Greenmail & firing employees Essay Example for Free

Greenmail firing employees Essay The term is a greenmail is formed by combining the terms greenback and blackmail, invented by journalists and commentators who saw the practices of corporate raiders as a form of blackmail. The target company is financially held hostage, and is legally forced to pay the greenmailer to go away. Greenmailing is a variation on the corporate raid or hostile takeover. The greenmailer commonly targets a publicly traded company that is cash rich but often undervalued, with large assets and possibly a solid customer base. Other targets are companies that are simply inefficient. The greenmailer isnt really interested in the business of the company. It doesnt want to own the company, improve it, or further build it up. It will, if forced to acquire the target, sell its parts off piecemeal, which can bring a greater profit than selling the whole target. This is called asset stripping and involves replacing management and firing employees. Greenmail proved lucrative for investors such as T. Boone Pickens and Sir James Goldsmith during the 1980s. In the latter example, Goldsmith made $90 million from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the 1980s in this manner. Occidental Petroleum paid greenmail to David Murdoch in 1984. However, if a proper greenmail occurs, the greenmailer merely secures a significant stake in the target company. The greenmailer can offer to end the threat to the target company by selling its share back at a substantial premium. The target or mark can also go private with the same results: a profit to the greenmailer. The greenmailer gets away with no oversight, low overhead, and its profits. The target is left poorer and without the assets that attracted the raid in the beginning. A company which agrees to buy back the bidders stock position avoids being taken over. In return, the bidder agrees to abandon the takeover attempt and may sign a confidential agreement with the greenmailer who will agree not to resume the maneuver for a period of time. Greenmail is a corporate defense mechanism to buy back shares from shareholders attempting to control the firm. The practice has many critics but it can result to potential windfall for the company by protecting company shares from low takeovr bids and gives the firm the opportunity to restructure management. While benefiting the greenmailer, the company loses capital and other assets. This hamstrings its future growth potential. This means the shareholders lose as well in addition to impacting the supplier and customers economically linked to the company. Generally the companys existing management may remain in place but the employees usually see their ranks reduced. Courts in states such as Calfornia have favored shareholder lawsuits, based on the contention that greenmailer constituted a breach of fiduciary responsibility. Greenmail is arguably counter productive because once such a payment becomes public others may feign a takeover attempt. Greenmail is money paid by a company (or allied company or individual) to acquire its own shares of stock from a shareholder who is threatening to take control of, or unwanted influence over, the company. In the parlance of the financial community, strategies to prevent a takeover are called a Poison pill. This implies that the corporate raider will suffer if they try to swallow the target of the takeover. This involves a myriad of arcane changes in the details of corporate ownership structure, investment market rules, and may involve legal requirement in the jurisdiction where the company is incorporated. Individual states may pass protectionist laws that impose limits for launching formal bids, or obligations to seek shareholder approval for the buyback of its own shares, and in Federal tax treatment of greenmail gains have all made greenmail far less common since the early 1990s. Heckmann et al. v. Ahmanson trial in July 1989. This was one of the final cases involving the payment of greenmail. Greenmail is slang for targeted share repurchases transactions in which a company repurchases shares from specific holders, rather than on the open market. In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for companies to pay greenmail to large investors who were challenging corporate management and threatening a takeover of the firm. In this case, Disney had paid a premium price to repurchase shares accumulated by Saul Steinbergs Reliance Group. Working with attorney Michael Hennigan, I explained to the jury how this could damage Disneys other shareholders and to estimate the amount of the damage. Following my direct examination, as Arthur Liman was standing to begin his cross, the judge decided recess the trial early for the July 4th holiday. During the recess, the case settled. It was the only greenmail case in which plaintiffs received a cash settlement.

