Revising this paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Revising this paper - Essay Example People rely more on the consequences being in their favor, even when the decision or the incentive that spurs the decision is morally wrong; in essence, it is somewhat like the ends justify the means. However, it will be wrong for us to assume that just because their thought processes and their incentives are different from our own, they are wrong. People are different from one another, with different morals and different points of views, so much so that their happiness also lies in different things; as in they pursue different forms of happiness, what is happiness to one may not be so to the other. Thus the question arises: Can we judge people based on their incentives? In the example I liked the most, Levitt and Dubner analyze schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers. In the case of schoolteachers the incentive to cheat derives from possible pay raises, or at least job security, if their students score well on standardized tests. Levitt uses 700,000 sets of test answers from Chicago public school students. With the aid of his computer, Levitt searches for patterns in the answers to identify teachers who were changing their students answers, thus cheating to obtain their goal. He even includes a few sample answer sheets and invites the reader to detect the cheating. At the same time, the book describes Levitts clever strategy for examining the win-loss records of sumo wrestlers; an examination that points to especially important matches being â€Å"thrown†, with the â€Å"winners† later reciprocating in less important matches, thus ensuring that top wrestlers maintain their status. Levitt says there are three types of incentives: economic, social and moral. We juggle with all types of them, and it is clear that incentives are used widely and related closely to people’s daily life. The story of an Israeli daycare center that decided to fine parents who picked up their children late is pertinent in this regard. This action of theirs resulted in more

The privacy of your medical records Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The privacy of your medical records - Essay Example However, many have come to accept that their employer has the right to essentially do the same thing by monitoring emails. Is wrong always wrong or do employers have a widely agreed upon caveat to intrude on the privacy of American citizens? Some believe that because the Constitution forbids illegal searches which are the precedent for disallowing the wiretapping of citizens, this should apply to businesses as well. Computer networks are especially susceptible to employer scrutiny. According to a Privacy Foundation study (Privacy Foundation, 2001), 14 million U.S. employees are subject to this type of surveillance on a constant basis. Employers use specially designed software for this purpose. They are able to scrutinize employee e-mail by randomly reading communications or by selecting key ‘damaging’ words or phrases in order to flag e-mail. The software evaluates a company’s e-mail messages by selected term of phrase and makes a determination regarding whether a message is genuine and non-threatening corporate business. These programs are becoming ever more sophisticated using algorithms to evaluate communications patterns and relay this information to employers. Many employers are always just a click or two away from viewing every e-mail message that employees send or receive on computers included on the network. These employers give a variety of justifications for spying on their employees’ communications including the protection of trade secrets, the prevention of internal problems or excess e-mails clogging networks by using too much bandwidth. Another popular reason given for monitoring personal e-mails is to prevent employees from using company time for personal communications. Checking for quality of work would violate few people’s idea of crossing the privacy boundary but that is seldom a reason given for such monitoring. According to the American Management Study (2001), close to â€Å"two-thirds of all companies

Library System Essay Example for Free

Library System Essay In progress countries, where the Computerized Library System is a mature technology, developments are the area of resource sharing and globalization of Information Access. In such a scenario, the role of the librarian is no longer to make available the most suitable books or editorial or facts accessible within the library but to seek out the information necessary by the user from any library. The recent advancement in Information Technologies and system has become the key concerns of librarian and libraries. Libraries need to develop their resources access, analyse the need of their users and seek to develop resources to meet this needs. As a learning and knowledge organization, schools should empower their libraries to develop the appropriate tools in coping with the growing library trends and standards. The Jesus is Lord Christian School’s Library System is a Manual System, which covers manual transactions inside the library, such as borrowing, returning, and recording of the books and the registration of the new borrowers. The system will help the librarian to closely monitor the condition of the library. This system is also design to speed up every transaction inside the library. The main objective of the proposed system is to increase the efficiency and security of record keeping of the school. The system will also generate reports that are needed in monitoring the library. The proposed system is design with security to protect sensitive files from unauthorized access. Only authorized users can have an access to confidential files. The security of files is achieved through the use of Username and Password for identification and authentication of the user. The proposed Computerized Library System of Jesus is Lord Christian School will improve and speed up library transactions. 1. 0 INTRODUCTION The Computerized Library System is an Integrated System that consists of library operating components such as Cataloguing, Searching, Adding, Editing, and Deleting books and periodicals information. Each component supports a user-friendly interface that makes it extremely accessible to librarians and students alike. The software is also design with portability in mind, so that it would be available to a wide variety of computer architecture. Library is a place where the collections of books are kept. A library operates routinely with known set of customer, it also operates on expectation. When the client walks into the library, we expect that they will get the material or information that they need. The library in return, expects that the client will return the items within the specified borrowing time. As always, the role of the library and librarians is to help manage the effective delivery of library services. This has been traditionally anchored on the management of the catalogue and physical collection. Librarians are trained to be expert in Information Searching, Selecting, and Organizing. Nowadays, in a highly technological society, human productivity is made more efficient through the development of the electronic gadgets and machine. The advent of such modernization in education, one way to globalize the process of research is to appreciate that technology is advancing in a dramatic increase. Now in our modern society, technology is the most important advancement which brings necessity to progress us along to the computerized world. These make man’s life easier and more convenient. 1. 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1. 2. 1 General problem How to design, develop, and implement a Computerized Library System for Jesus is Lord Christian School to lessen their time in tracking of records, storage of numerous paperwork’s and manual filing of forms. 1. 2. 2 Specific Problems * The current acquisition and cataloguing process of Jesus is Lord Christian School Library is time consuming and prone to errors due to the present manual operations. * The traditional use of pen and typriter for acquisition and cataloguing are prone to erasures. * The library reports and inventory are very tedious and it takes a month to be completed because it is manually done * The library reports and inventories are said to be tedious because of manual book counting, listing of new books, and Administrative reports. * The process of lending and returning of books user consumes minutes of manpower due to the manual tracking and processing of students, employee and book records. * The Jesus is Lord Christian School Library staffs manually perform the borrowing and returning of books, and it takes several minutes to complete a single process. * Tracking of overdue books is difficult and this prolongs the returning process as well as the imposing of penalties. * The calculation and imposing of imposing of penalties as well as tracking of overdue books are manually performed, this results to lack of books monitoring 1. 