King Lear – Bbc Edition vs Laurence Olivier

King Lear video comparison King Lear BBC vs. King Lear ft. Laurence Olivier In comparing the opening scenes of BBC and Laurence Olivier’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, I believe that BBC’s interpretation is more engaging to the audience. There are qualities that Olivier’s King Lear has an edge on, but I do consider those as less important than other factors in play. The wardrobe and music of Olivier’s King Lear is much more extensive in comparison to BBC’s, but overall BBC’s King Lear does have better acting and camera angles.To many people, the music and wardrobe would come second to actor performance and filming. The camera angles and choice of location of both plays is important, but in Olivier’s it features mainly headshots in the opening of King Lear and close ups of the actors. Putting the actor in focus it makes a strong impression of each actor’s facial expression, but this does not allow for backgrou nd acting from other actors. In BBC, just prior to Lear disowning Cordelia, Kent is seen in the centre of the screen shocked and befuddled; speechless.With the directing of Olivier’s King Lear, the camera usage does not allow for this. The setting used in Olivier’s interpretation was also unique as it appeared to take place in a Stonehenge-style location, but as special as it is, it does not support the atmosphere of the play. King Lear is sitting merely on a raised platform. Not what history would have portrayed for the throne of a King. Although Lear’s room appears to be wooden in BBC’s interpretation, it still seems to show more respect to Lear, just as what would have during the time period that they are portraying.Music in the background is something that BBC lacks compares to Olivier's. The music in Olivier's play matches the time period, and accompanies the entrance of the King and his royal subjects, giving Lear, his daughters, and sons-in-law the nobility they deserve. Actors in both plays deliver the script well, but in Olivier does not play out the role of a king and a father well. Olivier's reaction to Cordelia saying nothing is too inert for someone with that ego. The delivery of the lines appears to be a chore for Olivier, rather than performing his lines with passion.In BBC’s version, Lear hesitates, and wonders for a short while before responding to Cordelia’s â€Å"nothing†, mimicking the contemplation that Lear would have undergone upon hearing nothing. Olivier dressed in vibrant colours along with his royal subjects give Olivier’s drama an edge. But the effect is not substantial enough to win over what appears to be rushed scenes with his play. With better actor delivery and camera angles, the opening scenes of BBC’s King Lear is much more effective at bring Shakespeare’s King Lear to life.

BP Deep Water Horizontal Explosion

BP originated from a British petroleum company founded in 1909. After experiencing crises during the 1980s-1990s, the company started to have a cost cutting culture. During mid-1990s, with an aggressive growth strategy, BP started to grow and reposition. After BP merged with Amoco in 1998, John Browne started to serve as chief executive until May 2007. Browne repositioned BP as a â€Å"green† oil company after he took over and practiced the model of organizational decision-making strategy, known as â€Å"asset federation. Under this new strategy, onsite asset managers had the authority to make decisions, and employees’ compensation was directly tied to asset performance (Ingersoll et. al, 4). Many decisions made by John Browne were directly related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. In 2007, Tony Hayward replaced John Browne and became the new chief executive. Tony Hayward slightly adjusted BP’s organizational structure and decided to pay more attention to BPâ €™s safety issues and risk averse culture. However, the Deepwater Horizon explosion happened when Tony Hayward was in charge. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil explosion occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, which is considered as the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused tremendous damages to the surrounding environment and enormous losses to shareholders. BP acquired the right of operating the Macondo Well Project from the U. S. Minerals Management Service in 2009, and then BP leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from Transocean who provides offshore drilling equipment and personnel operation. Both BP and Transocean operated the Deepwater Horizon when the disaster happened. The Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in major damages and losses. When the explosion occurred, workers abandoned ship and jumped into the burning ocean. Among the 126 workers on board the Deepwater Horizon, 17 were injured and 11 died. Additionally, the rig burned down 700,000 gallons of oil within 36 hours, and the smoke trail spread over 30 miles (Ingersoll et. al, 2). BP’s stock price declined dramatically after the explosion. The disaster not only dragged BP into the major scandal but also destroyed many surrounding businesses and families. The consequences of the explosion affected not only organization, shareholders, and employees but also the environment, social issues, and public relations. The Deepwater Horizon disaster had many causes, direct and indirect; it mainly involved people-issues, managers and managing, organizational weaknesses, and external oversight and accountability. â€Å"CAUSES† OF