BoD Lipid Peroxidation Report

BoD Lipid Peroxidation Report A Study of lipid peroxidation The degradative process of lipid peroxidation in the liver and the potential of antioxidants to prevent cell damage Lipid peroxidation of rat homogenate using the Fenton reaction to generate free radicals (-OH and -O2) to initiate the self-propagating peroxidation of cell membrane fatty acids. Two separate antioxidants were used (aTocopherol and Quercetin) to study the potential of antioxidants in the prevention of cell damaged. Data of two separate groups (A+B) was provided along with data enabling the construction of a calibration curve to measure local MDA concentrations as an indication of peroxidation damage. The Fenton reaction produced the highest concentration of MDA in both data sets which is expected, allowing for a comparison of free radical damage in the presence of antioxidants. In the presence of aTocopherol, there was an MDA (nM/ml) concentration reduction from 45nM/ml to 24nM/ml evidencing a peroxidation inhibition via the binding of free radicals to the antioxidant though some damage was still caused as MDA concentration was higher than the control (7nM/ml). Quercetin showed a com plete reduction in local MDA concentration from 68nM/ml to 7nM/ml, which is equal to that of the control; evidencing a complete lipid peroxidation via the binding of all free radicals produced and thus prevents cell damage. Lipid peroxidation is the multistep process of oxidative degeneration of lipids. The process involved polyunsaturated fatty acids and the free radicals -OH (hydroxide) and -O2 (superoxide), which are unstable forms of oxygen to the incomplete valence ring on their outer shell resulting in an unpaired electron (free electrons). Due to the naturally unstable state of a single unpaired electron, free electrons are highly reactive (free radicals) requiring an electron to become stable; making the unpaired hydrogen atoms on the fatty acid tails suitable for binding (Mylonas C, 1999). The three step process (initiation, propagation and termination) of lipid degenerative produces highly reactive electrophilic aldehydes, which react with CH2 group forming CH (carbon centred) radicals. CH radical then reacts with O2 radicals producing peroxyl radicals (Yngo J. Garciaa, 2005). This propagation reaction then reacts with adjacent CH2 groups resulting in the formation of lipid hydroperoxide. Lipids are essential components of cell membranes (i.e. phospholipids and glycolipids) and can be used in the identification of damage as a result of the pathogenesis of disease via reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentration. ROS-dependent tissue damage can be identified by increased local MDA (malonedialdehyde) and 4-HNE (4-hydroxynonenal) (Kwiecien S, 2014). MDA is the product of lipid peroxides metabolisation, and can be indicative of oxidative stress related disease i.e. atherosclerosis, and induced gastric injury (due to gastric mucosa damage). Due to free radicals are reactive its uncommon that they a found in that state as they tend to bond and react very quickly in order to fill their valence shell and become stable. The Fenton Reaction (Fe2+ and H2O2) issued to generate free radicals (particularly -OH) and initiates lipid peroxidation within the liver. During the breakdown of lipids, malonedialdehyde (the final product of lipid breakdown) reacts with thiobarbituric acid resulting in a testable pink adduct. The Fenton reaction is as follows: Fe+2 + H2O2 > OH (hydroxyl ion) (Fenton Reaction) OH + lipid > malonedialdehyde Malonedialdehyde + thiobarbituric acid > thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (pink) Set up a series of test tubes a labelled and the volumes laid out in Table 1 were pipetted into the corresponding tubes. Remember to add the rat homogenate last due to this starting the reaction. The tubes were then incubated for 30 minutes at 37 degrees Celsius. At this point, the standard curve of MDA was set up as seen in Table 2 and tested at a wavelength of 532nm. After which thiobarbituric acid was added to the original test tube set and incubated for a further 15 minutes in after the adduct fluid was removed and tested at 532nm. Test Tube Test Buffer Tris HCL (00.2M) pH 7.2 FeCl2 H2O2 Catalase Quercetin OR aTocopherol Homogenate Total/ml 1 Control 1.6ml 0.9ml 2.5 2 Fe2+ 1.1ml 0.5ml 0.9ml 2.5 3 Fe2+/H2o2 0.6ml 0.5ml 0.5ml 0.9ml 2.5 4 Catalase/Fe2+/H2o2 0.5ml 0.5ml 0.5ml 0.1ml 0.9ml 2.5 5 aTocopherol or Quercetin /Fe2+/H2o2 0.5ml 0.5ml 0.5ml 0.1 0.9ml 2.5 Table 1: test tube volumes for each of the five test tubes in the lipid peroxidation assay, empty spaces indicated that the solution isnt added to that tube. Each was incubated for 30 minutes together under the same conditions. Test Tube Final MDA concentration (mM) Dilutions Volume of MDA stock (ml) Buffer (ml) Total Volume (ml) 1 0.1 Dilute 1mM MDA 1:10 0.3 2.7 3 2 0.05 Dilute 0.1mM MDA 1:2 (tube 1 extract) 1.0 1.0 3 3 0.01 Dilute 0.05 mM MDA 1:5 (tube 2 extract) 0.4 1.6 3 Table 2: The dilutions volumes of MDA and the final concentration required, these volumes were used to construct a calibration curve for comparison of the test samples in table 1. NOTE: all data using in the results was provided, this was due to an issue in the lab were where independent data was unintentionally taken by another individual and thus leaving no results for comparison against overall class data. MDA Concentration (nMoles/ml) Optical Density (OD) at 532nM 0 0 12.5 0.07 25 0.145 50 0.26 100 0.55 Table 3: MDA concentration (nMoles/ml), these values were used to construct the calibration curve Figure 1. MDA concentrations were provided due to an issue with both groups overall dilution series. The data from figure 1 was plotted using table 3. The R2 value (0.9986) indicates a strong linear value between the MDA concentrations (nM/ml) and the optical density. Figure 1: A calibration curve using the data from Table 3. The data set shows a strong linear relationship between optical density and known MDA concentration indicating good lab practice. Tube Mean -/+ Stdev SEM 1 Control 0.068 0.077 0.063 0.006 0.073 0.045 0.074 0.058 -/+ 0.025 0.010 2 Fe2+ 0.082 0.081 0.057 0.03 0.003 0.050 0.075 0.054 -/+ 0.029 0.011 3 Fe2+/H2o2 0.174 0.247 0.093 0.577 0.058 0.319 0.251 0.246 -/+ 0.173 0.065 4 Catalase/Fe2+/H2o2 0.355 0.169 0.246 0.063 0.056 0.143 0.134 0.167 -/+ 0.105 0.040 5 aTocopherol/Fe2+/H2o2 0.074 0.173 0.074 0.127 0.259 0.092 0.110 0.130 -/+ 0.666 0.025 Table 4: class data group A using aTocopherol, the values were done in repeat to gain a mean value and allows for Stdev calculation and thus SEM calculation, allowing for later comparison. The data set in Table 4 was provided and used the antioxidant aTocopherol. Seven repeats of each test were conducted to allow for a mean to be gained and thus a Stdev and then a standard error mean. The error mean allows for comparisons between different data sets as it indicates how accurate the experiment was rather than how varied (Stdev). The data was plotted in figure 2 and 3 with the variation of containing either the Stdev (figure 2) or the SEM (figure 3). Figure 2 allows for variation comparison while figure 3 allows for accuracy comparison between the two data sets (group A and Group B). Figure 2: the mean OD values of aTocopherol, the error bars show the variation within the data set. Test tube 2 was the most optically dense of the data set while test tube 2 was the least, though the error bar would suggest some variation in this value considering test tube 1 (control) was more optically dense. Figure 2 shows the optical density of aTocopherol. Test tube 1 contained only buffer and showed little variation between repeats resulting in a small Stdev, while test tube 4 has a large Stdev value and thus would need repeating in order to gain an accurate representation of the data. Test tube 3 was the most optically dense with a value 0.246 (at 532nm), while the OD went down between test tubes 4-5 (0.167 and 0.130). This is visually shown in in figure 3, where the data was plotted in a bar graph and SEM was used to show the accuracy of the experiment. The deviation of the error bars shows high accuracy in some results i.e. test tube 1-2-3. However, the deviation in test tubes 4-5 was high compared to other samples. Figure 3: the graph shows the class data of group A. The mean OD values of aTocopherol were plotted including the SEM to show how accurate the experiment was between data sets. Test tube 3 showed to be the most optically dense of the set while test tube 2 showed to be the least.   