Monday, January 27, 2020

Introduction To The Criminal Justice System

Introduction To The Criminal Justice System What do we mean by the Criminal Justice System (CJS)? This essay aims to answer the question What do we mean by the Criminal Justice System? In order to do this, we will start by looking at an introduction to the criminal justice system and briefing talking through the different agencies it is comprised of. We will then go on to look at the three main government departments and map out their responsibilities. This essay then intends to question whether or not the CJS is actually a system and to discuss conflict that may arise between the different agencies. In order to understand the system, it must be broken down into three stages. These stages include the police, the courts and the prisons. These can be evaluated to determine whether or not the CJS is effective. The Criminal Justice System is one of the main public services in the UK. It is made up of specific agencies that respond to the commission of offences. These work together and share similar aims and objectives. These agencies include the Police Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majestys Court Service, The National Offender Management Service and the Youth Justice Board (cjsonline.gov.uk march 2010). All of these agencies are directed by three main government departments. These are the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of Attorney General. These departments work together and each of these is responsible for different services within the system. The Home Office was set up in the 18th century and although many changes have been made since this time, its key objective is to protect the public therefore it is responsible for areas such as policing and security. This makes it responsible for all 43 police forces within England and Wales. It is run by the Home Secretary who sets agendas and has management boards in order to make sure its aims and objectives are carried out and their services are being delivered to the public. The Ministry of Justice was established in 2007 and took over some of the responsibilities of the Home Office. It is in charge of the justice system with areas such as criminal law and sentencing. One of its departmental strategic objectives is to ensure a more effective, transparent and responsive criminal justice system for victims and the public (http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/justice-annual-report-08-09ii.pdf p48). It is now headed by the Lord Chancellor which can also be known as the Secret ary of State for Justice and like the Home Office, it also has a management board. The Ministry of Justice now also carries out the duties for the Department for Constitutional Affairs which manages the Legal Services Commission and certain courts. The Office of the Attorney General was established to provide advice to law officials. One of its main responsibilities is to guard the rule of the law and of public interest (http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/default.aspx). It is accountable for the law offenders department which is made up of agencies like the Crown Prosecution Service and the National Fraud Authority. In order to certify that these three departments work together, Local Criminal Justice Boards were set up. There are 42 of these boards and ensure that all of the aims of the three boards are carried out in their local area. Ashworth (2010) claims that the CJS is not a system. It quotes that To refer to it as a system is merely a convenience and an aspiration (p71) although Newburn (2007) believes that there is evidence to show that they work in partnership and share similar goals (p549). Despite these similar goals overall, each stage of the CJS sometimes has different objectives which may result in conflict between the different agencies. For example, the courts may sentence a person to prison to be punished, while probation officers would attempt to rehabilitate them. With these differing objectives, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) was set up to ensure these agencies collaborated effectively and delivered the aims of the CJS. These aims are to prevent and detect more crime, to give victims and witnesses more support and to punish and rehabilitate more offenders http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/the_cjs/how_it_works/. These aims must be carried out in order for the criminal justice system to be effective. Each of these aims can be applied to the different stages within the CJS. These stages consist of the police, the courts and also the prisons. Each has a different role within the system with different objectives. The police are there to prevent and detect more crime; this can be done through arrests while the courts are there to sentence offenders and the prisons to punish. The police are the primary stage in the prevention of crime (Joyce p84). In most cases the agencies never respond at all as the CJS starts with the arrest of a suspect or with the reporting of a crime. The police have the authority to refer a person to the next stage of the CJS. This is done as they have to enforce the law with the intention to keep the peace. The courts have the power to sentence an offender and a custodial sentence is the toughest punishment the courts can impose while the prisons function is to punish an offender. From this it would appear that the CJS is based upon punishment, however this is not the case. Only specific agencies focus solely on the penal system. Once an offender is sentenced by the court, the offender enters the penal system (Cavadino p1). The penal system is a system that exists to punish and otherwise deal with those who have been convicted of criminal offences (Cavadino p408). The CJS in the UK is not only about punishment but also about the rehabilitation of offenders. Therefore, it protects the public in both the long and short term http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/downloads/application/pdf/CJS_Review.pdf. Rehabilitation believes that punishment can reduce the incidence of crime by taking a form which will improve the individual offenders character or behaviour and make him or her less likely to reoffend in future (Cavadino p41) The three stages mentioned earlier collaborate well as all three have the objective to protect the public. In order to find out whether or not each of these stages are effective, they can be