Friday, December 27, 2019

Fight Club A Marxist Lens - 1501 Words

Written in 1996, Fight Club expresses the issues of its time with Palahniuk using a Marxist lens to express the evils of capitalist society in relation to loss of identity in a society built on achieving relative gains with those at the top benefiting at the expense of those at the bottom. The 1990s was a decade of excess , where people became fixated on consumerism, which, characterised the period as one of social disconnection, recklessness and greed , destroying moral values and widening the gap between classes, as financially the â€Å"top 1% were worth as much as the combined worth of the bottom 90%† . Through homodiegetic narration, Palahniuk voices his frustrations of the struggle of an individual against repression from a capitalist society through the persistence of consumerism. The struggle of an individual in a class alienated society is emphasised by presenting two disparate classes: the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois are describes by the narrator as ‘titans and their gigantic wives’ who ‘drink barrels of champagne and bellow at each other wearing diamonds bigger than I feel’. The exaggeration used adds to the cynical tone to mock the elements of the bourgeois, but also suggests the hollowness of their wealth and how they possess greater than the narrator can grasp. The narrator in comparsion feels like a ‘cockroach’ shown in the description; they ‘just want to see you run around their money†¦they know they can’t threaten you with the tip, to themShow MoreRelatedFreudian Criticism Of Oedipus Complex1130 Words   |  5 Pageson the anaclitic model; the boy deals with his father by identifying himself with him (The Ego and the Id 20). In Fight Club, we get a small glimpse into what the Narrators childhood was like, as well as what his relationship with his parents was like. At one point, Tyler says, Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God? (Fight Club), which tells us that the Narrators father abandoned him at one point in his life (we know this because Tyler andRead MoreFight Club By Chuck Palahniuk1442 Words   |  6 PagesFight Club At first glance, Chuck Palahniuk’s award-winning novel Fight Club gives the impression that it is a simple story revolving around a man who struggles to manage his insomnia. However, a deeper literary analysis will show readers that the novel is much more than that. Fight Club is actually a cleverly written novel that contains many elements of Marxist and psychoanalytic theories throughout the storyline. Marxism is based on the concepts of Karl Marx’s theories that focuses on class relationsRead MoreMovie Analysis : Fight Club 1515 Words   |  7 PagesFight Club is a unique film that has many different interpretations consisting of consumerist culture, social norms, and gender roles. However, this film goes deeper and expresses a Marxist ideology throughout; challenging the ruling upper-class and a materialist society. The unnamed narrator, played by Ed Norton, represents the materialist society; whereas Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, represents the person chall enging the controlling upper-class. Karl Marx believed that the capitalist systemRead MoreChuck Palahniuks Fight Club1273 Words   |  6 Pagesradical work, Fight Club, investigates inner self deeper and deeper into personality, identity, and temperament as a chapter goes by. Through his writing, Chuck Palahniuk comments on the inner conflicts, the psychoanalysis of narrator and Tyler Durden, and the Marxist impression of classicism. By not giving any name to a narrator, author wants readers to engage in the novel and associate oneself with the storyline of narrator. The primary subject and focus of the novel, Fight Club, is to commentRead MorePhysical Pain In Fight Club1546 Words   |  7 Pagesget out of one s head and get away from the mental suffering is to experience physical pain. The physical pain takes the focus off mental suffering. The novel ‘Fight Club’ focuses on an unreliable narrator, Jack, and his relationship with a mysterious man named Tyler Durden as well as their creation of fight club, an underground boxing clubs which leads to the birth of the infamous, Project Mayhem. Project Mayhem intends to tear down the American social structure that has shown to oppress even theRead MoreDavid Fincher s Cult Classic Fight Club1732 Words   |  7 PagesFincher’s 1999 cult classic Fight Club often gets picked apart for it’s supposed depiction of toxic masculinity and contemporary manhood but what I want to focus on is the anti-consumer, anti-capital, and pro-elimination of social classes that is also displayed throughout the film. Not to say that the film does not represent white bourgeoisie hyper-masculinity but to look at the parts of the film that doesn’t feed into this train of thought. I want to expand the lens past Norton’s character, whichRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesphilosophy: the ultimate challenge to organization theory? Reflective organization theory: symbols, meanin gs and interpretations Reflexive organization theory: critical theory and psychoanalysis The evolution of management as reflected through the lens of modernist organization theory Perspectives and challenges 2 54 100 148 198 242 282 330 382 432 . . Contents Preface List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements xiii xvii xix xx Chapter 1 Introducing organization theory:Read MoreStatement of Purpose23848 Words   |  96 Pagesmap came to mind. Freshman year, I enrolled in Geography 20 (human geography) simply because it was the only honors class that fit in my schedule. Instead of being bored, I was stimulated to think of the world through a different focus, through the lens of a geographer: to view people and places and examine how each relates to the other. Suddenly, I was thinking of everything in this fashion. When walking to class, I would ponder why the paths were designed the way they were and how this affectedRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesincorporation desirable.74 Given that the majority of migrants now travel to developed countries that have worked to forge a mainstream identity, this is not an unreasonable assumption. But the paradigm of assimilation may not be an appropriate lens through which to view migrant incorporation everywhere and at all times. Many other different examples can be seen around the world. In many parts of Southeast Asia, Africa, and, to a lesser degree, Latin America, immigrant groups have persisted

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Equalitys Dark Side in In Kurt Vonneguts Harrison...

Equalitys Dark Side in In Kurt Vonneguts Harrison Bergeron The goal of countless societies throughout human history has been to establish both complete freedom and absolute equality. However, this goal is, by its very nature, unachievable. These two ideal states cannot coexist in their most perfect forms. Also, the perfect forms of either freedom or equality represent total chaos or total oppression, respectively. In Kurt Vonnegut’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† we see the consequences of sacrificing freedom for perfect equality. Vonnegut uses the story of this utopia gone wrong to demonstrate that a society in which total equality exists is not only oppressive, but also static and inefficient. He makes this point using his futuristic†¦show more content†¦In the case of â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† this is represented by Diana Moon Glampers. She is never portrayed as having any handicaps and must be assumed to have a level of intelligence above that of Hazel, who represents what this society calls normal, to ca rry out her job. Societal changes do not happen over night. If people’s freedom were taken away in one fell swoop they would fight it. Instead, oppression is a series of small losses of freedom. It’s like the old analogy of a frog and boiling water. If you drop a frog in boiling water, he jumps out, on the contrary, if you put a frog in cool water and slowly raise it to boiling, he boils to death. This process is shown in the story by the fact that â€Å"All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution† (243). Given that this story was written in 1961, is set in 2081, and is the author’s prediction for the future of his society, we can assume that this process of making everyone equal through oppression took place over a 120 year period. Some would argue that, although we’re not to this level of oppression yet, we’re well on our way with institutions such as affirmative action. Whereas equality i s sometimes the will of the governed people, this is often not the case. People like to be rewarded for doing things that are above and beyond average. If they can do a better job and make more money than next person, they believe they should be allowed to. Even the below average of

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Facing My Fears Essay Example For Students

Facing My Fears Essay Ever had that scary feeling of going off to college all by yourself? Well, I was terrified about leaving my family behind, and going off to college to accomplish my future goals. I was dreading this, but it was going to happen eventually. After getting out of high school, advancing into college was a major step for me. I was terrified to take that step into being on my own and away from home. I am the type to always be with my family and friends, but, I now guess it was time to go into the real world and meet new people. When summer was starting to come to an end, I started to get more and more nervous each day. I am very shy and a quiet person and I always thought college was not the place for me. Moving day came and I was a little excited, but my stomach was also filled with butterflies. I had all these random thoughts racing through my head, like what if I am late to class, what if people don’t like me and they just push me around, or what if my professor just don’t like me. I wasn’t in my right state of mind at the time, but I managed to suck it up and deal with it. I knew I couldn’t stay a little kid all my life, I was going to have to grow up eventually and become an adult, but it was just happening all so fast for me. Finally my first day college came, and I was devastated I wasn’t ready at all. I was very excited when o found out most of my classes was just fifty minutes long every day. The professors were all nice and wanted you to succeed in life. They are there to help you, which I really like. After my first day of classes I had my first official day of softball practice with the team. I had already met the whole team, and bonded with them outside of softball but not on the field. Practicing with a college team is totally different from high school. College ball is more intense and competitive and I wasn’t really ready for that coming straight out of high school. It was very hard to transition my body to the early mornings and long nights, but my body managed to work with the obstacles that were being thrown at it. Now that I experienced the college life and what it has to offer, I am excited and ready to get this year started. It turned out to be better than I thought, and I am so glad that I finally faced my fears of being on my own and away from my family. Here I built a new family and met some people that was in the same boat as I was. Knowing that I wasn’t the only on terrified about going to college lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders. I can finally say I faced my fears of the college life and I hope to continue until I get to where I need to be.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

