Policies to Reduce Pollution

The two policies that are mostly used to reduce pollution are the taxation of the pollution producers (Pigovian tax) and standards-change approaches. The Pigovian taxes are usually generally levied as an excise tax, which will raise the price of the goods produced. This causes the company to produce less which in turn lowers pollution. The standards-charge approach is to tax the pollution directly. The government determines the level of pollution that it thinks is appropriate, and then will charge a fine for each unit that is above the appropriate amount. This is how the standard-charge approach rewards the companies that produce less pollution and punishes the companies that exceed the allotted pollution amount. Unfortunately, standard-charge approaches don’t enable policy makers to control the air quality. The government has to estimate how much a company will reduce their pollution when they are fined. If the government sets a fine to low, the company may determine that it is cheaper to pay the fines rather than reduce its pollution. This also will not give the company an incentive to reduce their pollution level below what the government has set as the desired limit. The positive benefits to these measures are that our ecosystems are healthier and this also helps the health of the people living in the local environment. Air pollution is known to cause a great deal of disease in the population, especially respiratory disease. The environments ecosystems will benefit when people and companies lower their use of fossil fuels, this will help to lower greenhouse gases. Taxes and fines always have some sort of losses involved, both to the companies and to the government applying the fines. When the different taxes are levied, companies will find ways to reduce costs by either cuts in staffing or outsourcing what they are able to send to foreign companies. Another cost involves the failure of the government. The different taxes and fines levied on companies are paid over to the government and the government is notorious in their inefficiency in the use of their funds. Most government agencies are overly bureaucratic and cumbersome which can create unnecessary regulations that are impossible to enforce. It is impossible to determine the exact level of pollution reduction needed to produce a healthier living environment. At this point in time, society controls the pollution levels until the costs outweigh the benefits of additional controls. This assumption isn’t always valid. It has been proven, through past actions, which as air quality improves it becomes more difficult to reduce the levels of pollution at a reasonable cost. Even though society demands a clean environment for health reasons, it is a higher concern depending on income levels. The higher the income level the more of a concern it will be. Those with a lower income that are without medical insurance are less inclined to worry about pollutions that will harm them over time. Pollution should be reduced so that it will not negatively affect the health of the population or the environment. Unfortunately we also have to weigh the lowering of pollution against the cost of job loss and the cost of goods. In the end, as long as the government policies are able to reduce pollution to a level that is socially acceptable they can be viewed a success.