THE EXPLOSION Firstly, individuals in an organization always have decision-making biases, and thus they would have a â€Å"huge capacity to rationalize their behavior† (Crews). Individuals usually make decisions subjectively based on their value set. The former CEO John Browne set up how BP would develop after mid 90’s; he also was the key person who affected the future of Tony Hayward. Browne relied on and promoted Hayward. A metaphor in Elkind’s article said that Hayward was favored prince of Browne, and Browne opened Hayward’s eyes to the world of business (Elkind et. al, 9). It was not clear why Browne relied on Hayward so much, but he made Hayward become the CEO of BP. On the other hand, Browne played an important role in BP’s management strategy. Browne decided to focus on cutting costs and had a desire to make BP become the largest oil producer. He created the big picture of BP’s development, which influenced the future CEO Hayward’s value set of decision-making and employees’ behaviors in BP. Not only managers had bias of decision-making, the engineers who constructed and maintained the rig also had bias. BP chose long string casing for the Macondo well because several individuals overvalued the cost. As a result, the well casing choice created the condition of the rig’s explosion (Ingersoll et. al, 19). Additionally, the drilling engineers decided not to run the â€Å"cement bond log† test, and that test could accurately diagnose a bond failure to improve process safety. Mark Hafle, one of BP’s drilling engineers even claimed the cement job was working fine at court (Ingersoll et. al, 16). The drilling engineers of the Macondo project were warned about potential risks, but they willfully ignored the warnings and insisted everything would work fine. Such bias and rationalized behavior of drilling engineers just added another warning sign to the explosion of Deepwater Horizon. Secondly, BP’s business relationships are complex, and the legitimate priorities often conflict (Crews). BP’s failure to prevent the explosion was due in part to complex partnership. BP held the rights to drill using the rig and operation services leased from Transocean. As a result, â€Å"of the 126 people aboard the Deepwater Horizon, 79 were from Transocean, seven were from BP, and the rest were from other firms† (Ingersoll et. al, 1). People serving on Deepwater Horizon came from different organizations. A decision making process involved many authorities, which decreased the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making. Even though BP maintained main operational authority, only six percent of people aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig were from BP. As an important business partner of BP, Transocean provided the equipment and performed the majority of the work, and thereafter it had some authority over operations and maintenance. The complex business partnership caused serious operational consequence. Upon the day of explosion, the Deepwater Horizon rig had been operating 29 days more than it should had been, and the leasing fee owed to Transocean far exceeded the budget (Ingersoll et. al, 7). It was a problem that both companies had authority of decision making over operation. This led to legitimate conflict of priorities. For example, when closing a well, â€Å"11 companies played a role in the construction of the casing for the Macondo well, and all with different responsibilities for various aspects of setting the well† (Ingersoll et. al, 9). Different companies made decisions based on their own company’s interest of cost, time, and safety. As a result, any decision-making process would be very time-consuming, given that all companies kept competing and were not willing to compromise. Because of the conflict of interests and inadequate information, decisions made under such condition were inconsistent and unclear. The inefficient and ineffective decision-making processes slowed the progress of drilling and over-drafted the budget. If the drilling on Deepwater Horizon rig would have been completed within 51 days as expected, BP may have stopped a disaster. Thirdly, the misalignment occurs when managers’ words and action conflict. To prevent corporate scandals, managers’ actions are more powerful than words in shaping employees’ behavior and presenting a positive image to society (Crews). BP faced safety issues in last few decades. Even though each time its CEOs made a commitment to the public about safety, disasters still happened continuously. For instance, â€Å"in 2000, after a string of fires and equipment failures, CEO John Browne announced plans to ‘review the commitment to safety. † In 2005, the explosion of BP’s Texas City refinery killed 15 people; ironically, Browne swore to fix safety problems again like previously. The Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst one in history, happened two years after CEO Tony Hayward took over, and he had promised to focus on safety issue â€Å"like a laser† (Elkind et. al, 4). Empty promises are just like checks without sufficient funds. The conflic t of managers’ words and action caused the corporation lose credibility to the public. BP’s CEO kept vowing to correct safety issues, and the sequential disasters revoked their promises time after time. The U. S. Chemical Safety Board investigated BP’s real safety operation after the Texas City refinery explosion, and they found that BP Group failed to review its refinery operation systematically. Even though the Group Chief