Criminal proceedings against Costa Concordia Master in shipwreck Essay

Criminal proceedings against Costa Concordia Master in shipwreck - Essay Example On one account, the captain has been taken to court with regard to the fact that he was careless in the way he managed the ship before the accident. His actions are seen to have been the cause of the accident. For instance, he took the ship to give a salute at the port where the ship got an accident. In doing this, the captain had to deviate from the computer-programmed route of the ship and this has been seen as a form of carelessness that the captain must be held responsible for. On the other hand, the captain has attained the informal salute was ordered by the company and it was not his own decision. Whether the company ordered the salute or not, the truth is that both the captain and the company as a whole are responsible and must take responsibility. Deviating from the computer-programmed navigation route was a careless mistake and this mistake led to the loss of 32 lives and injuries of many people as well as mental trauma of all aboard the ship. Although the court has said tha t all passengers should be paid ten thousand Euros each, this cannot be enough to pay those who lost their loved ones and the company must pay more in order to be an example to other similar firms. The other legal issue coming from the case is the captain’s conduct after the accident. ... This leaves a very huge responsibility on him and this is one case he has to answer in court. The concept behind requiring the captain to be the last to leave the ship in such an incident is that since the captain is the one on whom the safety of the ship is bestowed, the captain should be the one to take the biggest responsibility. This should motivate such a captain to be more careful in the way he conducts himself in the ship and making sure that all safety measures are being taken in order to make sure that everybody, including him, is safe and sound in the ship. The captain has not been able to explain fully why he left the boat as soon as possible and left over two thousand people stranded in the wrecked ship. This, combined by the fact that the accident was also as a result of his obvious carelessness, leaves the captain in a hard position and he has to make sure he is able to convince the court that the he acted as responsibly as he could have. The captain, in his defence, ha s said that the shipwreck was as a result of his officers failing to take his order and ignoring his orders. This argument is not necessarily the best considering that as a leader he could have done a better job to take better control of his staff. By failing to do this, the captain failed to meet his duty as the captain of the ship and, thus, will be legally considered primarily responsible of the accident. More than that, evidence showed that the captain and his crew were indifferent towards the needs of the suffering passengers. In a certain court hearing a few months from the time the disaster happened, evidence in the form of a video footage shows the captain and his crew doing the peaking

Embedded Journalism and War Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Embedded Journalism and War Reporting - Essay Example For example, in the situation of war, reporters may cause harm to the fighting forces by disclosing details regarding their location or by becoming a distraction for the fighting forces. The following paper evaluates the question whether reporters should be embedded alongside fighting forces. Ethics of Journalism and War Reporting The question whether something is ethical or not is gaining more and more popularity these days. With the advent of social media, people have access to so much detail regarding the circumstances of the world. The journalists who are active through social media seem to provide all the minor details to their followers notwithstanding the ethical aspect of such information. The line between what is professional journalism and what is not is getting thinner every day with even the most unnecessary reports being presented to the media consumers. Journalists seem to forget the ethical aspects of journalism when they report about someone’s personal issue. T here are numerous websites that provide real time news and most of those are run by credible organizations with genuine news sources. However, there are certain websites that wrongly use the freedom provided by the internet and they violate the ethical standards associated with the profession of journalism. The main role of the journalists is to provide the true facts and to help build new knowledge through imparting new information. However, there have been certain instances where misreporting has been done due to lack of credible news sources. This has often been observed in the case of war reporting. Due to lack of time and rigid deadlines, journalists usually rely on information provided by the authorities with access to the war zone and in such circumstances, whether the information is accurate cannot be completely assessed. There are a lot of ethical considerations related to war reporting as even the most minor misreporting may create dangerous circumstances. The dilemma asso ciated with this situation is that, if journalists are embedded to the fighting forces, they may give out more information that what is necessary and in such circumstances, violation of ethical considerations may result in harmful circumstances for both the journalists and the fighting forces. One