Is the U.S. prepared for another terrorist attack? Essay

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, securing the country has become a national priority. The events of 9/11 were the first attacks on the United States (U.S.) since Pearl Harbor which catapulted the U.S. into World War II. As of the writing of this paper, the U.S. has been engaged in the War on Terrorism for 13 years. During this period of time the U.S. has been kept free from terrorist attacks by changes to laws, technology, and investigative methods to combat terrorism internationally. Although there have been a number of changes to U.S. law and American citizens have been kept safe, the threat of terrorism has not abated. With the continued threat of terrorism to the U.S. and its citizens, there is a high probability that the U.S. will suffer another 9/11 type of event. The U.S. has shown its resolve in recovering from 9/11 and the many natural disasters that have occurred since and is preparing for incidents in the future. There is a plethora of information and stu dies conducted after 9/11 that, in great detail, informed us to the extent we failed to prevent the events of 9/11. Ironically, in the years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) many academics feel we are no safer now than we were prior to 9/11. In a historical context, the U.S. has been reactive in nature to every major catastrophe it has endured. The cycle of disaster events has repeated itself over and over throughout our history. The U.S. experiences a major response event, fails in the initial response and recovery efforts, endures congressional investigations, obtains funding to  fix the failures, execute the recovery effort, and return to a complacency mentality until another major event occurs. The purpose of this paper is to address the question of the U.S. readiness in the event there is another terrorist attack. I plan to focus on the aspect of preparation, reforms, and interagency coordination before and after the next terrorist attack. This paper will argue that the preparation for a terrorist attack is required; it’s not a question of how an attack is orchestrated. The question is the U.S. prepared for another terrorist attack and recovery? Literature Review In Perry’s (2001) analysis he explains the actions that the U.S. needs to take in preparation for the next attack. The articles’ publication is under the premise of a worst case scenario as it pertained to terrorism in 2001. The primary focus of the article was the U.S. preparation for any delivery method terrorist organizations could provide. There was a concern that terrorist organizations could/would buy nuclear weapon platforms from rogue Soviet BLOC nations. The only way these attacks could be thwarted was by the mix of three strategies: deterrence, prevention, and defense. The ability for the U.S. to use conventional forces to deter enemies needed to be maintained as well as the intelligence community with an aggressive campaign against nations that sponsor terrorism. In the article, The Next Attack, Flynn (2007) provides a framework in which terrorist organization detonates a bomb at an oil refinery, near Philadelphia’s Citizen Bank Park, that results in the release of a chemical cloud comprised of chemicals used in the refinery process. The cloud kills thousands over a ten day period as a result of breathing the fumes. In the aftermath of 9/11 the U.S. government concluded there was no way they could protect every essential asset and chose to specifically defend critical infrastructure networks. It was believed that terrorists would only attack large targets that they could get the biggest return on investment. Flynn took a very critical view of the U.S. government’s response to compiling a list of high value targets that needed protection, â€Å"It wasn’t rocket science to figure that out, and it took five years to complete.†Ã‚  Flynn further explained a need for manufacturing industries to utilize safer production methods known inherently as safer technology. The technology has a higher cost, but Flynn does an impressive cost comparison that the change-over could cost nationwide for around $250 million, which is what was being spent daily on the war in Iraq. In Interagency Coordination in Response to Terrorism: Promising Practices and Barriers Identified in Four Countries (Strom and Eyerman 2007) is an article that examines our nation’s ability to prepare, respond, and recover from terrorism hinging on multiagency coordination. The focal point of the article is the explanation of the problems that existed pre-9/11 and the progress law enforcement agencies and public health agencies have in coordination with each other across multiple jurisdictions and countries. The article explains in detail the coordination problems that occur when two or more agencies are involved in the same incident. There is a competition for command and control, funding, redundant system and processes across multiple agencies. Two primary problems that were noted were the inability for all agencies to achieve an interoperable communications system to aid in interagency cooperation. The second problem is barriers to communication ranging from coordination and cultural barriers and the lack of proactive information sharing among multiple agencies. The authors noted several changes that needed to occur in order to be successful. The primary focus falling on ceasing interagency competition for funding as this has created fraud, waste, and abuse across multiple U.S. agencies. The second focus was fostering a liaison model and incorporating public-private partnerships as individual companies have systematically been delegated the responsibility of protecting their own businesses. Methodology and Research Strategy The literature review has produced some excellent talking points that may show the U.S. government is not prepared for another 9/11 terrorist attack. This paper will review the readiness of the U.S. in preparation for the next terrorist attack and the ability to respond to that attack. My research will be qualitative in method and analysis in an attempt to produce a  respectable projection of the U.S. readiness for the next terrorist attack. After reviewing twelve Scholarly articles or books the following question is presented. Is the U.S. prepared for another 9/11 terrorist attack? Findings  In the pre-9/11 article: CatastrophicTerrorism: Elements of a National Policy, Carter explained that the U.S. was not taking the threat of terrorism, as they had known in that generation, seriously (Carter, Deutch and Zelikow 1998). In the aftermath of the embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania which killed hundreds Carter did not feel that the U.S. government was committed to address terrori stic threats nor was it suitably prepared for a catastrophic terrorist event. Carter gave a prophetic warning that a catastrophic event was plausible in 1998. Terrorist networks were no longer hiding in the shadow as they did during the Cold War. The Preventive Defense strategy, at that time, was outdated. Terrorist networks were embracing change, embedding with organized crime syndicates, drug and human traffickers, and money laundering which created the basic infrastructure of a terrorist organization. During this same time frame we saw the effects of globalization in the Sub-Sahara Africa as it folded in on its self and created lawless safe havens for terrorist organizations to freely operate. Carter predicted a catastrophic terror event would be a watershed event in U.S. history that would change law, challenge personal liberties, and ultimately make terrorism the focus of our national defense strategy (6). Carter and his team were virtually ignored until 9/11. In the aftermath of 9/11 Zelikow sat on the 9/11 Commission. Many of the findings that the 9/11 Commission determined came from the 1998 article. Ultimately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) creation was in response to the large number of listed intelligence and operational failures among U.S. governmental agencies. These failures were over classification of intelligence, lack of information sharing, interagency competition in investigations, and multiple agencies conducting the same redundant tasks to name few. During DHS’s inception twenty- two federal agencies and 170,000 employees, which specialized in various disciplines ranging from law enforcement to disaster mitigation, were pulled under the control of DHS in order to streamline information sharing and overall interagency cooperation. In the years that followed many studies and reports to congress on the DHS suggest that the organization needed to be reformed due to over-all mismanagement and lack of any institutional control over the multiple agencies. The primary reason for concern is the organizations layer of bureaucratic red tape and political appointees who lack the ability and structural knowledge are hampering the Secretary of Homeland Defenses ability to lead U.S. security efforts (Carafano and Heyman, DHS 2.0: Rethinking the Department of Homeland Security 2004). The DHS has a leviathan sized mission as it pertains to keeping the U.S. safe from terrorist activity. In 2003 report, Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Department of Homeland Security, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) reported the DHS was a high risk organization for three reasons. First, the organization is too large to manage efficiently. The DHS creation is in response to the events of 9/11 without having a command structure properly planned. Second, among the 22 agencies under the DHS