Thursday, November 28, 2019

West Indies Yacht Club Resort Essay Example

West Indies Yacht Club Resort Paper As West Indies Yacht Club Resort is one of the five renowned resorts in the British Virgin Islands, the managers and employees have to cope with cultural differences and nurture them to excel. However, there is low staff motivation due to the escalating tension between the expatriates and the locals, as well as a consistently high expatriate turnover. The internal operational problems would lead to an increase in the number of complaints when customers are dissatisfied with the declining employees’ performance, thus potentially hindering the future growth of the resort. The following report includes detailed analyses of the problems in the resort, their underlying causes and their feasible solutions based on the observation respectively to restore harmony among the employees and therefore boost the profit of the resort. Analyses One of the major root causes regarding low staff motivation is the widening culture gap between the expatriates and the locals. For instance, most of the expatriates from America tend to be goal-oriented and individualistic. They are more competitive compared to the Caribbean people as their job was not guaranteed in the US. Thus, they would try their best to make a good impression. In contrast, the nurturing environment drives the Caribbean people to value the relationships with coworkers and quality of life. They have low incentives to work harder as the local employment laws guarantee their jobs and they grant salary increment every year without any performance evaluation. As a result, employees have lower motivation when the workplace atmosphere does not match what they value. Additionally, the root cause of the escalating tension between expatriates and the locals is the ineffective management style used. We will write a custom essay sample on West Indies Yacht Club Resort specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on West Indies Yacht Club Resort specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on West Indies Yacht Club Resort specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Expatriate managers have been using a behind-the-scene management style, which involves frequent supervision of the resort without actual involvement in its daily operations. They usually give vague directions instead of precise instructions. Because of the one-way communication, managers are distant from the employees; they do not know the needs of the locals as well as the actual problems of the resort. On the other hand, the locals have no chance to clarify the instructions. Thus, they often feel discontented as they do not understand the ambiguous instructions. This root cause would further lead to misunderstandings and conflicts between the expatriates and the locals and hence intensifying the tension between them. Moreover, the high expatriate turnover rate problem is caused by the lack of management training for the expatriates and the strict employment regulations for the Caribbean government. Expatriates lack vital experience in communicating with people of different races. They do not understand the needs of the locals which led them to apply the behind-the-scene approach that is often used in the US in the resort. However, it is ineffective to manage Caribbean staff who value collectivism. Because of the cultural difference and the poor results of the management style, the managers often feel demotivated very soon as they cannot manage their teams effectively. Consequently, the expatriate managers resign their jobs. Furthermore, the increasing number of complaints is because of the lack of sensitivity of the British Virgin Island vacation market. The Chicago headquarter has been continuing its overbooking practice for three years yet did not inform the guests in advance about the issue of over-booking the resort by additional 20 percent, as well as neglecting the opposition of the Room Division Manager and the employees. Hence, when the number of customers was much larger than the resort’s capacity during the peak seasons, there was insufficient staff and rooms to serve the guests. This results to guests having to stay on boats until rooms are available for them. Therefore, the increasing number of complaints is inevitable. Recommendation I recommend you and other expatriate managers to hold meetings regularly; perhaps once a week either by division or organization-wise. Managers should take the lead to translate organization goals into the tasks, as well as motivate employees when necessary. You should evaluate the employees’ performance as a whole and individually. Thus, predicaments would be prevented before they begin to affect daily routines and business. The meetings could be taken place at the beginning of the week, and hence could boost the staff morale efficiently and increase communication between managers and the employees. Also, you could organize informal gatherings such as some sponsored meals and trips after every peak season to form closer bonds between the expatriates and the locals. During