Rene Descartes Meditations - 1093 Words

Rene Descartes’s Meditations on first Philosophy starts under a very ingenious pretense: find the one thing that is undoubtable. Being a subjectivist and one of the first modern philosophers, he tried to doubt everything he believed to be true. He took metaphysics and logic with certainty and implored the skeptical method to everything else. He began to look at senses and realized that it was merely a representation in your brain. He was in aware of the mind brain separation and how perception is very deceiving. However, the one baseline truth he found was that he exists because he is a thinking rational being. Despite his enlightened start, he spends the remaining meditations trying to prove the existence of God, which is ironically, something that, is very doubtable. In Meditation III Descartes utilizes the criteria of certainty, that everything he is to prove must be clear and distinct. He is a rationalist and believes that innate ideas are born within and derive from reaso n. These are important premises when looking at his first argument for God’s existence. He operates under the assumption that we, as rational beings, cannot be wrong about having an idea. Ideas are judgments that confirm something in the real world. His first argument can be called from the idea of God. Directly this concludes that the idea of God is too great to have thought of by anyone but God. However, this argument is ultimately flawed and does not directly answer theShow MoreRelatedDiscourse On Method And Meditations On First Philosophy945 Words   |  4 PagesDiscourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy was written by Rene Descarte. His main focus was to decide if God was real or not and if God created him or not. In Meditation Five, Descarte states that God existed because he has prior knowledge of materialistic things. He states that he recalls objects without prior knowledge of them, and that everyone perceives all the objects in the same type of manner. In the end of the mediation he closes it out by stating that, we all can think of nonRead MoreLanguage and the Destiny of Man12402 Words   |  50 Pagessought to clarify the matter. He sought to distinguish between two terms, â€Å"distinction† and â€Å"separation† and to illuminate the relationship between body and soul at three different levels, i.e. ordinary experience, analytical mind and metaphysical meditation. Eventually, he embraced the paradox of the two natures – the double substantial make-up of the human being, a paradox of patristic inspiration. However, the later history of ideas was not sympathetic to Descartes: nowadays, when one looks up the

Disabled, Wilfred Owen Free Essays

The dictionary meaning of disabled is having a physical or mental condition that limits movement, senses or activity. In Wilfred Owen’s poem Disabled through imagery, irony, tone, similes and contrasting the life of a soldier before and after war, Owen shows what it is like to be disabled by war. Owen uses imagery to help the reader picture the soldiers life post World War I. We will write a custom essay sample on Disabled, Wilfred Owen or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"legless sewn short at elbow† and â€Å"his back will never brace† help to demonstrate a clear understanding of how the soldier would look; sitting in a wheel-chair, unable to do simple everyday tasks without assistance. Owen uses imagery referring to blood throughout the poem â€Å"leap of purple leaped from his thigh† which helps picture the brutality of war and what the soldier went through to end up disabled. The girls in the poem also help to demonstrate the difference in the soldier’s life pre and post war. Using imagery Owen shows the differing reactions of the girls. â€Å"to please his Meg† and â€Å"to please the giddy jilts† show that the reason for enlisting was to satisfy the girls. â€Å"The women’s eyes pass from him† show that post war he is no longer desirable and girls no longer look at him they way they did. The use of irony in Disabled is used to portray the message that the propaganda and celebrations of war are all false. As stated before, he joined the army to please his girlfriend Meg, as in those days soldiers were attractive to women. However it is ironic that it is because of war that ‘he will never again feel how slim girls waists are’. The soldier was a football player before he enlisted and â€Å"one time he liked a blood-smear down his leg†. This is ironic because before the war the soldier was proud to be injured. However, he was wounded at war and feels not proud, but shame. Some cheered him home but not as crowds cheer goal† demonstrates that the glory he felt from soccer is nothing like the shame he gets from being a disabled war veteran. He was cheered off to war, however returning home just a torso wasn’t appealing to the people he knew and they celebrated a goal in soccer more than his return from war. Owen uses various tones throughout the poem to show the many different aspects involved with war. In the first stanza, the tone is negative, sad and depressed. Giving the reader a clear idea of how the soldier feels post ar and what he looks like. In the middle stanzas (1-5) the soldier is reflecting on his former life and contrasting to what it is like now. The tone is envious of his old life as well as resentful of his mistakes. He is also bitter toward the enlisting officers who â€Å"smiling wrote his lie, aged nineteen† aiming blame toward them for not preventing him from being sent to the front. The middle stanza’s portray a tone of loss and deprivation. The