Retaining the HR Function Essay Example for Free

Retaining the HR Function Essay Introduction This report is to the executive directors and will be outlining the importance of retaining the HR function within the business. I will be explaining how HR activities support the organisations strategy and how HR professionals support line managers and their staff. HR is essential to the smooth running of the business. HR is there to ensure that the company do not have a high turnover of staff and that training is given to employee. HR is essential to help the company meet its targets, and ensuring that the company complies with legal requirements including Health Safety. How three HR activities support the organisations strategy Recruitment Recruitment is co-ordinated by the HR department and is a major factor on how your business recruits the right type of people to carry out the tasks required. HR will in this instance start from the beginning and advertise for the positions to be applied for, HR will also screen and interview the right type of candidates required and then Induct them once the candidate  is successful in getting the position. This is a time consuming job which the department that HR are recruiting for will not have time for and can spend their time concentrating on their departments. HR are responsible for sending out the necessary letters and paperwork to the candidates. Disciplinary’s / Grievances Disciplinary’s are usually completed due to a employee mis conduct or absence related. The HR team usually monitors all absences and would notify the line manager of any concerns. HR support the line managers by attending these disciplinary meetings and advise on the best course of action to be taken, HR are also responsible for ensuring the necessary paperwork is completed for the disciplinary to take place. Grievances are dealt with by the line managers also and again HR is responsible for ensuring that grievances are dealt with fairly and equally. Induction The HR department are responsible for inducting all new employees who enter into the business. Inductions are quite important in how the new employee fits into the business and responds with the demands and the business strategy. All new employees should be inducted with the practices, policies and procedures and the culture that the company operates in. This will allow the new employee to familiarise and settle into their role with how the business works, this should help keep the employee retention level quite low. The induction process done ‘effectively reflects the employer brand and the values the organisation is promoting. It is important, therefore, to ensure that the induction process reflects the values and culture of the organisation’ (CIPD, 2014) Three ways HR professionals support line managers and their staff Performance management The HR function here will provide you with the best way to maximise the potential of your employees. If you have underperforming employees HR will be able to help you get the maximum out of them. The process is performance management during this period the employee will go through a set of meetings to discuss their performance shortfalls. if after reviewing the  shortfalls the HR department are able to advise of the further necessary steps to take e.g. disciplinary, warnings etc. HR are there to support the managers carrying out the meetings and advising of the best way forward. Legal The HR function for the business in a legal matter would be to ensure that the organisation activities are complying with legislative requirements i.e. pay increase, working time regulations. HR would have to know the employment law to a degree in this way HR would act as an advisor for the company. We may also be making a decision on some occasions depending on the circumstances surrounding the issue or speak to the line managers on further training. more importantly HR are responsible for keeping records e.g. disciplinary, absences, training, as these good records can afford real protection for employers and managers who may need to defend their actions at a tribunal or In other courts (Martin and Whiting, 2013). If the company fails act accordingly to the legal requirements they could possibly face claims, and also the last instance close down the company Training HR is responsible for the training aspect of the business, if a department identifies the need for a training requirement they will notify the HR department. The HR departments responsibility would be to find how the training is going to be given out, i.e. external or internal If external training is required HR who have to find a company who deliver the training and find out the necessary information. This may include costs, venue, duration. HR would also draw up the relevant training contracts so that the company would not lose out financially if the employee was to leave once they had received the training. Conclusion To conclude the above points which I have mentioned, the HR department is an integral part of the organisation and is essential in meeting the business strategy. As you can see from the report without the HR department the business cannot function properly, by reducing the size of the HR department you may ultimately affect other parts of the business and the strategy as  whole. This may lead to an increase in employee retention and legal costs in the form of claims, tribunals etc. The examples of the parts of the business given above where HR is essential are a few and many more functions within the business need the HR department. The HR department are also their to support employee’s and for them to come and see and speak to someone in private and confidential nature this helps with employee relations. With the help of the HR department employees within the organisation are being given the necessary training. These employees who are given the opportunity of progress with the company are more devoted to meeting the business need and most of all the strategy. REFERENCES CIPD. (2014). What is an Induction. Available: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/induction.aspx#link_2. Last accessed 04th December 2014. Martin, M. and Whiting, F.. (2013). Human Resource Practice. 6th ed.. CIPD.

