Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Social Security Reforms Implication Of Reinvesting Social Security Surpluses In Favor Of The Beneficiaries Essay Example
Social Security Reforms: Implication Of Reinvesting Social Security Surpluses In Favor Of The Beneficiaries Essay Social security has been adopted as a policy and programme of government to secure and provide for needs of the aged, disabled or those who are financially disabled. In the United State of America, the social security programme of the country has being on for 70 years now. And it is considered by scholars and their likes that it is the most successful programme in U.S. history (Smith, 2005). Social security top most agenda of the US. And, it is one that has incurred rigorous debate. Thus, it has become increasingly politicized in contemporary times. Many politicians now use social security issue as an item for political campaign and manifestos display. Hence, promises are made on ways and pattern to reform existing social security programme in fashion tat would make it more beneficial to the beneficiaries. Social security has been synonymous to nomenclature such as Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program. But as Smith (2005), rightly puts it, the program is broad and not just for retirees. It is an insurance program, one that provides insurance against a destitute old age and also protects survivors and those with disability. ââ¬Å"Social security provides benefits to retired and disabled workers and their dependents and survivors; social security provides assistance to the needy, aged, blind, and disabledâ⬠(Horst, 2001). Government has over the years allocated huge public funds for the administration of social security. For example, in US 1996 fiscal year, Social Security Administration (SSA) had expenditures totaling $386 billion; almost one-forth of the United States $1.6 trillion federal budget. And in that year over 50 million beneficiaries nearly one out of every five individuals in the country- received benefits from SSA each month, and the numbers have been steadily growing (ibid). The scale of social security is huge: nearly 500 billion dollars shared by over 47 million social security benefit was $926 in 2004â⬠(Smith, 2005). Social security constitutes a major source of income for most retirees. For those with lower incomes, nearly three quarters of their total income comes from social security. And a third of all without social security (ibid). Social security has been of an immense benefit and thus advantageous in making the aged and senior citizens maintain their dignity and hence, make them to depend less on financial support from their families. Also, widows, dependents and disabled persons condition of living have being uplifted with no cause for them to go on wanting. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Security Reforms: Implication Of Reinvesting Social Security Surpluses In Favor Of The Beneficiaries specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Social Security Reforms: Implication Of Reinvesting Social Security Surpluses In Favor Of The Beneficiaries specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Social Security Reforms: Implication Of Reinvesting Social Security Surpluses In Favor Of The Beneficiaries specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The administration of social security has come up with certain problems that make many people to call for the reform to the current programme in the United States. According to Steiner (2005), social security the nationââ¬â¢s paternalistic retirement program has a two- part-financing problem. The first component is the imbalance, which pertain to the amount of money the system takes and spend on social security. Here, projected revenues and expenditures are not in balance. The second component is the surplus, which is derived from the tax revenue on social security. Today, the government takes in more social security tax revenue than it spends, which create surpluses. The government invests the current surpluses in special ââ¬â issue government bonds and spends rather than invests them. The situation of things s made current financing arrangement lowers savings and raises the national debt, instead of potentially increasing national savings, which could fund the benefits for f uture retirees. A as way out of the problems facing social security in the United States, it is suggested that social security surpluses should be invested in private securities rather than government bonds. This would effectively remove trust fund assets from the unified budget and force Congress to get along without them. This approach is suggested to preserve social securityââ¬â¢s current defined benefit structure. The advantages associated with private securities trust fund; include: first, it would increase expected returns on trust fund assets, potentially increasing national savings. The higher investments risk associated with private securities would be spread over all program participants. Also, benefits would be payable to participants as intended, rather than leaking out of the program to serve other purposes. It then become necessary to avoid exorbitant increases to payroll taxes in the future and resolve both the imbalances and surplus problems, it may make sense to invest social sec urity assets in private investments or reduce future benefits and encourage individuals to save more themselves (Steiner, 2005). But the disadvantage associated with the above approach is that the government would select the private securities. Defenders maintain that government involvement could be mitigated by investing the trust fund in indexed mutual funds selected by an independent board of trustees charged with representing the interests of program participants (ibid). Pay-As-You-Go financing with adjustments is another option to be adopted in reforming the existing social security. ââ¬Å"Chile, the first country in the world to shift from a pay-as-you-go defined benefit social insurance model to a funded defined contribution modelâ⬠(Rix, 2005). This approach involves the financing short falls ahead to bring tax rates and benefits into balance within social securityââ¬â¢s current structure while avoiding significant surpluses. The pay-as-you-go financing with adjustments had the advantages f simplicity, but it could come at the cost of relatively steep increases in taxes or significant reductions in benefits or both (ibid). Using the adopted reform of social security in United Kingdom as a referral point, the Voluntary Carve Outs (VCO) in the United Kingdom has a defined benefit and a defined contribution plan as the alternative to social security. ââ¬Å"The United Kingdom is the only high- income country that allows VCOs with the worker establishing an individual account defined contribution