3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. 3. 1 General Objective This study aims to design, develop, and implement a Computerized Library System for Jesus is Lord Christian School that will store information and track the records of books and its borrowers, and produced library reports and inventories of the school’s library. 1. 3. 2 Specific Objectives * To produce an efficient book acquisition process this will be useful during cataloguing. * To produce a means of tracking overdue books useful in imposing penalties whenever necessary. * To produce library reports and inventories like Administrative Reports that would be available whenever needed. * To be able to monitor all borrowed and returned books. * To be able to monitor the circulation of books. * To provide a facility that will handle library transactions efficiently and accurately. 1. 4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1. 4. 1 The Librarians A Computerized Library System is a tool that can be used by the school librarian in storing and retrieving information such as the books information and the borrower’s information in order to make every transaction faster. A Computerized Library System can have a great help for the librarian of Jesus is Lord Christian School because the number of students enrolled there increases very year thus, the job of the librarian becomes more difficult and complicated because it is very hard for them to monitor huge number of students who want to borrow books. The study will help the librarian solve the problems regarding its transactions like the computing of penalties for the delinquent borrowers and maintaining of books in the library so that the job of the librarian will be lessened. 1. 4. 2 Students and Faculty Members This study will help the students and the faculty members in borrowing books because this system will provide them a categorization system so that they can search a specific book in the library in a much convenient way. 1. 4. 3 The School Administrator Our proposed system will generate reports needed by the school admin like the list of books in the library, list of delinquent borrowers, list of new books and list of damage books. 1. 4. 4 Assistant Librarian In case of librarian is not in the library, the assistant librarian can also access the proposed system. However, there are only certain process that the assistant library can operate. 1. 5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS The system will only focused on books and periodicals. It will not include the library budgets. The inventory of equipment and audio visual materials in order for the system to be concrete and specific. The proposed library system will not be networked in order to reduce complexity on the part of the proponent. The system will also include the File Maintenance of the books wherein they can add, edit, delete all the necessary information if needed. This will also help the librarian in the monitoring of books in the library because all the books information will be stored in a database. This will make it much easier for the librarian to update the books in the library. Back-up and Restoration of the database is also included in the system. We will provide a module that will back-up all the information in the database when the system is turn off and will restore if the main database is corrupted. In this process, the risk of losing some information in the library will be minimized. The calculation of penalties for overdue books is done with the use of an efficient books transaction process. The report generation such as readymade listings for manual book counting, listing of new books, discarded books and Administrative reports will be easily done. All of the information will be stored in the database so that the borrowing and returning of books can easily be monitored by the Librarian. The system will also provide the automatic computation of penalty for the delinquent borrowers depending on the number of days overdue, in this case the librarian does not need to compute penalty in a manual process and the possible wrong computation will be lessen. Generating of reports will also be provided by the system like the list of books in the library, list of new books, list of damaged books, and the list of delinquent borrower. The system will not include the purchasing of new books or any additional equipment in the library like desks, electric fan, chairs, book shelves and other materials. 2. 0 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY (Software Engineering Paradigm) The Spiral Model The spiral model combines the idea of iterative development (prototyping) with the systematic, controlled aspects of the waterfall model. It allows for incremental releases of the product, or incremental refinement through each time around the spiral. The spiral model also explicitly includes risk management within software development. Identifying major risks, both technical and managerial, and determining how to lessen the risk helps keep the software development process under control. The spiral model is based on continuous refinement of key products for requirements definition and analysis, system and software design, and implementation. At each iteration around the cycle, the products are extensions of an earlier product. This model uses many of the same phases as the waterfall model, in essentially the same order, separated by planning, risk assessment, and the building of prototypes and simulations. Documents are produced when they are required, and the content reflects the information necessary at that point in the process. All documents will not be created at the beginning of the process, nor all at the end (hopefully). Like the product they define, the documents are works in progress. The idea is to have a continuous stream of products produced and available for user review. The spiral lifecycle model allows for elements of the product to be added in when they become available or known. This assures that there is no conflict with previous requirements and design. This method is consistent with approaches that have multiple software builds and releases and allows for making an orderly transition to a maintenance activity. Another positive aspect is that the spiral model forces early user involvement in the system development effort. For projects with heavy user interfacing, such as user application programs or instrument interface applications, such involvement is helpful. Starting at the center, each turn around the spiral goes through several task regions . * Determine the objectives, alternatives, and constraints on the new iteration. * Evaluate alternatives and identify and resolve risk issues. * Develop and verify the product for this iteration. * Plan the next iteration. Note that the requirements activity takes place in multiple sections and in multiple iterations, just as planning and risk analysis occur in multiple places. Final design, implementation, integration, and test occur in iteration 4. The spiral can be repeated multiple times for multiple builds. Using this method of development, some functionality can be delivered to the user faster than the waterfall method. The spiral method also helps manage risk and uncertainty by allowing multiple decision points and by explicitly admitting that all of anything cannot be known before the subsequent activity starts 3. 0 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Computerized Library System in the Philippines have integrated library system namely, UP Don Bosco Technical College (develop in house), Ateneo Professional Schools (develop in house). Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center (Date Trek), International Institute (Iunopac), Asian Development Bank (VTLS), International Rice Research integrated use micro-CDs/ISIS, INMAGIC or BIBASE to create their electronic catalogs and/or indexes and produce catalog/cards or book catalog indexes. The theological libraries also use BIBASE for their circulation system. UP Computerized Library System is develop in aiming to produce a full pledge computerized library system that supports all necessary components to suit library tasks. Each components work conjunction with each other to produce an automated library system. The team aims to provide a really good GUI for ease of access on part of the user. The proposed system will cover the monitoring of books and borrowers. Computing penalty for overdue available generating a card catalog for searching a particular books, its title, subject and author. The difference of this system to our proposed system is we will convert the current system of the said school from manual system into computerized library system for faster searching of records. The library functions of the benefits of the students, teachers as if supply the patrons with a wealth of information, found in books, periodic and electronic sources, assistance is given with teams paper’s factual information. Leisure reading materials and any other library related activities. This chapter reviews literature and studies that the researchers considered relevant to the present study. The school library is one of the most common studied division of educational institutions. Not a few specialist in the teaching enterprise have devoted their attention and focus their inquiry into the system management and problems of the library as a learning resource center. There is the only need to gear up current awareness services, but also to initiate new services with the assistance the new services technologies, so that total library operation and service can be modernized. There remains much to be done as the image of the university libraries directly linked with the quality of services it provide to its rising users of device requirements. [FEST 1994]. In completion of the study, the proponents made use of different books. They also made use of the response of the direct inquiries from interviews. These are big factors in the generation of ideas. Library classifications have been particularly defined as systematic arrangement by subjects of books and other material on shelves and catalogue and index entries and manner which is most useful for those who read or who seek definite piece of information. University of Santo Tomas can be considered as the oldest university in the country. The first seeds were planted when the founders, Fr. Miguel de Benavides and Fr. Diego Soria, donated their private collections. Through the history of the university other Dominicans contributed books that they thought were indispensable in education for the priesthood. This explains why the oldest books in the collections are related in the philosophy, theology or law. As new faculties were opened in the university books were added. All these constitute a precious collection of rare books unique in the Philippines. The library was house at the university quarters in the old city of Intramuros for three hundred years. When the university expandedits campus outside the walls, the collection were also transferred. When the main building constructed, the library was allotted of room at ground floor. Its collection increased with the opening of new courses, the library grew to occuy one whole wing of the ground floor of this building and other rooms in the different building [JOAQ 2004]. In 1985, the long waited dream of the exclusive building for the library finally materialized, and on October 29, 1989 the UST Central Library Buildings was inaugurated. [JOAQ 2004]. Until 1985 the books in the library were classified according to the old method of classification called the fixed system. In 1927, the university adopted another method classification known as the Dewey Decimal System. 4. 0 DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM The Jesus is Lord Christian School uses manual type of operation in managing library transactions. Several procedures are included in handling all the necessary information of books, students, faculty member as well as the card catalogue. Library transactions like borrowing, returning, cataloguing and reserving are being done manually by the librarian of staff. The librarian uses pen and library master card file in recording all the transactions with regards to the books concern. Usually the library card for the faculty and none teaching staff is bigger compared to that of students and it is kept inside the library. In borrowing of books the library practices open shelves policy. Most of the time the student/faculty come in the library to conduct research and reading, if the said clients wants to borrow the books, they will ask the librarian if they can borrow the books. For students, they will present their library card to the librarian, and then the librarian will record the compulsory information needed like the due date into the library card. The student will sign in the books card. On borrowing, the library practiced a one to three policy. The Students as well as The Faculty can only be allowed to borrow three books at a time. In returning, the students or even the faculty will present the books borrowed, then the librarian will look the master card file of the students and sign it. If the books is returned on its due date, the library card will be simply returned to the students. In case the book was not returned on time, the students will be charged a fine of five pesos per day. The amount of penalty depends on the number of days the student failed to return the books. In the case of faculty and staff, they will simply present the books to the librarian, then the librarian will look for the library card of the faculty and staff in the faculty and staff card file and sign on it. The faculty and staff are exempted from the penalty.

Laboratory Report on Properties of Carboxylic acids

Laboratory Report on Properties of Carboxylic acids Ramona Mae S. Rajaratnam Abstract: This report presents the different properties of carboxylic acids including solubility, acidity of some carboxylic acids, difference in strength of carboxylic acids compared to phenols, action of oxidizing agent on the carboxylic group and the neutralization equivalent of carboxylic acids. Carboxylic acids like acetic acid, butyric acid, oleic acid, succinic acid, stearic acid and benzoic acid were each mixed with water to test their solubility. The same acids were each mixed with 10% sodium bicarbonate to test their acid strength. The typical pKa values of carboxylic acids, phenols, HCO3 and CO32- were used to compare the acid strength of carboxylic acids with phenols and to judge whether both Na2CO3 and NaHCO3 can be used to successfully separate phenols from carboxylic acids. Carboxylic acids like acetic acid, formic acid, lactic acid, succinic acid and oxalic acid were each mixed with 0.5% KMnO4 to look at the action of KMnO4, an oxidizing agent, on the carboxylic acid group. Thi s report also focuses on the finding the neutralization equivalent to determine the unknown molar mass of a carboxylic acid. An accurately weighed sample of an unknown carboxylic acid was dissolved, heated and titrated with a previously standardized NaOH solution to find the neutralization equivalent and ultimately, the molar mass of the unknown carboxylic acid. Introduction: This experiment focuses on the different properties of carboxylic acids. The experiment aims to compare the solubility of acetic acid and stearic acid in water and to describe the relationship between molecular weight and solubility of carboxylic acids in water. The experiment also intends to infer the relative acidities of carboxylic acids and phenols based on the relative differences of their reaction with NaHCO3 and explain how NaHCO3 can be used to separate a mixture containing a water-insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol. The experiment also aims to identify reducing acids and the functional groups responsible for their reduction potential. The experiment also intends to describe a physical property such as physical state, color, odor or solubility that can differentiate succinic acid and oxalic acid, acetic acid and lactic acid, acetic acid and formic acid, benzoic acid and stearic acid and acetic acid and butyric acid. And lastly, the experiment looks into th e determination of the neutralization equivalent and molar mass of an unknown mono- and dicarboxylic acid. Experimental Details: The following apparatus were used in the experiment: Vials Vial rack Micro spatula Dropper Test Tubes Test Tube Rack Weighing boat 50 mL Buret Iron stand Buret clamp Erlen Meyer flasks Funnel