Commercials

On TV today we see lots of commercials that show what the world and our peers want us to be. Commercials also show what clothes we should wear and what foods we should eat. There are commercials that show people with healthy and in shape bodies trying to get us to eat properly because looking at them will make us want to have that kind of body and will make us buy whatever it is they are selling. So in seeing those commercials every day, some of us start to think that we are not good enough, and we think we have to look our best to fit in with everyone else. The clothes you wear will show who you are and will show how people will Judge you.If a person is wearing old smelly clothes then people might think he is not a very clean person and that he may not have much money to buy all the new clothes. Now if you are wearing the newest Polo that Just came out, then you have money and people will think you are a clean well-dressed person. That clothes you wear will certainly have an impact on how people look at you. There are on commercials on TV today with professional athletes eating certain foods and wearing and buying certain clothes and we look at them and say to ourselves that we want to be like them.So we will go out and buy the new clothes they have and go eat where they do so that we will be as cool as them. Because they are portrayed as very influential people in the world, we see them and say, if I can be like that, then I will be cool. There are many commercials today that show how we should eat to get that perfect body that all the super starts and the professional athletes have. The men are always with beautiful women, and the women are always with handsome men. So we go and buy the food they eat so we will that the bodies they have.We also go and ay the videos that make you look like the big football player or the best trainer in America. We go and buy all of these things so we can possibly be accepted by our peers. Looking at the commercials on TV toda y, we see most of them show what we should wear and eat to be like all the athletes and movie starts and buy seeing that we try our best to be as much like them as possible so we will be accepted in our society today. Showing the lives and bodies of celebrities make us want to buy the videos, food, and clothes that they buy, is a good way to make money and to make us think all these things will make us look good.

Fieldwork

NYC is one of the areas in US with the highest concentration of schools. These schools range from kindergarten schools to even higher level. This has presented unprecedented challenges to school managers and especially classroom teachers. Teachers play a very important role of imparting of knowledge into the children so that they can change their entry behaviour by the time they come out of the learning process. A lot of incidents occur in the process of learning between the teacher and the children or amongst the children. These incidents are inevitable as conflicts are part and parcel of the learning process. The classroom setting brings together children from different backgrounds. In the NYC area, some of the challenges facing the children especially from the pre-K level to the second grade level include delinquency, a significantly high drop out rate, environmental as well as peer pressure as well as challenges in socializing and obeying to the set school rules and regulations. These children are in a very low level of development and most of them feel that a school is just a place of passing time, chatting and playing. It is the way the teacher manages these incidents when they are manifested in the classroom that enables the children to experience a conducive learning environment, develop self-competence as well as self-esteem and be able to improve in academic performance. According to Edmondson D. (1999), there have been quite a lot of critical incidents that have been observed between the teacher and children and amongst children in the NYC learning institutions. For instance, in a classroom setting, many teachers have been burdened with the problem of most of most children fighting one another due to minor differences among them such as being denied to join in a play. This fighting among the children has distracted the learning environment and even affected the emotional and psychological well-being of the children. These effects consequently have resulted to poor academic performance among the children, something that has affected their learning motivation and led to loss of interest in learning. Most students through this turn out to be joy riders in the class and this has also led to loss of morale in teaching on the part of the teacher. it is therefore very important that the teachers chips in to address this problem. The teacher should seek to establish a conducive learning environment by inculcating good social skills into the children and teaching them the need to respect one another. For quality and improved academic performance, this incident needs to be addressed and controlled in future.   Proper and strict ways should be put in place and highly practiced on the children who have this behaviour. Behaviour modification techniques such as use of a token should be reviewed and practised by the teacher in order to discourage this incident.   Although Slavin, (1978) notes that, punishment is one of the best deterrents for bad behavior, this is disputed by, Astin (1985) who notes that, there is enough evidence to conclude that, punishment can have negative effects for classroom teachers.   Hence punishing the misbehaved children should be exercised with caution. There are incidents like overlooking of the needs of all children that have occurred between the teacher and the children.   Most teachers for instance in classroom situation tend to treat all the children as having similar needs and similar levels of understanding.   This has had a very negative impact on the academic performance of most children. The children who are slow in learning and also those who have special problems like hearing difficulties have always lagged behind as far as ranking in academics is concerned. To curb this problem in future, the teacher should understand and clearly define the problems that each child faces in learning.   This way, better approaches of teaching the slow learners and those with special needs like hearing problems, blind children will be applied.   Use of tutorial classes and giving remedial work to learners who learn slowly will be of great use in solving this problem.   Building of different learning institutions and providing adequate learning materials and resources for the exceptional children should be practiced.   Braille and the relevant learning resources as well as materials should be provided to the children who are blind. However, teachers have had critical incidents with children whereby they have encountered very bright, clever and talented children.   These incidents and many others which have become rampant in the NYC area have helped the classroom teacher to be able to come up with ways in which these children should be encouraged so that they do not get disinterested in the learning process. These children can be said to be exceptional and also require special concern so that they continue participating in learning process. To manage this situation in future, teachers should also employ other techniques like giving challenging tasks but those which are within the ability of the clever children, encouraging the children to read ahead of where the teacher reaches in class as well as helping them to set realistic goals. They should also be given responsibilities such as class room monitors so that they continue perfecting their leadership skills and be engaged in fruitful activities Critical incidents like stress have also arised between teachers and the children.   A teacher in a classroom situation has been able to encounter children who have stress.   Stress among children arises from family backgrounds and academic performance (Slavin, 1978).   Those children who come from poor families have been observed to be the mostly affected by stress due to financial constraints in the family set-up, something that have widely resulted to hardships in paying fees, unlike those children from stable families who have everything at their disposal, right from in time payment of fees to other secondary needs. Continued failure in academics as well as poor reinforcement from the part of the teacher also result to stress among children.   Stress has led to very poor performance among children since the children who suffer from it tend to spend too much time in thinking about their problems than in learning.   Teachers have tried to control stress among the students in many ways. Many more ways should however be put forward in an effort to fight stress among the students.   Such ways like guidance and counselling of the students suffering from stress, organizing for sources of funds so as to facilitate their education as well as encouraging them should be emphasized in order to achieve positive results from these children. In addition, the parents of these children have been involved to encourage the children in learning   through trying to groom them and advice the accordingly.   According to, Astin (1985) use of reinforcements and rewards are among the most important ways that can be used to improve performance among children.   The stressed children should always be positively reinforced and rewarded every time they make a positive improvement of their situation. Another critical incident between a teacher and the children is the realization that children have different talents.   Teachers have been able to meet children who are very talented in sports and athletics.   This incident has helped these children a lot since teachers have had an opportunity to help them broaden and practice their talents to the best of their ability. They have been able to do   this by organizing for physical education beaks and allowing the children to engage in playing different games. This has enriched learning process since cu-curricular activities are also part of learning especially where socialization is encouraged. Children also during interaction with one another have had several critical incidents.   The realization by children that some of their colleagues shine in academics only through hard work but not because they are geniuses has created an atmosphere of hard work among the children fraternity. In the process of working hard so as to attain the level that their colleagues are enjoying, they have improved their performance and consequently the entire performance of the schools has improved. The slow learners have been able to seek for assistance from the teacher until they understand fully the concepts for example how to perform addition and multiplication in mathematics. This attitude should be more encouraged in future and rewarding of the best children be sustained in order to create a competing atmosphere. There are incidents among the children whereby they have come to realise that some students are being favoured by the teachers.   This has really suppressed the morale of the other children since they have believed that no matter how hard they try, they will never shine. Favouritism has been practised through marking assignments and in reinforcing the children. This behaviour of teachers favouring some children should in future be discouraged because it leads to discouragement on children who are not experiencing the favours, and later translate to poor academic performance. Moreover, there have been critical incidents whereby teachers have realized that some children can become good leaders.   This has been helped by the evident leadership skills that these children portray at their early age. Through identifying these children, teachers have been able to help the children through providing enough guidelines and encouraging them to maintain as well as improve their qualities. This has really been an opportunity for the children to succeed, improving their self-esteem and acquiring much confidence to pursue the education.  Ã‚   In future, more encouragement should be given to these children and leadership posts be awarded to them in the school so as to perfect their skills. In addition, there are things that have happened such as children stealing from each other and this has really demoralised most children. Children who take to this behaviour tend to grow up practising it even to their higher educational levels. The teacher should put into place the necessary disciplinary measures so that this stealing behaviour can be modified. This contributes to a better learning environment and consequently to a improved academic performance. Critical incidents have also occurred among the children whereby they have been able to realize that some of them are quite anti-social and cannot even work in groups.   Group work is one of the most effective ways of learning (Joyce, & Weil, 1986).   It is through group work that children learn new ideas as well as develop confidence and social skills.   Children who engage in group work and participate fully tend to broaden their views and acquire diverse thinking ways.   They stand a good chance of improving in their academic performance unlike those children who are anti social and defect from group work. In future, group work should be highly encouraged among the children and means of motivation the groups devised.   This will see to it that performance among the children is improved. Conclusion All education stakeholders in the NYC area need to join hands in order to handle the numerous challenges facing the sector. There is a need to create learning environmental that is ample enough to allow an interaction between the teachers and the children.   The numerous incidents that the teacher encounters should serve to formulate clear policies to govern the learning process. This in turn will lead to a better learning environment.   Finally all children-children incidents, needs to be solved by applying the necessary psychological theories in order to create a conducive learning environment. REFERENCES Astin, A. W. (1985). Achieving educational excellence: A critical assessment of priorities and practices in higher education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Dover. Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behaviour in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 350-383. Slavin, R. (1978). Student teams and achievement divisions. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 12. Joyce, B., & Weil, M. (1986). Models of teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Anderson, J. A. (1998). Cognitive styles and multicultural populations. Journal of Teacher Education. 39. Wlodkowski, R., & Ginsberg, M. (2003). Diversity and motivation: Culturally responsive teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Compare and Contrast the Three Categories of Scope