planâ⬠(Blake, 2005). Under the VCO programme in the UK, workers can ââ¬Ëcontract outââ¬â¢ of social security, replacing part of their social security benefits with private pensions, either through a defined benefit plan or, since 1988, an individual account defined contribution plan. In the VCO programme, the UK government receives and disburses contributions to individual accounts; it does not have a record keeping function for the VCO accounts. Rather, the government serves as the record keeper for the entire system. Here, each worker has an account with the company managing the investments of the VC O, usually an insurance company. Workers must contract with an insurance company to receive the annuitized benefits. The workers are responsible for investigating the prices charged by insurance companies (ibid). A VCO account differs from the traditional social security benefits in the sense that VCO account is like a loan from the government because the workers accept reduced future socials security benefits in exchange for the diversion today of socials security of the assets between contributions to an individual account and reductions in future social security benefits are a key aspect of the structure of VCOs because they affect the decisions workers make as to whether to take the VCO. The need to make reform to existing social security program, in order to better the lots of beneficiaries, brought about this research study. Thus, the study would focus on social security reforms: implications of reinvesting social security surpluses in favor of the beneficiaries. The United State social security program would be the case study for the research work. 1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM The following are those problems that underline the study which the research study intend proffering solution to: Social security administration is bedeviled with an imbalance in the amount of money government collect as tax for social security and the actual amount that is spent for beneficiaries of social security. This imbalance has led to growing shortfalls in the out-years of social security administration. Hence, projected revenues and expenditures are not in balance. How could administration of social security be administered in order to make a balance between collected tax (revenue) and expenditures on social security? As a result of imbalance between expected revenue and expenditures, there are surpluses in accumulated fund not disbursed. How would these surpluses be invested in order to further better the lot of beneficiaries of social security? The current social security leaves the beneficiaries with no room to make choice on how and whereà à to invest for their future benefits. Unlike the case with the Voluntary Carve out (VCO) program of the UK, where the beneficiary has the choice to make decision on which insurance company to manage their securities, the social security as being practice in the US demands for mandatory account.à Workers in VCO have the choice to make many decisions, which affect their lives unlike the social security. Lower income workers are restricted only to social security, unlike those in upper income level. Thus, they bear more risk averse concerning the investment of their retirement savings than upper income workers. And the lower income workers have no room for the diversification of their source of retirement income. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE S TUDY The following under listed are those objectives, which the research study tends to attain. To proffer the best method on which the reinvestment of surpluses in social security, that would be of immense benefits to the beneficiaries and safeguard the programme to last and be capable to meet future demands in the ever-increasing beneficiaries of social security. To determine ways of reforming social security administration that would make beneficiaries have room to make choice and be in position to make decision that would best benefit them To determine ways in which the imbalances of revenues generated for social security and the expenditures made are balanced in order to make the programme more effective and beneficial to stakeholders. To determine the implications of reinvesting surpluses of social security in favor of the beneficiaries. 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The importance of this research work includes: The study would enable government know ways of investing and administering surpluses in social; security so as to better the lot of the beneficiaries and improve on the effectiveness of the programme. The study would also enable government to know ways of administering social security so as to remove any form of imbalances that would prevent proper forecasting and future plan on social security programme. The research work would also enable beneficiaries of the social security programme to know ways and roles they would play in order to improve their status in the programme. The research work would contribute to the body of knowledge. Researchers on the same field of study can make reference to this study in course of further research work. The research work is significant in the sense that it would contribute toà social concern and the ways of further improvement on social well-being of the masses in a state. 1.5à à RESERCH METHODOLOGY 1.5.1à à à à à Research Design method The survey research design would be used in conducting this research work. A survey design is a research method where data are collected from a defined population to describe the present condition of the population using the variables under study. ââ¬Å"Survey design does more than merely uncover data. They interpret, synthesis and integrate these data and point to implications and interrelationshipâ⬠(Bankole, 2003:15). Since the subject matter for this study is a social issue that affects a large group and the generality of people, the survey research method becomes most feasible and more appropriate in the conduct of the study. 1.5.2à à à à à Subjects for the study The total population for this study would constitute the majority of beneficiaries of social security especially those in the United States. Since they are the users and direct stakeholders in social security, it is appropriate that they constitute the subjects of the study. Also, government workers in agencies that administer social security policies would constitute subject for the study. These two groups become appropriate as the subject of the study, because they have first knowledge on how social security is being administered and they partake in the outcome of the implemented programme. 1.5.3à à à à à Sample Size The sample size, i.e., the number of subjects top be i8ncluded for the study would comprise of 100 respondents. 