Executive claimed, â€Å"BP would learn lessons from Grangemouth and other incidents† (National Commission Chapter 8, 6), BP’s actions were against its public commitment. BP had desires to change, but it never improved in respect to safety weaknesses. BP emphasized personal safety instead of process safety, which led to the serious consequence (Elkind et. l, 5). BP’s board of directors failed to enhance process safety, and this helped BP lose credibility with the public. They needed to create an environment of safety concern to train employees from every level of the organization. Fourthly, BP’s managers were more concerned with seeking profits than with ethics (Crews). Employees’ performance was evaluated by ability of cost cutting and profit generating. For example, in 2008, BP introduced an â€Å"every dollar counts† program that aimed to reduce the costs of their drilling operation (Smith, 1). Another example would be that leaders of BP’s drilling team considered the $2. 2 million of incremental cost benefit over safety when they handled installation problem of lockdown sleeve (Smith, 2). Likewise, many other decisions of construction of the Macondo well were made based on cost and profit instead of safety concerns. BP’s failure was highly related to managers blindly seeking profit and ignoring safety issues. BP used Long-string casing, which made production less costly and shortened the time of return on investment (Deepwater Horizon Study Group, 56). This was one of the main causes of the explosion. Oil drilling is a highly risky industry, and BP was supposed to emphasize safety; however, managers valued profit over ethics, and that hastened up the failure of BP. Fifthly, an organization’s culture, structure, strategy, and resource allocation strongly affect the behaviors of managers and employees (Crews). BP’s organizational culture is cost cutting and risk taking, which directly affected managers’ decision-making. Since 1995 when John Bowne took over, he â€Å"imposed a tough bottom-line mentality† to focus on cutting costs. He also chose to give more operating authority to his managers. Bowne targeted aggressive profit growth by making his managers sign an annual performance contract (Elkind et. al, 8). BP’s organizational culture pushed CEOs to set profit as the primary goal. An organization’s culture is its personality, which implies how managers would operate the organization. With the cost-cutting culture, managers and employees made decisions driven by the organizational culture. Additionally, BP’s unethical management structure and strategy caused the bad competition between employees. BP had a management strategy, â€Å"asset federation. † BP’s onsite asset managers had â€Å"decision-making authority and responsibility for meeting performance targets;† moreover, onsite employees’ compensation was valued by overall performance of the site (Ingersoll et. al, 4). As a result, BP exploration sites had an unethical competition and were less likely to share best practice on risk management; that was a big concern for an oil company whose process safety was a problem. On the other hand, BP also had a weakness of high bureaucracy operating costs. BP had â€Å"a starched, rigidly hierarchical management culture;† for example, headquarter employees and senior employees had preferential treatment in company, which shows BP’s unbalanced and unsound reward system (Elkind et. al, 7). In other words, BP was weak in human resource management. The company rewarded employees by position instead of ethical behavior and good performance. A lack of focus on safety issues directly led to the explosion. BP’s â€Å"creative† management strategy introduced by John Browne made exploration onsite managers keep their best practice to themselves and blindly chase profit. Such management contributed to Deepwater Horizon explosion. Finally, external auditing and regulatory weaknesses also indirectly contributed to the explosion (Crews). Offshore oil drilling is a risky industry. Therefore, in some region, the government essentially banned it due to environmental concerns. However, in the Gulf, the environmental protections and safety regulation were relaxed and ineffective because the oil drilling would bring billions of dollars to federal government (National Commission Chapter 3, 3). Driven by revenue, the government and regulators id not put forth too many restrictions for oil industry in the Gulf. With this important advantage, BP continually neglected safety issues and took risks, which eventually caused the disaster. According to the national commission report, revenue increases when moving drilling deeper into the water, but the corresponding safety risks also increases; however, such increased risks were not covered by additional regularly over sight (National Commission Chapter 3, 3). Investigators found that Deepwater Horizon extended drilling by 18360 feet below sea level. BP drilled aggressively by ignoring the risks and consequences. However, regulators might be more than happy to accept the huge revenue contributions instead of considering environmental concerns and set restrictions. More importantly, the regulation and auditing office had a culture of revenue maximization. BP acquired the right of exploration from MMS. The national commission report points out that the MMS office had culture of accepting gifts from oil companies. An employee of MMS even negotiated with the oil company when he conducted inspections on this company's oil platforms (National