Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Beauty Essay Example for Free

Beauty Essay Beauty is something that can be interpreted completely different from person to person. A famous quote that goes along with this perfectly is â€Å"beauty is in the eye of the beholder. † I think a person’s inner beauty should be taken into account when deciding whether or not a person is beautiful. Wikipedia’s definition of beauty is, â€Å"a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction† while Oxford Dictionary states, â€Å"beauty is a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially sight. As you can see, inner beauty could be paired with Wiki’s definition and outer beauty could be paired with Oxfords. Of course, there is no way of telling which definition is more correct, but, for the majority of today’s society, outer beauty seems to be the primary focus. One example that proves just how important outer beauty is to society is the rise in beauty products and services that are around today. Surely, once the 21st century initiated, appearance definitely began to play a much bigger part in people’s lives. Interests in salons and day spas were rising generously, and surely, business was not hard to find. More than likely, most salons’ appointment books were filled, nail salon chairs were occupied, and an increase sales in beauty products all hit businesses with full force. Another illustration of our appearance obsessed society is seen in the surrounding woman and men. For instance, there are many events, even on a global scale, that support this shallow idea of exterior perfection, such as Beauty pageants; Miss America and Miss Universe are two of too many examples. These events are taken very seriously by a vast number of contestants who alter their body surgically, wear dentures, and add an, no doubt, unnatural amount of makeup and hair extensions. Furthermore, even more popular, exists pageants for young children with contestants of ages as low as a few months. With toddlers and infants being at their most influenced, getting done up in caked on make-up, eyelashes, spray tan, and fake teeth just isn’t something we should be backing. As you can see, it is time for people to focus more on things such as a person’s morality, personality, values, and intelligence rather than always infatuated with exterior. The main reason the word beauty has been used to describe external features rather than internal ones, so much more in the recent years, is the media. The media has evolved into something extremely influential, and the most clear message people recive from this, is what they are supposed to look like. For instance, magazines often create young girls who believe that thin as paper models seen in any magazine are what they are supposed to look like. Also, another component adding to the superficial terms people have are the celebrities that we idolize who are coached to not have even one single hair out of place; all those celebrity’s with perfect skin, hair, and body have been accomplices in the media’s outrageous spread shallow opinions. The outcome of the media’s bar being set so high is people all around doing whatever necessary to preserve their physical appearance regardless of the effect it has on their health or bank accounts. Everyone would be a lot happier if they drew their attention to the internal characteristics of a person, rather than all of the smoke and mirrors that is displayed on the surface. For example, someone who is the most kind-hearted, level headed, and selfless person could go through her whole life not having the opportunity to show others due to her presentation of a had exterior. Of course, although it can be hard for some, it’s never right to reject someone all because they don’t meet the unspoken of standards that most have set for themselves as well as the others. Helen Keller once said, â€Å"Beauty is not always seen but is felt in the heart. Helen was someone who was dealt a horrific hand yet still noticed and embraced the beauty in all of her experiences. To sum up, most of society goes without noticing, or simply doesn’t care, about any beauty that reaches deeper than the surface, which is very unfortunate. Many people become sick, depressed and some even die as a result of the pressure media and those greatly influenced by it puts on them. This world could be so much better, relationships could be so much stronger, and those who deserve it would be so much happier if the word â€Å"beauty† was interpreted as something deeper by the masses; one can only hope.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Mechanisms of Adsorption of Aormatic Nitrogen Compounds

Mechanisms of Adsorption of Aormatic Nitrogen Compounds MECHANISMS OF ADSORPTION OF AORMATIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS AND AROMATIC COMPOUNDS ON METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS (MOFs) by JUN DAI Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) constitute a class of novel porous materials which have attracted significant interest due to their application in separation, storage, catalyst and sensing. Large surface area and porous cavity make MOFs excellent absorbents with huge uptake capacity. In this paper, we studied adsorption mechanisms of adsorption of indole and naphthalene on Basolite F300, Basolite A100 and MIL-100 (Fe) by two complementary spectroscopic methods. Fluorescence spectroscopy and near-UV/Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy study demonstrate that naphthalene is quantum confined within the mesoporous cavity in F300. On the other hand, indole is weakly electronically bound to Fe (III) CUS in F300 and forms adsorption complex with F300. Direct spectroscopic proof of adsorption complex is provided by near-UV/Visible spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. Quenching of ligand-based fluorescence of A100 by indole is suggested and we propose adsorption of indole and napht halene onto A100 via Ï€-Ï€ interaction, spectroscopic proof is provided by fluorescence spectroscopy.   Table of Contents Title Abstract Acknowledgements and Dedication Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) 1.2 Clean Fossil Fuels 1.3 Nitrogen Aromatic Compounds in Fossil fuels 1.4 Aromatic Compounds in Fossil Fuels 1.5 Methods of Denitrogenation 1.5.1 Microbial Denitrogenation 1.5.2 Hydrodenigrogenation (HDN) 1.5.3 Adsorptive Denitrogenation (ADN) 1.6 Activation of Open Metal Sites of Metal-Organic Frameworks 1.7 Adsorption of Aromatic Compounds and Aromatic N-heterocyclic Compounds on mesoporous MOFs with CUS: MIL-100 (Fe) and F300 1.8 Adsorption of Aromatic Compounds and Aromatic N-heterocyclic compounds on microporous MOFs without CUS: MIL-53 and A100 1.9 Research Objective 2 Experimental 2.1 Metal Organic Frameworks 2.2 Solvents, Aromatic compounds and N-containing compounds 2.3 Activation and Hydration of Metal-organic frameworks 2.4 Fluorescence Spectroscopy 2.5 Near UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (near UV-Vis DRS) 2.6 Model Fuels 2.7 Solid Mixture of Aromatic and Aromatic N-hetrocyclic compounds with MOFs 2.8 Stoichiometric adsorption complex of F300 and naphthalene in eicosane matrix 2.9 Kinetic adsorption of liquid indole on Basolite F300 (FeBTC) in liquid phase 2.10 Stoichiometric adsorption complexes of indole/naphthalene with MOFs 2.11 UV radiation 3 Results 3.1 Spectroscopic Studies of adsorption of naphthalene and indole on mesoporous F300 and MIL-100 (Fe) with CUS 3.1.1 Solid Mixtures of MOFs and organic aromatic compounds 3.1.2 Fluorescence spectrum of pure naphthalene List of Figures Figure 1: Structure of MIL-100 (Fe) (see as S1 in supplementary) Figure 2: Structure of MIL-53 (Al) (see as S2 in supplementary) Figure 3: Common nitrogen compounds existing in fossil fuels Figure 4: Pathways for the transformation of quinoline Figure 5: Fluorescence spectrum of (A) 0.08 M liquid solution of naphthalene (NAP) in n-heptane, ÃŽ »exc = 280 nm, bandwidth: Exc. Slit 5 nm/Emi. Slit 5nm. (B) 0.08 M liquid solution of NAP in n-heptane with multi-Gaussian curve fitting Figure 6: Fluorescence spectrum of (A) pure naphthalene (NAP) ÃŽ »exc = 280 nm, bandwidth: Exc. Slit 5 nm/Emi. Slit 5nm (B) pure NAP with multi-Gaussian curve fitting List of Tables Table 1: MOFs used in this research and structure information Table 2: Physical property of common nitrogen aromatic compounds existing in fossil fuels 1 Introduction 1.1 Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) Porous materials are well studied and widely used in science and engineering industry. Recently, a novel kind of porous material ‘Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)’ has emerged as potential competitor. MOFs are crystalline hybrid inorganic-organic porous solid formed by chemical metal-linker bounding1. