Understanding My Social Location and Experiences Essay -- Personal Exp

The intersection of dominant ideologies of race, class, and gender are important in shaping my social location and experiences. By exercising my sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), I will argue how my social location as an Asian American woman with a working class background has worked separately and together to influence how I behave, how others treat and view me, and how I understand the world. The sociological imagination has allowed me to understand my own â€Å"biography†, or life experiences by understanding the â€Å"history†, or larger social structures in which I grew up in (Mills, 1959). First, I will describe my family’s demographic characteristics in relation to California and the United States to put my analysis into context. I will then talk about how my perceptions of life opportunities have been shaped by the Asian-American model minority myth. Then, I will argue how my working class location has impacted my interactions in institutional settings and my middle/upper class peers. Third, I will discuss how gender inequalities in the workplace and the ideological intersection of my race and gender as an Asian-American woman have shaped my experiences with men. I will use Takaki’s (1999) concepts of model minority myth and American identity, Race; The Power of an Illusion (2003), Espiritu’s (2001) ideological racism, People Like Us: Social Class in America (1999) and Langston’s (2001) definition of class to support my argument. Before I analyze how my social location has influenced my experiences, I need to talk about my family’s demographic characteristics in comparison to our community and the larger U.S. society: In my hometown, Asians make up the third largest racial group (23%). Whites make up 51.3% and H... ...ding white, male superiority. Back in high school, I dated a non-Asian male from my class who often talked about how Asian women are â€Å"hot and sexy† yet â€Å"more faithful to men and less aggressive than White women.† At the time, I thought this was a compliment and I often tried to conform to this stereotype in order to satisfy my partner. Images of Asian-American women as both innocent and dangerous have legitimized any racist and sexist policies directed at Asians and women. Works Cited People Like Us: Social Class in America http://www.pbs.org/program/people-like-us/ Race; The Power of an Illusion (2003) http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm Takaki, R. (1999). The myth of the â€Å"model minority.† In D. M. Newman (Ed.), Sociology: Exploring the architecture of everyday life: Readings (pp. 255-259). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge

The Gulf War: An Abuse of Science :: Science Scientific Papers

The Gulf War: An Abuse of Science I know of a country that tested 250,000 of its citizens with an experimental drug without its citizen's consent. The drug that was given to these citizens was not a new drug, but one that had been tested for this use. This drug, pyridostigmine bromide, or PB as we will continue to refer to it, was given to these people with the idea that some people with far more importance and intelligent on these matters knew what was best for the masses. This attitude of hubris had entered into the daily lives of these citizens. These unfortunate people taking PB were ordered to, and in fact, they were watched to make sure they took the drug. If they refused to take it, they were subject to imprisonment (CNN 1). Remember reading Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein"? A story of how one scientist thought he could achieve sciences' greatest feat, to create a human life. Without any thoughts of consequences this fictional character secured various body parts as if his venture was no greater than finding a new fender for his Chevrolet. As the story continues, Dr. Frankenstein created a life form, only to become appalled by this creature. Dr. Frankenstein thought of his experiment only in the narrow scientific terms without any thoughts of possible repercussions. Is the mentality of the fictional character Dr. Frankenstein alive today? (Shelley) What a horrific story about a drug being given to people without their knowledge of the drug being experimental. Could this take place in today's world of freedom and free will amongst people? I am sorry to say yes, and it happened to the citizens of the United States of America. The drug called PB was given to our soldiers. PB was an FDA approved drug for the use in Myasthenia Gravis disease, a disease that attacks the nerve impulses. The government had tested this drug in laboratory animals as an inhibitor against the effects of some known chemical weapons such as Saren, Soman, Tabun and VX8(The Daily Fed 1). Some of these chemical weapons are known to be in the Iraqi's inventory. John Flanagan's article, "Gulf War Illness and Pyridostigmine Bromide, Neurological Effects and Detoxification" states that "The Iraqi army's use of the nerve agents during the 10 year war with Iran gave Pentagon planners reasonable cause to believe U.S. forces would be exposed to chemical weapons agents if war arose with Iraq.