umbrella, there was a large amount of discord, strife, and competition before the merger. The merger did not quell the conflict, it actually added to the competition for funding and resources. Third, these failures expose the U.S. to other possibilities in regards to terrorism (Governement Accounting Office 2003). The GAO further outlines what DHS needs to do to alleviate some of the existing challenges they face now and in the future. DHS must effectively integrate discording agencies in order to foster an environment of partnerships and working environments. DHS must adopt and use public and private partnership business methods, as most of the protection Flynn mentioned earlier has fallen on the private sector and the dependency of first responders. â€Å"The private sector controls 85 % of the critical infrastructure in the nation. Indeed, unless a terrorist’s target is a military or other secure government facility, the first responders will almost certainly be civilians† (9/11 Commission 2004). Finally, the DHS infrastructure must incorporate the maximum use of its brightest and best individuals and must foster interagency cooperation among multiple organizations and countries simultaneously (pg. 1). Since 9/11 the U.S. has not experienced another 9/11 terrorist event, one could assume the DHS and the U.S. War on Terror is having a significant impact on terrorist activity. In 2011, The Heritage Foundation reported 40 terrorist plots had been thwarted since 9/11due to the efforts of DHS employees and power granted under the PATRIOT Act (Carafano and Zuckerman, War on Terrorism: 40 Terrorists Attacks Foiled Since 9/11 2011). Although the PATRIOT Act granted law enforcement agencies nationwide powers and abilities they did not have pre 9/11, the agency has stonewalled terror attacks on U.S. soil, and it is still failing at multiple levels. At this point, it would not be wise to assume the U.S. is 100 percent safe from terror attacks or more importantly the ability or readiness to respond to one. The DHS track record for responding to natural disasters in the U.S. is poor, at best. One example is the DHS response to Hurricane Katrina. By the time Hurricane Katrina had made landfall the DHS had not established the roles and responsibilities that the public and private sectors would play in the survival and recovery of New Orleans, even though the energy and shipping facilities had been considered, â€Å"national critical infrastructure for which the U.S. government should take substantial responsibility in the event of a disaster† (Military Technology 2005). This is where Flynn related this wasn’t rocket science; it just was not completed in a timely manner. There have been a number of theories for the dysfunction of the DHS as it pertains to disaster response. One primary theory is DHS does not have its priorities straight. DHS creation in response to the attacks of 9/11, with its primary focus being on prevention of future attacks. DHS thought process can be seen as one sided as 75 percent of the 3.35 billion in Federal grants were designated for counter-terrorism activities (pg. 104). Additionally, DHS was charged with not fully notifying local and state  leaders about the magnitude of the event and many mass-causality centers were diverted to Iraq and Afghanistan leaving the homeland under sourced. Of the 22 agencies that fall under DHS the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has borne the brunt of the fallout in responding to disaster events. Prior to 9/11 FEMA held a cabinet level position within the Presidential Cabinet and responded to incidents with competence, ability, and utilized lessons learned to prevent the same mistakes in the future. Under the authority of DHS, FEMA lost its cabinet level position, lost independent funding, and FEMA’s competency and performance decreased significantly. Further adding to the dysfunction within the DHS and FEMA’s ability to respond to incidents are the political ramifications of power sharing between the Federal government and state agencies. In response to Hurricane Katrina, the Federal government to include the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the White House could not determine if utilizing Active Duty would violate the Posse Comitatus Act. The DHS and White House did not want to take Constitutional rights away from the states. This delay furthered much needed assistance to the hardest hit areas of the Gulf Coast. WAL-MART had a quicker response time of getting much need supplies into New Orleans but was unable to do enter and provide assistance due to the bureaucratic boondoggle in Washington (Abouo-Bakr 2013). In 2007 and 2009, â€Å"FEMA participated in a national-level exercise aimed at assessing U.S. capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from a large-scale disaster† (Busch 2012). In the following months after these training exercises it was reported FEMA did not effectively manage, track, or maintain and failed to complete less than 40 percent of corrective actions noted (pg. 18). FEMA also failed to provide a training outline to address the corrective actions to ensure the mistakes made and lessons learned could be used at future training events in preparation for real life responses to disasters. Conclusion The U.S. has thwarted terrorist attacks on the U.S., on both foreign and  domestic fronts, since the historic events of 9/11. The additional powers granted to the DHS under the PATRIOT Act have aided law enforcement agencies and anti-terrorism activities in the War on Terrorism. The question is not how well the DHS prevents future attacks; it is a question of when the next attack will happen and how will the U.S. respond. In order for the DHS to become successful the Secretary of Homeland Defense must coordinate organizational and logistical support across all 22 agencies. The monetary focus of the DHS must be distributed equally along the other agencies supporting the relief efforts in the event another terrorist event occurs on U.S. soil. The DHS must foster an environment that encourages employees to create Private Public Partnerships (PPP). These partnerships must have a clear and concise plan and all players involved must have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities as it pertains to information and resource sharing during a response to a terror event. The relationship between the DHS and PPP must foster long-term projects and must initially come from within the DHS. FEMA should be removed the organizational tree of DHS and have its cabinet level position re-established and given the ability to meet directly with the President of the United States and all emergency response assets nationwide. FEMAs ability must be restored to pre-9/11 levels in order to meet all future natural disasters or terrorist attacks. The USG must network with the private sector and ensure the plans created do not hamper their bottom line and ensure the cost/risk ratio is sufficient to stock holders in the private sector. The DHS and FEMA have applied some of the lessons learned in past response efforts and Congress has turned some of them into law. The two most important laws will assist FEMA in emergency management. First, the head of FEMA must be an emergency management professional and have least five years executive experience. Second, during a disaster, the lines of communication between the President and FEMA are open without interruption from the DHS (King, et al. 2009). The changes to law were a small step for FEMA but now allow them to coordinate with all organizations along the National Incident Management System and the National Response Framework. Both of the programs describe how multiple players from the lowest level to the Director of FEMA how they should work together in response to an incident. Both of these programs are balance to react to an incident whether it is a terrorist event or a natural disaster, but they still have a long way to go. The DHS prevents attacks well but at times fails miserably in response efforts due to interagency shortfalls. Until there is a balance between the efforts carried out in the War on Terror and the response efforts after an event the U.S. will not be prepared for the next attack. References 9/11 Commission. The 9/11 Comission Report. July 26, 2004. www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf (accessed 12 29, 2013). Abouo-Bakr, C. Managing Disasters through Public-Private Partnerships. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2013. Busch, Jason. â€Å"FEMA Falters in Self-Improvement.† News Network, November 2012: 18. Carafano, James, and David Heyman. DHS 2.0: Rethinking the Department of Homeland Security. Special Report SR-02, Washington: The Heritage Foundation, 2004. Carafano, James, and Jessica Zuckerman. War on Terrorism: 40 Terrorists Attacks Foiled Since 9/11 . September 7, 2011. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/40-terror-plots-foiled-since-9-11-combating-complacency-in-the-long-war-on-terror (accessed 12 24, 2013). Carter, Ashton B,, John M. Deutch, and Philip D. Zelikow. Catasrophic Terrorism: Elements of a National Policy. Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First Century, John F. Kennedy School of Government, 1998. Flynn, Stephen. â€Å"The Next Attack.† The Washington Monthly, March 2007: 31-37. Governement Accounting Office. Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Department of Hoeland Security. Series Report, Washington: United States General Accounting Office, 2003. King, Peter, et al. â€Å"Keep FEMA within Homeland Security.† January 14, 2009. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&a