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) constitute a class of novel porous materials which have attracted significant interest due to their application in separation, storage, catalyst and sensing. The use of MOF as stationary phase in high resolution GC separation of aromatic hydrocarbons has also gained significant attention2. In comparison with adsorption on the MOFs in gas phase which has been well studied and understood, adsorption on the MOFs in liquid phase is much less known. MOFs have extremely large surface area and porous cavity, which make them excellent adsorbents with huge uptake capacity. As a class of coordination compound repeated by metal or metal clusters as SBUs (second building units) and organic linkers, the cavity ranged between that of Zeolite and mesoporous silica3. Regarding the structures, variety of MOFs can display either 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional structures depend on different organic linkers. It is also indicated by J. R. Karra and K. S. Walton that the relation between pore size and guest molecule size plays an essential role in the adsorption4. The MOFs being investigated in this research are mesoporous and microporous MOFs. For mesoporous MOFs the pore size can vary from 2 nm to 50 nm, while for microporous MOFs the pore size is less than 2nm. Pore size can be a key in adsorption on MOFs due to micropore filling mechanism2, which suggests adsorption capacity depends on molecular cross-sectional area rather than minimum diameter. MOFs are structurally stable under ambient environment. It is reported by many authors that MOFs remain stable under increased temperature and under oxygen. In this research, our investigation mos tly focuses on several common MOFS, and their commercial names are Basolite C300, Basolite F300, Basolite A100 and MIL-100 (Fe) (MIL=Materials of Institute Lavoisier). All Basolite C300, Basolite F300 and Basolite A100 are bought commercially, and MIL-100 (Fe) is made with the collaboration of Dr. Jing Li from Rutgers – New Brunswick. Table 1 shows the basic physical information of the MOFs used in this research. Table 1: MOFs used in this research and structure information MOFs/formula Surface area/m2g-1 Pore dimension/Ã… Pore dimension Ref. BET Basolite F300 1300~1600 21.7 3D Sigma-Aldrich,5 Basolite A100 1100~1500 7.37.7 1D Sigma-Aldrich, MIL-100 (Fe) 2200 25, 29 3D 5 MIL-100 family MIL-100(M) (M=Cr, Fe, Al) refers to a family of mesoporous Metal-Organic Frameworks built up from metal clusters and benzene-1, 3, 5-tricarboxylic (BTC) linkers. These MOFs possess large surface area and have recently attracted tremendous attention for applications in adsorption and separation due to the coordinated unsaturated sites (CUS) which can provide chance for Lewis acid-base interaction between guest molecules and metal ions or metal clusters. In Metal-organic frameworks, metal sites (SBUs) are coordinated with organic linkers. Open metal sites (CUS) may be available on these SBUs. CUS are very important in gas storage, separation, sensing, catalysts, and even biological systems6. Considerable amount of research on the adsorption of small molecules have been done recently. Evidence has shown open metal sites have essential influence on adsorption property in MOFs. It is reported that open Cu2+ metal sites in HKUST-1 contribute significantly to the high acetylene storage capa city7. Moreover, MOFs with CUS such as HKUST-1 are used in chromatography separation due to its specific feature to distinguish strongly and weakly electron donating analytes8. In additional, MIL-100 (Fe3+, Cr3+, Al3+) has been shown to have strong preference to adsorb N-heterocyclic compounds (Lewis base) in mixtures910. Hence, open metal sites can be potential Lewis acid sites, the possible interactions between guest molecules and open metal sites will be examined and discussed in this paper. In our research, MIL-100 (Fe) will be used to investigate the adsorption mechanisms between guest molecules such as indole or naphthalene and sorbent MOFs. Besides MIL-100, there is a commercially made MOF named Basolite F300, which has a similar chemical composition. Both Basolite F300 and MIL-100 (Fe) are built up by Iron and BTC linkers. However, due to the poor crystallinity, the actual structure of F300 is still not known at this time. Difference in iron content and carbon content in F300 and MIL-100 (Fe) is shown by D. Amarajothi and his co-workers5. The iron mass content in F300 and MIL-100 (Fe) are respectively 25% and 21%. The carbon mass content in F300 and MIL-100 (Fe) are respectively 32% and 29%. Pore dimension in F300 and MIL-100 (Fe) are respectively 21.7 Ã… and 25/29 Ã…. Structure of MIL-100 (Fe) is shown below: Figure 1: Structure of MIL-100 (Fe) (see as S1 in supplementary) MIL-53 family There are many types of MOFs that undergo hydrolysis, while there are other MOFs that remain stable within water. Water stable MOFs start to showing potential applications in drug delivery and imaging11. Many MOFs containing Al as metal sites and amino acids as organic linkers are stable in aqueous solution, and it is also possible to synthesize them in aqueous environment12. MIL-53(M) (M= metal as Al13, Cr14, Fe15, In16, Sc17) is a common family of microporous MOFs and has excellent water stability. Figure 2: Structure of MIL-53 (Al) (see as S2 in supplementary) The one dimensional pore structure of MIL-53(Al) is built by chains of corner-sharing octahedra aluminum clusters AlO4(OH)2 and anion form of benzene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid (BDC) as organic linkers connecting infinite numbers of metal clusters. MIL-53 (Al) has rhombic channels which have dimension of 7.3 x 7.7 Ã…. A huge Langmuir surface area of 1600 m2/g makes MIL-53 (Al) an efficient adsorbent. MIL-53 (Al) has extraordinary thermal stability up to 773 K. It is believed that the structure of MIL-53 (Al) undergoes a reversible structural change during process of adsorbing/desorbing water molecules, and is described as ‘breathing’13. The so-called ‘breathing’ process interchanges between large-pore (lp) form (Al(OH)[O2C-C6H4-CO2]) and narrow-pore (np) form (Al(OH)[O2C-C6H4-CO2]H2O) 13. The lp form has a dimension of 8.5 x 8.5 Ã… and is obtained when activated upon high temperature and under high vacuum, which takes away excess free BDC acids, oxygen and water trapped in the cavity during synthesis. The lp form is capable of adsorbing water molecules in vapor at room temperature, as a result, the MIL-53 (Al) shifts to its’ np form. As shown in the formula, the np form contains one trapped water molecule every unit or cavity. Hydrogen bonds are found to form between carboxylic groups on the linkers and adsorbed water molecules. Due to this ‘breathing’ feature, applications on selective adsorption of various compounds in gas phase have already gained interest and being reported14. The np form of hydrated MIL-53 (Cr) is able to selectively adsorb CO2 in presence of CH4 in gas phase. Upon adsorption of CO2 but not CH4, MIL-53 (Cr) returns to its lp form with an increased cavity volume of 1522.5 Ã…3 from np volume of 1012.8 Ã…3. In our research, we used Basolite A100 MOF from the BASF, which is commercially available and is equivalent to MIL-53 (Al). Similarly, A100 is build up with AlO4(OH)2 octahedral clusters connecting by BDC linkers, and gives a surface area of 1084 m2/g and pore volume of 0.51 cm3/g as determined by N2 physical-adsorption at 77 K. Additionally, XRD pattern of A100 is proved to resemble that of MIL-53 (Al)18. G. Blanco-Brieva and his co-workers have studied adsorptive removal of aromatic sulfur compounds from model liquid fuels on thermally activated A10019. 