Abraham Lincoln Essay -- essays research papers

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln has been depicted as a very gifted orator and noble leader of our country. He is often compared with Shakespeare, due to his ability to say amazingly profound words. He is a very important symbol of our country’s history. Lincoln definitely led an interesting life. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a log cabin in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky. This was near Hodgenville, Kentucky. His mother’s name was Nancy Hanks Lincoln; his father’s name was Thomas Lincoln. Abraham was named after his father’s father. He had an older sister named Sarah, and he had a younger brother named Thomas, but he died in infancy. Abraham Lincoln was once described by his cousin Dennis Hanks as,"...he'll never come to much, fur I'll tell you he wuz the puniest, cryin'est little youngster I ever saw." Abraham’s parents were part of a Baptist congregation. Abraham went to school every once in a while at a log schoolhouse two miles from his farm. Abraham then moved to Indiana due to troubles with land claims. When Abe was 9 years old, his mother died of â€Å"milk sickness† which was a disease that was acquired by drinking the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. His father Thomas then rema rried a woman named Sara Bush Johnston. She didn’t think that Abe had enough schooling, so she sent him to school a lot more. Abraham Lincoln enjoyed reading much more than the usual working on the farm. This is where he got most of his knowledge. In the 1830’s, the Lincolns moved to Illinois where Abraham lived until 1837. In Illinois, he worked as a postmaster, a storekeeper, and he served in the Black Hawk War in 1832. His physical features are the most famous qualities of Abraham Lincoln. At his full height, he was 6 feet and 4 inches and was about 180 pounds. This made him very tall and stocky. Lincoln is often depicted as a very hunched over man, since he is so tall. Lincoln decided that he wanted to run for legislature in Illinois. However, he lost his first election. In 1834 he was a Whig and was at last elected to the legislature and served four terms. During this time period, Abraham kept on reading, and eventually went to study the law. In 1837 he moved to Springfield, Illinois. He became a lawyer, and met his future wife. Mary Todd was from Kentucky and had moved to Springfield to live with her married siste... ...ck voting rights, which outraged many citizens, especially an actor named John Wilkes Booth. On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln and his wife went to go see a play (â€Å"Our American Cousin†) at Ford’s Theatre. During the performance, John Wilkes Booth sneaked into the President’s balcony, and shot him in the head at about 10:15 PM. Lincoln was carried to the Peterson House across the street. He laid in a bed not long enough for him, stripped of his clothes, while physicians tried to remove blood clots which formed over the bullet wound. This relieved the pressure on his brain and allowed it to continue functioning and allowing respiration to take place. He internally and externally had hemorrhaging until 7:22 the next morning when he passed away. He was 56 years old when he died. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton immediately said, â€Å"Now he belongs to the ages.† There was a very long funeral procession, in which thousands of people lined the track along the way to Illinois on April 21st. Lincoln was buried in Springfield Illinois on May 4th, 1865. This was the first assassination in presidential history. Therefore it was a very important yet sad time in American history.