Family & marriage Essay Example for Free

Family marriage Essay 1. The U.S. Census Bureau defines family as two or more people living together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Heterosexual or Homosexual unmarried partners are excluded from this traditional definition. Many people object to the Census Bureau’s definition. The Journal of Marriage and Family, a scholarly journal about families published by the National council on Family Relations, opts for a broader, more exclusive definition saying that a family is a relationship by blood, marriage or affection, where members of the family cooperate economically, may care for children, and can consider their identity to be intimately connected by a larger group. It can include a family of orientation, which is the family that you were born into, and a family of procreation, which is the family that you make through marriage, partnering and/or parenthood. This text also includes fictive kin in its definition of family. Fictive kin are nonrelatives whose bonds are strong and intimate, such as the relationships shared among unmarried homosexual or heterosexual partners, or close friends. Chapter 1, pg 3-5. 2. Regulation of Sexual Behavior: All cultures regulate sexual behavior, including who can have sex with whom and under what circumstances they must do so. A virtually regulation is the incest taboo that forbids sexual activity among close family members. Reproducing and Socializing Children: Each society must produce new members and ensure socialization, teaching children the rules, expectations and culture of society. Property and Inheritance: For much of human history, when people were nomadic hunters and gatherers, families owned little or nothing of their own, and so had nothing to pass down. Agriculture made it possible for people to own property, or to obtain a surplus beyond what was needed to survive, therefore, it became imp ortant to identify heirs. Economic Cooperation: A family is the group responsible for providing its members with food, shelter, clothing and other basic necessities. Social Placement, Status, and Roles: Families give their members a social identity and position. Members find their place in the complex web of status and roles. Care, Warmth, Protection, and Intimacy: Humans need far more than food, shelter, and clothing to survive. Families are intended to provide the emotional care needed to survive and thrive. Chapter 1, pg 6-7. 10. Poverty comes in many different shapes, sizes and colors. Poor families face a higher degree of stress, disorganization, ad other issues in their life.  Poverty is hard on every one, but it weighs especially heavy on children’s physical, social, and emotional health. Poverty puts the health of children at risk in many ways, including a low birth weight, which increases chances of serious chronic and acute illness, along with emotional and behavioral problems. Poverty has a negative effect on the quality and stimulation of the home environment. Poor children on welfare who were between the ages of 13 and 36 months hear only half as many words per hour as the average working class child. Poor children have a higher probability of being abused, neglected, and more severely injured by abuse. On average, poor children have fewer resources for learning in the home, including books and educational toys. Because poor families cannot pay high rent they often live in housing that may lack proper cooking, heating, or sanitation. Poor children live in inner cities where violence, crime truancy, loitering, and a sense of despair predominate. Chapter 2, pgs 63-65. 11. We are all made up of many different characteristics. We aren’t simply male or female, Asian American or Hispanic, rich or poor. A person may be a White working-class female, a Japanese American upper-class male, a Cuban middle-class male, a white upper-class female, or any number of other racial, ethnic, gender, sex, and class combination. We have multiple statuses and they all interact to shape our lives. Our statuses intersect with one another. Sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and social class, individually and together, shape a constellation of privileges and constraints that can affect our goals, opportunity, choices, and experiences. They influence family structure we are born into, the way our parents raise us, our choices and opportunities in intimate relationships, how we parent, and how we age. Chapter 2, pg 67.

L. Pisonis Nut Oil Extraction

L. Pisonis Nut Oil Extraction The search for new crops to provide vegetable oils for use in the industry and also for human consumption is growing increasingly over the past two decades. A rapid search on Web of Science„ ¢ platform present more than 19200 results related to nuts, more than 7600 documents are related to edible oils, and more than 22000 results associated with vegetable oil. Additionally, the published items regarding vegetable oil increased from 282 in 1996, to more than 1930 in 2016 proving the growing interest by the scientific community in such field of study [1]. Several Brazilian seeds/nuts species, especially from the Amazonian area have been studied during the last years and most of them were shown to present bioactive compounds and also potential as functional foods [2]-[7]. Nevertheless, some other species are not well-known or were not summited to any further study to elucidate other characteristics. Lecythis pisonis Camb., a Lecythydaceae tree that grows in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and in the Guyanas, commonly known as sapucaia provide nuts particularly similar with that of Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). The delicious edible kernels of sapucaia present a characteristic sweet flavor, being considered more digestible than Brazil nut [8]. In addition to the economic and ecological importance of sapucaia, often used to shade cocoa plantations in Brazilian agroforestry systems [9], the nuts from L. pisonis are a valuable source of macro and micronutrients, essential amino acids, minerals such as P, K, S, Mg, Ca, Mn, Ba, Zn, Fe, Sr, Cu, B, Al, and Cl [3], [10], and also fibers [11]. Furthermore, the sapucaia nuts constitute a relevant source of lipids, about 51-64% [5], [8], [10], [11], in which there is a predominance of the linoleic acid (essential fatty acid). Although sapucaia can be considered a potential crop to provide raw material for the production of vegetable oil, the available papers that studied the nuts have mostly focused on the mineral and fatty acid profile [3], [5], [10], [12], [13], and the latest reports are limited to some agronomic, microbial and pharmacological aspects [9], [14]-[17]. Vegetable oils are widely utilized in many applications such as food, cosmetic, pharmaceutics, and biofuel industries. Consequently, stability tests, rheological essays, phase transitions and other properties of the oils should be well characterized to optimize processing conditions and energy inputs [18], [19]. No reference has been found regarding the total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, thermal and rheological characterization of sapucaia nut oil. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the sapucaia nut oils extracted by Soxhlet and Bligh Dyer means and evaluated for their fatty acid composition, rheological behavior, and thermal properties by using DSC and TG/TGA analysis, total phenolic content, antioxidant properties and oxidative stability by Rancimat in addition to Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). 2.1 Chemicals Other reagents used in the experiments were of analytical grade. The aqueous solutions were prepared using ultrapure water. 2.2 Samples Lecythis pisonis nuts were harvest from a crop area located in the city of Araguanà £, Maranhà £o State, Brazil. The nuts (Fig. 1) were dried in an air-circulating oven (Soc. Fabbe, Brazil) at 40  °C for 24 h. Nutshells were removed manually using a stainless steel knife and then submitted to freeze-drying (Liotop L101, Liobras, Brazil) to remove the residual moisture. Prior to the oil extraction, the nut samples were crushed for 30 s with the aid of a stainless steel knife grinder (MA630/1 Marconi Ltda., Brazil). 2.3 Extraction of nuts oils The oil content of L. pisonis nut samples was extracted by the Bligh Dyer method described in AOCS Ba 3-38 method, and also using n-hexane with Soxhlet apparatus (Vidrolabor ®, Labor Quimi, Brazil) according to American Oil and Chemical Society Official Method (1997). Oils were named LP1 and LP2, respectively. After the oil extraction, solvents were removed at 43  °C under reduced pressure using a rotary evaporator (Model 801, Fisatom Ltda., Brazil). Samples were dried at 45  °C in an air circulating oven (Solab, Brazil) and then flushed with gaseous N2 before storage. The oils were kept in an amber glass and stored at -10  °C until further analysis. 2.4 Analytical determinations 2.4.1 Water content and apparent pH Water content was measured by volumetric Karl Fischer titration using a titration system (V30 Mettler-Toledo, Switzerland) [21]. The determination of the pH was performed according to Pena Muniz et al. (2015), as recommended by the Brazilian National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance without previous dilution of the oil, with the aid of a digital pH meter (Model PG1800 Gehaka) at 25  ± 2  °C. The results represent the mean of three measurements. 2.4.2 Measurement of fatty acid composition Fatty acid composition of fresh L. pisonis oils was investigated according to AOCS Official Method Ce 1a-13 [20] by using a GC-MS system (GC-2010) coupled to a mass spectrometer (GCMS-TQ8030) and automatic injection system by headspace (Shimadzu, Japan). Oil samples solubilized with hexane were methylated as described by AOCS Ce 2-66 and then injected into a capillary HP88 column (60 m ÃÆ'- 0.250 mm i.d., 0.2 ÃŽÂ ¼m film thickness, Agilent Technologies) using helium as carrier gas (0.64 mL/min). Oven temperature was programmed to be 175  °C (isothermal) and the detector was held at 250  °C. An aliquot of 1 ÃŽÂ ¼L of the sample was injected using the split injection mode (1:100). Fatty acid composition was expressed as the percentage of the total peak area of all the fatty acids in the oil sample. 2.4.3 Rheological studies Rheological measurements of oils were performed according to Teixeira et al. (2016), by using a Haake Mars II (Thermo Electron GmbH, Germany) rheometer connected to a thermostatic bath (Haake K15), a thermo-circulator water unit (Haake DC5B3) and a Peltier temperature control (Haake UTM Controller). A sensor cone-plate (C60/2  °Ti L) with a diameter of 60 mm and a cone angle of 2  ° was used. Samples remained in the rheometer for 5 min prior to analysis, and sampling was carried out in duplicate. The following measurements were performed: i) flow curve ( = 0.01-500 s-1, t = 300 s); ii) dynamic stress sweep (à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = 0.01-100 Pa, à Ã¢â‚¬ ° = 1 Hz) and subsequent dynamic frequency sweep (à Ã¢â‚¬ ° = 0.1-100 Hz, à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = 1.0 Pa); and iii) temperature sweep (T = 10-60  °C, t = 1440 s, 2  °C/min and 60-10  °C, t = 600 s, 5  °C/min; à Ã¢â‚¬ ° = 1 Hz, à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = 1.0 Pa). Temperature sweeps were performed at a constant tension of 0.5% in the Linear Viscoelastic Region (LVR). The samples were covered by using a sample hood in order to avoid interference of the ambient temperature. The coefficient of determination (R2) and chi-square (à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡2) were chosen to evaluate the fit of the Ostwald-de Waele (Eq. (1)) and Herschel-Bulkley (Eq. (2)) models to the experimentally obtained flow curves: Ostwald-de Waele (OW) (1) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = + ()nH Herschel-Bulkley (HB) (2) where à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ is the shear stress (Pa), is the shear rate (s-1), à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾0H is the HB yield stress (Pa), K and KH are the consistency index (Pa ·sn), and n and nH are the flow behavior indexes (dimensionless). The effect of the temperature on apparent viscosity was evaluated according to an Arrhenius type equation (Eq. (3)), using a shear rate of 53.4 s-1. (3) where is the apparent viscosity at a specific shear rate, is the preexponential factor, is the activation energy (J.mol-1), is the gas constant (8.31 J. K-1 . mol-1) and is the absolute temperature (K). 2.4.4 Oxidative Stability Index The oxidative stability index (OSI) was estimated in a Metrohm Rancimat model 743 (Herisau, Switzerland), following the American Oil Chemists Society Official Method Cd 12b-92 [20]. Briefly, increasing water conductivities were continually measured while air (20 L/h) was bubbled into the oil (3  ± 0.1 g) heated to 110  °C and their volatile compounds were collected in water. The time taken to reach the conductivity inflection time was recorded. IP was registered by Rancimat 743 PC Software 1.1. 