Past, Present and Future Document Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Past, Present and Future Document - Essay Example It humbled me to realize just how rapidly our society is evolving based on the continually expanding role of technology. Without proper training, I would only be able to start a position with a company from the ground up and learn as I went. However, I wanted more than that. I wanted to be able to offer my services to an employer on the basis of my knowledge. The variety of courses offered by the University of Phoenix allowed me to obtain a extensive knowledge about a variety of topics which are key to survival, and success, in today's society. Prior to the advent of my enrollment in the University of Phoenix, my personal experience with the techniques and skills involved in problem solving, written and oral communication skills, information retrieval and utilization, and collaboration were practically nonexistent. In high school, classes touched upon these subjects, but did not fully delve into the implications of utilizing these skills in a business context. Prior to my enrollment in the University of Phoenix in the Business Science of Management program, I did not have a clear career goal in mind. I knew that I was interested in business applications and certainly wanted to be a member of a management team, but I did not have a specific industry in which to apply the skills I was eager to learn. I needed to experience various aspects of management before I could truly decide in which direction to pursue a business career. II. Growth A. Contribution of University of Phoenix courses The class, "Essentials of College Writing" was extremely helpful to me in taking the basic writing skills I'd used in high school to the next, more professional level. My management classes, as well as "Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making" were essential in realizing the importance of problem solving, as well as collaboration, in practical business applications. Without learning these skills, I would never have been ready to accept a management position with a company based on my lack of prior experience. The class "Skills for Professional Development" offered me an overview of information retrieval and utilization that I have continually referred to throughout my journey while "Communicating in a Virtual Workplace" took that overview and expanded it to include relevant applications in a modern company. I have grown personally as well as in my professional competency. Through such courses as "Cultural Diversity" and "Ethics in Management" I have learned to view the world and its events in a more discerning manner and I found a personal affinity for exploring diversity and celebrating human differences. I also realized I am concerned with the rights of others and how ethics impacts some of our basic human rights. "Foundations of Research" also aided in helping me critically analyze various pieces of data which surround me in the everyday course of my life, such as news articles and political coverage. B. Courses with Greatest Impact The classes "Human Motivation" and "Organization Psychology" were both instrumental in having an impact on the direction of my

Video games are good Essay Example for Free

Video games are good Essay In this 21st generation, video games are one of the most entertaining and one of the most popular ways to enjoy time. Video games are electronic human interactive games, which can be played in different types of consoles in a variety of ways. Have you ever thought about video games being beneficial? Or not just something which helps pass time or something that is a bad addiction? Video games are so popular in today’s world that, the video game business earns billions of dollars on releasing a game or a type of console. In 2010 the play station brand hit 155 million units sales of their ever so famous console, â€Å"the play station 2,† which is also known as the â€Å"PS2. † Video games are not just an entertainment but, it has turned into something much bigger, it has turned into a business and also a living for some people. Many people state that video games are bad for us, like there is a topic posted in debate. org, where people who think video games are not of any good, and surprisingly to my benefits of my opinion 67% of the people who rated the discussion disliked it! Many people also have related violent behavior to violent games, like the tragic massacre that took place on the December 12th 2012, when 20 year old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staffs, in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Many have said that, Violent video games was one of the main motivations for Adam’s violent act, A TV and a radio host, named Glen beck stated that the, â€Å"Sandy Hook Massacre,† was caused by video games. He also states that, â€Å"video games are a gateway drug for our kids and instead of a high, they get numbness, they get an indifferent heart and a mind that cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality. † I strongly disagree with his point; there was violence before video games. I believe the Sandy Hook murderer was a mentally ill and an unstable teenager. If video games was the case, there are a lot of children play violent video games, like the first person shooting game â€Å"Call of Duty Black Ops II,† is a violent war game and the game is really realistic and it is brutal. The game went to gross $ 1 Billion in the first 15 days of availability. With so many people playing violent games there should have more than at least 50 massacres yearly according to my calculation. I mean if a normal human being plays a violent video game for maybe even more than 12 hours a week, it wont motivate or trigger us to go kill someone, you have to have some kind of a mental illness or a violent angst, to go fling around guns in public. Video games are