Corks Graduated Cylinder Bunsen burner Wire gauze Test tube brush Vial brush Safety goggles The following materials were used in the experiment: Distilled water Acetic acid Butyric acid Oleic acid Stearic acid Succinic acid Benzoic acid Formic acid Lactic acid Oxalic acid 10% NaHCO3 0.5% KMnO4 0.09413 M NaOH Bromthymol blue indicator unknown carboxylic acid (at least 0.2 g) The following procedures were carried out in the experiment: a. Solubility in Water. The solubility of carboxylic acids in water was tested by mixing water with the following acids: acetic, butyric, oleic, stearic, succinic and benzoic. Three drops of the liquid or one micro spatula of the solid acid were added to 2 mL of water. The qualitative results obtained with the solubilities listed for the compounds were checked in a chemical handbook. The data were tabulated. b. Reaction with 10% Sodium Bicarbonate. The solubility test of the same acids was repeated with 10% sodium bicarbonate solution. Three drops of the liquid or one micro spatula of the solid acid were added with 2 mL of 10% sodium bicarbonate solution. The evidence for reaction when water soluble acetic acid and succinic acid when added to reagent was noted. The typical pKa values of carboxylic acids, phenols, HCO3 and CO32- were compared. c. Action of an Oxidizing Agent on the Carboxylic Acid Group. Five drops of acetic acid were added to three to five drops of 0.5 KMnO4 in a vial. The test was repeated with the following acids: formic, lactic, oxalic and succinic. d. Neutralization Equivalent of Carboxylic Acids. A 0.2 g sample of unknown carboxylic acid was weighed accurately to four significant figures. The acid was dissolved in 50 mL water or ethanol. The mixture was heated to dissolve completely the compound. The solution was titrated with a previously standardized NaOH solution. A bromthymol blue indicator was used. The neutralization equivalent and molar mass of the unknown carboxylic acid were calculated. Results and Discussion: Carboxylic acids are organic compounds containing a carboxy group (COOH). The carbon atom of a carboxy group is surrounded by three groups, making it sp2 hybridized and trigonal planar, with bond angles of approximately 120Ã ¢-Â ¦. Figure 1: Carboxylic Acid structure Carboxylic acids exhibit dipole-dipole interactions because of their polar C-O bond and O-H bond. They also exhibit intermolecular hydrogen bonding because they possess a hydrogen atom bonded to an electronegative oxygen atom. Carboxylic acids are one of the most polar organic compounds. Most carboxylic acids exist as cyclic dimmers, held together by two hydrogen bonds. Figure 2: Carboxylic acid dimer Acetic acid is soluble in water. Carboxylic acids with less than 5 carbons in their alkyl group are soluble in water. The carbon skeleton is not too large for the OH group to solubilize by hydrogen bonding. The hydrophilic nature of the carboxylic group dominates than the hydrophobic nature. This is the reason why acetic acid and butyric acid are soluble in water. Figure 3: Acetic acid and butyric acid On the other hand, oleic acid and stearic acid are insoluble in water. Both have long, bulky carbon chains exceeding the five carbon limit. The OH group cannot solubilize the carbon skeleton via hydrogen bonding. Its hydrophobic character dominates than its hydrophilic nature. Figure 4: Oleic acid Figure 5: Stearic acid A good solvent for stearic acid would be organic solvents like ether, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. Figure 6: Solvents for stearic acid Benzoic acid is insoluble in water because the benzene ring is too bulky and large, and because of its stability, the OH group cannot solubilize it using hydrogen bonding. Figure 7: Benzoic acid Succinic acid contains two COOH groups because it is a dicarboxylic acid. This tells us that there is an increase in the hydrogen bonding capacity which makes it slightly soluble only because the carbon chain exceeds the five carbon chain limit and its hydrophobic character also shows. Figure 8: Succinic acid Carboxylic acids readily react with Bronsted Lowry bases to form carboxylate ions which are done through deprotonation. Figure 9: Carboxylic acids react with sodium carbonate In the experiment, sodium bicarbonate was used to deprotonate the carboxylic acid. This was a simple neutralization reaction forming a carboxylate salt, carbon dioxide and water. Acetic acid, butyric acid, succinic acid and benzoic acid react with the sodium bicarbonate. Succinic acid undergoes two deprotonation steps because it contains two COOH groups. An acid can be deprotonated by a base that has a conjugate acid with a higher pKa. The pKa values of acetic acid, butyric acid, benzoic acid and succinic acid are all ~5, thus bases that have conjugate acids with pKa values higher than 5 are strong enough to deprotonate them. Oleic acid and stearic acid have pKa values of 9.85 and 10.15 respectively. These pKa values are higher than the conjugate acid of the base (NaOH) which is H2CO3. This tells us that sodium bicarbonate is not strong enough to deprotonate both carboxylic acids. Stronger bases are needed to deprotonate them such as NaOH which has a conjugate acid with a pKa of 15.7. Figure 10: Dissociation and pKa values of carboxylic acids When comparing the pKa values of carboxylic acids and phenols, phenols always have a higher pKa value which tells us that phenols are weaker acids than carboxylic acids. Figure 11: pKa values of phenol and carboxylic acid Carboxylic acids and phenols are both acidic. Looking into the Arrhenius definition of an acid, both when dissolved in water, increases the H+ concentration. Also looking at the Bronsted-Lowry definition of an acid, acids are proton donors. Figure 12: Bronsted Lowry definition of an acid Aside from these two famous definitions of an acid, we must also look into the stability of the conjugate base. A rule states that anything that stabilizes a conjugate base makes the starting reagent acidic. When we talk about phenols, its conjugate base which is the phenoxide is resonance stabilized. It has five resonance structures which disperse the negative charge to three carbons and one oxygen atom. This makes phenols more acidic than alcohols which cannot stabilize its conjugate base via resonance. When we compare phenols with carboxylic acids, carboxylic acids are stronger compared to phenols. For carboxylic acids, their conjugate base which is the carboxylate ion is a lot more stable because they contain two oxygen atoms that delocalize the negative charge. As an effect, carboxylic acids are stronger acids than phenols which is evident in their pKa values. Looking at the pKa values of phenols and carboxylic acids, we could conclude that NaHCO3 can be used to separate a water insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol considering that this insoluble carboxylic acid does not exceed the pKa value of HCO3 (when protonated H2CO3 which is the conjugate acid) which is 6.4. Sodium bicarbonate can successfully separate a water insoluble phenol and a water insoluble carboxylic acid because typical pKa values for phenol which is 10 exceeds 6.4. The NaHCO3, therefore, is not strong enough to deprotonate the phenol but is strong enough to deprotonate the carboxylic acid. It will most likely form two layers: an organic layer with the phenol and an aqueous layer with the water and carboxylate ion which are products of the reaction of the carboxylic acid with the base. Sodium carbonate is not effective in separating a mixture containing a water insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol. The pKa of CO32- (when protonated becomes HCO3) is close to 10. This tells us that Na2CO3 reacts with some of the phenol and ofcourse with the carboxylic acid. Thus, no complete separation between the two occurs. Figure 13: Sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate Some carboxylic acids undergo oxidation. These are called reducing acids. In the experiment, lactic acid, formic acid and oxalic acid are all oxidized to carbon dioxide and water with the presence of a brown precipitate which is the reduced KMnO4. Acetic acid and Succinic acid are both non-reducing acids because they do not oxidize in the presence of a strong oxidizing agent, KMnO4. Lactic acid is oxidized into pyruvic acid because it contains an oxidizable group which is OH. Figure 14: Oxidation of lactic acid Formic acid is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. Figure 15: Oxidation of formic acid Oxalic acid also oxidizes into carbon dioxide and