the gathering, sharing session with the locals, department heads and headquarter staffs can be organized. Expatriates, managers, and headquarter staff should participate in order to attain a more harmonious workplace atmosphere. In addition, the headquarter should send expatriate managers to some local management training programs every year. The training sessions allow the managers to adjust their management styles based on the local culture and learn to be sensitive to cultural differences, thus improving their communication skills to some extent. The training course should have various role-playing situations; therefore, managers can simulate tackling random real-life problems. Finally, the resort should establish an effective appraisal system, which guests can carry out complaints or nomination anonymously. For poorly performed staff, managers could move them to a less favorable work position. For greatly appreciated staff, since they value their family, the resort should provide welfare on the staff’s family members such as offering a free hotel stay night which allows his/her family member to enjoy all the facilities at the resort for free. As a result, the employees would have greater motivation for optimal performance. Conclusion In conclusion, the resort must provide better services to further enhance the reputation and boost the profits of West Indies Yacht Club Resort. The above feasible solutions could be established gradually to attain the final objective: narrowing the culture gap between the expatriates and the locals. By doing so, all three parties WIYCR, employees, and customers would benefit from the improvements.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Executive Privilege Based on Separation of Powers

Executive Privilege Based on Separation of Powers Executive privilege is an implied power claimed by Presidents of the United States and other officials of the executive branch of government to withhold from Congress, the courts or individuals, information that has been requested or subpoenaed. Executive privilege is also invoked to prevent executive branch employees or officials from testifying in Congressional hearings. Executive Privilege Executive privilege refers to certain implied powers of the Presidents of the United States and other executive branch officials of the United States government.By claiming executive privilege, executive branch officials may withhold subpoenaed information from the Congress and refuse to testify in Congressional hearings.While the U.S. Constitution does not mention the power of executive privilege, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it may be a constitutional exercise of the powers of the executive branch under the separation of powers doctrine.Presidents have usually claimed the power of executive privilege in cases involving national security and communications within the executive branch. The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of either the power of Congress or the federal courts to request information or the concept of an executive privilege to refuse such requests. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that executive privilege may be a legitimate aspect of the separation of powers doctrine, based on the constitutional powers of the executive branch to manage its own activities. In the case of United States​ v. Nixon, the Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of executive privilege in the case of subpoenas for information issued by the judicial branch, instead of by Congress. In the court’s majority opinion, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote that the president holds a qualified privilege to require that the party seeking certain documents must make a â€Å"sufficient showing† that the â€Å"Presidential material† is â€Å"essential to the justice of the case.† Justice Berger also stated that the president’s executive privilege would more likely to be valid when applied to cases when the oversight of the executive would impair that the executive branch’s ability to address concerns of national security. Reasons for Claiming Executive Privilege Historically, presidents have exercised executive privilege in two types of cases: those that involve national security and those that involve executive branch communications. The courts have ruled that presidents can also exercise executive privilege in cases involving ongoing investigations by law enforcement or during deliberations involving disclosure or discovery in civil litigation  involving the federal government. Just as Congress must prove it has the right to investigate, the executive branch must prove it has a valid reason to withhold information. While there have been efforts in Congress to pass laws  clearly defining executive privilege and setting guidelines for its use, no such legislation has ever passed and none is likely to do so in the future. Reasons of National Security Presidents most often claim executive privilege to protect sensitive military or diplomatic information, which if disclosed, could place the security of the United States