The Biomass Power Plants Environmental Sciences Essay

The Biomass Power Plants Environmental Sciences Essay Biomass is claimed to be the fourth largest energy resource in the world after oil, coal and gas and biomass power plants are becoming one of the most promising alternatives to the established power generation technologies based on fossil fuels. Biomass is defined as any organic material derived from plants, available on a sustainable basis. Generally identified as feedstocks, these materials include: wood, from forestry trimmings or wood processing systems; energy crops, which are crops grown exclusively for energy purposes; agricultural residues; municipal waste such as waste paper, cardboard or food waste; and also animal waste from farms and animal processing industries. The production of electricity from biomass is described as a carbon neutral technology because the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when plant material is burnt or decomposed during the electricity generation process, is then absorbed again by new growing plant material. This process maintains the atmospheric CO2 levels and is known as carbon cycle. There are currently two main processes used in power plants for the production of electricity from biomass: and they are direct combustion and gasification [2]. Direct combustion is essentially the incineration of dry biomass in the presence of air to produce heat. Gasification is the thermo-chemical transformation of biomass into a combustible gas which is called syngas (synthesis gas) and is a combination of principally carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This process occurs at high temperature (700Â °C to 1000Â °C) in the presence of a limited amount of oxygen [3]. The heat produced by direct biomass combustion can be used to generate electricity using a steam turbine in the same way as in a coal-fired power plant. The biomass material is collected, taken to the power station and then burnt in the boiler. The heat from burning the biomass is used to boil water which generates steam that rotates the turbines. The turbines are connected to generators where the mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. Plants designed for working just with biomass are called dedicated biomass power plants. However, biomass combustion can be combined with coal combustion in existing coal-fired power plants. This process is called co-firing and is one of the most profitable ways of transforming biomass into electricity because it makes use of the infrastructure of the coal plant and therefore it reduces the total investment. Co-firing power plants can be designed under three concepts: direct, where biomass and coal are mixed and burnt in the same boiler; indirect, where biomass is first gasified before the combustion with coal in the boiler; or parallel, where biomass and coal are burnt in separate boilers and the processes are connected on the steam side [4]. In efficiency calculations, the scale of operation is a very important factor. In systems producing from 10MW to 50 MW, the efficiency is in the range of 18% to 33% [5]. The maximum efficiencies could reach about 45% in large scale plants producing more than 100 MW [6][7]. In co-firing plants, efficiency of 39% can be reached [8]. Biomass gasification process can be couple with a conventional combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant to produce electricity. Biomass feedstock is first dried and then injected into the gasifier. The resulting biogas is purified in a cleaning system and from there the procedure is the same as in a natural gas power plant [9]. To produce from 10 kW to 10 MW, biogas produced in the gasification process can also be used in combustion engines with efficiency of 30% 35% [10]. At larger scales (>20 MW), where gasification-based systems are coupled with combined cycle gas turbines the efficiency increases up to about 45% [11]. There are two others processes which can be used to produce electricity from biomass but they are not commercially developed: pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion. Pyrolysis is a thermo-chemical decomposition of organic material at high temperatures (325Â °C to 500Â °C) similar to gasification but in this case there is no presence of oxygen. This process generates combustible gas and liquid products that could be used in power generation units or upgraded to transport fuel [12]. A carbon-rich residue called biochar is also produced from pyrolysis, and one of the important aspects of biochar is that it is a natural fertiliser that can be used to improve soils quality, which can potentially increase energy crop productivity. The second one, anaerobic digestion, is a natural biochemical process in which the biomass material is broken down by microorganisms in a environment with no air, to produce biogas, which is mainly a mixture of around 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide. This process can be applied to wet biomass, municipal or animal waste to produce power generation on site [13]. There are a number of technologies that support the different methods for converting biomass material into electricity, which include: drying, pelletisation, briquetting, cleaning and lately carbon capture and storage. Drying is fundamental because in order to increase the energy density of biomass feedstocks, their moisture content needs to be reduced ( Pelletisation and briquetting are technologies to compact feedstocks mechanically, very useful for their transportation and management. Pelletisation is used for example to compress low quality wood, and agricultural residues are compacted through briquetting process [14]. The gas obtained from gasification contains impurities and particulates that need to be removed before using it in power plants, because these contaminants can cause erosion and corrosion in the gas turbine components, and decrease the strength of the system. Conventional methods for removing contaminants from biogas are typically based on physical cleaning processes at low temperatures ( Combining biomass power plants with carbon capture and storage processes (BECCS) to provide negatives emissions [15] is a new approach. When the CO2 emitted during biomass electricity generation is captured and stored, new growing plant material will absorb CO2 from the atmosphere reducing the current high level concentrations. The key advantage of power generation from biomass is that it is based on a CO2 neutral process and it can be a clean and reliable power source if sufficient feedstocks are available. It is also a way to utilise waste materials that otherwise would represent environmental risks. Biomass electricity deployment has also a significant social and economic impact because it can create employment in the agricultural and forestry sector, benefiting rural communities and in general developing countries which economies are based on agriculture [16]. The expansion of biomass power generation faces several challenges such as high costs, low conversion efficiency and availability of biomass material [17]. As any new technology, biomass power generation currently requires financial support which make it less commercially competitive compared to fossil fuel based electricity. Biomass electricity production will depend also on technology improvements in order to increase efficiencies at small and large scale. Major concerns are associated to biomass production (intensive farming, biodiversity conservation) and competition for land with food production. Energy from biomass has been used since fire was discovered from the combustion of wood, and before the industrial revolution wood was used for all of our energy needs. However In 1890 coal began to displace wood used in steam power generation. During the 1980s decades, high prices of oil and the instability caused by the dependence on foreign fossil fuels created new interest in biomass energy in several countries, especially in North America. A large biomass power industry rapidly developed in California, who had 850 MW of installed biomass power capacity by 1985. Due to concerns about greenhouse gases emissions and global warming, governments took a greater interest in using biomass as a renewable and clean alternative to produce electricity. Currently most biomass electricity generation is based on direct combustion in dedicated and co-firing steam power plants. Electricity supply from biomass has augmented gradually since 2000, and in 2010 biomass provided 1.5% of world electricity production approximately. Although biomass power generation is still stronger in developed countries, China and Brazil are also becoming important electricity producers in particular from agricultural residues thanks to support programmes. The models established in these China and Brazil could become a viable way to encourage electricity generation from biomass in other developing countries with similar conditions [18]. According to the International Energy Agency [19], world electricity generation from biomass will multiply by more than 10 times from around 280 TWh in 2010 to 3100 TWh in 2050 and could provide around 7.5% of world electricity generation. China will become the major producer of bioenergy electricity with 920 TWh, above OECD Americas (520 TWh) and OEDC Europe (370 TWh) which will also increase their generation levels.