Using Classroom Journals to Improve ESL Writing Skills Research Paper

Using Classroom Journals to Improve ESL Writing Skills - Research Paper Example The emergence of ESL programs as a school requirement, as Giridharan & Robson (n.d.) stated, has been influenced by the lack of competence of most foreign students in academic writing, which usually affects their academic performance. This is especially true for tertiary education in which students are expected to â€Å"advance their own ideas within a framework of domain or discipline knowledge and engage the reader in academic discourse† (Giridharan & Robson, n.d., p. 1). Therefore, ESL has been created to help U.S. students attain educational proficiency standards. Celic (2009), furthermore, stressed that the key to establishing effective teaching skills lies in combining proper teaching tools with strategic and results-driven teaching styles. Through ESL programs, therefore, students are not only able to enhance their academic performance, they also gain confidence to better understand, relate, and interact in their specific social environments (Smith, Vellenga et. al., 2006). Thus, it is the feeling of authentic belongingness that ESL hopes to give to its students for them to get fully immersed in the country’s culture, values, and society. The difficulty in teaching ESL writing, as most researchers today claim, lies not on the stark differences among the students’ learning abilities but on the choice of the proper approach through which writing must be taught. In this regard, ESL practitioners have recognized the two primary schools of thought for teaching ESL writing. The first one teaches writing through a systemized and process-driven approach. Proponents of this school of thought believe that by exposing the students to specific writing steps (from researching of the topic to revising the written material in accordance to grammar and syntax), they are able to develop a proper and more  disciplined manner of writing.

W3Q-Executing and implementing project portfolio management Assignment

W3Q-Executing and implementing project portfolio management - Assignment Example NDT-Solutions, a private sector company specializing in development and construction of facility for non-destructive testing laboratory, takes a conventional approach to project management mainly through assigning projects to departmental managers. This approach functional managers to act as project managers while performing their primary duties in parallel, a practice which was very common in 1960s (Kerzner 2010). A major reason for such an approach was the lack of appreciation for project management methodology and best practices as identified by Project Management Institute in PMBOK (2008). Thus projects in the company normally initiated within from the departments without considering their relevance to the organizational business strategy. Thus majority of the projects were a result of self-initiative even without support and consent of management. In addition, internal politics and individual interests barred projects and their outcomes to be visible to other departments unless materialized. Thus other departments who may have significant role in the project execution or may have been impacted by the project outcome were, in fact, alienated from the project. Every department struggled to portray its project as success while endeavoring to undermine the efforts made in other departments. This impacted the overall potential of the company to achieve synergy of its resources. The end result was duplication of projects, inefficient utilization of the resources and discouragement of any innovative ideas at the organizational level. Besides its drawbacks, the approach has advantages in terms of expanding experience in project management and improving the skills; however, lack of training and appreciation of a standardized project portfolio management approach would increase risk of inefficient resource utilization and duplication of efforts especially when the company is managing multiple projects. According to Kerzner (2010), â€Å"portfolio management is

