Strategic Analysis of BP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic Analysis of BP - Research Paper Example An extensive literature review based on the firm’s strategic capabilities has been devoted in this study. Dynamic capability of a firm refers to the capabilities of strategic management in a competitive environment particularly in a perfect competition market where strategic insight is highly essential. This paper has described that theories are not sufficient to analyze the competitive performance of BP in the oil and gas industry. But a combination of study from both the field of strategic management and organization studies can show how a firm can develop symbolic capital by the social reputation and commitment. Theoretically it is called license to act which is critical activity of a firm. BP was involved in the incident of Deepwater Horizon spill in Gulf of Mexico. For this instance BP has to pay a huge amount of interest as the affected country was US and thereafter BP lost billions of its market shares. BP’s turnaround has been based on its performance and it was a symbolical event to this industry since 2005. BP managers followed a strategic activity which is theoretically called license to act which represented through the company’s acquisition of symbolic act. Discussion of theories & models from literature Three theories from the literature have been synthesized for effective discussion and analysis of the BP case. These are dynamic capability, discursive environment and symbolic capital. ... Resource based competitive advantage represents the efficient selection and optimum allocation of resources in the form of asset creation to gain capabilities that are rare and valuable for the firm itself. Organizations are aware of their internal capabilities which is analyzed by the performance and evaluated by the outcomes of the adequate level of performance. People in the organization learn new things with their work which summarized and termed as experience but when they gain experience through codification and articulation then it is termed as dynamic capability not only the general experience (Makhija, 2003, p.435). Organizations are typically constituted by past routines and patterns of different activities which the organization has followed earlier. Dynamic capabilities help the organization to realize the essential strategic objectives which can be imnp0limented through value addition in different activities. Apart from this strategic benefit, the firm can gain some othe r qualitative advantages. Differentiation of brand recognition is enhanced through effective strategic framework i.e. how fast and in what extend the developed strategies is implemented. The firm faces different obstacles in the way of implementation of different activities and for this reason it need to create an alternative framework for maintaining sustainable performance of the firm. The firm essentially needs dynamic capabilities for this type of effective performance strategy. It is reflected through the ability to gain new competitive advantage in the market dynamics. It is possible only through changes in the operational capabilities regarding implementation of activities. So the main aim of a production firm

Final Project 1960 Time Capsule Essay Example for Free

Final Project 1960 Time Capsule Essay After receiving a very intriguing call from my colleagues, about a great time capsule find, I made my immediate departure for a little place we call the Red Zone previously known as Colorado. As I arrive I help my colleagues to unearth a time capsule from the period of the 1960s. We carefully opened the capsule that had intrigued us all so much to find five articles inside that told a great story of our past and of the decade beginning in 1960. The following is a summary of my findings within the capsule. The first of the five articles contained within the capsule was The Berlin Wall of 1961, also known as â€Å"The Iron Curtain†. This wall once more than 30 miles of barbed wire was a barrier between the Communist East Germany and the Democratic West Germany, became a series of concrete walls up to fifteen feet high, 96 miles long and guarded by towers armed with guards. After WWII Germany was split into four zones, three controlled by France, Britain, and The United States, and the other one by The Soviet Union; the Berlin Wall was constructed to separate the zone (East Germany) that was controlled by the Soviet Union from the zones (West Germany) controlled by France, Britain and the United States. It was here at the Berlin Wall that John F. Kennedy gave one of his memorable speeches, â€Å"There are many people in the world who really dont understand, or say they dont, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lasssie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.† The construction and demolition of the Berlin Wall(1989-90) are important milestones of the Cold War. The second item found in the capsule was the March on Washington of 1963. Attended by some 250,000 people, it was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation’s capital, and one of the first to have extensive television coverage (Ross, 2007). The stated demands of the march were the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; protection for demonstrators against police brutality; a major public-works program to provide jobs; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; a $2 an hour minimum wage; and self-government for the District of Columbia, which had a black majority (Ross,2007). Demanding jobs and freedom from the nation’s capital this march successfully pressured the Kennedy administration to initiate a civil rights bill in Congress. This is also when Martin Luther King gave his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech. Although it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that the demands of the march were met, it was a major point in the peaceful war for civil and equal rights for all Americans. Without this peaceful demonstration the civil rights movement could have been pushed even further back in its effort for an equal nation. The effects of this event can still be seen today as we are now seen as American rather than white and black or rich or poor. The third item discovered in the capsule was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. On this day President Kennedy accompanied by his wife, John Connelly and his wife Nellie rode in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, TX. It was during this ride that President Kennedy was shot around 12:30 pm the driver then rushed the President to Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:00pm. This horrible travesty shook America for years to come. News of the assassination changed the source of news from then on. Until this point newspapers had been the main source of news, until the assassination which brought on the longest uninterrupted television broadcast to date. The assassination also stuck fear in the African-Americans that the assassination would put a halt to the progress for civil rights. However, the assassination seemed to spur the civil rights movement which resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Lyndon Johnson. The assassination also changed the way the secret service operates today. Although during those times the President  was freer to move around openly, now secret service agents keep the president more secure and his availability limited. It is also thought that had the president not been assassinated the Vietnam War would have ended and many of our troops would not have died. The assassination opens up the possibility of â€Å"what if?†, and fueled conspiracy theorist for many, many years to come. This showed the weakness of American by its own hand. The fourth item in the capsule was the moon landing in 1969. July 16, 9:32am three astronauts (Neil Armstong, Buzz Aldridge, and Michael Collins) sit waiting for launch permission. By 9:44am they are in Earth orbit, July 20 at 10:56pm Neil Armstrong takes his first step on the moon. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: Thats one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. (htt5). This was proof of great technological advancement and completion of the challenge set forth by President Kennedy over nine years ago. Project Apollo took on a life of its own over the years and left an important legacy to both the nation and the proponents of space exploration. Its success was enormously significant, coming at a time when American society was in crisis (htt6). This event showed the world and Americans everywhere that The United States was still the ultimate power by demonstrating to the world what the United States could achieve. The moon landing changed the way we viewed the Earth as they pointed a small portable camera toward Earth, showing just how small and fragile the planet really is in the scheme of the universe. The samples taken and brought back from the moon landing opened up knew scientific testing and led the way to multiple other moon landings and advancing our knowledge of space itself. The last item in the intriguing capsule was the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969. This was a three day concert at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the town of Bethel. More than half a million people came together united in a message of peace, openness and cultural expression – and demonstrated how a generation could be heard (htt7) Woodstock is committed to living by its principles – we believe in universal human rights, ethical business practices, unfettered creative expression, free trade, the loving care of our planet, the power of the individual to make a difference, and the  overwhelming impact of communities to act as agents of peaceful change (htt7). However, the festival involved music (rock ‘n roll), drugs, sex and nudity. This festival came at a time when American had been through hard times. With the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Martin Luther King the United States was tired and weary. The peaceful concert changed the way music was marketed from then on, now knowing that fans were willing to give up popular amenities to have sight of the musicians they loved. The change on music and pop culture of the time was historic. In 1969, rock critic Ellen Sander appraised the immediate impact of the Festival this way: No longer can the magical multicolored phenomenon of pop culture be overlooked or underrated. It’s happening everywhere, but now it has happened in one place at one time so hugely that it was indeed historic . The audience was a much bigger story than the groups. It was major entertainment news that the line-up of talent was of such magnificence and magnitude (thirty-one acts, nineteen of which were colossal) . These were, however, the least significant events of what happened over the Woodstock weekend. What happened was that the largest number of people ever assembled for any event other than a war lived together, intimately and meaningfully and with such natural good cheer that they turned on not only everyone surrounding them but the mass media, and, by extension, millions of others, young and old, particularly many elements hostile to the manifestations and ignorant of the substance of pop culture. (htt8). This change in pop culture has left an undying footprint on the history of the world with its new found music, art and literary styles. It is clear after examining and researching the incredible articles within the time capsule that the 1960 era was an extreme time of change for the American people. This decade in our history so full of such life changing events not only in the United States but also in other countries that rely on support from the United States. Its story shows our ability to adapt to ever changing situations around us and the resilience of the American people. Whether it is fighting Communism, the loss of a great leader, fighting for our rights, landing on the moon, or expressing or freedom in culture we are a strong nation and when faced with a great challenge we answer that challenge with a great success. Although many have been lost  along the way as a whole we stand one nation, united. References (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.tenfactsabout.co.uk/0003berlinwall.htm (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_march_on_washington_for_jobs_and_freedom/ (n.d.). Retrieved from Civil Rights March on Washington (History, Facts, Martin Luther King Jr.) | Infoplease.com. Infoplease. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/19/john-f-kennedy-assassination-racial-equality-jfk (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11_40th.html (n.d.). Retrieved from http://history.nasa.gov/ap11-35ann/legacy.html (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.woodstock.com/ (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.woodstockpreservation.org/SignificanceStatement.htm http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1867.html. (n.d.).