IOI Corporation Berhad Essay Example

IOI Corporation Berhad Essay In 1990, the founding chairman Dates Tan Seen Man decided to retire and his on Tan Sir Tan Change Mum replaced his position as the new chairman of the company. Soon after he took over his father position as chairman, he always wishes TAB to be listed in Bursa Malaysia as one of the public listed companies in Malaysia. In year 1 992, the company changes its name from Tan Bertha to Tan Holdings Bertha. At the same year, TAB has been successfully listed in Bursa Malaysia and the company obtains the funding from its initial public offering. When the company has been listed in auras Malaysia, Tan Sir Tan Change Mum decided to maximize the company wealth by venturing into Food industry equines in 1992. TAB also manage to set up a subsidiary company named Tan Food Industry Bertha to manage the holdings companys food industry business. Since then, TAB has begun to flow into international market when the company successfully acquires multiple food production plants in Malaysia and started to export the food products to Singapore, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, United States and United Kingdom. The company also obtains the ISO 9001 from the government of Malaysia. We will write a custom essay sample on IOI Corporation Berhad specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on IOI Corporation Berhad specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on IOI Corporation Berhad specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In 1 999, the company begins to venture itself in property investment and development industry. TAB successfully bough several piece of properties in Malaysia and also in other foreign countries such as China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. In 2014, TAB was ranked 36th in the Forbes Malaysia among other 1 00 I. Product and Services: TAB has grown to become one of the leading conglomerate companies in Malaysia. In the food production industry Of the company, the company introduces variety of biscuits such as Choc Pie which is very famous in United States and South Korea to consumers in Malaysia. Furthermore, the company has manage to produce more than 50 types of biscuits and available for Malaysia consumer and exportation to other countries. Moreover, TAB also produce and extract high quality palm oil in the palm oil plantation at Kerning, Clangor. TAB also recognized as one of the contributor in the exportation of palm oil to other palm oil consumption countries especially to China In the property investment and development industry of the company, TAB successfully launch the Z-Residence (a 20 floors premium condominium) in Cybercafà ©. II. Future Prospect In the future, Tan Holdings Bertha will diversify the companys business portfolio by venturing into telecommunication industry. TAB will become one of the network and Internet service providers when the company successfully applied for a network service license which approved by Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MAC). The company will also plan to provide high-speed Internet service (using fiber optic cable) to residents in Malaysia. Moreover, TAB will also expand its property investment and development business in the future by property hotels, resorts and recreation development. Therefore, TAB is considered as one of the good companies with better prospect to sustain in the future. IV. Board of Directors and committees The Chairman of Tan Holdings Bertha (TAB) is Tan Sir Tan Change Mum since 1990. Prior to his position as chairman of TAB, he holds one of the top management positions in TAB. His father wants him to learn how he manages the company. In addition, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TAB is Eng Kina Hat. He has a great leadership and previously he is one of the CEO another public listed company in Malaysia as well. With his leadership skills, TAB believe that he will bring a better future prospect of the company. Moreover, the current Chief Financial Officer (CUFF) is Mrs.. Limit Yen Vein. She was an CA professional certification graduate and has more than 20 years experience in accounting profession. Further, the company also appointed Mr.. Peter Limit as independent non-executive directors of TAB. Since then, Mr.. Peter Limit has been actively involved in companys corporate affairs and general management. 01 Corporation Bertha (101 Group) 101 Corporation Bertha (commonly known as 101), was incorporated on 31 SST of October 1969 as Industrial Oxygen Incorporated Sad Bed. The company first core business is industrial gas manufacturing. Subsequently, 101 successfully listed in Koala Lumpy Stock Exchange (KEELS) on 29 July 1980. Moreover, the company also ventured into resource based manufacturing businesses (refineries, Electrochemical and specialty oils and fats) when the company successfully a cquired Perusal Mesas Sad Bed. Since then, the company is recognized as the most efficient oil palm plantation company in the world. Besides that, 101 also venture into Electrochemical business when the company has acquired 32. 96% stake in Palmtop Holdings Bertha (renamed as 101 Electrochemical Industry Sad Bed) on March 1997. Since then, 01 Corporation Bertha has become a vegetable-based Electrochemical producer in Malaysia. In addition, the company also manages to acquire a controlling interest in Lam Soon Hat Development Bed (renamed as 101 Properties Bed) in January 1994 and it becomes One of the subsidiaries Of 101 Corporation Bertha. With this acquisition, the company has taken its first step into property investment and development industry. Besides that, the company also takes an important role in promoting Malaysia Tourism when the company decides to build and develop resort in Pituitary known as 101 Resort City. Subsequently, 01 Properties Bed has successfully listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia as one of the largest property companies in January 2014. II. Product and services: Currently, 101 Corporation Bertha has successfully diversifies its business portfolio such as plantation and agriculture, property investment and development, chemical manufacturing and resorts. As a result, 101 is recognized as one of the biggest conglomerates in Malaysia. In the plantation and agriculture industry of 101 Corporation Bertha, the company operates 152,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in Malaysia and 83,000 hectares in Indonesia. The company also operates 12 palm oil mills with a total capacity of producing 4. 1 million tones per year. Malaysia and one located in Netherlands. These refineries convert crude palm oil into edible oils such as palm oil and palm kernel oil and market off to various food production companies. Thus, it contributes to Ohios biggest income generator among other business portfolio. Moreover, in the Electrochemical and specialty oils and fats industry (under resource-based manufacturing) of 101 Corporation Bertha, the company is known as one of the leading vegetable-based Electrochemical producers in the oral. In addition, the company also involves in manufacturing and selling of fatty acids, glycerin, soap noodles and fatty esters which is needed to produce detergents, shampoo, soap and cosmetics. As for the specialty oils and fats industry of the company, 101 Corporation Bertha manage to supply fractionated oils and fats required by food industry such as Milliner, Nestle, Catbird and Kraft. On the other hand, the property investment and development of 101 Corporation Bertha has also brought in a portion of income to the company. The company has managed to acquire several of lands. Besides that, the company has also launched 101 City Mall in 101 Resort City in Pituitary recently. Below is the list of properties that owned by 101 Corporation Bertha: Location: Property name: 1. Pouching sierra, Bandanna Putter Pouching and Bandanna Pouching Jay 2. Pituitary 101 Resort City 3. Slang Bandanna Putter Slang and Bandanna Putter Slang 4. Bang Bandanna putter Bang 5. Seepage Bandanna Putter Warns 6. Bah (Niger Assemblies) Bandanna 101 Bah 7. Kulak (Juror) Bandanna Patria Kulak and Bandanna Patria Casemate 8. Despair (Penman) Despair 9. Singapore South Beach development and Pinnacle at Santos Cove 01 Corporation Bertha has many future prospects that are planned in future especially in the companys property investment and development business portfolio. The company has plan many new property projects in Bandanna Putter Bang such as Cubical Square, Lamar Residence. Besides that, the company also plans to further develop Bandanna Putter Pouching with a few residential areas with projects named Putter Hills Luxury Town Villa and Putter Hills Condominiums where is located in Pouching. Moreover, 101 Corporation Bertha also has planned to buy a substantial stake of 37. 17% in Taipei Financial Center Corp. (TFTP). For your information, TFTP owns the most famous landmark of Taiwan, the Taipei 101 tower. Currently, the negotiation of acquisition of stake by 101 Corporation Bertha to T FCC is still on going. As for the plantation and agriculture of 101 Corporation Bertha, the company plans to replant at least aha to aha of estates in Malaysia and plant around aha of new palm oil Indonesia per annum for the next 3 years ahead. The company is also reportedly active in negotiation with international companies for potential joint ventures in the specialty oils and fats industry. The current executive chairman of 101 Corporation Bertha is Tan Sir Data Lee Shin Change. He is also the founder of 101 Group which listed on Bursa Malaysia on 29 July 1980. Furthermore, He was awarded the prestigious Malaysia palm Oil Association Recognition Award in 2011 for his great leadership which lead 101 Corporation Bertha became one of the leading plantation and property group in Malaysia. Moreover, the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 101 Corporation Bertha is Data Lee Yew Chord. The Board of Directors of the company appointed him as CEO of the company on 8 January 2014. Furthermore, he holds a LB (Honors) from Kings College in London and Diploma in Finance and Accounting from London School of Economics. Prior to his position as CEO of 101 Corporation Bertha, he served in Malaysia Judiciary service as a Magistrate. In addition, Mr. Lee Yew Seen is a Non-lengthened Non-Executive Director of 101 Corporation Bertha. He is actively involved in corporate affairs and general management within 101 Corporation Bertha and its subsidiaries. Moreover, Tan Sir Peter Chin FAA GUI is a Chairman Of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee as well as member of the Audit and Risk Management Committee of the Company. He is best known as former secretary for the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment and Ministry of Welfare Services respectively. Dates R. Ukrainian and Mr.. Each Take Kiang serve as an Independent Non-Executive Director of 101 Corporation Bertha. Both of them were also involved in the Audit and Risk Management Committee as well as member of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee of the Company. Barbara Corporation Bertha (Bicorn) Barbara Corporation Bertha (commonly known as Bicorn) was founded by Tan Sir Data Series Vincent Tan Cheese Yin in 1984. In the same year, he successfully acquired a major controlling interest in Barbara Industrial Bertha (formerly known as Barbara Swat Bertha and now known as Reek Pacific Bertha). Moreover, Barbara Group Bertha (formerly known as Inter-Pacific Industrial Group Bertha) became a holding company of Reek Pacific Bertha after the company had major restructuring. For information, Inter-Pacific Industrial Group Bertha was incorporated in 1967 as bicycle manufacturer ND the company has successfully listed on Bursa Malaysia in 1969. In addition, Barbara Corporation Bertha acquire listing status on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia when the company complete its group restructuring exercise in October 2005 and the issues Of new shares on 3rd January 2006. Besides that, the company has successfully diversified its business portfolio. Currently, the company has engaged in many industries such as direct selling and retail, property investment and development, gaming and lottery management, motor trading distribution and food beverage industry. Below is the list of Bicorn and its subsidiaries: industry: Us bestiaries: Year of incorporated: Controlling stake by Holdings Retail Barbara Retail Bertha 8th June 2010 100% Property investment and development (I) Barbara Land Bertha (ii) Barbara Asset Bertha (I) 1990 (ii) 1978 (I) 73. 33% (ii) 76. % Food and beverages Barbara Food Bertha 21 SST October 2009 58. 85% Gaming and lottery management Barbara Sports Toto Bertha 1969 51 . 76% Motor trading and distribution Barbara Auto Bertha 1st April 2008 36. 74% Media Barbara Media Bertha 4 March 2008 72. 09% Financial service Barbara Capital Bertha 1999 92. 4% . Product and services Barbara Corporation Bertha (Bicorn) is a successful conglomerate i n Malaysia. The company has many business portfolios such as direct selling and retail, property investment and development, gaming and lottery management, motor trading distribution and food beverage industry. In the direct selling and retail of Bicorn, the company has introduce a direct marketing or multi level marketing business named Cocoas in 1979. Cocoas is a retail chain which market more than 2000 consumer product specialized in health and nutritional supplements, personal care products, water filtration yeses, cosmetics and fragrances and etc. Besides that, Bicorn also bring in an organic specialty store known as Country Farm Organics (CUFF). The store provides many organic products with a reasonable price to its consumer in Malaysia. In addition, the property investment and development of Bicorn comprise of 2 subsidiaries known as Barbara Land Bertha and Barbara Asset Bertha. Bicorn own a lot of properties in Malaysia such as Barbara Times Square, Plaza Barbara, Barbara Magical, Wigwams Cocoas and etc. As property investment of the company. Furthermore, the company also owns some land for property velveteen purposes such as Meaner Bangkok Bank, Vagina 25, The Peak at Among, KIM Condominium and etc. Moreover, in the food and beverages business portfolio of the company, Bicorn has introduced Struck Coffee, Kenny Rogers Roaster Restaurant, Crispy Creme Donuts, Papa John Pizza restaurant and Wendy fast food restaurant and etc. Furthermore, Sports Toto is the product offered by Bicorn in its gaming and lottery management business. Today, Sports Toto is the largest number forecast operator in Malaysia in terms of number of outlets as well as product offerings. In the motor trading and distribution industry, Bicorn is the official distributor of Mazda vehicle (Bertram Motor Sad Bed), Soda automobiles (Danni Pretests Auto Sad Bed), Change automobiles (Change Barbara Auto Sad Bed), Mercedes Benz automobiles (NASA Automobile Corporation Sad Bed) and Gaston Martin automobiles (Gaston Martin Lagoons (SEA) Pet Ltd). In the Media business portfolio of Bicorn, the company has issue free newspaper known as The Sun to the public. The company plays an important role to promote and improve our countrys English standards and reading culture of Malaysia.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Tips for College Students Finding Applying for Internships