not harmful for someone, and many parents and critics are very judgmental about it, as many kids are not properly guided and supervised while playing video games. Video games, are surely fun but an individual should be self discipline and even the parents should be able to handle and guide their children on how much they play their video games. An article by Health Central also suggests that video games are bad. It tells the readers that it makes people un-social, obese, and also it causes them to have bad grades, aren’t these reasons all about self-disciplinary? Are video games the main cause of this? Video Games are even in fact educational, like the game Civil-war, teaches us and gives us like a first hand experience about the American civil war fought in 1861. It also gives out facts and important dates about the civil war in the loading screen. Maybe even someone who has a hard time making friends, get along with others, while playing video games or them having the same interest in video games. â€Å"A growing body of university research suggests that gaming improves creativity, perception and also decision making† (Hotz par. 1). Experts of health central said that, video games causes people to be obese, anti-social and perform bad in schools, but I believe it is the fault of those gamers who get to addictive to video game and their lack of self-discipline. Video games cannot be blamed for those reasons. If we put it like that anything we do excessively is harm to us. Playing video games is not a bad thing at all; it instead helps us pass time more entertainingly and has benefits to it as well. A research showed that people who played video games made better decisions 25% faster than those who did not play video games. A research by University of York aimed to discover if video games improver hand-eye coordination. † In order to discover this, they compared the brain activity of participants who played video games for at least 4 hours a week with the results from participants who did not play video games. The study showed that the participants who did not play video games relied mostly on a part of the brain that controls hand eye coordination. In order to complete the games, the men who were not accustomed to playing video games had to focus a large amount of mental energy on coordinating what they were seeing on the screen with the physical actions they were making on the controller. Besides hand eye co-ordination, active games like the, â€Å"Nintendo Wii has promoted where you have to do things physically which has proved to improve your physicality and give you enough exercise† (Wittman par. 5). As I mentioned before video games can be a way of living for someone nowadays, an article by Kyle Russell states that, â€Å"over 60 gamers earn more than 100,000 US dollar without counting the sponsorship deals and streaming their practice games. † Even I have experinced how drastically video games improve you reactions and hand eye cordination. When I was in middle school, we had to play indoor games during the winter as it used to be really cold outside to play soccer, which was really sad for me as I love soccer and I kind of didn’t like to play indoor game. We were made to play table-tennis, and I used to hate it as I was really not that good. Around that time was when I started playing video games and as soon as that, after two months or so, I really felt myself improving in table-tennis drastically and without practice. My reactions were really fast, I later then realized how video games had a big role in that. Video games have many benefirts, In an article by Drew Guarini posted in the Huff post says â€Å"a study by a group of Italian researchers proved that video games helps dyslexic children read better. Many may still argue that, even after all these benefits video games are not worth its cost, but if we look at the long run it might save us a lot of money, a anti video game mom, Jo Ashiline also re-considered getting a video game, she said, â€Å"This dilemma led me this Christmas to consider getting a video game system, at least a Wii that we could all play together. The kids pointed out that I spent $82 the last time we all went bowling, and with the Wii, we could bowl at home for free (Ashline, par. 7). Ultimately, it is apparent that video games are a lot more beneficial than many people think, video games have had its prejudices created by all the critics those have very invalid reasoning like how some said, Video games are the reason for mass massacre, or even maybe how video games causes bad-grades and obesity. Those reasons are not because of the video game, but because of lack of supervision and self-disciplinary. I think that Video games are a wonderful way to spend time while having many benefits to everyone. For the old folks who may think that video games are only for the younger one, you may want to re-consider. A study this year conducted by University of Iowa found out that, Playing brain-teasing game for just two hours a week may help slow the degree of mental decay associated with the natural aging process. (Guarini D, par. 10). Work Cited FYI: Video Game Statistics by the Entertainment Software Association. Critical Gaming Project. Word Press, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Are Video Games Bad for Children? The Premier Online Debate Website. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Sandy hook shoting article Sandy Hook Shooter Motivated by Violent Video Games, Norway Massacre (Report). The Hollywood Reporter. N. p. , 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Feraligatr, Caz. Glenn Beck: Video Games Are A Drug That Killed 28 People! Blog by CazFeraligatr IGN. IGN. N. p. , 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. Main Menu. Dependable Video Games. N. p. , 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Video Gaming Increases Physical Activity. The Journal of Extension (JOE). Journal of Extension, n. d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. Russel, Kyle. The Highest-Paid Professional Video Gamers In The World. Web log post. Business Insider. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. Guarini, Drew. 9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You. The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost. com, 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Work Cited Ashline, Jo. Video Games Were Invented by the Devil OC Moms: The Mom Blog : The Orange County Register. OC Moms: The Mom Blog. N. p. , 27 Dec. 2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Synthesis Techniques for Fabrication of Nanofibers