A History of Video Game Development Essay -- the last of us, Neil Druc

Video games are an ever-growing franchise that is constantly undergoing change. Ever since the dawn of video games, new consoles, games, developers, and teams have come together, fallen apart, triumphed, and failed. What is it that has allowed some to thrive where others failed? Several different factors have changed and influenced the world of gaming, including the history that is continuously being written, the people who have built the games behind the scenes, and, of course, the actual video games themselves. Numerous video games have been more successful than others, but identifying what components set the successful apart from the unsuccessful is something definitely worth observing. To find an answer to this statement, one must first delve back into the roots of where video games began. In 1996, Ralph Baer, an employee of Sanders Associates, envisioned the idea of a television gaming apparatus. Ideally, the contraption could be hooked up to a television and would be complete with a chase game and a visual tennis game. By 1970, Ralph’s idea became a reality as the very first home video game system, which he dubbed, the Odyssey. Though the Odyssey, by modern day standards, might be considered boring, at the time it was made it was an enjoyable and satisfying system. Although, as with all originals, it could easily be improved upon, fixed, and made more entertaining altogether. From 1972 and on, several establishments, corporations, and teams formed in an attempt to improve upon the foundation that Ralph Baer had laid out before them. Although, most of these organizations ended up falling apart due to not being able to make enough money or due to losi ng out to another group. Some of the less fortunate institutio... ...is not needed, a person can successfully construct an exceptional video game. Works Cited Caoili, E. (2013). The Last of Us wins an armful of E3 Game Critics Awards. Gamasutra. Retrieved from www.gamasutra.com/view/news/173052/ Karmali, L. (2013). The Last of Us Sells 3.4 Million Copies in Three Weeks. IGN. Retrieved from www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/09/the-last-of-us-sells-34-million-copies-in-three-weeks Miller, M. (2005, April 1). A History of Home Video Game Consoles. Informit.com/articles. Retrieved November 11, 2013, from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=378141 Smith, E. (2013a). The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann and Less Being More. International Business Times. Retrieve from www.ibtimes.co.uk Smith, E. (2013b). The Last of Us Review [VIDEO]. International Business Times. Review of The Last of Us. Retrieved from www.ibtimes.co.uk

America’s Crossroads

The fifty year span between 1870 and 1920 in United States history found our great, growing nation struggling with many economic, racial and social crisis. Rules were made and broken. Walls were built and torn down. Lines were drawn and crossed. With a huge cultural chasm yawning out across an invisible landscape, rocked on its foundations by a civil war, the United States of America stood at a crossroads, It was now entering uncharted territory. Would it let the torrent of differences and alienation between itself and its vanquished other half divide the nation forever? Or would it have the fortitude, forbearance, and mercy to begin the heart-rending task of putting the pieces back together again and truly becoming â€Å"one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all†? Though emotionally exhausted from its assuredly un-civil war, and except for the decimated South, the nations economic health was excellent. New opportunities abounded for the young and enterprising in the large cities that were growing ever larger thanks to the flood of immigrants searching for the American dream. And in this new post-Civil War era standards remained static in many areas, were raised in others, and certainly, most glaringly in the political-economic arena, fell in others. Great wealth, power, and prosperity accumulated quickly after the Civil War, and everyone wanted a hand in it. However, because standards were so lax in the political-economic area, a preoccupation with material and monetary gain increased. Men whose principal claim to this newfound wealth and power (characteristics certainly envied) was through corruption and ruthlessness. A good example of one of these men was â€Å"†¦ John D. Rockefeller in oil. He saw a marketplace of huge integrated companies, cooperating to avoid competition. The virtue of this new form of production, for Rockefeller, was its efficiency. Then he [Rockefeller] set out to eliminate competition: they could sell out to him at his price: they could become his agents; or they could be destroyed† (261 Carol Noble). Not just another term for â€Å"survival of the fittest†, efficiency and being efficient would revolutionize the industrial age, its people, and its culture. The humming and expanding continent, for all its corruption and crudities, embodied progress, and nothing would stand in its way. Rockefeller would go on to speak prophetically about the social changes to come: â€Å"The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return† (261 Carol Noble). As individualism was being ground up and replaced under the heels of industrialism, another â€Å"-ism†, racism, and second-class citizenship towards immigrants, blacks, and anyone with a different religion, remained unchanged. People from all walks of life that had come to the land of opportunity were increasingly forced into working alongside one another. â€Å"Corporate leaders well understood and the exploited the ethnic groups within the labor force† (265 Carol Noble). Pitting blacks against whites, whites against whites, Swedes against Slovaks, and Catholics against Jews, the fat cat's just sat back and laughed. â€Å"They deliberately worked to deepen resentment between them† (265 Carol Noble). This, to me, is a very repulsive side to the new industrial age and its efficiency. These so-called â€Å"leaders† exploited many honest, hardworking people because of their ethnicity, low-class, and ignorance. Spurred on by their greed, their bosses greed, and greedy human nature in general. Treating people like they were animals in search of the almighty buck. To a small degree in their defense, America had never been here before. It never had industries, corporations, and things of this nature. It now had large railroads connecting the nation to make â€Å"†¦ it possible for regional specialization to be linked to the national economy† (260 Carol Noble). This was all new and people took advantage of it like hogs to slop. No discipline, no planning or thinking ahead. It was all going to last forever is what they probably thought. However, one people, one race, had been here before. Subjected to unheard of treatment, domination, and abuse for the past four hundred and some odd years, African-Americans did not know what to do with their new found freedom. â€Å"This child race had received total guidance from the whites during the period of slavery† (252 Carol Noble). Though they were not considered slaves anymore, they might as well have been. Ostracized to a ridiculous extent in almost every conceivable area, blacks were still hated by southern whites like Adolph Hitler hated the Jews. â€Å"This crusading prejudice produced rigid forms of social segregation between 1890 and 1910† (254 Carol Noble). Many people thought segregation would work just fine. Many others did not. Among them were the ones who could actually do something about it †¦ the â€Å"leaders†. Many of them â€Å"†¦ advocated the deportation of blacks, [while] other northern leaders listened to more extreme proposals, such as â€Å"to emasculate the entire Negroe race† (255 Carol Noble). These prejudice men would roll over in their graves at the progress blacks would go on to make by the latter half of the twentieth century versus the late nineteenth century. Blacks were not going to be held down m, and the squashing of the individual who, in the words of Andrew Carnegie, didn't have â€Å"the special talent required† to create and keep capitol (46 Kammen). A lot of these so-called â€Å"untalented† people were of course of the working class and the new efficiency invading the culture had them reeling. On top of all the myriad of changes and unstableness in the workplace was a new type of management by Frederick W. Taylor. â€Å"‘Taylorism' became an international byword for social control and for programs designed to make men function like machines† (87 Kammen). Of course men are not like machines and so cannot function like them. Standards were not being raised in this critical backbone area of industry due to â€Å"Taylorism†, and labor America voiced it with â€Å"†¦ growing labor unrest and major strikes, especially in 1911-12† (87 Kammen). Workers, it turned out, had brains and wanted to use them. Many of the people that were working at the turn of the twentieth century were woman, as the new efficiency permeating society pushed them out of the home and into the work force. They also campaigned against inequality and male double-standards. Tired of staying at home anyway, women were becoming more outspoken and independent. â€Å"Increasing numbers of young women attended colleges, choosing to become teachers, librarians, and social workers† (242 Carol Noble). Chafing under restraint, women flexed their way into public life and changed the way they were viewed. In summary, change happens in all areas of life and at all times of life. It establishes itself as unpredictable, unreliable, maddening. Like the butterfly theory of flapping its wings in Tokyo and creating a rainstorm in Central Park, change is the weather of history. One thing influences another and another, producing good and bad. In life, human nature is the constant; it is what affects change.

Piaget’s stages of development Essay

Sensory Motor Stage Piaget’s first stage of development is the sensory motor stage. This stage occurs between the birth of the child and the age of two. During this stage, understanding comes from touching, sucking, chewing, and manipulating objects. About nine months after birth, the child develops what is called ‘object permanence’. Object permanence is the awareness that objects and people continue to exist even if they are out of sight. The infants have the ability to build up mental pictures of objects around them, from the knowledge that they have developed on what can be done with the object. Through manipulation, babies accumulate information on themselves and the world that lead to the slight understanding of how one thing can cause or affect another, and begins to develop simple ideas about time and space. An example of this would be that a baby can realize that if they cry when they are hungry, the mother will attend to them (Fleck, 1975, p. 3). Preoperational Stage Piaget’s second stage of development was the preoperational stage. The preoperational stage of development occurs between the ages of two to seven years. During this stage, children’s though processes are developing. There is a development of language and use of symbols. Children still use egocentric thought, meaning that they view the world entirely from his or her own perspective. ‘Animism’ is also a characteristic of the preoperational stage. This is when a person has the belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness. An example of this would be that a child would believe the sink isn’t turning on because it is sick or that the water will be hot because it’s angry. A child at this stage of development appears to view his social relationships and the physical reality egocentrically. This means that they view the world with a marked tendency to evaluate interaction with others in terms of its contribution to their own experience of satisfaction. So moral realism is an aspect of this stage because children think that their thoughts on the difference between right and wrong are shared by everyone else around them. (Appel, 1977, p. 4). Concrete Operational Stage Piaget’s third stage of development is the concrete operational stage. The  concrete operational stage of development occurs in children between the ages of seven and twelve. Before the beginning of this stage, children’s ideas about different objects are formed and dominated by their appearance. An example of this is that they believe there are less toys when they are all piled up rather than spread out across the floor because it takes up more space on the ground. During this stage, the thought process becomes more rational, mature, adult-like, and operational. Children in this stage of development lose their egocentric frame of thought and begin to think logically. This especially is true for the child’s ability to develop logical thought about an object that they are able to physically manipulate. These children have difficulty understanding abstract, hypothetical questions. Children at the concrete-operational level would be expected to draw on the experie nces of others in evaluating their environment, giving more realistic and natural. (Koocher, 1973, p. 2). Formal Operations Stage Piaget’s last stage of development is the formal operational stage. The formal operational stage of development begins at the age of around eleven or twelve and is fully achieved by the age of fifteen and taken throughout the rest of adulthood. The structures of development become the more abstract, logically organized system of adult intelligence. There are two major characteristics of formal operational thought including ‘hypothetic-deductive reasoning’ and ‘propositional reasoning’. Hypothetic-deductive reasoning means that when faced with a problem, the person is able to come up with a general summary of all the possible factors that might affect the outcome, and the different outcomes possible. Propositional reasoning means that adolescents can focus on verbal assertions and evaluate their logical validity without making reference to real-world circumstances. In concrete operational development, children can only evaluate the logic of statements based off of concrete evidence. Formal operational development brings critical, theoretical, and problem-solving types of thought that gives them much more thought and understanding than they had in the past. (Koocher, 1973, p. 8). â€Å"Are we forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known? Or should we try to develop creative and innovative minds, capable of  discovery from the preschool age on, throughout life?† –Jean Piaget On August 9, 1896, developmental psychologist and philosopher Jean Piaget was born. Jean was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a theory of cognitive child development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities. Before Piaget’s work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults which he disproved showing the strikingly different ways children think in comparison to adults. Piaget’s theories of child development continue to be studied in the field of education. His theory differs from others in several ways. For one, it is concerned with children, rather than all learners. It also focuses on development rather than learning so it does not address learning of information or specific behaviors. It proposes discrete stages of development marked by qualitative differences, rather than a gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, and ideas.