water. Figure 16: Oxidation of oxalic acid The neutralization equivalent of an acid is mathematically defined as: Neutralization equivalent (NE) = To determine the molar mass: Molar mass = (X) x neutralization equivalent *Where X is the number of COOH groups The molar mass of an unknown carboxylic sample could be determined by computing its neutralization equivalent. Finding the neutralization equivalent requires titrating the solution of unknown carboxylic acid with a previously standardized solution of NaOH. The exact molarity of the NaOH was found to be 0.09413 M. Two trials were carried out in this section of the experiment. The solid form of the unknown carboxylic acid was water soluble. Weighing of sample: Titration: Computations: Trial 1: Volume of NaOH used = Final buret reading – Initial buret reading = 33.80 mL – 0.50 mL = 33.30 mL Neutralization equivalent (NE) = = = 66.36 g/mol Molar mass = 2 x (66.36 g/mol) = 132.72 g/mol Trial 2: Volume of NaOH used = Final buret reading – Initial buret reading = 32.50 mL -0.30 mL = 32.20 mL Neutralization equivalent (NE) = = = 66.35 mL Molar mass = 2 x (66.35 g/mol) = 132.70 g/mol Average molar mass = = 132.71 g/mol This molar mass was determined to be 95% near the true molar mass of the unknown carboxylic acid. Calculations for determining identity of unknown: = 139. 69 139.69 – 132.71 = 6.98 (error) For MM1 = 132.71 +6.98 = 139.69 MM2 = 132.71 – 6.98 = 125.73 For the 1st probable molar mass: 139.69 – 90.02 (2 X molar mass of COOH) = 49.67 CnH2n = 49.67 (12.01)n + (1.00)2n = 49.67 14.01 n = 49.67 n= 3.5/4 For the 2nd probable molar mass: 125.73 – 90.02 (2 X molar mass of COOH) = 35.71 CnH2n = 35.71 (12.01)n + (1.00)2n = 35.71 14.01n = 35.71 n= 2.5/3 Possible identities for the carboxylic acid include Glutaric acid, Glutaconic acid and Adipic acid. Conclusion: Therefore, the solubility of different carboxylic acids can be rationalized from the structure of the carboxylic acid itself. Acetic acid and butyric acid are soluble since their OH groups are able to solubilize their alkyl chain which does not exceed five carbons. Oleic acid and stearic acid are insoluble in water because their alkyl chain exceeds 5 carbons and the OH group cannot solubilize the long, bulky alkyl chain. A good solvent for stearic acid would be organic solvents like ether, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. Benzoic acid is insoluble in water because the benzene ring, due to its stability, cannot be solubilized by the OH group. Succinic acid on the other hand, is soluble in water due to greater capacity of hydrogen bonding because it has two OH groups. Carboxylic acids also react with sodium carbonate through deprotonation. Only acetic acid, succinic acid, benzoic acid and butyric acid give a reaction because these acids have a lower pKa value than the conjugate aci d of the base which is NaHCO3. Oleic acid and Stearic acid do not react with NaHCO3 because they have higher pKa values than the conjugate acid of the base. This tells us that sodium bicarbonate is not strong enough to deprotonate both carboxylic acids. The rule here is: an acid can be deprotonated by a base that has a conjugate acid with a higher pKa. By looking at the pKa values, phenols are weaker acids than carboxylic acids. Phenols are resonance stabilized by carboxylic acids is more stable because they have conjugate bases with two oxygen atoms which delocalize the negative charge. NaHCO3 can be used to separate a mixture containing a water insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol because phenols do not react with this because it has a higher pKa than its conjugate acid. Na2CO3 is not effective because both phenols and carboxylic acids react, therefore, no separation occurs. Some carboxylic acids react with KMnO4 and are oxidized. Examples are lactic acid which i s oxidized to pyruvic acid and formic acid and oxalic acids which are oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. Non-reducing acids include acetic acid and succinic acid. And for the last part of the experiment, the molar mass of an unknown carboxylic acid may be determined by identifying how many COOH groups are present and by computing its neutralization equivalent. Neutralization equivalent (NE) = Molar mass = (X) x neutralization equivalent Supporting information: In determining the molar mass or formula for an unknown carboxylic acid, it may be possible to have an unsaturated compound. If the molecular formula is given, plug in the numbers into this formula: DoU= C= number of carbons N= number of nitrogens X= number of halogens (F, Cl, Br, I) H= number of hydrogens References: Organic Chemistry by John McMurry Organic Chemistry by Janice Smith http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Organic_Chemistry/Hydrocarbons/Alkenes/Properties_of_Alkenes/Degree_of_Unsaturation Wikiperdia.org www.studymode.com

Core Competencies of Ebay

Core Competencies of Ebay In this report, there is an analysis about the global company eBay. In the content, eBays core competency, value chain, and the challenges that eBay face will be illustrated and analyzed in order to get more understanding of the differences with the other companies. Also, there is a local company Charles Keith is selected to do comparison with the eBays globalized strategy. After comparing each other strategy, then there will be the critical analysis of it that whether the strategies are get used by each others. This analysis helps to illustrate an international business how it works like. Meanwhile, it gives the understanding about the core competency and value chain are the key components to create greater value to customers. Introduction In pace with fast growing of technology, convenience is given broadly by accessing the internet for chatting, e-mailing, video conferencing, even making online payment, online shopping, online auction, and other e-business activities. In todays competitive business market, eBay is one of the successful e-commerce online auction sites which was founded by Pierre Omidyar (Cohen, 2002). In 1995, eBay was officially built as an online trading platform that operates person-to-person trading in a web-based auction format forum by Pierre Omidyar. As a matchmaker, eBay provides a stage for sellers and buyers to connect in worldwide, however, it could be individuals and businesses involve in buying and selling variety of goods and service. Invisibly, eBay provides a place where buyers and sellers can conveniently meet, exchange information about goods and prices, manage sales at minimum costs, and made collecting and bargain hunting fun (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000, p.14). In the worlds largest online market, as pioneer as eBay is, its virtual setting where capital, desire, and identity converge has progressed into a global economic, social, and cultural phenomenon (Hillis, Petit, and Epley, 2006). According to eBay self-characteristic which is leading a universal shopping destination on the internet virtually that has seen a driving force of global e-commerce. However, for surviving in the global market, eBay acquired PayPal in 2002, to enable any person or business with an e-mail address to send and receive payments online securely, easily, and quickly. Besides, eBay also acquired SKYPE to enhance its operation thus maintain a certain service standard (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Due to a global e-commerce business that eBay pursue, comparatively, challenges about translation software, digital divide, cultural attitudes about e-commerce, government regulations, and the pace of international expansion are probably to be seen as obstacles in development (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Core Competency of eBay In the case of eBay, the core competency which will be analyzed in here is similar to the companys internal factor strength. According to Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson (2009, p. 103), core competencies are resources and capabilities that seen as competitive advantage for the firm over its rivals, meanwhile, it is a value-creating strategies to satisfy customers needs. In order to meet customers prospects across time, constantly improve, innovate, and upgrade their competencies is needed. Being a strong core competency, it must have some significant components which are including the perceived customer benefit of the end product and difficulty of imitation (Hiebing and Cooper, 2004). For the sake of further developing and steadily keeping the first leader position