How does Edger Allan Poe Use Language to Create a Sense of Drama Intention Essay Example for Free

How does Edger Allan Poe Use Language to Create a Sense of Drama Intention Essay The Tell Tail Heart, by Edger Allan Poe, is a novel in which tension and expectation play essential roles to the readers experience. The audience, generally well educated widely read adults, would appreciate this novel as a recollection of a clearly insane man. In order to tell you the whole story Poe has written somewhat of an early psychological thriller, creating a mental portrait of a mad protagonist, who details the killing of an old man, and later hears his victims relentless heartbeat. The opening sets up a contrast of sanity versus insanity, creating a psychological chaos that enraptures the reader. Drama intention is portrayed through a variety of ways, all working cohesively with one another to create an over all sense of embossed insanity and powerful emotion. The way in which the opening is written gives the reader an immediate clue to the mental state of the protagonist. The very first line; True! nervous very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? uses all three tenses within one shortened period. This reflects the narrators excitement, suggesting that his mind is jittery, jumping about with different thoughts and ideas. An elevated use of punctuation reinforces this effect, as it means the text does not flow, creating sentence fragmentation, allowing the reader to comprehend the elevated mental state of the protagonist. It is not yet made clear to the reader as to why the narrator is excited in this manner, he appears to be worked up about something, causing the reader to grow curious and excited themselves about the prospect of finding out what is causing his fuss. Poe has used the tactic of withholding information strongly within the first paragraph, causing the monologue to become somewhat of a gradual revelation. This allows Poe to hold the reader in suspense, consequentially creating a heightened level of dramatic tension. Written in a first person narrative, it is made very clear that the monologue is of the form of a speech to the reader. This effect is achieved by the extensive use of punctuation and colloquial terminology. As it is a monologue, there is a suggestion or effect that he is confessing his thoughts to the reader. This means that the piece is almost as if we can see into the mind of the protagonist. Allowing the reader to see a unique view of the thoughts and feelings of another. The form of the text is not over zealous or important, however the contrast of the content and the form is very clear. The piece is written in standard, respectable paragraphed prose, contrasting the disturbing and gruesome content of the novel. The language employed, and the literary devices it is used within, is the primary way in which Poe has succeeded in creating this suspenseful piece. Punctuation is used to great effect, embellishing the sentences to create the narrative confession of the protagonist. Extensive use of exclamation marks, hyphens, and semi colons are all relied upon to create sentence fragments and colloquial, broken text. The reader is given an immediate sense of excitement and instability; in True! nervous- very very dreadfully nervous. This suggests that the protagonist is jumpy and in a chaotic mental state. As an opening this proves to be attention gauging, as the reader is unaware of the motive for excitement. This is extended throughout by a heightened use of fragmentation through hyphens. The line, Sharpened my senses not destroyed not dulled them reiterates the form of a monologue, reinforcing the idea of speech to the reader, using the sentence fragment as a chance to find some self affirmation. Therefore the reader is allowed to see the within the mind of the criminal, giving them a unique insight to the way he thinks allowing greater involvement and understanding from the reader. This is an unlikely experience as the protagonist shows signs of mental instability and therefore would create a very interesting subject for the reader to asses from a psychological point of view. An extensive vocabulary and heightened lexis is employed throughout the piece, suggesting that the piece is aimed at the well educated adult. The majority of the novel is comprised of Standard English, with a small number of colloquialisms spread throughout, allowing the protagonist to appear both educated and well-spoken. This creates an interesting contrast to his actions, as it is not the norm to have well educated, (supposedly well judged and reasoned) people committing a very irrational act such as murder. The monologue is written in the form of a conventional novel, but primarily in the form of a narrative first person. Hints of confession to the audience are found, intertwined with the use of direct address, with colloquial terms such as Ha! and the use of rhetorical questions, for example why will you say that I am mad? Poe has used these devices to thoroughly involve the audience within the piece. The result of this is that the reader is manipulated to feel like part of the story and therefore feel the tension created at a greater effect. Poe has employed various forms of imagery within the piece. He describes that the hinges creaked on the old wooden door. This is a little clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½d however acts very successfully in creating a picture within the mind of the reader. This is done by almost sub-consciously relating back to childrens stories, where an old creaking door would make the entrance to a spooky castle in which an evil witch lived. This very definite image of the eerie or spooky, reinforces that the novel is somewhat of a refined horror. Creaking doors are often used to create a dramatic atmosphere, and Poe has clearly played on this link and used it to his advantage to create a scary situation for the reader. Animal imagery, coupled with an extended metaphor is also used to great effect. It is suggested that the old man that is to be killed is in possession of an evil eye. This eye becomes the protagonists excuse for killing the man, and so it is capitalised upon as a reason. This develops into an extended metaphor when it is referred to as a vulture eye and later, it is suggested that his eye resembled that of a vulture. A vulture is an animal commonly associated with evil and malice. This provokes a similar reaction or opinion of the old man from the narrator, however the reader is still left considering the sanity of the protagonist, and therefore is more reluctant to hold the same opinion as him