of the most important ethical considerations to take into account while reporting the incidents during war is reporting that is free from any sort of bias. It has been observed that the journalists impart information that is clearly biased. The true facts are kept from the media consumers and they are provided a modified picture of the actual scenario. This is one of the most violated ethical considerations related to war reporting. Such reporting of modified facts can also worsen the situation of war because the opposing forces may be enraged by such acts of the journalists and any chances of compromise will be dimmed. In such a scenario, the integrity of the profession of journalism come s into question. Any acts of bias by the journalists may impact the overall profession of journalism. Therefore the question of ethical considerations takes a very serious turn with regard to war reporting. Journalists need to be sure that the information being imparted is precise and accurate and it does not disclose any confidential information. Journalists must also ensure that the sources from which the information is

Hinduism And The Sacred Cow Essay Example for Free

Hinduism And The Sacred Cow Essay A look at the various cultures in the world indicates that each community has its unique practices. Most of those cultural practices are divinely inspired. Some traditional tribes for example worship the mountains believing they are the abode of the Gods. Others may revere snakes seeing them as angels sent to guard the earth. Such beliefs are not mere practices but owe their basis to the core of such a community’s origin. For the Hindus, their veneration of cows is well chronicled and has been studied over time. An in-depth analysis reveals interesting aspects of this community and creates a better understanding of why not even the prospects of death can compel starving adherents to slaughter cows for meat. A close analysis of the sanctity of cows in Hinduism reveals that beyond religion, there are economic factors at play that makes cows to be sources of great reverence. A look at Hinduism reveals a religion that has remained adamant to the changes brought forth by the Christianity civilization. It reveals a population that holds unique doctrines and cultural practices that have defied odds, being reinforced year after year and cutting across individuals in all walks of life. It is such uniqueness and resistance that continues to be exhibited today and reinforces the reluctance to embrace the idea that cows could be a source of food as opposed to an object of worship. Though there exist scanty details that link the worship of cows to the Hindu scriptures, the raging belief is that such a belief owes its origin to Hinduism and is considered to be a core element to this belief. The extent of this reverence can be discerned from the religions tensions that have existed over time between Indian Muslims and Hindus, over the latter’s beef eating practices and the Hindus bid to have beef eating banned nationwide . With a religion that has been closely associated with vegetarianism, it is important to examine the roots of Hinduism, its reverence for cows and the ban of cows as a preferred delicacy. A look at Hinduism and its insistence on the banning of cow meet presents an interesting contrast. History reveals â€Å"that cow protection was not always the central fact of Hinduism.† Although Vedic scriptures advocated for vegetarianism, they did not mention the protection of cows. Such practice became prevalent after the inception of Buddhism. Scholarly excerpts on this topic claim that the practice of cow protection was brought by Jainism which strictly forbids meat eating. The highest of the four castes in India, the Brahman, which is seen as the custodian of religions doctrines, did not initially agitate against cow eating in fact as Harris mentions â€Å"the Brahman caste’s religions duties centered not on protecting cows but on slaughtering them† Cow meat in those early times could be distributed to the adherents’ and a means of paying off loyalty. It was also used to signify wealth. It has to be noted however that even then cow meat eating was only restricted to sacrifices. Meat eating was associated with religious rituals and ceremonies after successful battles. Vedic scriptures had provided for specification on the type of animals that could be feasted upon but as Claus et al (2003, 125) observes â€Å"there is little to indicate that cows were worshipped during the Vedic period.† Instead, such practices can be traced to what has been referred to as the Upanishadic Era. A number of factors have been identified by Brown (1957) as leading to the start of this practice. These are â€Å"the importance of the cow and its products in Vedic sacrificial ritual, the literal interpretation of figurative uses of the word cow in the Vedas†, the insistence on the sanctity of the Brahman’s cow and the identification of the cow with the mother of the gods . Since then, Hindus have considered cows to be sacred. This can be discerned by looking at the available literature or the description of cows. Hindu religious scholars offer saintly description of cows portraying a reverence which equates them to deities. A look around India reveals that immense care is exercised when handling cows. Hindus pamper them with concern and accord them respect and respect that befits that of a higher being, they even â€Å"try to place them in animal shelters when they become sick or old and can no longer be cared for at home.