up in the e-commerce industry, the core competencies of eBay have: An efficient distribution system with developed proprietary software In eBays own website, there are series of stages that allow sellers to design, build up, monitor, and organize their particular auctions to sell outstanding thematic goods for those buyers are willing to pay a premium price on it, whereas, buyers used eBays software to search products and place bids (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). A developed proprietary software which is scalable, full-bodied, user interface and transaction-processing system that handle all aspects of auction process (Figure 1). For example (Figure 2), it sends e-mails when users register for the service, place a successful bid, and outbid. Moreover, it sends daily status updates to active sellers and bidders and maintains user registration information, account information, current auctions, and historical listings (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000, p.32). It provides convenience for both sellers and buyers to access eBay to check up the new status whenever. Figure 1: Auction Process (I) Figure 2: Auction Process (II) Global Reach With the mission of offering global trading platform where anyone could trade whenever at anywhere, eBay acquired the leading auction websites in 23 countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. People could find strange and cheaper products from eBay because of its global capability (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). An Extensible Strategy As a monopoly in Americas online auctions, eBays extensible strategy has provided variety of products, services, and markets. There are around 12 million online auctions set up in different countries and has divided into 18,000 different categories. Almost approaching 2 million of new items are provided for sale; likewise, there are 62 million registered users from eBay are glad to find the items here too. Thats why the competitors such as Yahoo and Amazon are hard to access in the auction market to grab the market share (Dror, 2003). Acquisitions and alliances with companies By associating Square Trade, Auctionwatch, AOL (Nerney, 1999), IBM (IBM and eBay Forge Broad e-business Alliance, 2001), Yahoo (Yahoo and eBay seal online deal, 2006) and acquired PayPal and Skype (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009); eBay has beneficially meet the customer satisfaction meanwhile obtain the greatest propagation to the users. Strong brand identity and recognition A powerful and highly recognized brand name commonly results in greater unit sales and allows the seller to charge a premium over off-brand competitors (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000). eBay could have strong brand recognition and well known by people are attributed by its global expansion and building up a strong user base. There is 67 percent market share from brand identity of eBay (Lee, 2007). eBays Value Chain Figure 3: Porters Value Chain Model In the Porters value chain (Figure 3), it is a model to analyze the organizational process as activities that the firm to has the competitive advantage and create value for the customer (Michael Porter Value Chain Model Framework, 2010). By analyzing the primary activities, eBay could able to see where the value can be added, thus, allow the business to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, value chain becomes an important key tool for any type of organization (Wickramasinghe and Lubitz, 2007). The margin (Figure 3) is as same as added value, while the firm is divided into primary activities and support activities. Primary activities offer the customer a level of value that exceeds the cost of the activities (The Value Chain, 2010) includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. On the other hand, the support activities are supporting the primary activities to make sure these activities that a firm has the opportunity to create greater value. Also, a competitive advantage may be attained by reconfiguring the value chain so as to provide lower cost or better differentiation (The Value Chain, 2010). In the following page, there is a value chain analysis of eBay that how it works with the value chain (Figure 4). Primary Activities (Bidgoli, 2004 ) Inbound Logistics Internet Links facilitate posting of product information. Listings of products describe to customers. Operations (Value Creation) Database search engine allows easy access to products. Dynamic pricing allows for bidding to determine market price. Outbound logistics Distribution is facilitated or the responsibility of seller. Escrow system attempt to limit fraud. Marketing and Sales Having first mover advantages and advertising to create brand name advantages. Forums allow for community development. Service Database supported reports on sellers and buyers. eBay community that people interacted with each other under a set of shared rules and expectations. Support Activities (Gopaikrishnan and Gupta, 2007) Procurement Does not take possession of the items being sold, thus reduces inventory management costs. Secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. Technology Development Uses online option to innovate, to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. Includes internet marketing activities, lean manufacturing, customer relationship management (CRM), and many other technological developments. Human Resource Management Developing a community whose members are unknown, trust among traders. Firm Infrastructure -Management Information System (MIS) for planning and control -Operated much like a newspaper-classified section, it facilitated person-to-person transactions but did not get ownership of the items being sold. Figure 4 -eBay Value Chain The function of value chain is to reduce the cost and create as well as enhance the differentiation. eBay configure with its value chain activities which around the global world, the aim is to maximize the perceived value for its global users and lessen the costs of value making. By having the primary activities, coordination of the value chain is significant with the use of supporting activities which integrated all the activities into a solid whole. There are several factors affected eBay to configure value chain globally are including cost/price issue, business environments, translation software, logistics, and customers needs. Cost/Price issue As operates a global networking, the currencies exchange rate, different wages rates in different country, inflation rates, and government regulations have deeply influenced the costs of the business expending as well as the price setting. Business Environment Value chain is configured in order to have strong competence to confront to the competitors like Amazon.com and Chinas website Alibaba.com. By operating flexibly, it would able to help eBay to increase the competitive advantage. Translation Software Due to eBay acquired auction web sites in many different countries, the language used in the website also would be different that each country has their own native language. Therefore, value chain helps to maximize the technology development and thus offer convenience to customer. Logistics Have shown graph (figure 2) and mentioned how the eBay works. There are inbound logistics and outbound logistics. Therefore, value chain is configured to control the operation and minimize the cost on the way that eBay operates its auction website. Besides, it maximizes the perceived value to users by creating value to them through the updates status. Customers Needs As mentioned before, eBay has the largest user base. To fully maximize the value to the customer and understand what they want, it is necessarily to configure value chain. By establishing those value chain activities, those have influenced and shorten the distance between the users. It is a key factor that influenced not only a single country but it is useful to be configured in all country that eBay entered. The more eBay expand the more eBay coordinate. Coordination is a crucial part in conducting a value chains model that how it helps to combine all the activities and works with the core competencies effectively and efficiently. If the coordination is well done in the value chain, the market share of eBay will be boosted up absolutely. There are several factors affected eBay to coordinate the value chain activities are operational obstacles and national cultures. Operational Obstacles As acquired many leading auction website, the