Getting an internship is all part of the college experience. College is a place where you can explore a range of academic interests and get the opportunity to get some hands on experience to figure out which career path to take. Some students take on jobs and internships during the school year, but most try to dedicate their summers to a 2-3 month experience to boost their resumes. With summer approaching, if you’re still looking, here are some tips for college students who are looking for and applying for internships: 1. Update your profiles on job sites! If you don’t already, you should create your LinkedIn, Angelist and WayUp profiles. Even if you don’t yet have experience, it’s helpful for you to have your LinkedIn and Angelist profile ready with your education background and career interests. You’re able to showcase the courses you’ve taken in college that is related to what you would like to do in your career. Additionally, you’ll also be able to indicate you’re actively looking for an internship, so companies looking for interns can match up with you! 2. Be on the hunt for new job postings. Don’t rely on the job sites to do all the work for you. While it’s helpful to get recommended job matches, you need to take responsibility for your own internship hunt. Filter by the type of internship you want or in the field you want it in. Create a spreadsheet with all the jobs you’re interested in applying to, so you can keep track and follow up with the appropriate contact. LinkedIn, Angelist and WayUp are great job hunting sites, but there are others like Internships.com and Indeed you can check out too! 3. Familiarize yourself with the career center. It’s easy to go straight to online resources since there are so many job sites out there for college students to access, but don’t forget about your college’s career center! They, too, have a lot of resources and connections that might be helpful to you. They host interview tips, resume editing sessions, and more to help students to secure an internship over the summer. Similarly, don’t forget to also check out your university’s job posting site. This is an advantage of being a college student. If employers are posting on your university’s career site, that means they are looking for students at your school. Don’t miss out on those opportunities! 4. Let your advisor know. Develop a relationship with your academic advisor. If you haven’t chosen a major yet, this will likely just be your dean. While your dean can be a great mentor to you, your major academic advisor can really point you in the right direction. As a professor in the department you’re studying in, your professor would really be able to offer career path suggestions for you to take! Plus, your professor might be able to connect you with someone who is looking for interns. 5. Perfect your cover letter. Once you start finding internships that interest you, put together your cover letter. For those of you who don’t have much professional experience yet, don’t fret! You have other forms of experiences. Whether it’s in a student organization you’re involved in or through volunteering, you can showcase your strengths. More importantly, highlight your desire to learn on the job and how you’d go about doing that. If you already have some experience, don’t make the mistake of regurgitating what is already on your resume. Use your cover letter to expand on things you may have mentioned as a short bullet point to demonstrate your abilities. And, make sure to highlight relevant skills that are pertinent to the job you’re applying to. Here’s an article to help you with your cover letter. 6. Prepare for your interview! Interviews sound scary, but they are really not as bad as you make it out to be in your head. Having said that, make sure you prepare for your interview beforehand and arrive ready. Run through your resume. What are some examples that you can share that demonstrate the points you’ve made on it? What are some of your strengths and how would you explain that? What are some weaknesses? What do you want to take away from your internship? And finally, how can you add value to the company? Prepare your interview questions! On the day of your interview, have a printed version of your resume handy, and bring a notebook and pen so you can jot down notes during your interview. If you’re doing a phone/Skype interview, you should still dress up! It will help you feel more professional. Good luck finding a summer internship! Need more tips? Here are more tips on landing your dream internship. While you wait to hear back from your last job interview, share your college application journey with us and help others who are interested in your school better understand the application process. Plus, get paid while you’re at it. What are you waiting for? Create your college profile now!

