiyou Wen, Extension Engineer, Biological System Engineering, Virginia Tech John Ignosh, Area Specialist, Northwest District, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Jactone Arogo, Extension Engineer, Biological System Engineering, Virginia Tech

Gender †Wage Gap Essay

Within Australia’s workforce history, there has been a strong presence of the gender wage gap between men and women. The differences in wages between men and women still seem to persist in today’s society (Sap 1993). A study by van Wanrooy (2009) suggests that even though there is an increase of women in the labour market, they still have the caring responsibilities, looking to juggle work and family. Throughout the workforce, there is still a significant barrier present which suggests that the ‘male breadwinner’ is still the evident employment model in Australia (van Wanrooy 2009). Women seem to have a people and family first approach to work, while men tend to respect their work life and value money more (Pon and Nyhus 2012).Women’s struggle within the labour market often results from the lack of bargaining power within their chosen occupation and their skills (Preston and Jefferson 2007). Firstly, this essay will discuss the relationship between bargaining power and the current issue of the gender wage gap within Australia. This essay will explore the reasons as to why women struggle to bargain with their employers on the issue of wages and fair working conditions. Secondly, this essay with explore why the difference in personality traits between men and women contribute to the gender wage gap. A striking explanation for the present gender wage gap within the Australian workforce is the lack of bargaining power that women currently hold in their workplaces. Within Australia, women generally work in low paid and low skill occupations. This in turn limits their access to representation and strong bargaining power when it comes to negotiating pay outcomes, particularly in part time jobs (van Wanrooy 2009). As previously stated, women tend to work in low skilled jobs which then disadvantages their bargaining power. Van Wanrooy (2009) states that those people with high skill levels within their occupation are seen to have more confidence and motivation towards bargaining for more desirable pay and work conditions. Furthermore, this  suggests that men have a higher bargaining power over women. This is due to the fact that 46% of women are more likely to be given work in a lower skilled job compared to the low 36% of men that are employed in low skilled jobs (van Wanrooy 2009). This then gives men a greater opportunity to bargain for better wages, while decreasing women’s contingency to narrow the gender wage gap through bargaining power. The segmentation of women into low paid jobs and occupations has clearly limited access to bargaining power, and resulted in women relying on minimum wages distributed through the reward system (van Wanrooy 2009). In a study by Frino and Whitehouse (2003) , it is also seen that with the over representation of women in the award only sector, this clearly disadvantages women in seeking higher bargaining power and doesn’t decrease the persistent gender wage gap. As female workers are more likely to work in industries with 100 employees or less, this jeopardises the chance to gain bargaining power to negotiate wages through union s. This is due to the fact that there is a lower chance of unions to be present in smaller businesses (van Wanrooy 2009). This creates an issue for women as they are the ones that need protection and the bargaining power of the unions. While women in low skilled occupations are less likely to be union members, union membership is almost doubled when it comes to men in the same occupation (van Wanrooy 2009). With women in low qualified jobs, less likely to be union members, this impacts their ability to collaborate with their employers over the issue in the wage gap between genders. Within the labour market, it is demonstrated that because of the difference in personality traits between genders, women are often less rewarded then men (Pon and Nyhus 2011). In the labour rmarket, earnings, employment, promotion and productivity can all be influenced by personality traits (Linz and Semykina 2010). As employees, personality traits determine the amount of effort and productivity brought forward in the workplace, influencing the way they act towards incentives (Pon and Nyhus 2011). According to Pon and Nyhus (2011), women tend to be more cautious and less competitive compared to men. The lack of competitiveness by women can then lead to women staying in a particular job for longer, accepting the lower salary, not wanting to compete for other high paying jobs. As women are found to be the most  agreeable in the workforce compared to men (Pon and Nyhus 2011), this reflects upon women negatively as they are more willing to agree to first offers by employers, most often resulting agreeing to a low paid job. Personality difference and behaviours between men and women could potentially grow to wage differences and could partly explain the gender wage gap (Pon and Nythus 2011). Interesting findings from a study conducted by Hogue, Singleton and Yoder (2007) identified that women are found to hold beliefs about themselves that include having a lower self worth and a depressed entitlement. This is then reflects a lower social status, but when their status is lifted, their wage entitlement also lifts. Whereas men believe that they deserve higher wages even though their abilities and performance may not reflect worthy of a higher wage (Hogue, Singleton and Yoder 2007). On average, women are less emotionally stable compared to their male counterparts, with emotionally stable people predicted to earn more than those that are emotionally unstable (de Jong and Need 2008). This could begin to explain why women are being paid less and why the gender wage gap is still prevalent in today’s society. De Jong and Need (2008) also found within their study that people who class themselves as sociable expect to earn less than those that are more career orientated. On average, women tend to be more sociable then men (de Jong and Need 2008). It is also evident that those who are more intellectual receive higer wages, with men tending to be more intellectual than women (de Jong and Need 2008). These three personality traits that affect a person’s earning and wages could be linked to the gender wage gap as women who are emotionally unstable and more sociable would be less career focused and motivated compared to men in their workplace. In summary, there are many explanations for the current gender wage gap in Australia. This essay has revealed two in depth explanations as to why the gender wage gap still persists. From the use a previous research, this essay has identified those two explanations, the lack of bargaining power of women and the influence of personality traits on income, as accurate explanations of why the gender wage gap is still evident in society today. Each arguments are valid within Australia’s workforce and suggest that further research  should be conducted to identify further trends of the gender wage gap, and possibly enforce new rules and regulations to help combat the gender wage gap and promote equity between male and female employees. REFERNCES Frino, B & Whitehouse, G 2008, ‘Women, wages and Industrial Agreements’, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 579-596, viewed 27th April 2012, via Informit Hogue, M, Yoder, JD & Singleton, SB 2007, ‘The Gender Wage Gap: An explanation of men’s elevated wage entitlement’, Sex Roles, vol. 56, no. 9-10, pp. 573-579, viewed 01st May 2012, SpringerLink, DOI 10.1007/s1119-007-9199-z Jefferson, T & Preston, A 2007, ‘Trends in Australia’s Gender-wage ratio’, Labour and Industry, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 69-84, viewed 27th April 2012, via ProQuest Central Linz, SJ & Semykina, A 2012, ‘Analysing the gender pay gap in transition economies: How much does personality matter’, Human Relations, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 447-469, viewed 30th April 2012, SAGE Premier 2012, DOI 10.1177/0018726709339094 Need, A & de Jong, U 2008, ‘Personality traits and gender-specific income expectations in Dutch higher education’, Social Indicators Research, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 113-128, viewed 30th April 2012, SpringerLink, DOI 10.1007/s11205-007-9104-8 Nyhus, EK & Pons, E 2011, ‘Personality and the gender wage gap’, Applied Economics, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 105-118, viewed 27th April 2012, Taylor & Francis Online Library, DOI 10.1080/00036846.2010.500272 Sap, J 1993, ‘Baragining power and wages: A game-theoretic model of gender differences in unions wage bargaining’, Labour Economics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 25-48, viewed 27th April 2012, Science Direct database, DOI 10.1016/0927-537(93)90004-2 Van Wanrooy, B 2009, ‘Women at work in Australia: Bargaining a Better Position?†, Australian Bulletin of Labour, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 611-628, viewed 27th April 2012, via ProQuest Central