Pro/Con Paying College Athletets Essay

Even though paying college athletes may be fair in some people’s eyes, there are many negatives to this topic that could affect college sports for today’s athletes and the future of their sport. The NCAA and their colleagues all have different views and they vary from being supportive and backing up the idea, to being one hundred percent against it. No matter what type of fan it is and no matter what sport it is, there are positive and negative views on this argument and the variety of disagreement is astonishing. The most positive outlook on this is in most eyes would be that paying the athletes would be fair, and that they deserve at least some money. And even though that is without a doubt the most popular opinion, there are still many more. If the NCAA decides to pay the students, a good way to keep paying college athletes under control is by paying the student athletes for certain things, the key word is student. One plan is too pay the athlete as long as him or her maintains a certain grade point average. â€Å"If we want to reward college athletes and dramatically reduce the cheating that goes on in college sports, we should consider paying student athletes $1,000 per month during their four years of eligibility, providing they maintain a pre-determined grade point average† (Freeman, Marv). This plan would not only keep the student athletes in school, but it would make them do well and succeed in school. Even though some fans of pro sports may want to see a star player leave and go to the pros after one or maybe two years, education is still very important and so is graduating. This strategy would be a great motivator and would without a doubt grab the attention of the player’s parents. Another positive affect is that without a doubt the amount of money brought into colleges and universities would increase by large amounts because it would attract more student athletes to go to college. This plan could affect all levels of student athletes in a more than positive way; it could change the future of student athletes forever. The controversy on player’s safety is a very big issue in pro sports, but you don’t see nearly as much attention on it in college sports. There is no doubt that injuries occur more often in pro sports, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen in college sports, and the NCAA really doesn’t protect their players very much at all. A solution to this is to have the players sign a contract for the college or university they attend. The contract would contain a variety of things, but the two most important things would be a certain amount of money and then a health care plan for the athlete. Lifetime of health insurance and benefits is very important to athletes, and remember not all student athletes go pro so they don’t have the luxury of pro sport health benefits. This plan would without a doubt make more players not only want to stay in college to receive these benefits, but it would also make student athletes want to attend a college and not have to worry about being disabled as an adult. Joe Branch, a great high school football player, told reporter Joe Nocera that he had turned down a scholarship to play football at Georgia Tech because, â€Å"I wouldn’t have had any shoulders left if I had played football in college.† This man turned down the opportunity of a lifetime because of the fact he knew he wouldn’t have health benefits for playing college football, so he had to give up his dream. This plan would be great for the NCAA and their athletes now and especially in the future. To every controversial topic there are positives, and there are negatives. In this case a huge problem is, where is all the money for the players going to come from? There truly is no answer for this, that’s why paying the athletes isn’t even close to becoming a done deal. According to Mike Higgins of USA today, only 20 NCAA division 1-football programs make a profit. And considering the fact that college football is the most popular NCAA sport, the number of other sport programs making a profit can’t be a very large number at all. Another question that can’t be answered is, do you pay all the athletes? There is no doubt that men’s basketball and football bring in the most money for their schools, athletically speaking, but you can’t only pay them. According to http://www.statisticbrain.com/ there are over 420,000 student athletes and combined in Division 1 and 2 there are 26 different types of athletic programs. The amount of student athletes and athletic programs makes it almost nearly impossible to have enough money to pay every single athlete male and female. This also puts small schools at a huge disadvantage. Schools like Notre Dame, Texas, Florida, Ohio State, and Alabama already have huge reputation advantages over small schools, but if the NCAA starts paying their athletes the bigger schools like the ones I mentioned will be able to offer so much more because schools like that already make more than enough money. Overall, this point in the argument really shows that if the NCAA starts paying their athletes it would truly take a  miracle to come up with that kind of money, and if they ever did come up with the money, it wouldn’t be fair to many schools across the country. One of the many reasons why the NCAA is considering paying their athletes is because they believe it will stop all the â€Å"under the table deals.† A solution like that will not stop corruption in the NCAA. That kind of solution is just the easy way out, and it won’t stop the people who offer the student athletes money, cars, jewelry, tattoos, etc. because those kind of people will stop at nothing. If the NCAA truly wants to put a stop to players accepting or being offered gifts they need to enforce more discipline. According to Todd Pheifer of Yahoo News, â€Å"Cam Newton was ultimately â€Å"exonerated† by the NCAA while at Auburn, there were stories of an $180,000 payment that was demanded by Newton’s father for Cam to attend Mississippi State.† A young and naà ¯ve student athlete would take that kind of offer without even hesitating because the amount of money the NCAA is offering to pay the student athletes, couldn’t even come close to that. Overall, the main point of this is that if the NCAA believes that paying their athletes a certain amount of money is going to stop the offers and the greediness, they are going to need to come up with a better plan then that. Even though paying college athletes may be fair in some people’s eyes, there are many negatives to this topic that could affect college sports for today’s athletes and the future of their sport. As we see here, there are many great controversial arguments on this topic. The cutting off of the athletes money if their grades slip, also the health care plan would not only help the reputation of the NCAA, but it would no doubt make the game safer and assure the student athletes a better future. On the other hand, we still have no idea where the money would come from and who would they give it to. In conclusion, I don’t believe the NCAA should pay their student athletes, even though it may seem like the fair and just thing to do, there are just too many negatives and downfalls to this argument and in the end would more than likely put many colleges and universities into debt.