measured by a number of different means. BCS Police statistics Clear up rates Sentencing has increased in recent years. This can be proved by the increase in prisoners. Since 1980 the prison population increased from 42,000 to 85,000 in 2009 (REF). Despite this increase, it cannot be proved that there is an increase in crime as it may be due to stricter and harsher sentences being imposed by the courts. Regardless of this, respondents to the BCS were asked whether they thought sentences were too tough, about right or too lenient, with over three quarters (76%) feeling that sentences were too lenient (Home Office Policing and criminal justice p12). Due to this increase in the prison population, it has been claimed that the conditions prisoners live in has made it difficult to rehabilitate offenders (Joyce p365) and that it is possible that the prisons may be violating Article three of the Convention (Ashworth p316). One of the problems that an increase in prison population has caused is overcrowding. This can lead to inmates being contained to their cells for l ong periods of time (Ashworth p316) and the denial to rehabilitative programmes (Joyce p377). These overcrowded prisons can lead to aggression and can damage a persons health and wellbeing. Other issues that are concerned with prison conditions include an increase in drug use, security problems and also the financing of the prisons. These conditions may also affect reoffending rates due to not being able to rehabilitate a person. Victimisation surveys is a survey which interviews a sample of the public and provide a relatively accurate measure of crime rates (Newburn p62) as they include crimes that have not been reported to or recorded by the police. Despite this, they still cannot be 100% accurate and reliable due to the fact that they exclude victimless crimes such as Punishment completions Self report surveys Issues influencing the CJSs ability to be effective Confidence levels/ satisfaction Reliability of stats The media can influence a persons perception of the CJS. GOOD The media presents information to the public of crimes. This can be done through new reporting and also television programmes such as Crimewatch which give the public accounts of events through real life footage and reconstructions (Newburn p104). BAD

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Environmental Analysis and Long-term objectives Essay

The organization selected for this paper to discuss the environmental analysis and long-term objectives is Dunkin Donuts. The main focus will be on the forces and trends operating in the environment which have a considerable effect on the running of the organization. The paper will first discuss these forces and trends in detail and then provide an insight to how these forces effect the organization and align themselves with the vision and values of the organization. The trends selected are: 1. Social responsibility 2. Environment 3. Fuel Social Responsibility One of the environmental trends is social responsibility which adds to the credibility of an organization. Social responsibility basically refers to the responsibility or the duties of an organization, government or even an individual towards the society in which it functions. Every organization has a responsibility to keep their actions and practices in the best interests of the people living in the society so that it does not endanger them in any way. Instead organizations should work to provide comfort and help to the society as a whole. This is a part of their corporate social responsibility. The company can also be involved in eradication of unethical practices and behavior taking place in the society so that the lives of the people could be made easier. For example, some companies take initiative in planting trees or constructing gardens in an area which serve a place for community people to come together and meet each other (Kotler and Lee, 2004). Social responsibility at Dunkin Donuts has actually helped the organization in a considerable manner. The restaurant holds a respectable position in the society due to its charity and community involvement programs. The company as well as their employees contributes for the community service organization in order to make the lives of the people better. Moreover, they are extremely committed to the environmental responsibility. The restaurant follows the environment regulations and promotes cleanliness. The restaurant itself is very clean and tidy with a proper system to discard the garbage. The company supports charitable programs and takes initiatives for supporting and participating in the welfare of the community people. They even sponsor educational programs in local community schools and provide funds for different events like Special Olympics, AYSO soccer teams etc. Recently Dunkin’ Donuts has entered into a relationship with a non-profit organization ‘Coffee Kids’ for supporting families in the coffee-producing regions of Mexico and Central America. On 22 May, 2008, the company went ‘green’ by initiating its first LEED (Leadership in energy and environmental design) restaurant which is a part of their corporate social responsibility commitment. This way the company hopes to improve the quality of life of the community people by making the area clean and green (Kotler and Lee, 2004). The trend operating in the environment must be aligned with the mission, vision and values of the organization for it to work in the best possible way. At Dunkin’ Donuts, there are seven core values and one of them is responsibility towards the environment and the community in which they are functioning. They are committed for improving the people’s quality of live. The first LEED being built up by the company is an effort towards promoting a healthy life for the people and improving their quality of life. The social responsibility practices of the company reinforce their mission, vision and values which are focused on making the ‘world a better place live and work’ (David, 2006). Environment The second force the paper talks about is the physical environment in which the organization is functioning. The trends in the environment have a much larger impact on the organization; here we are discussing the physical environment. Changes happen in the physical environment without any notice which might result in shock or disaster or even opportunities. Organizations need to have a contingency plan to deal with