70% of the respondents, constituting 70 people, would be those who are beneficiaries of social security. While 30% of the respondents would be workers and other people that have direct link with governmental agencies that administers social security. The categorization of the subjects for the study in the above giving proportion becomes appropriate, since there are greater numbers of beneficiaries of social security than the workers administering the programme. The number of sample size is adequate because it could be properly managed and data derived would be adequately analyzed, than larger sample size. 1.5.4à à à à à Sampling Method The quota sampling method would be used in selecting the subjects for the study. Quota sampling is a non-probability sampling method, a form of accidental sampling done in line with quota or strata in the total population. According to Odiagbe (1999:48), quota sample is selected in such a way that various components appear not only in proportion to their sizes in the target population but selection is stopped as soon as enough of the sub-group is selected. The quota sampling method is adequate for this study since there is a placement of quota selection on those to form the research respondents. Also, quota sampling being a non-probability method would make the selection of the respondents for the study to be easy. Anyone can be included in the group selection, so far the number of selection do not exceed the 70-30 percentage ratio apportioned for beneficiaries and workers of government agencies for social security administration. 1.5.5à à à à à Data Collection Methods In the course of conducti8ng this re search, both primary and secondary data would beà à à à à à utilized.; the primary data would be generated from self administered questionnaires to the respondents. The questionnaires would contain two sections. Sections A,, would have the bio-data of the respondents, while section b would have questions relating to the study and the research questions. The questionnaires would be sent through e-mail and postal mail to reach wide areas and prevent the restriction of selecting the respondents to a particular area. This would also save cost of reaching respondents in distant areas. The choice of choosing questionnaire as an instruments for data collection boils to the fact that it would allow for ease in data collection and also position the respondent in a calm atmosphere, devoid of threat and victimization when giving answers to the questions. Also would be secrecy and protection of respondent privacy when questionnaires are administe red. Linkert 5 scale measurement would be used to grade the answers given b y the respondents. Below are the grade apportioned to each answer given Optionsà à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à Apportioned score Strongly agreeà à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à 5 Agreeà à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à 4 Uncertainà à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à 3 Disagreeà à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à 2 Strongly disagreeà à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à 1 The secondary data would be used in deriving data and comparing previous findings and drawing conclusions for the study. The secondary data would be derived from journals, textbooks, newspapers articles, Internet materials and government gazettes. 1.6à à MEASUREMENT The topic of this research study is ââ¬ËSocial Security Reforms: Implication Of Reinvesting Social Security Surpluses In Favor Of The Beneficiariesââ¬â¢. From the topic the independent variable is ââ¬Ë Social security reformsââ¬â¢, while the dependent variable is ââ¬Ë the implication of reinvesting social security surpluses in favor of the beneficiaries. To operationalized the topic, we say, the implications derived from the r e investing of social security surpluses in favor of the beneficiaries is a function of the level of reforms made on the existing social security policy. In other words, the implications that are obtainable from the reinvesting of surpluses from social security to favor the beneficiaries, this is determined by the outcome of the type of reform carried out on current social security policy. For instance, if no thorough reform is carried out it means the level of change would be minute, thereby resulting in the status quo of modus operandi. 1.7 DATA ANALYSIS The quantitative analysis method would be use for the analysis of the data for the study. Chi-square (X2) would be used in testing the r e search questions. The formula for the chi-square (x2) is: X2+ (O-E)2 E Where ââ¬ËOââ¬â¢ represent the observed frequency ââ¬ËE ââ¬Ë represents the expected frequency. The decision rule for the chi- square (X2) include: Accept the null hypothesis (h0), when the calculated value of X2 is lesser than the table value of X2. Hence, reject the alternate hypothesis (H1). Reject the null hypothesis (H0), when the calculated value of X2 is greater than the table value of X2. Hence, accept the alternate hypothesis (H1). The findings of the research study would be derived based on the conclusion reached from the statistical analysis carried out. 1.8 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS The ethical considerations to be put in place in the course of conducting this research work include the following: 1. The data for the research work would not be falsified. Hence, it would be generated based on the actual response the respondents give. 2 the privacy of the respondents would be protected; anyà à given information would only be utilized for the conducting the research study. 3. All used secondary data would be adequately referenced in order to prevent plagiarism. REFRENCES Bankole, A.R. (2003), research methods: an introductory approach. Lagos: Adeshina Print Production Publication. Blake, David Turner John, (2005), voluntary Carve Outs for Social Security reform: Lessons from the United Kingdomâ⬠http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/20005_20_uk.pdf (20/02/06) Hprst, Cindy (2001), ââ¬Å" Vital link in social security: Somali refugees in the Dadaab camps, Kenyaâ⬠working paper no.38. New Issues in refugee research. Social security Administration (SSA) publication. No 05-10008. Odiagbe, Martin (1999), A Handbook of Research Methods, Seminar Presentation Term paper writing. Lagos: Win Computer System. Rix, Sara E. (2005), ââ¬Å"reforming Social security: Lessons from Abroadâ⬠http://www.aarp.org/research/socialsecurity/reform/social_security_abroad.html (20/02/06) Smith, Marie F. (2005), ââ¬Å" Theà à Future of Social security Speechâ⬠July 18. http://www.aarp.org/research/socialsecurityreform/socail_security_confrence.html. (20/02/06) Steiner, Kenneth A. (2005), ââ¬Å" Social Security Reform: Whatââ¬â¢s the Best Fix?â⬠http://www.contingencies.org/novdec05/social_security_reform_1105.asp (11/02/06).