communication in verbal and nonverbal have set up a barrier towards success. It is because misunderstanding the particular local language will hinder the related information of the products or service. Besides, the currency exchange rate measurement systems also bring out the problem that has made users confused about the price indeed. The government regulations also acts as a main role in this factor that some countries have their own unique legal that some products are prohibited to enter. National Cultures Different countries have different culture attitudes and perceptions. For example, most of the Asian countries like China and Japan; they may not comfortable with purchasing the product through website that without touching the product in reality. Or even China, they already have their own local leading auction website alibaba.com. Therefore, coordination of the value chain is critical to be adopted in eBay to confront the dilemma. eBays Value Chain is Characterized as Virtual In the e-commerce business industry, eBay is a Web-based forum business that the firm is not producing any product and it just acts as a matchmaker or middleman to help its users who are either individuals or businesses to conduct the auction and provide a place for people connecting to each others in worldwide. eBay achieves competitive advantage and create value to the customer just only by keeping applying the extensible strategy to generate new products, services, and markets. Due to e-business matchmaker eBay special business characteristic, it supports communication to value-oriented buyers and sellers, sustains the principles of trust and safety, guarantees low fraud losses and high security to its community transaction process by delivering state-of-the-art information technology (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). In here, eBay is characterized as virtual value chain because of some reasons which are illustrated in the following. An online based only e-commerce business in the virtual marketspace eBay is centralized its business in an online trading platform that only posting information of product and service or other comedies to its users. In the E-marketplace, it providing information merely to the community is not counted as producing products; also, eBay do not has any ownership to the physical product. eBay just acts as a catalyst between the sellers and buyers (Bidgoli, 2004). No economies of scale and scope is applied to the virtual value chain (Heterick and Twigg, 1999) It is because eBay pursue a matchmaking service that charges the closing auction price to gain the revenue only. There is no input and output (Heterick and Twigg, 1999) As mentioned that there is no any product is produced by eBay and it is launched as an online trading platform that conducted in the forum. Creates value chain through five activities that different from the traditional value chain eBay gathering and organizing information of the sellers product into a database then buyers can pick what to bid on. eBay synthesizing the requested information to buyers also. Besides, eBay also gathers, organizes, synthesizes and distributes information about the complaint from both sellers and buyers (Rayport and Sviokla, 1995). From these several activities, these have created value to the users to show loyalty and trust on eBay. Implications to the Challenges Identified The challenges faced in the case of eBay are including translation software, digital divide, cultural attitudes about the e-commerce, government regulations, and the pace of international expansion (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Moreover, different currencies, customs regulations and inspections, and trade rules produce substantial barrier to eBay. Those are discussed in the below: Translation software As a global trading platform, eBay has to face the problem that describing the auction post into particular native language in order to be understood by those native languages of potential buyers. Yet, there is limitation of the translation software that usually imperfectly translates the native language has become obstacle for eBay to its global strategy (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Government regulation Each country presents unique cultural and legal challenges. It is a big issue that whether the product or service listed in the auction platform can be exported or imported to the countries (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). For example, a French judge was faced a problem that the Nazi memorabilia is prohibited to enter in France. The digital divide Mostly it will be faced in the developing countries like India and China that they mostly do not own their computer and the credit card as well. Due to the different level of economic condition and lack of internet access, it is hard to enter into the particular country and that would be a risk. Cultural attitudes about e-commerce In high uncertainty-avoidance cultures country like Japan, India, China, even the half of Asian are distrustful of e-commerce transactions. They tend to purchase the items that are new (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Sadly, eBay was suffering in the problem that the online trading is not attracted by them. Pace of international expansion Due to expand the business to the overseas is seen to be too rushed; as a result, it brought out the difficulty for acquisition. The premium paid to acquire the foreign operation is getting increase (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). According to the eBays global strategy, majorly, eBay is carried out an AAA global strategy. These AAA represents acquisition, activation, and activity. There are some implications to the challenges in today and in the future are shown in the following: May lose the users as well as the customers loyalty If the translation software is not fixing well, it will probably influenced the users move to the another auction forum to continually their business. Invisibly, it gives the chances to Amozon.com to grab the market share from eBay. Besides, without the convenience that eBay gives, users will lose the patient to eBay and shift their loyalty to the competitors. May earn an additional price from the translation and market share from developing countries In the future, by helping the user translate the post meaning to him or her familiar language with a few dollars charges will help eBay to have another value chain activity to increase its value. Also, continually operate eBay auction forum in India and China would able to gain access into this tough market that their population all are quite high. Without knowing the country legal may get in problem eBay must respect and recognize to each country legal environment in order not to against with the countrys legal issue. From the experience, eBay must try to improve and enhance the relationship between each countrys governments. Gain learning experiences to the cultural attitude Before entering the particular country, eBay must do a critical Pestel analysis about the country so as to eliminate the chances to face the loss. Through the learning experiences in Japan, eBay learned the different cultural attitude and their behaviour. In the future, eBay is able to be knowledgeable before it decides to enter a new expansion. The Comparison of the Globalized Strategy The local company which is being picked up is Charles Keith. Charles Keith is a Singapore based fashion company. It is well known by selling the womans footwear and accessories. In today, Charles Keith has been over 170 franchises worldwide and be one of the successful story in the international chain. Its global expansion started at 2000, the outlets in 22 countries including Japan, Brunei, and Indonesia (Ramlan, 2010). In the following, there is a table (Figure 6) that showing a comparison of the globalized Strategy between eBay and Charles and Keith. Acquisition Franchising Activation Partnership with DBS Bank (Charles Keith ups ante by venturing into Asia, ME Europe, 2010) Activity Combination of affordability and design (Tan, 2009) Recruiting Japanese and others nationality (Tan, 2009) Standardization of employees and service Figure 5: Comparison of Global Strategy As a result, there is no similar globalized strategy between eBay and Charles Keith. It is because eBay and Charles Keith are serving in different industry and their value chain is totally different. Why? It is because eBay only offers an auction website for the buyers and sellers to make business