such contingencies resulting from the physical environment (Shaffer, 2000). In the physical environment outside the Dunkin’ Donuts Company and restaurant, variable changes can take place which can sometimes help the organization or hinder its processes at some other instances. The environment can provide opportunities as well as threats to the company. Since Dunkin’ Donuts has now essentially become a beverages company so it can specialize in different kinds of beverages and become a market leader. Moreover, the increasing number of suppliers in the industry can also result in new opportunities. Threat comes mainly from the substitutes and the new entrants. The company faces tough competition from Starbucks and their success becomes a threat for the company plus the industry doesn’t offers high barriers for the new entrants so more beverages company can be set up thus giving rise to the competition. Apart from this, the physical environment also includes the threat from natural disasters which can cause huge losses to the company so the company needs to have contingency plans for dealing with them. Thus, the physical environment can both help and hinder Dunkin’ Donuts depending on the situation (Reeve, 2002). The organization strives to accommodate any changes emerging in the physical environment in its strategy. The company was essentially based on donuts first but now it has developed into a beverages company. This was because it saw greater opportunities for itself in serving the beverages market. It saw the changing taste of people towards coffee and decided to establish a strategy based on a coffee company. Today Dunkin’ Donuts is known as the no. 1 retailer in hot and ice regular coffee. Thus, this shows the organization’s strategic adaptability towards the changing forces resulting in the environment (David, 2006). Rising Fuel Costs The burning issue facing the organizations today in their environment is the rising fuel prices. Companies have to face rising costs due to this shooting up in fuel prices which have almost doubled this year. As the costs are increasing so the companies have to raise the prices of their products and services which decreases their sales. This way many companies are facing problems due rising fuel costs which in turn decreases their average sales. Therefore, the third issue is of fuel which this paper will examine (Reeve, 2002). The rising cost of fuel is a trend in the environment which hinders the company by raising the costs of doing business and thus, decreasing the sales and profits. Since electricity is produced through fuel so increase in fuel costs also increases the electricity cost. At Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants, the food including the donuts and beverages is prepared to sophisticated machines which run on electricity. They have to pay higher for electricity which increases the cost of inputs and simultaneously, the cost of doing business. The company has raised the prices of its products worldwide recently but that has caused the sales to decrease and thus, it earns lower profits. This way fuel is actually a hindrance towards high profits for the company and simultaneously, its long-term objectives. Since rising fuel costs are hindering the company’s sales and profits, Dunkin’ Donuts is trying to find out ways of producing the products efficiently so that they involve low costs and the profits of the company could be increased. The company tries to specialize in certain beverages which can be produced with hands so that machine use could be limited thus, saving up the electricity. The company tried to adjust for these rising costs so that it can acquire an increasing number of customers to boost up its sales as well as profits (Shaffer, 2000). Conclusion The paper has discussed in detail the environmental analysis pertaining to social responsibility, environment and fuel. It first discussed what these forces actually mean and then identified their relevance with the organization and how organization adapts to these forces operating in the environment. Social responsibility at Dunkin’ Donuts is aimed at winning the hearts of the masses through charity and community involvement activities. The mission of the company is to improve the quality of life and this is effectively done through their social involvement programs. The company also takes immediate action to the changing environment which may involve rising incomes or changing tastes of the people and tries to accommodate the change in its strategy as it did from shifting to beverages industry from donuts industry. Finally, the company is also trying to cope up with the rising costs of fuel through cost efficient methods and increasing the prices since the income of a common man has also increased. All these forces or trends help or hinder the organization and its strategy in their own way. Thus, it can be said the Dunkin’ Donuts is a very capable organization who has effectively dealt with difficult times and has become the no. 1 retailer in coffee throughout United States (David, 2006). References David, F. R. (2006). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Prentice Hall. Kotler, P. , & Lee, N. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause . Wiley. Reeve, R. N. (2002). Introduction to Environmental Analysis. Wiley. Shaffer, J. (2000). The Leadership Solution. New York: McGraw-Hill

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Vitamin C

Research Question: How the amount of vitamin C in fruit juices affects its freshness and till what extent is the information provided on the pack by manufacturers is reliable? Background Information: Hypothesis: -fresh juices have more vitamin C than long-life juice that is ‘not from concentrate’ is best in terms of vitamin content -if heat destroys vitamin C then heat-treated long-life juices will have lower concentrations -if heat destroys vitamin C then boiled fruit juice will have lower concentrations than unboiled -manufacturers generally provide reliable information about their products -the amount of vitamin C content in given fruits is: So the amount of vitamin C and its percentage in fruit juice must go with the given ratio which means that guava and apple juice should have the highest and lowest concentration respectively. Variables: Independent: {text:list-item} Dependent: {text:list-item} Controlled: Materials Required: 6 test tubes, 50 cm3 burette, 10cm3 pipette, 1cm3 pipette, 3 small beakers, DCPIP solution, 0. 