Major trends in corrections Essay Example for Free

Major trends in corrections Essay Functions of photography in police investigation: It can be to heal- using of photography, the investigator solved the crime by examining the photograph and identify who is the perpetrator. It can be to inform It can be to record- to record the crime scene itself and to record the evidence. It can be to influence It can be to entertain It can be to transform It can be to preserve- to preserve all the evidence that captured in the crime scene. Even though the crime scene is cleaned there are the photographs to be examined. It can be to decorate It can be to use- used in examining crime scene. And it is used as evidence. It can be to play 2010: The year of the correctional officerIn a year of tightened budges, officer furloughs, and increased media attention, officers stood strong.| By Barry EvertEvery year I am asked to write about the year prior. Quite honestly, I rarely agree to this because it usually has little training value. This year, though, I have made the exception. 2010 was a lot of things to a lot of people. Overall, probably, it was a rough year for most reading this. 2010 was not the year of the dragon, or the year of the dog; it was the year of the Correctional Officer.Budget cuts was the song sung from high at almost every capitol building in the country. Politicians proudly paraded themselves as the saviors of the economy as they slashed public safety budgets to new lows. At the same time new spending programs were put into place for everything from the protection of tree frogs to building bridges to nowhere. At the bottom of this pile was corrections. Many police agencies were able to scream loudly enough to get enough funding to keep their departments running, albeit barely. When Corrections agencies made the same call, we were largely ignored. Many states implemented a â€Å"furlough† program, or something similar, that cut the salaries of the lowest paid employees. On top of this, training was cut to an all time low, while the hiring of new officers was frozen. Simple math tells us that it was also time for a whole generation of officers to retire. They have yet to be replaced, so mandatory overtime is the norm. During the build-up of the popularity of crack cocaine in the early 80’s, crime rose to an all time high. Incarceration rates shot through the roof at the same time. This, along with tougher sentencing laws, led to a wave of prison building and hiring. By the early 90’s, most departments had outgrown themselves, and were desperately hiring as many people as they could. Those officers are now due to retire. Few states took this into consideration, so as we entered this year under budget cuts, we were expected to do more with less much less.So was 2010 a loss? Not exactly. Through all of this, the community has learned an important lesson if they choose to look. In almost any other profession, these reductions in pay, along with an increase in danger at the working environment, would have led to catastrophic work stoppages, or large scale protests. But no one walked away from their duties. No one went on strike. And to the best of my knowledge, there were only a few small scale protests by officers. At the end of the day, feeling underappreciated and underpaid, correctional officers punch the clock after protecting society from those they have incarcerated. With many of the resources cut or gone, we went about our business and did our job. Yes, some mistakes were made. Many were due to a lack of resources or just plain tired officers making mistakes. With fewer resources in place, and with less staff, the average officer worked even harder than usual, and did so at a discounted salary.No walk-outs, no â€Å"blue flu,† no rebellion. I would never have expected less from us as a group, but others are starting to take note. People who have never dealt with corrections are starting to understand our predicament. It was not because we sat on the floor and threw a temper tantrum about our working conditions, but it was through our continued dedication to the safety of the public, regardless of what was thrown at us, that people are starting to take note of us. 2010 was the year of the Correctional Professional. I have never been prouder to be part of a group of people than I am today. I realized this about 6 months ago when I overheard several officers talking. The officers were discussing a major union conference that had just taken place. During this conference, the possibility of striking had come up. It was decided at this conference that the membership of this union could vote to strike if they felt it necessary. The officers were discussing the possibility of a strike. By the time the 5 minute conversation was over, all of the officers walked away agreeing that there was no way they would ever strike, even if it was legal to do so. The reasons ranged from not wanting to leave their brothers and sisters behind, to feeling that they were officers first, union members second. Do you think this conversation would have been the same had it been on the floor of a factory?This sentiment quickly spread throughout the state, and it was made clear to this union that striking is not now, and never will be an option; it would be better to resign. This came out of the mouths of officers who, like me, had suffered a 15% pay reduction, an increase in their medical payments, and an increase in retirement contributions. Many officers have lost their homes, or have had members in their family, or themselves, take on another job. Through it all they are still dedicated.This is why this has been the year of the Correctional Officer. Although this has been a tough year, and things are not looking any better for next year, people on the outside are getting to see us for who we really are. How many times have we said: â€Å"If people only knew what we went through.† The people are listening, so speak wisely and keep your head up. Don’t ever forget why you wear that uniform, and continue to be the proud, dedicated officers we know you can be.So I raise my glass as we pass through the last part of this year, to all of those we lost this year. To all of our brothers and sisters who have made the ultimate sacrifice: You are not forgotten. To all of us who continue to protect, I say: Bravo! The people are finally starting to listen. Make sure you are saying the right things.Be safe out there folks, and party sanely.

A Synthesis of Sildenafil