CHILD ABUSE 1 Essay

CHILD ABUSE 1 Essay CHILD ABUSE 1 Essay CHILD ABUSE 1 (JOURNAL 2) In church I normally talk to people on the basic of one to one. Some people love to talk about what they are going through and some, what they are planning to do. But we have some of the people who are comfortable speaking to the other leaders. On the second Sunday on the month in January one particular lady come to me and shared with me what she said she had never shared with anybody in her life. She said this inner pain has been in her since she was six years old. She explained how she was sexually abused by her uncle and was warned not to mention anything to anybody. This went on for four years until she threaten her uncle that she was going to tell her mother if he was not going to stop. Her mother was busy working to make ends meet for her and her siblings. She indeed managed to put a stop but she never knew that what happened to her at that younger age would be something tormenting her everyday. She said she would remember it every day of her life, and the more she thought abou t it the more she felt bad about it. Her experience explained to me about her attitude around people. She was always on her own and would not want to mingle with other people. I spoke to her by relating to Joyce Myers incident, where her own father was the one who abused her but she choose to forgive her father and move on. She told me she never thought that she would share it with anybody but it was destroying her from the inside. I met with her counselling her and praying for healing and also talking to her about forgiving. This was not easy, as she thought nobody would believe her story after many years. I asked her if she would be a help to the other parents, and share her incident so that mothers would be careful with their daughters. She accepted and I gave her chance to testify for few minutes during our ladies meeting in which she did and

5 Sentences That Should Save the Best Until Last

5 Sentences That Should Save the Best Until Last 5 Sentences That Should Save the Best Until Last 5 Sentences That Should Save the Best Until Last By Mark Nichol English is a flexible enough language that a set of words can be ordered in any of several ways to communicate the same idea. However, in writing as in many other human endeavors just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Here are five sentences rendered more effective by positioning the most important information at the end. 1. â€Å"He had told her that his illegal drugs were actually vitamins for months.† This sentence, like many others that include a misplaced modifier, suffers because it reads as if the perpetrator had told someone that the illegal drugs in his possession were vitamins intended as nutritional supplements for the periods of days known as months, after which they were not so intended. This is a â€Å"You know what I meant† mistake, which is still a mistake. A better rendition one that appropriately positions the modifier directly after the verb it modifies places the key detail in the final position: â€Å"He had told her for months that his illegal drugs were actually vitamins.† 2. â€Å"Outdoor illicit drug markets are free of the stuff and crime bosses say they get the credit, not the government.† What is it about drugs and clumsy sentences? The latter part of the sentence implies that crime bosses say that they get one thing (the credit) and not the other (the government). What the sentence means is that crime bosses are taking credit for the absence of a substance from illicit drug markets; they, not the government, they claim, are responsible for the beneficial result. Placing the two contenders for credit in contrasting parallel, as I did in the previous sentence (and inserting a helpful comma between the two independent clauses), improves the sentence structure and clarifies the meaning: â€Å"Outdoor illicit drug markets are free of the stuff, and crime bosses say they, not the government, should get the credit.† 3. â€Å"He was a member of the team during that series but did not play due to a concussion.† â€Å"He . . . did not play due to a concussion† invites the question â€Å"Why did he play?† But the concussion is the cause of his nonparticipation in the series. The intended meaning becomes clear if the phrase â€Å"due to a concussion† is inserted as an interjection before the key fact (â€Å"he . . . did not play†), rather than confusingly appended to it: â€Å"He was a member of the team during that series but, due to a concussion, did not play.† 4. â€Å"It’s not just losing in the regular season that strengthens your core, but losing in the playoffs as well.† The correction to this sentence may seem to contradict the point of this post. Isn’t â€Å"losing in the playoffs,† rather than â€Å"losing in the regular season,† the point of the statement? Actually, as demonstrated in the previous sentence, contrasting phrases are best positioned together in the midst of a sentence. The key detail is what the two types of losing have in common: â€Å"It’s not just losing in the regular season, but losing in the playoffs as well, that strengthens your core.† 5. â€Å"The longer she stayed, the more interesting and meaningful the experience became, despite the hardships involved.† The false key, however, isn’t always best relegated to the midst of the sentence. Sometimes it’s best to get it out of the way at the beginning: â€Å"Despite the hardships involved, the longer she stayed, the more interesting and meaningful the experience became.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Rules for Writing Numbers and NumeralsItalicizing Foreign WordsOne Scissor?

Nathaniel Alexander, Inventor of a Folding Chair

Nathaniel Alexander, Inventor of a Folding Chair On July 7, 1911, an African-American man named Nathaniel Alexander of Lynchburg, Virginia patented a folding chair. According to his patent, Nathaniel Alexander designed his chair to be used in schools, churches, and other auditoriums. His design included a book rest that was usable for the person sitting in the seat behind and was ideal for church or choir use.​ Fast Facts: Nathaniel Alexander Known For: African-American patent holder for a folding chairBorn: UnknownParents: UnknownDied: UnknownPublished Works: Patent 997,108, filed March 10, 1911, and granted July 4 the same year Little Biographical Data Alexanders invention is found on many lists for black American inventors. However, he has escaped having much biographical information known about him. What can be found confuses him with an early governor of the state of North Carolina, who was not a black American. One says he was born in the early 1800s in North Carolina and died several decades before the date of the patent of the folding chair. Another one, which is written as satire, says he was born the same year as the patent was issued. These seem obviously erroneous. Patent 997108 is the only invention on record for Nathaniel Alexander, but on March 10, 1911, his application was witnessed by two people: James R.L. Diggs and C.A. Lindsay. James R.L. Diggs was a Baptist minister from Baltimore (born in 1865), who was a member of the Niagara Movement, and holder of an MA from Bucknell University and a PhD in Sociology from Illinois Wasleyan in 1906- in fact, Diggs was the first African-American to hold a Sociology Ph.D. in the United States. The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights movement led by W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter, who assembled in Niagara Falls, Ontario (American hotels barred blacks), to discuss Jim Crow laws following the Reconstruction. They met annually between 1905 and 1910: in between 1909 and 1918, Diggs corresponded with DuBois about a possible history of the movement, among other things. There may have only been a passing connection between Alexander and Diggs. Foldable Chairs for Churches and Choirs Alexanders folding chair is not the first folding chair patent in the United States. His innovation was that it included a book rest, making it suitable for use in places where the back of one chair could be used as a desk or shelf by the person seated behind. This would certainly be convenient when setting up rows of chairs for choirs, so they could rest music on the chair ahead of each singer, or for churches where a prayer book, hymnal, or Bible could be placed on the reading shelf during the service. Folding chairs allow the space to be used for other purposes when there is not a class or church service. Today, many congregations meet in spaces that used to be large big box stores, supermarkets, or other large, cavernous rooms, Using folding chairs set up only during services, they are able to quickly turn the space into a church. In the early part of the 20th century, congregations likewise might have met outdoors, in warehouses, barns, or other spaces that didnt have fixed seating or pews. Earlier Folding Chair Patents Folding chairs have been in use for thousands of years in many cultures, including ancient Egypt and Rome. They were even commonly used in churches as liturgical furniture in the Middle Ages. Here are some other patents for folding chairs that were granted prior to that of Nathaniel Alexander: M.S. Beach of Brooklyn, New York patented a folding chair for pews, U.S. Patent No. 18377 on October 13, 1857. However, this design appears to be a drop-down seat such as an airplane jump seat rather than a chair you can fold, stack, and store away.J.P.A.  Spaet, W.F. Berry and J.T. Snoddy of Mount Pleasant, Iowa were granted U.S. Patent No. 383255 on May 22,  1888, for a folding chair designed to look much like a regular chair when in use. It could be folded up to be stored away and save space.C. F. Batt patented a folding chair for steamers on June 4, 1889, U.S. Patent No. 404,589. Batts patent notes that he was seeking improvements on longstanding folding chair designs, especially avoiding having a hinge at the side arms that can pinch your fingers when folding or unfolding the chair. Sources Alexander, Nathaniel. Chair. Patent 997108. 1911.Batt, C.F. Folding Chair. Patent 383255. 1888.Beach, M.S. Char. Patent 18377. 1857.Pipkin, James Jefferson. James R.L. Diggs. The Negro in Revelation, in History and in Citizenship: What the Race has Done and is Doing. St. Louis: N.D. Thompson Publishing Company, 1902Spaet, J.P.A., W. F. Berry and J.T. Snoddy. Folding Chair for Steamers. Patent 404,589. 1889.WEB DuBois Correspondence with J.R.L. Diggs, Special Collections, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Operations Management in Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Operations Management in Business - Assignment Example It helps the organization to determine the business process of the firm. However, the tactical level includes the process of project management, selection of equipments, scheduling of processes, materials and goods traffic handling. Thus it handles the entire production operation of the plant (MITSloan, 2014). The operations of an organization allow it to accomplish its mission by employing the right technological and human recourses driven by the right managerial processes. Operation management allows an organization of produce goods as well as services. The manufacturing process yields tangible products as output whereas the service operations produce intangible output. Operations management process can be broken down in to simple steps like Planning, Organizing and Controlling. Planning involves laying down the blueprint of the course of actions. Organizing establishes the structure of the tasks involved and the hierarchy of authorities. Controlling allows the manager to ensure that the tasks are aligned with the plans. Thus the operations management allows a firm to meet its organizational goals by efficiently producing its goods and services in order to meet the demands of the customers (Kumar and Suresh, 2009). This section covers the operations function of The Bramble Co., which is a furniture wholesale supplier, headquartered in Wisconsin, USA. It supplies finished goods to countries like Australia, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand, etc. The company runs its privately owned manufacturing plant in Java, Indonesia. The manufacturing plant covers a massive area of seven hectares (The Bramble Co., 2014). The company uses high end wood crafting technology along with integration of traditional craftsmanship. Bramble employs skilled workers from Europe in order to establish an efficient workforce. The company ships around seventy containers per month each having a size of