at risk. Given the president’s constitutional power as commander and chief of the U.S. Military, this â€Å"state secrets† claim of executive privilege is rarely challenged. Reasons of Executive Branch Communications Most conversations between presidents and their top aides and advisers are transcribed or electronically recorded. Presidents have contended that executive privilege secrecy should be extended to the records of some of those conversations. The presidents argue that in order for their advisers to be open and candid in giving advice, and to present all possible ideas, they must feel safe that the discussions will remain confidential. This application of executive privilege, while rare, is always controversial and often challenged. In the 1974 Supreme Court case of United States v. Nixon, the Court acknowledged the valid need for protection of communications between high Government officials and those who advise and assist them in the performance of their manifold duties. The Court went on to state that [h]uman experience teaches that those who expect public dissemination of their remarks may well temper candor with a concern for appearances and for their own interests to the detriment of the decision-making process. While the Court thus conceded the need for confidentiality in discussions between presidents and their advisers, it ruled that the right of presidents to keep those discussions secret under a claim of executive privilege was not absolute, and could be overturned by a judge. In the Court’s majority opinion, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote, [n]either the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances. The ruling reaffirmed decisions from earlier Supreme Court cases, including Marbury v. Madison, establishing that the U.S. court system is the final decider of constitutional questions  and that no person, not even the president of the United States, is above the law. Brief History of Executive Privilege While Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to actually use the phrase â€Å"executive privilege,† every president since George Washington has exercised some form of the power. In 1792, Congress demanded information from President Washington regarding a failed U.S. military expedition. Along with records about the operation, Congress called members of the White House staff to appear and deliver sworn testimony. With the advice and consent of his Cabinet, Washington decided that, as the chief executive, he had the authority to withhold information from Congress. Although he eventually decided to cooperate with Congress, Washington built the foundation for future use of executive privilege. Indeed, George Washington set the proper and now recognized standard for using executive privilege: Presidential secrecy must be exercised only when it serves the public interest.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Artwork Soft Calendar for the Month of August, 1962. Metropolitan Assignment

The Artwork Soft Calendar for the Month of August, 1962. Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City - Assignment Example One must wonder why the artist uses the particular medium that he does—especially since it is quite strange. â€Å"Soft Calendar for the Month of August, 1962† is basically canvas filled with shredded foam rubber; it’s painted with Liquitex and enamel. Now, Liquitex, as one understands it, is primarily a plastic paint—which we now know as acrylic gesso. Gesso is what artists usually put on their canvases in order to prime the piece of artwork with paint. So, it seems rational that Claes used Liquitex, perhaps for a first coat. Then, he most likely next applied enamel, which leaves a decorative and glassy coating. It’s a type of paint used for modeling (such as miniature toy plane replicas, etc.). One must ask why the artist uses this particular medium besides why he actually uses the types of paints—and rather, why does he feel this is the best way to represent his art? Perhaps this was the easiest way to paint shredded foam rubber. It must h ave taken some masterful skill to form the rubber just the way he wanted it, because the rubber numbers on the calendar look like dough. The advantages of working with acrylic gesso would be that the first coat would dry easily. The limitations of working with enamel include the fact that enamel takes a longer time to dry. III. Style Elements of the composition work to constitute the artist’s style, much in the way that putting a bunch of puzzle pieces together creates a whole picture. As for what movement within which Oldenburg was working, he was clearly in the realm of various possible categorizations: Modernist, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art. It’s possible it might have even been more than one style blended together. At any rate, â€Å"Claes Oldenburg's highly individual figurations make him one of the leading protagonists of Pop Art† (Osterwold 193). Pop art, short for popular art, was at its heyday in the ‘60s, along with the likes of Roy Licht enstein and others. Unmistakably, as one can see below, the