Saturday, December 28, 2019

What Is Tin Pest

Question: What Is Tin Pest? Here is a look at what tin pest is, what causes and tin pest, and some historical significance of the phenomenon. Answer: Tin pest occurs when the element tin changes allotropes from its silvery metallic ÃŽ ² form to the brittle gray ÃŽ ± form. Tin pest is also known as tin disease, tin blight and tin leprosy. The process is autocatalytic, meaning once the decomposition begins, it speeds up as it catalyzes itself. Although the conversion requires a high activation energy, it is favored by the presence of germanium or very low temperatures (approximately -30 Â °C). Tin pest will occur more slowly at warmer temperatures (13.2 Â °C or 56 Â °F) and cooler. Tin pest is important in modern time, as most tin-lead solder has been replaced with solder containing primarily tin. Tin metal may spontaneously decompose into a powder, causing problems where the metal is used. Tin pest has historical significance, too. Explorer Robert Scott sought to become the first to reach the South Pole in 1910. The tin soldered cans the team cached on their route were empty of kerosene, potentially from poor soldering, but possibly because tin pest caused the cans to leak. There is a tale of Napoleons men freezing in the Russian cold when tin pest disintegrated the buttons of their uniforms, though this has never been proven to have occurred.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

James Joyces Alter Ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a...

James Joyces Alter Ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Works Cited Missing In James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus, a young man growing up, has many of the same traits of the young James Joyce. For example, On 1 September 1888, at the age of half-past-six, Joyce was taken by his parents to be enrolled in the finest Catholic preparatory school in Ireland, Clongowes Wood College, situated about twenty miles west of Dublin in the countryside near Clane(Anderson, James Joyce 15). This is the same school Stephen Dedalus attends in the novel. This is one of the many ways James Joyce uses this novel to portray his life.†¦show more content†¦On that day, commissioned by the editors of a new Dublinmagazine called Dana, he wrote... A Portrait of the Artist (Anderson, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text Criticism, and Notes 257). Joyce wanted to let all of the emotions of his life out at this point in his life by telling his story. The death of his mother w as very hard for Joyce, and this is how he tried to overcome her death. Joyce is trying to tell the reader of all the successes he has had in his life without bragging. Instead of trying to make himself look better, Joyce tells his story through Stephen. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Joyce sees Stephen as an autobiographical hero who triumphs over his tawdry environment of squalor, stupidity, and treachery, by rejecting it, flying past the nets of family, nation, and church to find his own identity (Anderson, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text, Criticism, and Notes 447). Joyce makes the novel a mere study of his life. As indicated by the title, Stephen Dedalus, in all essentials, is James Joyce, and the Portrait is an autobiographical studyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Anderson, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text, Criticism, and Notes 447). Joyce just uses the events in his life as the basis for what he writes. Everything in his life that he remembers is his selection for his material (Anderson, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text, Criticism, and NotesShow MoreRelatedEssay James Joyce and Catholicism in Portrait and Dubliners3374 Words   |  14 PagesJoyces Juxtaposition of Catholicism and Aesthetics James Joyce was a prolific Irish writer who wrote about Ireland and the troubles the people of Ireland faced. According to the Volume Library Encyclopedia, with Ireland being about 94 % Roman Catholic, religion is a motif brought forth prominently in Joyces works. In Dubliners, his book of short stories as well as his supposed autobiography, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce shows religious turmoil and indecision through his charactersRead More The Esthetic Theory and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man1415 Words   |  6 PagesThe Esthetic Theory and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man  Ã‚  Ã‚   In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus defines beauty and the artists comprehension of his/her own art. Stephen uses his esthetic theory with theories borrowed from St. Thomas Aquinas and Plato. The discourse can be broken down into three main sections: 1) A definitions of beauty and art. 2) The apprehension and qualifications of beauty. 3) The artists view of his/her own work. I will explain how theRead More Effects of Religious Education on Theme and Style of James Joyces The Portrait of the Artist as a3465 Words   |  14 PagesEffects of Religious Education on Theme and Style of James Joyces The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Although Joyce rejected Catholic beliefs, the influence of his early training and education is pervasive in his work. The parallels between Biblical text and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are abundant. As Cranly says to Stephen, It is a curious thing, do you know, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve (232). The novel progressesRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesUniversity Christine Day, Eastern Michigan University Emmeline de Pillis, University of Hawaii, Hilo Kathy Lund Dean, Idaho State University Roger Dean, Washington Lee University Robert DelCampo, University of New Mexico Kristen Detienne, Brigham Young University Doug Dierking, University of Texas at Austin Cynthia Doil, Southern Illinois University Jennifer Dose, Messiah College Ceasar Douglas, Florida State University David Duby, Liberty University Ken Dunegan, Cleveland State University Michael

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Skrzynecki and Lord of the Flies free essay sample