Sunday, November 24, 2019

A Deeper Understanding of the Stressors of Psoriasis Professor Ramos Blog

A Deeper Understanding of the Stressors of Psoriasis Society dictates of how beauty should be defined when it comes to how proportionate the person’s facial features are as it fits the golden ratio, and more importantly, how flawless a persons skin has as visibly seen by the eyes of the beholder. Nevertheless, the skin is the first line of defense when it comes to protecting the body from external harsh environment. Skin problems and illnesses are frequently noticeable and visible to others that even a physician can generally diagnose what a person has by looking at the abnormal skin level. The social stigma customarily correlated with different types of skin conditions is hard for people to cope with their skin issues and diseases, as well as negative reaction they receive from others. Moreover, many people suffer from variety of skin problems whether it is hereditary, autoimmune, infectious, environmental, or of unknown cause. Thus, it is the goal of this paper to look into a deeper understanding of one of the prevalent skin d iseases, such as psoriasis, though untreatable, yet can be prevented as long as the underlying causes are known intracellularly and externally. Fig. 1. Healthy skin and skin with psoriasis. â€Å"Growth and Shedding of Keratinocytes in Psoriasis.†Psoriasis Plaque, PubMed Health, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0030407/ Normally, the skin regenerates itself about once a month, or approximately every twenty-eight days (Pagano 18) or 4 weeks as shown in Fig. 1 in a healthy skin (Growth and Shedding of Keratinocytes in Psoriasis). However, in psoriasis, the process speeded up; the skin attempts to renew itself every three or four days instead of the twenty-eight days. The surface area becomes red, inflamed, extremely sensitive, visibly raised, and scaly (19). The word psoriasis is from the Greek word psora, which means â€Å"itch† (Raychaudhuri et al. 61). Psoriasis is a long term, immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID , a disease that lacks definitive etiology) that occurs from the hyperproliferation of skin cells, thus thickening the layer of skin, which causes erythema or redness, scaly silvery plaques, itching, and bleeding. It is genetically inherited from a mother or father who has the disease. Psoriasis is not an unusual disorder; a prevalence of 2%-4%, with a peak incidence between 15 and 25 years age and without sex predilection, has been reported (45). Fig. 2. Common affected areas in psoriasis. â€Å"Main Features of Psoriasis.†Psoriasis E-Chart.HC-HealthComm, loc. 63, hc-healthcomm.com The manifestation of psoriasis can be triggered by many factors. It can be triggered by external and internal environmental factors in genetically susceptible individuals. These factors include infections, drugs such as allergic drug reaction, antimalarial drugs, lithium, beta blockers, interferon alpha, withdrawal of systemic corticosteroids, local trauma (Koebner’s phenomenon), and emotional stress, as these correlates with the onset or flares of psoriatic lesions (Weinberg 11). These lesions are distributed symmetrically and frequently occur on the elbows, knees, lower back, and scalp. These plaques can be intensely pruritic and bleed when manipulated, referred to as Auspitz sign (12). Thus, emotional stress, drugs, and infections can trigger clinical signs and symptoms experienced by psoriatics such as itching, bleeding, and lesion at the more prominent body sites such as the knees, elbows, back, and scalp as shown in fig. 2. Fig. 3. Pathophysiology of psoriasis at a cellular level. â€Å"Evolution of Psoriasis and Immune Factors.† Psoriasis E-Chart.HC-HealthComm, loc. 51, hc-healthcomm.com In many diseases that most people suffer, it seemed psychological distress plays a huge role in the exacerbation of the disease. Doctors and many people believe psychological ‘stress’ to be a major triggering factor in many skin diseases, specifically psoriasis (Shuster 614). The correlation between skin and mind may be a result of the skin’s role as biological structure of transmitting information, and perhaps also the social response to the infectious nature of skin disease in the recent past; consequently a disorder of the skin may have a very severe effect on the mind (615). He infer this is the basis of the erroneous belief that mind is a significant etiological aspect in skin disease. Moreover, he believes that there is a strong proof that both mind and ‘stress’ transform certain skin circulatory and immune responses but in a direction which might be anticipated to improve psoriasis (615). Therefore, based on the belief by many expertise in the field of medicine, psychological stress can worsen psoriasis. There are many cases have been reported that stress can exacerbate psoriasis. Scientific research reports roughly 40% of cases in the beginning or worsening of psoriasis, psychosocial stress has been reported to play an important role (Gupta et al. 166). A few studies have been published that about 80% of patients with psoriasis are stress reactors. Many psychosocial intercessions have been reported to be a vital addition in the typical therapeutic management of psoriasis (166). Based on the study of 127 patients with plaque psoriasis who got admitted to Dermatology inpatient unit, the psychosocial stress measures such as major life events, psychological or personality factors, social support, and minor daily stressful events or hassles were used to evaluate the severity of the disease of psoriatic patients (168). Based on the result of the dermatologic measures that were done, it revealed that the high stress reactors (i.e. stress exacerbates psoriasis) had extensive psoriasis on he ad (face and scalp), neck, upper extremities, and genital area which are classified as â€Å"emotionally charged† because psoriasis in these anatomical parts are more likely to induce emotional reactions in the patients †¦ In retroactive study, the high stress reactors also reported a larger number of flare-ups of their psoriasis during the 6 months prior to admission (170). In this study, the psychocutaneous traits have identified the high stress reactors from the low stress reactors (i.e. less significant link of stress and psoriasis). The high stress reactors had more disfiguring psoriasis because it affected many regions of their body. Aside from what Gupta and his colleagues had mentioned above, another scientific study suggests that stress can cause psoriasis. Based on Al’Abadie et al research on the effects of stressful life events on the beginning and progress of psoriasis, their studies showed that psoriasis patients’ disease is affected by stressful events differing from 40 to 80% based on whether it is an acute or chronic stress, and based on patients self reports or responses based on standardized check-lists (199). They also added that stress can affect the immune system directly through neuroendocrine changes or indirectly through poor healthy habits in regards to diet and sleep, or by taking drugs such as alcohol and therefore lowering their immune system (199). They found that chronic stress of everyday struggles can worsen psoriasis (200). The results of the study supports that the experience of stress may take a significant part in the onset and exacerbation of psoriasis. Many credible researchers continue to emphasize stress as one of the causes of the progression of psoriasis. In the study performed by Griffiths and Richards, they stated that psoriasis suggested as a psychosomatic disorder wherein stress or psychological distress is a cause in expressing the disease. Also, in their article, â€Å"Psychological influences in Psoriasis,† emotional stress was mentioned as the most convincing precipitating factor in psoriasis (338). The result of their study reported over 60% of a sample of psoriasis patients who attended a specialty clinic were convinced that stress was the main reason to the cause of their psoriasis, and this was not related to the clinical severity of their condition as measured by the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) (338). In addition, they also examined the Psoriasis Life Stress Inventory (PLSI) which is another way in rating everyday life struggles or recurring substandard stress associated with having to live with pso riasis. They were able to identify that the two main factors to stress in psoriasis were â€Å"engaging in anticipatory and avoidance coping behavior, and belief of being evaluated on the basis of their skin† (qtd 339). Furthermore, they deduce that if psoriasis patients engage themselves in anticipatory and avoidance coping behavior which is not related to their skin condition, then it might be hypothesized that â€Å"thoughts related to stigmatization and rejection may be influencing such behavior† (qtd 339). In other terms, psoriasis patients are expecting horrible situation when they are not aware that this will actually happen. One good example would be a psoriasis patient will not take her children to a public water park for fear of being asked to leave the premise due to the fact that they have psoriasis even though this might never have occurred to them in the past. They tried to avoid this kind of situation because they feel being stigmatized because of the cl inical condition of their skin. Therefore, emotional or psychological stress of daily struggles with psoriasis manifests the progression of the disease. Fig. 4. Commonly affected areas of psoriasis and types of treatment. Armstrong, April W. â€Å"Psoriasis is a Common Condition Where the Skin Gets Red and Scaly; Psoriasis can Cause Itching, Discomfort, and Sometimes pain.† JAMA Dermatology, vol. 153, no. 9, Sep. 2017, p. 956. There are different types of treatment for psoriasis (see fig. 4). It can be topical medication, phototherapy, biological agents, oral medication, and diet. Though psoriasis can be stress related, having psoriasis self-help groups and group therapy that help the psoriatic patients to deal with the daily stresses related with their disease should be part of the whole therapeutic programs (Gupta et al. 172). The dermatologist should tailor the treatment plan based on patient individual needs since everybody has different and unique biochemical makeup. Though there is no cure for psoriasis, all the possible treatment mentioned above can possibly prevent the onset and exacerbation of the disease. Topical medications are used to treat the symptoms of psoriasis. Salicylic acid, corticosteroids and vitamin D analogues are few of the topical agents used to alleviate the symptoms of psoriasis. Raychaudhuri states that due to increased water loss and increased formation of keratinocytes in the skin, the skin becomes dry and itchy (246). Salicylic acid emollients are applied on the psoriatic skin to moisten the epidermal layer and prevent it from pruritus or itching (246). On the other hand, inflammation of the skin is another symptoms experienced by psoriatic patients. Since psoriasis can be an autoimmune disease, the keratinocytes in psoriasis are not well regulated causing an inflammatory response. Vitamin D has many important roles in immunity and the absorption of calcium according to Fett (163). Vitamin D supplement added in diet of psoriasis patients has a moderate or greater improvement in psoriasis in at least 50 percent of patients in five separate studies that have been r eported (164). Some psoriatic patients who take higher doses of vitamin D supplements completely resolved their disease (164). Vitamin D analogues are used to strengthen the immune system, and it binds to intracellular vitamin D receptors to regulate the genes responsible in the proliferation of keratinocytes and keratin (Raychaudhuri 249-50). The same effect as vitamin D ointment happens when corticosteroid is used to treat inflammation in psoriasis. Corticosteroid, a steroid hormone, is produced in the adrenal cortex regulates inflammatory response. It attaches to glucocorticoid receptor in the cell and regulates the gene responsible in inflammation (248). Therefore, the symptoms of psoriasis such as itching and inflammation can be treated with salicylic acid, vitamin D compounds, and corticosteroid topical agents. Another treatment used to relieve the symptom of psoriasis is by the use of phototherapy. Ultraviolet (UV) light therapy is used as a phototherapy to slow the growth of the affected skin cells in psoriasis (Raychaudhuri 170). Since psoriasis is a T cell mediated disease, the abnormal functioning T lymphocytes attacks the skin cells causing an inflammatory response by increasing the keratinocyte proliferation and keratinization (Dolgin 1219). Thus, with phototherapy, it slows down the process of the T lymphocytes in attacking the keratinocytes. Aside from the topical agents and phototherapy, diet also plays a vital role in the treatment of psoriasis. It is very essential to maintain the proper pH balance in the chemistry of psoriasis patients. Diet assists in the maintenance of a proper acid-base homeostasis of the chemical activity in the body according to Pagano (71). He suggests that psoriatic patients should be on the basic (alkaline) side than the acidic side as nature demands. The body chemistry that is leaning more towards the alkaline is more resistant to all kinds of disease (71). Furthermore, he recommends eating alkaline-forming foods such as raw carrot, celery, beets, parsley, romaine, lettuce, and spinach juice extracts, and avoids acid-forming foods such as strawberries, citrus fruits, citrus juices, and avocados (73-75). He mentions that a person’s blood should be always on the slight alkaline side (pH 7.3-7.5) to maintain the ideal health and immunity (71). Therefore, psoriatic patients should be awar e of their diet to maintain alkalinity in the blood and body chemistry to have a better resistance to disease and strengthen their immunity. Psoriasis is a very serious disease when it comes to the personal well being of a person who suffers from it. Knowing the possible stressors of psoriasis can help psoriatic patient treat its symptoms before its onset and exacerbation. Though the exact cause of psoriasis is unknown, bacterial or viral infections, toxic drugs, and psychosocial distress are few possible stressors of psoriasis. These stressors can cause the skin cell to behave erratically causing itchiness and inflammation of the skin. Many clinical studies have suggested that psychosocial stress can cause the exacerbation of psoriasis. Furthermore, a good mental attitude towards the disease is important to look at because they need a strong support group as they live their life daily with all the struggles they experience with the disease. In addition, different types of treatments such as topical agents (salicylic acid, vitamin D compounds, and corticosteroids), phototherapy (ultraviolet light), and diet are used to tr eat itching, inflammation, and other symptoms of psoriasis. Diet plays a very important role in alleviating the symptoms of psoriasis as long as the body chemical atmosphere is within the alkaline side for it aids a person from being resistant to diseases and increase its immunity. A deeper understanding of the stressors of psoriasis can help many people to win their battle with psoriasis. Al’ Abadie, M. S. et al. â€Å"The Relationship Between Stress and the Onset and Exacerbation of Psoriasis and Other Skin Conditions.† British Journal of Dermatology, no. 130, 1994, pp. 199-200. The article discusses the relationship between stress and beginning and progression of psoriasis. Dr. Mohammed Sami Al’ Abadie has worked in Dermatology since 1989, obtaining his PhD in Dermatology from Sheffield University, DSBD Diploma in Dermatology from University of Wales, working as a consultant Dermatologist since 1997. He is also a senior lecturer and visiting professor of medical students from Birmingham University, and has published numerous specialist papers in peer review journals in Dermatology. The article is important to utilize in the research paper due to one possible cause of psoriasis is stress. Armstrong, April W. â€Å"Psoriasis is a Common Condition Where the Skin Gets Red and Scaly; Psoriasis can Cause Itching, Discomfort, and Sometimes pain.† JAMA Dermatology, vol. 153, no. 9, Sep. 2017, p. 956. The article talks about common symptoms experienced by psoriatic patients. Dr. April W. Armstrong is an Associate Dean of Clinical Research at Keck School of Medicine at USC. She also serves as Director of Clinical Research for the Southern California Clinical and Translational Research Institute. In the Department of Dermatology at USC, she serves as Vice Chair, Director of Clinical Trials and Outcomes Research, and Director of the Psoriasis Program. The article is very useful in knowing the symptoms of psoriasis. â€Å"Evolution of Psoriasis and Immune Factors.† Psoriasis E-Chart.HC-HealthComm, loc. 51, hc-healthcomm.com The article accounts for the pathophysiology of psoriasis and anatomical areas affected by psoriasis. The information provided by this article can be helpful in knowing what really is going on at the cellular level in psoriasis. Fett, Rebecca. Healing Arthritis and Psoriasis by Restoring the Microbiome: The Keystone Approach. Franklin Fox Publishing, 2018, pp. 163-164. The author helps us understand the root causes of the autoimmune diseases, for instance, the psoriasis. She affirms, based on scientific research, that the balance of bacteria in an individual’s microbiome can have a huge impact on inflammation throughout the body. She also reveals the importance of a low-starch and microbiome-restoring diets for people who are suffering psoriasis. The author is a science writer with a degree in molecular biotechnology and biochemistry from the University of Sydney. She previously spent ten years as a biotechnology patent litigation attorney in New York, where she specialized in analyzing the scientific and clinical evidence for immune-targeting biologic medicines. I will use this source to support my research paper regarding the connection or roll of diets in psoriasis. Griffiths, C. E., and Richards, H. L. â€Å"Psychological Influences in Psoriasis.† Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, no. 26, 2001, pp. 338-339. The article explains how patients with psoriasis experience psychosocial activities like high anxiety level, depression, worry and avoidance of social activities. It also suggests that one of the main sources of stress experienced by patients with the said skin condition is due to apprehension of how others will react to their disease, which leads to avoidance behavior and extreme worrying. C. E. M. Griffiths OBE (Order of the British Empire) is Foundation Professor of Dermatology at the University of Manchester, Director of the Manchester Centre for Dermatology Research and Head of the Dermatology Theme of the National Institute for Health Research Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. He is also an Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. On the other hand, H. L. Richards of Mercy University Hospital, Cork is also a researcher with an expertise in Positive Psychology, Health Psychology, and Clinical Psychology. I will use this source to get more inf ormation between the relationship of psoriasis and stress. â€Å"Growth and Shedding of Keratinocytes in Psoriasis.†Psoriasis Plaque, PubMed Health, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0030407/ Gupta, Madhulika A. et al. â€Å"A Psychocutaneous Profile of Psoriasis Patients Who Are Stress Reactors: A Study of 127 Patients.† General Hospital Psychiatry, vol. 11, no. 3, May 1989, pp. 166-173. PubMed, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0163-8343(89)90036-4. Gupta and his colleagues have identified some psychocutaneous distinctiveness that clinically differentiates psoriatirc who report that stress aggravates their disease (high stress reactors) from the psoriatics who do not report a considerable relationship between stress and their psoriasis (low stress reactors). The high stress reactors have more distorting illness as result of severe psoriatic flare ups in â€Å"emotionally charged† body parts. Madhulika Gupta is a scientist and affiliated at Division of Maternal, Fetal Newborn Health, Children’s Health Research Institute, and assistant Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Biochemistry in the Schulich School of Medicine Dentistry in Western University. She is a very credible author that I can utilize in my research as it relates to the stressor of psychosocial influence to the exacerbation of psoriasis. â€Å"Main Features of Psoriasis.†Psoriasis E-Chart.HC-HealthComm, loc. 63, hc- healthcomm.com Pagano, John O. A., D.C. Healing Psoriasis: The Natural Alternative. John Wiley Sons, 2009, pp. 18-19, 71, 73-75. Dr. John Pagano defines in his book what is psoriasis and its etiology. He discusses the importance of diet and mental attitude in overcoming psoriasis. He also reveals how acid-forming diet, stress and any negative emotions such as hatred, anger, fear and the likes can aggravate the psoriatic condition. The author is a chiropractic physician in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for forty eight years. His motivation to conduct research on and study psoriasis is due to His first encounter with his psoriasis patients while doing his internship at a hospital in Denver has motivated him to conduct research on psoriasis to alleviate the suffering of the people with the said disease. He wants to prove that psoriasis and other skin problems or diseases can be controlled and healed naturally. I strongly believe that the author is a reliable source and his book will be able to help me on my research paper to validate some claims and answer questions regarding the causes of psoriasis, and how it c an be treated. Raychaudhuri, Siba P. et al. Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis: Pathophysiology, Therapeutic Intervention, and Complementary Medicine. Taylor Francis Group, 2018, pp. 37, 61, 170, 246, 248-250. The authors present information on pathophysiology, disease epidemiology, and genetics of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. They cover the current treatments for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, which includes topical preparations, light therapy, and the idea of total care. In addition, they discuss the numerous nutriceutical supplements and functional foods available for psoriasis and its accompanying inflammatory conditions. Siba P. Raychudhuri, MD, FACP, FACR, is the chief of the Rheumatology Division at the VA Medical Center in Sacramento, California, and a senior faculty in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of California, Davis. Smriti K. Raychaudhuri, MD, is a professor of medicine and medical microbiology at California Northstate University College of Medicine. She is also the director of the Cellular and Clinical Immunology Research Laboratory at the Sacramento VA Medical Center, California. Lastly, Debasis Bagchi, PhD, MACN, C NS, MAIChE, is the chief scientific officer at Cepham Research Center, Piscataway, New Jersey; a professor in the Department of Phamacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, Texas. I will use this source to explain the pathophysiology of the disease process of psoriasis. Shuster, Sam. â€Å"Stress and Psoriasis.† British Journal of Dermvatology. vol. 100, no. 5, 1979. pp. 614-615. The article discusses the relationship of stress and psoriasis. Dr. Sam Shuster is a British dermatology educator, consultant, and researcher. He is an honorary consultant at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital since 2009. Consultant on various pharmacological and chemical industries worldwide, television and radio programs on medical and general topics. The article provides information about how stress affects psoriasis. Weinberg, Jeffrey M. Treatment of Psoriasis. Birkhauser, 2008, p. 11. The book expounds the pathopysiology of psoriasis and the triggering factors of it. The author describes, as well, the different types of psoriasis like erythrodermic psoriasis, pustular psoriasis, inverse psoriasis, nail psoriasis, oral psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis. He also discusses the different ways to treat psoriasis- oral therapy, topical therapy, UV and laser therapy. Furthermore, he points out some medications that can trigger psoriasis. The author is a Dermatology specialist in Forest Hill, New York. He attended and graduated from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1993. This book will be helpful to fully understand the disease process and treatments