1.2 Clean Fossil Fuels Combustion of sulfur and nitrogen containing compounds in fossil fuels will bring adverse effect to public health, environment and economy. It is widely recognized that nitrogen compounds are normally carcinogenic and mutagenic. Separation of heterocyclic compounds from petro-chemical feedstock has become an urgent application leading to clean liquid fossil fuels. Fossil fuel is a primary source of energy on the earth, the intensive use of fossil fuels has raised environmental concerns. Beginning in 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began an ambitious program aiming to reduce the sulfur content of diesel fuels. As of July 11, 2010, the EPA required that the concentration of sulfur content in diesel fuels not exceed 15 ppm20. For certain ultra-clean gasoline, diesel fuels and jet fuels, sulfur level needs to be lower than 1 ppm21. Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of diesel fuel has become an essential research interest, while the presence of nitrogen compounds in middle-distil late oil inhibits the ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization22232425. In HDS, sulfur compounds are hydrogenated to hydrocarbons and H2S over catalyst such as Zeolites9. However, the nitrogen aromatic compounds in crude oil are found to compete for the active sites on these catalysts to inhibit a deep HDS26,27. This gives rise to the necessity for denitrogenation in fossil fuels. Moreover, the combustion of nitrogen compounds in petroleum leads to the formation of NOx oxides, which is a group of highly reactive and persistent species and contributes directly to acid rain and greenhouse effect. The life time of NOx oxides in atmosphere is 120 years before being removed or destroyed through chemical reactions. The impact of 1 pound of NO ­x on warming the atmosphere is over 300 times that of 1 pound of carbon dioxide. EPA first set standards for NO2 in 1971, setting both a primary standard (to protect health) and a secondary standard (to protect the public welfare) at 0.053 parts per million (53 ppb), averaged annually28. Also the presence of nitrogen aromatic compounds in fossil fuels can lead to poisoning of refining catalyst, which will eventually cause a decrease in yield. Thus, denitrogenation is necessary for deep desulfurization and has drawn significant interest around the world due to the increasingly rigid regulations and fuel specifications in many countries. 1.3 Nitrogen Aromatic Compounds in Fossil fuels Fossil fuels are naturally-formed fuel that contains significant level of heterocyclic aromatic contaminants. There are some representative sulfur aromatic compounds such as benzothiophene (BT) and dibenzothiophene (DBT), representative nitrogen aromatic compounds such as indole and quinoline. Nitrogen aromatic compounds content in crude oil averages around 0.3%. Although the concentration of nitrogen compounds in crude oil is relatively low, the concentration turns out to be higher throughout the petroleum distillation process. Common nitrogen aromatic compounds in fossil fuels are shown in Figure 1.129 and physical properties of nitrogen aromatic compounds investigated in this research is shown in Table 2. Nitrogen aromatic compounds in fossil fuels fall into two classes. One is non-basic nitrogen compounds including indole and pyrrole due to the fact that the extra pair of electrons on N is contributed to the Ï€ electron cloud and is not available for interaction with acids. While the other class is basic nitrogen compounds such as pyridine, quinoline and their derivatives, in which the lone pair of electrons on N is available as an electron donor. Indole is one of the most common nitrogen compounds in fossil fuels, and it has been broadly studied. And we choose indole in our research due to the fact that indole is a weakly basic N-containing compound, which means it has a potential of selective adsorption against aromatic compounds and desorption is possible and reasonably convenient. Figure 3: Common nitrogen compounds existing in fossil fuels Table 2: Physical property of common nitrogen aromatic compounds existing in fossil fuels Compounds Formula Melting Point, ÃÅ'Ã…  C Density, g/cm3 Dipole moment, D Acidity,pKa Maximum diameter, ÃÅ'Ã…  A Indole C8H7N 52~54 1.17 2.11 16.2 6.9 Quinoline C9H7N -15 1.093 0 4.85 7.2 Isoquinoline C9H7N 26~28 1.099 0 5.14 7.2 1.4 Aromatic Compounds in Fossil Fuels Fossil fuels contain significant amount of hydrocarbons, most of them are aromatic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this research we choose naphthalene as representative aromatic compounds, and in order to investigate the adsorption mechanism we use fluorescence spectroscopy and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to investigate electronic interactions upon adsorption onto MOFs. Naphthalene is the most simple and common aromatic compounds in PAHs. And naphthalene is commonly produced in petroleum refining and is then separated from the petroleum. Purification and separation of these aromatic rings is of interest in chemical industry. Naphthalene has a molecular length of 7.2 Ã… (largest diameter determined by ChemDraw 3D) and is non-polar. 1.5 Methods of Denitrogenation Microbial Denitrogenation Microbial process is an alternative pathway for denitrogenation. Microorganisms are known to consume natural organic compounds and convert them into carbons and energy, and they are capable of metabolizing certain molecules including nitrogen compounds from fossil fuels. The degradation of quinoline is well-characterized, and the transformation pathways are elucidated by M. Benedik et al29 (shown in Figure 1. 