sixth stanza is the soldier criticizing the war through the use of rhetorical questions â€Å"why don’t they come? The soldier is no longer able to put himself to bed and nobody is there to help him. Symbolling that the war has left this soldier all on his own, no football team, no Meg, no anybody. The most evident aspect of the poem is the contrast between the soldiers life pre and post war. Before the war he was young, fit and popular. He had Meg, his football team and was un-reliant on others for everyday tasks. He is now an old, physically d isabled and mentally depressed man, who is unable to put himself to bed. Owen uses similies to help support the contrast â€Å"all of them touch him like some queer disease† this helps show his present life and is contrasting o the previous lines where he talks of his old life when ‘town used to swing so gay’. In the poem Disabled Wilfred Owen successfully uses contrast, irony, tones and imagery to portray the idea that war is not all glory, and for millions of men it was the end of their life. Through his own war experience Owen was able to demonstrate what it was like for a World War I soldier to be disabled by war. How to cite Disabled, Wilfred Owen, Papers

Tivo 2008 Strategic management

History and growth TiVo Company is an American corporation with a basic duty in the advertising and promotion services for its Tivo marked digital video recorder. TiVo mainly functions in the US and as well in New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, the UK, and Canada among other countries. Barton together with Ramsay established TiVo Inc. in 1997 as Teleworld Corporation. They were experts from digital video organisations.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Tivo 2008: Strategic management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Teleworld started the initial free tests of the TiVo tool and provision in 1998. Subsequent to the presentation at Consumer Electronics Show in early 1999, Mike Ramsay declared to the corporation that the initial edition of the TiVo digital recorder could embark in 1999, in spite of an approximated four months of operation left to complete the tool. Teleworld Corporation was changed to TiVo Inc. befor e 2000. TiVo Company had its initial public offering (IPO) in late 1999. The initial TiVo tool digitised and condensed analogue video from all bases. At the beginning of 2000, the TiVo Company joined hands with Thomson who was a producer as well as a newscaster with Sky Broadcasting to convey TiVo services in the United Kingdom. This joint venture brought about PVR10UK, which is a detached receiver that came into the market in late 2000. Before the close of 2000, the very first DirecTV receiver that incorporated TiVo DVR entered into the market, thus bringing about a novel gadget that was named DirecTiVo. This novel gadget hoarded digital signals received straight from DirectTV. Following reduced transactions, TiVo withdrew from the markets in the United Kingdom in early 2003. Formally, their production agreement ended; nevertheless, the withdrawal was more probably owing to the introduction of a DVR invention similar to the TiVo by Sky, which was the sole dispenser of TiVo in the U nited Kingdom. The DVR invention started by Sky was given the name Sky+ and was intensely advertised to their clients. This product by Sky is up to now dominant in the United Kingdom and the market currently has more than 6 million customers. In mid 2004, TiVo filed a case against EchoStar Company for copyright violation. EchoStar Company was producing DVR components. In 2011, the two companies were able to reach a consensus where EchoStar gave TiVo Company a fee for employing its expertise.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In mid 2005, expert media director, Tom Rogers, was taken up as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and the chairman of TiVo Company. Tom, who was a member of the board of directors from 2003, succeeded Mike Ramsay (a co-founder of the company). In the course of the headship of Tom, TiVo was in a position to advance from a mere DVR producer into a full in-home televise, cable, as well as wideband media centre and a supporter of the conventional media industries with its novel promotion resolutions and TV capacity services. In 2006, the Tivo Company was the proud winner of an Emmy Award due to exceptional novelty and accomplishment in sophisticated media expertise. In late 2009, TiVo Company re-gained access in the United Kingdom markets through declaration of an association with a cable corporation in the country, Virgin Media. This association turned out to be the special supplier of Top Box software program in addition to consumer interface package for the next cohort TV platform for Virgin Media. In late 2010, there was a publicised affirmation by Virgin Media of the availability of their initial PVR operating TiVo software system, which is obtainable in even over 500GB designs. From 2012, Virgin Media boasts of more than 678,000 customers of TiVo in the United Kingdom markets (Hill and Jones 224). This aspect represents an inc rease of more than 243,000 when judged against the preceding quarter, equivalent to almost 20 per cent of the entire customer base of TVs by Virgin Media. In early 2010, Microsoft registered a case against TiVo Company for copyright violation. Nevertheless, the two corporations agreed to terminate the case in 2012. Internal Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths TiVo Company boasts of an incomparable reputation in addition to powerful brand name identification since even the expression â€Å"Tivoing† is now the applicable expression for DVR recording employed by clients despite the gadget being utilised. The TiVo interface is identified as the most customer-friendly and it encompasses the most developed attributes of the market in the present day. TiVo has established several licensing accords internally as well as externally with different corporations for the application of its expertise as well as services. TiVo has as well exclusive patents on its expertise and has currently managed to win significant legal wars initiated by its competitors (Hill and Jones 224).