Synthesis Techniques for Fabrication of Nanofibers Chapter # 02 Synthesis Techniques Introduction The different synthesis techniques for fabrication of nanofibers and nanoparticles will be discussed briefly in this chapter. The selected techniques and the experimental procedure for the synthesis of the nanoparticles and composite nanofibers will be discussed in detail. Synthesis Techniques for Nanoparticles Synthesis method being used for the preparation of nanomaterials is one of the most important factors that affect the different properties of the nanomaterials. There are two major classes of synthesis techniques used for preparation of nanoparticles Bottom-up approach Top-down approach Bottom-up Approach Bottom-up approach refers to the synthesis techniques in which nanoparticles are created from atomic scale to nanoscale. There are different techniques which refer to bottom-up approach Co-precipitation technique Sol-gel technique Wet-Chemical Methods In these methods the precursor solutions with appropriate stoichiometric ratios are mixed together and processed through heating resulting in the desired product. Wet chemical methods are advantageous because the particle size and shape is controllable and also the homogeneity in particle size distribution can be achieved by these methods [ref]. these factors play a vital role in enhancing the different properties of the material such as structural properties, thermal properties, electrical properties etc. The given examples of the bottom-up method are categorized as wet-chemical techniques. In co-precipitation method, the precursor solutions are mixed together and are heated at an appropriately selected temperature. The nucleation occurs precipitates are formed. The by by-products are washed away and the resulted powder is further processed for the different desired characterizations. Both the methods are advantageous in their own ways but sol-gel method is more convenient and efficient method for the preparation of nanomaterials at appropriately selected conditions. Also the major drawback of co-precipitation method is the non-uniformity of particles due to the intense agglomeration during the synthesis [ref] Top-down Approach In top-down approach, the material is processed from bulk state to nano regime by a number of methods. Solid state reaction method is one of top-down methods. Solid-state Reaction Method In solid state reaction method the precursors are directly mixed and ground into fine powder. The powder is further processed through hydraulic press and is pelletized for high heat treatment generally said to be sintering. The sintered pellet is characterized to check the desired properties of the sample. The process occurs at the interface of the solids (precursors) at higher temperature. The appropriate processing temperature and reaction time is selected particularly for the precursors used. At higher temperature, the diffusion of reactants starts causing the reaction to begin. For faster reaction, high surface contact area of the solids and small diffusion distance for the reactant is required which is attained by the well-mixing of the precursors [ref]. Although this is a low-cost method but the major drawback of this method is the non-homogeneity in particle distribution and size. Impurity in desired phase is also introduced during the grinding procedure of the precursors. The desired nanostructure is also not easy to achieve by this process [ref 54]. Sol-gel Synthesis Technique for NaxLi1-xCoO2 (x=0.0,0.5,1.0) Sol-gel method is one of the wet-chemical methods for the preparation of the various nanostructures. The variety of nanostructures can be produced by controlling the various parameters of sol-gel process such as the type of precursors, solvent type, processing temperature etc. the major advantage of the sol-gel process over other methods is the phase purity of the product as well as the homogeneity in the particle size and particle size distribution. This process involves two major steps Hydrolysis Condensation Hydrolysis of the selected metal oxide precursor occurs forming the particular hydroxides. The condensation occurs to form a network of linked hydroxides in the form of dense porous gel. In sol-gel process the precursor solutions are mixed together with a suitable gelling agent in appropriately selected ratio. The solution is then mixed homogeneously and heated until the gel is formed. The temperature is further raise to burn the gel which results in powder formation. The powder is heat treated and characterized to study the desired properties. Experimental Procedure Sol-gel method is used for the preparation of composition NaxLi1-xCoO2 (x=0.0,0.5,1.0). the precursors used are: Li2SO4.H2O (99.99% purity), Cu(NO3)2.6H2O (99.99% purity) and NaNO3 (99.99% purity). The selected precursors were added in appropriate stoichiometric amounts into ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol was used as gelling agent. The molar ratio between the total mass of precursors to the volume of the gelling agent was kept 1:14 to achieve the homogeneity. The solution was initially magnetically stirred at room temperature to get the homogeneous solution. The solution was then