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Keurig System in the Office Coffee Market Case Study

Keurig System in the Office Coffee Market - Case Study Example This type of system is attractive in the office coffee market because it allows employees to choose the flavour they want. The chosen flavour is then ready in just 30 seconds. The cups are made to fit just the Keurig system. This would allow employees to only experience the different types at the office. This also eliminated maintenance associated with traditional brewers. Employees were also no longer tempted to take supplies home. Nick Lazaris has a huge predicament involving Keurig and MTS machine manufacturing. MTS is demanding more money than originally estimated. After finishing the project, MTS has asked for an additional $180,000 in payments. This was asked for because the machine took additional funds to get finished. There are many things Nick can do in this type of situation. Nick Lazaris should hold a meeting with MTS and discuss either continuing business or take up business with another manufacturer. If MTS required additional funds, they should have contacted Nick and explained that they would not be able to release the first packaging line until additional money was received. Instead of using unethical business decisions, MTS waited until the last minute and demanded additional funds. It would be in Keurigs favour in the long run to seek out business with a different manufacturer. The business ethics presented by Keurig at the beginning of production stages can only get worse as time goes on. MTS may start to demand more money and cause additional problems in the future. Nicks strategy needs to focus on letting MTS know that there are other manufacturers out there and MTS needs Keurig, not the other way around. The focused goal for production should achieve all the objectives of allowing all companies to succeed. Fair business is important. The amount should be the original $700,000 plus any additional cost that MTS had to pay out of pocket. The vendor selection for the brewing machines must be fair.     

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Organization Structure and Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organization Structure and Strategies - Essay Example The mission statement therefore should contain information about what the company intends to do; this communication ensures that the organization achieves the set goals and objectives. There are various types of organization structures and they include the hierarchy structure, the matrix structure and the hybrid structure. The choice of the organization structure needs to take into consideration some factors which will help the choice of the best organization structure that will help to achieve common objectives and goals in the organization. The size of the organization will be a factor to consider when choosing the structure to adopt, the size of the organization will be determined by the number of employees, the number of departments and the output levels and number of processes. Appropriate structures adopted in large organizations will help in gaining competitive advantages over rivals because the structure helps to coordinate activities in a more efficient way. A firm has to consider its function when choosing an appropriate structure, if the organization has various process then it would be advisable for the organization to structure according to the functions of each department. The structure will also depend on the nature ... Consumer needs: There is also a need to consider the needs of the consumer when choosing the best structure; in this case the market will influence the optimal choice of structure. Organization processes: The organization processes will also be considered when making decisions about the structure, the structure in an organization where products have to pass through various processes need a structure that clearly identifies these activities in a distinctive manner. The structures: An organization needs also to consider the various advantages and disadvantages associated with each structure before deciding on which structure to adopt, through this consideration a business is able to make optimal decisions. Example the hierarchy structure has been criticized for making waste and also organization failure, all the advantages and disadvantage of this structure must be taken into consideration. Organization strategy: Cost leadership strategy: This strategy is appropriate where an organization has established a good relationship with suppliers and it is possible to acquire raw materials at a lower cost than its rivals and therefore the firm can sell its products in the market at a low price. This is also possible when the firm adopts an efficine tproduction process that minimizes the cost of production, finally this strategy could be used when other firms are unable to minimize their cost. The product differentiation strategy: This strategy can be used if the firm has reputation in the market, it can also be used when the products in the market are not highly differentiated. For this reason therefore this strategy will work if there is high competition and that consumers prefer unique goods from the organization, however this strategy will only be

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Answer the history eassy questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Answer the history eassy questions - Essay Example The human civilizations on the banks of the great rivers suffered from seasonal variations of flood and dryness and so their early wall defences and storage systems helped to even out the extremes. Also, by introducing irrigation systems they were able to extend the reach of their agriculture, making wider and wider margins of cultivable fields. The more crops they had, the more people they could sustain, and the more armies they could form, which had the disadvantage of facilitating wars. There was also competition for the water resource which caused tensions between different groups. Sometimes irrigation disturbed the water flow further downstream and this caused conflict and hardship when water was in short supply. The Egyptians had the most effective and long lasting leadership and this may have something to do with the way that the leaders were absolutely tied in with religious beliefs. The people regarded them with awe, and worshipped them as gods. The rulers also amassed considerable wealth through trade and the capturing of a great many slave workers, and they consolidated their power through strategic marriages and excellent diplomacy. Government and religion were merged together in a system called Theocracy which means that the gods are in charge in Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. Kings and priests worked together and there is evidence of this in the Pyramids, which are the burial places for the priest/king rulers known as Pharaohs. Their mummies and tombs show pictures of how they ruled. Chines rulers founded dynasties, passing power on from one generation to the next. There are relics such as books and vessels which show Chinese civilization was very advanced. The â€Å"Mandate of Heaven† is assumed to last for a certain period with each dynasty, until people rebel, and a new dynasty takes over. The rulers created stability so that the population could produce good crops and develop societies. Different