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Tivo 2008: Strategic management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, TiVo has all it takes to take its services to Asia, the United States, and Europe since the international market is an unexploited one leaving room for new advancement. Since a lot of DVR disk drives are produced in Asia, a lot needs to be done in the quest to decrease transport as well as production costs in the markets in Asia. Additionally, TiVo Company will significantly gain from the acquirement of smaller competitors since it will boost its operations. Weaknesses The products and services of the TiVo Company have proved to be more costly when judged against those of its competitors. The competitors of TiVo Company now supply DVR without any cost for the initial year of subscription, and sometimes at very chea p prices. The clients of TiVo Company are forced to buy a DVR and cater for a subscription charge for every month. The competitors of TiVo Company have a benefit since they can produce a gadget encompassing both the receiver and the coordination with low charges for the clients. This aspect has brought about a reduction of about two million subscriptions for the year 2012 as well as enormous losses in the annual financial statements. Court cases have as well had an impact on the profits of the company and have restricted new licensing accords with corporations that chose to wait for the results of the cases pertaining copyrights to prevent legal jumble. High-speed Internet in conjunction with new expertise has brought about optional grounds for clients to have an access to the media. Upcoming expertise has led to the upshot of new rivals generating additional difficulties in the operations of TiVo Company (Hill and Jones 226). Competitors keep on initiating new gadgets as well as so ftware that greatly affects the sales of TiVo Company as well as its reputation as the leading company internationally. External environment surrounding TiVo The external surroundings of TiVo present different concerns that could have significant influences in the strategic inclination of the company. The external influences to the company are explained below.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Political/Legal With respect to the capacity to change the conveyed shows, there exists a lot of unresolved intellectual property. Moreover, there exist outstanding legal matters with the Internet, mostly with YouTube, presenting patented material devoid of the authorisation of the possessor (Hill and Jones 227). Copyright cases are presently proceeding in expertise with regard to copyright implementation and the way corporations are capable of disclosing them. In brief, the political as well as the legal environments around TiVo Company functions are normally in an instable mode and demands persistent checking and scrutinising. Economic The greater section of the globe is at a downturn thereby translating into minimal income to afford a lavishness gadget like a DVR. All the merchandise supplied by TiVo Company are classified as extravagance items since a DVR is not required to utilise or watch a TV, or have access to the materials in the Internet. As revealed, clients have to pay a minimum of 100 US dollars in the initial gadget and continue to pay a standard charge of 20 dollars for every month as the amount for subscription. When acquired via a cable supplier, the client is required to subscribe with about 3 dollars each month in addition to the price for acquiring the DVR. Even if the current economic estimates have affirmed that the economy of the United Kingdom is in a rising inclination, growth will be sluggish to average in the near future. Socio-cultural and Demographic The period of the rising population is approximately 45 years. In addition, this population is less technically knowledgeable when compared to cohorts below it. The largest user demographic of the merchandise of TiVo Company is aged between 25 and 45 years (Hill and Jones 228). TiVo particularly centres on those aged around 35 years when introducing new products and services. From the foundation of TiVo Company in 1999, the targeted population has turned out to be a very advanced exper tise user and has in turn compelled TiVo to raise the profundity and extent of expertise in their services and merchandise. Technological The application as well as comprehension of DVR is extensive all through the US and the United Kingdom. Some other nations are stuck in the introductory stages of the same. Expertise has made even the standard home setting computerised in a bid to imitate the necessary DVR practicality. In addition, the TV buy phase has shortened due to modernisations in expertise, kinds of offers, and quicker reductions in costs. The expertise presented in a separate TV component usually depicts practicality set in a computer (Hill and Jones 228). Porter’s Five Forces Influence of Buyers With the current availability of hardware and software, there