calendar for the month of August of 1962 starts with the number â€Å"29,† as that was the day of the week from the previous month of July in that particular year. One also may note that the August calendar of 1962 ends with the number â€Å"1,† because the last day in the calendar was September 1st of 1962—according to the painting. The numbers and letters almost look like baked bread dough rising. More is forthcoming about why this painting looks like it does, in the next section regarding the context of the painting. IV. Context One should examine also, the context of the work. This was painted in the 60s by Claes Oldenburg. He was born in Sweden in 1929, but is an American citizen. It’s uncertain exactly where he painted it, nor with what other works it would be in conversation with unless one talks about this painting being a type of conversation piece in the context of Pop Art. All of the f irst days of the week on the calendar are painted red, while the other days are white. One is unsure whether the colors or this particular month held any kind of cultural or historical events or issues which the piece is addressing. To be sure, Soft Calendar for the Month of August, 1962 is definitely riveting. It makes you ask why a thousand times. Why are the first days of the week painted red, and the rest white? Why do these numbers look like rising bread dough? And so forth and so on. It is a discussion that must be had. V. Conclusion

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Case study memo on Business Ethics in USA Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Memo on Business Ethics in USA - Case Study Example We have received possible food poisoning reports from two counties in Seattle and south California about our unpasteurized products. Health officials through our company managers reported these cases to us and we dispatched them to these counties to collect batches of our nutritional products. As the most successful nutritional foods suppliers, it is our duty to figure out this problem before any more causalities arise from consumption of our nutritional products. When whether to pull all our products from the market or not. Because of lack of evidence that the products that caused the acute food poisoning are ours or not, we have to determine when to inform the retailers that we are pulling all our products. The ethical dilemma that the company is facing is whether or not to notify the customers about the food poisoning by its nutritional products and should it consider pulling all the products from the market. In this case, I find it difficult to agree with the decision that Fred James made but at the same time, I do not have a better solution. James and Healy acted after hearing of seven cases of nutritional food poisoning and after the newspapers had already informed the public. They should have recalled all the products from the market as soon as they learnt about the third or the fourth case of poisoning. Trying to minimize or cover up the damages would only cause more harm than good (Allott, 2001). To analyze the ethical issues in this case using the utilitarian approach, we should first identify the available courses of action. Then we should look at the stakeholders that shall be affected, the benefits and harms that shall be derived from these actions. Lastly, we should choose the action that will yield the least harm while producing the greatest benefits (Allott, 2001). Using the utilitarian approach, James and Healy should have apologized publically about the food poisoning and probably declared a deduction in the

Monday, November 18, 2019

Solar and wind electric power production and distribution for the San Research Paper

Solar and wind electric power production and distribution for the San Antonio area - Research Paper Example There are various forms of sources of energy that San Antonio city has embarked on establishing so as to meet the great need for energy that the city has currently (Michael, 2010). The major power projects that are supplying the energy need in this city includes the CPS Energy, the Texas Grid, solar power, On-grid wind generation and off-grid power generation for individual homes and business. This study embarks on discussing the entire energy project in this city and how they have helped in addressing the energy needs that the city has. The most important thing to understand is that environmental conservation is a core objective of the city of San Antonio, Texas (Paul, 1998). Therefore, all the energy sources are established in line with the need to conserve the environment and eliminate any form of environmental pollution. No wonder then, renewable energy has become the core for energy sources in the city of San Antonio, Texas. CPS Energy of San Antonio, is the largest city municipality owned energy utility, that provides both electric and gas energy (Jones, 2007). The revenues generated from this utility are huge, and they account for above 20% of the city’s operating budget every year (Michael, 2010). The utility was founded in 1942, and it is well known to serve above a million energy consumers, both in electrify and gas energy. The utility is comprised of a range of fuel generation combination, with nuclear power, coal, renewable energy and natural gas, a fact that has made this utility a very effective one for its clientele (Paul, 1998). For electric energy, CPS energy is the sole licensed producer supplying the electricity energy need for its territory that is well over 4060 square kilometers. The electricity energy produced by this utility is sufficient to serve all the electric energy need so f the resident clientele and for wholesale to other municipalities in the south Texas, that are