† Hindu scriptures claim that cows are protected by the gods (Shira Krishna) and hence each and every product that comes from cows is seen as possessing mystic powers. This can even be discerned from the way cow dung, which in the western world is considered as filth, is revered and used in various religious rituals. Cow dung, milk and urine are used to prepare holy liquids for blessing the worshippers. Such perception of animal droppings as possessing mystic power is extended to the village doctors who use it in their trade. In addition, this reverence is also inspired by the Hindus belief in reincarnation. According to Ken reincarnation simply insinuates â€Å"that one’s actions here on earth have a direct bearing on the form one will take in the next life, the highest form being a cow. † This is also referred to as transmigration and the belief that cows are spiritual beings can be used to explain the reluctance of the hunger stricken Hindus to slaughter the animals. The widely held belief is that gods resides in cows and hence anyone who dares slay or mistreat them will reincarnate into a lower being. With cows hence being held in such a high stature among the Hindus and the common belief in their spirituality, they have become a common property with estimates placing their numbers to around 330 millions. This is roughly a cow per homestead. It is a common property even amongst the paupers as no one wants to be left behind from owning such an object of spiritual pleasure. It is hard then for such people to contemplate slaughtering cows even on the blink of death. The cow is seen as an object of providence whose milk flows to quench and nourish the world. Many just watch helplessly as cows die either of hunger or old age and cannot play a role in the hastening of their deaths. Pictures of fattened cows among wizened and emaciated Hindus have been circulated in the west with a purpose probably of belittling one of the religions that has refused to die. The cradle of the matter however remains Hindus out of their religious beliefs would rather die of hunger than slaughter a cow, for this is considered to an act of great abomination. Not all however share the belief that religion alone has helped perpetuate the culture of cow protection. Though the origin of this practice is heavily engendered in the historical rituals conducted in the early times, the economic angle has helped this culture transcend years of western onslaught. To understand this aspect of thinking, it is important to analyze the economic foundation of the Hindus and how it has sustained the practice of cow protection. The economic complacency behind the rearing of cows is by the Hindus may not be easily grasped by western scholars, but the truth of the matter is that cows are seen as the source of livelihood to a community whose income barely allows anything beyond mere existence. India may be the 12th biggest in the world in terms of the GDP closely behind the developed nation but its economic background is characterized by huge inequalities. Agriculture has played a big role in the economy in addition to the manufacturing sector. However, the low productivity in the agricultural sector has been exacerbated by a number of factors key to them the inefficient small scale farming and the unwillingness or the inability to embrace modern methods of farming. The peasant farmers still practice century’s old methods of farming which greatly depends on the monsoon providence. This is a fact that has helped sustain the practice of cow protection. The centrality of agriculture as the backbone of the Indian economy is undeniable; core to this is cow breeding which has become a source of national pride. Unlike in the western nations where majority of the people reside in the urban areas the reverse is the case in India with reliable estimations putting the percentage of Indians living in the rural areas to 75. A further interesting fact about India’s peasantry farming is the use of cattle driven plows instead of tractors as is the case in modern farming. This reluctance probably emanates from the limitations in the size of the pieces of land available to each household making it uneconomical to switch to tractors. An analysis of the situation on the ground for the peasant farmers reveals that the high stature through which cows is unlikely to wane any time soon. This is because there is always a huge demand for traction animals. According to Harris â€Å"there is indeed a shortage rather than a surplus of animals.† The amounts of land that require plowing far outstretch the available traction animals. In addition to cows, oxen are highly valued for farming. This may explain the obsession for cows in the belief that a large number of cows will lead to more oxen. For those that may not exceptionally view cows as being much of spiritual beings, their reliance on farming as the only source of livelihood hence means that one must be preoccupied with the need to preserve and protect cows in the belief that they will keep on multiplying the number of oxen. This hence is a self preservation measure as the death of cows and oxen will hence undeniably mean the end of the small farms. Harris also examines further the issue of oxen and the inexplicable Hindus attachment to cows. A shortage of oxen is likely to result to debts to the farmers as they are likely to turn to renting to cover for the shortfall before the monsoon season is over. Sharing of oxen for example has being an unwise idea as most of the farmers during this period are busy preparing their farms. To avoid this each and every homestead ensures an adequate supply of cows and oxen. India is home to a population that goes beyond 700 million people, as aforementioned, 70% live in the rural areas but that still leaves a sizeable chunk of people scurrying the urban center for jobs. For the 70% portion of the population cows are seen as a source of livelihood that must be protected at all costs, this is because the urban centers offer no respite. As Harris notes, the suffering caused by unemployment and homelessness in India cities is already intolerable and hence any influx towards the urban centers will create an imbalance and outstretch the available resources leading â€Å"to unprecedented upheavals and catastrophes.