has been swapping convenience for buyers. More suppliers of cable services offer the products and services like the ones offered by TiVo and at a better rate. This has generated severe rivalry. This has proved t hat buyers do not just go for high quality when it comes to better rates. Influence of suppliers Forward incorporation by manufacturers currently exists. There exists many suppliers in the marketplaces that are supplying hardware that is similar to the one offered by TiVo. Threats of entrants The ranges of operation of TiVo are two fold. These are namely: hardware and software operations. The enactment of the company on its copyrights has played a key role in keeping off the treats of new entrants with respect to hardware design and expertise. With regard to software, there are low capital demands thus making the threat of new entrant higher when judged against hardware. Nevertheless, TiVo has maintained its strength in the market and has retained a great market share. Threat of Substitutes The market has turned out to be very fragmented with competitors providing products that vary slightly with those of TiVo. Nevertheless, these products are taken to be similar by the buyers since they serve the same purpose. Force of competitive rivalry The saturation in the market has brought about high competition, which in return translates to reduced profits since suppliers demand cost effectiveness. The copyright lawsuits are sluggish and expensive ad has therefore led to creation of partnerships and alliances. Nevertheless, the expression â€Å"TiVo† has turned out to be changeable with DVR and thus the company has managed to retain competitive advantage. SWOT analysis The brand name for TiVo Company is internationally identified for excellence and novelty. Nevertheless, the setting of the industry has noticeably revolutionised in the recent past and the company encounters difficulties as it keeps on loosing clients, money, and market dominance. Fresh expertise has come up offering optional stages for accessing media through the Internet as well as competitors supplying products and services at extremely low prices comparing to the prices offered by TiVo Compan y (Hill and Jones 229-236). The SWOT analysis below underscores the strengths and weaknesses of TiVo Company and shows where to concentrate its precedence to guarantee financial achievement. Strengths Customer service Good brand image Product quality Versatile High client increase rates Joined forces with a lot of large reputable players for fast entry and growth in the United States and United Kingdom Several possible income streams Still capable of drawing fresh capital Weaknesses Financial support Monthly pricing plan Promotion Electronic trade High market development Market research statistics Replay is attracting most legal consideration Subsidised content Opportunities Distinctive attributes Interactivity Overdependence on partners Single suppliers for major product elements Threats DVD recorders imitate) Legal difficulties Legislative plan could limit opportunities Low barricades to entry (expertise is simple to ReplayTV Reputable players in long-established ma rkets are rooted and will execute defensive schemes to defend their market dominance (eroding traditional tactical fragment obstacles) UltimateTV VCR Numerous competitors – a lot of them are heavy weights Corporate-level strategy Currently, the vision of TiVo is â€Å"to be a leading provider of technology and services for advanced television solutions, including digital video recorders and in the future non-DVR set-top boxes and connected televisions.† Its mission is â€Å"to redefine home entertainment by providing consumers with an easy and intuitive way to record, watch, and control television and receive videos, pictures, and movies from cable, broadcast, and broadband sources.† With the varying customer tendencies, this statement is exceedingly constricted. In a bid to increase its information base and assist in changing its corporate-level strategy, TiVo Company should expand its mission and vision statements and increase the degree of skill of its board. The company has started pursuing this strategy by increasing its board members from 6 to 9. Additionally, the company is looking for and choosing board fellows from the software sector to assist in boosting its knowledge profoundly and make improvements. Board members that have prior experience are as well being hunted from hardware providers (such as Motorola) to help with incorporation (Hill and Jones 229). Moreover, it could be useful to hire a board member who has experience in promotion and particularly in the Asia Pacific area with knowledge in international growth into the upcoming markets. With TiVo Inc. starting the execution practice, the meetings of the board members will have to increase with greater frequency (for instance, after a fortnight) to undertake discussions in a bid to remain abreast of the execution progression and scrutinise competition more strongly. Visits being carried out by members of the board to various facilities and meeting workers in person will go a long way in enhancing a sense of worth and assurance all through the change and disruption period. Lastly, to generate a feeling of confidence, the company is seeking to augment its degree of transparency of management judgments and tactical trend. Business-level strategy For single-business companies like Tivo, their â€Å"business-level strategy is identical to corporate- level strategy† (Hill and Jones 216).The poor sales encountered by the company in 1999 became precious lesson to its promotion