2.4.5 Infrared spectroscopy Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses were determined by using a Vertex-70 spectrometer (Bruker, USA) with an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) accessory, at 25  °C. The oil samples were placed uniformly in the ATR crystal (1.5 mm active area). The FTIR spectra were recorded in the wavenumber range of 4000 to 600 cmˆ’1 with a spectral resolution of 4 cmˆ’1 [23]. 2.4.6 TG-TGA Thermal decomposition TGA analyses were performed in TGA 4000 equipment (PerkinElmer Inc. Waltham, USA). Oil sample (~10 mg) was placed into the platinum pan and then placed in a furnace. The sample was heated from 30 to 750  °C (10  °C/min) in the air atmosphere (70 mL/min flow rate) or under a nitrogen atmosphere. Data on the weight changes of oil samples were obtained from the Pyris„ ¢ software. TG and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) curves were further analyzed by using Origin 8.6 software (OriginLab, Massachusetts, USA). The thermal stability was measured from the extrapolated onset temperature of the first step of thermal decomposition from respective TG curves, by using the beginning and the peak temperature of the respective DTG peak, as the temperature limits of the data analysis software of the instrument. 2.4.7 DSC Analysis For DSC analysis, a DSC 8500 (PerkinElmer Inc. Waltham, USA) equipped with Pyris„ ¢ software was used. Nitrogen (99.99% purity, White Martins, Brazil) was the purge gas (20 mL/min). The DSC instrument was previously calibrated with Indium (m.p. 156.6  °C, ΆH = 28.45 J/g). The sample was weighed into an aluminum pan and sealed. An empty hermetically sealed aluminum sample pan was used as the reference. In order to reduce temperature gradients, the sample mass was kept small (~ 9.0 mg). The methodology applied was adapted from Zhang et al. (2013). For cooling and melting curves, the samples were first rapidly heated to 80  °C (30  °C/min) from room temperature and held for 10 min. Then, the samples were cooled to ˆ’80  °C (10  °C /min) and held for 10 min to make them fully crystallized, then heated to 80  °C (5  °C /min). To study the effect of the cooling rate on crystallization, samples were rapidly heated to 80  °C (30  °C/min) from room temperature to erase the crystallization memory, and held for 5 min, then the samples were cooled to ˆ’80  °C at the cooling rates of 2  °C/min, 5  °C/min and 10  °C/min, respectively. The cooling thermogram was recorded. For investigating melting profile of L. pisonis oils under isothermal crystallization, the samples were heated at 80  °C (30  °C/min) for 5 min and then cooled (100  °C/min) to a preset temperature (ˆ’10  °C, 0  °C, 10  °C, 20  °C), and hold at that temperature for 10 min for crystallization, then heated to 80  °C (5  °C/min). The melting thermogram was recorded. Pyris„ ¢ manager software was used to calculate the parameters of crystallization and melting, enthalpies, and the solid fat content (SFC) which was estimated based on the integrated area under the melting curve [25]. To measure the cloud point of the oils, the cooling curves at the rate of 2  °C/min were used. The cloud point was the onset temperature of the initial small exothermic peak on these cooling curves [26]. 2.4.8 Total phenolic compounds Contents of the total phenolic compounds (TPC) were determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent assay in methanolic extracts of vegetable oils [27]using microplates technique [28],with gallic acid as a standard for the calibration curve. The absorbance at 720 nm was measured using a spectrophotometer (Tecan Nanoquant Infinite ® M200, Tecan Trading AG, Switzerland) after reaction with the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent in the alkaline medium stand in the dark for 1 h. Contents of the TPC were expressed in mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g of oil. 2.4.9 Antioxidant essays of the oil extracts The free radical scavenging evaluated by the DPPH assay was determined in triplicate using the method proposed byBrand-Williams et al., (1995). The absorbance at a wavelength of 517 nm was measured using a spectrophotometer (Tecan Nanoquant Infinite ® M200, Tecan Trading AG, Switzerland). ABTS scavenging activity of oil extracts was determined in triplicate using the method described by Re et al., (1999). The absorbance at 734 nm was measured. The total antioxidant potential of the oil extracts was performed using the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay [31]. Measurements were performed using the spectrophotometer at 593 nm. The absorbance of the samples was compared to a standard curve (100-1000  µmol/L) and results expressed in mmoL Trolox equivalent per g of oil [mmol TE/g]. All the essays had minor changes as proposed by Zielinski et al., (2016). The determinations were performed in triplicate. 2.5 Data analysis Origin 8.6 software (OriginLab, Massachusetts, USA) was employed to data treatment and graphs. Statistica 10.0 (Statsoft, Brazil) was used for statistical analysis, including means and standard deviations (SD). The experiments were carried out in triplicate. 3.1 Water content and apparent pH As expected for this type of raw material, sapucaia (Lecythis pisonis) oil (SO) samples presented very low water content, to be specific 0.077  ± 0.006 %, and 0.097  ± 0.006 % for LP1 and LP2, respectively. Regarding the apparent pH of SO, LP1 presented 5.720  ± 0.036 and LP2 showed a pH value of 5.353  ± 0.040. 3.2 Phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties Concerning the content of phenolic compounds in SO, LP1 presented higher TPC content than LP2(Table 1). In this regard, SO present greater TPC content (1.418 mg GAE/100 g, average value) than almond oil (0.95 mg GAE/100 g), however, Brazil nut has twice the content of TPC (3.64 mg GAE/100 g) than sapucaia, and macadamia presents fifteen times more TPC (22.5 mg GAE/100 g) [33]. In general terms, the sample LP1 obtained by a cold extraction process showed better antioxidant characteristics than LP2. Natural antioxidants that might prevent biological systems from reactive oxygen species are generally present in vegetable oils as phenolic compounds, phytosterols, tocopherols (Vitamin E) and carotenoid compounds [34]. The results found by in vitro antioxidant assays present some variations that might be assigned to the different mechanisms in the analysis (Table 1). These assays are grouped in the electron-transfer category and there is some specificity among them. DPPH and ABTS radical cations