A good man is hard to find Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A good man is hard to find - Essay Example She says, â€Å"I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it† (O’Connor). Interestingly, it is the same grandmother who convinces the family to branch there on their way to since she wants to revisit a house. They unfortunately meet their untimed deaths at the hands of this Misfit. There is also something attractive in the way O’Connor describes Grandmother’s dressing. Despite her dislike of the idea of going to Florida, she is the first to get into the car wearing â€Å"a navy blue dress with a small dot in the print. Her collar and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet† (O’Connor). I think this dress symbolizes how a body is prepared for burial; dressed in their best attire. It is the grandmother’s reason for her glamour that removes any doubt on the coming events, â€Å"in case of an accident any one who sees her body on the highway will know that she is a lady† (O’Connor). O’Connor makes the protagonist to ignorantly speak of her coming death. The death of the whole family is also foreshadowed in the â€Å"passed by a cotton plantation with five or six graves†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (O’Connor). The numbers of the graves coincide with that of the family members, with O’Connor doubting if the baby can have its own grave or share one with its mother. Later the grandmother remembers one of her visits to an old plantation in Tennessee, neighboring â€Å"Toomsboro.† The word toomsboro brings to mind a tomb, an image that symbolizes death. The family faces the tombs at the end. Ironically, the house grandmother yearns to visit is not in the area they get a car accident. And when Wesley asks to know the plantation whose owners were buried in the five or six graves, grandmother says â€Å"gone with the wind.† This only shows what awaits the family in the end. After death, their souls will be â€Å"gone with the

Case study. read through case study and answer all questions

. read through and answer all questions - Case Study Example This is in terms of making the help desk more efficient and able to portray a good image of the company. The second front is with Mick who believes that the position was meant to be his. This requires that she finds a way in which she is able to reach out to him so as to try and improve that relationship for better work coordination. The second issue that is raised is that of churnovers. In the simplest sense this is the rate at which employees leave the job forcing the hiring of new employees. In the help desk or call center sphere, there has been a high churnover (also known as turnover) rate (Sharp 2003, p. 114). Usually when this rate is high it ends up costing the company a great deal on two fronts. The first one is by the fact that the company has to spend more money on labor costs. This is through the retraining of new staff, who may not be well aware of the company’s culture or operational procedures. The second point at which this greatly costs the company is by the l agging of standards when new hires come on. This is through the fact that with every new hire they need some time to get used to performing the tasks required of them in the most efficient way. One other people issue that Sara had to contend with is the problem solving skills that her helpdesk staff had. This is an important skill that all help desk personnel need to have (HILES & GUNN 200, p. 91). The main reason for this is that they are mainly dealing with issues that other users of the company products or services are having. Most often than not, they will find themselves in situations where the solutions to these issues may not really be covered in their day to day dealings. On the other hand they may be unaware of the existence of the issue and hence need a way in which they can come up with solutions before they can seek further consultation on the problem. The other people issue that Sara has to contend is the ability of her work force to coordinate and work as a team. This is evident from the fact that each of those in the team had their own roles and they did not coordinating with one another before Sara’s intervention. In any helpdesk, there is need for teamwork and coordination of efforts to ensure that the client’s needs are met satisfactorily. This should also be in a manner that is customer friendly. Sustaining New Work Culture The first step in ensuring effective functioning of the helpdesk may be in the sustaining of the culture that she has already created. Sara has so far done a good job in ensuring that everyone at the helpdesk is working. Also that everybody is working with one another. That is, the effort is coordinated and not a single employee feels that they are overly burdened. This can be evident by the fact that at the moment the inquiries are first handled by Mick before they are then passed onto Tim and Jean for solving. This way the work is being done much faster and much more effectively. One of the ways in which S ara may ensure that this culture continues is by ensuring that she encourages the team work that she has now developed. This may be done by giving team assigned tasks, by scheduling team building activities and encouraging non-official office communication that will build the teams togetherness (Boller 2005, p. 3). The second thing may be by the encouragement of

Is corporal punishment an effective discipline technique for families Essay

Is corporal punishment an effective discipline technique for families or does the evidence show it does more harm than good to cihildren discuss - Essay Example This is because the main idea behind punishment of a child is to discourage unwanted behavior immediately; corporal punishment is usually effective in achieving this goal (Holden et al., 1999). According to Gershoff 2002), the prime objective that most parents have while administering corporal punishment on to their children is to stop them from being disobedient at once. Corporate punishment is effective if and only if it is administered after a transgression and must be immediate and should not be discriminated. However, even though all these criterions are met, most of parents fail to achieve the desired results from the child, hence in the end; corporal punishment tends to lose meaning and purpose. The common ground and goal, which is to ensure that the child gets meaning from the punishment, fails (Larzelere, 2000). Corporal punishment has failed to allow children to develop moral internalizations on their own, since instead of promoting better social behavior corporal punishment hinders this attribute. This is because even though corporal punishment achieves this in the short term, the moral internalization of a child is affected (Gerdshoff, 2002). They further state that, the long-term socialization goal for a child development is to take behavior and attitude as their own internal development, and not be driven by anticipation of external consequences such as from corporal punishment. Clearly, a child needs to be given room and space to develop mentally and make judgment calls for their actions, without being driven by consequences of corporal punishments (Afifi, 2012). Moreover, corporal punishment has the impetus of encouraging antisocial and aggressive behaviors among children in the end. This is true since the administration of this form of punishment negatively affects parent child relation. According to the attribution and social control theory posed by Burt et al. in Gershoff (2002), corporal

Strategic Human Resource Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strategic Human Resource Practices - Essay Example The company encourages team working, building trust, sharing knowledge and expertise to achieve optimal employee satisfaction (Bowman 2012). Tesco is regarded as a market leader in the retail sector and it has acquired this by conducting little deeds that really mean a lot to customers and employees. Tesco also believes in treating its employees with respect and providing equal opportunity to all. The company’s core beliefs revolve around the concepts of the significance of its people which help the company to create value for the customers and earning loyalty for a long time (Bowman 2012). 2.0 SHRM Practice 1 : HR Planning Human Resource planning is one of the highly important and potent practices an organization adopts. If the employees of an organization are not good enough to carry out objectives, there will be no chance for the organization to succeed or flourish. Recruiting talented people for the right jobs is the core concept of HR planning. It is a unique approach tow ards employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic use of highly dedicated and talented workforce, using a range of cultural, organizational and personnel procedures. It also refers to the strategic perspective in managing people and regarding people precious assets rather than only a variable cost (Brook 2013, pp. 10 - 15). Human Resource planning is crucial for any business in a number of ways. It provides quality workforce, cut down labor costs, provides opportunities to raise the skills of employees, boost motivation, and ensures health safety (Collings 2013, p. 227–328). Human Resource planning makes certain that the workforce is motivated to present constant and smooth functions of an organization. This means, human resource... Strategic Human resource Management (SHRM) has expanded significantly in managing important resources. Nowadays, SHRM has become more crucial for service organizations, like Tesco. The Strategic Human Resource Management is the earnest solution of the human resource board and policy matters so as to boost the effectiveness of an organization. Business strategy for service or retail organizations like Tesco has to understand a range of stakeholders’ interest and appease these within a framework of strategy agreeable to them all. SHRM is thus an important element of a broader reticulation of business administration and strategy. SHRM will enhance the productivity and success of Tesco through continuous and stable progress it would undergo within next five years. In a nutshell, it is vital that SHRM practices are core elements in proceeding proper procedures intact to ascertain that the Tesco’s long term goals are met.