1% ascorbic acid, distilled water, 4 varieties of fruit juice, for example mango, grape, apple, guava etc. Preparation Take a properly washed beaker and make 0. 1% solution of vitamin C or ascorbic acid with 0. 1 g of vitamin C in 100 cm3; this is 10 mg cm-3 or one may also use a readily prepared 0. 1%ascorbic acid. Take a 0. 1% solution of DCPIP. Take 6 test tubes and label them as A, B, C, D, E and F. Now slowly pipette out 1cm3 of DCPIP solution into each test tube using a 1 cm3 pipette. Take 5cm3 of the 0. 1%ascorbic acid using a 10cm3 pipette. Using a graduated pipette or a burette, add 0. 1% ascorbic acid drop by drop to the DCPIP solution. Shake the tube gently after adding each drop. Add the acid solution until the blue colour of the final drop does not disappear. Record the exact amount of ascorbic acid that was added. Similarly in test tube B add the same volume of distilled water and gently shake the test tube to observe the change in colour. Investigation Dilute all the juices, that is, mango juice in C, grape juice in D, apple juice in E and guava juice in F before testing because fruit juices have a strong colour that will interfere with determining the end point. Now keep adding mango juice drop by drop with the help of a 50 cm3 burette in test tube C containing DCPIP solution and gently shake the test tube until the DCPIP solution is decolourised. Repeat the same for other 3 fruit juices, that is, grape, apple and guava. Uncertainties and errors Uncertainty or error while preparing ascorbic acid = Uncertainty of solid vitamin C + uncertainty of water = 0. 01+ 0. 1 = 0. 101 Uncertainty while making the mixture of DCPIP and vitamin C = uncertainty of DCPIP(1cm3 pipette) + uncertainty of ascorbic acid (10cm3 pipette) = 0. 01 + 0. 101 = 0. 111 Uncertainty while making the mixture of DCPIP and fruit juices = Uncertainty of DCPIP(pipette) + uncertainty of fruit juices(burette) = 0. 01 + 0. 1 = 0. 11 Data Volume of ascorbic acid added to decolourise DCPIP = 2. 25(+ 0. 1) cm3 Table 1 Calculating concentration of ascorbic acid Data processing Concentration of ascorbic acid in fruit juice (%) = Volume of ascorbic acid added to DCPIP x 0. Volume of fruit juice added to DCPIP Uncertainty = uncertainty in the volume of ascorbic acid + uncertainty in the volume of fruit juice = 0. 111 + 0. 11 = 0. 221 Concentration of ascorbic acid in mango juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 02% 11 Concentration of ascorbic acid in grape juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 01% 16 Concentration of ascorbic acid in apple juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 006% 36 Concentration of ascorbic acid in guava juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 04% 5 Table 2 comparing the experimental value with the given value on the pack Vitamin C An experiment to investigate the enzyme concentration and rate of reaction Background To carry out our experiment we used 3 different types of orange juices, and we also used 0. 1% of vitamin C solution. The aim of our experiment was to see how much DCPIP was needed to be added to make the orange juices turn back to the orange colour and the DCPIP to decolourise once the 0. 1% of vitamin C was added. DCPIP is a blue dye in its non-reduced form; it becomes colourless when it gains electrons.Vitamin C is an anti – oxidant, this is found mainly in fresh fruit and vegetables. The main use of Vitamin C is that it neutralises free radicals, which can cause damage to cells, including cells in the cardiovascular system Planning My aim in this experiment is to investigate how much juice is required to decolourise 1cm3 of 0. 1%of DCPIP solution. Prediction Before I started the investigation I made sure I did a hypothesis so that I would be able to refer back to it in the conclusion at t he end.Below is my hypothesis: My hypothesis is that: ‘there will be less’ Don Simon’ juice needed to decolourise the DCPIP, the other juices will require more juice to decolourise the DCPIP’ Fair Test I will have to make sure that I will be carrying out a fair test. This is to ensure that anything affecting the amount needed to decolourise the DCPIP is due to what I have changed (independent variable) and nothing else. Below I have listed the independent variables as well as those factors which should be kept the same. Independent Variable: * The Juices * Amount of Juice added to the DCPIPDependent Variable: * The amount of DCPIP put in the test tube * 1% of DCPIP * 0. 1% of vitamin C solution Fixed Variables: * The volume of DCPIP poured into the test tube * Keeping a fixed volume of the DCPIP ensures that the decolourisation of the DCPIP is only because of the amount of juice added and not the different amount of DCPIP that is present * Concentration of DCPIP solution * Different concentrations can affect how long it takes to decolourise, therefore it is important that there is nothing else making it less concentrated. * Concentration of Vitamin C solution The concentration of this can affect how much DCPIP is needed to make it colourless The experiment should also be repeated a number of time from which an average will be calculated. This is to ensure that the results are accurate and reliable. The method The method we used to carry out this experiment and the equipment we used is shown below; I also included any faults with the method when we carried out the experiment this is all shown below: Equipment and chemicals needed: * 1% of DCPIP solution * 0. 1% vitamin C solution * A range of fruit juices * Test tubes * Test tube rack Syringe STAGE| PROCEDURE| PURPOSE| ANY FAULTS/LIMITATIONS? | 1| Pipette 1cm3 of 1% DCPIP solution into the test tubes| Provide a clear sight into the experiment at hand. Therefore it makes it easier to e stablish the decolourisation of the DCPIP. | N/A| 2| Using a pipette or burette, add 0. 