Chose any of the folowings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chose any of the folowings - Essay Example The end result would be the recruitment and selection of human resource in excessive of demand. Therefore, human resource planning would be important as this would avoid situations of retrenchment in later cases or inflating the wage bill hence low profitability. It is also essential to have a well co-ordinated human resource plan in order to match skills with jobs. Scheduling of jobs to match skills is one area of resource planning. This reduces wastages in that people are given jobs that they can best handle unlike in situations where people do tasks that they little comprehend leading to losses, through breakages, over - usage of materials. It also avoids wastages in terms of time saved. When people are assigned jobs matching their experiences and skills. Effective human resource planning also culminates in an arrangement of jobs such that as one job is completed another is started. This reduces incidences of employees waiting to do their jobs past the official working hours which are costly to the firm since they have to be paid overtime. Such an arrangement could also have led to an increase in labour turnover rate. Secondly, resource planning aids the organization in the effective management of its cash flows, both cash inflows and cash outflows. When resources are planned, the right quantity/ volume are used thus avoiding tying up money in material resources. It is important for any given firm to have a steady flow of cash so that it can effectively carry out its dividend and re - investment decision. It also reduces its financial risk i.e. of not being able to meet short - term maturing financial obligations as and when they fall due for payment. Third, resource planning gives the firm and opportunity to benefit from discounts and also avoid certain penalties. When enough resources are set aside to buy materials, these can be purchased in large quantity which in turn attracts trade discounts. If on the other hand, the firm depletes all its resources at the end of the financial year, possibilities of meeting its statutory obligations of paying taxes would be minimized. The consequence is that the firm would be heavily penalized for not paying taxes. Resource planning avoids shortages. Shortages may occur in terms of materials, manpower etc. In a manufacturing enterprise it is important to plan the material requirements to avoid stock- outs. Experiencing of stock - outs translates to insufficient finished goods for sale which may not meet demand. Thus planning is essential in respect to materials to meet even unusually high demands hence improved profitability. On the other hand, curbing shortages in terms of labour through planning is also essential in that there are enough men and women workers at any one given time. Determination of cash requirements Without proper resource planning, an enterprise cannot be able to determine when it would need cash requirements and the methodology to be used. Through cash budgets an enterprise would know when a cash deficit would occur. It would then design and put into contemplation that such a deficit

Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Literature - Essay Example In fact, children’s literature is a tool for cultural transmission and they reveal and are illuminated by the values of the time in which they were written. This paper seeks to explore Hollindale’s concept of the reader as an ideologist and the idea that meaning is inevitably inferential in a text is explored with special reference to Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. One should have a thorough theoretical background of Peter Hollindale’s concepts of how ideology is at work in Children’s book. For Hollindale, ideology operates at three different levels within texts: explicit ideology (which includes the values and beliefs that the author consciously intends in the text), implicit ideology (unexamined values which the author is unaware of conveying), and the ideologies of the dominant culture (widely accepted values of the dominant culture that prevails in the given time and place of the text). These three levels of ideology are at work in any piece of texts and no doubt the reader’s perception of the text is very much affected by the level these ideologies occur. In this respect, Trites (2000, p. 70) observes how Hollindale â€Å"distinguishes explicit textual ideology from implicit textual ideology by asking us to investigate the messages the author intends to communicate in conjunction with those he communicates passively as â€Å"unexamined assumptions†; thus, for Hollindale the text communicates two opposing levels of ideology-one that the text explicitly states or implies directly and the other and inferred by the reader in the text. Thus, the implied meaning comes from the author whereas the inferred meaning originates from the reader and can vary from one reader to another depending on how one perceives the text. The authorial intended meaning dominated literary criticism in the past and theorists were preoccupied with the implied meaning that the

Politics of the knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Politics of the knowledge - Essay Example The two scientists strongly contest the objectivity of the contemporary knowledge and advocate new model of knowledge acquisition that encompasses feminist constructivist views and thereby delineating gender biases. Harding (1986) asserts that feminist theorists are objective in their hypotheses which are ‘free of gender loyalties’ (p. 138). At the same time, they also tend to ensure that women’s activities are fully represented within the broader scope of the social relation with the existing environment. The Marxist’s analysis of bourgeois labor becomes contentious as it ignores women’s experiences and therefore, need to be redefined to include women’s contribution to social life at all levels of interaction. Harding says that while subjectivity is inherent in the feminist epistemologies, the cultural production of gender identity necessitates greater understanding of changing social structure that ‘resists the continuation of the distorting dualities of modernism’ (p. 161). She emphasizes that feminist empiricism is pertinent as it challenges the androcentric biases. Indeed, women as enquirer considerably enhance objectivity of science. Haraway (1988) posits objectivity at the center of her arguments as male dominancy at all levels of scientific knowledge promotes biases in social constructions of not only identities but also in the social activities. She believes that feminist objectivity would help to translate knowledge across communities and power differentiated groups in a bias free manner. She says that more critical theories are required to construct meaning in order to ‘build meanings and bodies that have a chance for life’ (p. 25). The feminist objectivity highlights ‘situated knowledges’ (p. 26) that encourages paradoxical perspectives within scientific enquiry. She insists that there is no room for relativism within knowledge as it blurs the

Love(write can decide) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Love(write can decide) - Essay Example This definition means that certain people feel the need to associate with the other person. However, this definition is challengeable due to its confusion with lust. In defining love from this perspective, it is worth to provide a detailed explanation that two are considered in genuine emotional attraction if they show committed to each other and handle their feeling through conflicts of interests (Cobbs 9). Thus, it should be more understood as commitment to understand one deeply and show real care. This kind of love is evident in Powers’ book, when Zaki states â€Å"It seems that you are ninety-nine percent in love when she doesn’nt know one percent† (34). This means that it should not be left from the point of emotional attraction for it much define lust, the craving desire towards a self gratification, which extend to the need for having sex. For instance, when Powers states, â€Å"I have not made love to a man since I left Belgrade to years ago† (73), this shows that the love in question is sexual involvement. Some scholars define love as how happily we connect to one another. This definition includes sharing oneself to others. It thus contrasts from the previous since this definition argues that when people are gathered at a place without any sign of danger, love just happens. Centrally, when sign of danger appears, people tend to grab and secure their loved ones to secure them from the danger (Ram 27). When it comes to assisting the loved one, assistance has no limit as one offers the best assistance ever. However, this definition lacks base for argument since the connection created among people has a reason. In fact, either of them or both have the interest to benefit from each other. As such, these people are not connected from love but a certain motive. Love has also been defined as the desire to help loved ones. In this definition, scholars believe that the desire happens without any instruction or a rule is a sign of love . This natural way of responding to people’s needs and rescue especially in the event of danger puts one at risk and may even die in the process (Boros 23). From this definition, it is evident that love makes one form brave decisions regarding assisting others, for example, in a fire event, a mother would throw herself in the middle of ablaze to rescue a child. At this moment, she does not care about the risk but the welfare of the baby. When love is between two people, it depends on how well interpersonal attraction is embraced and portrayed. Love is shown by the strength of emotional attachment one has towards others. The statement that love is kind may not be valid all round especially when it comes to affection between lovers. Among lovers, love is portrayed as selfish since a partner puts the other under restrictions, which may make life difficult for the person involved. This is because people are different and their interests are diverse so one thing may favor one part ner and discourage others (Wages 27). From personal understanding, love is characterized by positive traits like forgiveness. More often than not, people and even nations offend each other due to differences in their personal attributes, difference in the environment exposure, education level, and religion (Ram 5). Some people are keen and very petty and will feel offended when the expectations are cut short while outgoing people talk much

Politics of the knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Politics of the knowledge - Essay Example The two scientists strongly contest the objectivity of the contemporary knowledge and advocate new model of knowledge acquisition that encompasses feminist constructivist views and thereby delineating gender biases. Harding (1986) asserts that feminist theorists are objective in their hypotheses which are ‘free of gender loyalties’ (p. 138). At the same time, they also tend to ensure that women’s activities are fully represented within the broader scope of the social relation with the existing environment. The Marxist’s analysis of bourgeois labor becomes contentious as it ignores women’s experiences and therefore, need to be redefined to include women’s contribution to social life at all levels of interaction. Harding says that while subjectivity is inherent in the feminist epistemologies, the cultural production of gender identity necessitates greater understanding of changing social structure that ‘resists the continuation of the distorting dualities of modernism’ (p. 161). She emphasizes that feminist empiricism is pertinent as it challenges the androcentric biases. Indeed, women as enquirer considerably enhance objectivity of science. Haraway (1988) posits objectivity at the center of her arguments as male dominancy at all levels of scientific knowledge promotes biases in social constructions of not only identities but also in the social activities. She believes that feminist objectivity would help to translate knowledge across communities and power differentiated groups in a bias free manner. She says that more critical theories are required to construct meaning in order to ‘build meanings and bodies that have a chance for life’ (p. 25). The feminist objectivity highlights ‘situated knowledges’ (p. 26) that encourages paradoxical perspectives within scientific enquiry. She insists that there is no room for relativism within knowledge as it blurs the