Friday, March 20, 2020
Passage from Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Research Paper Example
Passage from Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Research Paper Example Passage from Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Paper Passage from Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Paper it makes it easier for us to believe that it is Huck an uneducated young man that is telling the story, instead of Mark Twain himself. This does not mean that Mark Twains own personality and opinions do not shine through. Huckleberry Finns naivety and lack of education make him the perfect tool for Twain, who uses him to poke fun at various aspects of 19th-century American society. In the extract, Huck is marvelling at the quality of Emmeline Grangerfords poetry, saying [i]f Emmeline Grangerford could make poetry like that before she was fourteen, there aint no telling what she could a done by-and-by. Earlier in chapter XVII, the reader is served a sample of Emmelines poetry, the Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Decd. , which is mediocre at best, and incredibly melodramatic. It becomes obvious that while Hucks admiration is genuine, Twain is being satirical and holds that kind of literature in contempt. The character of Emmeline Grangerford is based on a poet called Julia A. Moore (Hess: 2003a; Blair: 1996). Moore was known as the sweet singer of Michigan and wrote dreadful poetry. When Huck says she could write about anything you choose to give her about, just so it was sadful, it is an obvious reference to Julia Moore. Some of Moores subjects of choice were deaths of neighbours, deaths of neighbours children, heroic soldiers being killed in the Civil War (Blair: 1996) Mark Twain counted Moore amongst his favourite poets because she was always able to make him laugh. She tried very hard to make her poems as sad and tragic as possible, but in the end, they turned out funny, just as Emmelines tributes did. Twain is not only making fun of Julia Moore: he is attacking the whole movement of romanticism. Romantic gothic works such as Edgar Allan Poes poetry and Washington Irvings The Legend of Sleepy Hollow were popular in Victorian America. Death and mourning were subjects that were often written about in Romantic literature, and were treated in an overdramatic, histrionic manner. Emmeline Grangerfords horrible poetry serves as a caricature of Romantic literature and shows how Mark Twain really felt about it. Twain was more of a realistic writer, and preferred to describe events and people as they truly were. His use of the vernacular, which I have mentioned earlier, amplifies the feeling of reality the reader gets while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Romantic literary works were written in a very formal style, with many superfluous adjectives and adverbs. Twain cuts out anything unneeded, and focuses instead on the storyline, on dialogues, and on the relationships between characters. At one point in the extract, Huck says that after once, Emmeline hung fire (hesitated) on a rhyme in one of her tributes. Because of this, the undertaker got to the dead body before her, and Emmeline arnt ever the same, after that; she never complained, but she kind of pined away and did not live long. Emmeline used too much time on her poem and she could not recite it in front of the dead person. Twain is insinuating that this made her so upset that it killed her. This can mean two things: either that Emmeline was extremely narcissistic, or that she was too sensitive for her own good. It seems like Twain is using Emmeline to represent the mass of Romantic authors. One can probably assume that he is accusing Romantic writers of taking themselves, and life, too seriously. Later in the passage, Huck feels sorry that Emmeline does not have her own tribute, and tries to write a couple of verses about Emmeline. For some reason, he [can]t seem to make it go somehow. It is evident that Huck feels very sorry for Emmeline, and truly cares about her and her family: I liked all that family, dead ones and all, and warnt going to let anything come between us. I believe that Mark Twain is saying that Romantic writers are phony, or, at least, writing about fake emotions. Hucks feelings about the Grangerfords are genuine. The naivety and childlikeness of Huck do not allow him to pretend he is feeling anything he is not, and therefore, he cannot write anything like Emmelines poetry. Huck also mentions that Emmelines pictures had been aggravating him, something which further proves that Huck is definitely not a Romantic. He is horrified at the macabre elements in Emmelines art. The Romantic movement was very present in Victorian America, and not only in literature. When Huck says: The neighbors said it was the doctor first, then Emmeline, then the undertaker Twain is really telling the reader about the attitude a lot of people had about death around that time. In Puritan America (17th-18th century), people welcomed death, because it was a way out of the hardships of life. On the other hand, they feared its consequences: death was a passageway into a world which could be immeasurably better, or, if one were not among the chosen ones, unbearably worse. (Hess: 2003b) In the 19th century, the Romantic movement came to America from Europe, and people started seeing death in a very different way. By reading Romantic literature, people became increasingly fascinated with death and the mystery that surrounds it. Death was a big part of these peoples lives, and they confronted it head-on. Taking pictures of dead people in their coffins was extremely common in America in the 19th century (Hess: 2003c). Emmeline is a product of her time: she wishes to see death, to write about it, and to draw pictures about it (as described earlier in Chapter XVII). Therefore, when somebody dies, she is very quick to arrive on the scene. It is not specified how