Question 1: Compare and contrast the three categories of scope of charge to income tax A modern form of income tax was introduced into Federation of Malaya in 1947 by using the derived and remittance basis. Income Tax Act (ITA) 1967 came into effect has imposed world income basis on the resident company involved in specialized industries. Malaysia adopted a territorial and remittance. With effect of year of assessment of 2004, taxation basis amended to exempt income remitted into Malaysia from oversea.Until now, Malaysia income tax imposed on territorial basis that tax on income accrued in or derived from Malaysia. The revolution of these three taxation basis has different scope of charge to resident person and non-resident person. The individual and company residence status and also the sources of income are examined under three basis to determine which kind of income received by taxable person should be taxed. Resident status is determined by the number of day physically presence w ithin the country where generally individual stay in Malaysia total 182 days or more will be a resident.Territorial basis: Under territorial basis which Malaysia is applying currently, taxable person such as individual, company or bodies of person is chargeable only on income accruing in or derived from Malaysia. Income arising within Malaysia borders means the territories of the Federation of Malaysia, the territorial waters of Malaysia and the sea-bed and sub-soil of territorial waters and any area extending beyond the limits of the territorial waters of Malaysia are subjected to tax.In this scope of charge, resident and non resident individual and company are all taxable on its income derived from Malaysia only. Non resident company taxed on income accrued or derived from Malaysia if it has permanent establishment in Malaysia. Derived and Remittance Basis: This scope of charge provided that resident person is chargeable on income accruing in or derived from Malaysia and also inco me received in Malaysia from oversea.Prior to year of assessment of 2004, only non-resident are exempted from tax on foreign source income received in Malaysia. Income remitted into Malaysia from oversea by resident person is taxable before 2004 until the effective year of assessment in 2004, a revised paragraph 28 Schedule 6 ITA exempts the income of any person including resident person received in Malaysia except those resident company carrying business on specialized industry that will be discussed later in world income basis.World income basis Resident company and non-resident company are taxed on territorial basis except for resident company carrying on business in specialized industries such as banking, insurance, sea and air transport. Under Section 60C of ITA, 1967, business sources income from these industries are taxed on world income basis. This means that business income of resident company will be imposed on tax regardless of wherever the income derived even if income a rises outside the country where individual resides.Question 2: Discuss the relevance of the three categories on the types of income received by a taxable person. These three categories of taxation basis imposed on different kind of income received by taxable person. Territorial or derived Basis In the scope of territorial basis, taxable person such as resident and non-resident individual and company excluded company carrying in specialized industry such as banking, insurance, sea and air transporter are taxed on income derived in Malaysia.Non-resident individual and company do not taxed on income received in Malaysia from oversea. Under section 4(a) ITA, income tax is imposed on gains and profit of a business. Resident and non-resident company that earn profit from their normal business activity in Malaysia are liable to tax as in accordance to the territorial basis stated that any income accrued and derived in Malaysia must be taxed. Business income for resident company are general ly taxable but non-resident company only taxable provided they has permanent establishment in Malaysia.For example, business profit gained from Hwa Tai Industries Berhad, local biscuit manufacturer company that does not fall under special industry is taxable based on resident company tax rate of 25%. Another example for non-resident company cases such as company Seesaw ltd carrying business of clothing manufacturer, it will be taxed only on business source income from clothing in Malaysia. Besides, this basis provided that employment income derived from Malaysia for resident and non-resident individual under section 4(b) of ITA 1967 is hargeable to tax. For examples, Mr. Erick Lund from Sweden who is a non-resident works in Shell company is liable to tax for his employment income. However for non-resident individual, they are also subjected to tax on the income of employment exercised in Malaysia but they are exempted if they satisfied the 60 day rule under paragraph 21 and 22 Sched ule 6. Although tax liability arise when income accrued in or derived from Malaysia in territorial basis, there are numerous types of income are exempted from tax in the hand of resident individual.Resident individual can enjoy the benefit of tax exemption such as pension income paid for Malaysian employment for approved scheme (paragraph 30, Schedule 6 of ITA) , royalties for literary and artistic (paragraph 32, 32A, 32B), income for cultural performance approved by minister (paragraph 32C), income for musical composition (paragraph 32D) and also interest income from financial institution with effect from 30 August 2008.Other types of investment income that did not listed fall in Section 4 (c), (d), (e), (f) are generally taxable for resident individual. Revenue income that is assessable to tax includes interest received for Islamic securities, other than convertible loan stock, approved by securities commission and rental income. For examples, Mrs Lim who works as a clerk in accou nting firm also received income from renting her apartment to few people.Apart from employment income as clerk is taxable under section 4 ( b), her rental income also liable to tax under section 4 ( d). For non-resident individual, they are subjected to tax on the income of employment exercised in Malaysia as mentioned above and also exempted for pension income paid for Malaysian employment for approved scheme, interest received Islamic securities and also interest from financial institution.However, they are taxable on royalties, income for cultural performance, income for musical composition. royalties for literary and artistic, income for cultural performance approved by minister, income for musical composition and also interest income from financial institution in paragraph 33, Schedule 6. References: 1. Inland Revenue Board Malaysia, 2011. Residence Status of Companies and Bodies of Persons. [online] Inland Revenue Board Malaysia. Available at:<