Microbiological effects from baby bottle misuse Research Paper

Microbiological effects from baby bottle misuse - Research Paper Example Moreover, the inherent immune elements in milk offer defense against infectivity. There are oligosaccharides present in the milk that avert accessory of normal respiratory micro-organisms like Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae (Gurtler, Kornacki & Beuchat, 2005). Misuse of bottle feeding is risky in the sense that the bottle formulae lack the Glycosaminoglycans which is normally present in the natural breast milk that averts attachment pathogens hence minimizing the risk of transmission. It must be noted that human milk administered through the normal breastfeeding adds up to inherent immunity. Long formula fed babies have the risk of contaminating and being infected with Giardia lamblia, H influenzae and the B streptococci, S epidermis and other micro-organisms such as the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (Gurtler, Kornacki & Beuchat, 2005). Misuse of baby bottle can also lead to infection of the lower respiratory tract. According to analysis of 7 group research o f healthy term babies in affluent locations, it was established that babies who were bottle-fed experienced a 3.6-fold higher risk of being hospitalized for infection of the lower respiratory tract in the initial year of their existence in comparison with babies who were wholly breastfed for a period of over 4 months. These research comprised modification for socioeconomic condition and parental smoking. Many of the infants hospitalized from respiratory infections arise from the respiratory syncytial virus. The human milk contains lipids which tend to have an antigen against RSV. Moreover, multifaceted researches also claim that bottle fed infants or formulated infants have a higher risk of contracting gastrointestinal pathogens and diarrhea. Similarly, 14 group studies meta-analysis established that infants who were bottle fed or formula fed were 2.8 times more probably to get infected with gastrointestinal pathogens compared to those who were totally breastfed (UNCF, 2003). Findin gs from PROBIT (promotion of breastfeeding intervention trial) reveal that infants who were used in the control experiment were 1.7 times more probably to get infected with gastrointestinal infection compared to those used in the intercession group. In this research 31 maternity hospitals were randomized to the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and a set of proof-found activities accommodating of breastfeeding, against the normal care. The entire 17,046 babies in the PROBIT research were breastfed, entirely at 3 months. It was found that 6.4% of the control studies were totally breastfed in comparison with the 43.3% of the intercession babies (UNCF, 2003). According to various epidemiologic researches it is suggested that infants and children who are exclusively bottle-fed on formula products are more probably to develop a condition of obese or develop type II diabetes. Furthermore, a meta-analysis study reveals that formula feeding among the infants is also related to the 1. 6 fold risk of the type 2 diabetes in comparison to the exclusively breast-fed children. Other studies have also claimed that a higher risk of diseases related to cardiac vacuoles inclusive of the high pressure of the blood and reduced favorable lipid profile also looms for children who are formula-fed even though the literature varies (Drudy, et al., 2006). Scholars have suggested that numerous interventions to describe these

Titration of Acids and Bases Essay Example for Free

Titration of Acids and Bases Essay Introduction According to Arrhenius definition, acid is substance that produces H3O+ ion while base is substance that produces OH- ions. The reaction between acid and base often yields the products of salt and water. The formation of water in this neutralization reaction is caused by the combination of H3O+ and OH- ions. In order to determine the concentration of an unknown acid and base, a method called acid-base titration is used. The end of the titration has been reached when the moles of acid equals the moles of base. This is called the equivalent point. However, end point os the actual point that is reached in neutralization reaction. End point is signalled by the change in color of the solution because of the presence of pH indicator. The common used indicator is phenolphthalein; it is colorless in acidic solution and pink in basic solution. In this lab, the concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was determined by using a known amount of Potassium Hydrogen phthalate (KHP). The balanced chemical equation for the reaction is: KHC8H4O4(aq) + NaOH(aq) = H2O(l) + KNaC8H4O4(aq) (1) KHP was chosen as a good acid to standardize NaOH because it has high molecular weight and stable on drying. The standardized NaOH solution was then used to determined the percent composition of KHP in an unknown substance #47. Experimental Information Part 1: Standardization of NaOH NaOH solution was prepared by taking 75mL. NaOH from stock solution and then diluted to 750 mL with DI water in Nalgene bottle. Three samples of KHP were weighed on analytical balance model BP2505, and placed in 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask. The samples of KHP were warmed up on hot plate to dissolve in Erlenmeyer flasks with 100 mL of DI water added. Two drops of indicator phenolphathalein were added to each flask after KHP completely dissolved. The 50 mL buret was rinsed with DI water and the prepared NaOH solution. The buret was then filled with NaOH solution with the initial volume of each trial recorded. The NaOH solution was slowly dropped into the flask contained KHP solution for titration from the buret. The flask was swirled often for the reactants for mix thoroughly. The KHP solution in the flask turned light pink when the end point had been reached. The final volume of NaOH was recorded. The volume of titrant NaOH used was determined by subtracting the initial volume NaOH from the final volume NaOH marked on the buret. The mole of KHP was calculated by dividing the mass of KHP used in each trial to the molar mass of KHP. Moles KHP = mass, g x 1 mole204.23 g (2) The mole of NaOH was equal to the mole of KHP based on the balanced chemical equation (1), since the ratio is 1:1 Moles NaOH = moles KHP (3) The concentration of NaOH was calculated by dividing the mole of NaOH to the volume of NaOH used to titrate. [NaOH] = moles NaOHL, NaOH used to titrate (4) The volume of titrant NaOH used was determined by subtracting the initial volume NaOH from the final volume NaOH marked on the buret. The mole of NaOH was calculated by multiplying mean [NaOH] from part 1 by the volume NaOH used. Mole NaOH = mean [NaOH] x volume NaOH used (5) The mole of KHP was equal to the mole of NaOH based on the balanced chemical equation (1), since the ratio is 1:1. Moles KHP = moles NaOH (6) The mass of KHP in the sunstance #47 of each trial was calculated by multiplying the moles of KHP to the molar mass of KHP. Mass KHP = moles KHP x 204.23g1 mole (6) The percent composition of KHP in the substance was calculated by dividing the mass of KHP found to the mass of substance of each trial. % KHP = grams KHPgrams of substance #47 x 100 (7) Results and Discussion In part 1, the concentration of NaOH in trial 1, 2, and 3 was determined to be 0.1054 M, 0.1052 M and 0.1048 M respectively. Therefore, the mean [NaOH] was 0.1051M +/- 0.0003. The amount of NaOH solution used to titrate was about 0.023 L per 0.49g KHP. The concentration of NaOH calculated from three trials was pretty precise. However, trial 3 gave the result with the greatest in difference compared to trial 1 and 2. Thus, the possible source of error in trial 3 could be inaccurate reading og volume of NaOH solution used to titrate. Also, there could be loss in the amount of KHP when transferred to the flask after weighed. Those two factors could lead to inaccurate calculation of moles of NaOH as well as concentration of NaOH. In part 2, the percent of KHP in substance #47 in trial 1, 2, and 3 was calculated to be 55.96%, 55.87%, and 55.37%. Therefore, the mean percent KHP was 55.73%. The amount of NaOH solution used to titrate was about 0.018L per 0.69g substance #47. The results of percent KHP of three trials compared to each other were precise. There was no literature value of percent of KHP in substance 347 provided to calculated percent error. However, the possible sources of error could be inaccurate reading of volume NaOH used, loss in amount of substance while transferred from weigh paper to Erlenmeyer flask or over titrating. The important steps to get the most accurate in calculation for [NaOH] and %KHP were to read and record data carefully. Also, avoiding over titration was extremely important. It could be done by carefully letting NaOH solution go down drop-by-drop and constantlt swirl the flask for the reactants to mix completely. Conclusion The molarity of NaOH solution based on three trials was 0.1051 +/-0.0003 M. The percent KHP in substance #47 was 55.7 +/-0.3%. The significant point of this lab was to determine the end point of a reaction between an acid and a base. The data collected from the end point gave the amount of base needed to react with an acid when once wanted to perform neutralization reaction. Another significant point was that by using NaOH solution with a known concentration, the percent KHP in a substance could be determined after perform the titration process. References Anliker, Keith et al. Experimental Chemistry II. Indianapolis: Hayden McNeil , 2008, pp.47-52