1% vitamin C solution drop by drop to the DCPIP solution. After adding the drops shake the tube gently | Allows the solution to react with the vitamin C. And therefore resulting in more accurate results| Using a burette would have been more accurate. Also doing the experiment on a bigger cale would also allow any room for accuracy for the results collected| 3| Continue to add drops of the vitamin C solution until the blue colour of the DCPIP has disappeared. | Measure how much vitamin C solution was needed to decolourise the DCPIP| At this point we made sure that the solution was absolutely colourless which was correct, however later we did not do the same thing for the orange juices and therefore we were not able to collect accurate results. | 4| Record the exact amount of the vitamin C solution that was added to decolourise the DCPIP solution.Repeat the procedure and average result| To calculat e how near our value is to the actual value of vitamin C in the other orange juices. | We did not decolourise the DCPIP, when adding the orange juices. As we had done for the vitamin C solution | 5| Repeat this procedure with the fruit juices provided. If only one or two drops of the fruit juices decolourises the DCPIP, dilute the juice and repeat the test. | To obtain an average to measure whether our results match the fact that there is meant to be 100mg of vitamin C in the juices. At this point we would get the result of the vitamin C and one of the juice means and divide them two and times it by a 100 to see how are results are, if it is close to the actual number it will mean it is reliable and accurate, however if it is not near the number it means that it is not very accurate. | Limitation of the apparatus and method Throughout the experiment I felt that there were many things that could have been improved on, so if I were to do the investigation with the modifications, I wou ld get the correct and accurate results.Firstly the syringes that we were using to measure the liquids were not very accurate because, it did not have the lines between the whole numbers, therefore forcing us to guess the amount that was needed. A more precise piece of equipment would be needed instead such as a burette, if this experiment was done on a larger scale this would be more efficient, and accurate. Another limitation with the experiment was that there was not enough DCPIP, thus limiting the amount of repeats being done. If more repeats were done, we would be able to take out the anomalies and be able to acquire a more accurate result.Therefore, decreasing the range of the range bars. From the graph we can see that the range bars are fairly big, therefore to decrease this we would have to do more repeats which would decrease the range of the range bars The most difficult part of the experiment was detecting the change in colour of the DCPIP solution while performing the ti tration. Two of the juices showed clear disappearance of the colour, while the others had the tint of yellow due to some other compounds of colours present. The date of manufacture may be different which may change the nutrient content or concentration in different juices.There were many limitations to the method as well, the main limitation was the fact that the method was not well explained; we added too much vitamin C to the DCPIP, making the DCPIP absolutely colourless. However we should have stopped adding the DCPI when the DCPIP had stopped turning blue. This would have given us a result of around 0. 8 but from the results we can see that the results went up till 2. 4. A modification that could be made to this method, is to include more detail of how to do it, and what it should look like, this would increase the likelihood of the results to be more accurate. ResultsBelow is the results collected by are class. Trends & Patterns From the results table we can see that the values of the 0. 1% vitamin C solution had a large range of results. Therefore this emphasises that the results were not very accurate. For this part of the experiment we had to decolourise the DCPIP in the test tube by adding the vitamin C to it. This in itself was not very accurate, because people’s perception of colourless was different to others. Therefore, it is evident that, from the first step many people’s results were different for the other orange juices, the range of the results were within 0. cm3. The overall mean show us that there was a lot of Asda concentrated orange juice needed to decolourise the DCPIP. This shows that the amount of vitamin C in that volume of the juice was the same amount of what was in the 1. 35mg of the Don Simon orange juice. After collecting all the results and finding the means of all juices, I was able to construct a bar graph. A bar graph was drawn as the variable along the x axis could not expressed in the term of numbers, therefore a line graph was not suitable for this which left us with either drawing a histogram or a bar graph.Personally I chose the bar graph as it was easier to construct and also easier to understand. I also included range bars to show the highest and the lowest values that we had got from the repeats that were done, this also shows that the value that was plotted using the bar, is the average of the range of values for the one liquid. From the graph we can evaluate that the mean concentration of vitamin C/mg cm-3 was ‘Asda from concentrated’ juice, the next juice that was after that was the ‘Asda pure’ juice, lastly leaving the ‘Don Simon’ juice at the end.This means that the Vitamin C present in the 1. 35mg is the same in the other juices for example, it has the same amount of Vitamin C in the Asda Pure juice which has 1. 48mg required to decolourise the DCPIP My hypothesis, ‘there will be less ‘Don Simon’ juice needed to decolou rise the DCPIP, and that the other juices will require more juice to decolourise the DCPIP’ was correct. I predicted this as ‘Don Simon’ juices was seen as a better quality juice than the others, therefore I thought that a better quality juice would have more vitamin C in a small volume.Other juices will have the same amount of vitamin C in a larger volume of juice. Systematic/Random errors In our experiment there were a number of errors caused, for example in the methodology, we had made the colours of juices different to the vitamin C. This was one of the biggest mistakes in the experiment as it affected the whole experiment. If we were to make the juices more clear, when it was being added to the DCPIP, then we may have got more accurate results. As this is what we did, when we were adding the Vitamin C solution to the DCPIP.A systematic error is a problem that you can't overcome because it's a problem with the experiment itself. For instance, if you're measur ing a colour change in a reaction, you have to rely on your eyes, there's a systematic error there because your eyes are not as accurate as a machine. A systematic error that was made was the fact when we were trying to make the DCPIP colourless, people’s perception of