Ã‚   Tube Mean -/+ Stdev MDA concentration (nM/ml) 1 Control 0.058 -/+ 0.025 7 2 Fe2+ 0.054 -/+ 0.029 7 3 Fe2+/H2o2 0.246 -/+ 0.173 45 4 Catalase/Fe2+/H2o2 0.167 -/+ 0.105 28 5 aTocopherol/Fe2+/H2o2 0.130 -/+ 0.666 24 Table 5: a table showing the MDA concentrations of Group A class data set of each test tube using the calibration curve in Figure 1. Table 5 shows the MDA concentration of group A using aTocopherol, the control had the sample concentration of MDA as the Fenton reagent (7nm/ml); while test tube three which contained the Fenton reagent and H2O2 resulted in the highest MDA concentration of (45nM/ml). Adding the antioxidant resulted in a reduced MDA concentration of 24nM/ml. The visualisation of Table 5 data is seen in Figure 4 where MDA concentration is plotted against each test tube value (gained from the calibration curve) Figure 4: The graph shows the MDA concentration (nM/ml) of the groups A class data set, as only one set of samples was done no comparison can be made between the same antioxidant via Stdev. Test tube 3 showed to contain the highest concentration of MDA (45nM) while test tube 2 also showed to contain the lowest concentration of MDA (7nM). Tube Mean -/+ Stdev SEM 1 Control 0.041 0.06 0.08 0.057 0.057 0.02 0.297 0.087 -/+ 0.094 0.036 2 Fe2+ 0.037 0.039 0.06 0.06 0.053 0.074 0.047 0.053 -/+ 0.013 0.005 3 Fe2+/H2o2 0.28 0.704 0.242 0.365 0.247 0.385 0.528 0.393 -/+ 0.170 0.064 4 Catalase/Fe2+/H2o2 0.14 0.497 0.087 0.305 0.351 0.099 0.357 0.263 -/+ 0.156 0.059 5 Quercetin/Fe2+/H2o2 0.046 0.035 0.035 0.073 0.073 0.031 0.102 0.056 -/+ 0.027 0.010 Table 6: The table shows the class data set of group B using Quercetin as an antioxidant, multiple repeats were undertaken to allow for an average to be gained and Stdev and SEM to be calculated. The control only contained buffer solution. Figure 5: The graph shows the mean OD of the group B class data set, using quercetin as an antioxidant. Stdev values were used as error bars to visualise the variation between the dataset. Test tube 3 showed to be the most optically dense while test tube 2 showed to be the least though showed high Stdev and thus a lot of variation between the individual repeats. Figure 6: The graph shows the mean OD of the group B class data set, using quercetin as an antioxidant. SEM values were used as error bars to visualise the variation between the dataset. Test tube 3 showed to be the most optically dense while test tube 2 showed to be the least though showed high SEM and thus low accuracy between the individual repeats. Tube Mean -/+ Stdev MDA concentration (nM/ml) 1 Control 0.087 -/+ 0.094 15 2 Fe2+ 0.053 -/+ 0.013 7 3 Fe2+/H2o2 0.393 -/+ 0.170 68 4 Catalase/Fe2+/H2o2 0.263 -/+ 0.156 46 5 Quercetin/Fe2+/H2o2 0.056 -/+ 0.027 7 Table 7: a table showing the MDA concentrations (nM/ml) of Group b class data set of each test tube using the calibration curve in Figure 1. Table 7 shows the MDA concentration of group B using quercetin, the control had the sample concentration of MDA as the Fenton reagent (15nm/ml); while test tube three which contained the Fenton reagent and H2O2 resulted in the highest MDA concentration of (68nM/ml). Adding the antioxidant resulted in a reduced MDA concentration of 7nM/ml. The visualisation of Table 7 data is seen in Figure 7 where MDA concentration is plotted against each test tube value (gained from the calibration curve) Figure 7: The graph shows the MDA concentration (nM/ml) of the groups B class data set, as only one set of samples was done no comparison can be made between the same antioxidant via Stdev. Test tube 3 showed to contain the highest concentration of MDA (68nM) while test tube 2+5 also showed to contain the lowest concentration of MDA (7nM). NOTE: Due to individual data being lost only a comparison between the two data class data set can be made The enzymatic destruction (via catalase, superoxide dismutase) of membrane lipids is a crucial step in the pathogenesis of multiple disease states within adult (Mylonas C, 1999), the reactive oxygen species (hydrogen peroxide) produced during lipid peroxidation readily attacks the polyunsaturated fatty acids within the phospholipid bilayer causing the commencement of a self-propagating chain reaction within the membrane due to CH radicals reacting with O2 radicals producing peroxyl radicals (AW, 1998). Due to the self-propagating nature of the reaction series small lipid peroxidation can cause serious tissue damage resulting in atherosclerosis, asthma or kidney disease. Antioxidant activity quenches molecular oxygen (Yamauchi, 2010), and helps in the stabilisation of lipid-peroxyl free radicals via inhibition. Quercetin, a plant-derived aglycone flavonoid (Zhang M, 2011) was compared to aTocopherol (vitamin E) in the lipid peroxidation of rat liver homogenate. The liver metabolises materials and thus results in the production of free radicals when the oxidative balance is lost it leads to oxidative stress and thus having antioxidants to restore homoeostasis is required. Antioxidants have a high affinity for free radicals (Muriel, 2015) due to their ability to donate electrons. The antioxidant a-Tocopherol reduces oxidation under strong oxidative conditions, reducing the number of free radicals to be free at the end of lipid peroxidation. The data in figure 2 shows the average OD including Stdev bars, the variation in tubes 4-5 indicates poor experimental practice resulting in poor repeats within the data set and thus increasing variation within the data set. It suggests high oxidative conditions in tube 3 producing high concentrations of MDA (nM/ml) as seen in figure 4. Figure 4 also evidences that in the presence of a-Tocopherol lipid peroxidation is reduced as a reduction of MDA (the final product of lipid peroxidation and would result in pink adduct) is being produced suggest an interruption in the self-probating cycle of the fatty acids within the liver homogenate. This reduction is evidence as MDA concentration goes from a peak of 45nM/ml to an MDA reduction 24nM/ml in the presence of a-Tocopherol. When comparing the two sets of Data SEM and SD is used in order to give a relative comparison between the two different groups due to them being undertaken under different conditions. Comparing figure 2 and figure 5 (which used SD) the variation in data set A was much more significant as the higher SD values indicating a large variation within the repeats evidencing low reliability. Figure 5s SD bars a smaller then figure 2 indicating less variation and an increased reliability of the obtain results. Though both sets of data (A-B) show that the highest OD was found to be within tube 3 indicating that Fe2+ and H2O2 produce the highest concentration of MDA (nM/ml). SEM of the two data sets show that the accuracy of the two groups are similar and both show a decline in MDA concentration in the presence of the antioxidant, evidencing a reduction in lipid peroxidation (MDA is the product of lipid peroxides metabolisation which results in the pink adduct) and free radical production in the presence of the chosen antioxidants. Using the calibration curve to gain the MDA concentration of each antioxidant shows that quercetin resulted in a total reduction of free radicals as the MDA concentration was reduced to that of the control (buffer solution). Comparing this to a-Tocopherol there was a reduction of nearly half free radical concentration. These results indicate that the levels of oxidative stress are reduced in the presence of antioxidants. Improvements that can be made include, not losing the individual samples which would have been used for comparison, increasing the amount of antioxidants used to show and overall reduction in free radicals in different antioxidants. Also individual human error resulted in data sets begin provided requiring more lab expertise would reduce this and thus reduce was and cost of the experiment. Antioxidants reduce the concentration of MDA (nM/ml) present in the test tube via the inhibition of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation of the cell membrane lipids. Quercetin completely reduced local MDA concentration of the rat homogenate indication no lipid peroxidation was occurring due to the binding of antioxidant to the local free radicals (produced via the Fenton reaction) due to their naturally high affinity. There was also a noticeable reduction of MDA concentration in the presence of aTocopherol though this was only an estimated 50% reduction. It can be seen that antioxidants offer a level of cell lipid protection against free radicals and a reduction in oxidative stress, resulting in less overall tissue damage. References Antonio Ayala, M. F. (2014). Lipid Peroxidation: Production, Metabolism, and Signaling Mechanisms of Malondialdehyde and 4-Hydroxy-2-Nonenal. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2014(2014), 31. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/360438 AW, G. (1998). Lipid hydroperoxide generation, turnover, and effector action in biological systems. The Journal of Lipid Research, 39(8), 1529-1542. Esterbauer H, G. J. (1992). The role of lipid peroxidation and antioxidants in oxidative modification of LDL. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 13(4), 341-390. Justino GC, S. M. (2004). Plasma quercetin metabolites: structure-antioxidant activity relationships. Archives of Biochemistry and BIophysics `, 432(1), 109-121. doi:10.1016/j.abb.2004.09.007 Kwiecien S, J. K. (2014). Lipid peroxidation, reactive oxygen species and antioxidative factors in the pathogenesis of gastric mucosal lesions and mechanism of protection against oxidative stress induced gastric injury. Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 65(5), 613-622. Muriel, S. C.-G. (2015). Antioxidants in liver health. The World Journal of Gastrointestinal Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 6(3), 59-72. doi:10.4292/wjgpt.v6.i3.59 Mylonas C, K. D. (1999). Lipid peroxidation and tissue damage. In Vivo, 13(3), 295-309. Yamauchi, R. (2010). Functions of Antioxidant Vitamins against Lipid Peroxidation. (F. o. Science, Ed.) Foods Food Ingredients Japan, 215(1), 501-1193. Yngo J. Garciaa, A. J.-M. (2005). Lipid peroxidation measurement by thiobarbituric acid assay in rat cerebellar slices. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 144(1), 127-135. Zhang M, S. S. (2011). Antioxidant properties of quercetin. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 701, 283-289. doi:doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-7756-4_38.

Potential Of Renewable Energy Sources In Pakistan Environmental Sciences Essay

Potential Of Renewable Energy Sources In Pakistan Environmental Sciences Essay Energy is an essential ingredient of socio economic development and growth. Pakistan, despite of enormous potential of indigenous energy resources, is dependent on external resources for meeting their energy demand. Moreover, Pakistan is among those developing countries with low energy consumption. Only 55% and 20% Pakistans population has access to electricity and natural gas respectively. About 68% Population is living in rural areas and most of them have no access to electricity. At present, the people are facing severe electricity load shedding problems due to shortage of power supply. The country is facing huge economic losses due to the energy crises from the previous two years. Oil (30%) and gas (48.5%) are the major part of the current energy supply. The current oil reservoirs of the country are very low, which fulfill 15% of the oil demand while remaining 85% oil is imported from outside world. The indigenous recoverable reservoirs of oil and gas will exhaust in 13 and 21 y ears respectively. Pakistan has wide spectrum of high potential renewable energy sources, conventional and as well non-conventional, which have not been adequately explored, exploited and developed. The development of the renewable energy sources can play an important role to achieve stable energy supply. This paper discussed potential of different renewable energy resources, which are technically viable in Pakistan. The country can be benefited by harnessing these options of energy generation as substitute energy in areas where sources exist and consequently contributing in poverty alleviation and cleaner environment in Pakistan Key Words: Pakistan, renewable energy, hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, biogas, geothermal, emergy INTRODUCTION Energy is an essential ingredient of socio-economic development and economic growth. Without sufficient energy in useable and at affordable prices, there is a little prospects of developments of improving the economy of a country and the living conditions of people. It is well known fact that technological and industrial advancement is heavily dependent on the readily available energy especially in the form of fossil fuel. The larger proportion of the today energy supplies is still made of fossil fuels. The world is running on 60 % non renewable (Odum and Odum, 2001). It is estimated that global energy demand will be increase by two thirds in 2001-2030 (IEA, 2002a). The reservoirs of fossil fuel are not unlimited and at the present rate of consumption they will not last very long. The world community today uses up in one minute what it took the earth a millennium to create. The oil reservoirs are decreasing and it is predicted that fossil fuels can only meet the worlds energy demand just for three decades more (IEA, 2002a). Moreover, it has been conclusively proved that climate change, which has been resulting in global warming, is mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions from energy generating systems based on fossil fuels. Yet another aspect that has come into sharp focus is that the developing countries can ill afford to depend excessively upon petroleum imports marked by volatile price fluctuations Since the inception of Pakistan, the primary power supplies from the conventional energy sources were (and are still today) not enough to meet the countrys energy demand. Pakistan, despite the enormous potential of its indigenous energy, remains energy deficient and has to rely heavily on the imports of the petroleum products to satisfy its present day need. Efforts have been made to exploit the existing conventional energy resources to build a strong indigenous exploration and production base. In spite of all these efforts, Pakistan is not able to fully exploit its indigenous energy resources due to variety of reasons. Although, the thermal power generating capacity has increased rapidly during the last few years due to foreign investment, but at same time, it has caused increased air pollution and CHG emission with the result of degradation of health and ecosystem (Ziagham Nayyer, 2005). After the 1970s oil crises, the issues of security of energy supplies and sustainable use of energy sources have become very important policy issues. From then, there has been an increasing interest all over the world for alternative of conventional energy sources to ensure eco friendly sustainable development on the one hand and energy security on the other. This paper describe the potential of renewable energy sources in Pakistan WHY RENEWABLE ENERGY? After the oil crises of the 1970s, all the developed and non oil producing countries were faced with immense oil supply problems. There developed a wide spread economic recession all over the world due to the high oil prices. Moreover, with in rising green movement, the environmental problem became dominant in policy agenda The fossil fuel still continues to dominate the world energy supply. The fossil fuel consumption is more than the earth capacity to generate it. As a result, oil reservoir are draining out very fast and it is predicted that the remaining fossil fuels can only meet the worlds energy demand just three decades more (IEA, 2002a). Moreover, the environmental damage that is created by fossil fuels is also another crucial danger in the future. Along with environmental problems, climate change also created economic and social losses. If the current pace continues, the weather and climate losses will reach almost $ 150 billion by next decade (IEA, 2002a). Because of these reasons, Renewable energy has gained importune in the energy policy agenda Two important global environment initiatives have also stimulated greater interest in renewable in the world. The first was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Renewables featured in both Agenda 21 and the Climate Change Convention (United Nations, 1992). Because of the important role of fossil fuels in the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (it is estimated that the energy sector accounts for about half the global emissions of green-house gases) and concomitant climate change concerns, renewable are perceived to constitute an important option for mitigating and abating the emissions of greenhouse gases (Socolow, 1992). Renewable also featured high on the agenda of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. One of the targets proposed at WSSD was for every country to commit itself to meeting 10% of its national energy supply from renewable. Although the 10% target was not agreed to at the summit, there was general consensus that countries should commit themselves to promotion of renewable (WEHAB Working Group, 2002). The main advantage of renewable sources is that they are found in every part of the world depending on geographical and geological situations. In other words, they are indigenous energy sources. The countries does not need to import them, which means they can relieve the dependency problem on one hand and can save precious foreign exchange reserves on the other. Renewable energy has also economic and social benefits; such as jobs