5). The degradation of isoquinoline is less understood but 1-oxo-1,2-dihydroisoquinoline is suggested as initial oxygenated product30. According to the finding of Claus, G, indole is readily degraded via catechol or transformed directly into tryptophan30, while carbazole is relatively more difficult to be degraded. One possible degradation pathway31 beginning with angular dioxygenation has been proposed by Ouchiyama, N., which finally enters TCA cycle after conversion to catechol or tryptophan32. Mechanisms for the degradation of other nitrogen compounds such as pyridine, quinol ine, acridine and their derivatives are reviewed in detail by J. Kaiser33. Recent research in microbial denitrogenation has revealed a promising future for application in selective removal of nitrogen- and sulfur-containing petroleum. However, as a major mechanism for the removal and metabolism of organic compounds from the environment, its’ characterization of the enzymes involving in the pathways is still under research29. And it has not been widely applied to the industry yet. Figure 4: Pathways for the transformation of quinoline Hydrodenigrogenation (HDN) Hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) is usually used to remove nitrogen compounds in fossil fuels during the refinery process, and Co-Mo catalyst is normally involved in the process. However, the HDS process is accomplished by reacting with hydrogen at high temperature and high pressure. It is energy-intensive, hazardous and costly. Thus, significant amount of researches have been done on HDN in order to reach a goal of being economic and environmentally friendly. Adsorptive Denitrogenation (ADN) Another promising way to selectively remove the nitrogen compounds in fossil fuels is adsorption on a porous material, Activated carbon34353637, Zeolites38, HCL-loaded silica-aluminas39, ion-exchange resins40, meso-silicas41,42, Ti-HMSs43, microporous carbon44, activated aluminas45, Ni-based adsorbents45, and NiMOs46 have been used for ADN. While recently the use of MOF adsorbents has gained significant interest in adsorption and separation of aromatic and heterocyclic compounds in liquid phase due to its’ high capacity, high selectivity, economic importance and most importantly energy saving 47. Moreover, MOFs can even be recycled and effectively reduce the cost. Adsorptive separation via â€Å"adsorptive denitrogenation (AND)† is preferred over industrial catalytic HDN10. Specifically, selective adsorption of N-heterocyclic compounds48 in presence of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons in liquid phase49 is of interest, which is investigated in this research. 1.6 Activation of Open Metal Sites of Metal-Organic Frameworks Available CUS in MOFs is essential for the adsorption of Lewis basic compounds. Thus, to fully utilize the open metal sites in MOFs, activation is needed to evacuate the water molecules which are relatively weakly coordinated on these metals. Because MOFs are strongly adsorptive molecules, humidity can be crucial to the availability of open metal sites in MOFs. Specific treatment is necessary at certain temperature under vacuum in order to activate open metal sites. And protection of the sample against humidity is critical during experiments. Interestingly, it is discovered by K. Schlichte and his colleagues that upon activation the color of HKUST-1 would change from light cyan to dark navy50. This is confirmed by E. Borfecchia and his working group using UV-Vis, a red shift at LMCT edge and appearance of a shoulder in d-d band at around 600 nm in UV-Vis spectrum is observed and explained by the removal of water51. In addition to the activation of MOFs, partial reduction of MIL-100 (Fe) has been reported by H. Leclerc and his group52. Certain metal sites in MOF can be reduced, for example, Fe3+ in MIL-100 (Fe) can be reduced to Fe2+. According to their analysis of oxidation states via IR, outgassing at 423 K for 12 hour will give rise to a greater proportion of Fe2+ sites while minority of Fe3+ sites is reduced. However, outgassing at 523 K will result in that most Fe3+ sites are reduced. Fe3+ sites are more Lewis acidic sites than Fe2+, it is easier for Fe3+ to form coordination bond with nitrogen aromatics, which are good Lewis base. 1.7 Adsorption of Aromatic Compounds and Aromatic N-heterocyclic Compounds on mesoporous MOFs with CUS: MIL-100 (Fe) and F300 Although adsorption of small organic molecules on MOFs both in liquid phase and in vapor, such as toluene, benzene, xylene isomers2, etc., has been well studied in the recent years, to our knowledge the adsorption of fuse-ring aromatic hydrocarbons on MIL-100 in liquid phase has not been reported. M. Maes and his co-workers have reported adsorption of indole from heptane/toluene mixture solution on MIL-100 family9. Thus, mechanism of adsorption of aromatic compounds versus aromatic N-heterocyclic compounds on F300 has not been studied. According to many studies, the formation of complexes in liquid adsorption is usually assumed, but there is a lack of direct spectroscopic evidence. Adsorption of small aromatic ring compounds (benzene and p-xylene molecules) on MIL-101 has been published by K. Yang, et al2. Pore-size filling mechanism is discovered and discussed in this paper, indicating that pore-size and different substrate relates with molecular selectivity of organic compounds. Ho wever, the mechanism is still not understood. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a straightforward method for studying the adsorption mechanism between guest molecules and MOFs. Yet there are rarely papers studying characterization of adsorption of aromatic compounds in liquid or solid system by fluorescence spectroscopy. It is assumed based on fluorescence spectra that Lewis acid-base interaction promotes the adsorption of pyrene on Al2O3 from model fuel using octane as solvent53. While the fluorescence spectra was collected using a model sorbent aluminum chloride in methanol instead of actual Al2O3 in model fuel, spectroscopic characterization of adsorption complexes formed by MOFs and aromatic compounds or aromatic N-heterocyclic compounds by the fluorescence spectroscopy is still unknown to our knowledge. Another useful characterization method is near-UV/visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), which is excellent at detecting the variation or shift in electronic states on adsorption complexes forming by metal sites and guest molecules. The DRS was used to identify the interactions between aromatic amines and MOFs54 but it has not been used to explore the interactions between metal sites of MOFs and guest molecules as aromatic compounds or aromatic N-heterocyclic compounds. Thus, we aim to investigate the adsorption of large aromatic compounds on MOFs using two spectroscopic methods as fluorescence spectroscopy and near-UV/visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. 1.8 Adsorption of Aromatic Compounds and Aromatic N-heterocyclic compounds on microporous MOFs without CUS: MIL-53 and A100 M. Maes and his colleagues have studied the adsorption of indole and methyl-substituted indole present in model fuel (heptane/toluene at either 80 vol. %/20 vol. % or 20 vol. %/80 vol. % combination) at initial concentration of 0.15 M on thermally activated MIL-53 (Al)9. The amount of absorbed indole intensively dropped in model fuel with toluene, which indicates a possible competitive adsorption. While no data of adsorption capacity for indole and substituted indole on MIL-53 (Al) in n-alkane solvent was reported, not enough experimental evidence or computational evidence can be used to prove the mechanism of competitive adsorption. Similarly, adsorption of indole, pyridine, pyrrole and quinolone on thermally activated MIL-53 (Al) has been studied in another paper. In this paper n-octane was used as solvent, however, no data for adsorption capacity of indole on MIL-53 (Al) has been reported55. Ï€-Ï€ interactions is suggested to be the major force that introduce the adsorption of indole or quinolone onto activated MIL-53 (Al), but no experimental evidence was given55. At the present time, no direct spectroscopic characterization of chemical bonds between aromatic or hetero-aromatic adsorbate and MIL-53 has yet been reported. Furthermore, adsorption of naphthalene on MOFs has not been reported to our knowledge. To investigate the adsorption mechanisms through fluorescence spectroscopy, it is essential to know the origin of the fluorescence from MOF itselft. It was discussed in a review paper by M. Allendorf, C. Bauer, R. Bhakta et al.56, that there are five modes for generating fluorescence in MOFs: linker-based, framework metal ions (charge transfer between linker and metal), adsorb