team. This encounter acted as the medium that generated the necessity for a novel communication approach by the company. Nevertheless, describing this novel promotion campaign was difficult, particularly subsequent to the response obtained concerning the products that illustrated issues like restricted responsiveness and difficult to communicate practicalities. The major objective of the novel promotion campaign is to choose a positioning policy that will quicken the acc eptance of TiVo and its products and services by customers (Hill and Jones 233). The promotion team could position the company as the excellent VCR that offers customers an exceptional television experience. The potential of the company surpasses the initiation of a novel product as it has the capacity to alter the routine of the way the people in the United Kingdom watch TV. As at this point, the company’s penetration has been tremendously restricted. Several customers do not know that it exists, and in this regard, the sales team is facing challenges in explaining the advantages of the products of the company. Furthermore, TiVo represented a fully new novel product that aimed at the enrichment of watching TV that was previously not in anybody’s list of priorities. In a bid to explain the benefits of TiVo’s products, the promotion team has taken into consideration application of dissimilar promotional sources for various reasons. Nevertheless, this move eradica tes the chances of delivering a constant message to every potential customer. In the absence of a constant message, there will be confusion amongst customers concerning what TiVo actually stands for. As TiVo advances, it is critical to enlarge its objectives past TV solutions to becoming the leading supplier of software expertise of optical media. This adjustment will translate into increases in customer consumption of media and assist in reflecting both a bigger market of potential as well as present customers (for instance, the ones who watch media just from computers in addition to other gadgets). In this regard, TiVo will permit for better understanding of TiVo’s increased dealings. For instance, TiVo offers the capacity to download pictures as well as other media into electronics. The present mission statement of TiVo fails to reveal such differentiation and is not extensive enough to include additional novelty. Any tactical aims referring to hardware or improvement ther eof will be erased and replaced with novel software invention (Hill and Jones 234). Finally, a proposed inclusion to the company’s business-level strategy could as well be to forge fresh tactical joint ventures. Tivo’s structure and management and the way they strengthen its strategy The value chain of the company recognises the unique mainstay effectiveness of sales and promotion, novelty, service, civilisation, and intellectual property protection. The critical roles of the value chain whether inward or outward logistics, in addition to roles are adequate. Nevertheless, the Department of Sales and Marketing (DSM) assumes the responsibility to form joint ventures and the effectiveness of the Marketing Department that are critical to TiVo. TiVo possesses a standard structure, by employing Broadcom as the only provider of the structure manager for the company’s DVR. TiVo does not presently have a lasting written provision accord with Broadcom. Additionally, the t wo lack a lasting provision accord with numerous other providers for major constituents in their value chain. In a bid to provide services associated with record administration, order accomplishment, and sales operations, Tivo relies fully on third parties (Hill and Jones 224). The failure to manage operations accurately in the company could bring about unwarranted risks to Tivo. The products of the company that have gained reputation include the original DVR provision with incomparable software, and their powerful image keeps on inspiring assurance in their merchandise. It is vital that promotion service keep on insisting on the company’s reputable icon. The support operations that are essential to TiVo include management, finance, and a powerful legal section that has been critical in defending the intellectual property of TiVo in the court cases. These court cases include the aforementioned one that TiVo had with EchoStar concerning patent infringement. The human resource management (HRM) of TiVo has been powerful in retaining a culture of novelty, upholding a research and development department that keeps on establishing additional attributes and practicality to the initial DVR expertise. A resource-anchored perspective of TiVo discloses concrete resources like sufficient money accounts and copyrights. The worker base of TiVo is strong, having a huge sum of experienced computer package experts as part of the personnel. The intangible assets of the company encompass a reputable brand name connected with recognition for excellence and service (Hill and Jones 234-236). TiVo bears a key organisational ability of a resilient kind, thus rejecting copyright violations while maintaining the support of every business operations. An assessment carried out in the company demonstrated that TiVo lacks a consistent competitive advantage. Nevertheless, with the termination of the court cases, TiVo will gradually attain a competitive advantage. Financial analysis R eturn on total assets (ROA) The ROA calculates the profit obtained on the deployment of assets. For TiVo, the ROA as at October 2006 is as follows: ROA= Net profit Total assets: ROA= $ 201,750 $ 28,244 ROA= 7 Liquidity Ratios The liquidity