Domestic Violence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Domestic Violence - Research Paper Example The strongest theory amongst all, however, is the feminist theory that explains domestic violence in the light of unequal power resting with individuals of the opposite gender. It typically points out that the unequal balance of power translates into the subordination of female authority over male authority. In other words, the feminist theory emphasizes the fact that domestic violence (against women) is a natural outcome that arises out of men’s urge to control (McCue, 2008). These imbalances in power are most persistent in patriarchal setups where the structure of the society denies equal opportunity to women in the socioeconomic and political arena (McCue, 2008). These societal imbalances have a ripple effect on the family which is demonstrated in men’s use of coercive power against women which they perceive as control. A primary example of this is demonstrated in the works of Dobash and Dobash who empirically researched that patriarchal systems contribute to female abuse and that such a system is reinforced by the socioeconomic structure of the society (Dobash & Dobash, 1979). ... In such societies, it is commonplace to see women working as housewives (taking care of the husband and the children) and men going out of the house to earn a living (Eswaran & Malhotra, 2011). Therefore, the feminist theorists argue that these pre-described notions of gender roles and the inevitable power that men exercise over women helps explain domestic violence to a large extent. Since men are ascribed primary roles in the society, they are granted access to privileged resources whereas women are ascribed secondary roles and are considered inferior. In an interesting research conducted on villages in a state in Southern India, Rao discovered that females who had little control over the allocation of resources in their households were the ones who experienced greater domestic violence (Rao, 1997). Feminists argue that early social experiences of women perpetuate these gender roles and condition them to become a part of them. For instance, the mother is required to serve â€Å"co ffee† to the father before he goes to work and that young girls â€Å"play house† at home (Eswaran & Malhotra, 2011). Therefore, males develop the right to be violent towards their female counterparts due to these gender role differences. Poor education and low socioeconomic status also contribute to greater violence under this theory. According to a research, households with lower level of education experienced greater domestic abuse than otherwise (Eswaran & Malhotra, 2011). Furthermore, households where men were employed (indicating high socioeconomic status) experienced less incidents of domestic violence than otherwise. Also, as pointed out by Bloch and Rao, males with weak bargaining power tend to resort to domestic violence which proves to

Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Memo - Essay Example However, you also asked me to consider the opinions of the employees at the plant and what they feel about working overtime. We have completed the report that you asked for and this report presents the cost differentials of the two alternatives to increase the production and manufacturing. Moreover the report analyzes both alternatives in detail and also provides recommendations after considering the cost differential as well as the responses of the employees. Summary I have analyzed that the cost per unit of overtime and if the production of additional 150 units per day is increased through overtime then it would cost $388.54 or $2.59/unit. On the other hand, the cost of production for the second shift with additional 150 units per day would be $421.08 or $2.81/unit. Therefore, it shows that the cost of production with overtime is lower if the production is 150 units and Wilderness Toys would be able to save $0.22 per unit or $32.32 for 150 additional units. However it has been foun d that most of employees are not willing to work in the long term but only for the short term. Therefore because of this reason, I would prefer Wilderness Toys to start a second shift rather than asking employees for overtime. Discussion As the demand of new lighted hiking hat has been increasing, therefore there is a need to increase the demand of the product. In order to increase the production and meet the increasing demand, the management of the company has two different alternatives; to start a new production shift or to require its employees to work overtime. The report presents the cost differentials with the two alternatives in producing the new lighted hiking hat. Table 1 shows per unit cost of production of the two alternatives available. Table 1 also shows the differences between the two alternatives and it can be seen that per unit cost difference initially is in negative as per unit overtime cost is less than per unit second shift production cost. Therefore it reveals t hat if the management plans to produce fewer units then it is preferable that they can encourage employees for overtime rather than starting a second shift. Table 1: Per Unit Cost Units  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   OT unit cost  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2nd shift unit cost   Differences 75 2.59 3.49 -0.9 150 2.59 2.81 -0.22 225 2.59 2.58 0.01 300 2.59 2.46 0.13 375 2.59 2.46 0.13 450 2.59 2.46 0.13 525 2.59 2.46 0.13 600 2.59 2.46 0.13 Figure 1 graphically shows the cost per unit of the alternatives and it can be seen that the cost per unit of second shift at 75 units is very high in comparison to per unit cost of overtime. However per unit cost of second shift has been decreasing as the production is increasing and it is visible. As the production increase, per unit cost of second shift would decrease whereas the cost per unit of overtime would remain the same irrespective of the production. Figure 1: Cost Per Unit Figure 2 shows the cost differential between the two alternatives and it can be identified from the Figure 2 that the difference is in negative initially thus, showing that per unit cost of overtime is less than the per unit cost of second shift. However, as the production

Enlightenment History Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Enlightenment History - Term Paper Example It is a natural contradiction, but a legitimate one. â€Å"Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains.† (e.g., Rousseau, â€Å"Social Contract,† Book I, Part 1) Another idea of the enlightenment was that people should be able to live without fear, free of superstition and blind obedience to the powers and authorities-that-be and that truth is to be found in scientific fact, not in opinion or faith. â€Å"We wish in a word to fulfill the requirements of nature, to accomplish the destiny of mankind, to make good the promises of philosophy... that France, hitherto illustrious among slave states, may eclipse the glory of all free peoples that have existed, become the model of all nations.... That is our ambition; that is our aim. What kind of government can realize these marvels? Only a democratic government.... But to found and to consolidate among us this democracy, to realize the peaceable rule of constitutional laws, it is necessary to conclude the war of liberty against tyranny and to pass successfully through the storms of revolution.† (e.g., Robespierre, â€Å"Speech,† †¦). Enlightenment revolutionaries also believed that differences are nothing compared to similarities, or in the idea â€Å"such as is common† to all humanity. ... The period of Enlightenment also brought us the idea that society is structured by a general philosophy that â€Å"we are what we buy,† or buy into. We must produce and distribute in order to be viable, and many of us today do define ourselves by our jobs. As to religion, Voltaire stated (paraphrased) â€Å"If God did not exist, we'd invent him.† â€Å"It is very true that we do not know any too well what the soul is: no one has ever seen it. All that we do know is that the eternal Lord of nature has given us the power of thinking, and of distinguishing virtue. It is not proved that this faculty survives our death: but the contrary is not proved either. It is possible, doubtless, that God has given thought to a particle to which, after we are no more, He will still give the power of thought: there is no inconsistency in this idea.† (e.g., Voltaire, â€Å"Universal Toleration,† †¦.) Finally, the Age of Enlightenment philosophers taught us that people a re best left self-governed. In the best interests of human rights, the aristocracy (the rich and powerful) cannot be allowed to be the only ruling schema and from this we derived our principle beliefs about democracy. Today, the French Republic is governed by the people and has an elected president and national representatives called a parliament. France was under absolute monarchy (aristocracy) until 1789, then it went to a republic government, back to a monarchy, and finally, by 1850, was a Republic again. Did the revolutionaries transform France into an enlightened nation? Yes. Did the revolutionaries transform the nation of France into an enlightened state of mind? Questionable, at best. The nation still declares itself majorly

International Banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

International Banking - Essay Example on whereby an organisation or business has immediate cash needs, although it has assets, its trading position is not good enough to honour all cash obligations (Machiraju, 2013). This is described as the risk of overcapitalisation and it occurs when an organisation holds a lot of assets, but lacks the ability to convert the assets into cash in the short-run. In the banking sector, the issue of liquidity risk occurs in a distinct and unique manner. One fundamental assumption of banking is that depositors are not going to withdraw all their money at once (Matz, 2011). Banks are however required to hold assets that are mainly liquid in nature and convert them to cash in a very short term (Matz, 2011). Therefore, in banking parlance, liquidity is defined as â€Å"the ability of an economic agent to exchange his existing wealth for goods and services or other assets without incurring damaging losses† (Castagna & Fede, 2013, p. 18). Liquidity risks include funding liquidity which refers to the risk of settling obligations with the central bank as it occurs. There is also the market liquidity risk which revolves around the ability of a bank to settle its obligations to stakeholders on the market. This is the â€Å"inability to realise assets due to inadequate market depth, or market disruption† (Adalsteinsson, 2014, p. 26). Bank liquidity risks can be measured both internally and externally. Internally, bank liquidity risks are defined by international conventions and practices that are placed on the authorities and directors of the bank. This is to be done through the utilisation of various formulas put forward by international entities like the Basel Conventions. Basel III proposed that bank liquidity risks can be evaluated by assessing: These are insider indices and they are often done through the utilisation of privileged information that allows banks to evaluate trends and processes in their activities and affairs. However, to the ordinary investor, there is likely