Friday, November 15, 2019

Ssis Is An In Memory Pipeline Computer Science Essay

Ssis Is An In Memory Pipeline Computer Science Essay Since SSIS is an in-memory pipeline, one has to ensure that transactions occur in the memory for performance benefits. To check if your package is staying within memory limits, one should review the SSIS performance counter Buffers spooled. This has an initial value of 0. Any value above 0 is an indication that the engine has started disk-swapping activities. Capacity planning to understand resource utilization In order to understand resource utilization it is very important to monitor CPU, Memory, I/O and Network utilization of the SSIS package. CPU It is important to understand how much CPU is being utilized by SSIS and how much of CPU is being utilized by overall SQL Server while Integration Services is running. This latter point is very important, especially if you have SSIS and SQL Server on the same box, because if there is resource contention, SQL Server will surely win that will result into disk spilling from Integration Services resulting in slower transformation speed. The performance counter that should be monitored is Process / % Processor Time (Total). One should measure this counter for both sqlservr.exe and dtexec.exe. If SSIS is not close to 100% CPU load, then this indicates: Application contention For e.g. SQL Server takes more processor resources, makes it unavailable for SSIS Hardware contention Probably a suboptimal disk I/O or not enough memory to handled the amount of data to be processed Design limitation The SSIS design is not making use of parallelism, and/or the package has too many single-threaded tasks Network SSIS moves data as fast as your network is able to handle it. Hence, it is important to understand your network topology and ensure that the path between the source and destination have both low latency and high throughput. Following performance counters can help you tune the topology: Network Interface / Current Bandwidth Provides estimate of current bandwidth Network Interface / Bytes Total/Sec The rates at which bytes are sent and received on each network adapter Network Interface / Transfers/Sec How many network transfers per second are occurring. If the number is close to 40,000 IOPs, then get another NIC card and use teaming between the NIC cards Input / Output (I/O) A good SSIS package should hit the disk only when it reads from the sources and writes back to the target. But if the I/O is slow, reading and especially writing can create a bottleneck. So it is very important to understand that the I/O system is not only specified in size (like 1 TB, 2 TB) but also its sustainable speed (like 20,000 IOPs). Memory The key counters to monitor memory for SSIS and SQL Server are as follows: Process / Private Bytes (DTEXEC.EXE) amount of memory currently used by Integration Services that cannot be shared with other processes Process / Working Set (DTEXEC.EXE) amount of allocated memory by Integration Services SQL Server: Memory Manager / Total Server Memory amount of allocated memory for SQL Server. This counter is the best indicator of total memory used by SQL, because SQL Server has another way to allocate memory using the AWE API Memory / Page Reads/sec total memory pressure on the system. If this consistently goes above 500, it is an indication that the system is under memory pressure Baseline Source System Extract Speed It is important to understand the source system and the speed at which data can be extracted from it. Measure the speed of the source system by creating a simple package that reads data from some source with the destination that says Row Count Execute this package from the command line and measure the time it took for it to complete the task. Using Integration Services log output, you can measure the time taken. Formula to be used: Rows/Sec = RowCount / Time Based on the above value, you can judge the maximum number of rows per second that can be read from the source. To increase the Rows/Sec calculation, you can perform one of the following operations: Improve drivers and driver configurations: Ensure you are using the up-to-date driver configurations for the network, data source and disk I/O. Start multiple connections: To overcome limitations of drivers, you can start multiple connections to your data source. If the source is able to handle many concurrent connections, the throughput will increase if you start several extracts at once. If concurrency causes locking or blocking issues, consider partitioning the source having your packages read from different partitions to more evenly distribute the load Use multiple NIC cards: If network is the bottleneck and you have ensured you are using gigabit network cards and routers, then a potential solution is to use multiple NIC cards per server. Optimize SQL data source, Lookup transformations and Destination Here are some optimization tips that you can implement in your SSIS packages: Use NOLOCK or TABLOCK hints to remove locking overhead Refrain from using SELECT * in SQL queries. Mention each column name in the SELECT clause for which data needs to be retrieved If possible, perform datetime conversions at source or target databases In SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, there is a new feature of shared lookup cache. During the use of parallel pipelines, it provides high-speed, shared cache If Integration Services and SQL Server run on the same box, use SQL Server destination instead of OLE DB Commit size 0 is fastest on heap bulk targets. If you cannot use 0, use the highest possible value of commit size to reduce overhead of multiple-batch writing. Commit size = 0 is bad while inserting into BTree because all incoming rows must be sorted at once into the target BTree, and if the memory is limited, there is a likelihood of spill. Batchsize=0 is ideal for inserting into a heap. Please note that a commit size value of 0 might cause the running package to stop responding if the OLE DB destination and another data flow component are updating the same source table. To ensure that the package does not stop, set the maximum insert commit size option to 2147483647 Use a commit size of Heap inserts are typically faster than using a clustered index. This means it is recommended to drop and rebuild all the indexes if there is a large part of the destination table getting changed. Use partitions and partition SWITCH command. In other words load a work table that contains single partition and SWITCH it into the main table after the indexes are build and then put the constraints on Network tuning Packet size is the main property of the network that needs to be monitored / looked at in order to take decisions for Network tuning. By default this value is set to 4,096 bytes. As noted in SqlConnection.PacketSize property in .Net Framework Class Library, when the packet size is increased, it will improve performance because fewer network read and write operations are required to transfer a large data set. If your system is transactional in nature, lowering the value will improve the performance. Another network tuning technique is to use network affinity at the operating system level to increase the performance at high throughputs. Use Data Type wisely Following are some best practices related to usage of data types: Define data types as narrow as possible Do not perform excessing casting of data types. Match your data types to the source or destination and explicitly specify data type casting Take care of precision when using money, float and decimal data types. Money data type is always faster than decimal and has fewer precision considerations than float. Change the design Following are some best practices related to SSIS design: Do not SORT within Integration Services unless absolutely necessary. In order to sort the data Integration Services allocates memory space for the entire data set that needs to be transformed. Preferably, presort the data before hand. Another way to sort the data is by using ORDER BY clause to sort large data in the database. There are times where using Transact-SQL will be faster than processing the data in SSIS. Generally all set-based operations will perform faster in Transact-SQL because the problem can be transformed into a relational algebra formulation that SQL Server is optimized to resolve. Set-based UPDATE statements these are more efficient than row-by-row OLE DB calls Aggregation statements like GROUP BY and SUM are also calculated faster using T-SQL instead of in-memory calculations by a pipeline Delta detection is a technique where you change existing rows in the target table instead of reloading the table. To perform delta detection, one can change detection mechanism such as the new SQL Server 2008 Change Data Capture (CDC) functionality. As a rule of thumb, if the target table has changed > 10 %, it is often faster to simply reload than to perform the delta detection Partition the problem For ETL design, partition source data into smaller chunks of equal size. Here are some more partitioning tips: Use partitioning on your target table. Multiple versions of the same package can be executed in parallel to insert data into different partitions of the same table. The SWITCH statement should be used during partitioning. It not only increases parallel load speed, but also allows efficient transfer of data. As implied above, the package should have a parameter defined that specifies which partition should it work on. Minimize logged operations If possible, used minimal logged operations while inserting data into your target SQL Server database. When data is inserted into a database in fully logged mode, the size of the log grows quickly, because each row that is written in the database is also written to the log. Therefore, consider the following while designing SSIS packages: Try to perform data flows in bulk mode instead of row by row. This will help minimize the number of entries to the log file. This eventually results into less disk I/O hence improving the performance If for any reason you need to delete data, organize the data in such a way that you can use TRUNCATE instead of DELETE. The later places an entry of each row that is deleted into the log file. The former will delete all the data and just put one entry into the log file If for any reason partition need to be move around, use the SWITCH statement. This is a minimally logged operation If you use DML statements along with your INSERT statements, minimum logging is suppressed. Schedule and distribute it correctly Good way to handle execution is to create a priority queue for your package and then execute multiple instances of the same package (with different partition parameter values). This queue can be a simple SQL Server table. A simple loop in the control flow should be a part of each package to: Pick a relevant chunk from the queue Relevant means that is not already been processed and that all chunks it depends on have already executed Exit the package if no item is returned from the queue Perform work required on the chunk Mark the chunk as done in the queue Return to the start of the loop Picking an item from the queue and marking it as done can be implemented as a stored procedure. Once you have the queue in place, you can simple start multiple copies of DTEXEC to increase parallelism. Keep it simple Unnecessary use of components should be avoided. Here is one of the way to avoid it: Step 1: Declare the variable varServerDate Step 2: Use ExecuteSQLTask in the control flow to execute a SQL query to get the server datatime and store it in the variable Step 3: Use the dataflow task and insert/update database with the server datatime from the variable varServerDate This sequence is advisable only in cases where the time difference from Step 2 to Step 3 really matters. If that does not matter, then just use the getdate() command at Step 3 as shown below: Create table #Table1(t_ID int, t_date datetime) Insert into #Table1(t_ID, t_date) values(1, getdate()) Executing a child package multiple times from a parent with different parameter values While executing a child package from a master package, parameters that are passed from the master package should be configured in the child package. Use the Parent Package Configuration option in the child package to implement this feature. But for using this option, you need to specify the name of the Parent Package Variable that is passed to the child package. If there is a need to call the same child package multiple times (each time with a different parameter value), declare the parent package variables (with the same name as given in the child package) with a scope limited to Execute Package Tasks. SSIS allows declaring variables with the same name but the scope limited to different tasks all inside the same package. SQL Job with many atomic steps For the SQL job that calls the SSIS packages, create multiple steps, each performing small tasks rather than one step that performs all the tasks. Creating one big step, the transaction log grows too big and if a rollback takes place, it make take the full processing space of the server. Avoid unnecessary typecasts Avoid unnecessary typecasts. For e.g., flat file connection manager, be default, uses the string [DT-STR] data type for all columns. You will have to manually change it, if there is a need to use the actual data type. It is always a good option to change it at the source-level itself to avoid unnecessary type casting. Transactions Usually, ETL processes handle large volume of data. In such scenarios, do not attempt a transaction on the whole package logic. SSIS does support transactions, and it is advisable to use transactions. Distributed transaction that span across multiple tasks The control flow of an SSIS package threads together various control tasks. In SSIS it is possible to set a transaction that can span into multiple tasks using the same connection. To enable this, set value of the retainsameconnection property of the Connection Manager to true Limit the package name to maximum of 100 characters When a SSIS package with a package name exceeding 100 characters is deployed in SQL Server, it trims the package name to 100 characters, which may cause an execution failure. SELECT * FROM Do not pass any unnecessary columns from the source to the destination. With the OLEDB connection manager source, using the Table or View data access mode is equivalent to SELECT * FROM tablename, which will fetch all the columns. Use SQL Command to fetch only required columns and pass that to the destination. Excel source and 64-bit runtime Excel Source or Excel Connection manager works only with the 32-bit runtime. Whenever a package that uses Excel Source is enabled for 64-bit runtime (by default, this is enabled), it will fail on the production server using the 64-bit runtime. Go to solution property pages debugging and set Run64BitRuntime