Internal Control System Checklist

Internal Control System Checklist ACC/544 Monday December 03, 2010 Dr. YouKnew Abstract Internal control systems are purposed to aid in managing an array of risks, while monitoring the integrity and reliability of operational and financial data. Internal control systems ensure the proactively of audits, at the same time as serving to ensure that policies and procedures are enforced to protect the company’s financial information, limiting accounting inaccuracies and fraud. The following checklist is a tool to ensure that the objectives of internal control systems are met. Internal Control System ChecklistEthical Governance and Standards Ethical standards are the groundwork for internal control systems, where integrity is the basic principle. Business ethics show characteristics of acceptable business conduct, while ethics in internal control systems ensures that these standards are communicated, executed, reinforced, and monitored. When considering the following checklist for e valuating internal controls, three phases of the control evaluation are also applied. The three phases are understanding, assessment, and testing. I. Ethics & GovernanceYESNOComments Are the ethical standards exemplified by the board of directors?Are ethical standards reviewed with new employees either in orientation or by pamphlet? Are the ethical standards woven into employee evaluations? Are handbooks provided for ongoing review of ethical standards? Is there a process in place to review and correct bad ethical calls? Are ethical standards woven into business standards? Are fraudulent attempts in reporting communicated as intolerable to employees and management? Electronic Data Processing Electronic data processing guarantees against improper human intervention with computer processing and other transactions in a given organization.Computer programs help prevent access to certain information across departments and roles. Within the phases of the control evaluation the auditor wou ld want to ensure that each user completely understands his role and to protect the privacy of information given access. Ongoing assessment should be afforded to help each department head better manage user access and testing to ensure compliance. II. Electronic Data ProcessingYESNOComments Are policies in place to include reference check, security, and termination of employee security measures?Are the duties within the data processing system adequately segregated per role? (such as technical support, software developer, ect. ) Is the Electronic Data Processing system separate and independent from the operating and accounting departments? Is the Electronic Data Processing system such that it prevents duplicate documents from being introduced to the system? Are there adequate controls preventing changes to master files? Are there adequate controls over data entry to include supervision, current instructions, key verification of important fields and self check digits?Financial Reporti ng One of the three distinct objectives of internal control is to meet the responsibility of ensuring that financial statements are reliable. The term reliable involves the preparation of financial statements that are fairly presented in conformity with applicable financial reporting framework employed by management. The system of financial control over financial reporting therefore includes the design and implementation of policies and procedures necessary by managers to provide reasonable assurance that the ompany’s statements are presented in accordance with the basis of accounting. Evaluation of financial reporting within internal control system should place emphasis on testing and assessment. The following checklist addresses some key areas of testing and assessment of internal control of financial reporting. III. Financial ReportingYESNOComments Is the statement of financial position prepared monthly and reviewed by management and the finance committee? Are the responsi bilities for the final review and approval of financial reports segregated from those for the preparation of reports?Are monthly, semi-monthly and annual reports prepared comparing income and expenses with approved budget and reviewed by the management and the finance committee? Did the company employ a char of accounts? Are the tasks for maintaining the general ledger suitably segregated from those for the custody of assets? Is there a written accounting policy and procedural manuals distributed to appropriate personnel? Checklists mainly service as a tool that both managers and auditors can use to review a specific departments internal control and for ongoing purposes also.Checklists should be both drafted and assessments completed by management who are accountable for the business processes. When completing the checklist, simple yes or no responses prove a strong or weak internal control system where additional notes for improvement are observed. Multiple questions are needed to make the proper assessment of a control system. In conclusion, internal control checklists are integrated with control evaluations to provide the best information about the functionality of a system where changes or adjustments can be made.