† In comparison to the developed nations where agriculture is carried out in large scale, India’s agricultural sector can only be regarded as cottage and has exhibited the reluctance to embrace modernism; this extends too to the farm inputs. Westerners long ago neglected the idea that animal droppings could be used to nourish the lands and instead have resorted to organic inputs. This is not the case in India where farmers rely on manure for farming in addition to other uses. To Hindus, economic profitability of a cow is not a factor, what matters is such a cow continues to meet the purposes that it has been set out for. This explains why even barren cows are still valued despite the urgent need for milk. This is because the economic viability of a cow is not only measured through the quantity of the milk that it produces but also its other products such as cow dung that bear agricultural, cultural and spiritual purposes. The aspects of cow worship aside, cows in India are not viewed from an angle similar to that of the western world. The benefits accrued too the Hindus are not only limited to milk, in fact they are rarely kept for milk; water buffalos are reared instead. Harris agrees with this noting that â€Å"the ox is the Indian peasant’s tractor, thresher and family car combined; the cow is the factory that produces the ox. † It is important to explore the importance if cow dung to add to the spiritual importance that had been mentioned before. Where western nations do not have a current experience with cow dung as a source of heat, Hindus prefer it for a variety of reasons. To the Indian women, cow dung is not only a representation of simplicity and an experience of spiritual pleasures but it is also seen â€Å"as a superior cooking fuel because it is finely adjusted to their domestic routines. † Indeed economic importance of cow dung to the lower caste Hindus cannot be over-emphasized. It is used in all manner of places and there are people that make a living out of it. In addition to being used as a floor finishing providing a smooth surface, it supports households that make a living by collecting the animal droppings in the urban centers. To understand how feasible this is, it is important to look at the nature of the existing public policies in regard to cows. It is hence worthy noting that due to the revered status of cows, they have been allowed freedom of movement that can only be equated to that of human beings. In fact they are a major cause of traffic snarl ups in some of the urban centers in India. Their droppings hence have to be collected by the street sweepers. The huge demand placed by the house wives for cow dung makes it a feasible economic commodity.

Quantification of Bioactive Compounds in Mentat Tablet (MT)

Quantification of Bioactive Compounds in Mentat Tablet (MT) An ultra-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of twenty-eight major bioactive compounds in Mentat tablet (MT), a complex Indian herbal medicine used in the treatment of neurological disorder and improvement of mental health. Multiple-reaction monitoring scanning was employed for quantification in positive and negative mode. The analysis was accomplished on Waters AQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column with linear gradient elution of water/formic acid (0.1%) and acetonitrile/formic acid (0.1%) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The proposed method was validated with acceptable linearity (r2, 0.9984-0.9999), precision (RSD, 0.22–2.11%), stability (RSD, 0.16–1.78%) and recovery (RSD ≠¤ 3.74 %), under optimum conditions. The limits of quantitation were low ranging from 0.28 to 3.88 ng/mL for the 28 compounds. The method was successfully applied to the simultaneous deter mination of 28 compounds in twenty batches of MT tablets. Also, hierarchical cluster analysis and principle component analysis was applied to categorize 20 samples based on characteristics of the 28 bioactive compounds. The results have indicated that this advanced method is rapid, sensitive and suitable to show the real quality of the MT composition and also capable of controlling quality of polyherbal formulations having similar markers/raw herbs. Keywords: Multiple Reaction Monitoring / Multi-Marker Quantification / UPLC-ESI-MS/MS / Hierarchical Cluster Analysis / Principle Component Analysis 1. Introduction Herbal medicines (HMs) refer to one herb or complex mixtures, which usually contains hundreds of chemically different components. Their curative effects are principally based on the synergic effect of their multi-targeting and multi-ingredient preparations [1, 2]. Consequently, quality control becomes troublesome for crude drugs. the method that employs pharmacologically active components to