heated at 100Â ±2Â ºC until the formation of the gel. The temperature of the gel was further increased upto 150Â ±2Â ºC which caused the gel to burn. The resulted powder was hen processed through hydraulic press to prepare pellets of dimensions 13mm x 3mm. the sintering of the pellets was done at 550 Â ºC for two hours to achieve high phase purity. The flow diagram of the experimental procedure is given in figure 2.1 Synthesis Techniques for Nanofibers There are a number of techniques used to fabricate nanofibers, some of them are mentioned Drawing Template Synthesis Phase Separation Self-Assembly Electrospinning Brief detail of all these techniques is given below Drawing Drawing is the techniqus to fabricate long single nanofiber one-by-one from the droplet of polymer. Following steps are involved in this technique a substrate material is applied a millimeter drop of polymer solution a micropipette is moved towards the drop. When micropipette comes in contact with the drop, it is pulled back with a certain rate. which depends upon the nature of the polymer solution. A long nanofiber is drawn from the liquid. The diameter of the resultant nanofiber depends on the type of the polymer, its composition, drawing velocity and speed of evaporation of the solvent. The major drawback of this technique is that only a strong viscoelastic material that can undergo strong deformation during this process when stress is applied while pulling the nanofiber, can be used in this process. So, choice of material is limited in this process. Template Synthesis In template synthesis, a metal oxide membrane having pores of nanoscale diameter is used. The metal oxide membrane is placed over a solidifying solution. Polymer solution is extruded by the membrane by applying high water pressure over it. Polymer solution after passing through the membrane comes in contact with solidifying solution which converts the polymer solution into nanofibers. The diameter of the nanofibers depends on the diameter of the pores of membrane. Fig. 2.2 show the different steps involved in this process. Phase separation In this mechanism, separation of phases is involved due to the physical incompatibility. Following are the steps involved A polymer is mixed with a suitable solvent Gelation occurs in this mixture The final step involves the separation of phases. One of the phases-which is that of the solvent- is extracted leaving behind the other remaining phase. The remaining phase is the nanofibrous structure. Self-Assembly Self-assembly processing involves the smaller molecules as basic building blocks to build-up the nanofibers. Molecules are spontaneously organized into an individual and stable structure with preprogrammed non covalent bonds. Nanofibers of very thin diameter can be fabricated using this process but it requires very complicated procedures. The low productivity is another limitation of this method. Electrospinning This is the selected synthesis technique for the current research work. Electrospinning is the most efficient and simple technique to produce ultra-thin nanofibers. There are different components of the electrospinning setup which include High voltage source Syringe Needle Metal Collector Schematic of electrospinning process High voltage source is used in this procedure. The positive end of the source is connected with the needle while the metal collector is grounded by connecting it with the negative end of the voltage source. This creates the potential difference between the two ends which accelerates the polymer solution from the needle towards the collector in the form of solution jet. Before the solution jet reaches the collector surface, the solvent of the solution is evaporated and is collected as an interconnected web of the fibers. The polymer solution in the needle is held due to its surface tension, which induces a charge on the solution surface. The charge repulsion and contraction among the surface charge and its counter electrode causes a force that is directly opposite to the surface tension. As the intensity of the electric field increases, the hemispherical surface of the solution at the tip of the needle elongates to form a conical shape called Taylor cone. As the electric field is further increased, the repulsive electrostatic force overcomes the surface tension of the solution and jet of the solution is ejected from the Taylor cone. The ejected polymer solution undergoes instability and elongation process which allows the jet to become very long and thin. Meanwhile the solvent is evaporated from the polymer solution, leaving behind a charged polymer fiber. In electrospinning technique there are different processing parameters which affect the diameter of the nanofibers. These parameters include voltage, needle tip to collector distance, feed rate and the concentration. This method is advantageous over other methods due to its versatility, cost effectiveness and also by controlling the different processing parameters; the dimensions of the nanofibers can be controlled. Sol-gel Combined Electrospinning Technique Combining sol-gel method with electrospinning is the most convenient technique to prepare composite nanofibers.the different precursors involved in the sol-gel technique have different hydrolysis rate which leads to the in homogeneity of sol. To avoid such probles, electrospinning is combined with the sol-gel process. The problem is solved by electrospinning procedure due to the confinement of the different sol-gel reaction stages (hydrolysis, condensation and gelation) withing extremetly small space i-e the spinning jet and the final nanofiber [ref]. Experimental Procedure: Sol-gel combined electrospinning technique is used for the preparation of composite nanofibers with NaxLi1-xCoO2 (x=0.0,0.5,1.0). The precursors used are: Li2SO4.H2O (99.99% purity), Cu(NO3)2.6H2O (99.99% purity) and NaNO3 (99.99% purity). The polymers selected