Movie vs books Essay

From our mouths, to writing and finally to film, the way we tell stories has evolved over time and I must say thank God for its advancements. Reading a book can be nice but thanks to movies all the work of deciphering the message of the story is done through the director of the motion picture. He is responsible for researching the story to find the intent of the writers and will often consult with the writer to bring you the true meaning of the story. The director brings the story to life on screen with words, images, and sounds, leaving little to wonder, taking out the questions of what the story is about and leaving us with little or no debate. Examples of this can be seen in the Hollywood productions of the movies â€Å"Holes† and â€Å"The Great Gatsby†. The movie Holes (2003) was directed by Andrew Davis who used the writer of Holes, Louis Sacher as a consultant on the set during production (Movie Hole Interview October 6, 2003). The movie follows the life of a boy, Stanley, who due to a family curse, ends up in a juvenile detention center out in the middle of nowhere after being falsely accused of stealing shoes. A witch has placed a curse on Stanley’s family causing this turn of events; the curse can’t be removed until he completes certain tasks for his best friend. At the detention center he is brought together by fate with a boy named Zero who will become his best friend. Through trials and tribulations he and his friend are able to stay united, break the family curse, and get out of the juvenile detention center. Holes was one of my favorite movies growing up, and I have also read the book, I believe the movie follows the storyline of the book down to its minutest details. The movie provided all of the key factors that the book Holes was trying to convey, and in comparing the two I was almost stunned at the realization that the two were one in the same. The movie gives the reader and viewer the same theme time and time again throughout the story; friends will get you through the day, and stick to your goals. The Great Gatsby is another movie that I’m sure many people are familiar with and the story is one I myself have fallen in love with. Like holes I have also read the book that was based on the most recent Great Gatsby (2013) movie remake by director Baz Luhrmann. It is a marvelous movie that evokes a person’s passion, yet wills you to move on past lost love. In the movie we follow the narrator who takes us into the world of Gatsby, a Debonair Millionaire. From watching the movie we may conclude that everything Gatsby does throughout the story is for a woman name Daisy, whom is in love with and desires. To impress her he throws luxurious parties and to be closer to her he buys a mansion across the bay from her. Unfortunately due to his misplaced love, a love that should have been for God, he moves to corruption and swindling to attain his love, alas the only love he receives is the one who loves all, Death. Director, Baz Luhrmann tells the New York Times (May 9, 2013) â€Å"That he sticks close to the details of the story and lifts dialogue and description directly from the novels†. In doing so he is helping to provide us with a view of the story that the writer envisioned. Yet personal interpretation can be a problem within itself when comparing a movie to a book. While there is normally one message you can take away from a movie, with a book readers are able to decipher messages differently possibly coming to a conclusion the author never intended in the first place. Take the book 50 shades of Grey, which is rumored to be a movie soon, while discussing it with several women I have gotten several different interpretations of its meaning. Many saw the book as a romance novel with a main character that falls deeply in love. While some saw the main character as a scary control freak who liked to beat up his women. As for myself, I took it as a trashy love story reminding us of things we all secretly wish for, like the change to be a millionaire and to have incredible sex. So in conclusion, I can say with certainty that movies are the media in today’s society that can create a clear and concise message closely delivering what the writer had intended for its audience. While books can tell a story and allow the reader to use their imagination when determining the message of the writer we are often unsure about what message the writer was truly trying to convey when we finish the book. Movies provide us with words, sights and sounds that give us a clearer picture as to what the writer is trying to tell us. When we finish watching a movie we are left with little room for interpretation or argument and when we leave the theater we are satisfied that we have a good understanding of the writers true message was.