evaluate the quality and authenticity of the complex preparations is confronted with severe challenges. Therefore, better analytical strategies to assure their efficacy, safety, and consistency is essential and in great demand [3]. Moreover, the chemical compounds in the poly herbs in HMs products may vary depending on harvest seasons, plant origins, drying processes and other factors. Thus, it seems to be necessary to determine most of the phytochemical constituents of herbal products in order to ensure the reliability and repeatability of pharmacological and clinical research and to enhance pro duct quality control [4, 5]. Currently, selection of a single or a few specific components from a certain herbal medicine as markers for quality assessment is a widely applied strategy. However, it cannot afford sufficient quantitative information for the other medicinal compositions and cannot accurately reflect the quality of HMs products. All the HMs compositions play important roles in the therapeutic effects. Therefore, selecting multiple constituents from different medicinal herbs as evaluation markers has been gradually applied for the quality control of HMs [6, 7]. Mentat tablets (MT, commercial product) is a polyherbal medication with each tablet composed of multiple herbs extracts (listed in Table S1). Major contributed herbs are Bacopa monnieri, Centella asiaticaand Withania somnifera. MT is a unique all-natural multi-ingredient formula that promotes brain health. It improves the mental quotient, memory span, concentration ability, stress threshold and exhibit significant anti-parkinsonian activity. MT also offers protection against convulsions, which is beneficial in insomnia with its sedative and tranquilizing effects [8-10]. Chemically bacosides, saponin mixture in B. monnieri, triterpenoid glycosides in C. asiatica, steroidal lactones in W. somnifera are the major representative ingredients in MT, in comparison to others. [11-14]. Phytochemical investigations show important classes of bioactive constituents in selected plants which are as in combination of MT that are responsible for the bioactivity [15-20]. Literature survey reveals various analytical methods including thin layer chromatography (TLC) [21], high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) [22, 23], liquid chromatography (LC) [6, 24, 25], liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) [26-29], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) [30] for the quantitative analysis of the bioactive constituents in HMs to assess the quality of the complex preparations. To the best of our knowledge, there is no method reported for the simultaneous estimation of selected 28 multi-markers in herbals by UPLC-ESI-MS/MSand no such approach has been explored on this important drug combination for quality and consistency evaluation of this herbal preparation. Natural alteration in preparation processes and climate affects the safety and batch-to-batch uniformity of HMs products. Highly sensitive analytical methods are thus required to identify ingredients and evaluate batch-to-batch variation. Compared to conventional TLC, HPTLC, HPLC method which are less sensitive and takes longer analysis time, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode is more powerful approach. Due to its rapid separation power, low detection limit, high sensitivity, selectivity and specificity, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS offers effective detection to quantify multi-ingredients in complex sample matrices. Previous methods reported in literature only contained one or few compounds, without the consideration of other active ingredients. This paper describes for the first time a simple, accurate and reliable UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of 28 multiple bioactive compounds from different polyherbs viz., bacoside A (mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, bacopaside X and bacopasaponin C), withanolide-A, withaferin-A, asiaticoside, madecassoside, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, magnoflorine, curcumin, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, ellagic acid, rosamarinic acid, ursolic acid, catechin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, corilagin, chrysin and chlorogenic acid with single runtime of 10 min. This method is intended not only for quality control of commercial polyherbal formulated products but also for efficient evaluation of raw materials. The quantitative results were further analyzed by multivariate statistical analysis i.e., hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principle component analysis (PCA) to provide more information about the ch emical differences and batch-to-batch variations. Chemical Structures of all analytes and internal standards were showed in Fig 1. 2. Experimental 2.1 Reagents and materials The reference standards (purity≠¥90%) bacoside A (mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, bacopaside X and bacopasaponin C) was purchased from Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd. Apigenin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, protocatechuic acid, rosamarinic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, ursolic acid, palmatine, withanolide-A, withaferin-A, asiaticoside, madecassoside, jatrorrhizine, magnoflorine, catechin, chlorogenic acid, curcumin, rutin, corilagin, chrysin, gallic acid and ellagic acid were purchased from Sigma Aldrich Ltd. (St. Louis, MO, USA). Reference standards of quercetin, luteolin and internal standards (IS) andrographolide and piperine were purchased from Extrasyntheses (Genay, France). Twenty different batches of Mentat tablets produced by Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore, India were purchased from local drug stores from different places in India (Table S2). For all solutions and dilutions, methanol, acetonitrile (LC-MS grade) and formic acid (analytical grade) were purchased from Fluka, Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Milli-Q Ultra-pure water was obtained from a Millipore water purification system (Millipore, Milford, MA, USA). 