over the justification of killing the old man. The irrational killing about to happen is used to put the reader on edge, creating intense suspension and a heightened expectation of the approaching events. Clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s provide an interesting platform on which Poe entertains the reader. My blood ran cold, provides a very clear sense of the emotional situation of the protagonist. This allows us to observe the effect that the eye has on the narrator. Blood ran cold suggests fear and apprehension, as this is a very human emotion, the reader has a rare chance to sympathise with the protagonist. This is somewhat ironic as the narrator is very far from the stereotypical hero, and yet the reader is ready to find an appealing quality in the character. In order to interpret the piece properly the reader must pay close attention to both the syntax and the repetition of language, used conjunctively to create a dramatic effect. Object there was none, passion there was none is a primary example. The repetition of none creates a very distinctive rhythm, whilst the double use of five syllable sentence fragments forms a very recognisable syntax. In this case it creates a sense of ruthlessness and suggests that the protagonist will stop at nothing in order to achieve his goal. Repetition of closed in closed closed creates emphasis on the words, displaying to the reader his self affirmation that his actions are good. This is reinforced by the use of oh so cunningly making it clear that (in his opinion) he is very skilled at what he is doing, and consequentially commending his efforts. This is further enhanced by the narrators egocentricity. Use of I is extensive throughout, (which is partially natural during a monologue) however, it is used to such an extent that the reader is led to believe that the protagonist is almost obsessed with himself and his own actions, reiterating the previous suggestion of psychological instability. The author has included various forms of irony within the novel. The narrator is seen inquiring how he (the old man) had passed the night explaining how he asks the old man how his night was even though he already knows, seen as he was there and watching him in his sleep. This involves the reader as they feel as if they are let in on a secret (seen as they know that the narrator was with the man last night) making the reader feel involved as they are aware of a secret of which another character is not raising tension and expectation. Further use of direct address to the reader, is that narrator suggests to the reader that you fancy me mad. This forces audience intervention, we are expected to assume, or are at least are accused of assumption that the narrator is mad. This means that the audience are forced to participate, further involving the reader within the story. By this statement Poe has grouped the reader with the rest of the characters within the novel, suggesting they are a collective of people who doubt his sanity. This is in fact true as the protagonist is clearly insane. Syntax plays a key role in the way in which this novel is read. It is clearly set, and easily recognisable throughout the text, varying in both tempo and patterning. Definite patterns in language are used; I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. creating a very obvious rhythm in which the words are read, also further enforcing the very bleak and ruthless appearance to his actions. The Tell-Tale Heart, a horror story of crime and murder, can easily be recognised as a heavily dramatic novel. Poe, In consequence to the timing in which it was written, has created a strongly macabre piece, that in its day was probably very horrific and shocking. The way in which society has adapted to accept more and more gruesome revelations means that this tale may not be so shocking to the modern day reader, but was quite a feat in its time. It is however, still evident that the novel, in particular the opening, contains many devices employed in conjunction with one another to create a sense of drama intention. This is used to great effect, causing the reader to appreciate the dramatics of the novel, whilst becoming deeply involved with the plot.

Using Thin Layer Chromatography To Monitor Reactions Environmental Sciences Essay

Using Thin Layer Chromatography To Monitor Reactions Environmental Sciences Essay Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a very useful technique for monitoring reactions. It can also be used to determine the proper solvent system for performing separations using column chromatography. TLC stationary phases are usually alumina or silica. They are polar for standard experiments or non-polar for reverse phase chromatography. The mobile phase is a solvent whose polarity is chosen by the person conducting the experiment. In most laboratory work standard phase silica plates are used. Different compounds will travel different distances up the plate depending on the polarity of the components of the mixture. The more polar compounds will be more attracted to the polar silica gel and travel shorter distances on the plate. Mon-polar substances will spend more time in the mobile phase and as a result will travel larger distances on the plate. The measure of the distance a compound travels is called the retention factor (Rf ) value. The retention factor, or Rf, is defined as the distance traveled by the compound divided by the distance traveled by the solvent. For example, if a compound travels 2.1 cm and the solvent front travels 2.8 cm, the Rf is 0.75: The Rf for a compound is a constant from one experiment to the next only if the chromatography conditions below are also constant: solvent system adsorbent thickness of the adsorbent amount of material spotted temperature Since these factors are difficult to keep constant from experiment to experiment, relative Rf values are generally considered. Relative Rf means that the values are reported relative to a standard, or it means that you compare the Rf values of compounds run on the same plate at the same time. 1.1 Thin Layer Chromatography There have been a numbered of important milestones in the evolution of chromatography in the last 100 years. Each of these milestones has signalled the start of an important branch of chromatography. Some examples of these are; partition chromatography (1941), gas chromatography (1951-1952), high performance liquid chromatography (mid- 1960s), capillary electrophoresis (1980) and capillary electrochromatography (past decade). In all the chromatographic techniques mentioned, separation is carried out in a column. However, it is also possible to carry out separations on a planar surface. Two examples of this are paper chromatography (1944) and thin-layer chromatography (1937-1938). Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) replaced paper chromatography as the most popular, routine chromatographic technique. TLC was first used in 1937 to 1938 by Nikolai A. Izmailov and Maria S. Shraiber at the Institute of Experimental Pharmacy of the State University of Kharkov. At the time Izmailov was the head of the institute and Shraiber was his graduate student. They were searching for a method for the rapid analysis of galenic pharmaceutical preparations (plant extracts). As classical column chromatography would have taken too much time they felt that if the absorbent would be prepared in the form of a thin-layer on a glass plate. They believed that it would behave like a column but the characterization time would be much shorter. They coated microscope slides with a suspension of various adsorbents (calcium, magnesium and aluminium oxides). They deposited one drop of the sample solution on this layer and added one drop of the same solvent used in a column to develop separation. The test was a success as the separated sample components appeared as concentric rings that fluoresced in various colour s under a UV lamp. They showed that the sequence of the concentric multicoloured rings on the plate would have been identical to the sequence of coloured rings obtained on a normal chromatographic column. They called this technique spot chromatography and the result on the microscope slides ultrachromatograms. The paper on this experiment was published in a Russian pharmaceutical journal that was practically unknown outside the then Soviet Union. Its abstract was included in a Russian review journal and through it in chemical Abstracts. It was then read by M. OL. Crowe of the New York State Department of Health. He then adapted the technique for his own use. Crowe prepared the adsorbent layer in a Petri dish, added a drop of the sample solution in the centre and then added the developing solvent dropwise until sufficient separation was obtained. In 1947 T.I. Williams described a further improvement of the method of Izmailov and Shraiber in his textbook on chromatography. He prepared the adsorbent-coated glass plates in the form of a sandwich. The adsorbent layer was covered by 2 glass plates and had a small hole which the sample drops could be applied through. Meinhard and Hall made the next major step in the development of TLC at the University of Wisconsin. They used corn starch, which acted as a binder, to hold the coating on the glass plate and added a small amount of Celite powder to the adsorbent particles to improve the consistency of the layer. They called this surface chromatography. They used it to separate inorganic ions. Modern TLC started 50 years ago with the work Department of Agriculture Fruit and Vegetable laboratory in Southern California. He investigated the flavour components of the juices of citrus fruits. However, he stated that very large volumes had to be processed because the amount of flavour material was extremely small. Another problem was in finding an analytical method for the investigation of the juice concentrate composition. He followed the method of Meinhard and Hall that he read in Chemical Abstracts. However, instead of adding just a drop of the developing solvent he developed the plates as in paper chromatography. The plates were developed in a closed chamber and one side was dipped into the solvent. The solvent then ascended through the plate by capillary action. It carried with it the sample components and they were separated as a result. The experiments carried out were published and are considered the start of modern TLC. Egon Stahl was responsible for TLC becoming a universally accepted technique. He was also the first to use the term thin-layer chromatography to characterize the technique. This choice of name was almost immediately accepted. Stahl investigated various essential oils and obtained good results using adsorbent-coated glass plates. However, neither the method nor the adsorbent to be used had been optimized. Also, the adsorbents had to be modified and treated before they could be used for the coating of plates. Stahl started investigating the operational parameters and the adsorbent preparations. In the spring of 1958 his efforts were fulfilled as the necessary basic instrumentation, made by Desaga and silica gel G according to Stahl for TLC, made by E. Merck were both introduced at the international Achema exhibition of chemical equipment in Frankfurt. Stahl also published an article outlining the use of the system and a wide range of applications. Because of this standardized method TLC became a widely used laboratory technique. He also went on to publish a TLC handbook in 1962. Although TLC had a wide application it was still thought to be a qualitative technique for the analysis of simple mixtures. As a result advances were directed toward improving the technique. Instrumentation which permitted more precise spotting of the sample onto the plates and the quantitative evaluation of the separated spots was developed. Faster analysis and higher separation power was also achieved. As a result of the higher performance ability the name was change to high-performance TLC (HPTLC) by R.E. Kaiser, who was instrumental in its development. The particle size and range of the adsorbent was the main difference between TLC and HPTLC. The silica gel for TLC had broad particle sizes of 10-60 µm with an average of 20 µm whereas HPTLC has an average of only 5 µm. the HPTLC plates were also smaller in comparison with TLC plates, 10 x 10cm and 20 x 20cm respectively. The improved method and design allowed reduction in the diameter of the starting spots. These improvements lowered the analysis time and increased the efficiency. Problems arose with flow rate which Kaiser overcame by applying pressure to the TLC plate. This in turn led to forced-flow TLC. Due to the constant condensation-evaporation process associated with developing TLC plates in developing chambers problems can be encountered because of the changing velocity of the mobile phase. To overcome this forced-flow TLC (FFTLC) was developed by Tyihà ¡k, Mincsovics and Kalà ¡sz. In this method the spotted plates (dry) are placed into a pressurized development chamber. The stationary-phase layer is tightly covered and sealed on its side by an elastic membrane and pressurized by an inert gas or water filling up the cushion above the layer. The mobile phase is delivered via a pump at a constant velocity