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Qualitative Methodology

Cotte’s paper primarily deals with the Economic, Symbolic and Hedonic motives of gambling (2-3). Her method is centered on Ethnographic Participant Observation (1). The study was conducted on a Northeastern casino (10) for 90 hours that was accumulated through 30 visits between October 1995 and March 1996 (9). This critique will concentrate on the analysis of Cotte’s Literature Review, Research Design and Methods and Subjects chosen for the study. Literature Review Cotte’s literature review tackles the economic, symbolic and hedonistic motives of recreational gambling.With an emphasis centered on â€Å"Experiential Consumption† (6) which explains the role of motives in human behaviors and decisions, the paper was able to prove its point that the human drive to gamble stems out from the desire to learn and evaluate the game (12), to have a feeling of a â€Å"rush† (14), to demonstrate self definition such as being a â€Å"variety-seeker, rebel, and casino pro† (15), to fulfill the desire to be a risk-taker (18) and to view â€Å"cognitive self classification† that is primarily achieved through â€Å"interpersonal relationships† (19).Similarly, the study reveals that urge for â€Å"emotional self classifications† are also evident (19); similarly, human competition (20) and communion (21) are also part of the characteristics that were studied. The paper’s main criticism for the author’s literature review is: Cotte, by opting to focus on the hedonistic aspect of gambling has established the claim that recreational gambling primarily is a result of emotion in its most â€Å"barbaric sense† and provides no rational explanation whatsoever on the concept of recreational gambling.Cotte presented eight cells (12-21) which tells the reason in a form of conversation between her (i. e. the researcher) or other people through overheard conversations or observations explaining why people gambl e. It could be significantly noted that Cotte have made various explanations linking the results of the observation and or interview to her related literature; and it appears that those explanations are only liked to the situations wherein there is an emphasis on the hedonistic drive (12-18).The author explained that the feeling of excitement, rush, the unknown etc are the primary reasons why people keep on coming back to the casino and even bringing their families with them to gamble as well (18). However, the paper would like to assert that although the first few cells are significantly linked on the theories that the author used, the last three cells were explained by the author in such an abrupt manner that she suddenly inserts a theory that in no way was she was able to elaborate on her literature review (19, 21).The Utilitarian Theory which definition is not established or discussed at all was inserted and was used to explain â€Å"emotional self classification† (19) an d communing (21) . In virtue of its philosophical roots, the Utilitarian theory was introduced by JS Mill and is commonly known of having this maxim: the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. However, the paper would want to establish that the author coined a different concept to the theory by equating utilitarianism to â€Å"rationality† which is definitely not the case.The paper acknowledges however that linguistics of course allows convention to give a different meaning to a particular word. However, if this is the case, the author should have at least provided an operational definition on her review of related literature. Research Design and Methods The author’s method is qualitative research focusing on Ethnographic Participant Observation (1). Her data gathering method was done primarily through unstructured interviews (Bailey, 1994) and observation (Holloway, 2002). The paper has two main criticisms: (1) Unstructured interviews are rela tively prone to bias (Bailey, 1994, 195).The unstructured interview wherein the interviewer has the advantages of probing her subjects more has a high degree of possibility to be interpreted in a different manner than what the subjects really intend it to be (195). Also, in comparing the unstructured interview to the structured interview, Bailey argued that â€Å"the mere fact that a highly structured interview has a neatly typed questionnaire is easy to code, and seems to be reliable does not ensure that the information gathered will be superior to that gathered with an unstructured interview† (195).(2) The second criticism of the paper is that observations that are primarily documented through field notes and should be in four types: condensed account, the expanded account, the fieldwork journal, and analysis and interpretation notes (Holloway, 2002, 135). However, it could be noted that the author has made clear on her paper that she only has â€Å"field notes† (whi ch is a generalized note) and â€Å"introspections† (10) for her data gathering. Holloway (2002) by quoting Spradley (1979) on her book explained that it is necessary that all of these field notes should be done by any researcher who will use the Ethnographic method.However, the paper also recognizes the advantages of the unstructured research. It is also noted by Bailey (1994) that most cases reveal that unstructured interviews have the capability of eliciting more favorable responses from its subjects. The fact that the interview is more informal in its setting and is generally friendly, most researchers are able to get the innermost feelings of their subjects that the subjects on the other hand might not consciously realize that they possess.Similarly, the descriptive ethnography method (Holloway, 2002) is capable of presenting an account of a particular behavior on a specific area or industry. Similar on the case of the recreational gamblers in the northeast, the author w as able to present what type of recreational gamblers those people are going in that casino. Cotte’s output as she stated on the latter part of her paper could be grounds for better and improved researches. Subjects of the Study The subjects of the study are randomly chosen.As evident on the research conducted, the author claims that most of the data gathered are from abrupt conversations, overheard conversations and observations. Hence, the paper claims that there is no way that the author could further verify if the same emotions or motives still apply after that particular day or the days after that particular study. Similarly, the context of the study (Holloway, 2002) that is in Northeast America does not allow the study’s conclusion to be extended to other locations or cultural contexts. Conclusion:The paper would say that the author’s attempts to verify that recreational gambler’s motivations in gambling are primarily driven by their hedonistic moti ves are successful. However, there should be enough detail that should be given in terms of the literature’s completeness, further efforts to make the methodology more valid and a more diverse choosing of the respondents. Literature Cited Holloway, I. (2002). Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications. London: Routledge. Bailey K. (1994). Methods of Social Research. New York: The Free Press.

Small movie theater-Industry analysis-Competitive analysis-SWOT Research Paper

Small movie theater-Industry analysis-Competitive analysis-SWOT analysis - Research Paper Example concerned to incur expenses differencing their products and services from those of their competitors as well as keeping their prices low in order to attract customers. This will eventually lead to a decrease in the amount of revenue that these businesses fetch. Their profit margins will also be lower. The existing movie theatre industries are likely to benefit from an increase in the barriers to entry. This means that new players to the industry will find it very difficult to enter the market place. Given the analysis, it is very clear that the idea of New Vision Movie Theatre is likely to fail. Being a new player in the market place and given the expected increase in the barriers to entry, it will be very challenging for it to survive. Losses are likely to be incurred as the research industry averages for profitability are very low for a new player in the market place. Growth risk is expected to be medium over the outlook period. It is predicted that the annual industry income is likely to increase by 1.3%. This predicted rise in the growth risk is very minimal and it will be extremely challenging for new players in the market place to keep up with it. The sensitivity risk on the other hand is expected to be low as compared to the previous year in which it was medium. It is expected that the per capita disposable income rise will decrease in the coming year (IBISWorld, 2015). This means that a small movie theatre industry would be a great business idea that is likely to flourish given this kind of prediction. This is because people will be in a position to spend more on leisure activities like going to watch movies in the movie theaters. The risk factor of external competition is however expected to remain constant. This shows that people will still prefer to view movies at their homes using the available entertainment products such as cables, sat ellite television and online streaming platforms. People would prefer to watch movies at the comfort of their homes