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Effects of Toilet Training to Personality Development Essay example --

Effects of Toilet Training to Personality Development Introduction â€Å"The child was the father to the man† - Sigmund Freud The basic premise of Dr. Sigmund Freud’s theory on personality development lies on the above statement. The determinants of one’s behavior and characteristics during adulthood may be derived from one’s childhood –how one was brought up taking into consideration the influence and interaction of values, culture, language, rules, roles, models and morals to the development of one’s personality. As such, much of the burden of honing a child’s character lies on the parents and the latter’s own upbringing may greatly influence how a child will behave upon reaching adulthood. With this premise in mind, Freud advanced a theory that centered on the effects of sexual satisfaction to the human psyche. To Freud, man is a pleasure-seeking animal who constantly strives to avoid painful experience in order to maintain a pleasant life. He postulated that the foundation of personality is formed between the ages 1-5 wherein an individual goes through a series of developmental stages which were also called psychosexual stages. Man’s search for pleasure commences during these stages, wherein the most basic desire or sexual urge is manifested in a child’s growth and developmental needs. In explaining the four psychosexual stages that he has identified, he introduced the idea of erogenous zones. Erogenous zones Also called erotogenic zones, erogenous zones are areas in a man’s body where the inner and outer skins meet and when manipulated, are capable of arousing pleasant and sensu... ...duce specific character traits associated with the acts of retention and expulsion. Cited Works Bischof, Leonard J. Interpreting Personality Theories. New York, N.Y.: Harper and Row, 2nd Ed.,1964. Fox, Ronald E., Gregory, Ian and Rosen, Ephraim. Abnormal Psychology. London: W.B. Saunders Company, 2nd Ed., 1972. â€Å"Psychodynamic Theories.â€Å" noteaccess.com. 19 June 2005. Bibliography â€Å"Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development.† about.com 19 June 2005. Hall, Calvin S. and Lindzey, Gardner. Theories of Personality. N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, 3rd Ed., 1978. Stevenson, David B. â€Å"Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development†. Victorian Web. 19 June 2005.

The Importance of Exile in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney Essay -- Biogra

The Importance of Exile in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney   Ã‚   To be a poet in a culture obsessed with politics is a risky business. Investing poetry with the heavy burden of public meaning only frustrates its flight: however tempting it is to employ one's poetic talent in the service of a program or an ideology, the result usually has little to do with poetry. This is not to condemn the so-called "literature of engagement"; eye-opening and revealing, it has served its purpose in the unfinished story of our century, and now is certainly no time to call for the poet's retreat into the "ivory tower" of the self. Preserving the individual voice amidst the amorphous, all-leveling collective must be the first act of poetic will, a launching board from which each poet must start the effort of poetry. A mere glance at recent Irish history suffices to show a place where this preservation is particularly difficult. The pressures that the bifurcated Irish society exerts on its poets are enormous: taking a political stance is no longer a temptation (this implies a certain luxury of choice on behalf of the tempted) but rather an inescapable reality imposed by the agora of public discourse. Thus the condition of exile becomes the poet's only way out, the sole means of retaining the autonomy of his poetic voice. More than merely a survival tactic, however, it is a strategy of finding home "elsewhere," whether in the original language of the island (and today's minority), as in the case of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, or in the larger reality of poetic imagination. Seamus Heaney, who occupies the precarious position of being Ireland's most famous and accomplished living poet while refusing to become its bard, calls our attention to the role of exi... ...Beckett, Samuel. Murphy. New York: Grove Press, 1957. Haviaras, Stratis, ed. Seamus Heaney: A Celebration. A Harvard Review Monograph. 1996. Heaney, Seamus. Crediting Poetry: The Nobel Lecture. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995. ---. The Government of the Tongue: Selected Prose 1978-1987. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989. ---. Selected Poems 1966-1987. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990. Kiberd, Declan. Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995. Malloy, Catharine and Phyllis Carey, ed. Seamus Heaney: The Shaping Spirit. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1996. Said, Edward W. "Intellectual Exile: Expatriates and Marginals." Grand Street 47 (1993): 113-124. Welch, Robert. Changing States: Transformations in Modern Irish Writing. London: Routledge, 1993.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Globalizaton Essay -- Economics Economy Papers

Globalization is a term that has become very popular in recent times. It is a concept with many differing definitions. Thomas L. Friedman, author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree, describes globalization as a movement that enables individuals, corporations, and countries to reach around the globe farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before. Globalization is the spread of free market capitalism to virtually every country in the world. Countries are encouraged to allow free trade, privatization and competition. Basically, it involves worldwide integration of both economic and political ideals. Globalization is becoming more popular and more accessible mainly because of the recent advancements in technology. Many believe it to be a positive phenomenon, while others believe that it is very bad. The rise and spread of globalization has brought along with it many supporters and opponents. Benefits of globalization are that it creates jobs, generates prosperity, raises standards of living all around the world and much more. When companies do business in other countries more jobs are created. Companies such as Nike, Levis, Coca-cola are constantly building factories in less developed countries, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Dominican Republic and many more. These factories are providing jobs for thousands of people who would otherwise not be able to find work anywhere else. This helps the human rights issue and can be beneficial for the overall economy of the country as well as the individual. James Robinson, former head of American Express said, "I think it's helping human rights because what it's doing is it's giving jobs to people at salary levels that they never had access to before. So in time I think this becomes more self... ...obalization. October 2000 The World Trade Organization. www.wto.org Geneva, Switzerland. October 2002 Public Broadcasting Service. Transcript: Globalization and Human Rights. www.pbs.org. October 2002 Panayotou, Theodore. Globalization and Environment: CID Working Paper No. 53. July 2000 North American Free Trade Agreement. "NAFTA: A Foundation for Canada's Future Prosperity." http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/nafta-alena/over-en.asp Canada. September 2003 FDI Magazine. "Egyptian Endeavors." www.fdimagazine.com. December 2003. Hill, Charles. International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2005 Tseng, Wanda and Zebregs, Harm. Foreign Direct Investment in China: Some Lessons for Other Countries. International Monetary Fund, February 2002.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Basic Business Concepts