Friday, November 15, 2019

Theory of Heteronuclear NMR Spectroscopy and its Application

Theory of Heteronuclear NMR Spectroscopy and its Application SYED MASOOD HASSAN AKBARI Question 1: Describe theory of heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy and its use in pharmaceutical analysis. Current strategies for determining the structures of membrane proteins in lipid environments by NMR spectroscopy rely on the anisotropy of nuclear spin interactions, which are experimentally accessible through experiments performed on weakly and completely aligned samples. Importantly, the anisotropy of nuclear spin interactions results in a mapping of structure to the resonance frequencies and splatting’s observed in NMR spectra. Distinctive wheel-like patterns are observed in two-dimensional 1H–15N heteronuclear dipolar/15N chemical shift PISEMA (polarization inversion spin-exchange at the magic angle) spectra of helical membrane proteins in highly aligned lipid bilayer samples (Marassi and Opella, 2000; Wang et al., 2000). One dimensional dipolar waves are an extension of two-dimensional PISA (polarity index slant angle) wheels that map protein structures in NMR spectra of both weakly and completely aligned samples (Marassi and Opella, 2000). Dipolar waves describe t he periodic wave-like variations of the magnitudes of the heteronuclear dipolar couplings as a function of residue number in the absence of chemical shift effects. Since weakly aligned samples of proteins display these same effects, primarily as residual dipolar couplings, in solution NMR spectra, this represents a convergence of solid-state and solution NMR approaches to structure determination (Marassi and Opella, 2000). NMR structural studies of proteins There are three principal spectroscopic considerations for NMR structural studies of proteins: the overall rotational correlation time of the protein, the extent of alignment of the protein in the sample, and the strategy for assignment of the resonances to sites in the protein. Each of these considerations needs to be taken into account in the development of NMR for structural studies of membrane proteins (Opella, 1997). For relatively small globular proteins, the sample conditions, instrumentation, experiments, and calculations that lead to structure determination are well established (Cavanagh et al., 1996). The chief requirement for structure determination of globular proteins is that samples can be prepared of isotopically labelled polypeptides that are folded in their native conformation and reorient relatively rapidly in solution. Such samples have been prepared for many hundreds of proteins, and it is likely that this can be done for thousands more of the polypeptide sequence s found in genomes (Wuthrich, 1998). This is not yet the case for membrane proteins. Resonance assignments The traditional approach to protein structure determination is based on the same overall principles, whether solution NMR or solid-state NMR methods are used and whether the sample is aligned or not. This involves the resolution of resonances through the use of isotopic labels and multidimensional NMR experiments, the measurement of spectral parameters associated with individual resonances, for example, NOEs, J couplings, dipolar couplings, or chemical shift frequencies, the assignment of all resonance to specific sites in the protein, and then the calculation of structures. There are examples of the application of this approach to membrane proteins in micelles (Almeida and Opella, 1997) and bilayers (Opella et al., 1999). The availability of orientation information associated with individual resonances means that it is now possible to make effective use of limited amounts of assignment information, for example, some residue-type assignments or a few sequential assignments. It may al so be feasible to implement an â€Å"assignment-free† approach. The use of either limited or no assignment information prior to calculating structures would greatly speed the process of structure determination by NMR spectroscopy, especially in the case of membrane proteins where assignments are difficult to make in nearly all situations due to overlap of resonances and unfavourable relaxation parameters. Dipole–dipole interaction The local field, which results from the interaction between two nearby nuclei, is a direct source of structural information. Pake’s (1948) seminal paper demonstrated that the dipole–dipole interaction between two spin S = 1/2 nuclei