2.2 Preparation of standard solutions and samples A stock solution containing 28 standards i.e., bacoside A (mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, bacopaside X and bacopasaponin C), withanolide-A, withaferin-A, asiaticoside, madecassoside, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, magnoflorine, curcumin, gallic acid, procatechuic acid, ferulic acid, caeffic acid, ellagic acid, rosamaric acid, ursolic acid, catechin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, corilagin, chrysin and chlorogenic acid were weighed accurately, dissolved in pure methanol.The working standard solutions were prepared by diluting the mixed standard solution with methanol to a series of concentrations within the ranges from 1 to 1000 ng/mL used for plotting the calibration curves. Meanwhile, each standard was also prepared respectively. The coating of each samples were removed completely, and the remains were smashed into powder. Pulverized sample (0.5g) was weighed precisely, and sonicated by ultrasonicator (53 KHz, Bandelin SONOREX, Berlin) using 50 ml 100% methanol at room temperature for 30 min. The extracted solution was centrifuged at 15000 rpm for 10 min, and the supernatant was filtered through a 0.22  µm syringe filter (Millex-GV, PVDF, Merck Millipore, Darmstadt, Germany) to obtained 10,000  µg/ml. The à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ltrates were diluted with methanol to final working solutions and analyzed directly by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. The internal standards andrographolide for negative mode and piperine for positive mode were spiked to each working concentration of mixed standards solution and sample solution at a final concentration of 50 ng/mL (50  µL of internal standards mixture of 1000 ng/mL of each in methanol) were mixed properly. All solutions were stored at -200C until use and sonicated prior to injection. 2.3 Instrumentation and analytical conditions An Acquity ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLCTM) system consisting of an auto sampler and a binary pump (Waters, Milford, MA was used for analysis. The compounds were separated on an Acquity BEH C18 (2.1 mmÃâ€" 50 mm, 1.7 µm; Waters, Milford, MA) analytical column at a column temperature of 25à ¢- ¦C. A gradient elution was achieved using two solvents: 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in water (A) and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in acetonitrile (B) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The gradient program consisted of an initial of 5% with linear increase from 5% to 60% B over 1.85 to 7.5 min and increased from 60% B to 90% B over 8.5 min, which was maintained for 1.5 min, followed by a return to the initial condition over 2.5 min with a sample injection volume of 5 µL. The UPLC system was interfaced with hybrid linear ion trap triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (API 4000 QTRAPâ„ ¢ MS/MS system from AB Sciex, Concord, ON, Canada) equipped with electrospray (Turbo V) ion source. The optimized parameters for positive mode were as follows: the ion spray voltage was set to 5500 V; the turbo spray temperature, 550à ¢- ¦C; nebulizer gas (gas 1), 50 psi; heater gas (gas 2), 50 psi; collision gas, medium; the curtain gas (CUR) was kept at 20 psi. Optimized parameter for negative mode were as follows: the ion spray voltage was set to −4200 V, the turbo spray temperature, 550à ¢- ¦C; nebulizer gas (gas 1), 20 psi; heater gas (gas 2), 20 psi; collision gas, medium; the curtain gas (CUR) was kept at 20 psi. Quantitative analysis was performed using multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and its conditions were optimized for each compound during infusion. For full scan ESI-MS analysis, the spectra covered the range from m/z 100 to 1000. Analyst 1.5.1 software package (AB Sciex) used for instrument control and data acquisition. The results of the precursor ion, product ion, corresponding declustering potential (DP), entrance potential (EP), collision energy (CE), cell exit potential (CXP) were shown in Table S3. 2.4 Multivariate analysis Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) is a tool to identify relatively homogeneous groups of cases based on selected characteristics, using an algorithm that starts with each case in a separate cluster until only one is left. In the experiment, HCA of 20 batches of samples were performed, in which a method called average linkage between groups was employed and 28 markers were selected as the measurement. Similarly, Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out based on the contents of quantified 28 bioactive compounds in 20 batches of samples. All the experiment was done using software STATISTICA 7.0. When the contents of investigated compounds were below the quantitation limit or not detected in the samples, the values of such elements were considered to be zero.