Cultural Literature Review Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural Literature Review - Article Example Looking back at the historical development of the nursing profession to give the nurses and those planning to become one, insight for a best health care system today and in the future, is the main objective of Karen J. Egenes in her article History of Nursing (n.d), as she stated in her summary (p.23). In her introductory words, she implied that understanding the history of nursing would highlight the importance of this profession in the health care system of the nation. That’s why the article presented an overview of the history of nursing, especially with the nursing in the United States, with the contributions of selected leaders and influence of the societal trends (p.2). It is impossible to speak of the history of nursing without mentioning Florence Nightingale. Egenes’ article remarked that Nightingale laid the foundation of nursing as a profession. She turned down offers of marriage and pursued studies in health, despite her parents opposition, because â€Å"she believed that she had been called to dedicate her life to the service of humanity†(p.4). This is the same spirit that dominates the nurses today. Egenes’ objective in writing her article is considerably achievable. In fact, according to Jeff Durham (2010), in his discussion of the duties and responsibilities of a nurse, in his article The Role of a Nurse, he emphasized the important role of a nurse in the patient’s recovery, as well as protecting the patient. Actually, many nurses go above and beyond their call of duty. Durham realistically outlined in his article the nurse’s emotional involvement in their patient. Besides being a caregiver, a nurse also portrays the role as patient’s teacher, a counselor, and a trusted friend. This article of Durham evidently shows that nurses are being appreciated and their importance in health care system is being recognized. In a personal interview to Donna E. Shalala, the appointed chair in the year 2009 of th e Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), regarding committee’s report â€Å"about transforming the health care system within the newly legislated Affordable Care Act†, she openly acknowledged that â€Å"unless people understand that nursing is central to improving the quality of health care, we will never be able to improve that quality in this country† (Nickitas, 2011). Since nurses role are being appreciated, much is expected in their competence amidst the increased migration of varied cultural background in the United States nowadays. A nurse flexibility face the challenge while adapting to different culture, beliefs and practices of their immigrant patient. So the key method to maintain efficiency on nursing is to familiarize oneself of the cultural background of the immigrant patient. Acquiring knowledge and understanding of their social structure, their medical practices and even their religious beliefs are extremely important in giving appropriate care to a patient with such cultural background. According to a module for study article, entitled Health and Health Care of Filipino American Elders, â€Å"Filipino Americans now rank as the second largest Asian group in the United States with over 1.8 million individuals reported in 2000 census† (McBride, n.d.). Thus, the article equipped us knowledge on their cultural backgroun

Management theories Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management theories - Research Paper Example The behavior of organization members influences both its functioning, structure and the principles on which the organization can be managed. There has been enough evidence from the studies that human elements are the main factors in the failure or success of an organization. In most studies, it has indicated that human beings prefer to be consulted instead of receiving information or orders. Less resilience on the application of power is preferred. The elements that are the foundation of the behavioral management theory and how the theory identifies the roles and the skills of the manager are as explained below (Davies, 2010). The behavior of an individual is closely connected to that of the group to which he belongs. The person’s change in behavior is indicated by the group he belongs to, as he observes the work principles approved by the group (Brandon, 2006). Informal leadership instead of formal authority of the organization’s managers is crucial for enforcing and setting the principles of the group of performance. A manager or leader can be more acceptable to the subordinates if he applies the democratic style of leadership. Another element is participation of the employees. If the subordinates are permitted to participate in establishment of goals, there will be a positive impact on their attitude towards work. When workers are involved in designing, planning the jobs and making decisions, they will resist less, changes that are effected in the work techniques and technology (Davies, 2010). Another element is that naturally, most individuals are motivated by self-development and self-control and in this, they enjoy working. Managers ought to identify and offer essential conditions that are conducive to the adequate and proper use of the individual potential. The attitude of the manager towards the behavior of the workers should be positive. He should know that the average

How was the La Pachuca symbolized during the Zoot Suit Riots Research Paper

How was the La Pachuca symbolized during the Zoot Suit Riots - Research Paper Example The La Pachuca symbolized the concept of complete equality between men and women, as well as a race, while using style and statements to show a sense of identity to the time frame. Defining La Pachuca The concept of La Pachuca rose at the same time as the Zoot Suits of the Chicano movement. The main ideal was based on creating a sense of identity in which all individuals from Mexico, Spain and the Latin decent had a combined identity. The Zoot Suits were the masculine interpretation of creating a modern and new style which set apart this sense of identity. The main concept was to remain as outsiders from the rest of society because of the ethnicity and decent. However, this was combined with the modernist approach of the Zoot Suits, which mimicked the time frame and other concepts of culture. Typically, those who wore these suits were attributed with gang violence and the ethnic race. The La Pachuca mimicked this ideal with the same association of belonging to the Chicana movement wh ile intertwining contemporary style with ethnicity from the feminine style of the time (Ramos, 562). The main approach which the women used in the Zoot Suit movement was based on creating a male like mimic and counterpart to the men of the movement. The women wore baggy pants with a high waste, followed by a t-shirt or blouse. The hair was pulled back with a â€Å"puff† on the top or a short cut of the hair (see Appendix A). This particular style was followed with the more feminine approach. This included a pencil skirt which went to the knees and also which had a high waste. This was accessorized with fishnet stockings, platform heels or sandals. The women would wear this with suspenders and a v-neck sweater or blouse over the top. If the hair was placed down, then it would be curled but would keep the same high top as the other styles used for the time. The women were also known for wearing darker lipstick and were often dressed with the same tattoos as men. The ideology wh ich was created, while moving into a slightly feminist approach, always mimicked the male Zoot Suiters and the style which was taken to distinguish them as Latin American and a part of the rebellion and movement of the time (Ramirez, 1). La Pachuca as a Symbol of Equality The first way in which the representation of the La Pachuca became a symbol was through the definition of equality which was exhibited. The subculture of the Zoot Suits was based on creating a sense of equality in American society for Chicanos that had immigrated to America and were interested in working with the same opportunity as other ethnicities in the country. The inability to have the same equality led many to gang activities and to outbreaks to try to point out the need to have this equality. The Zoot Suit Riots were a symbol of this desire and gathered attention in the national community to begin changing the consciousness of those in society toward culture in general. The Pachuca dressed similar to the me n and was known to have the same identity while taking place in the riots of the time. The representation of this showed that both the men and women of the Chicano / a ethnicity were looking for the same equality in society and deserved to be shown equal merit in terms of national identity (Ramirez, 9). The similarity of the zoot suit and the dress of the La Pachuca were furthered with the overall symbolism that

Development economic Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Development economic - Term Paper Example In addition, corruption tends to increase with poverty. Thus, the richer countries tend to be significantly less corrupt than the poorer nations. It has been discerned that corruption is one of the cardinal causes for bringing about the downfall of economic progress in the developing nations. Some of the questions that naturally arise, with regard to corruption are given in the sequel. First, what is the damage caused by corruption and what constitute the best methods for eradicating corruption from institutions. Second, can the promotion of whistle-blowing lead to the desired consequences. Third, does the facilitation of transparency and the provision of advice to citizens regarding the submission of complaints, and the introduction of institutions to deal with the resulting cases, provide pragmatic and tangible solutions (Global Economic Symposium, 2014). As such, the system of corruption tends to be pervasive and very powerful in the developing nations. Any person who opposes corruption is sidelined. In fact, civil servants who oppose corrupt practices are dismissed from service, after being falsely implicated and charged for offences that they have not committed. A businessman who opposes the corrupt bureaucracy is compelled to overcome obstacles at every stage of his enterprise (Hors, 2000). It is in this milieu that the civil service of the developing nations is regarded as the least risky option for acquiring enormous wealth in a very short time. The majority of the citizens do not believe that the civil service has been constituted with the objective of implementing their rights. The developing nations have monolithic bureaucracies. The latter are governed by arcane procedures and rules that promote confusion and provide various interpretations. This leeway proves to be of great benefit to the corrupt bureaucracy, which takes decisions or