creation. In 2002, more than 14 millions jobs have created world wide in RE activities (IEA, 2002a). According to U.S. Department of energy, only in 2002, 25,000 new jobs were created in photovoltaic (PV) industry (Aitken, 2004). RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN PAKISTAN Pakistan has wide spectrum of high potential of renewable energy sources, conventional and non-conventional as well, which have not been adequately explored, exploited or developed. As a result, the primary energy supplies today are not enough to meet even the present demand. Moreover, a very large part of the rural areas does not have the electrification facilities because they are either too remote and/or too expensive to connect to the national grid. So, Pakistan, like other developing countries of the region, is facing a serious challenge of energy deficit. Only 55% and 20% of Pakistans population has access to electricity and natural gas respectively. Moreover, about 80% countrys population lives in rural areas and most of them have no access of to electricity. In Pakistan, per capita primary energy supply is only 0.33 million tons oil equivalent (MTOE) while per capita electricity supply is about 520 kWh compared to Worlds average 2,500 kWh At present people are facing severe l oad shedding (about 10 hours a day) due to shortage of 3 GW power supply. Pakistan has very low indigenous fossil fuel resource base and with present rate of production, the indigenous recoverable reserves of oil and gas will exhausted in 14 and 21 respectively. Though there is enormous coal reservoir (185 billion tons) in the country but has not utilized so far due to variety of reasons. The prospect of nuclear energy is bright in Pakistan but high cost, technology barriers and international embargoes are the big hurdles in its course. This shows that conventional non renewable resources are grossly inadequate for meeting the future energy needs of the country. Therefore, development of the renewable energy sources can play an important role in meeting this challenge (Harijan et al., 2008). Pakistan stretches from 24 °N to 37 °N latitudes and from 61 °E to 76 °E longitudes. The total land area of Pakistan is about 800,000 km ². The landscape varies from lofty Karakoram and Himalaya mountains, with the K-2 peak (second highest in the world: 8,613 meters) to the famous desert of Thar and includes fertile plains of the river Indus and its tributaries. The offshore covers over 231,674 km ² in the Arabian Sea. In Pakistan, cropped and forest lands cover an area of about 23 million hectares and 4 million hectares respectively (AEDB website: www.aedb.org) There are quite a number of renewable energy sources, but the resources that are technologically viable and have bright prospects to be exploited commercially in Pakistan include, Solar (PV, thermal), Water (mega local macro-micro-hydel) Wind. Wastes (City solid waste, animal waste) geothermal. Pakistan can get benefit and use these as substitute energy in areas where sources exist. Water Energy Potential Hydropower is one of the oldest forms of energy mankind has used on a mass scale. Mechanical use of hydropower began thousands of years ago by the Egyptians and Greeks for irrigation and milling of grain. Its use for production of electricity dates back to the 19th century in 1882 electricity was produced for the first time by the use of hydropower (Asif, 2008). It is the most versatile source of energy being used in the world. It is renewable, abundant, environmentally friendly and technically mature. It is also regarded as the most economical form of energy. Hydropower is regarded as one of the most important sources of energy Pakistan can count on. Despite the presence of a strong base for Table-1: Proposed sites and their discharge, fall and power potential S# Name of Channel Location Discharge in fee/second Fall in Feet Power Potential in MW 1 Baloki-Sulamanki Link-1 RD106250 12500 10.64 10.00 2 Baloki-Sulamanki Link-2 RD33430 9000 17.86 10.72 3 Chanab-Jhelum Link (Tail) RD316622 13527 41.70 40.00 4 Upper Chanab RD0 16500 8.83 9.70 5 TP Link Canal (DG Khan) RD183000 12000 3.00 12.28 (Source: Hassan, 2002) this form of energy, not enough has been done to tap the precious resource. The hydro potential was estimated at about 50,000 MW out of which about 4,800 MW has been developed over the past 50 years through mega-hydel plants and the remaining has yet to be exploited (Kazi, 1999). The northern areas of the country are rich with hydropower resources. Hydrological survey also revealed that there is a great potential for 300 MW power generations through construction of micro hydropower plants in northern areas of Pakistan (Hassan, 2002). Besides, there is an immense potential for exploiting water falls in the canal network particularly in Punjab, where low head high discharge exists on many canals. Irrigation system of Pakistan is one the largest in the world having extensive network of canal of 160,000 km length. The canal system has a huge hydropower potential at numerous sites/locations on these irrigation canals, ranging from 1MW to more than 10MW, which can be utilized for developi ng small hydro-power stations (Hussan, 2002) Wind Energy Harnessing wind power to produce electricity on a commercial scale has become the fastest growing energy technology. Economic, political and technological forces are now emerging to make wind power a viable source of energy. Data shows that worldwide installed wind power capacity during the period 1996-2008. The total wind power capacity was only 6,100 MW which has increased tremendously and reached to 120791 MW in 2008. Pakistan has a considerable potential of wind energy in the coastal belt of Sindh, Baluchistan and as well as in the desert areas of Punjab and Sindh. This renewable source of energy has however, not so far been utilized significantly. The coastal belt of Pakistan is blessed with a God gifted wind corridor that is 60 km wide (Gharo ~ Kati Bandar) and 180 km long .This corridor has the exploitable potential of 50,000 MW of electricity generation through wind energy (AEDB website: www.aedb.org) Fig.1. Worldwide installed wind power capacity 1996-2008 (Source: http://www.ewea.org/) Fig. 2. Pakistan Meteorological Departments wind mapping stations Source: www.aedb.org Pakistan is a late starter in this field. It is estimated that more than 5000 villages can be electrified through wind energy in Sindh, Balochistan and Northern areas Country first ever commercial 50 MW wind farm has been inaugurated in April 2009 with cooperation of Zorlu Enerji Group of Turkey at Jhimpir, District Thatta, Sindh. Moreover, Projects for generation of 1200MW of electricity from wind are in different stages of development (AEDB website: www.aedb.org) Solar Energy Direct solar energy can broadly be categorized into solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, which convert the suns energy into electrical energy; and solar thermal technologies, which use the suns energy directly for heating, cooking and drying (Karekezi and Ranja, 1997). Solar energy has for a long time been used for drying animal skins and clothes, preserving meat, drying crops and evaporating seawater to extract salt. Substantial research has been done over the years on exploiting the huge solar energy resource. Today, solar energy is utilized at various levels. On a small scale, it is used at the household level for lighting, cooking, water heaters and solar architecture houses; medium scale appliances include water heating in hotels and irrigation. At the community level, solar energy is used for vaccine refrigeration, water pumping, purification and rural electrification. On the industrial scale, solar energy is used for pre-heating boiler water for industrial use and power gener ation, detoxification, municipal water heating, telecommunications, and, more recently, transportation (solar cars) (Karekezi and Ranja, 1997; Ecosystems, 2002). Solar energy has excellent potential in areas of Pakistan that receive high levels of solar radiation throughout the year. Every day, country receives an average of about 19 Mega Joules per square meter of solar energy (AEDB website: www.aedb.org). During last twenty years Pakistan has shown quite encouraging developments in photovoltaic (PV). Currently, solar technology is being used in Pakistan for rural telephone exchanges, repeater stations, highway emergency telephones, cathodic protection, refrigeration for vaccine and medicines in the hospitals etc. The Public Health Department has installed many solar water pumps for drinking purposes in different parts of the country. Both the private and public sectors are playing their roles in the Popularization and up grading of photovoltaic activities in the country. A number of companies