A Synthesis of Sildenafil For many reasons, this route was assumed suboptimal as a commercial manufacturing for example; it is linear with nine steps, sulphonyl chloride, which is one of the toxic substances produced from this route is in the final bond-forming reaction. Final material required a lot of recrystallizations to reduce the toxic impurities to appropriately low levels in order to produce the high quality of drug required by pharmaceutical company. Due to competing hydrolysis through the increased quenched times on scale-up chlorosulphonation in chemical development; the difficulties of scaling-up reactions are well-known. In this route, 2-pentanone and diethyl oxalate are condensed to give the diketoester 1. Then, cyclizating the diketoester by hydrazine produces pyrazole 2 which methylated with selective to give pyrazole3. Hydrolysing the reaction generated the acid 4, then convert acid to the amide by nitration to give nitropyrazole 5, which is common intermediate in all synthetic routes. Reduction of 5 with tin (II) chloride dehydrate to give the amine 6 which is by 2-ethoxybenzoyl chloride was acylated to produce diamide 7. The later was cyclized using aqueous sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide to result in 8 pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one. Sildenafil was produced by selective chlorosulfonation and reaction with N-methylpiperazine.(6) Optimization of the cyclization reaction to make the pyrimidinone was the key finding during the development of the medicinal chemistry route, which impacted on the programme as a whole. Cyclization of compound 4 was done by sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, which are an aqueous alcoholic solution and lead to moderate yield (30-70%). The hydrolysis of the carboxamide to give the acid either in the presence or absence of the hydrogen peroxide was the main side product from the medicinal reaction. To avoid the hydrolysis side product, cyclization was conducted under anhydrous conditions, KOtBu/ButOH and the reaction continued in 100% product without detected impurities. By considering reordering the steps, the clean cyclization was the final bond-forming reaction. (1) Modification of the medicinal route: A lot of modifications were applied into medicinal chemistry route, which was used at the beginning of the project to prepare fifty kilograms and support supply for the four years. (6) For early scale-up, the tin (II) chloride reduction was removed. Tin is major environmental polluter and a heavy metal. It was replaced with a catalytic hydrogenation. At the early age of the sildenafil production, a tin chloride reduction was employed because the hydrogenation reduction was not in operation. The reason for inefficient of the hydrogenation was a presence of trace levels of sulfur impurities which poison the hydrogenation reaction. Switching to stoichiometric thionyl chloride is one example that controlled sulfur impurities and allows the reliability of the catalytic hydrogenation reaction. Using a hydrogenation, there are options for solvent and catalyst recovery and water is the only by-product. (5) Hydrogen peroxide was used in cyclization method to convert 7 to 8, but it causes skin burns. Furthermore, in contact with organic materials, it is a fire and transportation hazardous. Then, it was replaced with KOtBu/ButOH. Rather than using oxalyl chloride, thionyl chloride is used to prepare 2-ethoxybenzoyl chloride which eliminates exposure to carbon monoxide emissions by workers. (5) Through formation of pyrazole 3 which is an exothermic reaction, a solvent was introduced. Moreover, for 5 preparations, toluene was introduced as a solvent which reduces the level of thionyl chloride from 1.6 to 1.8 equivalents. (6) Sildenafil Citrate Sildenafil Commercial Route: Selection: The target from Sildenafil citrate was for treatment of angina when entered development. But the clinical results were failed. Pfizer made a trial with 12 patients tolerate from male erectile dysfunction in 1994. The results showed improvements in the problems of 10 patients. As a consequence, sildenafil citrate development became one of the highest priorities in the Pfizer portfolio (6). There are many advantages of commercial route over the optimized medicinal one, for example; The synthesis was redesigned to make convergence. The final bond forming step is the clean cyclisation reaction and at the start of the synthesis, the potentially toxic materials occur. Large volumes of aqueous acidic waste require an increased level of hydrolysis and neutralization through a larger scale is an example of environmental and scale-up issues associated with chlorosulphonation reaction. In order to reduce these issues, they are placed at the start of the synthesis. Hence, low molecular weight and cheaper materials are used. (5). DEVELOPMENT: Sulfonamide preparation: Through pyrazole 5, many routes of synthesis proceeded. Using chlorosulfonic acid, 2-ethoxybenzoic acid is Chlorosulfonated by using 1 mol of thionyl chloride to convert the intermediate sulfonic acid to the sulfonyl chloride. Due to low melting point of 2-ethoxybenzoic acid (19-20 C) mp, low molecular volumes of chlorosulfonic acid and thionyl chloride are used and hence no solubilisation. Initially, the sulfonamide 9 was isolated as unusual double salt 10 which is insoluble and difficult to use. Moreover, in order to obtain the double salt to crystallize, the sulphonyl chloride should be dry which lead to a lot of acidic, corrosive fumes in a pilot plant scale. Then, it was discovered that 9 can be isolated as its highly crystalline zwitterions by treatment the double salt with water to dissociate and produce a new form of free crystalline amino acids 8. For efficiency, the sulfonyl chloride was converted to sulfonamide 9 by resuspended in water and reaction with N-methylpiperazine. At the end of the reaction, by the addition of aqueous sodium hydroxide, the pH was adjusted to the isoelectric point and the precipitated compound 8 collected by filtration. As a result, during sulfonamide preparation, no organic solvents are used. Hydrogenation and coupling reaction: In medicinal chemistry, the tin (II) chloride reduction was replaced by a palladium catalyzed hydrogenation reaction to convert pyrazole 1 into the amide2. Toluene was introduced as a heat solvent which increased the safety of the process and reduced the levels of thionyl chloride to 1.2-1.6 equivalents. To convert the nytropyrazole (2) to the amine (3) heterogeneous hydrogenation in ethyl acetate was used. A number of reagents, including thionyl chloride, oxalyl chloride and N,N-cabonyldiimidazole (CDI) are used to examine the activation of the carboxylic acid. CDI costs around 8$/mol and provide such advantages for