Law of Trade Marks and Brand Names Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law of Trade Marks and Brand Names - Essay Example ng (1) it is justifiable based on the premise of customer welfare and informed decision of consumers (2) it is not justifiable since it creates unfair competition. Before 1994, a number of English laws have been restricting but never prohibiting comparative advertising. For instances, under section 4(1) (b) of the Trade Marks Act 1938, it is considered an infringement of trademark if a third party uses the trademark of another in its advertising regardless of the nature of such advertisement. However, this all changed when Trade Marks Act (TMA) 1994 was enacted, English law then took a firm stand on comparative advertising. Following the provisions of s 10(6) of the TMA, comparative advertising is now permitted. Section 10(6) of the TMA has been interpreted as to allow comparative advertising â€Å"as long as the use of the competitor’s mark is â€Å"honest†.2 In the words of Laddie J is the case of Barclays Bank v RBS Advanta (1996) 3, â€Å"there is nothing wrong with telling the public of the relative merits of competition goods and services and using registered trademarks to identify them.† In most cases brought before the Courts, the question has been on the issue of justifiability of unfavourable comparisons employed by competitors. Would unfavourable comparisons be a kind of breach to the benchmarks of honesty as indicated in Section 10(6) will result to infringement of trademarks? â€Å"If the use is considered honest by members of a reasonable audience, it will not infringe†.4 In the Court’s decision in the case of British Airways Plc V Ryaniar Limited, Jacob J said that people are already very much exposed to advertising and already know better that believe everything that is being said in advertisements. â€Å"They expect hyperbole and puff.5† The fact that â€Å"the advertising pokes fun†6 at the competitor’s goods and services with great emphasis on the benefits offered by the advertiser is not enough to warrant infringement as this considered normal

Internship Paper Essay Example for Free

Internship Paper Essay My role with the _____ County circuit courts varies pretty much daily. Originally I was assigned to circuit court three. As it turns out though, they have had a high school intern coming since the beginning of the semester also, who is interning for a class she has. I believe she comes in three times a week. In addition to this, they have a floater who rotates through all of the courts, there are seven, so they have more than enough help in their court. Most days when I go in, I start in court three, and then end up going to court services to help the ladies out there. When I am in court three, I basically do the filing that has accumulated throughout the day. Depending on the day, and if the other intern or the floater has been there, there might be anywhere from ten minutes to an hours worth of filing to do. After this is done, I might pull the mail, meaning pull any files that correspond with mail the court has received. These might be warrants, certified mail, requests to continue, follow up letters referencing a court case, etc. A few times, when there has been a computer available, I have been able to enter information into the JUSTIS system, mostly through certified mail cards. Sometimes I would enter information for small claims cases, and then if the attorney or plaintiff/defendant would need copies of the information, I would mail those out. I would say the majority of my time spent at the courts was spent in court services though. Here I would do a lot of work for Mary, who is in charge of juvenile cases. A few weeks ago, I did many spreadsheets with data about juveniles who were either in detention centers, or placed in treatment centers, ranging from 1998-2002. She has to have record of this and needed the material in an organized data format, so I did a lot of that. Ive also made many calls to agencies to see their per diem rates, or rates for those placed in those facilities per day that they stay. Another project I have done for Mary was tracking her mileage as she has traveled from facility to facility to visit the juveniles placed there. These facilities are located in various other places around the state, so  she often has to travel long distances to make these trips, and needs to track her mileage for record and compensation. These records also went back to I believe 1998 or 1999, and were recorded to the present date, so there was much tracking I had to do to figure out her total mileage per day, and then per year. Ive also worked several times with Lisa helping her. She is in charge of jurors and jury duty. She sends out notices once a month to those who are being called for jury duty for that month. I have helped her sort these names, put together the notices, and get them sent out to the potential jurors. This is a big job, as when it comes time to do it, she usually has boxes and boxes of notices needing to be sent out. Something else I have done for court services would be to take their daily outgoing mail and run it through the postage machine to be sent out. This must happen about 5-6 times a day would be my guess. I have only done this a few times, but each time I have gone back, there was a replenished supply to be sent out. Also, sometimes I would take documents that needed to be mailed out from circuit court three to court services and put them in their corresponding lawyers mail slots, or send them out with the outgoing mail. Also, a few times I have had to take packages or documents for someone in court services down to the courthouse. I have really enjoyed working in the court system, both in circuit court three and in court services. As a criminal justice major I think it has been a really good experience for me. I plan on graduating in December, and am hoping to go into Federal Investigations. Another interesting aspect of the internship where I did it was that I got to work somewhat along side of a fellow criminal justice major that I have known since our freshman year. She and I have had every criminal justice class together except for P100. We both applied for the internship, but never knew we would end up in the same place, since there were quite a few options of places to work! Also, my resident assistant from freshman year also works part time in the court system, so I was kind of reunited with  her, which was quite a coincidence, considering how big this campus is! Last page: The last page of the paper is supposed to be additional comments about our good experiences and shortcomings of the internship. My good experiences would definitely be the people that I met and worked with there. They are a wonderful group of people, from the few I already knew, my fellow CJUS major and my R.A from freshman year, to everyone that I got to know and work with there. And Mary was wonderful especially. I felt like I could talk to her about school stuff since she graduated from IU also, whether it be to gripe about classes or get advice about the major/future plans. I think the shortcoming I can think of would be that I ended up being an intern for circuit court three, not because I didnt like it, just for the fact that they already had a high school intern and a floater, so there really was not much for me to do there at all. I literally would go in court three for about a half hour or so and then spend the rest of my time in court services. Honestly I wish I could have been a general intern for court services or a second intern to Mary. Court services was where I spent the majority of my time and I loved it. I also was told when I did my orientation that I would probably get to sit in on court a few times and observe. To date I have not been able to do that. I dont know if the time hasnt worked out for when Ive been working, or if there just hasnt been much Id be able to sit in on. I remember Mary telling me that court three did have drug court, which I have heard them talk about a few times, and I would have loved to sit in on this, because the Drug Enforcement Agency is one of the Federal agencies Im very interested in. I would have definitely liked to participate in this aspect more than I was able to. I would say this has definitely been my toughest semester. I ended up dropping a class early in the semester because I was trying to take 19 hours, including the internship, so it was really even more since I had to  dedicate 10 hours a week to being there. At the beginning of the semester I thought I could handle all 19 hours and the internship, but I really felt like I didnt have time to even sleep, let alone study, so something had to go. I was literally booked solid all week as I worked most of the day Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I had class from 8-5 and then Wednesdays I would work all day also. And while I didnt have classes on Fridays, I worked in my hometown at the job I have been working at for the past few summers; they let me come in part time and holidays so I can make some money. It was hard to juggle school, the internship, and my family situation this semester, but Im glad I was given the opportunity for the internship, I really do believe it was beneficial.