Commission Chapter 3, 23). Oil companies and public regulation office benefitted each other, and that made improvement of safety issue in entire oil industry became obstructive. The government did not provide strict regulation to an industry that could bring it money because more regulation means less revenue. Along with a long list of safety issues, BP risked drilling down below the sea to seek more oil and profit without additional auditing and regulation; all the factors pushed and forced the disaster happened. First, The Deepwater horizon explosion killed 11 people, and 17 were injured. The ocean was flaming when the rig became a graveyard. To those dead employees, their family had to face the loss of family members. Second, The Deepwater Horizon explosion affected BP’s and Transocean’s financial market. The sharp drop of stock price wiped out $91 million in market value. BP’s working capital that founded by $10 billion in short-term paper was shut out (Elkind et. al, 20). The credit situations of both companies weakened. Moreover, BP and Transocean had to pay for the damages by billions of dollars. Even two years later in 2012, BP still had $8. 3 billion on damage payouts caused by the explosion (Helman, 3). Both companies were required to pay for environmental restoration, damage to surrounding businesses, and cleanup cost. On the other hand, the explosion also destroyed the reputation of BP and Transocean, and scandals were harmful to two companies’ public relationship. After Deepwater Horizon explosion, the financial market for BP securities had a dramatically change. BP’s investors faced a huge loss on investment. BP’s stock price dropped more than 50%, and the stock and option trading volume increased instantly by fifteen to twentyfold. Interest rate of BP bonds increased, and the company announced the suspension of cash dividends to shareholders (Fodor and Stowe, 1). BP’s disaster made shareholders face a tremendous loss. The value of stocks in hand became worthless and the dividend payments might endless delay. Furthermore, the explosion also affected business in the gulf and the coast tourism industry. The disaster dramatically affected the Alabama coast, which depended on tourism: compared to 2009, the number of visitors decreased by 1 million, real estate values dropped by more than 65%, retail sale declined by 50% (Keegen, 2). The most affected business was fishing industry in the gulf. Since the spilling oil, many fishes were killed and many families whose life depended on fishing and tourist service were bankrupt instantly. In addition, the explosion affected the gulf coast ecosystem. After the explosion, the rig burned for 36 hours. Deepwater Horizon rig exploded about 100 miles southwest of Orange Beach,† and â€Å"more than 200 million gallons of crude went into the gulf† before July 15, 2010 (Keegen, 2). As a result, spilling oil â€Å"fouled beaches and shorelines,† and it destroyed gulf coast ecosystem; creatures and species were killed. The Deepwater Horizon explosion â€Å"created one of worst environmental disaster in U. S. history (Keegen, 2). Ba sed on a research of Texas A& M’s Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, the real loss of gulf coast ecosystem and fisheries were huge and need decades for recovery (Keegen, 5). PREVENTION One of the reasons for BP’s failure is that top managers did not have ethical concerns. The safety issue is the major problem of BP; however, CEOs and managers were concerned for profit over safety concern. Internally, the Board of Directors should create a clear plan that focuses on addressing particular ethical needs for different situations. Additionally, BP should increase the responsibility of the Board of Directors in overseeing the managing executives. An organization should had ethical oversight, and it should provide employees ethical training to advocate ethical behavior. Management fault also was the main reason contributed to the explosion. BP had problems with management structure and management strategy. Managers who focused on cost cutting and wilfully ignored safety problem made numerous poor decisions. Employees should be rewarded by performance overall instead of the ability to cut cost. Rig managers and engineering leader should regard the warning signs and conduct safety test regularly. The managers should pay attention to â€Å"near misses† and avoid the â€Å"favorable wind direction,† and then they might be able to predict and prevent the crises (Tinsley et. l, 1). Considering all of the factors that contributed to Deepwater Horizon explosion, the root cause was the cost-cutting organizational culture. An organizational culture is the characteristic of a corporation; it affects people’s perspectives and values. Employees use the organizational culture to guide and rationalize their behavior. Therefore, directors of bo ard, executives, and top managers should create and inform employees with a positive organizational culture and build conditions for employees’ learning and appreciating. BP’s explosion had internal and external reason. Internally, BP Deepwater Horizon explosion involved two CEOs’ main decisions; besides, BP had a complex organizational strategy, management structure, and partnership. Externally, the outside weakness of legality and regulation contribute to BP’s ethical scandals. Thereafter, besides corporation internal control, the regulators should provide more specific regulations and auditing that conduct oil industry operating with a safer procedure.