are not only involved in trading photovoltaic products and appliances but also manufacturing different components of PV systems. They are selling PV modules, batteries, regulators, invertors, as well as Source: www.aedb.org Fig. 3. Annual average mean daily Solar Radiation in Pakistan KWH/sq.m practical low power gadgets for load shedding such as photovoltaic lamps, battery chargers, garden lights System (SHS) project in 2005 and basic facilities of lighting, cooking and water disinfection were provided to 11 villages in remote areas of Pakistan. Based on success of this program, the government had approved replication of this project in 400 villages in Baluchistan Sindh (Source: www.aedb.org Energy from Waste For more than twenty years, Waste to Energy has been recognized as a clean, reliable, renewable source of energy. In America today 2,500 MW are solely generated by the waste-to-energy plants. Many other countries including Sweden and Japan have applied this technology since the last 20 years. In the subcontinent, India installed three projects to produce electricity from waste with a total capacity of 17.6 MW ( Shahid 2009) It is estimated that the urban areas of Pakistan generate over 55,000 tones of solid wastes daily ( Ziagham Nayyer, 2005) Unfortunately in Pakistan this source of energy has not been utilized for power generation in the past. The growing urbanization and changes in the pattern of life has given rise to generation of increasing quantities of wastes and its now becoming another threat to our environment. Energy generation from the Animal Waste Pakistan is an agricultural country. About 70% of the population resides in rural areas who meet 95% of their domestic fuel needs by burning bio-fuels Biogas is a potential renewable energy source in Pakistan. An estimate indicates that Pakistan has potential of generating 8.58 ÃÆ'- 1010 cubic meter of biogas 1287 million tones of cattle dung annually produced. The heat value of this gas amounts to 1.8ÃÆ'-112 MJ. In addition, 350 millions tons of manure would also produce with biogas (Illyas, 2006). More than 0.024 millions domestic biogas plans have been installed in Pakistan. These plants are of small size (1-10 m ) capacity and mainly used for cooking and other domestic applications. AEDB has facilitated the Landhi Cattle Colony Biogas project, which upon its completion will be one of the largest wastes to energy projects in the world, generating up to 50 MW of electricity. The pilot phase of 250 kW has been successfully initiated. This project is being implemented by Empower Company of New Zealand and will utilize waste of 400,000 cattle in the area to produce electricity (Source: www.aedb.org) Geothermal Geothermal energy is the energy derived from the heat of the earths core. It is clean, abundant and reliable. If properly developed, it can offer a renewable and sustainable energy source. At an international level, approximately 8,100 MW of geothermal power is generated, out of a global potential of 60,000MW (Marietta, 2002; Bronicki, 2001). Most of the high enthalpy geothermal resources of the world are within seismic belts associated with zones of crustal weakness such as plate margins and centers or volcanic activity. A global seismic belt passes through Pakistan and the country has a long geological history of geotectonic events: Permo-carboniferous volcanism (Panjal traps in Kashmir) as a result of rifting of Iran-Afghanistan micropiates, Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous rifting of the Indo-Pakistan Plate, widespread volcanism during Late Cretaceous (Deccan traps) attributed to the appearance of a hot spot in the region, emergence of a chain of volcanic islands along the margins of the Indo-Pakistan Plate, collision of India and Asia (Cretaceous-Paleocene) and the consequent Himalayan upheaval, and Neogene-Quaternary volcanism in the Chagai District (Kazmi Jan, 1999; Raza Bander, 1995). This Geotectonic framework indicates that Pakistan should not be lacking in commercially exploitable sources of geothermal energy. Potential geothermal energy sites are identified at Sehwan in Sindh and Koh-e-Sultan in Baluchistan province Fig 4. Geothermal Springs of Pakistan Source: www.aedb.org Emergy, Net energy evaluations and environmental loading of Renewable Energy Sources There is a great potential of renewable energy sources in Pakistan. However, there are some key questions to be address before exploiting these resources. What will be the net energy and emergy from these energy systems? What will be new environmental load they create? Are these energy systems sustainable or not? Explaining these questions is beyond the scope of this paper but I will present a general view of above mentioned concepts. Net Energy Analysis Net energy refers to the ratio of the amount of energy produced to the amount of energy expended to produce it Net energy determines the usefulness of energy system to society. The usefulness of an energy system is determined by a complex combination of physical, technical, economic and social attributes. This includes energy density, power density, emissions, cost and efficiency of conversion, financial risk amenability to storage, risk to human health, and ease of transport. These attributes combine to determine energy quality. Energy returns for investment (EROI) is an important tool uses for net energy analysis. EROI is used to compare the amount of energy delivered to society by a technology to the total energy required to find, extract, process, deliver, and otherwise upgrade that energy to a socially useful form. Hydropower has the highest EROI among the renewable energy resources. Wind energy system has very favorable EROI in the right condition while solar thermal have low E ROI compared to hydropower. They key issue is the size of the surplus that can realistically be delivered by renewable energy system (Cleveland, C.J. 2008) Source: (Odum, H.T. 1998) Fig. 4 Energy transformation, storage, and feedback reinforcement found in units self organized for maximum performance Emergy Synthesis Emergy refers to Available energy of one kind previously required directly and indirectly to make a product or service (Odum, H.T. 1998). Emergy synthesis serves as an alternative method to evaluate the energy flows of a system. It provides a way to account for differences in energy quality, for environmental services provided to a system, as well as a means to measure a systems level of Emergy sustainability. To derive the solar emergy of a resource or commodity, it is necessary to trace back through all the resource and energy flows that are used to produce it and express these input flows in the amount of solar energy that went into their production. This has been done for a wide variety of resources and commodities as well as for the renewable energies driving the biogeochemical process of the earth (Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. 2002) Emergy and energy accounting require systems diagrams to organize evaluations and account for all inputs to, and outflows from, processes. The structures and storages that operate our world of humanity and environment are sustained against the depreciation of the second law by productive inputs for replacement and maintenance. Maximizing the products and services for growth and support appears to be a design principle of self organization as given by Alfred Lotka as the maximum power principle. Pathways in Figure 4 illustrate the flows and conservation of energy. The storage is represented with a tank symbol. The heat sink symbol represents the dispersal of available energy from processes and storages according to the second law. The feedback from right to left interacts as a multiplier increasing energy intake. This autocatalytic loop is one of the designs that prevail because they reinforce power intake and efficient use (Odum, H.T. 1998) Source: (Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. 