transaction. Its value chain is virtual value chain. On the other hand, Charles Keith is doing business in fashion industry that they produce, design, and selling by themselves. It is a traditional form of value chain that has input, output, economies of scale or scope. If eBays acquisition strategy is applied into Charles Keith to develop its expansion to overseas, it will be succeeded in spending enough amounts and having a clear Pestel analysis before entering a particular country. While, if Charles Keiths franchising strategy is applied into eBay, it will not be succeeded. It is because the eBays business model and the whole operation are cannot be franchising due to its special e-commerce background. Secondly, eBays activation is encouraged to apply in Charles Keith because the strategy is aimed same perspective. In eBay, its activation is aimed at increasing the users participants like sellers and buyers. Therefore, to increase customers purchases, Charles Keith is possible to apply it. While, Charles Keith strategy that partnering with DBS Bank is encouraged to be applied in eBay in order to get enough investment. Activity of eBay also is encouraged to be used in Charles Keith in order to increase the volume of sales. While, combination of affordability and design is not encouraged to apply in eBay since they are different categories of business. Continually, the overseas recruitment is encouraged to be applied in eBay so as to get more understanding of the particular country culture. Lastly, that is about the standardization of product and service, in here, although the industry is totally different but they still can use same concept that is standardization to their service in both company. Conclusion In conclusion, by analysing eBay business, it makes a lot of understanding about the company working in the global world. Core competency and value chain actually are having some integration, this two components are the key components that the company how to create the greatest competitive advantage and create value to the customer. Thus, it benefit customer, as long as get used to it, the customers show the loyalty to the company too. At the last part of the comparison of the globalized strategy, that is an interesting part that actually the globalized strategy between this two company all are having the fundamental concept that is how to increase the customers and the market share throughout the worldwide.

Crime and Punishment :: essays research papers fc

The Websters Dictionary defines degradation as a fall from higher to lower rank or degree(Websters, 205). Fyodor Dostoyevsky illustrates degradation of morals for several characters in Crime and Punishment. He links the quality of money or lack thereof to the their moral degradation to design complex characters. Dostoyevsky draws a picture of society that is similar to the society depicted in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. The poor become greedy and the rich become greedier. And, good moral decision making can be greatly overpowered by the need or want of more money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The degradation of society and lack of money cause Raskolnikov to kill the greedy pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta. Raskolnikov believes that killing them for their money will be a great conquest for himself and society. After fighting with himself about whether or not he should commit the crime, he overhears someone talking about the same plan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives could be put on the right path, dozens of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  families rescued from poverty, from ruin, from collapse, from decay, from venereal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  wards of the hospitals-- all this with her money! Kill her, take her money, dedicate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  it to serving mankind, to the general welfare. Well --what do you think -- isn’t   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  this petty little crime effaced by thousands of good deeds? (63, part 1) Raskolnikov decides he must go against his good judgment and commit murder for the good of society and himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dostoyevsky also takes the character of Raskolnikov to the opposite extreme. After his mother sends him money, he uses it to help out the Marmeladov family in an act of pure charity. He comes across Marmeladov injured by a carriage and without hesitation offers to help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I know him!† and he pushed all the way forward. â€Å"It’s the clerk, the retired titular   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  councilor, Marmeladov! He lives near here, in Kozel’s house....Somebody get a   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  doctor! I’ll pay. Here!† he fished money out of his pocket and showed it to the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  policeman. (170, part 2) Dostoyevsky is showing how Raskolnikov’s decision making is effected by money or lack thereof.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Svidrigailov is a character who was poor and in jail. He was bought by Marfa Perovna and lived a good life off of her money. Unlike Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov’s moral degradation becomes worse with his increase of wealth. He cheats on his wife, causing her to eventually kill herself, and gets a fifteen year old pregnant. He then admits to Raskolnikov that he was in love with his sister, Dunya, but now just wants to sleep with her. â€Å"Secondly, I fancy you won’t refuse me a little help in a certain project of mine that

Anne Hutchinson and the Consequences of Misreading :: Anne Hutchinson Essays

Anne Hutchinson and the Consequences of Misreading METHODOLOGY Literary historicism, in the context of this discussion, describes the interpretation of literary or historical texts with respect to the cultural and temporal conditions in which they were produced. This means that the text not only catalogues how individuals respond to their particular circumstances, but also chronicles the movements and inclinations of an age as expressed in the rhetorical devices of its literature. Evaluating the trial of Anne Hutchinson within such a theoretical framework means speculating on the genesis of her theological beliefs with recourse to prevailing theories of gender, class, and interpretation. Because texts are self-contained spheres of discourse, nuanced interpretations of them can be undertaken with greater assiduity than in the case of individuals whose private experiences remain largely concealed from the interpreter's knowledge. A historical analysis of Anne Hutchinson herself is hence, in the present discussion, secondary to the analysis of ho w she comes across in textual discourse as a palimpsest of seventeenth century gender controversy. According to David M. Carr, the history of Scriptural interpretation indicates that religious texts are popular candidates for reinterpretation and, as such, are spaces wherein the personal identity of the reader frequently inscribes itself at length: It is the reader and his or her interpretive community who attempts to impose a unified reading on a given text. Such readers may, and probably will, claim that the unity they find is in the text, but this claim is only a mask for the creative process actually going on. Even the most carefully designed text can not be unified; only the reader's attempted taming of it. Therefore, an attempt to use seams and shifts in the biblical text to discover its textual precursors is based on a fundamentally faulty assumption that one might recover a stage of the text that lacked such fractures (Carr 23-4). I do not so much wish to emphasize the deconstructive rhetoric of this approach as the fact that religious texts lend themselves to creative readings that originate in the reader's experiences or historical circumstances. In other words, the history of Scriptural interpretation exemplifies the text's role as a space where emerging ideologies may be refigured and incorporated into an authoritative cultural tradition. One may think of the genesis of such readings in terms of Harold Bloom's notion of literary succession as "an act of creative correction," the difference in this case being that Anne Hutchinson's creative act involves reviewing the Scripture itself and deriving spiritual knowledge from a finite textual canon (Bloom 30).