Agitation Leaching Theory And Practice Biology Essay

Agitation Leaching Theory And Practice Biology Essay Agitation leaching is a chemical process where in the soil that is to be mixed or slurried is kept in contact for a certain period of time with fluid to be extracted. The metal solubility rate is reduces quite noticeably, and the extraction gets completed on the approach of equilibrium between the metal present in the solution and the metal contained on the surface of the soil is approached Excess metal will not be extracted from the surface of the soil unless the soil is accessed by fresh extraction solution and the contact time increases when the system is at equilibrium. On reaching equilibrium, the soil is separated from the extraction fluid using sedimentation, thickening, or clarification. An agitation vat coupled with a solid-liquid separation vessel (typical processes like clarification or sedimentation) is considered to be a single stage The process of extraction is then generally continued in a separate extraction vat and the clear solution obtained from the extraction process is used to speed up the rate of extraction [1]. Agitation leaching-Practice Cyanide and the Gold Industry Introduction One of the most widely used industrial practices is the cyanidation process in the gold industry. Amount of gold present in ores typically occurs at very low concentrations in ores which generally range from less than 10 gm/tonne. At the low level of the gold concentrations the most predominant method used extensively and one that is cost effective is the aqueous hydrometallurgical extraction processes to extract the gold from its ore. Typical hydrometallurgical gold recovery involves an agitation leaching step where the gold is dissolved in an aqueous medium, followed by the separation of the gold bearing solution from the residues, or adsorption of the gold onto activated carbon. After elution from the activated carbon the gold is further concentrated by electrodeposition or precipitation. Gold is one of the noble metals and is not very much soluble in water. Complexes, like cyanide, is known for stabilizing the gold species in solution, along with an oxidant preferably oxygen thereby dissolving the required amount of gold. The amount of cyanide in solution required for complete dissolution may be typically of very low concentrations such as 350 mg/l which accounts for around 0.035% of 100% sodium cyanide Alternative complexing agents for gold, such as chloride, bromide, thiourea, and thiosulfate form less stable complexes and thus require more aggressive conditions and oxidants to dissolve the gold. These reagents present risks to health and the environment, and are more expensive. This justifies the dominance of cyanide as the primary reagent for the leaching of gold from ores since its introduction in the latter half of the 19th century. Manufacture, Transport and Storage of Cyanide Approximately 1.1 million metric tons of hydrogen cyanide is produced annually worldwide, with approximately 6% used to produce cyanide reagents for the processing of gold. The remaining 94% is used in industrial applications including production of plastics, fire retardants, cosmetics, adhesives pharmaceuticals, food processing and as an anti-caking additive for table and road salts. Cyanide is manufactured and distributed for use in gold mining industries in a variety of physical and chemical forms, including solid briquettes, flake cyanide and liquid cyanide. Sodium cyanide is supplied as either briquettes or liquid, while calcium cyanide is supplied in flake form and also in liquid form. The strength of bulk cyanide reagents vary from 98% for sodium cyanide briquettes, 44-50% for flake calcium cyanide, 28-33% for liquid sodium cyanide and 15-18% for liquid calcium cyanide. The product strength is quoted on a molar basis as either sodium or calcium cyanide. The form of cyanide reagent chosen for use typically depends on availability, distance from the source and cost. Where liquid cyanide is used, it is transported to the mine by tanker truck or rail car and is off-loaded into a storage tank. The truck or rail car may have a single or double walled tank, and the location and design of the discharge equipment varies by vehicle. Solid briquette or flake cyanide is transported to the mine in drums, plastic bags, boxes, returnable bins and ISO-containers. The mine generally designs and constructs the necessary equipment to safely dissolve the solid cyanide in a high-pH solution considering the packaging of the reagent. The pH value of cyanide solutions during dissolution must be maintained above pH 12 to avoid the volatilization of the hazardous hydrogen cyanide (HCN) gas. The resulting cyanide solution is then pumped to a storage tank prior to introduction into the process. The cyanide solution is fed from the storage tank into the metallurgical process stream in proportion to the dry mass of solids in the process stream. The feed rate of cyanide is controlled to maintain an optimum cyanide level as demanded by the metallurgy of the ore being treated. Ore Preparation Preparation of the ore is necessary so that it can be presented to the aqueous cyanide solution in a form that will ensure the optimal economic recovery of the gold. The first step in ore preparation is crushing and grinding, which reduces the particle size of the ore and liberates the gold for recovery. Ore that contains free gold may not yield a sufficiently high recovery by sole use of cyanide leaching, due to a very long dissolution time for large gold particles. Such ore may first be subject to a gravity recovery process to recover the free gold before being subjected to cyanide leaching. Gold bearing ores that contain gold associated with sulphide or carbonaceous minerals require additional treatment, other than size reduction, prior to gold recovery. Gold recovery from sulphide ore is poor because the cyanide preferentially leaches the sulphide minerals rather than the gold, and cyanide is consumed by the formation of thiocyanate. These ores are subject to a concentration processes such as flotation, followed by a secondary process to oxidize the sulphides, thereby limiting their interaction with the cyanide during the gold leach. Carbonaceous minerals adsorb gold once solubilised; oxidizing the ore prior to leaching prevents this. To counter this affect, the leaching process may also be modified by the addition of activated carbon to preferentially adsorb the gold. Leaching with Aqueous Cyanide Solutions When gold is leached in an aqueous cyanide solution it forms a gold-cyanide complex by oxidizing with an oxidant such as dissolved oxygen and cyanide complexation. This complex is very stable and the cyanide required is only slightly in excess of the stoichiometric requirement. However, in practice the amount of cyanide used in leach solutions is dictated by the presence of other cyanide consumers, and the need to increase the rate of leaching to acceptable levels. Typical cyanide concentrations used in practice range from 300 to 500 mg/l (0.03 to 0.05% as NaCN) depending on the mineralogy of the ore. The gold is recovered by means of either heap leaching or agitated pulp leaching. In heap or dump leaching the ore or agglomerated fine ore is stacked in heaps on a pad lined with an impermeable membrane. Cyanide solution is introduced to the heap by sprinklers or a drip irrigation system. The solution percolates through the heap leaching the gold from the ore, and the resultant gold bearing solution is collected on the impermeable membrane and channelled to storage facilities for further processing. Heap leaching is attractive due to the low capital cost involved, but is a slow process and the gold extraction efficiency is a relatively low 50-75%. In a conventional milling and agitated leaching circuit, the ore is milled in semi-autogenously ball or rod mills until it is the consistency of powder. The slurry is conveyed to a series of leach tanks. The slurry is agitated in the leach tanks, either mechanically or by means of air injection, to increase the contact of cyanide and oxygen with the gold and enhance the efficiency of the leach process. The cyanide then dissolves gold from the ore and forms a stable gold-cyanide complex. The use of oxygen or peroxy compounds instead of air as an oxidant increases the leach rate and decreases cyanide consumption, due to the inactivation of some of the cyanide consuming species present in the slurry. The pH of the slurry is raised to pH 10-11 using lime, at the head of the leach circuit to ensure that when cyanide is added, toxic hydrogen cyanide gas is not generated and the cyanide is kept in solution to dissolve the gold. The slurry may also be subject to other preconditioning such as pre-oxidation at the head of the circuit before cyanide is added. Highly activated carbon is used in the dissolved gold recovery process, either by introducing it directly into the CIL (carbon-in-leach) tanks or into separate CIP (carbon-in-pulp) tanks after leaching. The activated carbon adsorbs the dissolved gold from the leach slurry thereby concentrating it onto a smaller mass of solids. The carbon is then separated from the slurry by screening and subjected to further treatment to recover the adsorbed gold. When carbon is not used to adsorb the dissolved gold in the above-mentioned leach slurry, the gold bearing solution must be separated from the solids components utilizing filtration or thickening units. The resultant solution, referred to as pregnant solution, is subjected to further treatment (other than by carbon absorption) to recover the dissolved gold. The waste from which the gold was removed by any means is referred to as residue or tailings material. The residue is either dewatered to recover the solution, treated to neutralize or recover cyanide, or is sent directly to the tailing storage facility. Recovery of Dissolved Gold Gold is recovered from the solution first using either cementation on zinc powder or concentrating the gold using adsorption on activated carbon, followed by elution and concluding with either cementation with zinc or electro winning. For efficient cementation, a clear solution prepared by filtration or counter current decantation is required. The most cost-effective process is to create adsorption of the dissolved gold onto activated carbon, resulting in an easier solid-solid separation based on size. To achieve this; the ore particles must typically be smaller than 100 ÂÂ µm while the carbon particles must be larger than 500 ÂÂ µm. Adsorption is achieved by contacting the activated carbon with the agitated pulp. This can be done while the gold is still being leached with the CIL-process, or following leaching with the CIP-process. The CIL-process offers the advantage of countering the adsorption of gold on carbonaceous or shale ore particles, but is more expensive due to less efficient adsorption, increased gold inventory and increased fouling and abrasion of the carbon. Activated carbon in contact with a pulp containing gold can typically recover more than 99.5% of the gold in the solution in 8 to 24 hours, depending on the reactivity of the carbon, the amount of carbon used and the mixers efficiency. The loaded carbon is then separated from the pulp by screens that are air or hydro dynamically swept, thus preventing blinding by the near sized carbon particles. The pulp residue is then either thickened to separate the cyanide containing solution for recovery/destruction of the cyanide, or sent directly to the tailings storage facility from which the cyanide containing solution is recycled to the leach plant. The gold adsorbed on the activated carbon is recovered from the carbon by elution, typically with a hot caustic aqueous cyanide solution. The carbon is then regenerated and returned to the adsorption circuit while the gold is recovered from the eluate using either zinc cementation or electro winning. If it contains significant amounts of base metals, the gold concentrate is then either calcined or directly smelted and refined to gold bullion that typically contains about 70 90% gold. The bullion is then further refined to 99.99% fineness using smelting, chlorination, and electro-refining. High purity gold is taken directly from activated carbon eluates, using recently developed processes that utilize solvent extraction techniques to produce intensive leaching of gravity concentrates [2]. Agitation leaching-Applications Commonly applied to a wide range of ore types, agitation leaching has been in use for well over 200 years. Leaching is typically performed in steel tanks, and the solids are kept in suspension by air or mechanical agitation. Air agitation in carried out in conical-bottomed leach tanks (Browns or Pachuca tanks) was widely practiced in the early years of cyanidation but has been overtaken in recent times by more efficient mechanical agitation with reduced energy requirements and improved mixing efficiency. Well-designed systems can approach perfectly mixed flow conditions in a single reactor, which help to optimize reaction kinetics and make the most of available leaching equipment. Particle size. The material to be leached is ground to a size that optimizes gold recovery and communition costs. In a few cases, whole ore is being ground to very less particle sizes for optimal processing, either by oxidative pre-treatment and/or leaching. Agitation leaching is rarely applied to material at greater coarse sizes because it becomes increasingly difficult to keep coarse solids in suspension, and abrasion rates increase. Increasingly, agitation leaching is being considered to treat very finely ground materials and, with the advances in ultrafine milling equipment have been ground to lesser particle sizes to liberate gold contained in refractory along with the sulphide mineral matrices prior to processing by agitation leaching and/or oxidative pre-treatment. Slurry density. Leaching is usually performed at slurry densities of between 35%and 50% solids, depending on the solids specific gravity, particle size, and the presence of minerals that affect slurry viscosity (e.g., clays). Mass transport phenomena are maximized at low slurry densities; however, solids retention time in a fixed volume of leaching equipment increases as the density increases. In addition, reagent consumptions are minimized by maximizing slurry density, since optimal concentrations can be achieved at lower dosages, because of the smaller volume of solution per unit mass of material. Modification of pH Alkali, required for slurry pH modification and control, must always be added before cyanide addition to provide protective alkalinity, which prevents excessive loss of cyanide by hydrolysis. Most leaching systems operate between pH 10 and 11. Staged addition of alkali may be required throughout the leaching circuit to maintain the desired operating pH, particularly when treating ores containing alkali-consuming materials. pH control is achieved by manual or automatic (on-line) measurement at various stages in the process. Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime, Ca (OH),), or sodium hydroxide can be used for pH modification. Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) is the cheaper of the two but is less soluble and produces solutions that are much more susceptible to salt precipitation and scale formation. Unslaked lime (CaO) is used occasionally because it is less costly than slaked lime, but it is less effective for pH modification. For nonacidic- or non-alkali-consuming ores, calcium hydroxide concentrations of 0.15 to 0.25 g/L are typically required to achieve the desired pH range for leaching (i.e., pH 10 to 11). This represents typical lime consumptions of 0.15 to 0.5 kg/tonne for non-acidic ores. Sodium hydroxide is known to be more effective than calcium hydroxide at dissolving a variety of minerals, particularly at high alkalinities, and it is a highly effective dispersant. This may result in the dissolution of ore constituents, such as silicates, to produce various solution species, which can subsequently precipitate in a number of undesirable forms, potentially affecting downstream processes, including filtration, gold precipitation, or carbon adsorption. Consequently, calcium hydroxide is generally the preferred method of pH control in agitated leaching systems. Cyanide Cyanide may be added to agitated leaching systems either prior to the leaching circuit, that is, during grinding, or in the first stage of leaching. Subsequent reagent additions can be made into later stages of leaching to maintain or boost cyanide concentrations to maximize gold dissolution. In the absence of cyanide-consuming minerals in the ore or concentrate to be leached, cyanide concentrations used in practice range from 0.05 to 0.5 g/L NaCN, and typically between 0.15 to 0.30 g/L NaCN. Typical cyanide consumptions observed in agitated leaching systems for free-milling ores vary from about 0.25 to 0.75 kg/t. In cases where the feed material contains significant amounts of cyanide consumers and/or high silver content (i.e., >20 g/tonne), higher cyanide concentrations may be applied, that is, 2 to 10 g/L NaCN. In such cases, cyanide consumptions may vary from 1 to 2 kg/t, and in some cases much higher, depending on the nature and amount of cyanide-consuming minerals. Cyanide conc entrations are usually monitored by manual titration techniques or less commonly by on-line cyanide analyzers, based on titrimetric, colorimetric, potentiometric, and ion-specific electrode techniques. Oxygen Content Oxygen is typically introduced into leaching systems as air, either sparged into tanks as the primary method of agitation, or supplied purely for aeration. In either case, crude sparging systems are usually sufficient to provide satisfactory bubble dispersion and to ensure that adequate dissolved oxygen concentrations are maintained. Typically, the amount of dissolved oxygen concentrations can be maintained at, or even slightly above, calculated saturation levels with air sparging. The optimum sparging system depends on the geometry of the leach tanks. For example, conical-bottomed Pachuca tanks with single sparging points (common South African practice prior to about 1980) and flat-bottomed leach tanks with multiple sparging points, or simple down-the-agitator-shaft addition, have all been used. In a few cases, particularly when treating ores that contain oxygen-consuming minerals, pure oxygen [5] or hydrogen peroxide [4] have been added to increase dissolved oxygen concentrations a bove those attainable with simple air sparging systems. Residence time. Residence time requirements vary depending on the leaching characteristics of the material treated and must be determined by test work. Leaching times applied in practice vary from a few hours to several days. Leaching is usually performed in 4 to 10 stages, with the individual stage volume and number of stages dependent on the slurry flow rate, required residence time, and efficiency of mixing equipment used. Counter-current leaching. Leaching efficiency can be enhanced by the application of Le Chateliers principle. In summary, the lower the concentration of gold in solution, the greater the driving force for gold dissolution to occur, although in a mass transport controlled reaction it is debatable what role this plays in gold leaching. An alternative explanation for this phenomenon is the reversible adsorption of gold cyanide onto the ore constituents. The gold adsorption is reversed when the solution is exchanged for a lower grade solution or when a material (such as activated carbon or suitable ion exchange resin) is introduced into the slurry, which actively competes for the Aurum cyanide species. This effect can be exploited in practice by performing intermediate solid-liquid separation steps during leaching to remove high-grade gold solutions, and rediluting the solids in the remaining slurry with lower-grade leach solution and/or with freshwater plus reagents. Successful applications of this principle have been used at the Pinson and Chimney Creek, Nevada (United States), and East Driefontein (South Africa) plants, and at other operations [6, 7]. At many operating gold plants, an increase in gold extraction is observed when a leach slurry can be transferred from one type of process equipment to another (i.e., between leach tanks, thickeners, filters, pumps, and pipelines).This can be explained by the different mixing mechanisms in the different equipment, coupled with other factors, such as changes in slurry percent solids, changes in solution composition, and the effects of pumping transfer (i.e., plug flow mixing).Likewise, the benefits of the carbon-in-leach (CIL) process compared with leaching and carbon-in-pulp (CIP) have been clearly demonstrated both experimentally and in practice, even without the presence of interfering constituents in the ore[8]. The CIL process results in improved conditions for gold dissolution[3].