for this purpose were Poly vinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP) with a molecular weight of 40,000 g/mol and Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) having a molecular weight of 89,000 g/mol. Polymer Solution Preparation Polymer solution was prepared by firstly selecting the appropriate solvents for the selected polymers. The solvent used for the PVP polymer was Ethanol and that for PVA polymwer was DI water. The molarity of PVP and PVA polymer solution were calibrated as 0.008M and 0.0006M respectively. Both polymers were separately added to their respective solvents and the solutions were magnetically stirred for 1 hour at room temperature. After acquiring the homogeneity, both solutions were mixed together and stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. Precursors Solution Preparation The precursors solution was separately prepared. The precursors were added to their respective solvents separately and magnetically stirred at room temperature. DI water was used as a solvent for Li2SO4.H2O while ethanol was used for Cu(NO3)2.6H2O and NaNO3. 0.2M solutions were prepared for each precursor separately. After acquiring the homogeneous solutions, all three solutions were mixed together and magnetically stirred for 45 min. After achieving a homogeneous precursors solution, the polymer solution was added to it. the final solution was heated and stirred at 100Â ±5Â ºC for 1 hour. The resultant solution was then loaded to the syringe and was further processed through electrospinning. The figure shows the flow diagram of the discussed method

Chicken Anemia Virus Strain CAT-CAV

Chicken Anemia Virus Strain CAT-CAV Figure 1. The alignment of chicken anemia virus strain CAT-CAV (Gyrovirus) and its relatives. Â   Â   Chicken Anemia Virus strain CAT-CAV is the chosen virus and its 19 relatives are shown. Therefore, 20 nucleotide sequences are involved. Figure 2. A picture of the phylogenetic tree with bootstrapping values of chicken anemia virus strain CAT-CAV (Gyrovirus) and its relatives. The molecular phylogenetic tree is evaluated by operating the maximum likelihood method established on the Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano model. In the tree, the horizontal lines represented the measurement of genetic change and the branches showed the evolutionary ancestry altering over time. The longer the branch means the greater genetic change. The scale of 0.002 is showed on the bottom which examined that the amount of genetic change is 0.002. The tree is figured to scale with branch length determined by the number of substitutions for each sites. The positions with gaps and absence of data are removed. There were a total of 2271 positions in the final datasheet. From the tree, it showed that the nearest relative of the Chicken Anemia Virus strain CAT-CAV is the Chicken Anemia Virus strain GD-N-12. Moreover, the Chicken Anemia Virus strain CAT-CAV and the Chicken Anemia Virus strain GD-N-12 have the common ancestor with Chicken Anemia Virus strain GD-C-12. Figure 3. The pairwise distance matrix of chicken anemia virus strain CAT-CAV (Gyrovirus) and its relatives. P distance is used to calculate the p-distance which compare two aligned sequences at a time and build a matrix of all possible sequence pairs. During each comparison the number of changes such as the base substitutions and the deletion or insertion events are counted and showed as a proportion of the overall sequence length. The final estimates of the difference between all possible pairs of sequences are carried out. From the table of pairwise distance matrix, the nearest relative of the Chicken anemia virus strain CAT-CAV is Chicken anemia virus strain GD-C-12 and the p-distance between them is 0.008. b) Length of alignment Number of variable sites Number of singleton sites 2325 179 105 Percentage: 179/2325x 100% =7.7% Percentage: 105/2325 x100% = 4.5% Table 1. The statistics for the length of the alignment, the number of variable and the singleton sites in it. There are 2325 nucleotides in the alignment. The variable sites involve a minimum two classes of nucleotides or amino acids and a singleton site contains minimum two types of nucleotides or amino acids with maximum one taking place several times. MEGA recognize a singleton site if minimum three sequences with explicit nucleotides or amino acids. The percentage of the number of variables and the singleton sites were calculated as 7.7% and 4.5% respectively. c) The name of the best substitution model is Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano model (HKY+G). To find the best DNA model, the models with the lowest Bayesian Information Criterion scores define the best substitution motif. The Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano model showed the BIC score of 10009.9 which is the smallest one. Moreover, non-uniformity of evolutionary rates between sites are created by adopting a distinct Gamma distribution (+G) along with 5 rate type. The G value is 0.05 in this model. The estimated value of transition or transversion bias (R) is 1.42 which is according to nucleotide frequencies and base substitutions rate for each nucleotide pairs. d) The chosen Chicken Anemia Virus was characterized under the genus Gyrovirus in the family of Circoviridae. Gyrovirus is classified by small non-enveloped DNA viruses with negative sense single-stranded circular DNA of about 2298 to 2319 nucleotides in length with three partly overlapping open reading frames which coding for the VP1, VP2, and VP3 proteins (Natesan, S, 2006). CAV is a cost-effective essential pathogen in the chicken industry triggering severe anaemia and immunosuppression in young chicken that have inadequate defensive motherly antibodies. The affected chicken contaminated with infectious bursal disease virus would be exposed to an extensive range of viral and bacterial pathogens because of the