Redwall Book Report Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Redwall is about a young mouse named Matthias. He lived in an abbey called Redwall. Redwall was a nice, peaceful place until a rat called Cluny the Scourge came with his horde and tried to take it over. The night before the citizens of Redwall knew that Cluny was coming, Matthias and Brother Alf had caught a giant fish that was big enough to feed all of the animals inside of Redwall so they had a big feast. When Matthias and Constance the badger were taking some of the animals who lived outside of the abbey home, they saw Cluny and his horde rolling past in a hay cart so they went back to the abbey to warn everyone. Cluny took one of the empty houses to use as his camp site until he took over the abbey. The Abbot agreed to meet with Cluny to see what he wanted but Cluny wanted Redwall to use as his fortress. Cluny said that the citizens of Redwall could surrender or die. The Abbot Refused to surrender and Cluny left to think of a way to capture the abbey. On his way out of the abbey, Cluny saw a tapestry of Martin the warrior. Cluny had a nightmare about Martin that night which made Cluny scared. Cluny had one of his men called Shadow try to sneak in to Redwall and try and steal the tapestry. Shadow is a half ferret, half rat and is completely black. Shadow snuck in without any problem but Matthias got in the way and ended up pushing Shadow off of the abbey wall. Cluny was waiting at the bottom and he got the tapestry of Martin and left Shadow to die. Matthias snuck out to steal the tapestry back from Cluny. On his way he met Basil the rabbit. Basil told Matthias he would help Matthias get the Tapestry back. Matthias snuck past the guards and Basil ran around the guards to get them away from the tents. Matthias heard someone calling for help in one of the tents so he went to find out who it was. It was the vole family. They had been missing since Cluny came. Matthias had to help them escape instead of finding the tapestry. While Matthias was out attempting to get the tapestry back, Cluny had launched his first attack against Redwall. Cluny’s horde tried attacking the abbey by slinging rocks at the mice on the wall and shooting arrows at them. The rats were losing horribly so Cluny came up with another plan. He had some of his army climb up a tree that was high enough for them to get up onto the wall. The oldest mouse in Redw... ...giving out meals to the soldiers on the wall, she saw the siege tower pop out of the forest right next to the wall. She was surprised and accidentally threw her lamp onto to the tower which sent it up into flames. All the rats ran back to their camp. Cluny had captured a family of field mice and sent the father in to unlock the abbey’s gates. If he refused, Cluny would kill his family. The guards let him in and later during the night, the father field mouse unlocked the gate. All of Cluny’s horde snuck into Redwall and tied everyone up. Just as Cluny was going to kill the Abbot, Matthias came back with one thousand sparrow warriors and five hundred of the Guerrilla Union of Shrews. Matthias fought with Cluny and ended up cutting the abbey’s big bell and it fell on Cluny. The sparrows and the Guerrilla Union of Shrews had more than enough animals to defeat the rats. Cluny had mortally wounded Abbot Mortimor and he was dying. Before he died he said that Brother Alf would become the next Abbot, Matthias would become the champion of Redwall and Matthias would marry Cornflower. All of those things happened and Matthias and Cornflower had a baby named Mattimeo. Kevin Frasier 4/17/05

From the two short stories you have read what do we learn about what :: English Literature

From the two short stories you have read what do we learn about what it was like for American black people to live in Americain the 1950s? From the two short stories; The Gold Cadillac by M.D. Taylor and 1955 by Alice Walker, both set in 1950s America and both written by black female writers we learn about the segregation, racism and poverty of 1950s black America. Both these stories are set in the deep south of America. The gold Cadillac is about a young black girl who knows nothing about racism and discovers it for the first time as she travels with her family into the Deep South in a gold Cadillac. 1955 is written from the point of view of a black woman who has experienced the racism her whole life. America in the 1950s was segregated in the Deep South; it was divided into black ghettos. Even radio stations were divided into stations playing only black music and ones only playing white music. Before Elvis Presley black music would not be played to a white audience so it did not get the recognition it deserved, but Elvis's music was played on all stations and democratised music. Black people did not have the freedom that white people had and were discriminated everywhere they went, black people could not use the same buses and could not eat in the same restaurants as white people and were discriminated by police because the law was nearly completely run by white people, they were turned away at shops and were discriminated against in nearly all other places. In M.D. Taylor's "The Gold Cadillac" the family are driving through the Deep South and the girl sees signs saying "White only coloured not allowed" In Alice walker's "1955" Gracie Mae tells her husband J.T. to put his shirt on because Traynor who is a white man comes to the door, this is because white people had to be treated with more respect because they were seen as more important than black people. The American civil war took place in 1865 and slavery was abolished in the Deep South, but 90 years later there is still resentment from whites towards blacks. The two short stories are all about the prejudice against blacks in the Deep South and how it affects people's lives and freedom. In "The Gold Cadillac" the family is trying to aspire to be rich as they live

Coach Carter and Communication Essay