have the same mechanism and present characteristic color which can be monitored by a spectrophotometer when the oil extract is mixed with a reactant solution and the reduced form of the radical shows a loss of color as a result of the donation of a hydrogen atom. Similarly, in the presence of antioxidants compounds, FRAP is characterized by electron transfer ability, tha t results in the reduction of iron ions [35] 3.3 Fatty acids profile Fourteen different fatty acids (FA) were identified in the studied SO (Table 2). The oils were composed predominantly of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) (61-73%), in which 39.08-45.66% were monounsaturated (MUFA), and 21.95-27.63% were comprised of polyunsaturated (PUFA), such as linoleic and ÃŽÂ ±-linolenic acids, which have been proved to effectively reduce the risk of cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes [36]. Such FA profile is rather common for Brazilian edible nuts [5], [37], which reinforces the idea of consuming more nuts rich in fatty acids beneficial to human health, since the main commercial source of PUFA, such as à Ã¢â‚¬ °-3 and à Ã¢â‚¬ °-6 has been fish and fish fat [36]. Among the MUFAs, oleic was the major FA found in SO, ranging from 35.54-44.28% for LP2, and LP1, respectively. Important to note that oleic acid is the primary à Ã¢â‚¬ °-9 FA in the human diet, and it is the predominant MUFA in many oil nuts, totalizing, for example 38.50% in Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) [22], 65.59% in garampara (Dipteryx lacunifera) [5], 67.62% in tucumà £ (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart.) and 39.04% in cutia nut (Couepia edulis) [37]. Besides, the SO presented 21.65-27.19% of linoleic acid, an essential FA which presence in reasonable amounts is important for human health [38]. SO also contains two important cis-MUFA, the cis-Vaccenic and cis-11-Eicosenoic in amounts higher than 1.0%. With regard to the saturated fatty acids (SFA), it is noticed that they represented 25.01-37.25% of total FA, mainly palmitic (14.70-21.38%) and stearic (9.63-11.09%); likewise, other SFA such as myristic, heptadecanoic, and behenic were identified in smaller amounts. Arachidic acid, which is usually present in peanut oil was also found in SO in small quantities and the result is in agreement with Costa and Jorge (2012) who found about 0.22% C20:0 for L. pisonis oil. A similar pattern occurs for Brazil nut, which shows 0.36% arachidic acid, and 14.26% palmitic acid [22]. A good factor to evaluate the quality and digestibility of a vegetable oil can be obtained by the amount and composition of UFA and SFA. A high amount of linoleic acid in comparison to oleic acid (à Ã¢â‚¬ °-9) represents a better quality of the vegetable oil [5]. In this regard, the relationship between linoleic/oleic acids should be considered. The oils can present diverse values for this relationship depending on the extraction method. According to Table 3, the UFA/SFA ratio, as well as the linoleic/oleic ratio for sapucaia oils are lower to those found by [5] and [10], once their oils showed higher content of linoleic acid (Table 2). When compared to other Brazilian oleaginous nuts such as Brazil nut, garampara [5], and cutia nut [37] the unsaturation relationship values between linoleic and oleic acid were also quite different. 3.4 Oxidative Stability Index The oxidative stability index (OSI) is considered an important step in evaluating oil quality. The OSI was evaluated during Rancimat analysis until the end point of stability for SO samples and was expressed in hours. Experimental results confirmed that Bligh Dyer (13.28  ± 0.22 h), which is a cold extraction process, is a technique that causes less damage to the oil in comparison to Soxhlet (7.18  ± 0.50 h) which provided almost one-half of the OSI. The high oleic acid content in SO tends to protect the oil against thermo-oxidation. Costa and Jorge (2012) found 24.89 h of OSI (evaluation at 100  °C) for L. pisonis oil extracted by cold pressing. At the same Rancimat conditions used in this study, similar results were found for Brazil nut oil (8.24 h), hazelnut (8.88 h) and macadamia (7.38 h) [33]. 3.5 Thermal decomposition Thermogravimetric curve (TG) shows the mass loss, and the derivative thermogravimetric curve (DTG) shows the rate of mass loss of SO during thermal decomposition from 30 to 750  °C by TGA (Fig. 2). The values of mass loss are indicated in Table 4. The TG curves indicated that SO were thermally stable up to 303  °C with a mass loss of ~5%. This can be explained by the loss of moisture and volatile compounds in the oils. The oxidative process in vegetable oils is characterized initially by the oxidation forming secondary products (peroxides). The following phase corresponds to the decomposition of MUFA, mainly oleic acid and the polymerization of the substances remaining from the previous phase [39]. Dynamic and inert atmospheres cause different pattern in the TG/DTG profiles. The decomposition and carbonization processes in the air atmosphere occurred in three phases of the curve starting at around 130  °C, achieving about 53-58% mass loss at 405-440  °C, and ending at a temperature range of 611-625  °C, while for nitrogen atmosphere, the process showed two steps, initiating at ~160  °C, reaching 62-75 % mass loss at 426-435  °C, and finishing at 500  °C. DTG curves (Fig. 2) shows more clearly the steps of thermal decomposition. At the higher above-mentioned temperatures, the mass loss reached 100% (no residue remaining). The high UFA content in SO, mainly oleic and linoleic acid are related to be responsible for the occurrence of oxidative degradation reactions [22]. The high values of Ti (onset temperature) showed that SO have high thermal stability, being that the higher is the Ti of decomposition of the oil, the higher is the thermal stability. The results are similar to that of Brazil nut, which is thermally stable up to 209-220  °C and reaches a maximum mass loss of 97% at 580-602  °C [22], [39]. Differences between the thermal behaviors of SO can be related to the FA compositional differences, and also because of the presence of natural antioxidants which tends to protect the oils against oxidation, thus retarding the degradation [40]. 