immunosuppression. Hence, this infection is determined to be economically important as the clinical disease correlated with vertical transmission and because of its capability for causing immune dysfunction on combination with other pathogens (P. Biagini, 2011). In this study, a CAV variant was identified by adopting PCR with CAV-based primers in faecal samples of stray cats. The genome of CAV variant was sequenced and the outcomes showed that it could be a recombinant viral strain from parental CAV strains. Recombination is a crucial evolutionary system that lead to genetic diversification. CAV variant is examined that it is originated from the CAV-infected chickens. The pathogenesis of this new virus still have to be explained. This study emphasizes the significance of CAV examination and it demonstrates the evidence inducing the feasibility of CAV homologous recombination in cat. Chicken Anemia Virus involve many clinical significance, Firstly, CAV proteins can be showed in plants as an substitute for recombinant protein construction in animal cells. Furthermore, the impact of VP3 expression was examined to figure out possible relationship in plants programmed cell death. Present expression levels of VP1 is still below standard to be achieved as an oral vaccine, however it can maximizing expression level in plant cells to access recombinant VP1 protein eligible to generate neutralizing antibodies, most probable by expression with VP2, serve as a low cost approach into new, economical vaccines against CAV (Goldbach, R, 2007). VP2 is established to be a powerful target for debilitation through directed-site mutagenesis and is examine debilitation of viral consequences through adjustment of VP2. This is completely different to the studies which investigating virus establishment mutated in VP3 and also were not replication capable. It is apparent that VP2 has several functions and that directed mutagenesis which sustain infectivity would retain functions essential to replication while adapting functions correlated with virulence (Browning, G.F, 2007). e) Bootstrapping value represents how well this node is supported in the model which is used to make a phylogenetic tree. Bootstrapping is a procedure where the random subset of data is taken and rerun the analysis of the phylogenetic tree. The value showed the percentage of bootstrap replicates in which the node showed up. From the tree, the optimum tree showed the sum of branch = 0.10012698. The replicate trees percentage in which the joining of taxon in the bootstrap test with 500 replicates are indicated beside the branches. From the tree, the bootstrapping value is less than 50, the branches matching to division reproduced in less than 50% replicates are collapsed. It showed the node is not well supported and it could not show up in all bootstrap replicates. References: Browning, G.F. et al, 2007, Attenuation of chicken anemia virus by site-directed mutagenesis of VP2, Journal of General Virology, v. 88, p. 2168-2175. Goldbach, R. et al, 2007. Assessing the expression of chicken anemia virus proteins in plants, Virus Research, v: 129, p. 80-86. Natesan, S. et al, 2006. Biological and molecular characterization of chicken anaemia virus isolates of Indian origin. Virus Res. 118, 78-86 P. Biagini, M. et al, 2011. Eds., Virus Taxonomy: Ninth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Elsevier Academic press, New York, NY, USA.

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Our tax dollars at work - a Border Patrol Agent at Burger King! Perhaps it’s a bit radical, perhaps a bit naà ¯ve, but I believe that the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol are institutions which are no longer practical, useful, or necessary in this country. First of all, what are they really accomplishing? The Border Patrol is specifically designed to keep "illegal" or "undocumented aliens" from coming into the US. Is it working? Hardly. Oh sure, they catch a few Mexicans running the desert now and then, but the numbers that are apprehended don’t come close to the numbers of those that make it through. And what about immigrants from other countries? Are our resources able to track those that fly in or arrive by boat? According to the Arizona Republic article "Dying to Work," "The INS strategy of blockading popular border routes with high-tech gizmos and nearly 10,000 agents has yet to measurably cut the flow of illegal immigrants." In fact, it is estimated that there could be as many as 8 million illegal immigrants in the US today. Would it be so bad to just let them in? Over 1100 Mexican nationals have died since 1997 just trying to get to El Norte. Is keeping them out really worth all the expense of the Anti-Immigration agencies and the death toll involved? I would like to examine some of the issues believed to be a problem in this situation†¦ Immigrants are taking American jobs. While in the case of educated immigrants taking skilled jobs this may be true, the numbers in this situation are very small. In fact, one problem that faces many immigrants coming to this country for work is that skills or certifications that they may have had in their home country won’t transfer to professional jobs here, or the language barrier prevents them from performing professional jobs. A good example of this is with Seini from Tonga. In her home country she was a nurse, but in the US could only be a nurse’s aide. Her husband Simi went from being a teacher in Tonga to a warehouse worker. Of more concern to Americans seems to be the throngs of unskilled laborers coming from "Third World" countries. These immigrants come to the US primarily to seek employment, true, but in general the jobs they take are those that are low paying and undesirable to Americans. In speaking with the owner of Hoe-Down Landscaping Services, I was told that in 8 years of business he had not had a single white American apply for a job.