long ago Emmeline died, but the family is obviously still in mourning: They kept Emmelines room trim and nice and all the things fixed in it just the way she liked to have them when she was alive, and nobody ever slept there. Mourning was a very important part of life in Victorian America, and would last for years (Hess: 2003d). Twain seems to be writing about this to further define the Grangerfords as Romantics. Huck touches on the subject of slavery near the end of the passage. He mentions that the Grangerfords own many slaves, and also that the old lady Grangerford spends a lot of time reading her Bible in Emmelines room. Mark Twain is drawing attention to a paradox: how can slave owners consider themselves Christians, when they are buying and selling human beings as if they were animals? Huck seems oblivious to this contradiction, at least for the time being. He is casually stating facts, and does not seem disturbed by them. He is even wondering why the niggers do not clean Emmelines room. This may seem strange to the reader, since Hucks best friend is a runaway slave. I think that Twain is denouncing the indifference of the American people to slavery. It is so common to own slaves in the South before the Civil War that most White people fail to see the great injustice that is being done. HReligion was central in Victorian America, and people prided themselves on attending Church regularly and being able to recite passages of the Bible. Yet many of these people owned slaves, and throughout the whole novel, Twain shows the reader many Christians doing ungodly acts. By doing so, he is attacking hypocritical Christians. He is saying that Christianity is not about keeping up appearances, but about doing onto others as you would have them do onto you. In the last paragraph of the extract, Huck resumes describing the parlour, something he had started to do earlier in Chapter XVII. Huck has never really lived in a house, apart from the Widow Douglas house, which was simple and sparsely furnished. Therefore, Huck is really impressed at the Grangerfords house, which is lavishly decorated, with beautiful curtains and pictures of castles with vines all down the walls . Mark Twain is deliberately making the Grangerfords house look as tacky as possible, to mock the Victorians taste. It was typical for people at that time to pretend they were wealthier than they really were, by decorating their homes in an exaggerated manner, with objects that seemed expensive. They did so because they aspired to a higher status in society. Twain is poking fun at this, and implying that they are not fooling anybody, except very naive people such as Huckleberry Finn. In conclusion, this passage deals with a lot of important subjects, such as slavery and religion. These are also approached in other chapters. The main theme in this particular extract is Romanticism and Twains dislike of it. Twain is using the naive, wide-eyed Huckleberry Finn to mock the 19th-century American society and its exaggerated emotionalism. He is suggesting that this society is phony and that Huck is probably better off uncivilised. To make Huck more credible as an uneducated and young narrator, Twain writes in a Southern vernacular dialect. This also makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn stand out from other literary works published in the 19th century, which were written in a much more formal kind of American English.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
How Does Regenerative Braking in Hybrid Cars Work
How Does Regenerative Braking in Hybrid Cars Work Hybrids and all-electric vehicles create their own power for battery recharging through a process known as regenerative braking (regen mode). Weve explained what regenerative braking is and how the process works in general terms, but many folks are interested in the deeper nuts and bolts of electricity generation. They understand that in a hybrid or all-electric vehicle the word regenerative, in terms of regenerative braking, means capturing the vehicles momentum (kinetic energy) and turning it into electricity that recharges (regenerates) the onboard battery as the vehicle is slowing down and/or stopping. It is this charged battery that in turn powers the vehicles electric traction motor. In an all-electric vehicle, this motor is the sole source of locomotion. In a hybrid, the motor works in partnership with an internal combustion engine. But that motor is not just a source of propulsion, its also a generator. Any permanent magnet motor can operate as either a motor or generator. In all-electrics and hybrids, they are more precisely called a motor/generator (M/G). But the technologically curious want to know more, and theyll often ask How, and by what mechanism or process, is the electricity created? Its a good question, so before we get started explaining how M/Gs and regenerative braking work in hybrids and electric vehicles, it is important to have basic knowledge about how electricity is generated and how a motor/generator functions.Ã So How Does a Motor/Generator Work in an Electric or Hybrid Vehicle? No matter the vehicle design, there must be a mechanical connection between the M/G and the drivetrain. In an all-electric vehicle, there could be an individual M/G at each wheel or a central M/G connected to the drivetrain through a gearbox. In a hybrid, the motor/generator could be an individual component that is driven by an accessory belt from the engine (much like an alternator on a conventional vehiclethis is how the GM BAS system works), it could be a pancake M/G that is bolted between the engine and transmission (this is the most common setupthe Prius, for example), or it could be multiple M/Gs mounted inside the transmission (this is how the two-modes work). In any case, the M/G has to be able to propel the vehicle as well as be driven by the vehicle in regen mode. Propelling the Vehicle with the M/G Most, if not