instances; high quality product, robust and clean chemistry. Furthermore, it provided a combination of the three reactions (hydrogenation, acid activation and acylation) into a single step, employed the ethyl acetate solvent with a simple recovery process and used low energy. In addition, VOC emissions were avoided such as (EtCl) that generated from the interaction of ethyl chloride with thionyl chloride or oxalyl chloride. Moreover, 90% chemical yield over three chemical reactions is produced and optimized to 96%. Cyclisation Reaction: The resulting product is heated for several hours and cyclised with 1.2 equivalents of potassium t-BuOH and t-BuOK. In order to minimize the environmental wastes, this process is run at high concentration (2.5-3.75L Kg-1). Water is added to dilute the reaction and the pH was adjusted with 4M HCl to the isoelectric point (7.5). Clinical very high quality yield of 95% sildenafil was obtained by filtration. Using 2-butanone citric acid, sildenafil was converted to sildenafil citrate to give a yield of 99 to 100%. Sildenafil History of Sildenafil: Initially Viagra was developed to treat angina (heart disease). In Morriston hospital, the drug was tried on men in 1991-1992. The clinical observation showed that the drug enhance penile erection more than treating angina. Pharmaceutical company, Pfizer commercialized the drug as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. In 1996, the drug was patented and approved on 27 March 1998 by FDA. It was the first approved drug for penile erection in the United States and the sales exceed 1$ billion in 1999-2001. The Pfizers patents on this drug will expire in 2011-2013. Dosage of Viagra: Viagra could be taken once per day as a dose between 25mg to 100mg between 30 min to 4 hours before sexual intercourse. Three dosages are available in market for this drug (25-50-100) mg with a cost of 10$ per pill for all dosages. http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Sildenafil Mode of action: Pharmacodynamics: Effects on Penile Erection: Sildenafil citrate is a selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) and was used for the treatment of the male erectile dysfunction (known as impotence). It is a wide spread condition that effects around 30 million patients in United States. Nitric oxide is released during sexual stimulation and permeates through corpus cavernosum membranes. Then, the enzyme guanylate cyclase is stimulated to enhance levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in the corpus cavernosum. cGMP has an effects on smooth muscle relaxation and increases blood flow lead to an erection of the penis. Level of PDE5 is high in the corpus cavernosum which hydrolyzes cGMP and leads to inactive GMP. Levels of cGMP in men with impotence are low and as a consequence PDE5 quickly hydrolyses these levels of cGMP. Now, the sildenafil acts by inhibiting the actions of PDE5 and increases the levels of cGMP which cause the erection. (6) figure involved Erection Nitric Oxide Guanylate Cyclase Sildenafil binds to PDE5 and blocks action GMP cGMP Effects on Visual Function: In patients taking sildenafil, it has been reported such visual abnormalities for example; increased blurred vision and perception of light. These effects usually happened with dose more that 100mg which is correlated to the weaker inhibition effects of sildenafil on PDE6 that regulates signal transduction pathways in the retinal receptors. (2) Cardiovascular Effects: Sidenafil has effects on blood pressures by producing transient reduction in systolic and diastolic at 1 hour after the dose. The clinical tests showed no observed effects on heart rate. Sildenafil effects are not age or dose dependent. (2) Clinical trials: The sildenafil was tested in vitro to study the inhibition of PDE5 in human blood platelets. The results showed the potency of sildenafil and it is a selective inhibitor of both c GMP PDEs. Also, a number of trials were carried on rabbit corpus cavernosum to examine the effect on the muscle. From the results, appear that sildenafil was potent in relaxing the corpus cavernosum. Furthermore, to evaluate smooth muscle relaxation, set of experiments were carried in rabbit isolated aortic rings. Sildenafil showed similar values in both denuded and endothelial intact aortic rings. (28) Side Effects from Clinical studies: Patients receiving Viagra showed similar adverse effects in all trials. Some studies showed more effects with increased dose. There were some adverse events reported when Viagra is taken in flexible dose for example; headache, rash, dizziness, diarrhea, urinary tract infection, flushing, dyspepsia and nasal congestion. http://www.rxlist.com/viagra-drug.htm Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism: The cytochrome P450 3A4 metabolizes sildenafil which changes to an active N-desmethyl metabolite that has the 50% activity of the drug for inhibiting PDE5. This metabolite has 40% plasma concentrations of sildenafil, therefore it possess 20% of the pharmacological effects of sildenafil. Terminal half-lives of sildenafil and its metabolite are 4 hours each. Sildenafil distributed into the tissues with a volume of 105 L and excreted in the feces as metabolites. In patients aged >65 years, plasma levels increased as well in patients suffered from hepatic impairment and renal impairment. (2) Viagra Plant: Pfizer Synthesis Facility, Ringaskiddy, Ireland Sildenafil citrate which is the active pharmaceutical ingredients for Viagra was manufactured by Pfizer at Ringaskiddy and the total output from Viagra sales was account for 15%. The facility covers 200 acres and composed of four production units with 500 people working there. OSP4 is the main plant at Ringaskiddy that increase production by 40% and started in 2001. Construction of the new synthetic plant (OSP4), a finished good building (FGB) and all other services were under responsibility of Project Management and Foster Wheeler. Plant started manufacturing in March 2001. Designing facility enable the OSP4 plant to produce primary bulk, batch pharmaceutical products at a reactor of 150,000 liters and six lines are at full scale. To increase service of OSP4, Pfizer was planning to build a third liquid waste incinerator. At the plant, the manufactured products are either bulk active or drug substances. For the bulk materials, they are sent in order to complete formulation and package for shipping. Production and plant facility: http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/pfizer/viagra/viagch4pg2.html For all drugs, initially they are produced in small a mounts for the investigation and in vitro analysis. Then, quantities