colourless was different, and therefore the results that had been acquired by the rest of the class were different. This is one of the reasons there was a big range of results for the decolourisation of the DCPIP.Another possible error in this experiment that could be made is the fact that the person may have read the volume at the wrong place each time. Random errors in experimental measurements are caused by unknown and unpredictable changes in the experiment. These changes may occur in the measuring instruments or in the environmental conditions. A random error made was the fact that the syringes were not the same. In the way that they were measured differently, sometimes they were not big enough to carry th e amount of orange juice we needed to decolourise.An effective and more accurate equipment we could have used is a burette, as it can hold up to 40cm3 of liquid, and therefore we would have more than enough space to read the reading and to use the juice at once. Another random error that could have been made is that the vitamin C may have not been added by less than a drop a time, so sometimes the next drop may be too little or too big, which may change the colour of the solution more quicker therefore the volume will not be very accurate.Lastly the end point may be misjudged, as it is quite tricky to say exactly when the DCPIP has become colourless. In conclusion, there were many small mistakes made during the experiment, if I was to do this experiment again, I would make sure that I was to do all the repeats myself, so the mistake about people’s perception of what was decolourised would not affect the results. Also the fact that there would be enough equipment would mean th at I would also get the results I need, and that there can be a different piece of equipment used for each of the different experiments. Interpretation of resultsOverall the quality of my data is shown to be fairly accurate as most of the results I got were fairly close, in our class for the juices, however for the vitamin C; the results were not so accurate. This emphasises that there were a number of mistakes which could have caused this problem. There are many factors which affect the result such as, the temperature, pressure, and the equipment used etc. in the investigation I think the main mistake that was made was that we did not stop adding the Vitamin C solution to the DCPIP when it stopped going blue, therefore the value should have been at around 0. instead of the class average which was about 1. 7. We overestimated the amount of Vitamin C that should have been added into the solution of DCPIP. However if we had decided to do this we should have added more orange juice to the DCPIP. Therefore to see whether we had accurate results we did a calculation to see the ratio of vitamin C in the actual Juices on the carton to the results of our experiment. The calculation was found by doing the following: Volume of 0. % vitamin C solution required to decolourise 1cm3 of DCPIP cm3Mean volume of juice required to decolourise 1cm3 of DCPIP cm3X 100 Therefore as we know the volume of standard vitamin C solution needed to decolourise a fixed volume of DCPIP, by using simple proportion, we can calculate the amount of vitamin C in the three different types of orange squash. 0. 1% vitamin C solution: In 1. 70cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1% vitamin C solution * 1cm3 1mg * 1. 70cm3 1. 70mg Don Simon: In 1. 36cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1% vitamin C solution * 1. 70mg 1. 36cm3 * 100ml 125. 0mg Asda from Concentrated: In 1. 85cm3 should be 1. 0mg of 0. 1%vitamin C solution * 1. 70mg 1. 85cm3 * 100ml91. 9mg Asda Pure: In 1. 48cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1% vitamin C solut ion * 1. 70mg1. 48cm3 * 100ml 114. 9mg 0. 1% vitamin C solution: In 1. 70cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1% vitamin C solution * 1cm3 1mg * 1. 70cm3 1. 70mg Don Simon: In 1. 36cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1% vitamin C solution * 1. 70mg 1. 36cm3 * 100ml 125. 0mg Asda from Concentrated: In 1. 85cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1%vitamin C solution * 1. 70mg 1. 85cm3 * 100ml91. 9mg Asda Pure: In 1. 48cm3 should be 1. 70mg of 0. 1% vitamin C solution * 1. 70mg1. 48cm3 * 100ml 114. mg To find whether our results were accurate, I found out how much vitamin C was present in each of the solutions, this is shown in the box below: From the calculations above, we can see that the results collected from the class were not very accurate. This is shown through the fact that it says that in the Asda Pure juices of 100ml there should be 114. 9mg of vitamin C when there should be 100mg of vitamin C in a 100ml of the juice. Conclusion & Evaluation My prediction, ‘there will be less’ Don Simonâ₠¬â„¢ juice needed to decolourise the DCPIP, the other juices will require more juice to decolourise the DCPIP’ was correct.This is because; the smaller volume of fruit juice needed to decolourise the blue DCPIP solution, the higher is the Vitamin C content in the fruit. It is also shown on the graph, as there is less volume of Don Simon Orange juice needed to decolourise the DCPIP. This means that in 1. 35cm3 of Don Simon, there is the same amount of Vitamin C in 1. 48cm3 of the Asda Pure orange juice, and in 1. 85cm3 of the Asda from concentrated orange juice. The smaller volume of orange juice needed to decolourise the DCPIP solution means that the DCPIP solution is reduced at a faster rate.Within my results, I did find quite a number of anomalies. However there were other numbers within the range of the anomaly such as in the 0. 1% vitamin C solution had the highest value of being 2. 4 cm3, which at first I had thought to be an anomaly, however 2. 1 cm3 was also another re sult that had been collected. However if we took out the 2 repeats, there was also another repeat of 2cm3. Therefore in the end I left the results in the results table. 0. 8cm3 was also another repeat I had though was an anomaly; however there were also other results that were near 0. 