all, hybrids and electrics use an electronic throttle control system. When the throttle pedal is pushed, a signal is sent to the onboard computer, which further activates a relay in the controller that will send battery current through an inverter/converter to the M/G causing the vehicle to move. The harder the pedal is pushed, the more current flows under the direction of a variable resistance controller and the faster the vehicle goes. In a hybrid, depending upon load, battery state-of-charge and the design of the hybrid drivetrain, a heavy throttle will also activate the internal combustion engine (ICE) for more power. Conversely, lifting slightly on the throttle will decrease current flow to the motor and the vehicle will slow down. Lifting further or completely off the throttle will cause the current to switch direction - moving the M/G from motor mode to generator mode - and begin the regenerative braking process. Regenerative Braking: Slowing the Vehicle and Generating Electricity This is really what the regen mode is all about. With the electronic throttle closed and the vehicle still moving, all of its kinetic energy can be captured to both slow the vehicle and recharge its battery. As the onboard computer signals the battery to stop sending electricity (via the controller relay) and start receiving it (through a charge controller), the M/G simultaneously stops receiving electricity for powering the vehicle and starts sending current back to the battery for charging. Remember from our discussion on electromagnetism and motor/generator action: when an M/G is supplied with electricity it makes mechanical power, when its supplied with mechanical power, it makes electricity. But how does generating electricity slow the vehicle? Friction. Its the enemy of motion. The armature of the M/G is slowed by the force of inducing current in the windings as it passes over the opposing poles of the magnets in the stator (its constantly battling the push/pull of the opposing polarities). It is this magnetic friction that slowly saps the vehicles kinetic energy and helps scrub off speed.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Famous trials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Famous trials - Essay Example The investigations asserted collected evidence from Frank Leo partners, such as Jim Conley to nail him during the trial. The investigations were based on the evidence collected at the scene of the crime. The notes found at the scene were used as leads to finding the murderer. However, the notes were discarded as they were considered a cover up. Consequently, a sweeper, Jim Conley was used as a witness to recount the happenings at the material day when the victim was murdered. The witness recounted how Leo Frank requested that Conleyà keeps the door locked for him to make out a sexual activity with Paghan. The witness disclosed to the court that he kept the doors locked so that no one could access the room. He and Leo had made an arrangement on how they would communicate. The prosecution used the witness to assert that the suspect, Mr. Leo admitted to Conley that he hit the victim and called for his help in dumping the body. The prosecution also took issue with the conduct of the suspect in regard to female workers. As Conley and several women witnesses stated, Leo was a pervert who lured girls into having sex with him. Upon completion of the hearings, the amount of evidence availed by the prosecution was sufficient to hand a death sentence by hanging. The trial jury held that the suspect, Frank Leo was indeed the murderer and would be executed by hanging. The defense was dissatisfied and sought to appeal in the supreme court of Georgia. The appeal was based on availability of new evidence. However, the court dismissed the case on a 4-2 vote. The then governor of the state of Georgia, John M. Slaton, believed in the innocence of Leo Frank and reduced the sentencing into a life sentence. The defense was categorical that the case was racially motivated and biased. Despite the widespread cases of child labor in the state, the murder, especially committed by a Jew, was supposedly the most influential issue in the case. The
Sunday, February 2, 2020
The Origins Of The Cold War Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
The Origins Of The Cold War - Assignment Example The orthodox approach blames the Soviet Union for its expansion into Eastern Europe, thus triggering tensions with the US. The USSR believed to be the initiator of the Cold War due to "the intransigence of Leninist ideology, the sinister dynamics of a totalitarian society, and the madness of Stalin". On this situation, the US found itself involuntarily involved in this game. The Korean War, American McCarthyism with its communist hunt and the fact that China chose the path of communism also contributed to the orthodox understanding of the Cold War. McCauley writes: ââ¬Å"however, internal Soviet events had a decisive impact on relationsâ⬠. Supporters of the orthodox view claim that Stalin tried to solve internal problems of the country by acting aggressively on the international arena. However, this claim that is not entirely accurate. Indeed Stalinââ¬â¢s aggressive domestic policy terrorized the nation: people were massively sent to prisons and Gulag; spies were seen at eve ry corner, ideas of conspiracy rocketed. Constant fear of getting arrested did not contribute to the stability. In this regard, the US represented an "external enemy," which needed to be eradicated. At that point, Stalin was losing grip over the nation and tried to get it back by implementing those extreme measures. Image of ââ¬Å"external enemyâ⬠was maintained by political elites. Can this negative perception of the US be explained in terms of Marxism-Leninism with its ideas of class struggle and a world revolution? Or there was a different explanation and the orthodox approach simply omitted it? Do Stalinââ¬â¢s actions represent and internal reaction to ââ¬Å"American imperialism,â⬠as revisionists would claim? Soviet Union was very fragile and devastated after the long exhausting war. The country barely had any resources for expansion into Eastern Europe; it did not have enough power to fight the new war at this point. In this regard I would agree with McCauley st ating that ruined Soviet economy