are increased if the carried tests are successful to meet the needs for clinical trials and patients. For the first time, production of one kg of Viagra requires a series of eleven reactions with 23 kg of reagents and 139 liters of organic wastes. All preparations are carried in a microwave designed especially for organic chemistry. For scaling up the process, it has to be more efficient and result in fewer wastes. Currently, in Viagra production only 1.5 kg of reagents are used and release just 10 liters of wastes. The company aim to minimize the waste to 6 L per kilogram produced. Now, every year the demand is 45 tones for good quality Viagra in compared to 1998 where the l kg production was enough for people demands in 10 minutes. To scale up reaction, all starting materials were available commercially and used without purification. Using a microwave oven ETHOS 1600, synthesis was performed. In standard Pyrex glassware, all reactions were carried out with a reflux condenser. The reactions were performed by a program which made up of temperature monitoring and holding steps. Purity of the final product was measured using thin-layer chromatography and molecular weight was recorded by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. sealed vessels are used which controlled and monitored by computers to make the requir ed quantities of pure drug. Pipes are used to add the reagents into the vessel and the products are harvesting later on. Control panels are applied that allow the operator to make any required adjustments and monitoring the process. A microwave-transparent fluoroptic probe that inserted into the solutions was used to monitor the temperature of the stirred reactions mixture. To produce any pharmaceuticals, highest standards of hygiene are necessary and Laboratory should be clean and tidy. Misuse of Viagra in Asia: http://www.ergogenics.org/138.html (faked drug) According to World Health Organization (WHO), one of the most counterfeited drugs in Asia is Viagra which make a big business. Tourists in Thailand use fake Viagra which is bought over numerous pharmacies. Therefore serious health risks affected those tourists. Counterfeited medicines can impose the correct ingredients but fake package, or without active ingredients, wrong ingredients or with insufficient active ingredients. Fake Viagra made up of ingredients that enhance the bodys insulin production which can cause a danger drop in the concentrations of blood glucose. As a result lead to starving the energy of brain which in known as insulin shock syndrome. There is a widespread smuggling of fake and genuine Viagra in Thailand according to A Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unsurprisingly, Thailand is a centre for fake Viagra. Among young night-clubbers, Viagra is mixing with other party drug to increase the sexual desire. Viagra competitors: There were alternative medications prescribed for erectile dysfunction prior to the introduction of Viagra. Most of them are non-oral treatments. For example; the primary alternatives in the United States were vacuum constriction devices, penile injection therapy, penile prostheses, professional counseling and transurethral. Traditional remedies were used in other countries such as yohimbine. (4) Viagra Sales around the world: Firstly, after FDA granted approval of Viagra, it was sold in the United States. Nowadays more than fifty countries are selling Viagra in their pharmacies. On the U.S. market, one month after launch, the worth of sales was 400$ million which result from 300,000 Viagra prescriptions. Since then, 7$ per tablet was maintained by Pfizer. The average wholesale price is 8.75$ per pill in compare with other treatments such as; Caverject and Muse which priced at 20-30$ per pill. Furthermore, sales in most European countries began shortly in September 1998 after European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) granted European countries the registration for Viagra uses. In the United Kingdom, Sweden and republic of Ireland, the government Health System covers the purchases of Viagra for limited uses. Public awareness have been increased and focused on the safety issues in men taking Viagra and lead to limit the use of Viagra after reports over deaths and adverse effects that were sent to the FDA. U.S. and most other countries experienced prescription leveling off after information gained by people used the drug. Most of them were not actually suffer from erectile dysfunction. After drugs approval in the United States, Latin America launched the drug. Then, Viagra was available in a number of Asian countries, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. In 1999, Japan approved drugs uses after it accepted from other countries the clinical trials data for the first time. (4) Environmental Performance: In the medicinal route, there are a number of organic solvents included in the production of 1000 kg of drug substance and the volume of these solvents equal to 125,000 liters. These solvents are reduced to 13,500 liters in the commercial route. The solvents required in both routes are illustrated in figure 1. Organic wastes from medicinal route Organic wastes from commercial route For environmental assessment, the reduction of some solvents for example; chlorinated solvents and highly volatile solvents such as; methyl chloride, methanol, acetone and diethyl ether. Elimination of these solvents results in elimination of atmospheric emissions. T-butanol that has been used in the commercial route is completely water soluble and is difficult for reuse. In order to improve environmental performance, t-buanol is replaced by another solvent to facilitate recovery. The optimized process was developed in Ringaskiddy and will be used in the production plant which will give 4 l kg-1 of the final optimized solvent usage. (5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_economy Atom economy is the efficiency of conversion all reactants in a chemical process in a way of all atoms involved and no atoms are wasted. All starting materials equal to generated process, this represent an important concept in green chemistry. Reaction mass efficiency is a measure for the effect of yield and an increase of used reagents. Between 1994 and 1997 where the new commercial route was introduced, there was an improvement in the reaction mass efficiency and chemical yields. In contrast, the atom economy remained constants over time. Comparisons of these parameters between 1994 and 1997 is shown in figure Fig. Atom economy, chemical yield and RME at 1994, 1997 and the future target in the sildenafil citrate process. The