through a slit in the membrane to the stationary phase. There are various configurations which can be handled using this method. TLC is a very simple technique. As a result very little instrumentation is needed. Application of samples to the stationary-phase is carried out using a micropipette or syringe. The developing chambers are simple glass structures. Detection is carried out by visual inspection or made visible by spraying the plate with reagent. Also, a wide variety of precoated plates are available so coating equipment isnt needed. In more advanced systems the samples may be spotted by automated loading devices (dosimeters). This allows the application of small and uniform sample spots. More sophisticated developing chambers are also available (FFTLC). The plates can be scanned by densitometers and quantitatively analysed using absorbance or fluorescence measurements. Chromatograms with peaks of the individual separated spots recorded against the length of the plate are produced with such analyses. Their area is also a proportion to the amount present. More complex systems can also be created by combining TLC systems with other systems such as mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared. 1.2 Ink Analysis Ink analysis is a very important forensic procedure. It can reveal useful information about questioned document. Modern inks contain many substances which are aimed at improving the ink. The most important component of the ink is the colouring material. It comes in the form of a dye, pigment or a combination of both. Dyes are soluble in the liquid body of the ink, also known as the vehicle. Pigments are finely ground multi-molecular granules that are insoluble in the vehicle. The vehicles composition affects the flowing and drying characteristics of the ink and can consist of oils, solvents and resins. 1.3 Chromatography Studies Djozan et al developed a new and fast method for the differentiation of inks on a questioned document. They designed specific image analysis software for evaluating thin layer chromatograms. They sampled forty-one blue ballpoint pens which were purchased from their local markets in Iran (Table 1). They first wrote a circle of diameter 5 mm uniformly by pen on a paper. One fourth of this was then punched out for extraction. They carried out extraction in 1 ml glass tubes and added 0.1 ml of methanol. This was then vigorously shaken for 1 min. the ink component was then fully dissolved in methanol. The supernatant methanoic solutions were then used to spot the TLC plates. A blank sample of paper with equal dimensions was also treated in the same way. Table 1. List of blue ballpoint pens studied List of blue ballpoint pens studied 1 Cello pyramid 0.7 mm fine TC ball 2 OBA 3 AIHAO 4 Bic 01 5 Cenator 6 PARKER 7 A.T.CROSS FINE 8 Pelikan STICK 918 9 Marvy SB-10 1.0 mm 10 Bic 02 11 PIANO crystal 12 My pen 2001 PENS High Quality Bluce CE 13 AIBA 14 STAEDTLER Stick 430M A IRAN 15 Reynolds Medium 048 France 16 EIFEL Elegance 17 CASPIAN STICK 2001 M 18 STABILO liner 308 19 FABER-CASTELL 1.0 mm Medium (transparent) 20 BIC 08 21 Bocheng A-100 22 SCHNEIDER TOPS 505 M Germany 23 FIBER-CASTELL 1.0 mm Medium 24 MILAN PI 1 mm 25 Reform 26 PAPER = MATE FLEXGRIP ultra MED 27 PARKER UK 28 CANDID-DINI 2853 29 STABILO-galaxy 818 M 30 No name 31 No name 32 Zebra Rubber 101 33 SANFORD SAGA 34 Bensia 35 Girls 36 EUROPEN 37 PARS swiss Refill 606 38 STAEDTLER stick 430 M TBRITAIN 39 Lus HF 500 40 No name 41 STABILO bill 508 TLC analysis was carried out on Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) 20 cm x 20 cm silica gel 60 TLC plates without fluorescent indicator. The plates were activated at 60  °C for 20 min and immediately spotted after cooling in a desiccator. The plates were developed in a developing chamber. The mobile phase used was: ethyl acetate/ absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v). Chromatographic development of the plates was carried out at room temperature for 40 min. All mobile phases were prepared daily with analytical grade chemicals. Enough was prepared to supply the tank for each run. The plates were air-dried after development. The separated compounds were visible on the plate by their natural colour and the plates were scanned into a computer using an office scanner. An IBM compatible PC (Pentium IV) with a 2.6 GHz microprocessor, 256 MB random access memory (RAM) and a hard disk with 40 GB capacity for external storage was used for processing the colour images. The computer was equipped with an on-board graphic card (NviDiA Geforce 7300LE) and a scanner (CanoScan 4200F) was connected to the computer for scanning (300 dpi) TLC plates as digital images. The images were saved as bmp files. Matlab (Version 6.5, The Math Works, Inc.) was used to write a new program to process the previously saved images. Previous studies indicated that Pyridine is the solvent used with ballpoint pen inks. Djozan et al preformed extraction with different solvents using various extraction modes. These modes were immersion of paper into solvent and simple agitation for 1 min, ultra-sound assisted extraction and micro-wave assistance extraction. The results showed that the immersion of paper into methanol or pyridine and simple agitation resulted in complete extraction of the inks from paper (Table 2). Table 2. List of solvents used for extraction of ink components from paper Solvent Solubility of ink colours Ethyl acetate Ethanol Acetic acid Acetone Butanol 1,2-Dichloroethane Butyl acetate Tetrachloroethane Acetyl acetate Cyclohexane Methanol Pyridine Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Soluble Soluble No improvement was found using ultra-sound or micro-wave assisted extraction. Methanol was chosen as the extraction solvent due to the safety of the solvent. The selection of the plate was down to the fact that silica gel plates provided the best resolution of dye spots. They selected five mobile phases (Table 3) and found that ethyl acetate/ absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v) was effective in separating nearly all the dye mixtures. The spot capacity obtained was more than 15. Table 3. Different solvent systems used to develop plate Solvent System Ratio Spot capacity Butanol:ethanol:H2O Ethyl acetate:cyclohexane:methanol:NH3 Ethyl acetate:Butanol:NH3 Ethyl acetate:ethanol:H2O Toluene:acetone:ethanol:NH3 50:15:10 70:15:10:5 60:35:5 70:35:30 30:60:7:2 9 5 10 15 5 Fig. 1. Typical TLC results of 10 different ink samples (Djozan et al, 2008) Fig. 1. shows a typical chromatogram that they achieved in their experiment. To confirm complete separation of all components in the studied