Business: It is the act of manufacturing, producing or buying and selling of goods and services whose aim is to make profit. A product may be defined as the output which could be in terms of services or goods within the normal business transaction.Generally, the fundamental goal of business if to make profit through optimization of its costs and revenue. However, business organizations are the entities that are ideally driven by the profit motive. Non profit making organizations does not aim atmaking profit. 2. Every business activity involves various participants/stakeholders.They include producers/manufactures, distributors, consumers and legal entities (John, 2006). Producers/manufacturers make the goods and services for use in the business process. Consumers are involved in using the products that are manufactured and produced in business processes. Distributors create channels of goods and service transfers from the manufactures to the consumers. Legal entities/government create s the legal layout of conduct between the other three participants. Studying business in the today’s American society is ideally an important aspect that provides information on the aspects that ensure strong business functionality.It provides the most rational knowledge that would help to succeed in any business process. However, business process is affected by various aspects such as international forces of demand and supply, income of the consumers, government regulation, availability of raw material, and economic systems (John, 2006). 3. Economics is the study of fundamentals of incorporating the scarce resources in processes that yield the highest benefit to the community. There are various economic systems which include; Traditional economy is that characterized by techniques and models based on social foundations.It involves resource inheritance and brings a passive sense of togetherness and community. It has low technology and no competition. Command economy is that w hich is controlled and planned by the central government. It is shaped by the will of the government. The means of economic production are owed by the people. It can be found in Vietnam. Market economy is controlled by forces of demand and supply. Government rarely fixes the prices. Private corporations govern the control of distribution and exchange. Example is United Kingdom.Mixed economy compliments both market and command economy. There are both the hands of government and corporations. It is governed by high freedom in its activities. An example is in US (John, 2006). 4. Supply is the total amount of goods and services offered in the market by the produces. Demand id the total quantity of goods and services required for consumption in the market. Price is the single cost paid for a unit of goods or services. Competition refers to the interactive process between suppliers and consumers within the market to yield an equilibrium quantity and price.In America, the competitive natur e of the market ensures the interaction between the quantities of goods and services supplied and demanded to produce an equilibrium price and quantity for the supplies and demands levels (John, 2006). 5. There are four types of competitions. Perfect competition is where we have many suppliers and consumers who interact cohesively with one another to yield an equilibrium quantity and price. Example is the hotel industry. Monopoly competition is where there is one supplier against many consumers. He/she controls the pricing of the goods and services.Example is the development in new communication technology. Duopoly competition is the competition between two suppliers. It may include the development in mobile phone technology between two manufactures. Oligopoly competition is where there are few sellers and many buyers. It may include the market of electronics. 6. The government uses various attributes to measure the state of economic development. They include; Inflation: This is the subsequent increase in the price of commodities. GDP: It is the sum total of all goods and services produced within a country within one year.Unemployment: It is the relationship between the workforce that is willing and also able to work and is in the process of finding a job compared to the number that is absorbed in the employment industry. Consumer Price Index: This is relative changes in the prices of consumer goods within the economy. The rate of unemployment is relative to the level of GDP. Higher unemployment implies lower GDP. This is because, there are low levels of income earned by the household and consequently law levels of aggregate demand within the economy. Economic fluctuations are usually desirable in the economic functionality theory.This is ideally because such fluctuations are detrimental in clearing the various markets within the economy. The federal government in America performs the role of ensuring both strong fiscal and monetary policies which ensure a str ong economy (John, 2006). 7. Service economy is the economy endowed with product output that is governed by services rather than goods. In America, service economy refers to the economic domains implied by the supply and demand of services as product outputs. Reference John Robert (2006) Economic Theory: An Introduction. New York, Prentice Hall

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Online Communication Essay

The rise of the Internet era opened the whole new market for traditional media full of opportunities as well as threats. Online piracy being one of them because the music and film industry loses  £5.4bn in a year and if it was reduced by 10% it could have created up to 13 thousand jobs in the UK. There are various attempts taken to fight with online piracy; a case study of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be considered as well as other legislations attempting to regulate copyrights in the Internet. This essay is also going to look at main motives and reasons for online piracy and suggest the solutions. Main obstacles in dealing with piracy are legislative issues, semiotic disputes, little awareness or different attitudes of the Internet users. For the old media to fully overcome the threat of online piracy is as likely as completely eradicating crime. Hoverer, there are means to limit the copyright infringement in the Internet. Suggested methods are improving the legislatio n, changing public’s mind-sets and making legal ways widely and easily accessible. Firstly it is crucial to define the terms as especially in case of online piracy they are often misunderstood and are the or controversial. The definition of online piracy varies depending on the source, but the majority agrees that it refers to: â€Å"copyright violation, infringement, unauthorised copying, storage, reproduction, distribution, or sale of intellectual property—for example, music CDs, movie videocassettes. With regard to film and television, the term primarily relates to downloading, uploading, linking to, or otherwise providing access to unauthorized copies of movies, television shows or other copyrighted content on the Internet and making and/or selling unauthorized copies of DVDs and Blue Ray discs. Some sources refer to piracy as theft and according to the American legislation – 1992 federal law makes software piracy a felony. Some sources distinguish different types of piracy and Krasilovsky and Shemel (2007) define them as follows: â€Å"Bootlegging – the unauthorised recording of a live or broadcast performance. Counterfeiting – the duplication or imitation of the packaging, document, product, and label as well as the sound recording that is made with the intent to deceptively represent the item as the genuine article.