to FALSE. On failure of a component, stop / continue the execution with the next component When a component fails, the property failParentonFailure can be effectively used either to stop the package execution or continue with the next component execution in the sequence container. The constraint value connecting the components in the sequence should be set to Completion. Also the failParentonFailure property should be set to FALSE. Protection To avoid most of the package deployment error from one system to other, set the package protection level to DontSaveSensitive Copy pasting script component Once you copy-paste a script component and execute the package, it may fail. As a work-around, open the script editor of the pasted script component, save the script and then execute the package. Configuration filter Use as a filter As a best practice use the package name as the configuration filter for all the configuration items that are specific to a package. This is typically useful when there are so many packages with package specific configuration items. Use a generic name for configuration items that are general to many packages. Optimal use of configuration records Avoid using the same configuration item recorded under different filter / object name. For e.g. there should be only one configuration record created if two packages are using the same connection string. This can be achieved by using the same name for the connection manager in both the packages. This is quite useful at the time of porting from one environment to other (like UAT to Prod). Pulling High Volume data Process of pulling high volume is represented in the following flowchart: The recommendation is to consider dropping all indexes from the target tables if possible before inserting data especially when the volume inserts are high. Effect of OLEDB Destination Settings Certain settings with OLEDB destination will impact the performance of the data transfer. Lets look at some of them: Data Access Mode This setting provides fast load option, which internally uses BULK INSERT statement for uploading data into the destination table. Keep Identity By default this setting is unchecked which means the destination table (if it has an identity column) will create identity values on its own. On checking this setting, the dataflow engine will ensure that the source identity values are preserved and same value is inserted into the destination table. Keep NULLs By default this setting is unchecked which means default value will be inserted (if the default constraint is defined on the target column) during INSERT into the destination table if NULL value is coming from the source for that particular column. On checking this option, the default constraint on the destination tables column will be ignored and preserved NULL of the source column will be inserted into the destination column. Table Lock By default this setting is checked and the recommendation is to let it be checked unless the same table is being used by some other process at the same time. Check Constraints By default this setting is checked and recommendation is to have it unchecked if you are sure the incoming data is not going to violate constraints of the destination table. This setting indicates that the dataflow pipeline engine will validate the incoming data against the constraints of target table. Performance of data load can be improved by unchecking this option. Effects of Rows per Batch and Maximum Insert Commit Size settings Rows per batch The default value for this setting is -1 which means all incoming rows will be treated as a single batch. If required you can change this to a positive integer value to break all incoming rows into multiple batches. The positive integer value will represent the total number of rows in a batch Maximum insert commit size Default value for this setting is 2147483647 which means all incoming rows will be committed once on successful completion. If required, you can change this positive integer to any other positive integer number that would represent that the commit will be done for those specified number of records. This might put an overhead on the dataflow engine to commit several times, but on the other side it will release the pressure on the transaction log and save tempdb from growing tremendously especially during high volume data transfers. The above two settings are mainly focused on improving the performance of tempdb and transaction log. Avoid Synchronous/Asynchronous transformations While executing the package, SSIS runtime engine executes every task other than data flow task in defined sequence. On encountering a data flow task the execution of the data flow task is taken over by the data flow pipeline engine. The dataflow pipeline engine then breaks the execution of the data flow task into one ore more execution tree(s). It may also execute these trees in parallel to achieve high performance. To make things a bit clearly, here is what an Execution Tree means. An Execution tree starts at a source or an asynchronous transformation and ends at a destination or first asynchronous transformation in the hierarchy. Each tree has a set of allocated buffer and scope of these buffers is associated to this tree. Also in addition to this every tree is allocated an OS thread (worker-thread) and unlike buffers other execution tree may share this thread. Synchronous transformation gets a record, processes it and passes it to the other transformation or destination in the sequence. The processing of a record does not dependent on the other incoming rows. Since synchronous transformations output the same number of rows as the input, it does not require new buffers to be created and hence is faster in processing. For e.g., in the Derived column transformation, a new column gets added in each incoming row, without adding any additional records to the output. In case of asynchronous transformation, different number of rows can be created than the input requiring new buffers to be created. Since an output is dependent on one or more records it is called blocking transformation. It might be partial or full blocking. For e.g., the Sort Transformation is a fully blocking transformation as it requires all the incoming rows to arrive before processing. Since the asynchronous transformation requires additional buffers it performs slower than synchronous transformations. Hence asynchronous transformations must be avoided wherever possible. For e.g. instead of using Sort Transformation to get sorted results, use ORDER BY clause in the source itself. Implement Parallel Execution in SSIS Parallel execution in allowed by SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) in two different ways by controlling two properties mentioned below: MaxConcurrentExecutables this property defines how many tasks (executable) can run simultaneously. This property defaults to -1, which is translated to the number of processors plus 2. In case, hyper-threading is turned on in your box, it is the logical processor rather than the physically present processor that is counted.  For e.g. we have a package with 3 Data Flow tasks where every task has 10 flows in the form of OLE DB Source -> SQL Server Destination. To execute all 3 Data Flow Tasks simultaneously, set the value of MaxConcurrentExecutables to 3. The second property named EngineThreads controls whether all 10 flows in each individual Data Flow Task get started concurrently. EngineThreads this property defines how many work threads the schedule will create and run in parallel. The default value for this property is 5. In the above example, if we set the EngineThreads to 10 on all 3 Data Flow Tasks, then all the 30 flows will start at the same time. One thing we want to be clear about EngineThreads is that it governs both source threads (for source components) and work threads (for transformation and destination components). Source and work threads are both engine threads created by the Data Flows scheduler. Looking back at the above example, setting a value of 10 for Engine Threads means up to 10 source and 10 work threads each. In SSIS, we dont affinitize the threads that we create to any of the processors. If the number of threads surpasses the number of available processors, it might hurt the throughput due to an excessive amount of context switches. Package restart without losing pipeline data SSIS has a cool feature called Checkpoint. This feature allows your package to start from the last point of failure on next execution. You can save a lot of time by enabling this feature to start the package execution from the task that failed in the last execution. To enable this feature for your package set values for three properties CheckpointFileName, CheckpointUsage and SaveCheckpoints. Apart from this you should also set FailPackageOnFailure property to TRUE for all tasks that you want to be considered in restarting. By doing this, on failure of that task, the package fails and the information is captured in the checkpoint file and on subsequent execution, the execution starts from that tasks. It is very important to note that you can enable a task to participate in checkpoint including data flow task but it does not apply inside the data flow task. Lets consider a scenario, where you have a data flow task for which you have set FailPackageOnFailure property to TRUE to participate in checkpoint. Lets assume that inside the data flow task there are five transformations in sequence and the execution fails at 5th transformation (assumption is that earlier 4 transformations complete successfully). On the following execution instance, the execution will start from the data flow task and the first 4 transformations will run again before coming to 5th one. It is worth noting below points. For loop and for each loop do not honor Checkpoint. Checkpoint is enabled at only control flow level and not at data level, so regardless of checkpoint the package will execute the control flow/data flow from the start in a case of restart. If package fails, checkpoint file, all server configurations and variables values are stored and also point of failure. So if package restarted, it takes all configuration values from checkpoint file. During failure you cannot change the configuration values. Best practices for logging Integration Services includes logging features that write log entries when run-time events occur and can also write custom messages. Logging, to help you in auditing and troubleshooting a package every time it is run, can capture run-time information about a package. For e.g., name of the operator who ran the package and the time the package began and finished can be captured in the log. Logging (or tracing the execution) is a great way of diagnosing the problem occurring during runtime. This is especially very useful when your code does not work as expected. Not only that, SSIS allows you to choose different events of a package and components of the packages to log as well as the location where the log information is to be written (text files, SQL Server, SQL Server Profiler, Windows Events, or XML files). The logging saves you from several hours of frustration that you might get while finding out the causes of problem if you are not using logging, but the story doesnt end here. Its true, it helps you in identifying the problem and its root cause, but at the same time its an overhead for SSIS that ultimately affects the performance as well, especially if you are excessively using logging. So the recommendation here is to use logging in a case of error (OnError event of package and containers) . Enable logging on other containers only if required, you can dynamically set the value of the LoggingMode property (of a package and its executables) to enable or disable logging without modifying the package. You can create your own custom logging which can be used for troubleshooting, package monitoring, ETL operations performance dashboard creation etc. However the best approach is to use the built-in SSIS logging where appropriate and augment it with your own custom logging. A normal custom logging can provide all the information you need as per requirement. Security audit and data audit is out of scope of this document. To help you understand which bulk load operations will be minimally logged and which will not, the following table lists the possible combinations. Table Indexes Rows in table Hints Without TF 610 With TF 610 Concurrent possible Heap Any TABLOCK Minimal Minimal Yes Heap Any None Full Full Yes Heap + Index Any TABLOCK Full Depends (3) No Cluster Empty TABLOCK, ORDER (1) Minimal Minimal No Cluster Empty None Full Minimal Yes (2) Cluster Any None Full Minimal Yes (2) Cluster Any TABLOCK Full Minimal No Cluster + Index Any None Full Depends (3) Yes (2) Cluster + Index Any TABLOCK Full Depends (3) No (1) It is not necessary to specify the ORDER hint, if you are using the INSERT à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ SELECT method, but the rows need to be in the same order as the clustered index. While using BULK INSERT it is necessary to use the ORDER hint. (2) Concurrent loads are only possible under certain conditions. Only rows those are written to newly allocated pages are minimally logged. (3) Based on the plan chosen by the optimizer, the non-clustered index on the table may either be fully- or minimally logged. Best practices for error handling There are two methods of extending the logging capability, Build a custom log provider Use event handlers We can extent SSISs event handler for error logging. We can capture error on OnError event of package and let package handle it gracefully. We can capture actual error using script task and log it in text file or in a SQL server tables. You can capture error details using system variables System::ErrorCode, System::ErrorDescription, System::SourceDescription etc. If you are using custom logging, log the error in same table. In some cases you may wish to ignore it or handle the error at container level or in some cases at task level. Event handlers can be attached to any container in the package and that event handler will catch all events raised by that container and any child containers of that container. Hence, by attaching an event handler to the package (which is parent container) we can catch all events raised of that event type by every container in the package. This is powerful because it saves us from building event handlers for each task in the package. A container has an option to opt out of having its events captured by an event handler. Lets say, you had a sequence container for which you didnt find it important to capture events, you can then simply switch them off using the sequence containers DisableEventHandlers property. If are looking to capture only certain events of that sequence task by an event handler, you could control this using the System::Propogate variable. We recommend you to use se