3.6 Thermal behavior for crystallization and melting 3.6.1 Temperature for crystallization and the influence of scanning rate In order to investigate the melting profile of SO under isothermal crystallization, previous tests were done. In one hand, the melting thermogram (Fig. 3 a, b) revealed that when frozen at -10  °C the oil samples showed endothermic peaks at -6.81  °C (LP1) and at -6.16  °C (LP2), with a enthalpy of 9.28 J/g for LP1 and 7.26 for LP2. On the other hand, it was demonstrated that there was no event afterward 0  °C, revealing that no crystallization occurs after that temperature. Such a feature may confirm the liquid state of the SO at room temperature (25  °C). During cooling, the oils exhibited two transitions. The thermograms showed that the position of the exotherms is dependent on the cooling rate, while the amount of the exotherms is independent on the cooling rate. In addition, increasing the cooling rate causes the crystallization peak temperature to shift to lower temperatures, the peak height and area increase (Fig. 3 c, d). This behavior may correspond to the differential crystallization of higher melting triacylglycerols (TAGs) firstly and lower melting TAGs secondly. Similar results are described for palm oil fractions [24]. The scanning rate of 2  °C/min reduces the lag in output response from the DSC instrument as well as preserves the minor peaks and reduces the smoothing tendencies, which occurred at a higher scanning rate; however, the first peak is too small when compared to the rate of 5  °C/min, which provided better resolution for the peak analysis in the Pyris„ ¢ software. 3.6.2 Cooling curve During cooling (Fig. 4a), SO presented a similar pattern of crystallization showing two distinct peaks (exothermic) in the crystallization behavior, namely peak 1 (PC1) and peak 2 (PC2). PC1 which indicates the change from liquid to solid was found in the temperature of -11.56 (LP1) and -12.51 (LP2), while the PC2 was observed in the temperature range of -59.80 to -73.93  °C, both related to the crystallization of TAGs. The crystallization onset temperature occurs at around -8.0  °C and this process extends over a range of 15-23  °C. The sum of the crystallization enthalpy of the two peaks for the two oils were -22.17 and -32.56 J/g for LP1 and LP2, respectively (Table 5). Heat is released during the phase transition of oil from liquid form to solid form; for this reason, values for crystallization enthalpy were negative [41]. Different endothermic and exothermic peaks are exhibited according to different contents of saturated or unsaturated TAG and FA present in the oils [42]. Smaller or shoulder peak are also correlated to the differing type of TAG. In addition, an inseparable shoulder peak which melts at the same temperature range comes from the complex nature of the TAG [43]. 3.6.3 Heating curve During melting, SO were found to be completely melted at 8.28  °C and 6.29  °C (LP1 and LP2, respectively) when heated at 5  °C/min (Fig. 4b). Moreover, LP1 showed a single major shoulder before the maximum melting peaks (PM) at -18.42  °C, while LP2 showed a major shoulder before PM (-21.47  °C) and an additional one, after the major peak at -6.61  °C. The melting curve of SO began at -25.77  °C (LP1), and -29.87  °C (LP2) and the major peak was observed in a temperature region varying between -7.99 to -10.13  °C, ending the events around -1.09 to -1.68  °C. The process comprises a melting range of 24-28  °C, with a melting enthalpy of 59.34 (LP1) and 64.76J/g (LP2) (Table 5). During heating treatment of oil, multiple endothermic regions are correlated to the separate melting events of the TAG. Furthermore, the composition and polymorphism of the oils can cause some overlapping effects, resulting in different shapes of the endothermic peaks [18]. The phase transitions are principally determined by the degree of heterogeneity in the composition of the oils, and include breaking/formation of hydrogen bonds, being a result of structural rearrangements in the chains of glycerides. [44]. 3.6.4 Cloud point The cloud point is referred as the temperature at which oil begins to cloud as a result as a result of the first stage of crystallization under controlled cooling, and it is related to the oils degree of unsaturation. The higher is the unsaturation of the oil, the lower the cloud point [26]. The cooling curves of sapucaia oils showed an initial small exothermic peak at -6.87  °C (LP1) and -7.00  °C (LP2). This peak corresponded to the first stage of crystallization and cloud point corresponded to the onset of crystallization. A second large exothermic peak at ˆ’49.95  °C (LP1) and -49.96  °C (LP2) with further cooling indicated the oil underwent an additional crystallization step. The same behavior was found for hazelnut oils, which presented the first small exothermic peak at -12.4  °C and a large one at -31.5  °C [26]. The lower cloud point of sapucaia oils was also a result of the lower content of SFA compared to the UFA. 3.6.5 Solid Fat Content The solid fat content (SFC) is considered an important physical property of lipids because it expresses their physical, sensorial, technological and protecting/release properties, and it affects physical properties such as consistency, spreadability, and stability [45]. According to the melting thermograms (Fig. 4b), SO presented no changes in SFC previously to -40  °C, so then the data analysis was performed in the range of -40 to 20  °C (melting peak region). The SFC showed less than 2.5% decrease between -40 to -30  °C for the two oils, and started to drop rapidly at around -20 up to 0  °C; then slowed down from 6 to 10  °C until there was no solid fat remaining (Fig. 5). The SFC is associated with the FA profile. Oils with higher content of UFA are easier to melt compared to ones with higher SFA [41], [45]. 3.7 Rheology properties 3.7.1 Steady state rheology The results for rheological behavior of SO shows that the apparent viscosity (ÃŽÂ ·) tends to decrease with increasing temperature (T) and also with increasing the shear rate (ÃŽÂ ³), indicating that the flow of the sapucaia oils is pseudoplastic (n > 1) (Table 6, 7 and Fig. 6). On the one hand, it is usual for oils to exhibit a dependency of T; on the other hand, a non-dependency of higher ÃŽÂ ³ is observed. At 50  °C, the ÃŽÂ · is almost constant throughout the entire range tested, with minimum influence of the ÃŽÂ ³. Furthermore, 2.0 s-1wasthe maximum value of ÃŽÂ ³ which induced major changes in ÃŽÂ · (see detail in Fig. 6, b and c). According to Gila et al. (2015), a greater amount of FAs such as C18:1 and C18:2 as the major components of the oils appear to make a great contribution to the flow behavior of oils. The experimental data fitted by Ostwald-de Waele (OW) and Herschel-Bulkley (HB) models (Fig. 6a, Table 6) showed a good fit (R2 > 0.999; à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡2 KH values decrease (Fig. 6e and Table 6). Similar observation for many edible oils such as coconut, sunflower, canola, corn [47] and olive oils [48] was reported. The OW model showed that the oils were non-Newtonian (n nH > 1) at 30 and 40  °C (Fig. 6f). The HB model is able to determine yield stress (à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾0H), at which a material begins to deform plastically without returning to its original shape when the applied stress is removed. SO have small values for à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾0H which also tends to decrease with the increase of T. Fig. 7 shows the non