How the change of Hydrochloric Acid concentration affects the rate of reaction with Marble Chips :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

How the change of Hydrochloric Acid concentration affects the rate of reaction with Marble Chips Aim To find if changing the concentration of an acid will increase or decrease the rate of the reaction when marble is dissolved in hydrochloric acid. With the equation CaCO3 + 2HCl CaCl2 +H2O + CO2. The rate of the reaction affects how quickly the CO2 is produced. Background Knowledge ==================== The rate of reaction depends on how often and how hard the reacting particles collide with each other. Particles have to collide in order to react, and the have to collide hard enough as well. This is called the collision theory. When the temperature is increased the particles all move quicker. If they are moving quicker then they are going to have more collisions. Higher temperature also increases the energy of the collisions, because it makes all the particles move faster. Increasing the temperature only causes faster collisions. Reactions only happen if the particles collide with enough energy. At a higher temperature there will be more particles colliding with enough energy to make the reaction happen. This initial energy is known as the activation energy, and it is needed to break the initial bonds. If one of the reactants is a solid then breaking it up into smaller pieces will increase its surface area. This means the particles around it in the solution will have more area to work on so there will be more useful collisions. If the solution is made more concentrated it means that there are more particles of reactant moving about between the water molecules which makes collisions between the important particles more likely. Because of this I expect the reaction rate to be quicker when the concentration of the acid is higher. The reaction should however, end on the same amount of gas given off. Rate is measured by the disappearance of reactants and/or the appearance of a product. Prediction When the concentration of acid increases the rate of reaction will increase. I will be able to see the rate of reaction is increasing as the gas is produced more quickly. Equipment ========= Clamp Stand Hydrochloric Acid Medium Marble Chips Measuring Cylinder (100ml) x 2 (clearly mark each for water or acid) 250 ml conical flask Balance Gas Syringe Safety Equipment i.e. Lab coat, goggles Boiling Tubes Stopclock Delivery Tube Thermometer Method ====== * NB: before each experiment, ensure that the air temperature is consistent. * Using the measuring cylinder specific for the acid, measure out the specified amount of hydrochloric acid. Then, measure out the specified amount of water in the other measuring cylinder. Pour both of these liquids into a boiling tube.

Child Play

Play and early childhood education is not just a way to fill time for children who are too young to go to school. Some people think of play as the â€Å"work† of children (Berger, 2000). Through play and early childhood education, children build the foundation for later learning as they solve problems and increase their understanding of themselves, other people, and the world around them. Being in a stimulating environment, such as an early childhood center, provides a child with the much needed support to develop skills for dealing with emotions, expanding language and vocabulary, and an array of other skills.Putting children in environments where they are not stimulated can be harmful to their development during the play years. For young children, â€Å"play† includes a variety of activities that are fun and interesting. These activities include quiet play, creative play, active play, dramatic play, games, and manipulative play. Play may be structured or unstructured. Structured play has rules or a specific way of doing things. Games such as active games, card games, and board games are examples of structured play. Unstructured play includes activities such as dress-up play, doll play, building blocks, running and climbing, and riding tricycles.These activities are sociodramatic and rough-and-tumble play (Berger, 2000). A child may play alone or engage in social play by including other children or adults. Social play has a critical role in helping children learn to interact with others. Some research has identified stages of social play. Children pass through these stages as they grow, becoming capable of more interactive play as they develop. According to Berger, Onlooker play occurs when a child seems to be playing alone while watching others’ play activities.Solitary play occurs when a child plays alone or near another child with no interaction between them. Berger states that Parallel play refers to children’s play when they ar e near each other and using similar materials but with little or no social interaction. Associative play is similar to parallel play but involves some social interaction. Cooperative play includes common goals and collaboration, and may involve complex negotiation, collaborative decision making, and rule setting (Berger, 2000). While we were at the VCU child development center, I witnessed children playing outdoors.I saw some cooperative play in games such as hide-n-seek and duck-duck-goose, where the children played the games by rules that were taught to them. Most of the play witnessed was unstructured play in which the children decided what the wanted to do and how they wanted to do it. One little boy sat in solitary play building mini castles out of sand, while another large group of children just ran in circles around the playground screaming. Many kids just sat back and watched as others played games, while they sat in the sand box occasionally scooping sand which demonstrated onlooker play.Lastly, a group of children sat in a corner observing flowers or bushes having conversation about them, which demonstrated associative play Children’s play sometimes has less to do with other people than with finding out about the world. Young children naturally explore their environments in playful ways that help them understand the physical environment and their own bodies. This type of play is sometimes called sensorimotor play. As they vary their actions and interact with toys and other objects, children discover what their own muscles can do, and they gain practice of the movements that they need for everyday life.They also have affordances to learn about gravity and other principles of the physical world. What children learn through play is also very much affected by the quality of the early education care program that they are in. When searching for child care, every