Risk Management & Responsibilities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Risk Management & Responsibilities - Essay Example This is because there are genuine uncertainties in both physical and social systems. Nuclear scientist is obliged to (1) take extreme care about current projects and possible impact of their outcomes on environment. It is important to (2) produce "maps" of danger, deprivation, disease and despair, so that the social justice aspects of all this are formally taken into account long-range sitting plans take these maps into account and explicitly incorporate risk-avoidance measures. (3) Precaution presents a case for science type structure of interdisciplinary science, upon government, more complete communication, and dialogues between judgment of possible outcomes and cost-effectiveness calculations of various courses of action. In this case responsibilities mean more than simply passing moral judgment about what should and should not be done in a particular situation. Risk management is part of the (4) conscious decisions nuclear scientists make about the directions and consequences of the decisions. It is a link between morality, responsibility, and risk assessment. In this situation, the staff should work together taking into account threats and consequences of their studies for the humanity (Doherty, 2000). For a nuclear scientist, risk management requires (5) flexible technologies arranged with diversity. It is possible to consider its lead time, unit size, capital intensity and need for infrastructure; and, if it threatens to be highly inflexible, then decision-makers should consider ways in which flexibility might be enhanced, through shortening the lead time, or reducing the scale, capital intensity, or need for infrastructure. This is a central aspect of any satisfactory account of risk management for nuclear scientist. (1) Job security is one of the main responsibilities of engineers which deal with research process and design. Their responsibilities are (2) to design the projects according to safety measures and regulations accepted by the entire organization. This would also permit greater use of (3) mediation techniques and mechanisms in risk management. Ensuring best value and managing risk are two fundamental issues involved in the delivery of engineering projects. Responsibilities of an engineer involve project safety, design and resources allocation. Precaution is essentially about extending engineering projects to the public realm, about re-ordering victim powerlessness in favor of new mechanisms of victim avoidance, and of guaranteeing buffers of protected "ecological space" or "safety" to avoid going too close to unknowable. Because precaution places the burden of proof on the risk creator to show no unreasonable harm and to build in guarantees of compensation in case of honest misjudgmen t, so precaution favors the would-be victims rather than the beneficiaries of risk-related decisions (Doherty, 2000). In the world of global environmental change, the full influence of precaution would be socially approved. The lack of effective communication of risk between engineers and non-technical clients and between engineers and the general public is a major problem. No matter what approach is adopted to problem-solving (4) it is necessary to construct models, whether formal or informal. There are different attributes of models that are worth exploring; function, grounding, form, specification, applicability and

Malcolm X Essay Example for Free

Malcolm X Essay During the 1960’s, the powerful speeches spoken about equality by two men about black empowerment, ultimately lead to them to their deaths. The words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were so strong and influential, helping them gain great audiences and followers. King preached out over the â€Å"brotherhood† among races, and the importance of non-violence. Malcolm X, also advocated for the end to segregation, but emphasized the needs for blacks to become independent of the white man, and stand up for themselves. Both King and Malcolm X had similar goals in their minds, but took distinct paths to attain those goals. Both of their many speeches varied with great distinction. While the content and underlying ideas of the speeches may have different examples and ideas, they both use many common literary devices and rhetorical strategies to attain their audience’s attention. It is through Malcolm X’s use of emotion, together with the use of other strategies, that he ultimately created a more passionate influence on his audience. The early lives that these men lived had much influence on how they would later view racism, and speak out on segregation. Martin Luther King Jr., born Micheal Luther King Jr., was raised with a middle-class family, where his mother and father stressed the importance of obtaining an education (Martin). Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, came from a place filled with fear and danger, where the â€Å"Klansmen shouted threats and warnings [about how] ‘the good old Christian white people’ were not going to stand for [his] father’s ‘spreading trouble’† (X, Malcolm and 1). Malcolm’s early childhood experiences would be there to haunt him for the rest of his life. The experiences that these men encountered at a young age, planted the seeds to how they would flourish into the voices of the oppressed African-American people, and the ways in which they would deliver their speeches. Malcolm X, was furious at the idea that whites where trying to keep b lacks in their place, and were the reason why equality was still not being achieved. From a young age, Malcolm had suffered the effects of racism, never forgetting his eighth grade teacher telling him that â€Å"[he had] to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer- [that was] no realistic goal for a nigger† (X, Malcolm and 38). X, an intelligent student sharing similar dreams as King of becoming a lawyer, where soon shattered, causing him to drop out of school, and turn to drugs in order to get money. After being in jail for six years, Malcolm finally turned to Allah, where he began preaching black supremacy, and the separation between blacks and whites. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most prominent â€Å"I have a Dream† speech is lucid with its use of emotion, and all ­usion. King argues that African-Americans are not free according to the rights outlined in the United-States constitution. King not only presents his argument to the African-American community, but rather to all Americans, white and black. King delivers his argument successfully through his use of ethos. Throughout the speech, King alludes to his Christian morals, speaking out on how, â€Å"one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together† (Luther King). King acknowledges the fact that the majority of his audience believes in Christianity, therefore understanding the allusion to the bible. Finally, King refers to his audience as â€Å"his people.† This implies that King sees his audience equal and also it shows that not only the black people are â€Å"his people.† King presents his argument towards freedom, strategically placing emphasis on his moral authority. Malcolm X, flustered by King’s peaceful approach to obtaining African-American rights, wrote, â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet,† as a direct response to King’s famous â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech spoken only a month before. Like King, Malcolm appeals to the emotions of his young black audience, stirring them with anger; and simultaneously, striking fear into the minds of his white listeners. Malcolm’s goal for this speech was to persuade his audience to take action into their own hands and bring about a serious long lasting change. â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet† begins with Malcolm’s attempt to connect with his audience. He begins by greeting both his friends and enemies speaking out, â€Å"I just can’t believe everyone in here is a friend and I don’t want to leave anybody out† (X, Malcolm. Speech). X, immediately grab s the attention of his audience by, identifying with them, also putting aside religious aspects and focusing on simply â€Å"working together and putting aside their differences to fight for their rights† (Critical). As Malcolm continues delivering his speech, his use of repetition keeps his audience aroused with anger. X repeats, â€Å"I am not†¦Ã¢â‚¬  allowing his audience to identify with him, especially when he says that he is â€Å"not an American, but a victim of Americanism† (X, Malcolm. Speech). Here, Malcolm has fallen victim to racism. When X refers to â€Å"Americanism† he refers to things the United States is guilty of, like sexism, racism, and the power that the government has over people. In this quote, he doesnt feel like a citizen of America anymore, although he should. He is equal to everyone else, but is treated otherwise just because he is African-American. The strong and powerful words that these two men spoke out will always be remembered in the history of the civil rights movement. Although King is a heroine in the eyes of the movement, his methods of obtaining a change were very amicable. It was Malcolm X’s strong militant diction, and his power to stir the crowds’ emotions that helped him instill more passion in what he was arguing for. X’s approach may have arisen from his catastrophic childhood, instilling him to speak out on black supremacy, and the liberation from having the government having control over them. Nevertheless, King’s approach allowed him to gain more followers, but it was Malcolm X’s rage against the white man, that allowed him to create a more passionate audience. Works Cited Boyer, Paul S. The Turbulent Sixties. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1990. Print. Biography. Martin Luther King -. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. . Critical Analysis: The Ballot or The Bullet. Socyberty. Web. 02 June 2012. . Luther King, Martin. Speech. I Have a Dream. Washington D.C. 28 Aug. 1963. American Rhetoric. Web. 02 June 2012. . Malcolm X. Dir. Spike Lee. Prod. Spike Lee. By Spike Lee and Arnold Perl. Perf. Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, and Al Freeman. Warner Bros., 1992. DVD. Martin Luther King, Jr. SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 05 June 2012. . X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: One World/Ballantine, 1992. Print. X, Malcolm. Speech. The Ballot or the Bullet. Cory Methodist Church, Cleaveland. 3 Apr. 1964. Social Justice Speeches. Web. 02 June 2012. .