‘A feeling of belonging depends on a strong relationship, developed over a period of time. ’ To what extent would you support this viewpoint? In your essay refer in detail to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing. According to sociobiologists, the need for human connection and belonging is hardwired and genetically dictated.It defines ‘who’ and ‘what’ we are, and how we fit into the world around us. An individual’s sense of connection may be influenced by many factors, but one of the strongest of these is a strong relationship or relationships, which have been developed over a period of time. This human connection is instrumental in defining an individual’s place in the world as well as his or her sense of belonging.The notion that a feeling of belonging depends on a strong relationship is explored in Peter Skrzynecki’s prose poetry anthology Immigrant Chronicle (1975) – in particular the poems ‘Migrant Hostel’ in which the persona and his family struggle to g ain lasting relationships at the hostel, and ’10 Mary Street’, the persona’s childhood home, in which strong familial relationships were forged – and William Golding’s prose fiction text Lord of the Flies (1958), in which a group of school boys stranded on an island gradually lose any strong relationships they may have had as their civilisation descends into violence and savagery. Both these texts memorably and distinctively explore how relationships and acceptance can shape an individual’s perceptions of belonging and not belonging. Set in the context of a post-war assimilationist culture, Migrant Hostel represents the immense sense of disconnection experienced by the persona and his family, given both their dislocation from their European homeland and their lack of strong relationships with the other members of the hostel.The migrants transitory existence is emphasised through the use of a migratory bird simile For over two years we lived like birds of passage, always sensing a chance in the weather while through the use of connotative language to highlight the personas disconnection, the poem provides an overall sense of helplessness and lack of autonomy in determining their own future Sudden departures from adjoining blocks that left us wondering who would be coming next thus constructing the hostel as a place of impotence and impermanence.This evident transience is perhaps symbolic of the migrants own fleeting sense of connection as they instinctively seek out members of their own culture, efficaciously conveyed through the use of a familiar analogy – â€Å"nationalities sought/each other out instinctively – like a homing pigeon/circling to get its bearings†.These superficial relationships thus serve to hinder the development of any lasting sense of belonging – regardless of a common history and identity – as, whilst for some migrants, their time in the hostel represents a new beginning, for others the sustained sense of alienation and despair, due to a lack of strong relationships, becomes too difficult to bear, as the final lines of the poem poignantly suggest through juxtaposition – â€Å"lives/that had only begun/or were dying†. Thus a feeling of belonging depends on a strong relationship, developed over a period of time.Standing in stark contrast to ‘Migrant Hostel’ is the poem ’10 Mary Street’, which portrays the persona’s strong feelings of belonging to his childhood home as a result of the s trong familial relationships which were forged during his time there. The family’s domestic routine is depicted and their unity of existence is simply, but effectively conveyed in the first stanza through inclusive language â€Å"We departed/Each morning, shut the house/Like a well-oiled lock†, alluding to their sense of family security. The beginning of the second stanza alludes to the fact that, despite the family’s integration into mainstream society, their socioeconomic marginalisation continues. Through the simple use of connotation and onomatopoeia, the responder is positioned to recognise the mundane nature of the menial labour the persona’s parents nevertheless stoically endure – â€Å"From the polite hum-drum/Of washing clothes/And laying sewage pipes†. Consequently, it is in the context of the Skrzynecki family’s ongoing marginalisation that the sense of belonging afforded by the family home gains deeper significance.Feelings of nourishment and well-being are generated through combining a simile and cumulative imagery as the persona’s parents extend their nurturing to the family garden – â€Å"My parents watered/Plants- grew potatoes/ And rows of sweet corn:/ Tended the roses and camellias/ Like adopted children†. Thus, the persona’s strong sens e of belonging as depicted in this poem is a result of the strong relationships with his family which were forged during his time there.While similar to Immigrant Chronicle on a superficial level, to the extent that both texts represent individual’s experiences of alienation and dislocation, Golding’s text Lord of the Flies explores representations of belonging, in terms of relationships, differently. Composed in the context of the Cold War nuclear arms power race, Golding’s text can be read as an allegory of the impossibility of human civilisation in which individuals are able to coexist without ultimately resorting to violence and savagery. The character of Piggy represents the scientific and rational side of society – portrayed in this text as a minority. From the beginning of the novel, Piggy has little by way of close relationships – â€Å"A storm of laughter arose and even the tiniest child joined in. For the moment the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy on the outside. † It is in this moment that both the extent of Piggy’s alienation is highlighted while the disintegration into chaos and disorder is also foreshadowed through the breaking of Piggys glasses, a symbol of rational civilisation.When Piggy’s glasses are broken during a major battle between Ralph and Jack towards the end of the book, this destruction symbolises the ultimate desolation of civilisation on the island, and, with it, any sense of belonging that the boys on the island had attempted to inculcate. This destruction can be viewed as a decimation of any strong relationships that the boys may have had – particularly between Piggy, Ralph and Jack – and can be read as reason for the poignant lack of belonging on the island.Jack Merridew, who begins as the head hunter, comes to embody the spirit of chaos and destruction on the island. While it can be argued that it is Jack’s lack of a strong ‘familial’ relationship with Ralph and Piggy that incites his search for power, Golding implies that the human instinct of barbarism greatly outweighs that of civilisation. When Jack first realises how much power he has, any sense of belonging he feels to the other boys is annihilated, the moment when Jack and his hunters finally manage to capture and kill a pig, marking Jack’s descent into bestial savagery, – â€Å"Look!We’ve killed a pig – we stole up on them – we got in a circle –†. The hyphenation utilised in this dialogue is subtly indicative of Jack’s inevitable loss of any sense of civility as he develops a warped relationship to his barbaric activities, ultimately seducing the majority of the boys off to a separate camp, where their descent into primitive barbarism becomes evident – â€Å"The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist , his face blocked out in white and red. The tribe lay in a semicircle before him. While giving Jack a sense of power and self-importance, this new ‘tribe’, built on a mutual savage desire for food, has diminished the boys’ sense of friendship and camaraderie. It is this lack of a strong relationship developed over a period of time which is cause for their lack of a strong sense of belonging. Evidently it is clear, upon examination of Immigrant Chronicle and Lord of the Flies, that a feeling of belonging relies heavily on a strong relationship developed over a period of time. In Skrzynecki’s poem ‘Migrant Hostel’, the persona’s evocative sense of isolation is due to his lack of any strong relationships as well as any attempts at establishing them. In contrast to this, ’10 Mary Street’ clearly provides a strong sense of belonging as a result of the persona’s strong familial relationships. In Lord of the Flies, the boys stranded on the island attempt to cling to their superficial relationships to each other, but, in the face of dwindling food supplies, eventually descend into savagery, diminishing their relationships and ultimately their sense of belonging.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Is China Unstable Essays - Social Justice, Unemployment, China