sample, two-dimensional (2D) TLC was carried out using various solvent systems. The results proved that the one-dimensional (1D) TLC is able to provide sufficient separation. The first stage carried out was colour image normalization. A function of the input images was computed that is invariant to confounding scene properties but was discriminative with respect to desired scene information. The calculation is as follows: Stage 2 is to compute a colour image profile. The intensity profile of an image is the set intensity values taken from regularly spaced points along a line segment in an image the intensity values are interpolated for points that dont fall on the centre pixel they computed an intensity profile for r, g and b images along the line passing through the centre of the image on the chromatographic development straight of each ink spot. Fig. 2. RGB characteristic of an ink after TLC (Djozan et al, 2008) In stage 3 the colour image profiles were correlated. The intensity profiles were considered as sequences and the normalized cross-correlation of sequences were computed. Cross-correlation is a measure of similarity of two signals. It is used to find features in an unknown signal and compared to a known signal. It is calculated as follows for discrete functions: Eq. (1) For image-processing applications in which the brightness of the images can be due to lighting and exposure conditions, the images can be first normalized. It is calculated as follows: Eq. (2) Stage 4 involved computing image similarity. The weighted mean of and were computed as follows: Eq. (3) The ability of the method to differentiate between various blue ballpoint pens was evaluated by comparing the similarity of different inks according to Eq. (3). Fig. 3. Screen shot of Matlab software running (Djozan et al, 2008) Fig. 4. All possible combination of comparing inks with TLC-IA (Djozan et al, 2008) In 2006 Liu et al published a paper on the classification of black gel pen inks by ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatography. They stated that black gel inks usually contain several dye components. These components all have different colours and are mixed together proportionally to give the black colour. They used reverse-phase ion-pairing high performance chromatography (RP-IP-HPLC). It was done in such a manner as the dyes couldnt be reversed on the C18 column due to their high polarities. The maximum UV absorption bands of the black gel pen inks obtained were between 500 and 700 nm. The wavelength of the detector was set to 580 nm as most of the dyes had a maximum UV adsorption near 580 nm. They investigated the influence of both volatile and non-volatile ion-pairing reagents on the HPLC analysis of black gel pen ink dyes. All the reagents had different alkyl chain, ammonium acetate, triethylamine (TEA), tributylamine (TBA), dihexylamine (DHA) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBABr). The results revealed that the dyes were nearly not retained using ammonium acetate or TEA as the ion-pairing reagent. Using TBABr, TBA and DHA as the ion-pairing reagent, individually, the dyes were separated. TBABr was selected as the ion-pairing reagent as the retention times were shorter than the others and sharper peaks were obtained. They also investigated the buffer solution concentrations and the effect of pH on the separation. The optimum result was: 40 mmol/L TBABr buffer solution (pH 7) with acetonitrile as the organic modifier for IP-HPLC analysis and an identical proportion of the buffer and acetonitrile (v/v = 40:60) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. these optimum conditions were used to separate 50 dye-based black gel pen inks by IP-HPLC. Liu et al carried out another study on ion-pairing HPLC in 2006. This time, however, they studied the degradation of blue gel pen dyes and also used electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. They used ion-pairing reversed phase liquid chromatography as the inorganic compounds they were analysing have weak retention on the ordinary reversed stationary phases when separating on HPLC. This is due to their high polarities. The UV detector was set at 580 nm for the analysis as most dyes have a normal maximum absorption near 580 nm. The UV absorptions of the fluorescence whitening reagents in paper are usually below 500 nm and they had no interference for the detection of the gel pen dyes at 580 nm. Fig. 5. Chromatograms of blue gel pen inks using different ion pairing reagents (Liu et al, 2006) The tested various mobile phases: eluent A: eluent B (acetonitrile) = 50:50 (v/v); eluent A was the buffer of ion pairing reagent with concentration of 40 mmol Là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 (pH 7.0), and the ion pairing reagent was (a) ammonium acetate, (b) TEA acetate, (d) TBA acetate, (e) DHA acetate and (f) TBABr, respectively. (c) Ammonium carbonate as eluent A (40 mmol Là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1, pH 9.5) and eluent A:eluent B (acetonitrile) = 50:50 (v/v). they found that 10 mmol-1 TBA acetate (pH 7.0) was suitable ion-pairing agent for the purpose and ink samples stored in different conditions were analyzed by IP-HPLC. Significant changes of ink composition were observed. The noticed that the natural aged inks had the similar but weaker degradation trend than the light aged inks. They used HPLC-MS/MS with ammonium carbonate as ion-pairing reagent to obtain the information of the light aged inks and their photodegradation mechanism. In 1994, Varshney et al analysed ink from typed script of electronic typewriters by HPTLC. They used script from seven electronic typewriters. They used the resultant Rf values and in-situ visible spectra of each resolved band of all the chromatograms indicated that the same chemical composition is being used in six typewriter ribbon inks. However, the seventh one is completely different. Fig. 6. Wavelength maxima values of in-situ visible spectrum bands of electronic typewriter scripts (Varshney et al, 1994) Fig. 6. shows the densitograms obtained after scanning and integration of the chromatograms of tracks of individual typewriters and blank paper. The seven electronic typewriter inks could be categorised into two groups after analysis. The first group resolved the sample to four bands including the base. The second group did not resolve the samples at all with the solvent systems used. Several varieties of blue ballpoint pen inks were analysed by HPLC and IR spectroscopy by Kher et al in 2006. The chromatographic data extracted at four wavelengths (254, 279, 370 and 400 nm) was analyzed individually and at a combination of these wavelengths by the soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) technique. They used principal components analysis (PCA) to estimate the separation between the pen samples. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) measured the probability with which an observation could be assigned to a pen class. The best resolution was obtained by HPLC using data from all four wavelengths together, differentiating 96.4% pen pairs successfully using PCA and 97.9% pen samples by LDA. PCA separated 60.7% of the pen pairs and LDA provided a correct classification of 62.5% of the pens analyzed by IR. They stated that HPLC coupled with chemometrics provided a better discrimination of ballpoint pen inks compared to IR. Kher et al effectively combined LDA and PCA to classify the HPLC and IR data. PCA gives a general idea of how different a given pair of pens is, whereas LDA can quantify the predictive ability of a generated classification model. The two techniques of PCA and LDA were shown to be complimentary to each other. The PCA and LDA results indicated that although IR cannot differentiate between all classes of pen inks, it can still provide a reasonable discrimination, which can be enhanced further by improving the quality of the spectra. The analysis of such an enhanced IR data with chemometric analyses would provide a valuable non-destructive tool for forensic analyses. Raman Spectroscopy Studies Mazzella and Buzini used Raman spectroscopy to analyse blue gel pen inks in 2004. They sampled 55 blue gel pens. They first separated them into two groups using a preliminary solubility test in methanol. They discovered that 36 were pigmented inks, which arent soluble in methanol, and 19 were dye-based inks, which are soluble in methanol. They applied Raman spectroscopy to the 36 pigmented blue gel inks. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique. Spectra were first obtained using the 514.5 nm argon ion laser which proved the observation of 4 different groups. They then used the 830 nm NIR diode laser and divided the inks into three groups. They then combined the two lasers and a separation into 5 groups was obtained. They then attempted to identify the pigments contained in the gel by comparison to standard pigments. Two main pigments were detected in the analysed samples: PB15 and PV23. PB 15 is pigment blue 15 and belongs to the class of phthalocyanines. PV23 is the pigment violet 23 and belongs to the class oxazines. The argon laser allowed the detection of a mixture of PB 15 and PV 23. This was a better result than using the NIR diode laser. The results showed that the same gel pen ink (same model and brand) from different geographical locations showed the same Raman spectra. However, it was stated that the Raman technique obtained low discriminating values. 2. Materials and Method 2.1 Materials: Blue ballpoint pens Merck silica gel 60 TLC plates (20 cm x 20 cm) Methanol Ethyl acetate Ethanol (absolute) Paper Dessicator Developing chamber Puncher Glass tubes (0.1 ml) Capillary tubes 2.2 Experimental 13 blue ball-point pens (Table 1) were bought from a number of different shops in the town. A circle with a diameter of 5mm was written by the pen on paper. One fourth of it was punched out for extraction. The samples are placed in 1 ml glass tubes. 0.1ml of methanol was added and vigorously shaken for 1 min. The ink component was fully dissolved in methanol. The supernatant methanoic solutions were used for spot application on TLC plate. A blank of paper only is also treated as was a control which was a permanent marker. TLC analyses were preformed using Alugram 20 cm x 10 cm silica gel/UV plates (Macherey-Nagel). The plates were activated at 60 °C for 20 min and immediately after, cooled in a desiccator, and spotted. The plates were developed in a horizontal developing chamber. The solvent system included: ethyl acetate/absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v). Development was preformed at room temperature for 40 min. All mobile phases were prepared daily. After develo pment the plates were air-dried. All 13 different pens were tested in triplicate. Retention factors were calculated using the results from the plates and photographs taken using a digital camera were loaded onto the computer and analysed using image analysis software. Table 1: List of pens analysed Number Description 1 No Brand (blue) 2 Pilot G-207 3 BIC ReAction 4 BIC Medium (Bought in Tesco) 5 BIC Medium (Bought in Dunnes) 6 No Brand (Purple) 7 Staedtler Stick 430M 8 Roller Pen 9 Papermate 1.2M 10 Scripto Stick Pen 11 Papermate Write Bros. 12 Comfort Touch 13 No Brand (Tesco Click Pen) 3. Results and Discussion Before carrying out the experiment it needed to be researched. This research pointed out the importance of the correct solvent to remove the ink from the document. Djozan et al used methanol as their choice of solvent after considering other solvents (Table 2). They stated that Pyridine was the reported solvent used with ball-point pen inks. However, they carried out extractions with different solvents using various extraction modes. They realised that immersion of the paper into methanol with agitation resulted in complete extraction of the inks from the paper. Methanol was also chosen because of its safety. Table 2: List of solvents used for the extraction of ink components from paper Solvent Solubility of ink colours Ethyl acetate Slightly Ethanol Slightly Acetic Acid Slightly Acetone Slightly Butanol Slightly 1,2-Dichloroethane Slightly Butyl acetate Slightly Tetrachloroethane Slightly Acethyl acetate Slightly Cyclohexan Slightly Methanol Soluble Oyridine Soluble Different concentrations of the solvent system (Table 3) were analysed to see which gave the greater separation. It was found that the concentration given by Djozan et al, (ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water (70:35:30, v/v/v)) gave the best results. The Alugram silica Gell/UV plates were also found to work better than the suggested, Merck silica gel 60, plates without fluorescent indicator. Table 3: Concentrations of solvent system investigated Number Solvent system 1 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:35:30, v/v/v) 2 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:30:35, v/v/v) 3 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:25:40, v/v/v) 4 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:40:25, v/v/v) Table 4: Retention factors for all separated components pen spot 1 spot 2 spot 3 spot 4 spot 5 Solvent RF1 RF2 RF3 RF4 RF5 1.1 70 73 0.958904 1.2 70 73 0.958904 1.2 70 73 0.958904 2.1 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 2.2 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 2.3 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 3.1 57 60 62 70 0.814286