Frog Heart Lab, Animal Physiology

Chemical and Environmental Effects on the Heart Introduction The heart is the centerpiece of the circulatory system, its muscular contractions allow for the timely delivery of essential gases and nutrients to virtually all cells of the body. The pressure created by the heart also plays a vital role in eliminating wastes through organs such as the kidney, thus the heart delivers and helps maintain nutrient and waste composition throughout the body. The heart, like all muscle cells, releases ionic calcium when stimulated which binds to troponin which in turn causes tropomyosin to uncover the myosin-actin binding sites on the muscle.Temperature has effects on the metabolism and activity of all cells. Warmer temperatures increase the kinetic energy of molecules in cells, providing more energy which allows metabolic processes to proceed more quickly. Cooler temperatures, on the other hand, decrease molecular kinetic energy and cause slower metabolic rates in cells and tissues, hence when a bear hibernates, its body temperature is some degree lower than it is during the bear’s active periods.The heart is also susceptible to certain molecules for which are able to bind to its receptors or diffuse across its membrane and affect intracellular activity and consequently have effects on the overall homeostatic condition of the organism. The Sinoatrial Node (SA Node) acts as the pacemaker of the heart by providing a small, autorhythmic electrical pulses that travel to the atrioventriclar node (AV node) and through the Bundle of His and Purkinje Fibers through gap junctions at the intercalated disks which stimulate the cells of the heart to contract via calcium release.This contraction is similar to a neuron in the sense that a threshold stimulus is needed to cause a contraction, a refractory period follows contraction at which time a new contraction cannot occur. Drugs that have an effect on the tissues of the heart, especially those where the SA Node resides can hav e an effect on the frequency and strength of muscular contraction via causing a stimulus to occur and lowering the threshold needed to cause a contraction. The heart is under both nervous and hormonal control.The brain is constantly receiving information from the body such as pH, CO2 levels, and many others that the hypothalamus and medulla play a role in translating and reacting to via the release of hormones such as epinephrine which affects the SA node, either by stimulating or inhibiting contraction rate. Removal of the heart from the body would result in eventual cessation of beating as these sources are depleted from the immediate environment, not to mention the absence of the appropriate ion levels needed to maintain resting cellular electrochemical gradients.All of the aforementioned aspects of heart control coordinate with Starling’s Law of the Heart, which relates to stroke volume, contractions strength, and frequency of heart contraction. This paper is interested i n investigating what the effects of the alteration of temperature, chemical environments, and physical obtrusion have upon the strength and frequency of cardiac muscle contractions. Decreasing the temperature of the heart’s environment should hypothetically result in a decrease in both frequency and strength of contractions due to the decreased ability of calcium ion channels to open and cause contraction.Various chemicals such as epinephrine and calcium ion solutions should correlate to both and increase in frequency and strength of the resultant contractions due to direct effects on the hearts mode of activation (SA node stimulus) and increasing the levels of available calcium needed to cause a contraction. Other chemicals such as Atropine should indirectly increase heart rate via the blocking of the effects of the parasympathetic system resulting in a predomination of sympathetic activity.Acetylcholine, which acts on the muscarinic receptors of the heart, should display in hibitory effects on the heart by decreasing available cAMP levels, which results in fewer phosphorylated Protein Kinases which are needed to open the calcium channels which result in contractions of all muscles of the body. Additionally, chemicals such as nicotine should have little to no effect on the effects of muscle contraction due to lack of receptors on the heart for such substrates as well as lack of nicotinic receptors on any body tissues that indirectly affect heart rate such as the brain.Methods Procedure 1: The Heart Rate The dissected frog, whose heart was left attached and embedded in the frog, was connected to a string at the most basal aspect of the heart, and wrapped around an electrical stress sensor located 15cm above the heart to detect changes in pressure on the apparatus caused by heart contractions. Unless otherwise stated, all subsequent procedures will have the same setup to minimize variability in the results obtained. The resting heartbeat was then recorded via the described instrumentation. Procedure 2: Effects of Cold TemperatureInitially, 10mL of room temperature Ringer’s solution was applied directly to the heart and allowed to contract freely for 15 seconds. The data obtained from the contractions was recorded. The heart was allowed 1 minute to recover from exposure to the solution. Next, 10mL of chilled Ringer's solution was applied directly to the heart and allowed to contract freely for 15 seconds. This data was recorded. Procedure 3: Effects of Drugs Thirty seconds of normal heart contractions were recorded at which time 2mL of epinephrine was dropped onto the heart itself.Contractions were allowed to proceed for 60 seconds during which time data was recorded. Following exposure to epinephrine, the heart was allowed to return to its resting state determined in procedure 1. This same procedure was repeated with the following chemicals: 1) Acetylcholine, 2) Atropine, 3) Calcium solution, 4) Nicotine solution, and 5) Caff eine solution. Procedure 4: The Refractory Period of the Heart Resting heart contractions were recorded for thirty seconds until the heart rate was less than 60 beats per minute. A stimulator electrode to be used was set to the following states: Amplitude of 4. 