8 cm3 such as 1. cm3. Therefore I did not record these results as anomalies. The main reason for the high range was because of the fact that people had different perceptions of when the solution was to go colourless. In the rest of the results there were not any anomalies recorded as they were in the range of each other. If I was to do this investigation again I would make sure that the instructions were read clearly and also do the experiment on a larger scale, so instead of adding 5 cm3 of the DCPIP I would add 20 cm3 and therefore use a burette to add in the different types of orange juices.This would make it more accurate, as the reading would be able to be made more precisely. Another thing I woul d do better next time is to do more repeats, even though there were a lot of repeats for my results, the results were not done by the same person and therefore the perception of the colour would be different to each person, and therefore if I was to do all the repeats myself I would be able not to take the risk of getting a wide range of results. Also I would make sure that there was enough DCPIP for my experiments as I know in my experiment there was not enough DCPIP for some people to do another repeat.The most repeats a group was able to do were 2. Another factor I would change if I were to do the investigation again is that I would use other brands of orange juices as well to widen the results I was going to get. In conclusion, the investigation has stated that there will be less’ Don Simon’ juice needed to decolourise the DCPIP, the other juices will require more juice to decolourise the DCPIP. This is shown on the bar graph with the mean volume of the different t ypes of juices needed to decolourise the DCPIP against the different types of juices.There is also range bars included to inform the highest and lowest values obtained from the repeats. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Edexcel AS Biology Revision Guide for SNAB and concept-led approaches -EDEXCEL, Published: 2008 [ 2 ]. Edexcel AS Biology Revision Guide for SNAB and concept-led approaches – EDEXCEL [ 3 ]. AS-level Biology-Exam Board: Edexcel-complete revision & practice, Published: by CGP in 2008 [ 4 ]. Edexcel AS Biology Revision Guide for SNAB and concept-led approaches -EDEXCEL Vitamin C Research Question: How the amount of vitamin C in fruit juices affects its freshness and till what extent is the information provided on the pack by manufacturers is reliable? Background Information: Hypothesis: -fresh juices have more vitamin C than long-life juice that is ‘not from concentrate’ is best in terms of vitamin content -if heat destroys vitamin C then heat-treated long-life juices will have lower concentrations -if heat destroys vitamin C then boiled fruit juice will have lower concentrations than unboiled -manufacturers generally provide reliable information about their products -the amount of vitamin C content in given fruits is: So the amount of vitamin C and its percentage in fruit juice must go with the given ratio which means that guava and apple juice should have the highest and lowest concentration respectively. Variables: Independent: {text:list-item} Dependent: {text:list-item} Controlled: Materials Required: 6 test tubes, 50 cm3 burette, 10cm3 pipette, 1cm3 pipette, 3 small beakers, DCPIP solution, 0. 1% ascorbic acid, distilled water, 4 varieties of fruit juice, for example mango, grape, apple, guava etc. Preparation Take a properly washed beaker and make 0. 1% solution of vitamin C or ascorbic acid with 0. 1 g of vitamin C in 100 cm3; this is 10 mg cm-3 or one may also use a readily prepared 0. 1%ascorbic acid. Take a 0. 1% solution of DCPIP. Take 6 test tubes and label them as A, B, C, D, E and F. Now slowly pipette out 1cm3 of DCPIP solution into each test tube using a 1 cm3 pipette. Take 5cm3 of the 0. 1%ascorbic acid using a 10cm3 pipette. Using a graduated pipette or a burette, add 0. 1% ascorbic acid drop by drop to the DCPIP solution. Shake the tube gently after adding each drop. Add the acid solution until the blue colour of the final drop does not disappear. Record the exact amount of ascorbic acid that was added. Similarly in test tube B add the same volume of distilled water and gently shake the test tube to observe the change in colour. Investigation Dilute all the juices, that is, mango juice in C, grape juice in D, apple juice in E and guava juice in F before testing because fruit juices have a strong colour that will interfere with determining the end point. Now keep adding mango juice drop by drop with the help of a 50 cm3 burette in test tube C containing DCPIP solution and gently shake the test tube until the DCPIP solution is decolourised. Repeat the same for other 3 fruit juices, that is, grape, apple and guava. Uncertainties and errors Uncertainty or error while preparing ascorbic acid = Uncertainty of solid vitamin C + uncertainty of water = 0. 01+ 0. 1 = 0. 101 Uncertainty while making the mixture of DCPIP and vitamin C = uncertainty of DCPIP(1cm3 pipette) + uncertainty of ascorbic acid (10cm3 pipette) = 0. 01 + 0. 101 = 0. 111 Uncertainty while making the mixture of DCPIP and fruit juices = Uncertainty of DCPIP(pipette) + uncertainty of fruit juices(burette) = 0. 01 + 0. 1 = 0. 11 Data Volume of ascorbic acid added to decolourise DCPIP = 2. 25(+ 0. 1) cm3 Table 1 Calculating concentration of ascorbic acid Data processing Concentration of ascorbic acid in fruit juice (%) = Volume of ascorbic acid added to DCPIP x 0. Volume of fruit juice added to DCPIP Uncertainty = uncertainty in the volume of ascorbic acid + uncertainty in the volume of fruit juice = 0. 111 + 0. 11 = 0. 221 Concentration of ascorbic acid in mango juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 02% 11 Concentration of ascorbic acid in grape juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 01% 16 Concentration of ascorbic acid in apple juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 006% 36 Concentration of ascorbic acid in guava juice = 2. 25 x 0. 1 = 0. 04% 5 Table 2 comparing the experimental value with the given value on the pack