Embryonic Wars Essay -- essays research papers

The specific objective of this major essay is to clarify and summarise the controversial debate concerning the ethical decency of embryonic cloning for therapeutic purposes. This is the form of cloning that is supposedly beneficial to a barrage of medical applications. We will identify the key opposing ethical perspectives such as those of the justification of embryonic research based on the normative theory of consequentialism. This paper will also probe into the relatively brief history of the debate while gauging the particular stumbling blocks of disagreement which bioethicists have arrived at. The topical aspects of therapeutic cloning will be closely studied by weighing the pros and cons and gaining a greater understanding of the present scenario. Formally speaking, embryonic cloning is a technique used by researchers and animal breeders to split a single embryo into two or more embryos that will all have the same genetic information. Some more extreme forms of Embryonic or Therapeutic cloning involve the deliberate creation of an identical twin to be destroyed before implantation in order to make replacement tissues. However, these identical twins are usually only six day old embryos, a minuscule collection of cells without a nervous system. Therapeutically, the notion of cloning is medically significant because cloned individuals at the embryonic stage "share the same immune characteristics as each other" (Harris 26). The possibility of cloning an individual at the embryo stage allows one clone to be used as a cell tissue and organ bank for the other. Embryonic cloning has a history of significant developments and discoveries that have occurred only in the past ten or twenty years. In the nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties, sophisticated foetal and embryological research was banned by the United States’ Reagan and Bush administrations due to pressure from pro-life factions of the Republican party. However, these regulations against research into the controversial field were relaxed considerably with the inception of the more pro-choice Clinton administration. In October 1994, Robert J. Stillman shocked the world with the news of his successful "cloning of seventeen flawed human embryos at George Washington Medical Center" (Dyson & Harris 276) in the United States. Events such as this have continued to spark furiou... ...ead the developed nations to gain a proficient understanding of the realistic positive and negative possibilities of therapeutic cloning in the near future. This will, in time, generate the global legislations giving much needed ethical and humane boundaries to a field which is yet to be conquered. Works Referenced & Consulted Dyson, A. & Harris J. Eds. "Experiments on embryos" London, New York: Routledge, 1990. Harris, J. Chapter 1: "The Art of the Possible", in Clones, Genes and Immortality, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Hyde, Margaret O. & Hyde, Lawrence E. "Cloning and the new genetics" Hillside, N.J., U.S.A.: Enslow Publishers, 1984. Lord, B. I., Potten, C. S., Cole, R. J. "Stem cells and tissue homeostasis", Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Nicholls, Mark, "MATCH, (Movement Against The Cloning of Humans)", in The Tide is Turning, http://www.match.inweb.co.uk/, July 9th, 1999. Pence, Gregory E. "Who's afraid of human cloning?", Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, c1998. Preston, Noel. "Understanding ethics", Leichhardt, N.S.W.: Federation Press, 1996.

Othello †its Appeal Essay -- Othello essays

Othello – its Appeal  Ã‚        Ã‚   Let us examine the William Shakespeare drama Othello for the purpose of determining exactly what characteristics of the play are the outstanding ones which give it such universal appeal.    Othello would appear to have a beauty about it which is hard to match. Helen Gardner in â€Å"Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune† touches on this beauty which enables this play to stand above the other tragedies of the Bard:    Among the tragedies of Shakespeare Othello is supreme in one quality: beauty. Much of its poetry, in imagery, perfection of phrase, and steadiness of rhythm, soaring yet firm, enchants the sensuous imagination. This kind of beauty Othello shares with Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra; it is a corollary of the theme which it shares with them. But Othello is also remarkable for another kind of beauty. Except for the trivial scene with the clown, all is immediately relevant to the central issue; no scene requires critical justification. The play has a rare intellectual beauty, satisfying the desire of the imagination for order and harmony between the parts and the whole. Finally, the play has intense moral beauty. It makes an immediate appeal to the moral imagination, in its presentation in the figure of Desdemona of a love which does not alter ‘when it alteration finds’, but ‘bears it out even to the edge of doom’. (139)    The ability of the audience to identify with the characters in Othello– this is of primary importance. M.H. Abrams in The Norton Anthology of English Literature attributes the dramatist’s universality to his characters as well as to the relevance of his themes:    One preliminary document in the First Folio is by Shakespeare’s great... ...inceton University Press, 1965.    Gardner, Helen. â€Å"Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from â€Å"The Noble Moor.† British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.    Heilman, Robert B. â€Å"The Role We Give Shakespeare.† Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.    Levin, Harry. General Introduction. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. â€Å"Shakespeare.† Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.