0 Volts, a stimulus delay of 50ms, stimulus duration of 10ms, a frequency of 1. 0Hz, and a pulse number of 30. The electrode was then placed in direct contact with the heart for 30 seconds at which time the data was observed and recorded. Procedure 5: Effects of a Ligature on the Heart A 30cm piece of thread was placed around the heart at the Atrioventricular groove (AV groove) and tied in a knot but left loose so as to not interrupt the normal function of the heart. The heart was allowed to beat for about 15 seconds with no pressure.After 15 seconds the knot was slowly tightened while taking care to stay on the AV groove while tightening. Data was observed and recorded. Results Procedure 1: The Heart Rate This experiment was carried out as noted about in Procedure 1. The resting heart rate was established and used as a baseline value from which to compare all future deviations. While data could not be exported from the computer to be definitively known, the relative rate and strength of the contractions were noted on a visual basis from which to compare the following experiments.Procedure 2: Effects of Cold Temperature As noted above in Procedure 1, technical data could not be obtained from this experiment and visual analysis had to suffice for data. Upon addition of room temperature Ringer’s solution, no notable change in contraction strength or frequency could be noted. Time was allowed for the heart to recover from the effects of the initial exposure. The application of cold Ringer’s solution resulted in a clear and observable slowing of the heart rate, though no change in strength of the contractions could be detected.Procedure 3: Effects of Drugs Upon addition of epinephrine directly to the heart, the contraction rate showed a considerable increase in frequency. The strength or magnitude of each contraction also significantly increased as the heart actually was lifting itself off of its resting place. Exposure of the heart to acetylcholine had clear effect on the heart as well. A substantial decrease in heart rate was noticed upon exposure; however the magnitude of contraction seemed to remain somewhat constant.Addition of Atropine to the heart resulted in an increase in heart rate. The magnitude of each contraction showed a minor, but noticeable, increase in strength. A calcium solution was applied to the heart and showed a mild increase in contraction rate with the magnitude of each contraction seemingly remaining constant. The addition of both nicotine and caffeine had negligible effects on the rate or strength of heart contraction. Table [ 1 ]. Applied Chemical and Its Effect on Heart Contraction Rate and Strength Chemical| Heart Rate| Contraction Strength| Normal Ringers| Control Rate| Control Magnitude| Cold Ringers| Decrease| No change| Epinephrine| Increase| Increase| Acetylcholine| Decrease| Slight Decrease| Atropine| Increase| Increase| Calcium solution| Increase| No change| Caffeine| No change| No change| Nicotine| No change| No change| Procedure 4: The Refractory Period of the Heart Upon exposure to a mild electric current, the heart rate was altered from the normal resting heart rate. While it definitely slowed, the contractions were sporadic at best.The heart lost its regularity and showed random contraction intervals, some ranging shorter than normal while others had greater time gaps between contractions. Procedure 5: Effects of a Ligature on the Heart After the knot had been tied around the AV groove, no noticeable alterations were noticed to heart contraction. Upon tightening of the thread however, the heart appeared in clear distress. Beat irregularities ensued with an increase in magnitude of each pulse. The heart cease d functioning before the allotted time period had elapsed.Discussion Procedure 1: The Heart Rate The resting heart rate of the frog was perfectly normal. Steady, rhythmic contractions around 60 beats per minute were observed and used as a baseline for other experiments. The frog appeared healthy, showing no signs of beat irregularities or any other defects that may have impacted the experiment’s validity. Procedure 2: Effects of Cold Temperature The slowing of the heart in the presence of chilled Ringer’s solution was to be expected.All metabolic processes decrease in all cells upon exposure to cold due to the nature of chemical interactions. In the case of the frog heart, the cold solution probably decreased the rate at which calcium channels were able to open and thus, decrease the rate at which contractions were likely to occur since calcium entry to the cytosol initiates the cascade of reactions that leads to muscle contraction. Thus, the experimental hypothesis wa s correct given that the rate at which the heart contracted decreased and the magnitude of each contraction also lowered.Procedure 3: Effects of Drugs Exposure to epinephrine increased both the rate and strength of each muscular contraction as was expected. The heart contains many adrenergic receptors which are responsive to epinephrine, especially near the SA node, which initiates the contractions of the heart. Epinephrine acts to increase the release time of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum via a cascade of reactions. The fact that epinephrine had a positive impact on the heart indicates that the heart was healthy and responsive to normal physiological chemicals and pathways.Addition of acetylcholine predictably lowered the heart rate of the frog. Acetylcholine blocks the cAMP cascade pathway that ultimately leads to calcium release, thus the frequency at which calcium is released is lowered and as a result, the contraction rate follows suit and lowers as well which is what you would expect from a fully functional heart. This part of the experiment was a success. The presence of Atropine, a parasympathetic system inhibitor, acted appropriately and increased the heart rate of the frog.The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system act antagonistically to one another and as a result, decreased activity in one serves to act as if an increase in the other had occurred. Addition of Atropine, in effect, should have had similar effects as the addition of epinephrine which it did. Exposure resulted in an increase in the rate