Balance of Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Balance of Power - Essay Example To maintain the framework of power of balance from time to time force can be used in the areas support of the law. That may mean that it is used in maintain of the civil power or it may mean that it is used to set up an environment in which the rule of law becomes promising .The use of force is not good except it is in support of some concept of order. To give justification for hostility we be grateful to pray to the strength of the international system," the sacred soil of the homeland, the significant fortune of the country, the rule of international law, the magnetism of making the world safe for democracy, civilization, socialism or something similar" (A. Wendt, Summer 1995, pp. 77-81). International law is the exacting shape of order we have adopted to enable us to run a global economy; however Force is what recognized that order. Force perhaps lawful or illegal; it possibly intelligent or stupid; it may be in the benefit of the international community or not; however questions in relation to whether it is legal or not seem - at this phase of world olden times at least - simply dull. During domestic interaction individual does not inquire if an establishment is officially permitted or not. Balance of power can be defined as a structure to keep up a position quo wherever no alter in the presented supremacy system is made-up to occur. The perception of balance of power does not rule out the make use of menace or confrontation. It is primarily a system of manage and preventing transform to occur through maintenance aggressors in check.'Power is the ability to exercise influence and the ability to prevent influence from being exercised over oneself.' (Singer, 1972:54) We be alive in a world which is even more defenseless. Primary, it is weak for the reason that it is unlock along with since cross-border deal, journey as well as communication has not at all been easier. Subsequent, it is helpless as, in the midst of the international partition of labor in an always additional aggressive global economy, we function on progressively more very well limits of fault. It requires a great deal fewer responsibility sober financial harm to today's world than was the case thirty years before. "11 September together made understandable how a good deal injure a small faction might do to our humanity, and at the identical point in time provided a influential illustration with the intention of control the thoughts of the disaffected on behalf of decades toward approach. Nowadays, still, the potential of assault on an highly developed civilization all the way through substance, organic otherwise electronic resources are more and more accessible to persons or smal l groups. In a neither unlock civilization, neither the acquaintance nor the materiel compulsory to be able to reserved barely in the hands of Local administration. 11 September has revealed us what theses small groups are capable of be done lacking with a few of the function-built technologies of mass demolition; in the coming days demolition might be even further demoralizing. We are blessed to facilitate the instances of the two imminent together are so far relatively limited. " (J. Gilson, 'New interregionalism The EU and East Asia', European Integration, vol. 27, no. 3, September 2005, pp. 307-26) Factor affecting Balance of power From the time when unlike financial expansion charge apparently

When You Comin Back, Red Ryder Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

When You Comin Back, Red Ryder - Movie Review Example This play incorporates a set of the 1950s with the costumes and vehicles to match together with characters that play their roles perfectly to depict the tone and reach out to the audience splendidly. The choice of vehicles by the director gives the play a better dimension with each vehicle representing a different class according to its owners. The director of the play uses an old vehicle which needs repair and is pushed by the young couple to depict the class of the couple while the old couple uses a good and well-maintained vehicle which we see Stephen sneaking into and imagining it to be his own. The comment made by Lyle on the play that Stephen can only leave the town once he has bought his mother a vehicle also shows the use of the motor vehicle to show class in the play. The costumes which were used in the play also were well chosen and thought out by the director with every character given a costume matching his/her role in the play. The waitress in the diner is given a uniform which is typical of the waitresses in a diner and also the size and shape depict the 1950s. the old couple is well dressed while the young couple is out of sorts in their dressing and the hairstyles all look well chosen to fit the setting. Stephen and Lyle, on the other hand, have costumes which match their status with Stephen being dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt while Lyle is dressed in old canvas trousers and a cowboy hat. According to Hoffman (Hoffman, 18) asserts that a character should be serious as he does not know its funny (unless joking). This is well depicted in the play especially the waitress Angel who is acting mousy and her behavior throughout the play in her behavior and lack of understanding any sarcasm by the other actors in the play. The attitude by Stephen towards the clients coming into the diner is also of note as he does not approve of any client and treats them with a bad attitude. Â  