parent wants to leave their child knowing that they are handled by a warm, nurturing adu lt, who has knowledge of how children grow and develop. The adult should also have an understanding of the needs and interests of individual children because this is essential for a child’s growth.Children should be valued for themselves and not for what they do or how they look. Good caregivers tend to view children positively and help them learn what to do rather than focusing on what not to do. They help children learn to take responsibility for their own actions and eventually develop self-discipline. Rules should be reasonable, consistent, and well explained. Children are treated with respect. When caregivers view themselves positively and feel good about their work, they model a good self-image for the children. It is essential for caregivers and teachers to help parents feel a part of the program.The parents and school teachers should share information in order to understand more fully a child's needs and provide the best coordinated twenty-four-hour schedules for the child. Parents can share important family values, goals for their child, methods of discipline, and changes in the child's home environment while teachers can share the program goals, special activities for the child, weekly plans, and how they believe children learn (Azria-Evans). Teachers also can utilize appropriate community resources for the school and help parents find needed resources. Good relationships among staff members are important.If the children see adults working together cooperatively and solving problems successfully, they will learn to use some of these skills. All staff members must maintain professional ethics, which includes protecting the privacy of the children and families in their program. Centers also are required to go through a process to make sure they are meeting state standards. Licensing of child-care centers and family child-care homes gives parents some protection. States vary in their requirements for the facilities and the staff, criminal clearan ce of caregivers, health and safely regulations, and child-adult ratios (Azria-Evans).The adult-to-child ratio affects the individual attention given to each child and the group size affects the interactions of children. Ages of children are followed by adult-to-child ratio and group size (Azria-Evans). Multi-age grouping is permissible and often encouraged. The adult-to-child ratio and group size requirements are based on the age of the majority of children, but when infants are included, ratios and group size for the infants must be maintained. Child care center may also choose to attain an additional certification through The National Association for Education of Young Children (Azria-Evans).By getting this certification a child care center shows that they have gone above and beyond state standards to provide the best care and learning environment for children. Along with that the center should be a good fit for the parent and child (Azria-Evans). It is essential that parents vis it a center and talk with the director, teachers, and children before enrolling their child there. The child should also visit the program before being enrolled. The school should welcome unannounced visits. The parents must check for safety in the total environment.Is the equipment appropriate and in good condition? Are gates latched so children cannot get out? Are activities well supervised? There should be a variety of developmentally and culturally appropriate activities as well as equipment and materials so that each child can develop in all areas such as: physical, social, intellectual, emotional, and creative. Physical development includes large and small motor skills and health issues. Particular attention should be paid to routines such as eating, toileting, and resting. Intellectual development involves the cquisition of language skills as well as general knowledge about one's â€Å"world† and how to function in daily tasks. Children need opportunities to play and w ork with other children as well as to play and work alone. Activities should be balanced between active and quiet play both indoors and outdoors. Some activities should be teacher-directed while others should be selected by the child. The transition times between activities should be relaxed and provide pleasant learning experiences. Learning centers should reflect children's families, cultures, and interests.Learning centers should include table-top activities with manipulative materials, activities with housekeeping props, dramatic play, books and quiet corner, music and movement, art and creative activities, cooking and science areas, and a block area. Look for outdoor climbing equipment, space to run, wheel toys, sensory motor activities such as obstacle courses, balls, beanbags, and hoops. Children need carpentry, gardening, and ample sand, water, and mud play. There should be nature walks and trips away from the center.At the VCU child development center the children had built a replica of New York City, with demonstrated a table-top activity. Outdoors the play area had two wooden playhouses, and the entire play area had little garden throughout. There was also a sand pit in the middle of the playground. The arrangements families make for their children can vary dramatically, including care by relatives; center-based care, including preschool early education programs; family child care provided in the caregiver’s home; and care provided in the child’s home by nannies or babysitters.How a family chooses this care is influenced by family values, affordability, and availability. For many families, high-quality child care is not affordable, which results in compromises. The benefits of high quality care are that when care is consistent, developmentally sound, and emotionally supportive, there is a positive effect on the child and the family. The children that are in a poor quality environment are less likely to be prepared for school demands an d more likely to have some development problems, which sometimes can not be fixed.These include reading and language problems, because the children have not been in a nurturing environment to develop these skills. These students are more likely to fall behind in school. All in all, the play years are essential to a child’s development. The type of play that they do and the child care center that they attend is very important in determining how a child develops. A lot of thought should go into choosing a child care center, because we all want our children to get the proper amount of play for their age group to make sure the develop the skills needed later on in life.