Type Talk Essay example -- essays research papers

Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Love, and Work by Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen Dell Publishing, October, 1989 Type Talk is a primer on personality preference typing centered on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (â€Å"MBTI†). The MBTI is a widely-used â€Å"test† that helps a person begin to understand why people perceive situations differently, communicate different from others, and opt for different activities. The book’s authors, Otto Kroeger and Janet Thuesen, husband and wife, have long been in the forefront of adapting the MBTI for use in everyday life and coined the phrase â€Å"Typewatching† as a descriptor for their work. Kroeger and Thuesen open the book with a chapter on â€Å"name-calling†. They use this phrase, not in the derogatory sense as is often the case, but to show that name-calling is used by everyone as a means of â€Å"cataloging people† based on their unique, identifying characteristics. If we’re to do this inevitable â€Å"name-calling† the authors believe it should be done in an objective and constructive manner and when elevated to this higher level it becomes â€Å"Typewatching† In the early 1920’s the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung developed a theory of personality types where he said behavioral differences were â€Å"a result of preferences related to the basic functions our personalities perform throughout life† (p. 8). Jung’s theory was published in his book titled Personality Types in 1923. Meanwhile, earlier in the century, Katherine Briggs was researching human behavior and through her observations had developed a way to describe it – that due to different life styles, people approach life differently. When Briggs read Jung’s work she found it to be very similar to her own work and set hers aside to focus on Jung’s. Shortly thereafter, Briggs’ daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers became involved and the mother-daughter team sought to assimilate their work with that of Jung. In the 1940’s Myers created an inventory based on her mother’s observations and Jung’s theory. The two women theorized that, with the offensive of the Second World War so near, if people were more aware of their psychological type they could be assigned to wartime roles that best fit their preferences. The MBTI was slow to gain acceptance by the psychological community. Few psychologists signed on to Jung’s obscure theories and even Jung himself felt his theor... ...Another benefit from the style of this book is that it prompts us to laugh at ourselves as I did when I read the traits of a (P)erceiver who is â€Å"easily distracted and can get ‘lost’ between the front door and the car† (p. 21). The foreword to the book comes from Dr. Charles Seashore, a faculty member at Santa Barbara’s Fielding Institute. In his foreword he presents what I feel is a major premise of this book where he says â€Å"impossible conflicts, unreconcilable differences, and personality conflicts are amenable to new types of solutions when seen through the lens of Typewatching. Our hopeless dilemmas are turned to the light in such a way that vivid colors soon replace dull and draining grays. The differences that block us can be translated into differences that empower us.† I find the views expressed in Type Talk offer a perfect complement to the humanistic perspective on personality where the humanists emphasize free will and the innate goodness of humankind. Typewatching seeks to move us beyond the simplistic good/bad, right/wrong approach to behavior by leading us toward an appreciation of the gifts and strengths of ourselves and others and a celebration of our differences.