2002) Fig 5 Aggregated energy systems diagram of an electric power plant, with main inputs and outputs shown and used to calculate performance emergy based indicators. Legends: R1=renewable inputs directly falling on the plant site (sun, wind, rain); R2=renewable inputs supplied by the local ecosystem and used by the plant in the production of electricity (cooling water and air, oxygen for combustion); R=locally renewable input to the process=max(R1; R2) as these inputs are driven by the same (solar) source; N=nonrenewable inputs (such as coal, oil, nd natural gas or groundwater that is used faster than it is recharged); F=goods and services from the economy (F) that are used to construct, operate, and maintain the power plant (construction materials, machinery, general supplies, human services, etc.); Y=Output of a process. Here, the electricity yielded by the plant. By definition, the output is assigned an emergy Y=R+N+F; =chemicals released by the power plant to the atmosphere (from combustion); H = Heat released by the power plant to the atmosphere and the cooling water Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. (2002) evaluated six electricity production systems by using energy and emergy accounting system, in order to rank their relative thermodynamics and environmental efficiencies. They explored out/input energy ratio, emergy yield ratio (EYR) and environmental load ratio (ELR). Generation of CO2  has also been accounted for in order to compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources Emergy yield ratio, EYR=Y/F=(F+R+N)/F Environmental loading ratio, ELR= (F+N)/R Emergy index of sustainability, IS = EYR/ELR The emergy yield ratio (EYR) provides insight into the net benefit of the various production processes to society. In fact, the higher the fraction of locally available energy sources (R+N) that are exploited by means of the investment  F  from outside, the higher the value of this indicator. Environmental loading ratio expresses the use of environmental service by the system. Environmental service is measured as the emergy of that portion  R  of the environment that is used. When EYR is high due to a high value of local renewable resources, then ELR is small, thus indicating a small environmental stress. On the contrary, when a high value of local nonrenewable sources contributes to EYR, then ELR increases, thus suggesting a larger environmental stress. Therefore, a simultaneous increase of both EYR and ELR, indicates that a larger stress is being placed on the environment; on the contrary, when EYR increases and ELR decreases, the process is less of a load on the surroundin g environment. Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. (2002) concluded that wind generation and hydroelectric power plants have the highest EYR, while the oil fired power plant was the lowest. They also found that electricity generated using wind, geothermal, and hydro power plants had the lowest environmental impact, while fossil fired plants the highest. Further more they also found that the wind and hydroelectric plants had the highest-over-all aggregated (economic and ecological) sustainability, followed by geothermal electricity. CONCLUSION: Pakistan is facing severe energy crises. It is projected that energy demand-indigenous supply gap is increases from 27% in 2005 to 57% in 2030. It is planned that demand indigenous supply gape would be bridge by imported oil and gas. Consequently, import of energy would increase the energy import bill as well as energy security issues. The consumption of fuel will also degrade the environment. Renewable resources in the form of hydropower, wind. Solar PV, Biogas, geothermal etc. are suitable renewable technologies for Pakistan There is substantial potential of these Renewable Energy resources and should be developed for managing the current energy crises and meeting the future energy demand for Pakistan. However there is need of a thorough analysis of net energy and emergy gains from using renewable energy sources. There is also need of investigating the new environmental these alternative sources will create. They key issue is the size of the surplus that can realistically be deliv ered by renewable energy system

The Doubles Motif in Flannery O’Connors The Violent Bear It Away :: Violent Bear It Away Essays

The Doubles Motif in Flannery O’Connor's The Violent Bear It Away   Ã‚   In The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor makes use of the doubles motif.   The doubles motif occurs when one character looks at another character and sees or senses yet another character’s presence.   In this novel, Francis and Rayber not only serve as doubles for each other but also as a double for Mason.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Francis makes Mason Tarwater’s presence felt by the way he talks and the fact that he, like Mason, never removes his cap.   After Francis is with Rayber a few days, Rayber feels Mason’s presence.   â€Å"Rayber had never, even when Old Tarwater had lived under his roof, been so conscious of the old man’s presence†Ã‚   (189).   Mason used baptism to gain control of Francis and to have him carry out his mission after his death.   â€Å"Using baptism to extend his boundaries of self like a wall around Young Tarwater,   Mason simultaneously performs an act of regeneration and murder to be repeated later when Francis baptizes/murders Bishop.   Francis then becomes Mason’s immortal self. Francis provides Mason with a sense of existing, but he can only tolerate the boy as a double, not as an independent human being† (Paulson 102).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mason clings to the idea of being a prophet and Francis â€Å"clings to the idea of being born in a wreck, with no father, an orphan, because this makes him unique, gaining epic proportions in order to transcend the anonymous crowd† (Paulson 106).   Francis denies the father the way that Mason and Rayber deny the mother.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rayber tries, as Mason does, to implant his ideas within Francis.   â€Å"Both Rayber and Mason direct the explosive force of their actions toward Francis, being lost themselves.   Their struggle to survive decimates their nephew† (Paulson 106).   Rayber condemned the violent act that Mason committed, taking Francis and Rayber both away from reality, but   Rayber committed the violent act of trying to drown his own son.   Rayber and Mason both use Francis and Bishop as a way to keep the loneliness away.   â€Å"O’Connor, though, draws a parallel between them by making both men evangelical zealots† (Paulson 102).   Rayber is skeptical of religion and Mason has a religious fervor.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rayber and Mason both try to teach Francis but they do not want to teach him the same things.   â€Å"It soon becomes clear that not only Rayber’s efforts at ‘reconstruction’ but also Mason’s muddied baptismal waters threaten the freedom of Francis, who weakly perceives the devil prophet within them both†Ã‚   (Paulman 103).

The Temporal Lobe and its Effects on Language Essay -- Neurology Neuro

The Temporal Lobe and its Effects on Language My paper has to due with the duties of a Neuropsychologists when examining damage or abnomalities to the Temporal lobe of the human brain and the various impairments that can happen to language. The temporal lobe is a vital area of the brain for many of the humans abilities such as memory and auditory processing, an also language. The neuropsychologist responsibility is for evaluating problems in this area when dealing with a client and implementing therapy solutions. Also the duties of a neuropsychologist are in the aspects of research and developing tools to assist people with temporal lobe malfunctions and other areas of the body too. This paper will delve into these functions of a neuropsychologist and how the practitioner uses these tools to assist people with the various afflictions that arise from problems in the human temporal lobe. A pivotal area of the temporal lobe and language comprehension is the Wernike’s area. When theirs damage to this section of the brain a condition related to language problems is known as Wernike’s Aphasia. Aphasia is known as a severe language impairment but with this version the person is still able to speak fluently but are unable to comprehend written and spoken language. (Kalat, 2005) The principal signs of aphasia are impairments in the ability to express oneself when speaking, trouble understanding speech, and difficulty with reading and writing. Aphasia is most often the result of stroke or head injury, but can also occur in other neurological disorders, such as brain tumor or Alzheimer's disease. The effects of aphasia differ from person to person, and can sometimes b... ...areas of the brain. Unfortunately my client’s condition has not improved from the help of these professionals, and treatments for him are almost to a stand still or non-existent. Works Cited Aphasia.org (2005). Introduction to Aphasia. Retrieved May 2,2005. From Aphasia.org. Appel, A. (1997) What is a Neuropsychologist. Retrieved April 23, 2005. From tbidoc.com. British Medical Association. (2003). Mesial temporal sclerosis lobe epilepsy. Retrieved April 24, 2005. From WWW.info-trac.com. Kalat, J. (2004). Biological Psychology. 8Th edition, Chapter 15.3. Martin, R.C. (2003). Language processing: functional organization and neuroanatomical. Annual Review of Psychology. Annual 2003 p55(35). NewsRX. (2001). Area of Language Recovery in Brain Imaged. Pain & Central Nervous System Week. Jan 13, 2001 p14.