Hucklbery Finn persuasive essay Essay Example for Free

Hucklbery Finn persuasive essay Essay Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Offensive Language in Literature In Mark Twain’s classic 1884 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, regional and time-specific language is used in a way that offends some 21st century readers. Particular words are so disturbing that individuals across the country are still, to this day, attempting to have the book banned in schools and libraries. The idea that any book should be tucked away in a vault, let alone an example of a beloved American classic such as this, is ludacris and against what America stands for. Works of art, like this book, should be used to learn and to open up dialogue and analysis on both the piece itself and the society from which it came. With this particular Twain novel, we should be having a discussion about why the offending words are so offensive, and why it’s important that a record of these words and attitudes exist. Words carry weight, and the weight of the â€Å"N† word in Huckleberry Finn is heavy and dripping with sordid history. It is a term that holds an impassable amount of cultural appropriation and painful association. The word, used in a classic literary context, is then a perfect way to open up a dialogue about issues that are difficult to talk about. Political correctness, racial slurs, America’s dark past—these are all topics that can be used to teach young people how to have a gentle conversation about a torrid subject matter. Instead of banning the book and ignoring the past, we should be embracing the story and teaching people how to deal with the words in a tactful and progressive way. Moving forward from America’s shameful history of racism is difficult and taxing. But the only way we make steps to a new and more comfortable future is to learn from our past mistakes. Twain was a product of his time, putting words into the mouths of his characters that would easily have come from the mouths of real people. It’s also important to remember that the character of Huck Finn himself is anti-racist, so teaching the book to young people is not teaching racism, but acceptance. It is imperative to connect with the period of history that Huckleberry Finn comes from because shoving it to the side will only render us blind. Banning books is an effective way to censor, and censorship goes against a lot of what Americans believe to be a very important personal right. The right to free speech is sacred, and it is mostly untouched even in circumstances where highly polarizing or hateful words are being used. A work of fiction that integrates dialogue containing the â€Å"N† word may seem hateful to some, but it is certainly the intention of the author to use it in a context of satire. Censorship will just close the book when what we really need is to open it up in a different light. At a time when it is nearly impossible to find an adult engaged in a healthy debate or discussion, teaching our children how to think and speak analytically and fairly is a dire need. Using fictional novels such as Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a jumping-off point of what used to be, and what has become, is the perfect opportunity for creating the ability to do this. By keeping books deemed controversial in rotation and out of the vault, we can begin to understand the preciousness of our own rights to speak our mind, as well as being able to speak to others with respect and with knowledge of the past. Downloaded from http://www. wikihow. com There are three possible organization patterns: Pattern 1: Thesis statement: PRO idea 1 PRO idea 2 CON(s) + Refutation(s) Conclusion Pattern 2: Thesis statement: CON(s) + Refutation(s) PRO idea 1 PRO idea 2 Conclusion Pattern 3: Thesis statement: CON idea 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Refutation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CON idea 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Refutation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CON idea 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Refutation Conclusion The  sample essay  has been written according to the third pattern. Thesis:  Do Reiki instead of taking medicine. Counter arguments Refutation 1. People should trust medicine since it is effective and scientifically proven. Reiki is also scientifically proven and does not have side effects. (refutation method: insufficient claim) 2. Serious illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancer cannot be treated without medicine. Medicine also cannot treat serious illnesses if not diagnosed at an early stage. (refutation method: opponents are partially correct) 3. Reiki, like alternative healing methods, requires a lot of time. Reiki requires less time if done regularly. refutation method: opponents are completely wrong) Language:  Signposts gain importance in the argumentative essay. They enable the readers to follow our arguments easily. When pointing out opposing arguments (CONs): Opponents of this idea claim / maintain that †¦Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Those who disagree / are against these ideas may say / assert that †¦ Some people may disagree with this idea. When stati ng specifically why they think like that: The put forward this idea because †¦ They claim that †¦ since †¦ Reaching the turning point: However, but On the other hand, When refuting the opposing idea, we may use the following strategies: compromise  but prove that their argument is not powerful enough: They have a point in thinking like that. To a certain extent they are right. completely  disagree: After seeing this evidence, there is no way we can agree with what they say. say that their argument is  irrelevant  to the topic: What we are discussing here is not what they are trying to prove. Their argument is irrelevant. HEALTH AND HEALING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Throw out the bottles and boxes of drugs in your house. A new theory suggests that medicine could be bad for your health, which should at least come as good news to people who cannot afford to buy expensive medicine. However, it is a blow to the medicine industry, and an even bigger blow to our confidence in the progress of science. This new theory argues that healing is at our fingertips: we can be healthy by doing Reiki on a regular basis. Supporters of medical treatment argue that medicine should be trusted since it is effective and scientifically proven. They say that there is no need for spiritual methods such as Reiki, Yoga, Tai Chi. These waste our time, something which is quite precious in our material world. There is medicine that can kill our pain, x-rays that show us our fractured bones or MRI that scans our brain for tumors. We must admit that these methods are very effective in the examples that they provide. However, there are some â€Å"every day complaints† such as back pains, headaches, insomnia, which are treated currently with medicine. When you have a headache, you take an Aspirin, or  Vermidon, when you cannot sleep, you take  Xanax  without thinking of the side effects of these. When you use these pills for a long period, you become addicted to them; you cannot sleep without them. We pay huge amounts of money and become addicted instead of getting better. How about a safer and more economical way of healing? When doing Reiki to yourself, you do not need anything except your energy so it is very economical. As for its history, it was discovered in  Japan  in the early 1900s and its popularity has spread particularly throughout  America  and  Western Europe. In quantum physics, energy is recognized as the fundamental substance of which the universe is composed. Reiki depends on the energy within our bodies. It is a simple and effective way of restoring the energy flow. There are no side effects and it is scientifically explained. Opponents of alternative healing methods also claim that serious illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancer cannot be treated without drugs. They think so because these patients spend the rest of their lives in the hospital taking medicine. How can Reiki make these people healthy again? It is very unfortunate that these patients have to live in the hospital losing their hair because of chemotherapy, losing weight because of the side effects of the medicine they take. Actually, it is common knowledge that except for when the cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, drugs also cannot treat AIDS or cancer. Most of the  medicinethese patients use are to ease their pain and their sufferings because of the medical treatment they undergo. Instead of drugs which are expensive and have many side effects, you can use your energy to overcome the hardships of life, find an emotional balance, leave the stress of everyday life and let go of the everyday worries. Most of the chronic conditions such as eczema or migraine are known to have causes such as poor diet and stress. Deep-rooted anger or other strong emotions can contribute to viral infections as well. Since balancing our emotions and controlling our thoughts are very important for our well-being, we should definitely start learning Reiki and avoid illnesses before it is too late. Some people may still maintain that in our material world, everything depends on time. It is even â€Å"lacking time† that causes much of the stress that leads to the illnesses we mentioned. How would it be possible to find time to do Reiki to ourselves and the people around us when we cannot even find time to go to the theater? This is one good thing about Reiki; it does not require more than 15 minutes of our time. There is no need for changing clothes or special equipment. It is a wonderfully simple healing art, an effective method of relaxation and stress-relief. Most important of all, it is less time consuming than medicine if we think of all the time we spend taking medicine for some complaints and taking some more for the side effects as well. Having said these, resistance to Reiki would be quite illogical. Reiki is natural and drug-free. What is more, it is easy to learn by anyone, regardless of age and experience. It  can be used anywhere, anytime. It also enhances physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being and the benefits last a lifetime. It is definitely high time to get away from the drug boxes we store in our drug cabinet! _________________________________________________________________________ utline I Introduction/Thesis-Claim Body Paragraph  1: Present your 1st point and supporting evidence. Body Paragraph 2: Present your 2nd point and its supporting evidence. Body Paragraph 3:  Refuteyour oppositions first point. Body Paragraph 4:  Refuteyour oppositions second point. Conclusion/Restate Thesis Outline II Introduction/Thesis-Claim Body Paragraph  1:  Refuteyour oppositions first point. Body Paragraph 2:  Refuteyour oppositions second point. Body Paragraph 3: Present your first point and supporting evidence. Body Paragraph 4: Present your second point and supporting evidence. Conclusion/Restate Thesis Outline III Introduction/Thesis-Claim Body Paragraph  1: Present your first point and its supporting evidence, which also  refutes  one of your oppositions claims. Body Paragraph 2: Present your second point and its supporting evidence, which also  refutes  a second opposition claim. Body Paragraph 3: Present your third point and its supporting evidence, which also  refutes  a third opposition claim. Conclusion/Restate Thesis 3 Additional Outlines that You Can Print: Basic 5-Paragraph (Argument) Essay Outline: This outline also serves for other essays such as research papers, or the basic 5-paragraph essay. Highlight-and-print outline to fill in. Another Argument Essay Outline:  This outline asks questions that help you critically think about your topic. Highlight-and-print outline to fill in. Argument/Research Paper Outline Guide: This outline can help guide you through a series of questions. You can highlight-and-print this outline, but its not a fill-in-the-blank outline; use it as a guide. Many of my students like to use this outline for both research papers and argumentative papers. Basic 5-Paragraph (Argument) Essay Outline:

Carboxymethyl Cellulose On Blends Of Polyvinyl Alcohol Environmental Sciences Essay