is manifested as a doublet in NMR spectra, with the frequency difference a function of not only the distance between the two nuclei but also the angle between the internuclear vector and the direction of the applied magnetic field. The dipole–dipole interaction provides direct access to geometrical parameters that can be translated into molecular structures. Moreover, it is important for many aspects of solid-state NMR spectroscopy; for example, it is essential to minimize its influence through decoupling to obtain well-resolved spectra. In this regard, it is generally easier to deal with heteronuclear rather than homonuclear dipolar couplings. Heteronuclear dipolar couplings are used extensively to determine the structures of protein s, in particular the 1H–15N interaction at the amide sites in the protein backbone. Uniform labelling with 15N is particularly valuable in proteins because the properties of a â€Å"dilute spin† are retained, since the next nearest amide nitrogen is separated by two carbon atoms in the polypeptide backbone (Cross et al., 1982). In addition, each 15N label in an amide site provides three spin interactions for analysis: the 15N chemical shift, the 1H chemical shift, and, of course, the 1H–15N heteronuclear dipolar coupling between the two directly bonded nuclei. The dipole–dipole interaction is anisotropic; therefore, the value of the splitting varies with molecular orientation. It is maximal for an N–H bond parallel to the field, half-maximal when the bond is perpendicular to the field, and zero when the bond is at the â€Å"magic angle†. All of these possibilities are observed in experimental data from aligned proteins. The 1H–15N het eronuclear dipolar interaction has the dual roles of providing a mechanism for resolving among resonances with N–H bonds at different orientations and of providing the input for structure determination in the form of frequency measurements that can be translated into angles between individual bonds and the external axis imposed by the magnetic field. The angular information can then be used in conjunction with the well-established geometry of peptide planes to determine the three-dimensional structure of the polypeptide backbone (Opella et al., 1987). These methods can be extended to additional nitrogen and carbon sites for characterization of side chain conformations. Separated local field spectroscopy (Waugh 1976) combines several of the elements of high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy to average out the unwanted broadening influences of homonuclear dipolar couplings and double resonance and multidimensional spectroscopy to average out and separate the heteronuclear dipolar couplings in different parts of the experiment. The chemical shift dimension in two-dimensional separated local field spectra is intrinsically high resolution because it is obtained while decoupling the hydrogens to remove the broadening due to heteronuclear dipolar couplings. Homonuclear dipolar couplings are minimal among the dilute nuclei and generally do not require attention. This enables the dipolar couplings between bonded pairs of 1H and 15N nuclei to be measured for individual 15N sites with different chemical shift frequencies. The original versions of separated local field spectroscopy have more than adequate resolution for studies of peptides or specifically or selectively labelled proteins. However, further improvements in resolution were needed for studies of uniformly 15N labelled proteins. PISEMA (polarization inversion spin-exchange at the magic angle) (Wu et al., 1994) is a high-resolution version of separated local field spectroscopy. Line widths in the key dipolar frequency dimension are reduced by more than one order of magnitude compared with the conventional separated local field experiment. The combination of narrow lines and favourable scaling factor has such a dramatic effect on the appearance of the spectra that it is now feasible to formulate solid-state NMR experiments where heteronuclear dipolar coupling frequencies complement chemical shifts as a mechanism for spectroscopic resolution as well as the measurement of readily interpretable orientationally dependent frequencies. PISA (polarity index slant angle) wheels The secondary structure and topology of a membrane protein can be described by the patterns of resonances observed in two-dimensional PISEMA spectra of uniformly 15N labelled polypeptides in aligned bilayers (Marassi and Opella, 2000; Wang et al., 2000). The characteristic â€Å"wheel-like† patterns observed in these spectra reflect helical wheel projections of residues in both transmembrane and in-plane helices. Therefore, PISA wheels provide direct indices of both secondary structure and topology. The resonance frequencies in both the 1H–15N heteronuclear dipolar and 15N chemical shift dimensions in PISEMA spectra of aligned samples of membrane proteins depend on helix orientation as well as on backbone dihedral angles, the magnitudes and orientations of the principal elements of the amide 15N chemical shift tensor, and the N–H bond length. It is possible to