Developing Profit with Online Sales Promotions

Developing Profit with Online Sales Promotions Promotional Mix is consists of 4ps (Sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, and publicity/public relations) and has a very significant role to play in Business success .Basically, Sales promotion is concerned with ensuring that customer are aware of the different products manufactured by companies and makes available to their customers (Rowley J. 1998).Promotion alters consumer behaviour beyond the normal price/quantity trade-off, change in buying time of the product, as well as how much the customer buys (Blattberg et al., 1995). Marketing Communication is one of the very important Marketing activities and is generally preferred to the term PROMOTION. All of the Marketing communication activities are the form of promotion that is in one way or another try to promote product range brand and/or company (Rowley J. 1998). The Internet is a best tool to provide an efficient way for, Marketing communication. It has been observed that the adoption of the Internet is faster than any other media. Other Medias like Radio (took 38 years) and TV (took 13 years) to reach 50 million users, whereas Internet took only five years to achieve this level (Ellsworth and Ellsworth, 1997). Companies are also conducting promotional programs using social networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut, Hi5, and Twitter. Many researchers realized that Internet would improve the Marketing communication process and it will increase future sales. Internet websites act like an information provider, and organizations encourage customers to visit their websites. Tools such as print advertising, text messaging and broadcast are being used to bring about such visits (Harridge and March, 2004). The development of different tools of promotion, such as sales promotion, advertising and direct marketing have been improved by the development of the technology, which has offered the potential to communicate with customers ( Harridge and March, 2004).This has been done in order to maximize the effectiveness of the tools, but to achieve this a unified integration is needed ( Cornelisessen and Lock, 2001).The synergy generated by such a integration far outweighs the use of individual tools in isolation, although it has been suggested that the Internet has increased effectiveness and efficiency in communicating with customers ( Harridge and March, 2004). Promotions should not be considered as a simply price promotions, rather it should be considered in a broader content and will include advertising budgets, display allowance to the trade, as well as feature and display advertising activity direct to the customer (Blattberg et al., 1995). In order to meet the promotional objectives of any given promotion strategy an appropriate promotional mix must be created. The promotional mix is the mixture of two or more different promotional channels that is used to communicate a promotional message with customers (Rowley J, 1998). 1.2 Problem Discussion In year 2001, over a one third adults of the UK who accessed the Internet also purchased goods or services through it. This means remaining two-third do not shop online. Some companies have been criticized for apparently thinking that all the Internet shoppers are the same, instead of realizing that there are many reasons why a customer may visit a web site (ibid). On the other hand, due to very high competition in Market there is a massive pressure on marketers to increase their spending on the promotional mix. While at the same time top management has examined carefully that promotional expenditures are among one of the most promising areas left for cutting costs and increasing profits. This study puts extreme pressure on Marketers to develop and implement promotional programs within the constraints of tighter budgets and can contribute to their organizations. Hence, it is important to reexamine how promotional money is spent (Srinivasan and Anderson, 2008). In todays Businesses sales promotions are very important Marketing tools but they command a greater portion of the Marketing budget than advertisements. For example, in the USA investments amount on sales promotion is nearly 30 percent of what company spend on advertising alone (d Astous and Jacob, 2005) and in many European countries, expenditures on sales promotion are larger than advertising expenditures (ibid). However, advertisements are very popular and a big business on the Internet, sales promotions on the Internet are still limited. The reason behind this is that Internet is not so common in underdeveloped and developing nations and reaching customers using this technology is difficult because not everyone is accessing Internet (Kumar et al., 2005). Since there are many other problems on which research is needed and I will try to cover them in Dissertation. 1.3 Research purpose and research questions. The Purpose of my Dissertation is to provide understanding on the use of online sales promotions in todays competitive market. How it can be improved and make it more profitable? In order to achieve this purpose I have constructed the following research questions. Que1-How can the types of sales promotions for consumer goods be described? Que2-How can online environment (i.e. Internet) providing types of sales promotion be described? Methodology Purpose of Research According to Yin (2004) the purpose of Research study can be described in three categories: exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory. According to Zikmund (2000) good researchers strive for descriptive precision. Descriptive Research includes: Surveys (questionnaires, Delphi method, normative, interviews) Case studies Job Analysis Co relational studies Documentary Analysis *Development studies and, I will try to conduct questionnaires and include case studies to my dissertation. Descriptive Research is useful to find out the answer of who, what, when, where, and how, and to find the need, difference, Characteristics, and features of subgroups (ibid). Explanatory Research is conducted when we are supposed to identify the causal relationships, among variables (Zikmund, 2000). It helps in determining the best research design, selection of subjects and data collection methods. It relies on secondary Research such as literature reviewing, qualitative approaches such as informal discussion with consumers, management or employees and formal approaches through focus groups, case studies, etc. The Research purpose and questions show that this Dissertation is going to be mainly descriptive and somewhere I will use explanatory Research also to explore and find out the answers to Research questions and to draw conclusions. Research Approach In this study qualitative approach will be used. Qualitative research is used to determine the answer to Why not the How through case studies, emails, interviews, customers feedback forms, photos and videos. It is used to understand peoples attitudes, concerns, behaviours, culture or lifestyles, motivations and helps in taking Business decisions (Yin, 2004). According to Amaratunga et al., (2002) it is difficult to make accountable speech on Qualitative Research in Business economics. The purpose of my Dissertation is to enhance understanding on the use of online environment for sales promotions. On the basis of above discussion Qualitative approach is suitable and hence I will use Qualitative approach. Data collection method According to Yin (2004), for data collection, participant observations are one of the most important sources of case study. These observations provide strength of being real, contextual, and also provide understanding of interpersonal behaviour and motives. It is a mode of observation where researcher is not a passive observer. Instead, researcher may have to play many roles within a case according to situation and may participate in the events being studied (ibid). Therefore, for this Dissertation data would be collected by participant observation. Sample Selection According to Gragiano and Raulin (1997), it is not possible to collect and gain data from all the available sources to solve the research problems and to find the solutions. Techniques provided by sampling reduce the amount of data that is needed to collect from a sub-group (Saunders Thorn hill, 2000). Sample for case studies can be chosen in many ways (Yin, 2004). For my dissertation I will use judgmental or purposive sampling. According to Saunders (2000) purposive sampling enables researcher to use judgment to select cases that will best enable researcher to answer research questions and to meet objectives. It can be use when we have to work with very small samples such as in case study research. http://www.qsrinternational.com/what-is-qualitative-research.aspx