Medieval Food :: Food Historical Essays

Medieval Food Food is something that all people have always and will always need to consume in order to survive and thrive. Not only this, but it is also has an important societal function. Food is an important part of celebrations and sometimes dictates roles in societies. In Medieval society food was important for banquets, what was eaten by a person could denote what class a person was from, and was often mentioned in the literature. For my project I presented desserts, bread, and a couple of drinks. As far as the bread is concerned I made one loaf using beer and one loaf using water. The desserts were a strawberry tart, and Daryols, which is basically a custard or pudding pie. I also made two alcohol drinks, Mead, though very weak, and spiced wine. Food is commonly mentioned throughout Old English and Medieval literature. In â€Å"Beowulf†, much of the action revolves around the mead hall where great banquets are held. In â€Å"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight†, the poem begins in the banquet hall and the Green knight first appears before King Arthur and his guests at a feast. Since most of the recipes which I used are from the 14th century I focused most of the literary aspect of my presentation on Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"Canterbury Tales.† First of all the whole reason that the pilgrims tell their tales is because the inn keeper agrees to give the teller of the best story a free dinner at the end of the pilgrimage. Three characters, in particular, are described in the general prologue in relation to food, the nun or prioress, the franklin, and not surprisingly the cook. â€Å"Canterbury Tales† characters The Nun or Prioress is on page 218 of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, seventh edition volume one. Her passage discusses her impeccable manners. The Franklin is on page 223 of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, seventh edition volume one. His passage discusses his grand hall and all of the food he always has on hand and ready to eat in case someone shows up. The Cook is on page 224 of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, seventh edition volume one. This description discusses all of the utensils that the cook brought and what he plans to cook while the pilgrims walk across England.

Confucianism Essay -- essays research papers

Confucianism Confucianism is a moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects, the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient writings, including that of Mencius. Confucius was born a mandarin under the name Kongzi. It was developed around 550 B.C. In its earliest form Confucianism was primarily a system of ethical concepts for the control of society. It saw man as a social creature that is bound to his fellow men by jen, or â€Å"humanity.† Jen is expressed through the five relationships—sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. Of these, the filial relation is most important. The relationships are said to function smoothly if you stress li, which is a combination of etiquette and rituals. In some of these relationships a person may be superior to some and inferior to others. If a person in a lower status wishes to be properly treated that person must treat his or her own inferiors with respect. Correct conduct is thought to be gained through a sense of virtue gained by observing a role model of the higher status. The ruler, as the moral role model of the whole state, must be strict, but virtuous to all his subjects. The early philosophers recognized that the â€Å"great commonwealth,† the union of citizens under ethical rule, would take a long time to achieve, but believed that it might be constantly improved by practicing the â€Å"rectification of names.† This is the examination of the be...

Plato’s Theory of Ideas :: History of Philosophy

Topic: Plato’s Theory of Ideas Student: Milena SadÃ… ¾ak Date: december, 2001 Author’s introductionary remark: Still innocent and so naà ¯ve, the common human consciousness slowly began to raise itself, giving birth thereat to great men, who will forever remain in the hearts of the â€Å"consecrated†. One of those great men was Plato. Plato as a philosopher. Plato as an artist. Plato as the birth of concsiousness of its own limitedness. Plato as my own flight from reality. Being young and inexperienced, and having read one small but important part of Plato’s great treasury of dialogues, I stood lost and confused. It is impossible for a philosopher to believe in the existence of two simultaneous worlds. But that is what his words are saying to me. Did he truly believe that our souls had existed in that perfect world, prior to their birth? Being certain that Plato did not think so, and having realized the boundaries of my understanding, I’ve consulted people who dedicated their lives to this great philosopher. I must admit that it was just then that my confusion reached its utmost point. I have never seen so many confronted opinions on the same topic. Well, we have the dialogues right in front of us, what is the thing that’s keeping us from realizing Plato’s thought as it is, and at least reduce the number of confrontations? I know what my obstacle is: youth, lack of experience, lack of knowledge, but what is theirs? CONCLUSION: The young common human consciousness created a genius, but a young one, such as itself. Youth as such carries with it the impossibility of valid thought-word transmission. The space is too big. In time, the young common consciousness perfects itself. Its improvement implies the improvement of individual consciousness. The possibility to validly transmit thought-word is greater, therefore the interspace is reduced, and the number of dissacords in interpretations of philosophical works is reduced as well. Plato still belongs to the young common consciousness, therefore, we have inummerable explanations of one and the same thing. Theory of Ideas Nowadays, Plato is rightfully considered the originator of idealism. To explain in details what the concept of idealism means represents a great difficulty and demands great effort, so I will merely define idealism as a philosophy which reduces all existence to forms of thought, or in Plato’s case, idea. The word â€Å"idea† originates from the Greek word â€Å"eidos† which literally means â€Å"appearance, image†. In Plato’s thought, â€Å"idea† represents the first principle, cause, form, shape, essence.