calculate spectra for any protein structure (Bak et al., 2002). The principals involved in the PISA whee l analysis of helices (Marassi and Opella, 2000) are illustrated in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2A, the projection down the axis of a helical wheel shows that the 3.6 residues per turn periodicity characteristic of an ÃŽ ±-helix results in an arc of 100 ° between adjacent residues. The drawing of a peptide plane in Fig. 2B shows the orientations of the principal axes of the three operative spin interactions at the 15N-labelled amide site. The 17 ° difference between the N–H bond axis and the ÏÆ'33 principal element of the amide 15N chemical shift tensor is of particular importance because of its impact on the spectral appearance of a PISA wheel. The striking wheel-like pattern of resonances calculated from a two-dimensional PISEMA spectrum of an ideal helix is shown in Fig. 2C. A PISA wheel reflects the slant angle (tilt) of the helix, and the assignment of the resonances reflects the polarity index (rotation) of the helix. When the helix axis is parallel to the bilayer normal, all of the amide sites have an identical orientation relative to the direction of the applied magnetic field, and therefore, all of the resonances overlap with the same dipolar coupling and chemical shift frequencies. Tilting the helix away from the membrane normal results in variations in the orientations of the amide N–H bond vectors relative to the field. This is seen in the spectra as dispersions of both the heteronuclear dipolar coupling and the chemical shift frequencies. Nearly all transmembrane helices are tilted with respect to the bilayer normal, and it is the combination of the tilt and the 17 ° difference between the tensor orientations in the molecular frame that makes it possible to resolve many resonances from residues in otherwise uniform helices and is responsible for the wheel-like pattern in PISEMA spectra, such as that illustrated in Fig. 2C. Figure 1: Illustrates principles of PISA wheels (Marassi and Opella, 2000). (A) Helical wheel showing the 100 ° arc between adjacent residues that is a consequence of the periodicity of 3.6 residues per turn in an ÃŽ ±-helix; (B) orientations of the principal elements of the spin interaction tensors associated with 15N in a peptide bond; (C) PISA wheel for an ideal ÃŽ ±-helix; (D) dipolar wave for an ideal ÃŽ ±-helix. Question 2: Structure Elucidation for C11H15NO.HCl Mw = 213.70 FT-IR Shows a sharp peak at 1690cm-1 which is representative of a C=O functional group. There is a broad peak turning up at the 3500cm-1 representative of a C-H group. 1H NMR Shows a cluster of peaks from 7.62-8.02ppm showing up as 5H. This means that the benzene ring is branched at one location. 5.25ppm shows up as a 1H this is the CH group 2.97-3.03ppm are the 2CH ­Ã‚ ­3 groups bonded to the Nitrogen. 1.64ppm comes up as a doublet with 3H this means that it is a methyl. The strong peak at the 4.80ppm is representative of the amine. 13C NMR The useful information gathered from this spectra is as there are negative peaks showing up so the angle at which this spectra was got was at 1350 clearly showing the CH2 in the ring and the benzene facing down. 196.51ppm shows the negative peak of the benzene ring. 136.69ppm shows the CH2 groups in the benzene ring. The peaks ranging from 128.54-131.90 are of the symmetrical benzene ring carbons. 69.57ppm is the CH3 group close to the ketone. 41.29ppm is the CH group which is beside the ketone. 14.46ppm is the 2 CH3 groups bonded to the amine. EI-MS Shows a small signal at 29 m/z which is representative of a CHO group. And the signal at 72 m/z is representative of a H3CHC=N+(CH ­3)2 ion. Chemical Structure Figure 1: Shows the structure of C11H15NO.HCl. References Almeida FCL, Opella SJ. fd coat protein structure in membrane environments: structural dynamics of a loop connecting a hydrophobic trans-membrane helix and an amphiapathic helix in a membrane protein.J. Mol. Biol.1997;270:481–495.[PubMed] Bak M, Schultz R, Vosegaard T, Nielsen NC. Specification and visualization of anisotropic interaction tensors in polypeptides and numerical simulations in biological solid-state NMR.J. Magn. Reson.2002;154:28–45.[PubMed] Bax A, Kontaxis G, Tjandra N. Dipolar couplings in macromolecular structure determination.Methods Enzymol.2001;330:127–172.[PubMed] Cavanagh J, Fairbrother WJ, Palmer AG, Skelton NS.Protein NMR spectroscopy.New York: Academic Press; 1996. Chou JJ, Kaufman JD, Stahl SJ, Wingfield PT, Bax A. Micelle-induced curvature in a water-insoluble HIV-1 Env peptide revealed by NMR dipolar coupling measurement in stretched polyacrylamide gel.J. Am. Chem. Soc.2002;124:2450–2451.[PubMed] Cross TA, DiVerdi JA, Opella SJ. Strategy for nitrogen NMR of biopolymers.J. Am. Chem. Soc.1982;104:1759–1761. Griffin RG. Dipolar recoupling in MAS spectra of biological solids.Nat. Struct. Biol. NMR Suppl.1998;II:508–512.[PubMed] Howard KP, Opella SJ. High resolution solid-state NMR spectra of integral membrane proteins reconstituted into magnetically oriented phospholic bilayers.J. Magn. Reson.1996;112:91–94.