of contraction and a mild but noticeable increase in the strength of contraction compared to the resting heart rate and magnitude which was what the response was predicted to have been.Neither caffeine nor nicotine had any visual effect on the hearts rate or strength of contraction. This was expected as both of these chemicals exert their effects by activating the release of neurotransmitters and hormones in the hypothalamus, specific ally epinephrine, which then affects the heart. Because these tested chemicals were applied directly to the heart and not placed in the bloodstream where they could produce an indirect effect, it is reasonable that no effect was noticed from the heart upon exposure to these chemicals. Procedure 4: The Refractory Period of the Heart The SA node is the pacemaker of heart.It is produces electrical currents that travel to the AV node and through the Bundles of His and the Purkinje fibers and stimulates the cells of the atrium and ventricles to contract. This is electrical conduction that is carried through gap junction of the intercalated disks separating heart cells and thus it is reasonable to infer that applying an electric current directly to the heart would interfere with the steady, rhythmic contractions normally observed in a healthy, undisturbed heart. Accordingly, as we applied a current to the heart, the cyclic contractions of the heart became erratic and unpredictable.No stea dy pattern was detectable in the muscular contractions. Some had longer periods between contractions while others had shorter time gaps between beats. This was expected as the heart would be receiving constant signals to contract along with the rhythmic electrical signals from the SA node itself and would result in interference and overlap of contraction signals which is exactly what was observed. This leads us to believe that both the electrical apparatus and the heart were working exactly as designed. Procedure 5: Effects of a Ligature on the HeartAfter placing the thread around the AV groove and tightening, the heart was clearly under a great deal of strength. Both the anterior and posterior segments of the heart swelled considerably, no doubt as a result of restriction of blood flow and buildup of pressure within the atriums and ventricles themselves. The AV node is a particularly sensitive portion of the heart to constriction as blood flow through the heart itself occurs at thi s junction. The heart contraction magnitude increased considerably while the contraction rate decreased substantially.Over the course of time when the thread was tightened, the heart appeared to get weaker and weaker until it finally gave out itself. Using the electrical apparatus, we tried to revive the frog and succeeded, however, a steady and consistent heartbeat was never again established and was much weaker and slower than before the thread was utilized. This indicated that heart damage had occurred and it was unlikely that any more significant and reliable data could be obtained from the frog’s heart and the experiment was finished as a result.Overall, the experiment can be considered a success as the appropriate responses to all the varying conditions were observed. While the experiment can be considered a success, the conditions with which the experiments were carried out were far from ideal. The experimental apparatus used was sufficient but hardly the equipment of choice. Far from accurate and precision, as well as the lack of ability to export numbered data from the labs computers, it is difficult to really analyze the data and produce concrete results that reflect the true magnitudes of effect each experimental variable had on the heart.

Theoretical Criminology Mid-Term Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Theoretical Criminology Mid-Term - Assignment Example It is, however, worth noting that these ideas about natural reality were not scientific, but rather based on mere observation of nature (Cullen & Agnew, 2006). Good and evil were thought to exist in the natural world. It is worth noting that the developments of legal definitions as well as the treatments of crime are founded on the attempts to understand the natural explanations for crime in the physical world. Under the spiritual explanations of crime, the feudal lords in Europe during the middle age designed ways, which they thought the guilt or innocence of an individual could be indicated. One of such methods included trial by battle. In this method, the victim or a family member of the victim would fight with the offender or a family member of the offender. It was believed that God gave victory to the innocent party. Trial by ordeal was introduced in which the accused person was subjected to a painful and difficult situation (Tierney, 2006). The guilty party would die with pain and agony while (through God’s protection) the innocent party would go through such an ordeal unharmed. The aforementioned method was replaced by compurgation a method that involved the accused calling twelve individuals who were reputable in the society who would then swear that the accused person is not guilty. The idea of prison today emerged from the earlier concept of isolating the criminals in cell s where some were subjected to manual labor while others were given the bible to read (Tierney, 2006). The natural explanations for crime generally use events as well as objects found in the world for purposes of explanation what ensues. The divine sanction of the law in the traditional society provided a justification of natural explanations for crime. It is due to this that the rule of kings became natural law, as it was considered to be by divine right. The material and physical world are still used by social scientists in the modern society to seek natural explanations of

IT and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