Explore the differences between working with individuals and working with groups in the community context

When looking at community work firstly one must try ad define what is meant when talking about the community. Community can have many different meaning and due to this can be very hard to find one answer to help us to understand the word community. According to the dictionary community is ‘a group of people living in one place, the public in general' ( Collins pocket dictionary, Collins, 1982) although this offers a place to start it doesn't help us to understand community it's self. Both community and youth work both have totally different aims and have changed over the years. Youth work traditionally started as a form of informal education as a way of getting children involved with different activities although now it is becoming more and more formal. It started of as a collective idea where young people in the same social background could meet and the youth workers could work with them around these issues. Ultimately until very recently youth workers just helped the youth to over come their problems. Now in the modern society it is moving much more towards formal education where the youth workers take an active role on the administrating of the education of the youth. Working with individuals compared to groups of the community is totally different and throws up totally different problems. I'm going to look at the advantages of both first and then apply them to some common community issues to see which works best when put into perspective. Individual work usually involves working on a one to one basis with some one either simply talking about issues that worry them or offering help with a problem that they have. A huge advantage of working one to one is the fact that you can offer confidentiality to that person who has approached you. Due to this it enables the person the open up a lot more as they know that it isn't going to be over heard by any other person. Working on this basis also allows much more sensitive issues to be addressed, like the issues of the home background. By working one to one it enables you to get a lot more information out of the individual that maybe they are ashamed to address in public. By using this way of helping people you can form strong bonds between you and the person who you are helping and trust can be built up from here. Eventually becoming a friend of the person and being seen less as a helper but more of an equal, this type of relationship can also a big help when dealing with emotional problems. Since the worker becomes more of an equal rather than a helper it can be addressed in a more relaxed way and hopefully be more beneficial to the individual. Although individual work has many strengths it doesn't go without its weaknesses. By just having a one to one session the person does not have the social contact with they may need and attain by talking it though as a group. It also fails to let the individual know that they are not the only one with the problem that they have. By addressing it as a group the whole group can share their feeling on the issue but one a one to one basis the person becomes very self reliant on that issue and can some times fail to notice tat they aren't the only ones suffering form that problem. Community workers only a have small money pots. By offering one to one help for everyone with a problem would be stupid. Individual sessions take up more time than group work and therefore allow the money that would be spent on the workers hours to be spent on other things like a project for raising awareness of sexual health. One aim of community work is to gain a sense of belonging and togetherness within that chosen area. By address each problem on a one to one basis it defeats the problem. Surely by addressing the problem as a group it would bring about a sense of understanding. By working with just individual people there is always the problem with the fact that they could become attached to that person or even dependant on you, which ideally should not happen as they should be learning to trust their peer group not an outsider. Although it may not happen on a regular basis it is still a problem of one on one interview. Group work although at first many seem a good idea has its down falls as well. Originally used on mass by the uniformed organisations, it offers a way of getting to know each other in a relaxed environment. Using group worked in the community has big advantages. Since community can mean togetherness by addressing a problem as a group it allows everyone to be come involed. Take for example crime. By working as group to address it, it is both easier and

Man’s Flaw in War of the Worlds and Present Day Earth Essay

An interesting quote taken from Kepler starts out the book War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be inhabited?†¦ Are we or they the Lords of the World?†¦ And how are all things made for man? (Kepler, the Anatomy of Melancholy). This quote serves as a foreshadowing to what Wells considers to be man’s fundamental flaw, a flaw that still exists today on modern man, more than a century after War of the Worlds’s first publication and centuries more after Kepler’s time. According to Wells’s introduction, man’s first fundamental flaw is complacency â€Å"With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this glove about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter† (Chapter 1, p. 3). In War of the Worlds, man thought that they are the only inhabitants of the universe and remain complacent over the dangers that might be coming from places other than what they can comprehend. Little did they know that they are being watched by creatures from space just like how a scientist examines a microscopic organism under a microscope. Unfortunately today, man still suffers from this complacency. We have abused nature for the longest time thinking that its resources and its tolerance to our actions are boundless. Now, we are facing the ill effects of our wrong doings, our resources are dwindling, and our climate is rapidly changing. Vanity is the next flaw that Wells talk about in his introduction of the book. â€Å"Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century expressed any idea that life might have developed there far† (Chapter 1, p. 4). Man became too preoccupied with his achievements that he hadn’t put it into thought that Mars is older than Earth and therefore could be more advanced than humans if indeed there is life on the red planet. Vanity is one of the oldest flaws of man, the Greeks shows this flaw perfectly through the myth of Narcissus, a mythological character whose name means self-admirer. Vanity is still among man’s flaw today, some people are so vain that they are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money on cosmetics. They could have just used the money on other necessary things or better yet, to help the needy. Last is man’s flaw for being judgmental. â€Å"And before we judge them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought† (Chapter 1, p. 6). Wells questions that the Martians’s intent to take over the earth isn’t any different than what the humans has done over animals and even our own species. The same could still be applied today. Man by virtue, does not have the right to complain if indeed Martians invade the earth and do all those things that we do to our animals. In the book, Martians are just doing what they can do to survive, but man (in the real world) harms creatures even if it is not necessary for survival. All these flaws can be summed up to pride. In ancient Greek literature pride or hubris as they call it, is the fundamental flaw of man that causes his demise. Kepler and Wells advocate the same thing in their works