The Effect of Different Antibiotics on Bacteria

The Effect of Different Antibiotics on Bacteria Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria. Bacteria can cause infections such as strep throat, ear infections, urinary tract infections, and sinus infections (sinusitis). There are many types of antibiotics. Each works a little differently and acts on different types of bacteria. Dont antibiotics cure everything? Antibiotics are powerful medicines, but they cannot cure everything. Antibiotics do not work against illnesses that are caused by a virus. They do not help illnesses such as: Common colds. Influenza (flu). Most cases of acute bronchitis. Most sore throats not caused by strep. Runny noses. These illnesses usually go away by themselves. If you take antibiotics when you do not need them, they may not work when you do need them. Each time you take antibiotics, you are more likely to have some bacteria that the medicine does not kill. Over time these bacteria change (mutate) and become harder to kill. The antibiotics that used to kill them no longer work. These bacteria are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These tougher bacteria can cause longer and more serious infections. In order to treat them you may need different, stronger antibiotics that cost more. A stronger antibiotic may have more side effects than the first medicine. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria also can spread to family members, children, and friends. Your community then will have a risk of getting an infection that is harder to cure and costs more to treat. Some antibiotics that doctors once prescribed to treat common infections no longer work. Taking antibiotics you do not need will not help you feel better, cure your illness, or keep others from being infected. On the other hand, take them when unnecessary may cause harmful side effects. Those side effects include: Nausea. Diarrhea. Stomach pain. When antibiotics kill the normal bacteria in your intestine and allow the C.difficilebacteria to grow, this causes diarrhea, fever, and belly cramps. In some rare cases, it can even cause death. This condition is known as Clostridium difficilecolitis or C. difficile colitis which is the swelling and irritation of the large intestine, or colon. Women may develop vaginal yeast infections from taking antibiotics. Rarely, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. The right way to take antibiotic: Take it exactly as directed. Always take the exact amount that the label says to take. If the label says to take the medicine at a certain time, follow these directions. Take it for as long as prescribed. After the first few days of taking the medicine, you might feel better. However, it is important to keep taking the antibiotic as directed and usually until it is finish. Full prescription is always needed to get rid of those bacteria that are a bit stronger and able to survive the first few days of treatment. Bacteria that an antibiotic cannot kill (antibiotic-resistant bacteria) can develop if only part of an antibiotic prescription is being taken. Most importantly, leftover medicine must not be saved for the purpose of future use. Antibiotics are usually safe despites of all the side effects. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. In women, antibiotics can lead to vaginal yeast infections. Some minor side effects are inevitable. In rare cases, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria. After the first antibiotic, penicillin which was accidentally been discovered from a mold culture, there are now over 100 different antibiotics available to cure minor discomforts as well as life-threatening infections.Although antibiotics are useful in a wide variety of infections, it is important to realize that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections such as the common cold and fungal infections ringworm. Types of Antibiotics Although there are well over 100 antibiotics, the majority come from only a few types of drugs. These are the main classes of antibiotics. Penicillins such as penicillin andamoxicillin Cephalosporins such as cephalexin(Keflex) Macrolides such as erythromycin (E-Mycin), clarithromycin (Biaxin), andazithromycin (Zithromax) Fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin(Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), andofloxacin (Floxin) Sulfonamides such as co-trimoxazole (Bactrim) and trimethoprim (Proloprim) Tetracyclines such as tetracycline (Sumycin, Panmycin) Aminoglycosides such as gentamicin (Garamycin) and tobramycin (Tobrex) The use of right antibiotic is crucial as each antibiotic cures only certain types of infections but not all. Also, a person may have allergies that eliminate a class of antibiotic from consideration, such as a penicillin allergy which should not prescribe amoxicillin. Other factors may be considered when choosing an antibiotic. Medication cost, dosing schedule, and common side effects are often taken into account. Patterns of infection in your community may be considered too. In some cases, laboratories may help to decide which antibiotic to be used. Special techniques such as Gram stains may help narrow down which species of bacteria is causing infection. This is because certain bacterial species will take a stain while the others will not. Cultures may also be obtained. In this technique, a bacterial sample from infection is allowed to grow in a laboratory. The way bacteria grow or what they look like when they grow can help to identify the bacterial species. Cultures may also be tested to determine antibiotic sensitivities. A sensitivity list is the roster of antibiotics that kill a particular bacterial type. This list can be used to double check that you are taking the right antibiotic. Escherichia coli E. coli is a common type of bacteria that can get into food, like beef and vegetables. E. coli is short for the medical term Escherichia coli. The strange thing about these bacteria and lots of other bacteria is that theyre not always harmful to you. Theodor Escherich first described E. coli in 1885, as Bacterium coli commune, which he isolated from the feces of newborns. It was later renamed Escherichia coli, and for many years the bacterium was simply considered to be a commensal organism of the large intestine. It was not until 1935 that a strain of E. coli was shown to be the cause of an outbreak of diarrhea among infants. The GI tract of most warm-blooded animals is colonized by E. coli within hours or a few days after birth. The bacterium is ingested in foods or water or obtained directly from other individuals handling the infant. The human bowel is usually colonized within 40 hours of birth. E. coli can adhere to the mucus overlying the large intestine. Once established, an E. coli strain may persist for months or years. Resident strains shift over a long period (weeks to months), and more rapidly after enteric infection or antimicrobial chemotherapy that perturbs the normal flora. The entire DNA base sequence of the E. c oli genome has been known since 1997. E. coli normally lives inside your intestines, where it helps the body to break down and digest the food. Unfortunately, certain types of E. coli can get from the intestines into the blood. This is a rare illness, but it can cause a very serious infection. Someone who has E. coli infection may have these symptoms: bad stomach cramps and belly pain vomiting diarrhea, sometimes with blood in it One very bad strain of E. coli was found in fresh spinach in 2006 and some fast-food hamburgers in 1993. Beef can contain E. coli because the bacteria often infect cattle. It can be in meat that comes from cattle and its also in their poop, called manure. E. coli is a consistent inhabitant of the human intestinal tract, and it is the predominant facultative organism in the human GI tract; however, it makes up a very small proportion of the total bacterial content. The anaerobic Bacteroides species in the bowel outnumber E. coli by at least 20:1. However, the regular presence of E. coli in the human intestine and feces has led to tracking the bacterium in nature as an indicator of fecal pollution and water contamination. As such, it is taken to mean that, wherever E. coli is found, there may be fecal contamination by intestinal parasites of humans. Physiologically, E. coli is versatile and well-adapted to its characteristic habitats. It can grow in media with glucose as the only organic constituent. Wild-type E. coli has no growth factor requirements, and metabolically it can transform glucose into all of the macromolecular components that make up the cell. The bacterium can grow in the presence or absence of O2. Under anaerobic condit ions it will grow by means of fermentation, producing characteristic mixed acids and gas as end products. However, it can also grow by means of anaerobic respiration, since it is able to utilize NO3, NO2 as final electron acceptors for respiratory electron transport processes. In part, this adapts E. coli to its intestinal (anaerobic) and its extra intestinal (aerobic or anaerobic) habitats. E. coli can respond to environmental signals such as chemicals, pH, temperature, osmolarity. Therefore, in a number of very remarkable ways considering it is a unicellular organism. For example, it can sense the presence or absence of chemicals and gases in its environment and swim towards or away from them. It can stop swimming and grow fimbriae that will specifically attach it to a cell or surface receptor. In response to change in temperature and osmolarity, it can vary the pore diameter of its outer membrane to accommodate larger molecules (nutrients) or to exclude inhibitory substances. With its complex mechanisms for regulation of metabolism the bacterium can survey the chemical contents in its environment in advance of synthesizing any enzymes that metabolize these compounds. It does not wastefully produce enzymes for degradation of carbon sources unless they are available, and it does not produce enzymes for synthesis of metabolites if they are available as nutrients in the e nvironment. Figures 1.1 1.2: Escherichia coli Staphylococcus aureus Figure 1.3: Electron micrograph of Staphylococcus aureus The Staphylococci Staphylococci (staph) are Gram-positive spherical bacteria that occur in microscopic clusters resembling grapes. Bacteriological culture of the nose and skin of normal humans invariably yields staphylococci. In 1884, Rosenbach described the two pigmented colony types of staphylococci and proposed the appropriate nomenclature: Staphylococcus aureus (yellow) and Staphylococcus albus (white). The latter species is now named Staphylococcus epidermidis. Although more than 20 species of Staphylococcus are described in Bergeys Manual (2001), only Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are significant in their interactions with humans. S. aureus colonizes mainly the nasal passages, but it may be found regularly in most other anatomical locales, including the skin, oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract. S epidermidis is an inhabitant of the skin. Taxonomically, the genus Staphylococcus is in the Bacterial family Staphylococcaceae, which includes three lesser known genera, Gamella, Macrococcus and Salinicoccus. The best-known of its nearby phylogenetic relatives are the members of the genus Bacillus in the family Bacillaceae, which is on the same level as the family Staphylococcaceae. The Listeriaceae are also a nearby family. Staphylococcus aureus forms a fairly large yellow colony on rich medium; S. epidermidis has a relatively small white colony. S. aureus is often hemolytic on blood agar; S. epidermidis is non hemolytic. Staphylococci are facultative anaerobes that grow by aerobic respiration or by fermentation that yields principally lactic acid. The bacteria are catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. S. aureus can grow at a temperature range of 15 to 45 degrees and at NaCl concentrations as high as 15 percent. Nearly all strains of S. aureus produce the enzyme coagulase: nearly all strains of S. epidermidis lack this enzyme. S. aureus should always be considered a potential pathogen; most strains of S. epidermidis are non-pathogenic and may even play a protective role in humans as normal flora. Staphylococcus epidermidis may be a pathogen in the hospital environment. Staphylococci are perfectly spherical cells about 1 micrometer in diameter. The staphylococci grow in clusters because the cells divide successively in three perpendicular planes with the sister cells remaining attached to one another following each successive division. Since the exact point of attachment of sister cells may not be within the divisional plane and the cells may change position slightly while remaining attached, the result is formation of an irregular cluster of cells. The shape and configuration of the Gram-positive cocci helps to distinguish staphylococci from streptococci. Streptococci are slightly oblong cells that usually grow in chains because they divide in one plane only, similar to a bacillus. Without a microscope, the catalase test is important in distinguishing streptococci (catalase-negative) from staphylococci, which are vigorous catalase-producers. The test is performed by adding 3% hydrogen peroxide to a colony on an agar plate or slant. Catalase-positive cultures produce O2 and bubble at once. The test should not be done on blood agar because blood itself contains catalase. Figure 1.4: Gram stain of Staphylococcus aureus in pustular exudate Figure 1.5: Staphylococcus aureus Problem statement: Which antibiotic is most effective on bacteria? Hypothesis: Different antibiotics have different effect on bacteria. Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic against Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus aureus compared to other antibiotics. Variables: Manipulated Variable: Types of antibiotics and types of bacteria. Responding Variable: The diameter of clear zone around the paper discs. Fixed Variable: Surrounding temperature, humidity, light intensity, size of paper discs. Apparatus: Agar plate, Bunsen burner, marker pen, autoclaved forceps. Materials: Bacteria E. coli, bacteria S. aureus, bench spray of disinfectant, 1% Virkon, soap and dettol, paper towels, antibiotic- impregnated paper disc, adhesive tape. Procedure: Hands are washed with dettol handwash. Disinfectant spray is sprayed thoroughly to the working area. Paper towels are then used to wipe the working area. Two sterile Petri dishes are labeled correctly. One is filled with the bacteria S. aureus and another one with E. coli. The label is pasted at the side of the Petri dishes. The apparatus needed: bottle containing sterile nutrient agar, micropipette with sterile tips, Bunsen burner, bottle containing bacteria cultures and sterile Petri dishes labeled correctly. 200ml of E. coli bacteria culture is pipetted into a sterile Petri dish beside a burning Bunsen burner. Molten agar is poured into the Petri dish until the bottom of the Petri dish is covered by the agar. The Petri dish is then covered and gently pushed back and forth and in all four directions to mix the bacteria well with the agar. The agar is then allowed to set. Steps 4 to7 are repeated for S. aureus. The 2 Petri dishes containing the agar lawn are allowed to set. One paper disc is placed in a solution of antibiotics named Ampicillin using sterile forceps. The paper disc is then soaked into Petri dish containing the agar. Steps 10- 11 are repeated for antibiotics Tetracyclin, Carbenicillin, and sterilized distilled water. The Petri dish is closed and the bottom of the Petri dish is labeled to identify the position of each paper disc. The agar plates are then left in 30.0 0C incubator for 24 hours. Hands are washed thoroughly again after working with the bacteria culture. After 24 hours, the agar plates are observed with the Petri dishes closed. The diameter of the clear region around the paper discs are measured and recorded. The results are recorded in a table Precautions: The bacteria must be pipetted into the agar before the agar is set so that the bacteria can mix well with it. During observation, the lid of the Petri dishes must not be lifted up as the bacteria are harmful to our healths. After working with the bacteria culture, hands must be washed with disinfectant in order to avoid any infections. Result: Antibiotics Diameter of the clear zone, cm Escherichia coli Staphylococcus aureus Ampicillin 3.2 3.0 Tetracycline 2.3 2.7 Carbenicillin 1.3 2.8 Distilled water 0.5 0.5 Discussions: Analysis of data From the result, it is found that the largest inhibition zone or clear region is formed around the paper disc soaked in Ampicillin for E. coli bacteria lawn, followed closely by Tetracyclin and Carbenicillin. Ampicillins paper disc caused the largest area of inhibition zone in E. coli. This showed that Ampicillin is most effective in inhibiting the growth of the E. coli. Meanwhile, Carbenicillins paper disc which caused the smallest area of inhibition zone in E. coli showed that it is the weakest antibiotic against E. coli. Similarly, Ampicillin is also the most effective antibiotic against bacteria Staphylococcus aureus as the area of inhibition zone around the paper disc soaked with Ampicillin solution is the greatest, which has a diameter of 3.0 cm. Followed by that is the antibiotic Carbenicillin and the least effective antibiotic is Tetracyclin which has a slightly smaller diameter of clear zone than Cabenicillin, which is 2.7cm. Therefore, it can be concluded that Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic against both type of bacteria and being the broad spectrum antibiotic while the effectiveness of Tetracyclin and Carbenicillin towards both bacteria varied. This showed that different antibiotic has different effect on different bacteria as well. The inhibition zones are all circular. If it is not circular, it is sensible that the diameter should be measured by using two points which are furthest from each other within the clear region. The diameter of the inhibition zones is affected by the strength of antimicrobial properties of the antibiotics towards different bacteria. It is important not to always choose the antibiotic with the largest inhibition zone to treat the patients as some other factors should be considered as well such as the side effect caused by the antibiotics, the conditions of the patients and the risk of that particular antibiotics. Control In this experiment, the control used is the sterilized distilled water. Paper discs soaked in sterilized distilled water are also put in two of the Petri dishes. This is to show that the sterilized distilled water has no effect on the bacteria. This enables us to compare the results for paper discs with the antibiotics and those with the distilled water to show that the formation of the inhibition zone or the clear region is due to the antibiotics but not because of the presence of water. In this case, clear region cannot be seen around the paper disc soaked in sterilized distilled water in both Petri dishes. Therefore, the presence of clear region around other paper discs must be due to the antimicrobial property of the antibiotics. Variables Three different antibiotics are used in this experiment to manipulate the types of antibiotics and to compare the effectiveness of each antibiotic to inhibit the growth of the bacteria. The antibiotics used are Tetracycline, Carbenicillin and Ampicillin. Two different types of bacteria, E. coli and S. aureus are manipulated by putting them in different Petri dishes with the agar medium. This enables us to identify the varying antimicrobial properties of the same antibiotics on different types of bacteria. The responding variable in this experiment is the diameter of the clear region around the paper discs after 24 hours. The greater the diameter of the clear zone around the paper discs, that means the more effective the antibiotic inhibiting the growth of the bacteria. The diameter of the clear zone can be measured from one point of the circular clear region to another point through the centre point by using a ruler. The amount of different bacteria cultures used must be the same by pipetting equal amount of the two bacteria, which is 200 ml into the agar medium. The temperature, humidity and light intensity must also be kept constant throughout the experiment. All these factors may affect the rate of growth of the bacteria. This