Reflection on a Significant Incident from Practice Essay -- Nursing Re

Introduction Ethics can be defined as a system of moral conduct and principles that guide a person’s actions in regard to what are considered to be right and wrong (Marquis & Huston, 2012). Nurse managers make decisions each day about their patients, their employees and their organization. According to Marquis & Huston (2012), management is a discipline not a profession and because of that management lacks the set of norms to guide ethical decision making. Therefore managers’ decisions are made based upon the organization’s values and ethical principles. The American Nurse Association (ANA) code of ethics is a set of principles that help both nurses and nurse managers to solve ethical problems. This paper will discuss a case study involving the unsafe practice of a student nurse in clinical and the professional responsibility of the hospital and the nursing school. In addition, the Moral Decision Making Model will be applied to the ethical scenario and two ethical principles that are appropriate for this scenario will be identified. This is a case study of a student nurse whose performance in clinical is unsafe. According to Killam, Montgomery, Luhanga, Adamic, & Carter (2010), an unsafe student is defined as a student who performances in clinical place the client or staff in either physical or emotional jeopardy. From the case study from NetCE (2014), JC is a senior nursing student who chose the intensive care unit (ICU) to complete her university nursing program requirement of a 200 hour practicum. Within the first week of the 6 week practicum, JC’s preceptor reported to the ICU nurse manager that JC dresses inappropriately for work, has an arrogant attitude towards staff members, and is always discussing the amount of money... ...s of unsafe nursing students in clinical learning. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 7(1), 1p. Killam, L. A., Luhanga, F., & Bakker, D. (2011). Characteristics of unsafe undergraduate nursing students in clinical practice: An integrative literature review. Journal of Nursing Education, 50(8), 437-446. NetCE. (2014). Course # 3707 ethical decision making. Retrieved from http://www.netce.com/casestudies.php?courseid=700 Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2012). Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins McNamara, S. (2012). Incivility in nursing: unsafe nurse, unsafe patients. AORN Journal, 95(4), 535-540 Scanlan, J., Care, W., & Gessler, S. (2001). Dealing with the unsafe student in clinical practice. Nurse Educator, 26(1), 23-27.

Metternich’s Political Confession of Faith Essay

Prince Klemens von Metternich was the leading personality during the Congress of Vienna which sought to restore Europe back to the status quo, undoing the â€Å"disorder† caused by Napoleon. Besides being instrumental in â€Å"cleaning up Napoleon’s mess,† Metternich was a conservative at heart and saw the â€Å"damage† the French Revolution had brought to France and how Napoleon tried to import the legacy of the French Revolution, as well as the Enlightenment, to the rest of the lands in Europe he conquered and the subsequent effects thereafter. Metternich wrote â€Å"Political Confession of Faith† which he addressed to Russian Tsar Alexander I as a â€Å"secret† memorandum in 1820. This also came at a time when there were similar revolutions, led by liberals in parts of Spain, Italy and Germany. This document revealed Metternich’s sentiments about the emerging trend in Europe – the rise of liberalism. For Metternich, this was a trend that was a major area of concern not only for him but for the rest of Europe. He had singled out France for being the â€Å"cradle of the Enlightenment† when he said: â€Å"France had the misfortune to produce the greatest number of these men. It is in her midst that religion and all that she holds sacred, that morality and authority, and all connected with them, have been attacked with a steady and systematic animosity, and it is there that the weapon of ridicule has been used with the most ease and success. Drag through the mud the name of God and the powers instituted by His divine decrees, and the revolution will be prepared! Speak of a social contract, and the revolution is accomplished! † A staunch conservative monarchist, He saw what the French Revolution, whose leaders were imbued with Enlightenment ideas toppled the monarchy which they regarded as obsolete and irrelevant owing to its inability to care for its people, did to French society. For the French people, they no longer recognized the Divine Right of kings and instead saw it from a different prism – King Louis XVI did not live up to the â€Å"social contract† and in doing so, lost his legitimacy to rule and when Louis tried to stifle their rights, they took drastic action that led to his overthrow. What happened next was something that made Metternich concerned – the Reign of Terror which saw what Metternich noticed as a spree of persecution with reckless abandon of those said to be colluding with the old regime. Not only was Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, executed, but several others who had no connection with them, including members of the clergy were also persecuted or sent to the guillotine. He deplored Napoleon for making quite a mess of European society: â€Å"Nevertheless the revolutionary seed had penetrated into every country and spread more or less. It was greatly developed under the regime of the military despotism of Bonaparte. His conquests displaced a number of laws, institutions, and customs; broke through bonds sacred among all nations, strong enough to resist time itself; which is more than can be said of certain benefits conferred by these innovators. From these perturbations it followed that the revolutionary spirit could in Germany, Italy, and later on in Spain, easily hide itself under the veil of patriotism . † For Metternich, as shown in his secret memorandum to the Russian Tsar, liberalism was regarded as a menace to the status quo of Europe where most of the states were still monarchical. Whereas the relatively young republic of the United States of America would be all praises of liberalism, Metternich and his ilk were not. The French Revolution, particularly the Reign of Terror served as a wake-up call to the remaining monarchies to make them stand up and take notice on what could possibly happen if they would allow liberal ideas to germinate in their societies. He warned the other surviving monarchical governments to be on guard by saying, â€Å"The first principle to be followed by the monarchs, united as they are by the coincidence of their desires and opinions, should be that of maintaining the stability of political institutions against the disorganised excitement which has taken possession of men’s minds†¦ In short, let the great monarchs strengthen their union, and prove to the world that if it exists, it is beneficent, and ensures the political peace of Europe: that it is powerful only for the maintenance of tranquillity at a time when so many attacks are directed against it; that the principles which they profess are paterllal and protective, menacing only the disturbers of public tranquillity . † Metternich’s admonition paid off as it was evident during the revolutions of 1848 when liberal movements failed to gain a foothold or emulate the success of the French Revolution. The reason being was that these societies had no long history of empowering the people and only radical means was necessary to do it. The bottom line Metternich was pointing out was that liberalism could not be drastically erected and revolution was not always the answer to addressing the social and political problems. Furthermore, the Reign of Terror also saw how ugly liberalism would go when taken to the extreme in bringing even more instability in exchange for bringing too much freedom to the people. Bibliography Metternich, Klemens von. â€Å"Political Confession of Faith. † Fordham University Modern History Sourcebook. December 20, 1820. http://www. fordham. edu/haslall/mod/1820 metternich. html/