Carboxymethyl Cellulose On Blends Of Polyvinyl Alcohol Environmental Sciences Essay ABSTRACT Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blends were prepared and found that Poly(vinyl alcohol) Poly(ethylene oxide) are inherently immiscible and therefore incompatible. So, a compatibilizer Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is added to PVA and PEO and the influence of CMC is studied on the compatibility of blends of PVA and PEO. It is found that on adding CMC, PVA and PEO become partially miscible. Here, we describe the preparation of PVA/PEO/CMC blends having weight percentage of CMC 5, 10, 20 wt% and the influence of concentration of CMC on the blends of PVA and PEO is studied and the miscibility of the blends was characterized by using wide-angle X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infra-red (ATR-FTIR) techniques. Also, swelling ratio of the different blends is studied. Keywords: Hydrogels; Polyvinyl alcohol; Polyethylene oxide; Carboxymethyl cellulose; Miscibility, Immiscible. *Correspondence to: Prof. Bhuvanesh Gupta, Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India. E-mail: [emailprotected] INTRODUCTION Designing new materials with improved properties is one of the main goals of the chemists. Two common ways are chemical synthesis and blending which mainly used to get a material with improved or new properties. Chemical synthesis is an unlimited method to get new substances with well-defined properties but it is often time consuming and not seldom costly. On the other side, blending is a well-known and simple method to combine the advantages of different materials [23,65], efficient way to prepare new materials with improved properties. [8] The blending of hydrophilic/hydrophobic polymers produce phase-separated composite hydrogels. Polymer blends exhibit superior and rare properties, unexpected from homopolymers. The physical, chemical and radiant methods can be applied to prepare polymer blends. [6] Polymer blends are physical mixtures of structurally different polymers or co-polymers, which interact through secondary forces such as hydrogen bonding, dipole-dipole forces and charg e transfer complexes for homopolymer mixtures with no covalent bonding [34,36-38] that are miscible at molecular level. Polymer blend hydrogels are composed of water-soluble or swellable polymers, such as poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) [25,26] poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) [24] and, other synthetic water-soluble polymers and degradable or nondegradable water-insoluble or swellable polymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) [25], poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PGLA). [24] The most common method used to blend polymers is through solvent-casting techniques. In this process, two or more polymers are dissolved in a mutual solvent and the blends are obtained by evaporating the solvent. The resulting materials have a microphase separated structure [25,26] and often improved miscibility via hydrogen bonding among polymers [24], resulting in transparent materials. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water-soluble polyhydroxy polymer, used in practical applications because of its easy preparation, excellent chemical resistance and physical properties, appropriate mechanical properties [68,71], and it is completely biodegradable and cheap and the -OH groups can be a source of hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) and hence of assistance in the formation of polymer blends. Polyvinyl alcohol has excellent film forming, emulsifying, and adhesive properties. It is also resistant to oil, grease and solvent. It is odorless, nontoxic and has high tensile strength, flexibility, as well as high oxygen and aroma barrier. The chemical structure of PVA favors the formation of intramolecular [1] hydrogen bonding because of favorable disposition of relatively small -OH groups attached to alternate carbon atoms of PVA [20], thus it is used in the preparation of various membranes and hydrogels. Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymers having three-dimensional networks [27], and ar e most often defined as two-component systems where one of the components is a hydrophilic polymer and the second one is water. These have the ability to swell in the presence of water without dissolution because of a three-dimensional network joining as chains. The interactions responsible for water absorption by hydrogels include the processes of hydration, which is connected to the presence of such chemical groups as -OH, -COOH, -CONH2, -CONH-, and -SO3H, and the existence of capillary areas and differences in osmotic pressure. [67] PVA blends can be cast as films and applied as functional materials including biomedical materials such as dialysis membranes, wound dressing, artificial skin, cardiovascular devices and as vehicles to release active substances in a controlled manner. [69-71] PVA hydrogels have been studied extensively but their properties need to be improved further for special applications. [2,6,7] In order to improve or modify the properties of PVA hydrogels, PEO is used to blend with PVA to form hydrogels which is hydrophilic semicrystalline polyether with a glass transition temperature below room temperature, biocompatible, non toxic, non polar, non antigenic and non immunogenic [45] and is highly desirable in most biomedical applications requiring contact with physiological fluids. For these reasons, PEO hydrogels are applied as wound coverings, drug delivery systems, hemodialysis membrane [1], as a component of a tissue sealant [15,16] and as a coating for medical devices [17], both poly(ethyl ene oxide) (PEO) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are industrially important polymers [75] and their blends can be of significant practical utility, but it is found that PVA and PEO are immiscible and incompatible blends [1, 75] which do not possess a tendency for extensive mutual solubility. [1] Also it is found that hydroxyl-containing polymers are self-associated and hence the competition between self association and interpolymer interaction plays an important role in determining the miscibility behavior of their blends. For example, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is miscible with three tertiary amide polymers poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) [54-58], poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) [59] and poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) [60], but is immiscible with another tertiary amide polymer poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOx). [61] PEO is etheric in nature. However formation of weak H-bonds between PEO and PVA cannot be ruled out. The C-O-C bond angle in PEO is normally 108Â ° and when a -OH group from a neighbouring PVA chain approaches the etheric oxygen atom in order to form a H-bond, the C-O-C bond angle deviates from 108Â ° so that the lone pair of the etheric oxygen is positioned nearer to the approaching OH from PVA. It would therefore be interesting to investigate the structure and thermal properties of the composites formed in the PEO-PVA system with different proportions of the components. We have found that mutual miscibility of PEO and PVA is likely to exist over only a small range of compositions. The mixtures otherwise seem to form only microscopically immiscible blends which do not possess a tendency for extensive mutual solubility. They are referred to as incompatible polymer blends or simply blends. [77] To make them compatible, a compatibilizer i.e. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is added. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) obtained from natural cellulose by chemical modification is a water soluble cellulose ether derivate [3] and is formed by its reaction with sodium hydroxide and chloroacetic acid. It has a number of sodium carboxymethyl groups (CH2COONa), introduced into the cellulose molecule, which promote water solubility. The various properties of CMC depend upon three factors: molecular weight of the polymer, average number of carboxyl content per anhydroglucose unit, and the distribution of carboxyl substituents along the polymer chains. The most important properties of CMC are viscosity building and flocculation. Among all the polysaccharides, CMC is easily available and it is also very cheap. It has high shear stability. The structure of CMC is shown in Figure 1. [78] Figure 1 Structure of (a) Poly(vinyl alcohol), (b) Poly(ethylene oxide) and (c) Carboxymethyl cellulose CMC has good water solubility, broadly used due to its low cost, biodegradability, biocompatibility [51] and lack of toxicity. [8,29-33] CMC is an ionic polyelectrolyte [30] that contains carboxyl groups and exhibits pH sensitivity as it has lot of carboxylic groups. [48-50] It has been used in several medical applications [10] and more recently as a component of an antiadhesion gel. [11,12] CMC and PVA in different ratios can be mixed homogeneously in an aqueous solution without evident phase separation, and this can be attributed to the interaction between the components. [49] The hydrogen bonds that form between the carboxylic groups of CMC and hydroxyl groups of PVA, and form semi-interpenetrating polymer networks [49] while with PEO, CMC undergoes micro phase separation to form a two-phase system. [9] Berg et. al. [9] found that the turbidity results of CMC/PEO gels are demonstrated by transparency data. It is found that gels prepared either from CMC alone or from PEO alone were transparent. However, for CMC/PEO composite gels, the transparency of gels changed as the ratio of the two components changed. The gel composed of equal amounts of CMC and PEO had the highest turbidity while the gel having 20% CMC has more than 90% transparency so 20% CMC concentration is taken as the optimized concentration for further studies. The polymer-polymer interaction for the miscibility is thought to be due mainly to hydrogen bonding between three hydroxyl groups in the anhydroglucose unit of CMC and the functional groups of the synthetic polymers PVA and PEO. However, since each of the three hydroxyl groups in the repeating unit of the cellulose is quite different in terms of regiochemistry and polarity, the hydrogen bond formation is not easily clarified. Kondo et.al. [47] proposed the mechanism for the development of interaction in the cellulose/PEO blend and showed that the hydrogen bonding between the C6 position hydroxyls and skeletal oxygen of PEO is more favourable, at first the two polymers are trapped to form a large adduct, which is a complex between cellulose and PEO, by the hydrogen bond, and the mobility of the molecules is restricted. Then another PEO molecule interacts with the adduct either by hydrogen bonding between the remaining free hydroxyls in cellulose and oxygen in PEO, or by Vander Waals b onding between PEO molecules. [79] The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the influence of concentration of CMC on the blends of PVA and PEO. In this article, we report the characterization of PVA/PEO/CMC blends by various techniques such as X-Ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, Differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermal gravimetric Analysis (TGA). EXPERIMENTAL Materials Poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) of Loba Chemie Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India having degree of polymerization 1700-1800 and molecular weight 1,15,000, Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) of Sigma Aldrich of molecular weight 3,00,000 were used. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) sodium salt of high viscosity was received from Loba Chemie Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India. Distilled water was used for all experiments. Preparation of Blends of PVA and PEO Preparation of the pure film of PVA and blends of PVA and PEO were carried out in the following manner. PVA was dissolved in distilled water under constant mechanical stirring at temperature 60 -70 Â °C to get 5% PVA solution and then about 15 g. of PVA solution is poured to form layers 2 mm thick in a petridish at room temperature. The solution was first dried in air for 2 days and then in a vacuum oven at 100Â °C to remove solvent from it. Then, the blends of PVA/PEO/CMC were prepared by dissolving different concentrations of each polymer in distilled water, the total polymer concentration in the solvent remains 5% by weight. Water constitutes a suitable reaction medium, because PVA, PEO and CMC are soluble in water. Each polymer having concentration as shown in Table 1 were added in distilled water one by one and then dissolved under constant mechanical stirring at temperature 60 -70Â °C. As shown in Figure 2, it was found that blend solutions formed with CMC shows compatibility as compared to the solution having no CMC i.e. solution (a). It is clear from the Figure 2 that compatibility in the blend increases as the CMC concentration increases from 5% to 20%. These blend solutions were then poured in petridishes at room temperature. The solutions were first dried in air for 2 days and then in a vacuum oven at 100Â °C to remove solvent from it. The films so obtained are then characterized by XRD, TGA, DSC and ATR-FTIR techniques to determine miscibility. Table 1 Samples taken for characterization Figure 2 Solutions prepared from the polymer sample to test compatibility Swelling Ratio (%) All the samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) in film form were accurately weighed and placed in a beaker having fixed volume i.e. 50 ml PBS (pH 7.4) and then kept in a water bath undisturbed for a fixed interval i.e. 24 h. The samples were removed after 24 h., and the excess surface water is removed by pressing gently between filter paper and weighed. The Swelling ratio(%) i.e. SR (%), was calculated as indicated in Equation given below. SR (%) = (Ws Wd) / Wd x 100 where Wd is the weight of dry film, and Ws is the weight of swollen film. Density of blended films Density measurements of the samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) were carried out by taking into account the thickness of membranes of specific size by measuring thickness of the film by thickness tester and by measuring the weight of the sample. Weight in gram per cubic centimeter was represented as the density of the membranes. Wide angle X-Ray diffraction (XRD) X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the samples are recorded in the 2ÃŽ ¸ range of 5-40Â ° on a Phillips X-ray diffractometer equipped with a scintillation counter. CuKÃŽ ± radiation (wavelength, 1.54 ÇÂ º; filament current, 30 mA; voltage, 40 kV) is used for the generation of X-rays. A polymer can be considered partly crystalline and partly amorphous. The crystallinity parts give sharp narrow diffraction peaks and the amorphous component gives a very broad peak. The ratio between these intensities can be used to calculate the amount of crystallinity in the material. Crystallinity (%) = (AC/AT ) X 100 Where AC is the area of crystalline part of the samples and AT is the total area of crystalline and amorphous part of prepared samples. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) The thermal stability of the prepared samples is evaluated by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) performed on a Perkin- Elmer TGA, using a nitrogen stream as purge gas, at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min within the range of 50- 600Â °C. For this, the prepared samples are firstly vaccum dried at 100Â ° C and then loaded in the crucible and the thermograms are run under nitrogen atmosphere from 50- 600Â °C. Attenuated Total Reflectance- Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (ATR- FTIR) Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier-transform infra-red (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful techniques to investigate multicomponent systems because it provides information on the blend composition as well as on the polymer-polymer interaction. Infrared spectra of both the blends and the pure components were obtained using the films on an ATR-FTIR spectrometer. It is used to characterize the presence of specific chemical groups in the materials. IR spectroscopy of the thin films of samples are recorded on a Perkin-Elmer spectrophotometer in the wave number range of 650-4000 cm−1 using transmittance mode. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is done to study thermal properties such as melting temperature, glass transition temperature and melting enthalpies of dry samples. The DSC studies on the samples are carried out with a Perkin-Elmer DSC-7 system, in aluminium pans under nitrogen atmosphere. For this vacuum-dried samples were loaded, and the thermograms were run in the following temperature range under nitrogen atmosphere at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min. The weight of sample used in DSC was in the range of 5-10 mg. The melting temperature was obtained as the peak of the thermogram. The heat of fusion (ΔHf) is obtained from the area under melting thermograms. The heat of crystallization (ΔHf(crys)) of 100% crystalline pure PVA is obtained from the literature. The crystallinity of samples is obtained by the following expression: Crystallinity (%) =ΔHf/ΔHf(crys) X 100 where ΔHf is the heat of fusion of the sample obtained from the melting thermogram and ΔHf(crys) is the heat of fusion of 100% crystalline PVA and is taken as 150 J/g.[64] in high temperature DSC, all samples as shown in table 1 were heated from 50 to 150Â °C at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min, kept 5 min at 150Â °C, cooled to 50Â °C at the same rate, and kept 5 min at 50Â °C. Then, the samples were heated from 50 to 350Â °C at the same rate to record DSC curves. The thermal properties of the polymer blends were determined using two scans. The first heating scan, which was conducted to eliminate the residual water and solvent. The results reported in this work correspond to the second heating scan. In low temperature DSC, all samples as shown in table 1 were heated from 30 to 120Â °C at a heating rate of 10Â °C/min, kept 5 min at 150Â °C, cooled to -50Â °C at the same rate, and kept 5 min at -50Â °C. Then, the samples were heated from -50 to 230Â °C at the same rate to record DSC curves. The thermal properties of the polymer blends were determined using two scans. The first heating scan, which was conducted to eliminate the residual water and solvent. The results reported in this work correspond to the second heating scan. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Swelling Ratio (%) Figure 3 Effect of concentration of CMC on the Swelling Ratio (%) of the blends in PBS (pH 7.4) in 24 h. Figure 3 clearly shows that as the concentration of CMC increases from 0 to 20% in the blends of PVA/PEO/CMC, the Swelling Ratio of blends (%) increases. It is because as the concentration of CMC increases in the blends number of hydroxyl group increases thus increasing the interaction. Density Measurements Table 2 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films Figure 4 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films As shown in Table 2 and Figure 4, it can be clearly concluded that there is not appreciable difference in the density of air dried films with the increase of the concentration of CMC from 0 to 20%. But as the concentration of CMC increases in the blends the density of air dried films slightly increases as the hydrogen bonding between three hydroxyl groups in the anhydroglucose unit of CMC and the functional groups of the synthetic polymers PVA and PEO increases, thus making the blend more dense. Also it can be seen that the density of pure CMC is more as compared to pure PVA and PEO. X-ray diffraction Figure 5 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure PVA, pure PEO and sample (a) Figure 6 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure CMC, samples (b), (c) and (d) X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the blends and the pure components are shown in Figure 5 and 6. It may be seen that pure PVA exhibits only a broad and shallow diffraction feature around the 2ÃŽ ¸ value of 16.9Â °, indicating the presence of low-degree crystalline ordering. PEO has two well-defined reflections at 2ÃŽ ¸ values 18.9Â ° and 23.2Â °. These reflections are consistent with literature reports on crystalline PEO. The blend (a) having PVA/PEO 90/10 shows only one reflection at 2ÃŽ ¸ values 19.8Â °. XRD analysis showed that CMC exhibits a very small crystallinity which can be seen in the Table 3 given below. Table 3 Percentage crystallinity calculated by XRD of samples In samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) as the concentration of CMC increases, the % crystallinity shows not much difference as shown in Figure 7 given below. But as shown in Figure 6 the merging of all the peaks of pure PVA, PEO and CMC shows that on adding CMC to the blend of PVA and PEO, the compatibility increases. Figure 7 Graph of percentage crystallinity vs concentration of CMC by XRD Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) Figure 8 TGA of thin films of samples for studying the effect of concentration of CMC on the thermal stability of the samples The thermal stability of the dry superabsorbent hydrogels was determined from 50Â °C to 600Â °C. Figure 8 shows the thermograms for different hydrogel compositions at various temperatures. Generally, in the initial stage of the thermograms from 50Â °C to 200 Â ° C, the weight loss was due to the dehydration process of the water contained in the hydrophilic hydrogels. From the figure 8, three degradation steps can be observed in PVA sample. The first weight loss process, is associated with the loss of absorbed moisture and/or with the evaporation of trapped solvent, the second weight loss process correspond to the degradation of PVA by a dehydration reaction on the polymer chain and the third weight loss process is due to the degradation of the polyene residues to yield carbon and hydrocarbons while PEO undergoes one step degradation. In samples a, b, c, d two step degradation process takes place. The hydrogels having concentrations equal to 100% CMC showed a single-step thermogram, whereas the major weight loss of ~ 50% occurred from 250 to 350Â °C. This weight loss was attributed mainly to the thermal degradation of the two component polymers of the hydrogel, whereas the weight loss up to 600Â °C was ~ 70%. This means that hydrogels having 100% CMC showed high thermal stability. On the other hand, the thermogram of blends is two-step thermogram. The first step was from 200 to 300Â °C, which was also attributed to thermal degradation of the side chains. The second step took place from 350 to 450 Â ° C with a major weight loss equal to 80%. This weight loss was attributed to some thermal degradation of the main chain C-C- bond of the hydrogel components. TGA of CMC showed two distinct zones where the weight is being lost. The initial weight loss is due to the presence of small amount of moisture in the sample. The second loss is due to the loss of CO2 from the polysaccharide. As there are COO- groups in the case of CMC, it is decarboxylated. Attenuated Total Reflectance- Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (ATR- FTIR) Figure 9 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples pure PVA and PEO Figure 10 FTIR of pure CMC powder Figure 11 Comparison of ATR-FTIR of blend (d) with pure samples From Figures 9, 10 and 11, in the IR spectra of the CMC, we can notice the characteristic bands of COO- at 1610, 1419 cm-1, COOH groups at 1055.9 cm-1, -OH at 1419, 1319.54 cm-1 and the ether groups at 1055.9 cm-1. It is worth to remark that in the CMC a part of the carboxylic groups are in acid form and a part in ionic form. The spectrum of CMC shows the stretching vibrations of at -CH-O-CH2 1055.9 cm-1. The band at 1610 cm-1 and 2878.37 cm-1 are assigned to the stretching vibration of the carboxyl group (COO-) and the stretching vibration of methine (C-H), respectively. Pure CMC displays two characteristic absorption bands at 1610 cm-1 and 1419 cm-1, which represents symmetry stretching and asymmetry stretching of COO− group, respectively. It shows a broad band at 3433.59 cm-1, due to the stretching frequency of the -OH group. The band at 2878.37 cm-1 is due to C-H stretching vibration. The presence of a strong absorption band at 1610 cm-1 confirms the presence of COO- group. The bands around 1419 and 1319.54 cm-1 are assigned to -CH2 scissoring and -OH bending vibration, respectively. The FTIR spectrum of pure PVA reference sample is shown in figure 9 and 11. It clearly reveals the major peaks associated with poly(vinyl alcohol). For instance, it can be observed C-H broad alkyl stretching band 2933.33 cm-1 and typical strong hydroxyl bands for intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonded band at 3286.66 cm-1. This vibrational band at 1140 cm-1 is mostly attributed to the crystallinity of the PVA, related to carboxyl stretching band (C-O). The band at 1140 cm-1 has been used as an assessment tool of poly(vinyl alcohol) structure because it is a semicrystalline synthetic polymer able to form some domains depending on several process parameters. The band at 1420 cm-1 is due to -CH2 group and at 1087.11 cm-1 is due to C-O-C group. The IR peak of interest in the C-O-C asymmetric stretch is at 1095.88 cm-1. This peak in the spectrum of blends has been shown to shift due to hydrogen bonding to PVA and CMC. The spectra obtained for blends are shown in Figure 12. Figure 12 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) From Figure 12 it can be concluded that all the blends show characteristic peaks of all the polymers present. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) The melting temperatures were determined from maximum in the melting endotherm, the glass transition temperatures were taken as the mid point of the heat capacity change. One of the most commonly used methods to estimate polymer-polymer miscibility is the determination of the Tm of the blend compared with the Tms of the two components separately. In the case where one component is crystalline, observation of a melting point depression of this polymer may also be used as evidence to support the miscibility of the polymer pair. Figure 13 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, PEO and CMC Thermal properties and crystallinity of the prepared samples are examined by DSC method (Figure 13 and Table 4). PVA exhibited a relatively large and sharp endothermic peak at 222.2Â °C, PEO at 70.2Â °C and CMC at 265.9Â °C. It is observed from Figure 14 that the melting point and melting enthalpies of the samples a, b, c, d are somewhat decreased from the pure PVA sample. This decrease in melting temperature might be related to a decrease in the crystallinity of the sample and proper alignment of the chains due to the interference of other polymers present in the blend. Figure 15 shows the glass transition temperature i.e. Tg of the pure PVA sample. The melting points of the blends show that the interaction between CMC and PVA weakens the interaction between PVA chains and hinders the crystallization of PVA. Figure 14 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 15 DSC curves showing the glass transition peak of PVA Figure 16 DSC curves showing the melting temperature peaks of PEO and samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) PEO exhibited a relatively large and sharp endothermic peak at 65.5Â °C. It is observed from Figure 16 that the melting point and melting enthalpies of the samples a, b, c, d are somewhat decreased from the pure PEO sample and the melting peaks are widened. This decrease in melting temperature is also related to a decrease in the crystallinity of the sample and proper alignment of the chains due to the interference of other polymers present in the blend as shown in Table 4. It was found that the melting temperature of PEO shifts towards a lower temperature when the PVA is added to the PEO, the change in Tm shows the change from semi crystalline to amorphous phase. Table 4 Percentage crystallinity calculated by DSC of samples Figure 17 Graph of Percentage Crystallinity vs Concentration of CMC In Figure 17, the percentage crystallinity data obtained by DSC for different polymer compositions (a), (b), (c) and (d) are plotted against compatibilizer CMC concentration, to clarify the effect of the CMC content on the crystallinity of the present system. This is also clear from the Table 4 given above that as the concentration of CMC increases in the blend the crystallinity % decreases this is due to the decrease in the proper alignment of the chains due to the interference of other polymers present in the blend. Figure 18 Graph of Melting Temperature (Tm) vs Concentration of CMC In Figure 18 and table 4, the Tm data obtained by DSC for different polymer compositions (a), (b), (c) and (d) are plotted against compatibilizer CMC concentration, to clarify the effect of the CMC content on the thermal property of the present system. It is clear from the figure that as the concentration of CMC increases in the blend the melting temperature firstly increases then decreases. CONCLUSIONS We have effectively produced PVA/PEO/CMC hydrogels via aqueous route. These hydrogel blends were properly characterized by using XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, TGA and DSC techniques. FIGURES CAPTIONS Figure 1 Structure of (a) Poly(vinyl alcohol), (b) Poly(ethylene oxide) and (c) Carboxymethyl cellulose Figure 2 Solutions prepared from the polymer sample to test compatibility Figure 3 Effect of concentration of CMC on the Swelling Ratio (%) of the blends in PBS (pH 7.4) in 24 h. Figure 4 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films Figure 5 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure PVA, pure PEO and sample (a) Figure 6 X-Ray diffraction patterns of pure CMC, samples (b), (c) and (d) Figure 7 Graph of percentage crystallinity vs concentration of CMC by XRD Figure 8 TGA of thin films of samples for studying the effect of concentration of CMC on the thermal stability of the samples Figure 9 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples pure PVA, PEO and CMC Figure 10 FTIR of pure CMC powder Figure 11 Comparison of ATR-FTIR of blend (d) with pure samples Figure 12 ATR-FTIR of thin films of samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 13 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, PEO and CMC Figure 14 DSC curves showing the melting peaks of PVA, samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 15 DSC curves showing the glass transition peak of PVA Figure 16 DSC curves showing the melting temperature peaks of PEO and samples (a), (b), (c) and (d) Figure 17 Graph of Percentage Crystallinity vs Concentration of CMC Figure 18 Graph of Melting Temperature (Tm) vs Concentration of CMC TABLES CAPTIONS Table 1 Samples taken for characterization Table 2 Comparison of influence of concentration of CMC on the density of air dried films Table 3 Percentage crystallinity calculated by XRD of samples Table 4 Percentage crystallinity calculated by DSC of samples