IT and Society - Essay Example E-mail and instant messaging is also an effective way to communicate by sending and receiving messages. An optimistic view of this is that information technology promotes communication between people and must therefore help to spread social and international understanding. People who are thousands of miles apart, either literally or socially speaking, can communicate through 'chat' groups, bulletin boards or e-mail; they can obtain information on different ways of life through World Wide Web sites and even experience the 'virtual reality' of other ways of life through interactive programs. More efficient production using IT creates more wealth, which can be shared amongst all the groups concerned. It can thus be argued that the technology has a built-in bias in favour of reducing social and economic divisions. (Tansey, 2002, p. 214) Perrons (2004) holds the opinion that technology develops within specific sets of economic and social arrangements and technological possibilities are not realised automatically, that is social change does not automatically follow technology. Indeed the technology underpinning existed and was being implemented in the 1920s, but sustained accumulation did not follow. Changes were necessary in the prevailing mode of regulation, that is in the institutional arrangements within which individual and social reproduction takes place. (Perrons, 2004, p. 131) Perrons (2004) further states that the precise effects of e-commerce on economic and social development are contingent, varied and rapidly changing and therefore need to be explored empirically. The same processes or technologies that allow small firms access to world markets, which may enhance local development, simultaneously give peripheral consumers access to firms in the centre thereby facilitating the development of 'superstar' firms, and in turn potentially promote superstar regions. (Perrons, 2004, p. 180) In a broader spectrum IT helps telecommunications (TC) and networks to constantly implement to support organisational goals. Stair & Reynolds while providing an IT implementation example explains: suppose a business needs to develop an accurate monthly production forecast. Doing so requires a manger to download data from customers' databases of sales forecasts. TC can provide a network link so that the manager can access the data needed for the production forecast report, which in turn supports the company's objectives of better financial planning. (Stair & Reynolds, 2001, p. 146) The more individuals and organisations grasp the nature of the technology and its possibilities, the greater the probability they can influence the direction of change. A modest hope is that increased communication and a greater pooling of information should in the long run make it easier for people, organisations and states to reach, if not a consensus on what should be done, at least informed compromises on how to live together. (Tansey, 2002, p. 214) Presently, IT has enabled our social system to confront with social change in the

Muenster Pump Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Muenster Pump - Case Study Example It is amply clear that Union Foundry’s quote is most competitive. Moreover, it guarantees to deliver the quality product as they have adopted modern technology. Outsourcing pump housing is in benefit of the company. Ned Dorf is not enthusiastic about outsourcing the parts. He is of the view that his company produces quality products and has reputation in the market place. He is a bit conservative and wants to have every parts produced in-house for this reason. The bigger issue is when foundry is closed down and pump housings are outsourced, what would happen to the workers working in the foundry unit? Currently, industries try to save every cent in material and direct labor cost because that is a key to survive in the long run – in the good and bad market. Market dynamics change rapidly and efficiency is the mantra for any industry to progress in the market place. It is quite likely that someone else might offer pumps at lower cost by employing Union Foundry’s housing and outplay The Muenster Pump Company from its age-old secured business. The clichà © ‘Survival of the Fittest’ is equally true in the business too. a. The Company will reduce its direct cost by more than 10% percent and will save substantially increasing the bottom line. The company can offer more competitive prices to the customers and increase its market share. Only disadvantage with outsourcing is to ensure quality supply of the component outsourced and if Union Foundry fails to deliver the supply in future for the reasons beyond their control what should be done? The advantage is that the company would be able to judge the quality of Union Foundry in due course of time and then gradually increase the procurement to make it hundred percent. This will give company enough time and leverage to adjust the workers in the other processes or in expansion of the main activities. This will take care of the human adjustment

Tale Of Genji Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tale Of Genji - Essay Example Art and literature flourished in Japan even in ancient times. Japanese writings showed that ancient Japanese placed great premium on culture such as painting, poetry, prose, music, dramatic performances and all genres of literature. Ancient writers and artists i.e. poets, musicians, painters were then hailed as an elite group who were notches above the rest and special groups of people to be venerated and esteemed with high regard. And such writings showed that these predilections and love for art and literature even pre-dated that of European and American passion for art and literature. However, it had been claimed that most of these writings were mere oral literature because the Japanese failed to independently devise their own kind of syllabaric script and thus failed to find a means of recording their language. Thus, most of this oral literature perished (Keene 19). It was only when the Japanese (and the Koreans, too) discovered the Chinese Kanji script, the ancient Chinese metho d of writing that the Japanese were able to put into writing the works of their writers who then described the high level of culture in ancient Japan (Snowling & Hulme 23). Yet, many of this oral literature were luckily integrated into Japan’s first known surviving book, the Kojiki or â€Å"Record of Ancient Matters†. This book featured poetry, songs, myths, legends, customs and traditions, language and ancient Japanese history (Chamberlain i,ii).