Is China Unstable Is China Unstable? Foreign Policy Research Institute Wire, July 1999 By Minxin Pei Western attitudes toward China tend to oscillate between two extremes, often with confusing rapidity. Not too long ago China was widely portrayed as an emerging military and economic threat to the West. Its total economic output was projected to surpass that of the United States in two decades. Its military modernization was expected to provide China the capability to project its power far beyond its borders (and the recent Cox report on nuclear espionage has revived those concerns). And its authoritarian regime was supposed to be able to retain its grip on power for a long time. Nowadays, however, the speculation about China's future has generally inclined toward pessimism. The influential British magazine The Economist openly speculated about the break-up of China in its last issue of 1998. Not long before that, the same publication ran a cover editorial opining about the imminent collapse of the Chinese economy. And in a speech delivered in April of this year, President Bill Clinton warned of the dangers of an unstable China which failed to reform. Even within China, signs of danger and nervousness abound. Arguably, the Chinese government now faces the most severe challenge since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations a decade ago. Unemployment is rising at a frightening rate. Several key anniversary dates fraught with symbolic and real political dangers (such as the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic, the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and the 40th anniversary of the uprising in Tibet) have prompted the government to maintain a tight watch over the country's tiny dissident community lest something akin to the 1989 movement break out again. In my judgment, the current pessimism about China's short- term prospects is as exaggerated as the previous optimism about its long-term economic outlook. In fact, China is likely to retain its short-term political stability despite many signs of potential turmoil, but will face rising instability if the regime fails to undertake significant political reform in the next decade. CHINA'S CURRENT DIFFICULTIES While parallels between the problems China faces today and those it confronted during the Tiananmen crisis a decade ago may be alluring, they are misleading. In 1989, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) faced a genuine crisis of political legitimacy, which had its origins in 1978-79, when the leaders promised, but repeatedly failed to deliver, political reform. By contrast, the challenges confronting the Chinese government today are primarily economic, although weaknesses in the political system make potential solutions more elusive. Specifically, China's economic difficulties today originate, externally, from the aftermath of the East Asian financial crisis (falling exports and foreign direct investment) and, internally, from weak consumer demand and severe structural problems. The internal problems are far more daunting than the external. It is well known that China's two most perilous economic challenges are an insolvent banking system (which has total bad loans of between 25 and 30 percent of gross domestic product) and rising unemployment due to the restructuring and privatization of the loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Many analysts believe that the latter poses the clearest threat to the Chinese government, because any unrest by the unemployed, who are concentrated in urban areas, would lead to a political crisis akin to the Solidarity movement in Poland in 1981-82. Given the sheer numbers of unemployed and underemployed people in China, this analysis is not without merit. The official China Daily reports that, among urban dwellers, unemployment is about 11 percent (or 16 million people). In addition, as many as 120 million rural laborers are considered underemployed. However, unemployment alone is unlikely to generate a high level of political instability and is even less likely to bring down the regime. (Can you recall the last time a regime was toppled by unemployment?) In analyzing the political consequences and implications of economic crises, we must understand that not all economic crises are created equal. Although all of them are nasty and harmful to the societies they hit, they produce different political outcomes because their effects are filtered through the political system differently. In the case of high unemployment, its impact on political instability tends to be limited for two reasons. First, unemployment principally affects only one segment of society, namely, manufacturing workers. It would be difficult for these workers to find political allies in other sectors. In China, workers being laid off from SOEs are viewed as industrial aristocrats who have had it pretty good for the last fifty years at the expense of the other