Saturday, January 25, 2020
The History Of The Arduino Microcontroller
The History Of The Arduino Microcontroller The Arduino microcontroller was initially created as an educational platform for a class project at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea1 in Milan (Italy) in 2005. It derived from a previous work of the Wiring microcontroller designed by Hernando Barragà ¡n2 in 2004. From the beginning, the Arduino board was developed to attract artists and designers. The Wiring microcontroller was created by Hernando Barragan to be used for parsing data to electronic devices. His aim was that it could be used by non-technical people who only had basic experience with using computers. He first of all wanted it to be used as a prototyping tool. Since he needed help to create an easy software tool to programme the board he engaged Casey Reas3 and Massimo Banzi4 as his assistants. Reas created the visual programming language for the prototyping tool. He had studied interaction art as an undergraduated, and continued studying with John Maeda5 at the MIT6. After that he developed Processing7, an easy programme language oriented to designers and artists. Banzi was more interested in developing the microcontroller as an art and design tool. So he decided to brake up with Barragan and to instead create a new prototype that would fit with his ideals. The Arduino creators were Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles8, Dave Mellis9, Gianluca Martino10 and Tom Ignoe11. This team wanted to simplify the Wiring board through the Arduino microcontroller (created by Banzi), making it easier and friendlier for the non-technical audience. And that was one of their goals to make this device triumph against others. The price was another goal to make them win against others. The Wiring Board costs about à £ 54 while the Arduino Board is à £ 20. That makes sense because it is less powerful and smaller than the Wiring Board. But this isnt a problem for designers and artists because they were searching for something that could be destroyed and your wallet wouldnt suffer from that. David Zicarelli12 (): I was really struck by the idea of what a radically inexpensive computer could mean to people making art a design goal of the Arduino project was that you could make installations and not have to tear them apart when you were done because you needed your laptop to read your e-mail. So then you can leave it embedded into projects permanently. Another way to assist users was the USB connection. The Wiring Board works with a Serial port, which is more difficult to have in a normal computer or laptop and to work with. The Arduinos plug and play nature makes it easy to understand and easy to manipulate the interaction of a project. Further goals were to achieve competitive advantage in IDE13 and open source14 supported by the community. 3. IDE. The software tool Every microcontroller needs software to be programmed. The Arduino board is not a case apart. It has its own integrated development environment (IDE). It is free and everyone can download it from its official website using either the Windows, Mac OS X or Linux platform. That allows Arduino Board to gain more users and it also helps it to grow. The IDE is very easy to understand. It contains only three different sections. The compiler, the text editor and the debugger. In the compiler part we can find the verifying tool that shows the user if the code was well written. Next to that tool, there is a button to make a new project. Then, we can see the open and save buttons; the project can be opened or saved in any folder. In addition we can find the most important tool, the compiler tool that allows you, when the code is verified, to upload the code into the Arduino Board. And the last button that it has is the serial monitor tool, which is used to debugging and monitoring data from your project. The next section is the text editor tool where the code is written. Arduino works with processing language. This language was designed with the intention to make cryptic looking instructions comprehensible and useful. It contains a lot of libraries15, which make it easier for artists and designers to prototype their ideas. However, experienced users are allowed to work in a lower programmatic level to access certain aspects of the Arduino code. In other words this means the more experience a user has the lower is the level in which he can work. And the last section is where the debugger is placed. This one provides feedback to the user fostering confidence to move forward at a rapid pace. It also helps to find the bugs in the code when this doesnt work. The whole Arduino project is supported by a community. The IDE and the Arduino microcontroller continuously advance in hardware design, software examples and popularity because users save and share documents, codes and designs online. This method of allowing other users to freely use someone elses documents is called open source. This means that every user contributes a part even if it is only a very small one to the fast development of Arduino project. However, the Arduino project is not only useful for artists and designers but also for other groups of people such as engineers, hardware hackers, interaction designers, educators and robotics enthusiasts. For example, if you are an engineer you can work on artistic projects and if you are and artist you could work on engineer project as well. This means those groups of people are blending ideas each other to growing up the Arduino community.