† The last form of piracy researched is file sharing, although the list might not be exhaustive. File sharing also known as P2P is a term that typically refers to a networking technology that normally uses a decentralized communication model. â€Å"What is meant by this is that there isn’t any central server involved and all computers in the network act as both server and client. An example of a pure decentralized P2P network is the BitTorrent protocol where files are shared between all peers independent of any central server. The type of files that are shared can be audio, video, data etc. The big advantage of a decentralized P2P network is fault tolerance – if one peer disconnects from the network there are other computers that will have the same data available to share†. As listed above there are numerous illegal ways to avoid paying for the media content and the issues are so complex that the definitions although portray their common-sense understanding fail to serve their legal purpose Firstly it is difficult to stop piracy due to differences within legislations and legal definitions across the world. â€Å"Attempts to tackle piracy through international law are being hampered by the lack of a consistent definition.† States The Guardian in their article on piracy Since one of the reasons for a huge popularity of piracy is the easy access to free content and many people arguably download content just because they can the solution here would be in an absolute zero tolerance policy to wards piracy as SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act suggests and closure of websites such as the Pirate bay, etc. Such policy seems to be working with plagiarism at e.g. Universities, but in term of intellectual property the intangible aspect of the product makes it more difficult to control. Therefore stopping online piracy is easier said than done, as it would require enormous human resources from a government to track down illegal websites and taking a legal action against them leading to the closure. One case study worth following regarding this issue was on the major streaming website TV SHACK.net has been seized many times by the US government and it kept changing the domain addresses to overseas addresses as .co or .bz. The owner, 23 year old student Richard O’Dwyer from Sheffield has been charged with copyright infringement and the US Justice Department has been seeking to extradite him from the UK since May 2011 – BBC reports. Streaming itself is a grey area in many countries, i.e. Germany, where it is not perceived as downloading but has been sourced using illegal means. Compared with the legal issues and the fact that the content was stored on foreign servers the law enforcement was extremely difficult, but now it has been set an example worldwide of tackling with piracy. On entering the internet address now a video clip displays which in a humoristic educated people on what piracy is and how much a â€Å"free† movie really cost. Such attempt is one of the suggested ways in dealing with piracy through legal ways such is previously mentioned ACTA, which may make the process even simpler basing on the procedures it includes. ACTA means Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement crafted by Japan and United States and signed by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea in October 2011. In January 2012 European Commission enter negotiations whether to sign the treaty, together with non-elected representatives from 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvi a, Lithuania, Slovenia, Luxemburg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. The European Commission says that ACTA is an international trade agreement aimed at ensuring the EU’s already high standard of protection for intellectual property rights can be enforced globally. ACTA proved to be very controversial especially while in early 2012 it was meant to be signed by i.e. Poland. On announcement that the government is going to sign ACTA on the 26th January major protests and hacker attack on governmental websites emerged. The antagonists say that it is going to be the end of free internet and the freedom of speech is going to be limited there. The Act allows for the websites suspected of infringement to be taken down without a legal procedure and notification to the owner. The protagonists say that it is the only way for the music and film industry to stand a chance in the fight for copyright, as the other methods fail. Another reason is that the semiotic problem confuses the public and one part of them does not know that downloading pirated content is illegal, some of they do feel it’s not right but since there is no consequences millions get away with it and hence 95% of music downloaded is pirated Lack of understanding of the core issues often pushes people to piracy for example streaming is a grey area in some countries because although you are watching an illegal content you don’t download it or own it. That brings the subject back on semiotics and defining the legal issues regarding piracy, such as making a copy for individual, home-use. Previously a grey area has been made legal through the process of legal debates. Collberg (2010) in â€Å"Surreptitious Software† says â€Å"There is an important lesson here: If you are going to us a copy protection scheme at all, you must not make it so inconvenient to users that they feel they have a right to break it† For this reason, on a basis on â€Å"the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act it is legal to convert CD tracks to mp3 files as long as you are the legitimate owner of the CD you want to copy† and â€Å"only when you use these copies for your personal use† There is al â€Å"Is it illegal to download a file from an Internet site if you have a legal right to create that file on your own through other means? The courts have not yet had an opportunity to rule on this issue.† People commit a crime sometimes out of lack of knowledge and understanding of legislation, for example c There are many misunderstandings within this subject of what is legal and what constitutes an illegal action. -they are not the ones who stole it and they haven’t paid for it so it doesn’t feel like stealing -downloading just to test the product you are going to buy anyway is not wrong. Solution: make people aware that what they do is wrong. make legal ways CLEAR 1. TOO EXPENSIVE TO BUY Additionally the widely mentioned all across the internet reason for illegal downloading of music, movies and TV shows is that the records and movies are to expensive. The reason a fallacy in itself, because it basically says that if you cannot afford to buy a product you should get it in a different, usually illegal way. A suggested solution to this aspect would be to make legal ways affordable and easy like lovefilm streaming or Netfix Music industry attempts to tackle with the issue like the case study from 2008 when Radiohead and Nine-Inch-Nails launched their albums straight to internet and enabled the purchase by donation. Conclusion There is a controversial opinion that piracy could be used as a promotion tool for the music and film industry by the companies allowing