Enzymes and Temperature

Zaquia Austin Enzymes and Temperature Laboratory #6 3/13/2013 Purpose (Objectives): The purpose of this experiment was for students to be able to understand the enzyme-facilitated reaction and explain how enzyme activity can be affected by environment conditions. Abstract: This experiment mainly delt with enzymes and the reaction that enzymes have with different solutions in various temperatures. Three different exercises were done. The first exercise had to do with enzymes and temperature. During this exercise three different test tubes were used for three different temperates. The first test tube which involved 0 ?C water bath had a total conversion of starch to sugar in the first 15 minutes, and the second test tube which involved 37? C water bath had a total conversion of starch to sugar after the first five minutes. While the third test tube took a little longer. The second exercise had to do with enzymes and substrate concentration. This exercise took longer for the all of the starch to be removed from the test tubes, and it involved 37? C water bath for all five test tubes. The last exercise had to do with enzymes and pH. This exercise involved four test tubes all put into a water bath of 37? C.The fourth test tube had a total conversion of starch to sugar in the first five minutes while the other three took a little longer to convert. Experiment & Observation: First the water baths and the 1% Alpha-amylase was prepared. Three different water baths were prepared. One being set at 0? C, the next being set at 37? C and the last one being set at 100? C. Next a 96-well microplate was marked with times and numbers based on the test tubes number. Then using a pipet one drop of iodine was placed into each well (1,2,3) up to total of 30 minutes. Then the test tubes were marked 1cm and 6cm from the bottom.Afterward, 1cm of alpha-amylase was pipetted into each test tube. Then, test tube 1 was incubated at 0? C, test tube 2 was incubated at 37? C, and test tube 3 w as incubated at 100? C for five minutes. After that 1% starch solution was added to the 6cm mark. Next it was put back into its assigned water bath for another 5 minutes. Then two drops of solution was put into its corresponding number on the microplate in the 5 minute row. The color was immediately recorded. The steps were repeated for a interval of 30 minutes or until each well had an amber color in it.Test tube 3 did not change within the 30 minute interval so it was placed into the 37? C water bath for another 30 minutes. Then one drop of solution and one drop of iodine was added into the well. There was still no color change, so another 1cm of alpha-amylase was added to it and was incubated for another 30 minutes, the color became amber. Table 1. Effect of Temperature on Amylase Enzyme Conversion of Starch to Sugar |Time/Minutes |Test Tube 1 / 0? C |Test Tube 2 / 37? C |Test Tube 3 / 100?C | |5 |+ |- |++ | |10 |+ | |++ | |15 |- | |++ | |20 | | |++ | |25 | | |++ | |30 | | |++ | | | | | | |60 | | |++ | | | | | | |90 | | |- | The color of iodine that indicated that starch was still present in the test tube was the Black/ Blue-Black color. The color that indicated that the starch was gone was the Amber color. Amylase breaks up the starch which makes it disappear, it does not react with iodine anymore. The variable in this experiment can be an independent variable. The change in the experiment is the starch to sugar. The temperature that is optimal is 37? C.The temperature that facilitated first was the 37? C, then it was 0? C. No 37? C was chosen as the mid-range temperature because that degrees in Fahrenheit is 98. 6? F. It was important to immediately observe the color because after a while it changes colors again. If you would have just added the iodine in test tubes that would have ruined the entire experiment because there wouldn't be anything to test if it didn't work the first time. Once the test tube was incubated at 37? c nothing happen. The starch d id not disappear, maybe because there wasn't enough amylase. After 1cm of alpha-amylase was added and incubated at 37? C the starch eventually disappeared.This probably didn't happen the first time because the more amylase there is the better chance of it breaking up the starch. [pic] My initial hypothesis was that the more starch solution there is the longer it will take for it to break down amylase. My hypothesis was actually supported, there was more starch then amylase, when there needed to be more amylase then starch. I learned that amylase breaks up starch, and that its an digestive enzyme. Exercise 2: First a water bath was set at 37? C. Then the microplate was label this time five test tubes were used. One drop of iodine was placed into each well (1,2,3,4,5) up to 30 minutes. Then 1/2cm was marked from the bottom of the test tube. Next for each tube an additional cm was added.For test tube one 2cm above the bottom, test