Friday, January 17, 2020
Preparation and Sn1 Reactivity of 2-Bromobutane
Preparation and SN1 Reactivity of 2-Bromobutane Whitney Bellido Department of Chemistry, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4160 Submitted: April 4th, 2013 Introduction The overall goal of this experiment is to understand and be familiar of SN1 reactivity. We also learned how to prepare 2-Bromobutane by learning how to distill and extract this product from its organic layer. Finally, another goal was to specifically understand the relative reactivity of alkyl halides under SN1 conditions by reacting the alkyl halide and silver nitrate in ethanol.Results and Discussion The Overall Reaction The Proposed Mechanism Experimental Procedure To prepare the 2-Bromobutane you must fill a 100 mL round bottom flask with 20 mL of 12M sulfuric acid and 7. 4 mL of 2-butanol. Then add 8. 0 g of ammonium bromide along with a magnetic stir bar. Then attach the flask to the apparatus, which is mounted on a Thermowell over a stirrer and a condenser attached to it, along with the thermometer in the flask. Then the mixture was heated at 90oC then kept at the range of 90oC-100oC for 30 minutes.When that is completed add 20 mL of water into the flask to perform a simple distillation to collect the distillate in a graduated cylinder, keep doing this until there is no more 2-Bromobutane collected. Use a Pasteur pipette to draw off the organic layer to another container. Add the potassium carbonate to allow the liquid to dry by swirling it. Once this is completed the reactivity of alkyl halides under SN1 conditions was tested. Adding two drops of our product and the other different compounds into different test tubes along with 1mL of ethanolic silver nitrate reagent.We are comparing these by seeing how they react and if there is no reaction after 5 minutes we will place the test tubes in a beaker of water that is heated at a temperature of 70oC-80oC and observe what happens. Experimental Stoichiometry Compound| Molecular Weight| Quantity| Moles| 2-Butanol| 74. 122 g/mol| 7. 41 mL (6. 01 g)| 0. 081| Sulfuric Acid| 98. 079 g/mol| 20. 1 mL| 0. 242| Ammonium Bromide | 97. 94 g/mol| 8. 02 g| 0. 082| The limiting reagent is the 2-Butanol. Yield Data Product Name| 2-Bromobutane | Molecular Weight| 137. 02 g/mol| Boiling Point Range| 89Ã °C-91Ã °C|Theoretical Yield (Moles)| 0. 081 moles| Theoretical Yield (grams)| 11. 09 grams| Actual Yield (grams)| 6. 84 grams| Actual Yield (moles)| 0. 05 moles| Percent Yield| 62%| NMR table Signal| Chemical Shift (ppm)| Multiplicity | Integration | A| 4. 1 ppm| Sextet| 1| B| 1. 85 ppm| Pentet| 2| C| 1. 7 ppm| Doublet| 3| D| 1. 05 ppm| Triplet| 3| Reactivity of Alkyl Halides Compound| Room Temperature| Heating| 1-Bromobutane | After 30 seconds, the mixture was a cloudy whitish color but no precipitate formed| After 5 minutes, it changed into a yellow color with precipitate formed. 2-Bromobutane | After 30 seconds, the mixture was a light yellowish color and a precipitate formed instantly. | Not Heated| 2-Bromo-2-methylpropane| After 30 seconds, the mixture was yellow and a precipitate formed instantly. | Not Heated | Compound| Room Temperature| Heating| 1-Chlorobutane | After 30 seconds, the mixture was clear. | After 5 minutes, the color changed slightly to white and lightly cloudy. | 2-Bromobutane | After 30 seconds, the mixture was a white cloudy color and formed a precipitate instantly. Not Heated| 2-Iodobutane| After 30 seconds, the mixture was yellow and precipitated instantly. | Not Heated| Conclusion In conclusion, the SN1 reaction of 2-Bromobutane was performed. According to the Yield Data table, when the actual yield and theoretical yield are calculated we can get the percent yield, which was 62%. At least this number was higher than 50%; I can understand how this could have happened. When I was drying the reagent with potassium carbonate, prior to that I had put the other pellets, which were calcium chloride on accident.This probably affected my percent yield also with the fact that the temper ature was not well maintained it kept fluctuating under 90OC. According to the reactivity of alkyl halides, the results of these tables can concluded the theories of the conditions of SN1 reactions. The first table states that the tertiary carbocation are more stable which allows this reaction to perform faster than second and primary structured carbocations. Then the second table can concludes that iodine is the best leaving group because it is a much weaker base than the bromide ion and chloride ion causing it to react faster.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)