people to download their products on internet â€Å"to try† Current online piracy activity requires a separate department of every company just to search for websites where their copyrighted contend is being illegally distributed. All in all people who support piracy will always attempt to go around the rules and legislations to get a free and unlimited content to media because (a) they can (b) get satisfaction from fooling the system Bibliography: Books: 1. Baskerville D., (2010) Music Business handbook, 8th Edition, Sage, London 2. Collberg C., Nagra J.,(2010) Surreptitious Software, Addison-Wesley, New York 3. Dovey J, Kennedy H., (2006) Game Cultures, Open University Press, Glasgow 4. Gunasekaran A. (2008), Techniques and Tools for the Design and Implementation of Enterprise Information Systems, IGI Publishing, New York 5. Krasilovsky M. , Shemel S., (2007) This business of music, The definitive guide to the Business and Legal issues of the Music Industry, 10th Ediion, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York 6. Lehnert W., (2003) Web 101, Making the ‘Net Work for you, 2nd Edition, Addison Wesley, New York. 7. Tavani H., (2007) Ethics & Technology, Ethical Issues in Age of Information and Communication Technology, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA 8. Turban E., (2008) Information Technology for management, 6th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA Journals: * Short, Greg. 1994.†Combatting Software Piracy: Can Felony Penalties for Copyright Infringement Curtail the Copying of Computer Software?† Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal 10 (June) Websites: * http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-piracy [20.02.2012] * http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy_details_online [20.02.2012] * http://gizmodo.com/5133065/95-of-music-downloads-are-pirated [20.02.2012] * http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/how-copyright-industries-con-congress/ [20.02.2012] * http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=568&doc_id=146002 [20.02.2012] * http://wololo.net/wagic/2012/01/21/the-megaupload-shutdown-wont-stop-piracy/ [20.02.2012] * http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/why-the-feds-smashed-megaupload.ars [20.02.2012] * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16657800 [20.02.2012] * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16642369 [20.02.2012] * http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/piracy [20.02.2012] * http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/faq [20.02.2012] * http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/20/piracy-law-international-definition-commons [20.02.2012] * http://law.yourdictionary.com/infringement [20.02.2012] * http://mp3.about.com/od/glossary/g/P2P_def.htm [20.02.2012] * http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/trade-topics/intellectual-property/anti-counterfeiting/ [20.02.2012] * http://www.stopacta.info/ [20.02.2012] * http://internationalauthenticationassociation.org/content/glossary.php [20.02.2012] * http://portal.bsa.org/globalpiracy2010/ [20.02.2012] * http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/1881561/software-piracy-costs-uk-economy-gbp54bn [20.02.2012] * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335 [20.02.2012] Appendix 1 – Online Piracy Statistics (http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-piracy 20.02.2012) Below are some facts- * 70% of Online Users Find Nothing Wrong in Online Piracy * 67% of Digital piracy sites are hosted in North America and Western Europe * 22% of all global Internet bandwidth is used for Online Piracy * 98.8% of Data transferred using P2P networks is copyrighted * 91.5% of filed available for download on Cyberlockers sites (Rapidshare, Megaupload,etc) are copyrighted material * Only 1 out of 10,000 pcs of the most popular content on the OpenBitTorrent tracker is non-copyrighted * Websites hosting pirated content receive more than 146 Million visitors per day. * $12.5 billion in economic losses each year due to Piracy in the music industry * 71,060 jobs lost in the United States every year due to Online Piracy * $2.7 billion in workers’ earnings are lost each year due to Online Piracy * 95% of music downloaded online is illegal * An average iPod contains pirated music of $800 * 42% of Softwares running in World are illegally downloaded * $59 billion of Softwares were illegally downloaded in 2010 * More than 75% of computers have at least 1 downloaded illegal application * Two-Thirds of Torrents available online are illegal * Pornography is the most pirated item on web with 35.8% followed by Movies with 35.2% * Hollywood Movie â€Å"Avatar† is the most pirated movie of 2010 and was downloaded more than 17,000,000 times * China has the Highest online piracy rate of 91% in world followed by Columbia with 90% and Russia with 80% online piracy rate. Appendix 2 – Case Study (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/01/uk-japan-trade-counterfeiting-idUKTRE79018620111001) Anti-counterfeiting agreement signed in Tokyo TOKYO (Reuters) – Governments of eight nations including Japan and the United Stated signed an agreement on Saturday aiming to cut costly copyright and trademark theft. The signing is a step towards bringing into effect the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is designed to strengthen the legal framework for intellectual property rights, said Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). â€Å"As with many of the challenges we face in today’s global economy, no government can single-handedly eliminate the problem of global counterfeiting and piracy,† Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro said at the ceremony, according to a copy of her remarks released in Washington. â€Å"Signing this agreement is therefore an act of shared leadership and determination in the international fight against intellectual property (IP) theft,† Sapiro said. Mark Elliot, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Centre, called the pact â€Å"a big victory for the American business community, workers, and IP-intensive sectors across our economy.† â€Å"This accord raises the bar on enforcement by improving cooperation among partners, harmonizing how we confront IP theft, addressing IP theft online, and setting a positive example for nations that aspire to have strong IP enforcement regimes,† Elliott said. The signing took place a year after the final round of negotiations among 11 parties — Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. The EU, Mexico and Swit zerland have not signed the agreement but have until May 1, 2013, to do so, according to the METI. The pact takes effect with the ratification of six parties and the METI expects an expansion of ACTA participants. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo and Doug Palmer in Washginton; Editing by Robert Birsel and Vicki Allen) ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/1881561/software-piracy-costs-uk-economy-gbp54bn [20.02.2012] [ 2 ]. http://portal.bsa.org/globalpiracy2010/ [20.02.2012] [ 3 ]. Violation of copyright, trademark or patent. http://law.yourdictionary.com/infringement [20.02.2012] [ 4 ]. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/piracy [20.02.2012] [ 5 ]. http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/faq [20.02.2012] [ 6 ]. Dovey J, Kennedy H., (2006) Game Cultures, Open University Press, Glasgow [ 7 ]. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/piracy [20.022012] [ 8 ]. http://internationalauthenticationassociation.org/content/glossary.php [20.02.2012] [ 9 ]. Krasilovsky M. , Shemel S., (2007) This business of