for TiVo is its capacity to satisfy short-term requirements. An asset is considered liquidity in case it can effortlessly be turned into cash. This case study looks into the current ratio for TiVo. Current ratio calculates the degree to which assets can be swiftly changed into cash to cover the claims of short-term creditors (Hill and Jones 227-232). Current ratio= Current assets Current liabilities: Current ratio= $117,427 $171,185 Current ratio= 1 Recommendations In a bid to retain a competitive advantage, get back market dominance, and expand its client base, TiVo has to establish new international markets, decrease expenditure on lawsuits, and obtain acquisition of smaller companies to boost its operations. TiVo must advance research and devel opment (RD) to maintain its international leadership status in software expertise, and create fresh internal ad external licensing accords for utilisation of its technology. TiVo should as well direct its corporate strategy on mainstay capability of software advancement to boost its technology TiVo should embark on promoting its brand and enlightening customers concerning the benefits of its products and services for additional development. In this regard, the company should hire trained personnel that can communicate in different languages to operate efficiently with organisations and clients across the globe. Responding to the inquiries of the clients using electronic mails and blogs could as well help in satisfying the requirements of customers. A decrease in the payment of the executives of the company is necessary as it could translate into decreased costs for the company’s products and services, which could lead to increased sales and thus motivate the employees in guar anteeing excellence. Works Cited Hill, Charles, and Gareth Jones. Theory of strategic management with cases, Stamford: South-Western Cengage learning, 2009. Print. This case study on Tivo 2008: Strategic management was written and submitted by user Desmond Q. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Anitbiotic resistant bacteria essays

Anitbiotic resistant bacteria essays Almost 60 years ago the first antibiotics were developed, and they were created at a time when previously untreatable infections such as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and syphilis could be almost miraculously cured. Infections like these could be a death sentence, and until recently they many be just that again. Microbes are learning the ability to fight of these antibiotics and become resistant to them. They are gaining resistance through a number of different ways, and science is in a race to keep up with there amazing evolution. Bacteria are the common name for prokaryotic cells, which lack a nucleus. Rather they have a nucleoid region where their DNA is stored in direct contact with their cytoplasm. Their DNA, through transcription and translation, directs ribosomes to assemble proteins. They reproduce by binary fission, and are mostly heterotrophic. Bacteria can exchange DNA in three ways: transformation, transduction, and conjugation. In transformation a bacterial cell becomes competent, or able to take up DNA from the surrounding fluids. In conjugation two bacterial cells, a donor and a recipient join and DNA is transferred from one to the other. In these cases the new DNA either incorporates itself into the existing DNA or forms an independent molecule within the cell called a plasmid (Christensen). Antibiotics are substances produced by microorganisms that kill or inhibit other microorganisms from growing or reproducing. Antibiotics are products of the earth and are all-natural. For clinical purposes, bacteria are said to be resistant to an antimicrobial when they are insignificantly affected by concentrations of the drug that can be achieved at the site of the infection. As might be expected, achievable concentrations vary dramatically from place to place in the body. Sensitivity of organisms to antimicrobials may be quantified by the minimum concentration required to inhibit their growth (minimum inhibitory concen...

Electrochemistry Calculations Using the Nernst Equation

Electrochemistry Calculations Using the Nernst Equation The Nernst equation is used to calculate the voltage of an electrochemical cell or to find the concentration of one of the components of the cell. The Nernst Equation The Nernst equation relates the equilibrium cell potential (also called the Nernst potential) to its concentration gradient across a membrane. An electric potential will form if there is a concentration gradient for the ion across the membrane and if selective ions channels exist so that the ion can cross the membrane. The relation is affected by temperature and whether the membrane is more permeable to one ion over others. The equation may be written: Ecell E0cell - (RT/nF)lnQ Ecell cell potential under nonstandard conditions (V)E0cell cell potential under standard conditionsR gas constant, which is 8.31 (volt-coulomb)/(mol-K)T temperature (K)n number of moles of electrons exchanged in the electrochemical reaction (mol)F Faradays constant, 96500 coulombs/molQ reaction quotient, which is the equilibrium expression with initial concentrations rather than equilibrium concentrations Sometimes it is helpful to express the Nernst equation differently: Ecell E0cell - (2.303*RT/nF)logQ at 298K, Ecell E0cell - (0.0591 V/n)log Q Nernst Equation Example A zinc electrode is submerged in an acidic 0.80 M Zn2 solution which is connected by a salt bridge to a 1.30 M Ag solution containing a silver electrode. Determine the initial voltage of the cell at 298K. Unless youve done some serious memorizing, youll need to consult the standard reduction potential table, which will give you the following information: E0red: Zn2aq 2e- → Zns -0.76 V E0red: Agaq e- → Ags 0.80 V Ecell E0cell - (0.0591 V/n)log Q Q [Zn2]/[Ag]2 The reaction proceeds spontaneously so E0 is positive. The only way for that to occur is if Zn is oxidized (0.76 V) and silver is reduced (0.80 V). Once you realize that, you can write the balanced chemical equation for the cell reaction and can calculate E0: Zns → Zn2aq 2e- and E0ox 0.76 V 2Agaq 2e- → 2Ags and E0red 0.80 V which are added together to yield: Zns 2Agaq → Zn2a 2Ags with E0 1.56 V Now, applying the Nernst equation: Q (0.80)/(1.30)2 Q (0.80)/(1.69) Q 0.47 E 1.56 V - (0.0591 / 2)log(0.47) E 1.57 V