can be done by placing the two agar plates into an incubator at 30 0 C. The size of the paper discs should also be kept constant. Paper discs which are larger will absorb more antibiotics and may lead to a greater diameter of clear zone compared to the smaller paper discs in the same bacteria culture. This is done by preparing the paper discs using the same puncher to ensure all the paper discs are of the same size. Justification of apparatus and materials In this experiment, the antibiotics used are Tetracycline, Streptomycin and Carbenicillin solutions. These antibiotics are more common antibiotics which are more easily available. The antibiotics have already been prepared in solutions form. This enables the paper discs to be soaked in the solutions directly and easier. The bacteria used are S. aureus and E. coli, they are practically easier to be grown and culture in agar plates. However, these two bacteria may be harmful to our health, therefore the lids of the agar plates are not allowed to be opened during observation. This is to keep us from getting any infections from these bacteria. Bunsen burner is used in this experiment to minimize the contamination of the experimental sets while preparing them. For example, the forceps are being flamed before being used to pick up the paper discs soaked in the antibiotics solutions. Micropipette is used to transfer the 200 ml bacteria into the agar medium. The used of micropipette with sterile tips further improved the accuracy of the result. Validity and reliability of the results According to the result from another group, Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic towards only E. coli bacteria. Cabernicillin is most effective towards S. aerues and this is different from the result of my group. This may properly cause by contamination which affect the accuracy of the result. However, for the bacteria E. coli, the diameter of clear zone caused by the paper disc soaked in Cabernicillin is 1.3 cm for my group while the result of another group showed no clear zone around it. Therefore, it can be concluded that Carbenicillin is the least effective antibiotics towards E. coli for two groups. Besides, in order to increase the reliability of the experiment, the variables are controlled carefully. The constant variables are kept constant while only manipulating the variables that are being studied. Sources of errors One possible source of errors may be the contamination of the agar medium. This occurred when saliva is accidentally being transferred to the agar during preparation. Another possible source of error could be the purity of the antibiotics used. Some of the antibiotics solutions may be contaminated by some impurities which could decrease their antibacterial properties. Also, human error can take place especially when measuring the diameter of the clear zones. Conclusion: The hypothesis is accepted. Different antibiotics have different effect on bacteria. Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic against Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus aureus compared to other antibiotics. Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria. Bacteria can cause infections such as strep throat, ear infections, urinary tract infections, and sinus infections (sinusitis). There are many types of antibiotics. Each works a little differently and acts on different types of bacteria. Dont antibiotics cure everything? Antibiotics are powerful medicines, but they cannot cure everything. Antibiotics do not work against illnesses that are caused by a virus. They do not help illnesses such as: Common colds. Influenza (flu). Most cases of acute bronchitis. Most sore throats not caused by strep. Runny noses. These illnesses usually go away by themselves. If you take antibiotics when you do not need them, they may not work when you do need them. Each time you take antibiotics, you are more likely to have some bacteria that the medicine does not kill. Over time these bacteria change (mutate) and become harder to kill. The antibiotics that used to kill them no longer work. These bacteria are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These tougher bacteria can cause longer and more serious infections. In order to treat them you may need different, stronger antibiotics that cost more. A stronger antibiotic may have more side effects than the first medicine. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria also can spread to family members, children, and friends. Your community then will have a risk of getting an infection that is harder to cure and costs more to treat. Some antibiotics that doctors once prescribed to treat common infections no longer work. Taking antibiotics you do not need will not help you feel better, cure your illness, or keep others from being infected. On the other hand, take them when unnecessary may cause harmful side effects. Those side effects include: Nausea. Diarrhea. Stomach pain. When antibiotics kill the normal bacteria in your intestine and allow the C.difficilebacteria to grow, this causes diarrhea, fever, and belly cramps. In some rare cases, it can even cause death. This condition is known as Clostridium difficilecolitis or C. difficile colitis which is the swelling and irritation of the large intestine, or colon. Women may develop vaginal yeast infections from taking antibiotics. Rarely, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. The right way to take antibiotic: Take it exactly as directed. Always take the exact amount that the label says to take. If the label says to take the medicine at a certain time, follow these directions. Take it for as long as prescribed. After the first few days of taking the medicine, you might feel better. However, it is important to keep taking the antibiotic as directed and usually until it is finish. Full prescription is always needed to get rid of those bacteria that are a bit stronger and able to survive the first few days of treatment. Bacteria that an antibiotic cannot kill (antibiotic-resistant bacteria) can develop if only part of an antibiotic prescription is being taken. Most importantly, leftover medicine must not be saved for the purpose of future use. Antibiotics are usually safe despites of all the side effects. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. In women, antibiotics can lead to vaginal yeast infections. Some minor side effects are inevitable. In rare cases, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria. After the first antibiotic, penicillin which was accidentally been discovered from a mold culture, there are now over 100 different antibiotics available to cure minor discomforts as well as life-threatening infections.Although antibiotics are useful in a wide variety of infections, it is important to realize that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections such as the common cold and fungal infections ringworm. Types of Antibiotics Although there are well over 100 antibiotics, the majority come from only a few types of drugs. These are the main classes of antibiotics. Penicillins such as penicillin andamoxicillin Cephalosporins such as cephalexin(Keflex) Macrolides such as erythromycin (E-Mycin), clarithromycin (Biaxin), andazithromycin (Zithromax) Fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin(Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), andofloxacin (Floxin) Sulfonamides such as co-trimoxazole (Bactrim) and trimethoprim (Proloprim) Tetracyclines such as tetracycline (Sumycin, Panmycin) Aminoglycosides such as gentamicin (Garamycin) and tobramycin (Tobrex) The use of right antibiotic is crucial as each antibiotic cures only certain types of infections but not all. Also, a person may have allergies that eliminate a class of antibiotic from consideration, such as a penicillin allergy which should not prescribe amoxicillin. Other factors may be considered when choosing an antibiotic. Medication cost, dosing schedule, and common side effects are often taken into account. Patterns of infection in your community may be considered too. In some cases, laboratories may help to decide which antibiotic to be used. Special techniques such as Gram stains may help narrow down which species of bacteria is causing infection. This is because certain bacterial species will take a stain while the others will not. Cultures may also be obtained. In this technique, a bacterial sample from infection is allowed to grow in a laboratory. The way bacteria grow or what they look like when they grow can help to identify the bacterial species. Cultures may also be tested to determine antibiotic sensitivities. A sensitivity list is the roster of antibiotics that kill a particular bacterial type. This list can be used to double check that you are taking the right antibiotic. Escherichia coli E. coli is a common type of bacteria that can get into food, like beef and vegetables. E. coli is short for the medical term Escherichia coli. The strange thing about these bacteria and lots of other bacteria is that theyre not always harmful to you. Theodor Escherich first described E. coli in 1885, as Bacterium coli commune, which he isolated from the feces of newborns. It was later renamed Escherichia coli, and for many years the bacterium was simply considered to be a commensal organism of the large intestine. It was not until 1935 that a strain of E. coli was shown to be the cause of an outbreak of diarrhea among infants. The GI tract of most warm-blooded animals is colonized by E. coli within hours or a few days after birth. The bacterium is ingested in foods or water or obtained directly from other individuals handling the infant. The human bowel is usually colonized within 40 hours of birth. E. coli can adhere to the mucus overlying the large intestine. Once established, an E. coli strain may persist for months or years. Resident strains shift over a long period (weeks to months), and more rapidly after enteric infection or antimicrobial chemotherapy that perturbs the normal flora. The entire DNA base sequence of the E. c oli genome has been known since 1997. E. coli normally lives inside your intestines, where it helps the body to break down and digest the food. Unfortunately, certain types of E. coli can get from the intestine