FTIR spectroscopy of SO2

FTIR spectroscopy of SO2 Abstract In this lab, the IR spectrum of SO2 gas was taken. The spectrum was then used to determine which peaks corresponded to the vibrational modes of SO2 ­. Once the modes had been determined, the experimental wavenumbers of the v1 and v3 modes and the overtones were used to determine the anharmonicity of the two different modes. While there was a difference between the two modes anharmonicity, overall there was not a significant difference. The modes and their corresponding wavenumbers were also used to calculate the force constants of SO2. The experimental data produced a force constant k1 with 3.112% error while the kÃŽ ´/l2 constant had a 2.963% error. Introductions IR spectroscopy is the detection of a transmittance or absorption intensity of change as a function of frequency1. In recent years, Fourier transform spectrometers replaced the traditional dispersive spectrometer because they are faster and more sensitive. They have made it possible to analyze many areas which were not possible with the dispersive spectrophotometer. The difference is the simultaneous examination of all frequencies. The three basic spectrometer components in a FT system are the radiation source, interferometer and detector. The radiation source in precision FTIR instruments is often water-cooled in give it more power and stability2. Figure 1. shows a diagram of the interferometer and the schematics of the spectrophotometer as a whole. The interferometer has the following three components: a moving mirror, fixed mirror, and a beamsplitter.. The beamsplitter is a semireflecting geranium thin film of small particles deposited on flat KBr substrate. Radiation from the broadband IR source is focused into the interferometer, and hits the beamsplitter. Once the beam hits the beam splitter, half of it is transmitted to the fixed mirror while the other half is transmitted to the moving mirror. The changing position of the moving mirror relative to the fixed one generates an interference pattern and causes the two beams to oscillate in and out of phase. When the beams are in phase, there is a constructive interference resulting in the maximum detector response. However, when the beam is out of phase, there is a deconstructive interference between the two beams. Once they have been reflected from both mirrors, they recombi ne at the beam splitter. The recombined beam passes through the sample and then focuses on the detector2. The intensity of the radiation hitting the detector will vary in a sinusoidal manner while the mirror is moving at constant velocity. The record of the interference signal is the interferogram and is a time domain spectrum. The detectors response changes versus time within the mirror scan are recorded. When a sample absorbs at a certain frequency, the amplitude of the sinusoidal wave reduces proportionally to the amount of sample in the beam. In an IR spectrophotometer, this process happens in three component frequencies, which creates a more complex interferogram2. To convert these interferogram recordings to the IR spectrum, a Fourier transformation is used. Small, precise intervals are used during the mirror scan. The rate of the sampling behavior is controlled by a monochromatic beam produced by a helium neon laser focused on a separate detector2. For this analysis, the mid IR spectrophotometer utilized a KBr beamsplitter and a mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector. MCT detectors are photon detector with a dependence on the quantum nature of radiation. They also exhibit very fast responses. They must be at a constant temperature of 77^(o)K, the temperature of liquid nitrogen. It is faster and more sensitive than the alternative detector, the deuterated triglycine sulfate (DTGS) 2, which was used for the far IR analysis. The cell used to hold the SO2 gas can be seen in Figure 2. A molecules energy can be split into three components: the electrons motion, the constituent atoms vibrations and the whole rotation of the molecule. While electronic transitions happen on a short timescale, rotational transitions happen on a longer time scale. When a molecule is placed in an electromagnetic field, such as light, energy from the light is transferred from the field to the molecule. This happens upon the satisfaction of Bohrs frequency condition: ΔE = hv When a molecule is excited from one state to another, the energy difference between the two states is absorbed by the molecule. When the molecule reverts back to the previous state, the change in energy which was absorbed upon excitation is then emitted1*. A molecule will be excited by photons which possess the appropriate energy3. Vibrational transitions are observed in the infrared (IR) spectra which are about the 103 ~ 104 cm-1 region. These transitions are caused by the vibration of the nuclei constituting the molecule. The rotational transitions occur at 1-103 cm-1 region, the microwave region, while the electronic transitions occur at 104-106 cm-1 region, the UV-visible region. As the vibrational quantum number v increases, the rotational intervals tend to decrease. The vibrational fine structure of electronic transitions can give insight to the structural and bonding information about molecules which are electronically excited1*. A system displaced from its equilibrium force will be restored due to a restoring force provided by the elasticity of the system. However, there is a property of inertia which causes the system to over correct for the displacement. The back and forth actions of elasticity and inertia cause the system to have oscillatory motion4. When the potential energy is graphed versus the internuclear separation, a perfect harmonic oscillator forms a parabola. The energy spacing in a harmonic oscillator does not change throughout the well of the parabola and is equal to hω where ω=km12 and the zero point energy is Eo= 12hω When a system is not a perfect harmonic oscillator, it is considered anharmonic. Anharmonicity forces the right side of the parabola to widen and asymptotically approach zero. The spaces between the permitted states are not evenly spaced as they were in the harmonic system5. The comparison of the two graphs can be seen if Figure 3. One of the possible ways to calculate xe, a term which shows the anharmonicity of a system is to graph ?G/? versus (?+1). This yields a graph with an equation as follows ΔGv=v+ 1xeve+ ve By dividing the xeve term by ve, the xe term is found. The larger this number, the more anharmonic the system is and vise versa5. Covalent bonds of molecules are not rigid as ball and stick models would suggest, but rather they can be compared to stiff springs which are capable of stretching and bending. More energy is required to stretch and compress a bond than it does to bend it. There is a direct relationship between the energy or frequency which characterizes the stretching vibration of a bond and the bond dissociation energy3. The major factors which are influencial in the stretching frequency of a covalent bond can be seen in the following equation: v = 12rck(m1+m2)m1+m2 where v is the frequency, k is the force constant, c is the speed of light, and m1 and m2 are the masses of the two atoms on each end of the bond. This equation corresponds to the rigidness of the oscillation. However, it should be noted that not all molecular vibrations are capable of being observed in the infrared region. In order to be seen in an IR spectrum, a vibration must cause a change in the dipole of a molecule. This change in charge distribution allows the molecule to absorb infrared light. There is a proportional relationship between the change in charge distribution and the absorption: the greater the change, the stronger the absorption3. All vibrating physical objects have a set of normal modes6. A normal mode can be defined as a simple harmonic oscillation which occurs about an area which is local and low in energy. The normal modes are determined by the systems structure R and its energy function V(R ). Any motion can be expressed as a superposition of normal modes when a pure harmonic V(R ) is being considered. However, the near minimum potential can still be approximated by a harmonic potential for an anharmonic V(R ). Also, small-amplitude motions can still be described by the sum of normal modes. This means that all systems behave harmonically at low temperatures7. For SO2, it is necessary to have nine Cartesian coordinates in order to determine the positions of all three nuclei. Therefore, the molecule is considered to have nine nuclear degrees of freedom. The first three are necessary to describe the position of the center of mass of the molecule. If these three degrees change, it represents the translational movement of the molecule in space. The next three degrees of freedom refer to the orientation of the molecule. These three degrees can be described as the angles of the molecule. If these three degrees change, then the molecule has rotated. The three remaining coordinates are those used to describe the relative positions of the three atoms. These are called vibrational coordinates8. To describe the vibrations of a bent trigonal molecule, it makes sense to use the valence coordinates. The valence coordinates consist of the two bond lengths and the bond angle. However, they do possess a drawback. If energy is put into a bond so that it stretches, to observe how the molecule reacts is difficult due to the energy put into the stretched bond quickly flowing into the vibrations of the other bond in the molecule. Because of this, it is said that the stretching of a single bond and other vibrational motions are coupled8. By varying the coordinates, which are the linear combinations of changes in the bond lengths and bond angles, a good uncoupled approximation can be made. These coordinates are called the normal coordinates. Motions which take place in these coordinates are appropriately called normal modes of vibration. The center of mass does not move in these coordinates8. A non symmetric molecule with N number of atoms will have 3N-6 normal modes. This means SO2 will have 3(3)-6 = 3 normal modes. The normal modes for SO2 can be seen in Figure 3. The symmetric stretch is labeled as v1, the bend is labeled v2, and the asymmetric stretch is labeled v3. When a molecule is exhibiting one of the vibrational modes, it travels the path indicated by the arrow, stops, and then returns back to its starting position8. It is possibly to express the three normal modes as a potential-energy function written in terms of bond stretching and angle bending as shown in the following equation: V = 12k1(R1-Re)2+ 12k1(R1-Re)2+ 12kb(ÃŽ ¸-ÃŽ ¸e)2 where R1 and R2 are the first and second bond length of S-O, Re is the equilibrium S-O bond length, ? is the bond angle of O-S-O, and ?e is the equilibrium value. The constants ks and kb ­ are for the stretching and bending respectively9 ­. Though the derivations are difficult, it was found that the following equations are derived from eq. (1) and are used to calculate both constants: 4r2v32 = 1+2momssin2ÃŽ ±k1mo 16r4v12v22 = 21+2momssin2k1moÃŽ ±kÃŽ ´l2 4r2v12+v22 = 1+2momscos2ÃŽ ±k1mo+2mo1+2momssin2ÃŽ ±kÃŽ ´l2 where v# is the wavenumber of that particular mode, 4?3 is expressed as 5. 