How I Undertook the Conduct of Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

How I Undertook the Conduct of Research - Essay Example Where did you start with your research? b. How and why did you approach the various aspects of your work? c. How, why and where you found things? d. Why were some things useful, and why were others not? Where did you start your research? The research done in order to write the research paper was conducted with a view to analyse existing legal rules and jurisprudence on the law on assisted dying. I started my research by first reflecting and asking myself what I wanted to find out and how I wanted to proceed. Did I have a specific opinion on whether or not the law should be reformed and then find justification for such an opinion, or did I want my own opinions to be shaped by the data that I would come across in the course of my own research? The first thing I did was to acknowledge that I had a specific and definite opinion on the issue of assisted dying and it was that I believed the law was in great need of reformHowever, I also wanted to ensure that I started as objectively as pos sible, and thus it was important for me to get an accurate definition of assisted suicide. For this, I wanted not grey literature or advocacy literature, but something scientific and credible. Thus I relied on a book entitled â€Å"Medical Law and Ethics†. I found that the definition of euthanasia, or assisted dying is, the act of consciously assisting someone’s death in order to relieve that person of suffering as a result of terminal illness1. I also found that this can be broken down into even more classifications, such as passive and active, as well as voluntary and involuntary. After knowing what the definition of euthanasia, I then focused on finding what the law presently states on the subject matter. For this, it was of course helpful to not only look at the appropriate statutes and criminal code, but also to look at what eminent jurists were saying on the subject matter. It quickly became clear in the course of my research that while neighbouring countries lik e The Netherlands and Belgium – both in close proximity to the United Kingdom in more ways than geography -- have allowed euthanasia and in fact, many citizens of the UK and around the world have made the tip to these two countries to have assisted suicide performed on them, it is still illegal in our jurisdiction. How and why did you approach the various aspects of your work? Because I did not want to just focus on a general reform call, I wanted to be specific to a particular bill. To this end, I focused on the Assisted Suicide bill by Lord Joffe, which was priorly defeated in the House of Lords. As I stated in my reform paper, the bill, if enacted into law, would allow terminally ill patients to seek drugs from their doctors that would end their lives. The benefits of the act, if passed, will only be for those who have been medically diagnosed to live for six months, who are suffering from unbearable pain, and who are psychologically of sound mind and not depressed. I chos e this particular reform bill because it is by and large the most debated upon and controversial bill with respect to euthanasia and the debates on the merits of this bill have not abated even after its defeat. This research primarily relied on doctrinal methods. Paul Chynoweth defines the Doctrinal Legal Research as follows:

'An emissions trading scheme is a better policy instrument than a Essay

'An emissions trading scheme is a better policy instrument than a carbon tax in tackling climate change.' Critically evaluat - Essay Example Two of the most widely accepted instruments in this regard are: ‘Emissions Trading Scheme’ and ‘Carbon Tax’ (Van Asselt, 2010, p.126). Both of them are being utilized by the government in order to reduce toxic emission in the natural environment. However, the government has only limited the amount of emissions rather than solving this issue from the roots. Emissions trading scheme allows the industries to release a certain amount of pollutants in to the air. It is basically a market based approach which is supported by economic incentives (Cass, 2005, 38). When a firm successfully reduces its emission of pollutants then it is most likely valued by the government. In contrast to this the carbon tax is a mere pricing strategy according to which households and firms are supported to control pollution with the implementation of various technologies and plantation. In this case the firms have to pay a certain amount of tax because of burning fossil fuels or causi ng gas pollution (Eckersley, 2010, p. 367). This paper aims to critically evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of both the pollution controlling strategies while supporting the claim that emissions trading scheme