tube two 3cm above the bottom, test tube three 4cm abov e the bottom, test tube four 5cm above the bottom, test tube five 6cm above the bottom. Then 1/2 alpha-amylase was added to the 1/2 cm mark on the test tube. Afterwards the test tubes were placed into the water bath for five minutes. Next 1% starch solution was added to the next cm mark on the test tubes. The test tubes were put back into the water bath for another five minutes. Then two drops of the solution was added to each of the corresponding wells. This was done for all five test tubes. Immediately record the colors. The steps were completed for an interval of 30 minutes.The tubes that had not changed color within the 30 minute interval was put back into the water bath for another 30 minutes. Two drops of solution and one drop of iodine was put into the well and the amber color was recorded. Table 2: The Effect of Concentration on Amylase Enzyme Conversion of Starch to Sugar |Time/Minutes |Tube 1 |Tube 2 |Tube 3 |Tube 4 |Tube 5 | |Concentration of Amylase: |0. 5cm/2cm |0. 5cm/ 3cm |0. 5cm/4cm |0. 5cm/5cm |0. 5cm/6cm | |Per test tube |25% |17% |12. % |10% |8% | |5 |++ |++ |++ |++ |++ | |10 |++ |++ |++ |++ |++ | |15 |++ |++ |++ |++ |++ | |20 |++ |++ |++ |++ |++ | |25 |++ |- |++ |- |++ | |30 |++ | |++ | |++ | | | | |++ | |++ | |60 |++ | |- | |- | The variable in this exercise the substrate concentrations. Test tube 3 This experiment could be improved if each test tube had its own water bath.My hypothesis was that test tube five would convert to sugar first. The reason I hypothesized this was because test tube five had the most starch. In this exercise I learned that enzymes can be used over and over again to facilitate the conversion of substances before they are denatured. Some practical applications can be Food and Beverages D. Another way this experiment could be done is by using different temperatures of water baths. Exercise 3: First a water bath was set at 37? C. The microplate was labeled, this time only four test tubes were used. Each test tube was m arked 1cm, 2cm, and 4cm from the bottom. Next one drop of iodine was added to the weel (1,2,3,4) and u to a 30 minute interval.Then a different pH buffer was added to each test tube at the 1cm mark. For test tube one pH 3. 5 buffer was added, for test tube two pH 5 buffer was added, for test tube three pH 6. 8 was added, and for test tube four pH 11. 5 was added. Afterwards, 2cm of alpha-amylase was added. Then the test tubes was placed into the water bath to be incubated. After five minutes starch solution was added to the remaining 4cm mark, then placed back into the water bath. After five minutes two drops of solution was put into each corresponding well. Immediately record color. The steps were completed for an interval of 30 minutes. The fourth test tube showed color immediately, but the other three test tubes did not.Table 3: The Effect of pH on Amylase Enzyme Conversion of Starch to Sugar |Time/ Minute |Test Tube 1 |Test Tube 2 |Test Tube 3 |Test Tube 4 | |pH |3. 5 |5. 0 |6. 8 |11. 5 | |5 |++ |++ |++ |- | |10 |++ |++ |++ | | |15 |++ |++ |++ | | |20 |++ ++ |++ | | |25 |++ |++ |++ | | |30 |++ |+ |+ | | | | | | | | |60 |+ |+ |+ | | The variable in this exercise is the pH. Only the fourth test tube converted starch to sugar, I think this happend because it had an higher amount of buffer. Yes the first three test tube did not exhibit a change in color.. There pH was much lower then the last one. I hypothesized that the test tube with the pH buffer would convert to sugar first. My hypothesis was refute. Conclusion: Temperature, and the times of incubation.You can get different substrates if you change the incubation times. In this laboratory I learned how to recognize enzyme-facilitate reactions, and how to tell when starch is converted into sugar. Some practical applications could be yeast, detergent, leather and bioethanol. Discussion/Error Analysis/Conclusion: The first part of this laboratory was based upon testing the alpha-amylase enzyme activity on sta rch under three temperature environments, 0? C, 37? C, and 100? C. The next part was to demonstrate the effects of substrate concentration on enzyme reactivity. The last exercise was based upon testing how alpha-amylase functions at four different pH levels (3. ,5,6. 8, and 11. 5). A few errors that occurred was one, the changing of the water bath temperatures. If the bath stayed at a constant temperature then it probably would have made a difference to some of the tubes. Another laboratory error could have been that there were only a select few of pipets. If there were pipets for each exercise that could have made a difference even though the pipets were cleaned after each experiment, it still would have made a different if it was a clean dry pipet. Another laboratory error could have been the incubating times. These errors could be minimized in the future if there were a few arrangements before hand.