8918E-5 in order to obtain units of Nm-1, mo is the mass of oxygen, ms is the mass of sulfur, ? is 59.75^(o), and k?/l2 is the same as the kb constant used in equation (6)10. Diatomic molecules possess only one vibrational coordinate which is quantized. This means that only specific results will be obtained for the value of the vibration. The quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator upon first approximation gives the allowed levels of a diatomic molecule. Polyatomic molecules are similar. Each normal mode has quantized energy, and can be approximated by the harmonic oscillator model when at low energy levels. The frequencies associated with bending tend to be lower than the frequencies associated with stretching10. It is possible to see normal modes via IR spectroscopy if they have a change in dipole in the molecule when it stretches or bends10. All of the normal modes in SO2 are IR active and therefore can all be seen in the IR spectrum at the fundamental frequency. It is possible to observe other weak bands in the spectrum which are a result of overtones. Overtones occur because anharmonicities. They usually happen at integer multiples of 2 or 3 of the fundamental frequencies and are caused by two modes being simultaneously excited10. These bands are located at frequencies which are approximately the sum or difference of the two modes which were excited and are weak10. Method About 1.5g of drierite was weighed out and placed in the barrel of a syringe and the plunger was inserted almost entirely into the barrel. A 3 cm piece of rubber tubing was attached to the tip of the syringe. A 1.5 g of sodium hydrogen sulfite was measured and placed in a vial cap that was small enough to fit into the syringe barrel. The filled vial cap was then into the syringe using a bent spatula to prevent the sodium hydrogen sulfite from spilling into the barrel. The plunger was pushed into the syringe as far as it would go. To ensure that none of the sodium hydrogen sulfite was spilled, the syringe was placed tip down in a beaker. The next step was placing 15 mL of 6 M HCl into a small beaker. All of the acid was then drawn into the syringe containing the vial cap very carefully as to not let any of the acid mix with the sodium hydrogen sulfite. The plastic lid was then screwed onto the syringe. Once the cap was secure on the tip, the syringe was shaken so that the acid and the sodium hydrogen sulfite mixed. As SO2 gas was being produced, the plunger on the syringe was pulled out simultaneously. The high pressure of the gas in the syringe caused the cap on the tip to leak so it was necessary to apply pressure to the tip to prevent it from spitting acid out. Once the reaction had stopped producing gas, the syringe was inverted so that the tip was pointing up and the liquid was at the bottom of the barrel. The cap was removed and the tip was connected to the other end of the rubber tubing attached to the syringe containing drierite. At this point the syringe containing drierite was above the syringe containing the SO2 gas. As the plunger in the bottom syringe was being pushed in, the plunger in the top syringe was being pulled out; making sure no liquid was pushed through the tubing and into the top syringe. The top syringe, now containing the SO2 gas, was capped and allowed to sit for five minutes in order for the drierite to dry the SO2 gas. The excess HCl in the reaction syringe was expelled into a waste beaker. 15 mL of NaOH was placed in a beaker and then drawn up into the syringe in order to destroy any remaining SO2. The NaOH was then also expelled into the waste beaker. After the syringe containing the gas had sat for five minutes, the IR gas cell was placed in the hood. The syringe containing the SO2 was then attached connected to the gas cell using another piece of rubber tubing. Both stopcocks on the gas cell were opened and the gas was pushed into the cell. Both stopcocks were then immediately closed to prevent any of the SO2 from leaking out. A spectrum in the range of 700-2500 cm-1 was obtained using an FTIR spectrophotometer. In order to get a good spectrum from the mid IR range, the cell was undiluted. However, to obtain a good spectrum in the far IR range, it was necessary to dilute the gas cell. Once the spectrum had been obtained, the gas cell was placed inside a fume hood. Both stopcocks were opened up and a syringe was used to flush air through the gas cell. The gas cell was then placed in a vacuum sealed dessicator with the stopcocks open in order to dry out any moisture that may have entered the cell during the experiment. Results The IR spectra of SO2 can be seen in Figure 5. By looking at what wavenumbers the peaks appeared at, it could be concluded which peak corresponded to each vibrational mode of SO2. The bending of a molecule happens at lower wavenumbers, so it was concluded that graph in the top right corner corresponds to the ?2 vibration. It was known from literature that the stretches occur somewhere between 1000 and 1500 cm-1 so the graph in the bottom right must correspond to the overtones of SO2s ?3 and ?1 modes. It is known that asymmetric stretches always correspond to higher wavenumbers. So it was concluded that the next two peaks on the spectrum were ?1 and ?3 respectively. The actual experimental wavelengths of each mode can be seen it Table 1. There are two overtones present, one from the ?1 mode and another from the ?3 mode. The lower frequency overtone corresponds to the lower-frequency mode. Thus the lowest overtone is that of ?1 while the second seen overtone comes from the ?2 mode. Using the experimental wavenumbers for each mode, both constants could be found using eq. (7) first to solve for k1. This values was calculated to be 1000.858 Nm-1. The litereature value is 1033 Nm-1 and the percent error in the experimental value was 3.112% The calculated value of k1 was then used in eq. (8) to find the k?/l3 constant. The second constant was calculated to be 78.60 Nm-1. Literature value for this constant is 81 Nm-1 and the percent error in the experimental calculation was 2.963%. To evaluate the effectiveness of this method for finding the constants, both sides of eq. (9) were solved for. The left side equaled 93.77 Nm-1 while the right side equaled 95.54 Nm-1. The percent difference between these two values is 1.85%. In order to determine the harmonicity of each of the modes of vibration, the ve and vexe values were calculated. This was done by graphing ?G/v versus (v + 1) in Microsoft Excel. The ?G corresponds to the wavenumber of the overtone seen on the IR spectrum. ?G was then divided by v. The overtones corresponded to v=2 while the normal mode bands corresponded to ?=1. Graphs for both the ?1 mode and ?2 mode can be seen in Figure 6. Excel was then used to fit a trend line and produce a y = mx + b equation for the data. The slope of the equation was vexe and the intercept was ve. To determine the anharmonicity of the two modes, it was necessary to solve for xe. This was done using eq (4). The calculated values for xe in the ?1 mode was 1.0612 and for the ?3 mode was 0.07891. This means that the ?1 mode is more anharmonic than the ?3 mode. Conclusion For this lab, SO2 ­ was prepared and then studied via FTIR spectroscopy. The three modes of SO2 were identified on the IR spectra obtained. It was determined that the lowest energy of bending correlated to the lowest frequency peak. The second highest frequency peak was determined to be ?1 since the symmetric stretch is lower in energy than the asymmetric stretch (?3) which is the third highest frequency peak. The wavelengths determined from the IR spectra were used to calculate the constants k1 and k?/l3. It was determined from the numbers crunched from eq. (6) that the used method of determining the constants was an accurate method. Also, the anharmonicity of the modes ?1 and ?2 were calculated and compared. The graph of ?G/vversus (v + 1) produce an equation of y = mx + b which provided the values of xeve and v ­e. These values were then used to find xe, which described the anharmonicity of each mode. The ?1 mode was found to be more anharmonic due to its greater xe value whil e the ?3 was found to be more harmonic. Refrences What is Infrared Spectroscopy?. (n.d.). Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~mlyount/MySites/ForensicSpectroscopy/WhatIsIR.html Nakamoto, Kazuo.Infrared and Raman Spectra of Inorganic and Coordination Compounds. Sixth Edition ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Sons, Inc., 2009. Print. Hsu, S. (n.d.). Infrared Spectroscopy. prenhall.com. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from www.prenhall.com/settle/chapters/ch15.pdf Chem.msu.edu. (n.d.). Nature of Vibrational Spectroscopy. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from 2http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/Spectrpy/InfraRed/irspec1.htm#ir1 The Simple Harmonic Oscillator. (n.d.). PAWS Personal Accessible Web Space Kettering University. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/SHO/mass.html Atkins, P., Friedman, R., Paula, J. D. (2008). Rotational and Vibrational Spectra. Quanta, Matter and Change: A Molecular Appraoch to Physical Change (pp. 315-318). New York: W. H. Freeman. Normal mode Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mode Normal Mode (Harmonic) Analysis. (n.d.). Center for Molecular Modeling. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://cmm.cit.nih.gov/intro_simulation/node26.html Vibrational Spectroscopy. (n.d.). med.upenn.edu. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from www.med.upenn.edu/bmbgrad/Faculty/Master_List/Vanderkooi/course_notes/8.vibrational.pdf Sulfer Dioxide Vibration. (n.d.). d.umn.edu. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from www.d.umn.edu/~psiders/courses/chem4644/labinstructions/SO2spartan.pdf Infrared Spectroscopy of SO2. (n.d.). Spectroscopy and Structure Chem 4591. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from 3http://www.colorado.edu/chemistry/chem4581_91/SO2.pdf