Automobile:from Horse To Horsepower :: essays research papers fc

"In the first hundred years of active life, it has been described as a menace ands a blessing, a blight and a godsend, as a savior of our countryside and cities, and as their curse, as socially divisive and the greatest social leveler. It has been worshipped and reviled, celebrated and scorned." The automobile is an invention that has had a tremendous impact on society. The automobile has taken diverse segments of the American population; farmers, small town residents and urban dwellers and given them access to the same opportunities and experiences. Autos have given us motels, shopping plazas, drive-thru’s, vacations, commuting, and, certainly not the least, suburbia. The genesis of the automobile is one of the most profound and important chapters in the development of American culture. Before the automobile, people traveled by means of bicycles, trains, street cars and horse-drawn carriages. These methods of transportation were slow, limited and not private. Up until the about 1880, inventors experimented with building a "horseless carriage." These experiments were powered mainly by steam, and were not practical. They traveled at slow speeds (six miles an hour), were very noisy, frightened horses, smelled awful and polluted the air. Sometimes the coals (used to make steam) would fall off the auto, and burn wooden bridges down. Railroads and stage coach lines hated the automobiles because they did not want competition. Autos were scarce and ridiculed by most of the population. "The car began life as a rich man’s toy, rather than a means of transport or as an instrument of social change." They were displayed in circuses because they were considered a wacky idea with no future. The development and acceptance of the automobile in America took place around the turn of the century, from 1895 to 1910. The most successful steam car was the Stanley Steamer, invented in Newton, Massachusetts in 1897 by Francis and Freelan Stanley. It was produced until 1924. The steam car did not fare well because it was not suited for long distance travel, was too hard to start and posed the hazard of an open fire. In the late 1890’s and early 1900’s the electric car was the most popular type of automobile. William Morrison was the creator of this type of car. People liked the electric car because it was easy to operate, ran quietly and did not give off fumes. Unfortunately for modern society, the electric cars could not go faster than 20 miles an hour, and the battery had to be recharged every fifty miles.

Dutch Culture Compared to United Arab Emirates and Colombia Essay

Culture can be defined as the way in which a group of people solve problems and reconcile dilemmas. Culture has a high influence in the process of doing business and managing. The main objective of this essay is exposing the main social differences between our host country, the Netherlands, and the two potential export destinations, the United Arab Emirates and Colombia. The main method used to discoverer the cultural differences is based on Parson’s five relational orientations. In terms of relationships and rules Dutch culture is highly universalistic, this means that the behavior from most Dutch individuals tends to be rule-based. In Dutch society, every person is treated the same; there are no exceptions to the rule. In situations such as asking a special favor from a friend that would violate Dutch legislation, it is likely that the friend will deny the request. The situation is the opposite in both Colombia and the United Arab Emirates, both societies being fairly particularistic. Judgments in these countries tend to focus on the nature of the present circumstances, rather than the general rule. Colombians would not think twice before helping a good friend in the previously mentioned situation, neither would Emiratis. Exporting flowers to a particularistic country would imply careful considerations in terms of negotiating contracts, timing a business trip, and job incentives and rewards. Negotiating contracts in the Netherlands is a common business standard, yet it might be seen as an offensive display of mistrust to your business partners when setting up a venture in the UAE. Particularistic cultures value personal relationships more highly than legal documents, and will commit to all verbal agreements in order to maintain a worthy business partner. In terms of Human Resource Management the Dutch manager in a Particularistic culture will have to understand the importance of relationships and focus on building informal networks to create private understandings. The next highly influential factor that could affect any business relationship between the three countries is the way feelings are demonstrated within society. Colombian culture is particularly affective; they tend to publicly display any emotions that arise at any given moment. The UAE and the Netherlands, while more emotionally neutral than Colombia, are situated in the middle of the rank. It is the norm to see a Colombian worker screaming, enraged after a certain project failed, yet this does not mean that he is more emotionally affected than a Dutchman in his same situation, the Colombian just expresses his anger in a different manner. Another notable difference between affective and neutral cultures is their tone of voice. In Latin cultures, such as Colombia, tone of voice tends to swift from low to high tones, demonstrating emotional attachment behind what is being said. For more neutral cultures, like the UAE, this might seem distractive and exaggerated. Our Dutch manager will most likely have no problems when dealing with Emirati employees; on the other hand he should avoid being emotionally unattached in order to gain the affection of his Colombian co-workers. How people accord status to each member in society is another highly variable factor that should distinguished between the three previously mentioned countries. Every society gives some members a higher status than others; the difference is on which basis do they do so. Achievement-oriented societies focus on the personal accomplishments. Ascriptive societies, conversely, place emphasis and are more influenced by the virtue of a person’s age, class, gender, education and so on. Both Colombia and the UAE are considered to be highly ascriptive societies, the Netherlands lies somewhere in the middle. Members or friends of the governing families in ascriptive countries have quasi supra-legal powers and advantages over the rest of the population. This can have serious effects on the way business is conducted. One example of a situation where the Dutch company could encounter problems is when sending a bright young manager to negotiate with a team of senior Emirati CEOs. While the Dutch manager could be more than capable of managing the situation, the Emirati CEOs would not take him seriously and might even feel insulted. It is therefore recommended that the Dutch company makes sure the negotiation team has an older, formal position-holder to provide a better impression to the Emirati Company. The Human Resource department should also take into account the importance of titles when recruiting employees, as assigning an employee without sufficient titles might cause tension within a work unit. An individualistic society is that in which each individual’s actions are oriented towards the self. On the other end of the spectrum a communitaristic society has common goals and objectives. Dutch society is highly individualistic, Emiratis are somewhere in the middle, and Colombians are highly communitaristic. Colombia’s communitaristic roots lie on both its Catholic beliefs and the influence communism enforced over the country a few decades ago. The implications of setting up a business and employing individuals in a communitaristic society are mostly motivation related. The Dutch manager should assign group-oriented tasks and give credit on a department-based basis, in order to satisfy and motivate Colombian employees. Another factor that should be considered is how responsibility is assimilated in a both societies. Individualistic employees would accept guilt and responsibility in most situations, while communitaristic employees would quickly place blame on his workgroup. When providing negative news managers in Colombia should avoid using â€Å"you† as the object of the sentence, and instead explain the problem indirectly. Finally, the last factor that should be considered when deciding to export abroad is how specific or diffuse a culture is. In specific-oriented cultures each member’s role in society varies according to each particular situation; that is to say, somebody’s manager is only his superior during official corporate situations, in all external situations they are both equal members of society. The Netherlands is ranked as one of the most highly specific cultures in the world, the UAE ranks somewhat below the Netherlands, and Colombia is positioned amongst the most diffuse. It is recommended that managers coming from a specific culture allow private and business issues to interpenetrate. Another issue that should be considered when setting up an HRM strategy in a diffuse culture is the appreciation for ambiguous and vague instructions, which allow for subtle and responsive interpretations through which employees can exercise personal judgment. Due to the cultural similarities between Dutch and Emiratis societies, it would be recommended that the UAE is the chosen country to set up a business venture; however special attention must be given to factors such as the way society accords status, area which the two countries have the greatest differences.