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Molecular Biology Paper

Lab Report #1 Introduction A cell’s plasma membrane is known to be selectively permeable. This implies that the membrane is selective on what substances can pass in and out of the cell. There are two methods of transport that occur through the plasma membrane. One method of transport is called active process which uses ATP energy to transport substances through the membrane. The other method is called passive process which does not require the use of ATP energy. During passive processes, molecules are transported through the membrane by differences in concentration or pressure between the inside and outside of the cell. Two important types of passive process are diffusion and filtration. Every cell in the human body uses diffusion as an important transport process through its selectively permeable membrane. During diffusion, molecules that are small enough to pass through a membrane’s pores or molecules that can dissolve in the lipid section of a membrane move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. The kinetic energy that all molecules possess is the motivating force in diffusion. Facilitated diffusion occurs when molecules are too large to pass through a membrane or are lipid insoluble. In this process, carrier protein molecules located in the membrane combine with solutes and transport them down the concentration gradient. Filtration is another type of passive process and, unlike diffusion; this is not a selective process. The pressure gradient on each side of the membrane as well as the membrane pore size depends on the amount of solutes and fluids in the filtrate. During filtration, water and solute molecules pass through a membrane from an area of higher hydrostatic pressure to an area of lower hydrostatic pressure. This means that water and solutes would pass through a selectively permeable membrane along the pressure gradient. To gain a better understanding of a cell’s selectively permeable membrane and the passive processes of simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and filtration, three experiments were conducted. Materials and Methods Activity 1: Simulating Dialysis (Simple Diffusion) Materials: ? two glass beakers ? four dialysis membranes: 20 (MWCO), 50 (MWCO), 100 (MWCO), and 200 (MWCO) ? membrane holder ? membrane barrier ? four solutes: NaCl, Urea, Albumin, and Glucose solution dispenser ? deionized water ? timer ? beaker flush This experiment was conducted first by placing the 20 (MWCO) dialysis membrane into the membrane holder. The membrane holder joined the two glass beakers; one on the left side and one on the right side. Then, 9. 00 mM of NaCl concentration was dispensed into the left beaker. Deionized water was dispensed in the right beaker. When the timer was started, t he barrier that surrounded the membrane holder was lowered to allow the contents of each beaker to come in contact with the membrane. After the 60 minutes of compressed time elapsed, results were read and recorded. Finally, each beaker was then flushed for preparation of the next experiment run. These exact steps were followed using each dialysis membrane size (20, 50, 100, and 200) as well as with each solute (NaCl, Urea, Albumin, and Glucose). There were a total of sixteen runs in this experiment. Activity 2: Simulating Facilitated Diffusion Materials: ? two glass beakers ? membrane builder ? membrane holder ? glucose concentration ? solution dispenser ? deionized water ? timer beaker flush In this experiment, the first step was to adjust the glucose carrier to 500 in order to correctly build the membrane. Next, a membrane was built in the membrane builder by inserting 500 glucose carrier proteins into it. Then, the newly built membrane was placed into the membrane holder that joined the two glass beakers. The two glass beakers were joined on the left and right sides of the membrane holder. After that, 2. 00 mM o f glucose concentration was dispensed into the left beaker. The right beaker was filled with deionized water. The barrier around the membrane holder dropped when the timer was started. After 60 minutes of compressed time elapsed, the results were read and recorded. Finally, both glass beakers were flushed to prepare for the next experimental runs. The above mentioned steps were repeated by increasing the glucose concentration to 8. 00. Both the 2. 00 mM and the 8. 00 mM glucose concentration solution were tested using membranes built with 500, 700, and 900 glucose carrier proteins. There were a total of six experimental runs. Activity 4: Simulating Filtration Materials: ? two glass beakers membrane holder ? 4 dialysis membranes: 20 (MWCO), 50 (MWCO), 100 (MWCO), and 200 (MWCO) ? 4 solutions: Na+Cl? , Urea, glucose, and powdered charcoal ? solution dispenser ? pressure unit ? timer ? filtration rate indicator ? membrane residue analysis analyzer ? beaker flush In the final experiment, the two glass beakers were placed one on top of the other with the membrane holder between them. The pressure unit that rested on the top beaker was used for forcing the solution from the top beaker through the selected membrane and into the bottom beaker. The bottom beaker contained nothing; however, the filtration rate indicator was attached to it from one side. The experiment began by placing the 20 (MWCO) dialysis membrane into the membrane holder. Then, 5. 00 mg/ml of each of the following solutions: Na+Cl? , Urea, glucose, and powdered charcoal were dispensed into the top beaker. The pressure unit was adjusted to 50 mmHg of pressure. The timer was set to 60 minutes of compressed time and when the timer started, the membrane holder retracted. The solution then flowed through the membrane and into the beaker underneath. When the timer stopped, the membrane was then placed in the membrane residue analysis analyzer. The results were read and recorded and the beakers were flushed for the next experimental runs. All the above steps were repeated using the 50 (MWCO), 100 (MWCO), and 200 (MWCO) membranes. Results Table 1: Activity 1: Simulating Dialysis (Simple Diffusion) Key: Solutes that were able to diffuse into the right beaker are indicated by a â€Å"+†. Solutes that were not able to diffuse into the right beaker are indicated by a â€Å"-â€Å". Membrane (MWCO) Solute (9. 0 mM) |(Pore Size) |NaCl |Urea |Albumin |Glucose | |20 |– |– |– |– | |50 |+ |– |– |– | |100 |+ |– |– |– | |200 |+ |– |– |+ | Graph 1: Activity 2: Simulating Facilitated Diffusion Glucose Transport Rate (mM/min) [pic] Table 2 and 3: Activity 4: Simulating Filtration Table #2: Solute Residue Presence in the Membrane Key: If solute residue wa s present on the membrane, it is indicated by a â€Å"+†. If solute residue was not present on the membrane, it is indicated by a â€Å"–â€Å". Membrane (MWCO) |Solute |20 |50 |100 |200 | |NaCl |+ |+ |+ |+ | |Urea |+ |+ |+ |+ | |Glucose |+ |+ |+ |+ | |Powdered Charcoal |+ |+ |+ |+ | Table 3: Filtration Rate and Amount of Solute Detected in Filtrate Membrane (MWCO) |Solute |20 |50 |100 |200 | |Filtration Rate (ml/min) | | | | | | |1 |2. |5 |10 | |NaCl in filtrate (mg/ml) | | | | | | |0 |4. 81 |4. 81 |4. 81 | |Urea in filtrate (mg/ml) | | | | | | |0 |0 |4. 74 |4. 74 | |Glucose in filtrate | | | | | |(mg/ml) |0 |0 |0 |4. 9 | |Powdered Charcoal (mg/ml) | | | | | | |0 |0 |0 |0 | Discussion The first lab experiment, Simulating Dialysis (Simple Diffusion), demonstrated how only certain molecules pass through a selectively permeable membrane down its concentration gradient. The four membranes utilized in this experiment consisted of each one being different in pore size (MWCO). The smallest pore-sized membrane was 20 (MWCO), and the largest was 200 (MWCO). The solutes that were tested in this experiment were NaCl, Urea, Albumin, and Glucose. The first solute tested, NaCl, showed that with a 20 (MWCO) membrane, no diffusion occurred into the right beaker. (Table 1) The NaCl molecules were evidently too large to pass through the 20 (MWCO) membrane because its pores were too small. Membranes 50, 100, and 200 (MWCO) did allow the NaCl to pass through. (Table 1) One of the reasons this occurred is because the pores in the above mentioned membranes were large enough to permit the passage of the NaCl molecules. The other reason diffusion occurred is because the NaCl molecules moved down its concentration gradient and into the beaker filled with deionized water. For all three membranes, equilibrium was reached in ten minutes at an average diffusion rate of 0. 0150 mM/min. As for the solute Urea, the experiment conducted showed that no diffusion occurred with all four membranes. (Table 1) Urea should have passed through membranes 100 (MWCO) and 200 (MWCO) for the reasons that its molecules are small enough and Urea is also soluble. This experiment showed that none of the Albumin molecules diffused through any of the four membranes tested. (Table 1) This is because the Albumin molecules were too large to pass through the pores of all four membranes. The final solute tested in this experiment, Glucose, showed that the molecules only diffused through the 200 (MWCO) membrane. (Table 1) Equilibrium was reached in thirty-seven minutes at an average diffusion rate of 0. 0040 mM/min. The Glucose molecules were too large to diffuse through the 20 (MWCO), 50 (MWCO), and 100 (MWCO) membranes. The second experiment, Simulating Facilitated Diffusion, explained how carrier protein molecules in the membrane effectively transported molecules that are too large or are insoluble to diffuse through the membrane. The carrier proteins in this experiment were glucose carriers and the solution was a 2. 00 (mM) and an 8. 00 (mM) glucose concentration. The 2. 00 (mM) glucose concentration was tested first with the 500 glucose carrier protein membrane then the 700 and 900 glucose carrier protein membranes. The glucose transport rate for the membrane with 500 glucose carrier proteins was 0. 0008 (mM/min). Graph 1) The membrane with 700 glucose carrier proteins showed a rate of 0. 0010 (mM/min) and the 900 glucose carrier proteins membrane had a rate of 0. 0012 (mM/min). (Graph 1) The 8. 00 (mM) glucose concentration also showed and increase in glucose transport rate with membranes that contained more glucose carrier proteins. The membrane with 500 glucose carrier proteins showed a rate of 0. 0023 (mM/min). (Graph 1) Membranes that had 700 and 900 glucose carrier proteins showed a rate of 0. 0031 and 0. 0038 (mM/min). (Graph 1) These results show that with an increase in amount of glucose carrier proteins in the membranes, transport of the glucose molecules in the concentration is more effective. A higher concentration of glucose (8. 00 mM) also increases the rate of glucose transport in a membrane with the same amount of glucose carrier proteins as a lower glucose concentration (2. 00). The final experiment, Simulating Filtration, four different solutes were forced through four membranes that contained separate pore sizes by the use of hydrostatic pressure. After each experimental run was conducted, the membrane analyses showed that residue from all four solutes were detected on each membrane. (Table 2) This indicates that some solutes did not filter through the membrane. The filtration rate (ml/min) increased as membranes with larger pores were utilized. This happened because the solute molecules were able to transport through a particular membrane at a faster rate being that the membranes’ pores were larger. The filtrate in the bottom beaker was analyzed and no solutes were detected with the 20 (MWCO) membrane. (Table 3) With the 50 (MWCO) membrane, only NaCl was detected in the filtrate at 4. 81 (mg/ml). (Table 3) The 100 (MWCO) membrane showed to have NaCl at 4. 81 (mg/ml) and Urea at 4. 74 (mg/ml) present in the filtrate. (Table 3) Glucose and powdered charcoal were not present. The last membrane with pore size 200 (MWCO), had the solutes NaCl at 4. 81 (mg/ml), Urea at 4. 74 (mg/ml), and Glucose at 4. 39 (mg/ml) detected in the filtrate. (Table 3) Powdered charcoal was not detected in this filtrate. Table 3) The molecules in powdered charcoal were too large to pass through any of the membranes tested. The 20 (MWCO) membrane pores were too small to allow any solute molecules to pass through. The membranes that contained lar ger pores allowed the solutes with larger pores pass through. The amounts (mg/ml) of the same solute detected in the filtrate were the same for each membrane. (Table 3) This is because the pressure that was released into the top beaker remained at 50 (mmHg) for all experiment runs. References Marieb, Elaine N. , Mitchell, Susan J. (2008). Exercise 5B. Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory Manual Ninth Edition (pp. PEx-5 – PEx-13). San Francisco, California: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.