The film â€Å"Coach Carter† demonstrates many great examples of good communication between coach and athlete. I will point out a few examples of good communication from the film and I will explain why the examples I discuss demonstrate characteristics of effective communication. I will use a few excerpts out of the communication chapter of our text book, Chapter 11. I will use these excerpts from Chapter 11 of our text book to explain why the examples/quotes from the film, that I have pointed out, demonstrate good communication skills. The film â€Å"Coach Carter† is a great film about a high school basketball team that is located in a bad area of town. The kids that play for this basketball team unfortunately do not have some of the opportunities as other players of different team may have. This is just a fact of life; some people are fortunate to have a community and parents that are in a position to provide their children with good opportunities to succeed in school and in life, while other children do not have the same luxury. Some communities, parents, and schools unfortunately are not in the position to provide the same opportunities to their children and student athletes, whether due to financial reasons or other reasons. It is just a fact of life that sometimes people have to fight and work very hard to rise above the challenges life presents to them and through the road of hard work to accomplish their goal they will grow as a human being and become a better person in the end. In the film, Coach Ken Carter demonstrates excellent communication skills that are very effective. One quote from the film that stuck out to me is when Coach Carter is addressing his team after they lost the game against Saint Francis at the end of the film. Carter states; â€Å"l came to coach basketball players, and you became students. l came to teach boys, and you became men. † This quote is a great example of the correct use of praise. In Chapter 11 â€Å"Effective Communication: The Foundation of Effective Leadership†, Anshell describes the sandwich approach model to praise and critism presented by Smith & Smoll (1977). The sandwich approach tells us the correct use of praise and gives us a formula to use to make sure we give praise to our athletes in an appropriate manner. The sandwich approach states that you should say something positive, correct the skill that needs attention, and end with another positive comment. In the qoate from the film I used above, Coach Carter does not use the sandwhich approach excatly as it is modeled, but he does praise his team in an appropriate manner. A coach will be more efffective in correcting the skills and habits of any of their athletes by using the sandwich approach. The athlete will feel good about himself/herself hearing the first positive statement and this will also grab that athletes attention to the constructive critism or skill critique from the coach. The coach will leave the athlete with a positive concluding statement such as, â€Å"I see you excelling in the future with this†. The athlete will still have a good feeling at the end of the conversation and will pay attention to what the coach told him to do differently to improve his/her skill. In the movie, Coach Carter is consistent in his statements about what his intentions are as the new basketball coach and what his goals/expectations are of the young athletes. Chapter 11 of our text book, Anshell discribes the Ten Commandments of Communication. The Ten Commandments of Communication are as follows: â€Å"Thou shalt: (1) be honest, (2) not be defensive, (3) be consistent, (4) be empathetic, (5) not be sarcastic, (6) praise and criticize behavior, not personality, (7) respect the integrity of others, (8) use positive nonverbal cues, (9) teach skills, and (10) interact consistently with all team members. (Anshell 2012)†. Coach Carter demonstrates most of these commandments of communication, he especially demonstrates honesty, consistency, and respect the integrity of others throughout the film. The Players respect Coach Carter and his decisions on and off the court, they put their faith in their coach and the end result is rewarding. Coach Carter demonstrates consistency more than ever when he is talking to the board in the hearing about the lockout he has put into place. Coach Carter says; â€Å"You really need to consider the message you’re sending this boys by ending the lockout. It’s the same message that we as a culture send to our professional athletes; and that is that they are above the law. If these boys cannot honor the simple rules of a basketball contract, how long do you think it will be before they’re out there breaking the law? I played ball here at Richmond High 30 years ago. It was the same thing then; some of my teammates went to prison, some of them even ended up dead. If you vote to end the lockout, you won’t have to terminate me; I’ll quit. † This statement is very powerful and certainly gets Coach Carter’s message across to the administration and the parents of his players. The consistency of Carter even in a high stress environment and a very tense situation, he stands behind his beliefs and never once lets up or lets something go like ending the lockout so the basketball team will play the big game and stay undefeated. The players respect Coach Carter and his decision to keep the lockout in effect until the whole team has the GPA requirements to play games, as stated in the contract they signed. The team demonstrates their faith in their coach with the statements they make when Carter walks into the gym after the board made the decision to end the lock out to let his athletes know what the board decided. Coach Carter enters the gym to find his basketball team sitting at desks and studying instead of practicing. The team says the following when Carter walks into the gym; Jason Lyle: â€Å"[to Coach Carter as he walks into the gym] Sir, they can cut the chains off the door, but they can’t make us play. † Damien Carter: â€Å"We’ve decided we’re going to finish what you’ve started, sir. † Worm: â€Å"Yeah, so leave us be, coach. We’ve got shit to do, sir. † After Worm finally answers Coach Carter’s question; What is your biggest fear? Jason Lyle says; â€Å"You said we’re a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph. † This scene shows how Coach Carter’s communication skills inspire and motivate the players to improve on and off the court. I believe that coaches should focus on teaching their athletes more than just the game that is being played, but a good coach will demonstrate and teach young athletes about â€Å"life†. A good coach focuses on the entire picture of developing good strong contributing members of society. Coaches should give the athletes skills that will carry each athlete through life and teach the athletes the skills/lessons that will help them succeed.