aqueous and organic wastes are actually measured and from modeling process the atmospheric emissions are estimated. There was a large reduction in the aqueous waste when the commercial route was introduced into the production. Moreover, upon introduction of the commercial route, again there was a noticeable reduction in the organic wastes between 1994 and 1997. Due to the impact of introducing solvent recovery operations and reuse in the manufacturing process, a further large reduction occurred after 1997. These decreasing reflect the importance of eliminating wastes and controlling route selection. For the vapor emissions, there have been smaller diminish in the released amount. In addition, it was found there was 35% decrease in the estimated energy used between 1994 and 1997. There are two reasons behind smaller reduction in the vapor emissions and the used energy; firstly, in order to maximize the yield, there is a significant level of solvents stripping performed in the comm ercial process. Secondary, the chemistry team actively managed and followed such parameters for instance; organic, aqueous wastes and yield. On the other hand, they calculated retrospectively the emissions and energy. (5) Figure shows the comparisons between these wastes at various times. The E-factor is the total kilos of wastes per kilogram of product. In commercial route of Viagra production, the E-factor is 6 kg kg-1 which is less than the industry standard of (25-100) (6) Low volumes of the complicated chemical products and the E-factor of the commercial route for Viagra production generate fewer wastes per year. For all of the environmental awareness taken by Pfizer for the sildenafil citrate process, UK Award was granted to this company in 2003. (2) Patents: According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patent for Viagra by Pfizer will expire on March 27, 2012. Then, a cheap generic version of the blockbuster erectile dysfunction drug will be sold by any drug company. This will allow more competition between Pfizers Viagra and the new generic versions and more options with cheaper prices for patients. Pfizer has three options to stay in the Viagras market. Firstly, it can market itself as the main company for selling Viagra, taking into account there are over 25 million men used its version and they donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like to change. Secondary, it can apply for Viagra with FDA for OTC (over-the-counter). Finally, while producing an upgraded version of Viagra which will continue holding value of the patented product, it can license the original recipe to Viagra to other companies. http://www.accessrx.com/research/viagra-patent-expires.htm Alternative Routes to Sildenafil: There are more than 15 different routes have been reported in the chemical and patent literature to sildenafil. Pfizer examined two main alternatives during the development process either by synthesis sildenafil through the aldehyde 11 to produce dihydrosildenafil 12 then oxidize the product or by the halo derivatives for example 13 or 14. 52 % of sildenafil yielded from condensation between aldehyde and aminopyrazole to give dihydrosildenafil by adding an azeotropic distillation to remove the water by product. The yield can be increased to 95% as shown by some workers. (PATENT 22918) Aldehyde Amine Dihydrosildenafil Sildenafil Oxidation of dihydrosildenafil either by using sodium hydrogen sulphite (NaHSO3) or using small quantity of trifluoroacetic acid and Pd/C at high temperature generated a good yield of drug (patent WO 01-98303). Dihydrosildenafil Sildenafil Combination between a nucleophilic displacement reaction that uses ethanol as a solvent and a hindered alkoxide (KOBU) or ethoxide (EtOH) as a base and the cyclization reaction which uses a compound like halo derivatives is another potential synthesis for sildenafil. The combination reaction works for both cyclisation compounds, but by using a compound where (x= F) the yield from combination is 100%. The use of the chloro-series compound (x=cl) in the cyclisation reaction is better because of 2-chlorobenzoic acid is cheaper than 2-ethoxybenzoic acid. (Patent number EP 0994 115) Figure (13, 14, synthesis) Halo Derivatives X= Cl X= Fe, yield= 100% In the end, all of these alternative routes were put on hold due to the high efficiency of the commercial route and the time pressures of the development program. (6) (3) In the WO Patent (98284), amidine 10 or iminoether 11 can be used in order to build pyrimidine ring (sildenafil). By a Pinner reaction, the iminoether is made from the nitrile. Amidine is made by reaction of the nitrile with chloromethylaluminium amide which is synthesized from trimethyl aluminium (Me3Al) and ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) Nitrile Amidine Iminoether Sildenafil Intermediate 14 was prepared from reaction of the acid intermediate 13 with thionyl chloride (SOCl2) to give the lactone which then can be reacted with ammonia (NH3) and (EtOH) to produce the pyrazolopyrimidinone which is away to make sildenafil. Acid intermediate Lactone Sildenafil (Patent EP 1 002 798) sildenafil synthesis from intermediate (6), can be done by chlorosulphonate the intermediate 16 and before cyclisation the intermediate convert to the sulphonamide6. Sildenafil There are many patents activities in producing nonconvergent synthesis of sildinafil. Workers at the Torcan Company reduced Carbamate by (LiALH4) to sildenafil in ayield of 61%. ( Patent 2 235 642). Carbamate Sildenafil Also, sildenafil was synthesized from pyrazolopyrimidinone and the sulphamoyl chlorid (which is prepared by SO2Cl2 and N-methylpiperazine reaction) using Friedel-Craft reaction which requires ALCl3 by workers at the India Orchid company. (Patent EP 1 077 214) Pyrazolopyrimidine and sulphamoyl chloride Sildenafil Furthermore, workers in Cipla Company have synthesized sildenafil by double methylation of this intermediate by using formic acid and formaldehyde (CH2O) and (HCO2H) as the final step. (Patent WO Patent 01/ 19827) Sildenafil

Love :: essays research papers