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Underlying Derivatives Of The Global Financial Crisis Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 1023 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? As we known, the global financial crisis really started to show its effects in 2007 and into 2009. Around the world, stock markets have fallen, large financial organizations have collapsed, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to deal with the problems of financial systems. There are many researches for the reasons of crisis, people were told they are about subprime mortgages, poor accounting standards, bad financial tools made by Wall Street and the investment banks, specifically Lehman Brothers failure and AIGs credit default swaps. Derivatives are the underlying issues that link all of these items. High Risk of Derivatives Financial derivatives have many forms, including futures, forwards, swaps, options, and various combinations. Derivatives can reduce business risks, trade for profit, manage capital and funding costs, and alter the risk-reward profile of a particular item or an entire balance sheet. (Risk Management of Financial Derivatives Comptrollers Handbook January 1997).Due to their various functions, they have been used widely these years and become more and more popular all around the world, meanwhile, the characters of derivatives make them sensitive to external impacts, such as market price, liquidity, interest rates ,foreign exchange and credit. The volatility of those changes can influence derivative products easily. Unfortunately, these impacts change all the way, it is difficult for people to deal with all the sides when they make investment decisions. We can find out the main risks of derivatives are: price risk, foreign exchange risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk and credit ri sk. At present, many financial organizations put derivatives together to create more sophistic derivatives, the innovation is over and improper because they are too difficult for people to understand, so people may be misled when they make investment decision. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Underlying Derivatives Of The Global Financial Crisis Finance Essay" essay for you Create order The Improper Risk Management Caused Financial Crisis Financial derivatives were the tools to manage risk at first, but when they work without the proper management system of controlling risk, it is quite easy to cause problem, such as crisis. In essence, what had happened was that banks, hedge funds and other financial organizations had become over-confident as they all thought they had figured out how to deal with risk and had ability to earn money efficiently by these tools. It was a result of a system heavily grounded in bad theories, bad theories, bad statistics, misunderstanding of probability and, ultimately, greed Naseem Taleb said, who once was a famous options trader in America. ¼Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  Naseem Taleb 2006 ¼Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ° During these 10 years, the finance industry flourished as more people began to think of how to against the downsides when investing in something. For instance, once options could be priced, it became easier to trade. Combined with the widely use of computer and Internet, the derivatives market exploded quickly. As people became successful easily, they used derivatives not to reduce their risk, but to take on more risk to earn more money, they were making more gambling. The crisis came about when the market was speculative. Some institutions are paying for risk on margin so people do not need to pay the full price in advance; it means that people are able to make big profits with little capital. They forget about the probability of losses, pay no attention on setting limit for risk. The financial organizations ignore to calculator the risk and make warning for attracting more customers to buy the derivatives. Governments play the most important roles of monitor in financial system. They encourage the financial institutions to make innovation to heavily develop finance all the way. Unfortunately, before the crisis, they focused on benefit rather than the risk of excessive innovation. The imperfect laws give opportunity to many financial companies to earn illeg al money. For example, the market for credit default swaps was enormous, exceeding the entire world economic output of $50 trillion by summer 2008(https://www.globalissues.org/). It was obvious that they were lack of controlling. The worlds largest insurance and financial services company, AIG alone had credit default swaps of around $400 billion at that time. Furthermore, many of AIGs credit default swaps were on mortgages, which course went downhill, and so did AIG. Hence, the eventual bailout (now some $150billion) of AIG by the US government to prevent them failing.( https://www.cnbc.com/id/26680263/AIG_In_Crisis) The Measures to Deal With The Crisis That Caused by Derivatives The measurement of derivative-related risks is necessary for proper monitoring and control. All significant risks should be measured and integrated into a bank-wide or corporate-wide risk management system. (Risk Management of Financial Derivatives Comptrollers Handbook January 1997 P10-11) Every department must corporate with each other to manage risk of derivatives. For example, price, liquidity, foreign exchange, market analysis and so on need to be monitored by different departments in the institutions. Team work can efficiently collect useful information and set models for analyzing, so the final report could be more valuable. Management should ensure that the various components of the institutions risk management process are regularly reviewed and evaluated. (Risk Management guidelines for derivatives July 1994 p8)This review should take into account the changes in the activities and in the market environment, since the changes may have created exposures that we should pay attention on . Any material changes to the risk management system should also be reviewed. A system should set boundaries for risk and make ensure the positions whether exceed proper levels .The limit system should be consistent with the effectiveness of the organizations overall risk management process and with the adequacy of its capital position. (Actions Needed to Protect the Financial System Statement of Charles A. Bowsher 1994 P14) An appropriate limit system should permit management to control exposures and monitor risk-taking. Conclusion In conclusion, the over development and excessive use of financial derivatives is one of the most important reasons to cause this crisis. Some major financial institutions such as end-users, mutual funds, hedge funds, securities firms, and even banks have incurred derivatives-related losses, most of these losses are due to inadequate risk-management systems and improper control and supervision. To prevent that from happening, governments and financial organizations should focus on improving the risk controlling system and pay more attentions on structure, evaluation and risk limit.