[PubMed] Ma C, Opella SJ. Lanthanide ions bind specifically to an added â€Å"EF-hand† and orient a membrane protein in micelles for solution NMR spectroscopy.J. Magn. Reson.2000;146:381–384.[PubMed] Marassi FM, Opella SJ. A solid-state NMR index of helical membrane protein structure and topology.J. Magn. Reson.2000;144:150–155.[PMC free article][PubMed] Marassi FM, Ramamoorthy A, Opella SJ. Complete resolution of the solid-state NMR spectrum of a uniformly15N-labeled membrane protein in phospholipid bilayers.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A.1997;94:8551–8556.[PMC free article][PubMed] McDonnell PA, Opella SJ. Effect of detergent concentration on multidimensional solution NMR spectra of membrane proteins in micelles.J. Magn. Reson.1993;B102:120–125. Mesleh MF, Veglia G, DeSilva TM, Marassi FM, Opella SJ. Dipolar waves as NMR maps of protein structure.J. Am. Chem. Soc.2002;124:4206–4207.[PMC free article][PubMed] Opella SJ. NMR and membrane proteins.Nat. Struct. Biol. NMR Suppl.1997;I:845–848.[PubMed] Opella SJ, Stewart PL, Valentine KG. Structural analysis of solid-state NMR measurement of peptides and proteins.Q. Rev. Biophys.1987;19:7–49.[PubMed] Opella SJ, Marassi FM, Gesell JJ, Valente AP, Kim Y, Oblatt-Montal M, Montal M. Structures of the M2 channel-lining segments from nicotinic acetylcholine and NMDA receptors by NMR spectroscopy.Nat. Struct. Biol.1999;6:374–379.[PMC free article][PubMed] Pake GE. Nuclear resonance absorption in hydrated crystals: fine structure of proton line.J. Chem. Phys.1948;16:327–336. Sanders CR, Hare BJ, Howard K, Prestegard JH. Magnetically-oriented phospholipid micelles as a tool for the study of membrane-associated molecules.Prog. NMR Spectrosc.1993;26:421–444. Veglia G, Opella SJ. Lanthanide ion binding to adventitious sites aligns membrane proteins in micelles for solution NMR spectroscopy.J. Am. Chem. Soc.2000;122:11 733–11 734. Wang J, Denny J, Tian C, Kim S, Mo Y, Kovacs F, Song Z, Nishimura K, Gan Z, Fu R, Quine JR, Cross TA. Imaging membrane protein helical wheels.J. Magn. Reson.2000;144:162–167.[PubMed] Waugh JS. Uncoupling of local field spectra in nuclear magnetic resonance: determination of atomic positions in solids.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A.1976;78:1894–1897.[PMC free article][PubMed] Wu CH, Ramamoorthy A, Opella SJ. High-resolution heteronuclear dipolae solid-state NMR spectroscopy.J. Magn. Reson.1994;A109:270–272. Wuthrich K. The second decade-into the third millennium.Nat. Struct. Biol. NMR. Suppl.1998;II:492–495.[PubMed]

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Cell Membrane/ Electron Transport Chain / Biochemical Pathway :: essays research papers

1. The cell membrane structure is vital to the life of the cell. The cell membrane is shaped as having a phosphate head at the very outer surface, and two fatty acid tails hanging from it. The membrane is double, so at the tip of the fatty acid tails, there are two more fatty acid tails attached to another phosphate head. This is what it looks like:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The reason the cell membrane is shaped like this is mainly to control the water flow in and out of the cell. Water is very important to the cell: if too much water enters the cell, the cell will explode, and if too much water leaves the cell, the cell will shrivel up and die. This is how the cell membrane controls water flow: the phosphate heads are polar, and slightly attract water. However, the fatty acid tails in between are non polar, and repel water, so the fatty acid tails prevent too much water from entering or leaving the cell. With this tough membrane, there has to be a way for things to enter the cell. This is where the channel proteins come in. They act as gateways to the cell. There are many ways to enter the cell. Some ways require energy, while others don’t. The ways that require energy are put into a category called active transport, while the ways that don’t require energy are put into a category called passive transport. An example of active transport i s the proton pump. The proton pump is an integral part of chemiosmosis, and it pumps protons from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration. This requires energy since things like to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. An example of passive transport is facilitated diffusion. This is very easy since the particle is moving from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration and through a channel protein made exactly for its size and shape. 2. These membranes are very important to the electron transport chain. This is because they house the membrane proteins that make up the electron transport chain. The two electron transport chains are similar in that they both make ATP by chemiosmosis, and they are different in the fact that they pump protons in different directions: the electron transport chain in the thylakoid layer pumps protons in the cell (from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration) then the protons are forced out through the ATP synthetase channel.