Love   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is love? It seems to be a pretty simple word, but there is so much meaning behind it. Love is difficult to define, difficult to measure, and frequently difficult to understand. Love is what great writers write about; great philosophers wonder about; singers sing about. Love is a very powerful emotion. Love saves; love conquers; love creates. Love is passion that cannot be controlled. Both poems we have read, Waiting for Icarus and One Art, tell us how love alters human minds and hearts, making people in love struggle with the desire to remain in control of themselves and with the scary feeling of â€Å"losing themselves†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first poem, Waiting for Icarus, reveals the story of Icarus’ girlfriend waiting for her lover to come back after his dangerous flight. She is terribly worried about Icarus, and it is easy to see how much she misses her lover: â€Å"I have been waiting all day, or perhaps longer.† (20) As a true lover, Icarus’ girlfriend does not even notice time. She reminds me of the line from the poem â€Å"In Retrospect†, by Maya Angelou: â€Å"We, loving, above the whim of time, did not notice.† But when Icarus’ girlfriend is left alone, she starts remembering things other people have told her before:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å" I remember they said he only wanted to get away from me I remember mother saying: Inventors are like poets, a trashy lot I remember she told me those who try out inventors are worse I remember she added: Women who love such are the worst of all† (15-20) It is easy to see that despite her truthful love towards Icarus, she starts to struggle with the desire to remain in control of herself. She is afraid that life will become meaningless without Icarus. After spending a day without her lover, she only lives with the memory of her Icarus, his words, and his promises:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"He said that everything would be better than before   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He said we were on the edge of a new relation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (2-3) But she has found the way to stay in control of herself by deciding to â€Å"fly away† too. If he wants freedom, she will not spend her life in pain of knowing she cannot relive her memories or to replace her lover. Icarus’ girlfriend overcomes the scary feeling of loosing herself that love often generates by choosing freedom, by remaining in control of herself. She is no longer waiting for Icarus; she is a free woman: â€Å" I would have liked to try those wings myself.

Insulin-Dependent Diabetes :: Health Medicine Essays

Insulin-Dependent Diabetes ******REMINDER****** The information contained in the Rare Disease Database is provided for educational purposes only. It should not be used for diagnostic or treatment purposes. If you wish to obtain more information about this disorder, please contact your personal physician and/or the agencies listed in the "Resources" section of this report. Insulin-dependent Diabetes is a disorder in which the body does not produce enough insulin and is, therefore, unable to convert nutrients into the energy necessary for daily activity. The disorder affects females and males approximately equally. Although the causes of insulin- dependent diabetes are not known, genetic factors seem to play a role. Normally, sugars and starches (carbohydrates) in the foods we eat are processed by digestive juices into glucose. Glucose circulates in the blood as a major energy source for body functions. Its use is regulated primarily by insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas gland (located behind the stomach). In the person with diabetes, there is a malfunction in the production of insulin. There are two main types of diabetes: Type I or Insulin-Dependent and Type II or Noninsulin- Dependent. The insulin-dependent type of diabetes generally has onset during childhood or adolescence, though it can occur at any age. Because the pancreas supplies little or no insulin in this disease, daily injections of the hormone and a controlled diet are necessary to regulate blood sugar levels. Insulin is generally effective in preventing glucose buildup, but it is a treatment and not a cure for diabetes. The onset of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes begins with frequent urination, extreme thirst, constant hunger, and unexplained weight loss. Because people with Type I Diabetes lack sufficient insulin, glucose accumulates in the blood to levels too high for the kidneys to excrete. In an effort to remove the excess sugar, the kidneys excrete

Fantasys Integral Role In The Creation Of A Killer :: essays research papers fc

Fantasy's Integral Role In The Creation Of A Killer Through out history seldom has an individual been able to hold a city in fear. Most times people will just either ignore the individual, let the police handle the situation, or call them wacko or crazy. But then there are the extreme cases. On this end of the scale people may have extreme mental problems or very strong motives, so extreme or so strong that they captivate an entire city or even nation. Jack the Ripper did it by killing and murdering five prostitutes. In recent times it has been people like Charles Manson and the Boston Strangler, who assaulted and murdered thirteen women keeping the entire city captivated in a state of fear. Serial Killers... Fantasy plays a very important role in creating and or modeling a serial killer and it is shown through remorse, uniform and weather or not they have or follow a trademarked style. All of these elements combined expose the fantasy portrayed by a serial killer. Pain, does a serial killer have or feel pain for their victims? Sometimes the killer may depending on the psychological state they are in. But then regarding the fact most serial killers grow up in violent households one might say that the killer does not or even can't feel remorse because violence is what they were brought up in and to believe is true so it is what they have been conditioned to believe. Or you could take the approach that the killer feels they are being threatened by their victims so they had to be removed from the picture altogether. Or finally it might be the killer is so mentally unstable that they have very little to no consciences awareness of what they are doing. But what if they do feel sorrow? Can a serial killer feel sorrow? One researcher says no. "The inner workings of the mind of a serial killer cannot grasp the feeling of any kind of sorrow or remorse". Therefore a serial killer is hate manifested into a physical state and may or may not have motives to kill. Serial killers may be killing For many reasons weather it be for revenge or whatever but one thing remains as a standard among killers you have to be smart to stay alive. Once you have that intellect comes avoidance from the law and your capture. One of the best cases of a extremely intelligent killer was the case of the Zodiac Killer in California. His uniform was to kill couples parked in cars, by shooting through the window with a .