Facebook in Academic Institutions Essay

1. Summary. Whilst the majority of students have Facebook profiles, potential to support academic institutions was seen in its features. This paper provides a generalization of several case studies about the utilisation of Facebook in several universities. It offers an overview of the advantages, constraints and limitations of the suggested practices. The report shows that although Facebook implementation faced partial success, most of the respondents strongly believed that it should remain a forum only for social networking, not a platform for formal academic information. 2. Terms of reference. Social networking sites, especially Facebook, have gained wide popularity in the last few years. They provide a variety of options such as group setting, live chat and online discussion forum. This structure made it possible to expand and go beyond the boundaries of being tools utilised only for marketing and social interaction. Bearing in mind that their main users are individuals at the age of 18-24, they offer a good potential for academic and educational purposes. Owing to the growing interest to the topic, I have been commissioned by the Senior Management Group of the University to investigate whether academic institutions use them in order to interact with students. The purpose of this report is to find out evidence and outcomes of such implementation in the academic community. Although the collected results appear to be somehow contradictory, the dilemma whether Facebook can be both a social and academic forum seems to have a straightforward answer. 3. Procedure. To analyse the university strategies regarding social platforms, a review of library evidence and instances was conducted. In order to retrieve materials of high quality and authority, the search was conducted in Google Scholar and Library Catalogue Plus. Since much more research is done on the social aspects and privacy issues regarding Facebook, advanced searching was used in order to ignore the irrelevant information. Due to the recent nature of the topic, the scope of the articles and journals was limited to publications from the past five years, 2007-2012. The findings are overviews of case studies based on the practices in USA, Italy and South Africa with  prevailing number of undergraduates as main respondents. Because of the variety of social networking sites, the study is primarily focused on Facebook since it has its roots in the academic environment and in this way it is distinctive from the rest of its kind (Bosh 2009, p.191). 4. Findings. Academic institutions realised that Facebook is a pervasive element in every student’s life (Roodt et al. 2009, 16). Adopting this new approach of getting in touch with their target audiences was a challenging way to increase engagement. The literature review shows that the official presence of universities on Facebook has recently increased. Not only is the presence on Facebook important for attracting potential students, but it also provides advantages for enrolled ones. They already have the experience and the knowledge how to use it, which leads to easy incorporation for the purpose of distributing academic information (Bosh 2009, p.191). Apart from being a powerful marketing tool, Facebook is used as a mechanism for: * Online discussion on topics covered in lectures * Administrative and departmental arrangements * Module information 4.1 Online discussion forum. Overall, no empirical evidence was found about Facebook used as a sole platform for academic interaction. It was used as a complement to the existing learning management systems (LMS) – web sites, Blackboard, etc. The established Blackboards have proved to be successful tools for information retrieval. Most of them have a discussion forum, but it has rarely been used for communication (Hrastinski & Aghaee 2011, p.453). Case studies in a Comprehensive Disease Management course and at University of Cape Town reveal that the respondents seldom have a look at the discussion board. Due to its features allowing immediate responses, Facebook offers potential to overcome the lack of dialogue among students. However, there were opponents to this idea who strongly believed that the existing LMS was useful and were unwilling to have discussions in a separate forum (Wang et al. 2012, p.431). This was not an impediment since participation was optional. As a result, learners became more engaged since formulating thoughts online was easier and topics could be discussed more in depth (Cain & Policastri 2011,  p.7). Many students struggle to raise questions and participate actively during lectures and tutorials. Therefore, social platforms facilitate and promote the development of analytical skills allowing everyone to take part. The improved level of communication had impact on the classroom climate leading to higher motivation (Loving & Ochoa 2011, p.129). This transition from passive learner to active participant is beneficial (Selwyn 2009, p.158). It raises student motivation and engagement. Nevertheless, many like Bosh (2009) argue that it does not promote critical thinking since the so-called â€Å"Google generation† assumes social platforms primarily as a way of entertainment. Another drawback of online discussions is that responds are listed in a chronological order, not in threads, which makes it difficult to follow the logical links between comments (Wang et al. 2012, p.436). 4.2 Administrative and departmental arrangements. According to Malesky & Peters (2011), given the large number of students on social networks, multiple university departments and faculties use social platforms to disseminate information to learners. A large number of youngsters have permanent Internet connection on their smartphones and checks their profiles quite often. Therefore, Facebook is utilised for relaying last-minute information about schedules and venues because students are more likely to be on Facebook rather than to check their email (Selwyn 2009, p.163). Important issue to be taken into account here is the authority of the information. It will be assumed as reliable only if it is posted by a member of the academic staff. In addition, departmental pages are good way to get in touch with students, especially during holidays when the existing LMS is rarely visited (Bosh 2009, p. p.187). For example, at Northeastern University of Boston the initial skepticism of viewing course-related posts in a platform primarily used for social interaction faded away and at the end 57% of the respondents were convinced it was useful (DiVall & Kirwin 2012, p.4). Another important implication of faculty pages is that they create a virtual campus environment where all students can communicate and learn from each other (Bosh 2009, p.195). It is beneficial especially for current students who have the chance to talk and exchange experience with the alumni and graduates they will never meet. Maintaining good  student-faculty relationship through Facebook also reflects on student satisfaction about the quality of the service provided. However, time-constraints and costs of such implementation should be carefully considered before integration since the staff is already maintaining the other course management software (DiVall & Kirwin 2012, p.2). It is a powerful tool for small institutions which cannot afford to purchase a Blackboard (Wang et al. 2012, p.434), but its limitations such as safety and partial participation prevent it from being used as a main tool for information dissemination. 4.3 Information about modules. Module information was posted in a specially established Facebook groups. This format was chosen instead of a page because of the option to set up a closed community. It was perceived as controlled environment since the lecturer was the one who could add and remove members (Wang et al. 2012, p.436). Generally, feedback about this practice was positive. Apart from communication about assignments, research findings and current affairs, the group wall was a suitable platform for resource and materials sharing – videos, photos, links to external articles were uploaded which were useful for those willing to extend their knowledge beyond the lecture material (Estus 2010, p.3). However, it was not considered as a complete success due to the inability to support resources in other formats (Wang et al. 2012, p.434). To overcome this problem, additional applications such as Google Docs were used in order to extend Facebook capabilities. Despite this, lectures preferred the traditional Blackboard due to the ease of use. Another advantage of this practice was the positive impact on student-lecturer communication. The virtual office hours allowed learners to contact tutors and lecturers in a less pressured environment (Bosh 2009, p.195). This is important for the better understanding of the matter since learners felt more comfortable to raise their questions on the platform. In addition, lectures’ profiles could enhance their credibility because students see the similarities between the lecturer and themselves (Wang et al. 2012, p.437). Taking into account that it is a dual-side communication process, the other party (students) revealed that they did not want to be contacted by tutors because it is a social forum for getting in touch with peers and they try to separate social life from education (Madge et al.  2009, 150). Friendship with lecturers was possible but it seldom happened because students were cautious that this could affect their ability to be objective (Malesky & Peters 2012, p.138). Further weaknesses of Facebook here were the inability to support grade notification, assignment uploading and online testing (Loving & Ochoa 2011, p.129). 5. Conclusion and recommendation. Although literature provides not enough empirical evidence, it is clear that students prefer to keep the divide between their social and academic space. Facebook has suitable affordances, which allow its utilisation as an educational platform as well. Successful practices were found where it has been used as supplement to the existing learning management system for resource sharing and module and academic information dissemination. However, further research has to be done to investigate the links and synergies between both in order to find the best way they could successfully work together. When it comes to the implementation of Facebook practices in a particular university, it should be carefully considered whether weaknesses are outweighted by potential advantages. Since the literature review shows that Facebook brings a little contribution to the functions of the existing Blackboard, Loughborough University should not invest time and efforts into setting up pages and groups. It is perceived as an intrusive invasion into a place students feel as â€Å"theirs† (Loving & Ochoa 2011, p.124). LEARN and student emails already successfully execute the functions Facebook could be used for. Lectures, tutors and academic staff could be contacted at any time and the discussion forum is well-developed. Therefore, a possible integration of Facebook is not worth efforts. Even though it has a potential, it should remain a place for social interaction and not for formal university practices. 6. Word count. The report contains 1504 words. 7. References. Bosch, T., 2009. Using online social networking for teaching and learning: Facebook use at the University of Cape Town. South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research[online], 35(2), 185-200. , [accessed 21.05.12]. Cain, J. & Policastri, A., 2011. Using Facebook as an informal learning environment. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Edducation[online], 75(10), 1-8. , [accessed 18.05.12]. DiVall, M. & Kirwin, J., 2012. Using Facebook to facilitate course-related discussion between students. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Edducation[online], 76(2), 1-5. , [accessed 18.05.12]. Estus, E., 2010. Using Facebook within a Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Course. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Edducation[online], 74(8), 1-5. , [accessed 21.05.12] Hrastinski, S. & Aghaee, N., 2011. How are campus students using social media to support their studies?. Education and Information Technologies[online], 17(4), 451-464. , [accessed 20.05.12]. Loving, M. & Ochoa, M., 2011. Facebook as a classroom management solution. New Library World[online], 113(3), 121-130. , [accessed 20.05.12]. Madge, C. et al., 2009. Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: â€Å"It is more for socializing and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work†. Learning, Media and Technology[online], 34(2), 141-155. , [accessed 20.05.12]. Malesky, L. & Peters, C., 2011. Defining appropriate professional behavior for faculty and university students on social networking websites. Higher Education[online], 63(1), 131-151. , [accessed 21.05.12]. Mazman, S. & Usluel,Y., 2010. Modeling educational usage of Facebook. Computers & Education[online], 55(2), 444-453. , [accessed 18.05.2012]. Roodt, S., Cloete, S. & De Villiers, C., 2009. Facebook as an academic tool for ICT lecturers. Annual conference of Southern African Computer Lecturers’ Association[online], 29 June-1 July. Eastern Cape: SACLA, 16-22. , [accessed 22.05.12]. Selwyn, N., 2009. Faceworking: exploring students’ education†related use of Facebook. Learning, Media and Technology[online], 34(2), 157-174.< http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439880902923622>, [accessed 21.05.12]. Wang, Q. et al., 2012. Using the Facebook group as a learning management system: an exploratory study. British Journal of Educational Technology [online], 43(3), 428–438. , [accessed 19.05.12]. Appendix 1Search strategy Existing literature about Facebook is focused more on social networking and privacy issues. Since the study needed more education-oriented materials, the initial search in Google and Wikipedia was not useful enough because it led to more general results. The main information retrieval tools used during the investigation were Google Scholar, Library Catalogue Plus and some additional databases found through the Select Database option. In order to avoid a large amount of inappropriate materials, only databases from the â€Å"Education† category were selected. The most useful of them was ScienceDirect. In addition to the materials which exactly fitted the search criteria, a number of related articles was suggested, which was very helpful. In all of the information retrieval tools advanced searching strategies were applied in order to narrow the results and sift out the most relevant ones.