Effects of Fast Food Essay

INTRODUCTION Junk food is typically defined as foods with little nutritional value that are high in calories, fat, sugar, salt, or caffeine. It is widely believed that the term was coined by Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in 1972. Common junk foods include salted snack foods, gum, candy, sweet desserts, fried fast food, and carbonated beverages. The convenience, price and predictability of fast food makes it a frequent meal choice for many people. However, as consumption of fast food has risen over the last three decades, so too have occurrences of several health issues and diseases related to fast food and unhealthy eating habits. Eaten regularly, fast food can put you at an increased risk for developing diabetes, heart disease or obesity. The fast food industry in India has evolved with the changing lifestyles of young Indian population. The sheer variety of gastronomic preferences across the regions has brought about different modules across the country. Many of the traditional dishes have adapted to suit the emerging fast food outlets. The basic adaption is to decrease the processing and serving time. HEALTH EFFECTS A study by Paul Johnson and Paul Kenny at the Scripps Research Institute (2008) suggested that junk food consumption alters brains activity in a manner similar to addictive drugs like cocaine or heroin. The increase of junk food is directly associated with the increase in obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, tooth decay, and other diseases. Fast Food Contributes to Obesity Fast food is a major contributor to rising occurrences of obesity. Calorie-laden fast food meals can contain nearly a full day’s worth of calories and fat and, eaten regularly, can increase your chances of obesity. According to CBS News Health Watch, almost one-third of U.S children between the ages of 4 and 19 consume fast food which, depending on the regularity which with fast food is eaten, can cause a 6-pound weight increase per year. Fast Food increases Diabetes Along with obesity, consumption of fast food has been linked to an increased chance of developing Type 2 Diabetes. In Type 2 Diabetes, either your body is unable to regulate blood sugar with insulin, or is unable to produce insulin. Increased body fat, along with a high-sugar and high-carbohydrate diet, can increase your body’s resistance to insulin, which monitors your blood sugar levels. An article published by the US Department of Health and Human Services states that people who ate fast food two or more times per week were twice as likely to experience insulin resistance. Fast Food is High in Sodium Fast food is typically very high in sodium. A large order of fast food french fries can contain as much as 30% of your daily value of sodium. While important to consume in small amounts, a diet high in sodium can lead to high blood pressure, a potential precursor to heart disease. As excess sodium builds up in your bloodstream, your heart must work harder to pump blood successfully, which can cause hypertension and high blood pressure. Regularly consuming foods high in sodium can greatly increase your chances of developing high blood pressure. Fast Food is Low in Nutrients Many fast food are low in nutrients. Hamburgers served on white bread, french fries and other high-carbohydrate sides and fried or high-fat meats are common fast food menu items, and all lack important nutrients such as vitamins found in fresh produce, fiber found in whole grains and protein served without added fat. Foods which are high in sugar and carbohydrates but low in nutrients are also often less filling than healthier options, and can lead to overeating. Furthermore, non-nutritious fast food several times per week can impact your energy levels and mood, and may put you at risk for vitamin deficiency. Harmful Effects of Junk Food * The regular consumption of junk food is the leading factor in obesity and excess weight. * Obesity is second only to smoking as a cause of death in America. * 46% of Canadian adults are either overweight or obese, with obesity in children increasing three-fold over the past 2 decades. * Consumption of Aerated drinks containing sugar has been linked to weight gain and an increased risk for development of type 2 diabetes. * Studies have revealed that obese people have twice the rate of chronic health problems as people of normal weight. * Junk food diet is a major cause of heart diseases. * High cholesterol resulting from junk food puts undue strain on the liver, causing long-term damage to this essential organ. * Research has suggested that diets high in fat may also impair essential brain functions, like concentration and memory. The junk food facts about Aerated drinks alone are alarming. There is compelling evidence that regular consumption of Aerated drinks leads to Increased rates of: – * Bone fracture * Osteoporosis * Weight gain and obesity * Type II Diabetes * Kidney stones * Tooth decay and other dental problems ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am deeply indebted to my Economics teacher, Mrs. Payal Mathur, without whose help this project would not have been possible. The success of this project depends largely on the encouragement and guidance provided by Mrs. Payal Mathur. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this project. I can’t thank them enough for their tremendous support and sparing their valuable time. I would like to thank the people of my colony, my friends and relatives who were my respondents and painstakingly filled the questionnaires. The guidance and support received from all my family members who contributed to this project, was vital for the success of the project. I am grateful for their constant support and help. Last but not the least, I also acknowledge the effort put in by my elder sister Miss Upasna Handa in compiling the project. BIBLIOGRAPHY INFORMATION: * www.google.com * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_food * http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-junk-food.html * http://www.livestrong.com/article/497521-facts-about-the-dangers-of-eating-fast-food/ PICTURES: * www.google.com JUNK FOOD FACTS – CHILDREN * The junk food industry deliberately targets children as young as 2 in a bid to create brand preference and lifelong loyalty. * Advertisers question kids and tap into their play to create ads and products with guaranteed child-appeal. Fast food chains use the lure of free toys to get kids to persuade their parents to spend. A desirable toy can double or triple weekly sales of kids’ meals. And every child brings along at least one adult too. * Flavorings and colorings can cause asthma, rashes and hyperactivity. Many countries – but not the UK – ban them from children’s food. JUNK FOOD FACTS – AERATEDDRINKS * The metal can costs more than the ingredients, which are primarily water mixed with additives, sugar or sweetener, and caffeine. A can of cola contains 10 teaspoons of sugar. * Aerated drinks are aggressively marketed by fast food chains, because they are so profitable, at around 97% profit on the price per cup. The bigger the cup, the greater the profit. * In the US, average adult consumption of Aerated drinks is around 500 cans a year. * Twenty per cent of American under-2s are given Aerated drinks – laden with sugar and additives – every day. DISGUSTING JUNK FOOD FACTS ABOUT THE FOOD ON YOUR PLATE * Canned spaghetti A helping of carbohydrate, salt and sugar, with virtually no fibre, anyone? * Chicken nuggets Low cost nuggets are cheap because they contain as little as 16% pulped chicken, bulked out with water, chicken skin, proteins removed from bone, hide, or poultry feathers, mechanically retrieved meat; plus the ubiquitous sugar, additives and salt. They also contain bulking agents used to soak up the water that’s injected into chicken to increase the weight – and the profit. Minced meat can hid a multitude of revolting ‘extras’ : carcinogenic antibiotics, recycled cat food, and poultry mixed with beef proteins have all been found in chicken destined for the production line. * Chocolate muffin Ruinously high in sugar, and made with the big baddie of the junk food industry, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil which has zero nutritional value, and damages heart and arteries. * Fries Fat-packed and low in nutrients. May be coated with additives and salt. * Fruit yoghurts, ready-made sauces, fruit drinks, baby foods – and more†¦ Modified starches, along with colorings and flavorings, mimic the texture of fresh fruit and veg, so that manufacturers’ can use less of the real thing. They also mask rancid flavors’ and smells. * Milkshakes A simple-sounding ingredient, like ‘artificial strawberry flavor’ can in itself contain around 50 chemicals. And not one single strawberry. What’s in some of that Junk Food? * One teaspoon of sugar is extracted from a stalk of sugarcane one metre in length! * A super-sized order of McDonald’s fries contains 610 calories and 29 grams of fat. * A king-sized order of Burger King’s fries packs 590 calories and 30 grams of fat. * A king-sized Burger King meal, (Double Whopper with cheese, large fries and large drink) contains 1,800 calories (mostly derived from fat and refined sugar). To ‘burn’ these calories would take nearly 6 hours of cycling (at 20 miles per hour). Junk Food Advertising * The food industry spends over $33 billion per year in the US alone to advertise food products that could be classified as junk food. * The majority of food advertising during children’s television programming is for sweetened cereals, Aerated drinks, candy, processed snacks and fast foods. * The average American child sees around 20,000 ads a year for junk food. * Over 90% of American children eat at McDonald’s at least once per month. * American teenagers drink an average of 760 can of soda pop per year (with boys drinking about 25% more than girls). * The average American of any age drinks over 500 cans of Aerated drinks per year. * Nearly 20% of children under 2 years of age are given Aerated drinks every day in America! * The average person today consumes more sugar in two weeks than a person a century ago would have eaten in a whole year. That’s a junk food fact!