Malunggay Essay

Theoretical Framework The following theories provide framework of this research. This study was anchored on the Theory of Kramer (1995). â€Å"The Texture Measurements of Foods: Psychological Fundamental, Sensory, Mechanical, and Chemical Procedures, and their Interrelationships (1995),† that sensory quality of foods, being a psycho-physical phenomenon, should be systemized or classified accordance with the sense by which the various attributes of quality are perceived by the consumer. The following attributes are used to determine and measure the quality of a product: appearance, taste, texture and aroma. As positioned by the author appearance includes factors such as size, shape, color, and external attributes such as the attractiveness of the icon or logo. Size and shapes are measurements often used as grade standards or to differentiate between items. The assessment of size and shape is often a subjective process although, for many products, visual guide have been developed. Color is the primary indicatory of maturity is the result of the type and quan tity of pigments in the product. Changes in color are often related to freshness or deterioration of the product. Color can be measured by many visual or mechanical methods. On the other hand, taste is the perception of chemical compounds on the tongue and other nerve endings of the mouth. The basic tastes are sweet, sour, bitter, and astringent. Sweetness is directly related to sugars into the food and the sugar to acid ratio. Sourness is the result of the organic acids present. Compounds such as those in citrus fruits or coffee usually impart bitterness, where astringency is often the result of tannins such as the phenolic compounds in grapes (Kramer, 1995). Also, texture is â€Å"the composite of those properties which arise from the structural elements of a product, and the manner in which this composite registrars with the physiological sense† (Szczesniak, 2005). Most textural characteristics, except firmness are evaluated as mouth feels, i.e. the impression on the tongue, palate and teeth. In production , common textural characteristics include tenderness, crispiness, crunchiness, chewiness, and fibrousness. Texture is generally determined by measuring force applied to the food. Lastly, aroma is the sum of the compounds perceived by the nose. It is very difficult to determine objectively since it is a combination of qualitative predominant and quantitative traits in a food product. Fruits and vegetables are rich in  aromatic compounds; many of which are yet to be identified. Thus, in identifying the quality of the ordinary meat burger patties and the quality of the new product innovation which is the malunggay burger patty, the researchers used Kramer’s classification of quality to collect the raw data from the respondents. Another theory to support this study is the â€Å"Diffusion of Innovations Theory† by Thurber and Fahey (2009). This theory is used to describe well the evidence for growth and adoption of dietary Malunggay or Moringa oleifera and it highlights the need for a scientific consensus on the nutritional benefits. Diffusion is the process by which an innovat ion is communicated through curtain channels over time among the members of a social system. According to Thurber and Fahey (2009), the rate of adoption and possibilities of over adoption can be predicted using five characteristics of a new innovation. In order for Moringa oleifera to be adopted and for its wide spread use to be promoted, evidence must be provided for the following attributes: The first attribute is called Relative Advantage which is the extent to which an innovation is perceived as being better or more useful than the idea it supersedes. Then, it is followed by the Compatibility which means the measure of how well an innovation is consistent with existing social and cultural practices, if it is likeable, and whether it meets the need of potential adopters. On the other hand Complexity is the level to which the innovation is perceived to be difficult to understand or use. Another attribute is Observability which is used to describe how well the results of the innovation can be seen and communicated to others. And finally, Trialability which refers to the ability of an innovation to be experimented with. The Diffusion of Innovations Theory is used to determine the rate of adaptation of the Malunggay or Moringa oleifera. Using this theory, it will give accurate knowledge on the effectiveness and health benefits of Malunggay or Moringa oleifera shall be known. Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework of this research shall focus on the independent variables such as the respondent’s age, gender and grade level. Likewise, the dependent variables of the study are the respondent’s evaluation regarding the product in terms of appearance, taste, texture and aroma. Once these dimensions are known, a proposed Food Feeding Program shall be formulated.