Death Of A Salesman Essay example -- essays research papers

Tragedy was a very controversial issue in literature until recent years. Recent figures in literature have set a clear definition for tragedy. Author Miller is one of these figures. Plays and novels have distinguished the definition of tragedy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary tragedy is a serious piece of literature typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that excites pity or terror. Miller’s explains that a tragic hero does not always have to be a monarch or a man of a higher status. A tragic hero can be a common person. A tragedy does not always have to end pessimistically; it could have an optimistic ending. The play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, is a tragedy because it’s hero, Willy Loman, is a tragic figure that faces a superior source, being the American dream and the struggle for success. Loman also excites pity in the reader because of his defeat and his in ability to become a success or teach his children how to make their lives successful. Miller defines a flaw as â€Å"an inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what one conceives to be a challenge to one’s dignity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Loman fulfills many of the requirements of being a tragic hero. Willy is not â€Å"flawless† in his actions, which by Miller’s standards make him a tragic hero. It is not wrong for Willy to have flaws and it does not make him a weaker man but a tragic figure. Miller designed the play so that Willy could be a tragic hero and for this he needs to have a flaw. Willy’s flaw is that he is unable to see things in a more realistic perspective. Charley says something in the play that sums up Willy’s whole life. He asks him, "When the hell are you going to grow up?" Willy’s spends his entire life in an illusion. He sees himself as a great man that is popular and successful. Willy exhibits many childlike qualities. Many of these qualities have an impact on his family. His two sons Biff and Happy pick up this behavior from their father. He is idealistic, stubborn, and he has a false sense of his importance in the world. The extreme to which he followed the dream brought him to disillusionment and a loose sense of reality. Willy created a reality for himself where he "knocked 'em cold in Providence," and "slaughtered 'em in Boston."(p.33) â€Å"Five hundred gr... ...nderstands. Willy could have still been successful if he was able to see the flaws in his ways and teach Biff the right way to be a success, which is in hard work. If Willy had not killed himself and taught Biff that working hard at anything would make his successful then Biff may have reached success for himself and make Willy a successful father as well. The reader must look at Willy’s suicide through Willy’s eyes. He killed himself in order to give Biff a better shot at being a success. Willy doesn’t understand that killing himself is wrong and he is not looking for any pity. Willy has sacrificed his own life so that Biff could have a better life. This truly does make him a tragic hero. Willy Loman is a tragic figure in the play Death of a Salesman. Willy faces a superior source in the play and puts his life on the line for his beliefs and the beliefs of others. He meets the requirements of Miller’s article for a tragic hero. Death of a Salesman also meets Miller’s requirements for a tragic play because of Willy’s role in the novel along with the other standards that Miller sets for a tragedy. The exploration of tragedy by people such as Miller helps to define it more clearly.

Gas Price Elasticity Essay -- essays research papers

Gas Price Elasticity The Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy began tracking weekly gasoline prices in 1990 by means of a survey of 800 service stations around the country. The average retail price for unleaded gasoline posted its fourth record high during the week of June 12, 2000, increasing 5 cents a gallon to an average of $1.681. The price at the pump is higher than the same period last year by 56 cents and has risen 16.2 cents over the past month (Anonymous, 2000). How far will it rise? What will consumers do about the dramatic increases that are occurring with the arrival of each shipment? Price elasticity of demand would indicate that demand will fall as prices continue to rise, which in turn should result in a reduction of prices and a subsequent increase in demand. Such may prove to be the case, but the scenario is an unlikely one. Prices have increased all over the country, but price increases in the Midwest have been even more dramatic than in other areas. Across the region, prices are averaging $1.874 for a gallon of unleaded, but that same product is well over $2 a gallon in many of the cities of the Midwest. Higher grades average $2.003 across the region, marking the first time that average prices have been so high in a specific region of the country (Anonymous, 2000). There is so much concern over the rising prices that apparently are continuing to rise without abatement that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has "opened a formal investigation into soaring gasoline prices in some areas of the Midwest and will begin issuing subpoenas to oil companies by the end of the week" (Hebert, 2000; p. aol). Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. believes that the oil companies will reduce prices right away once the subpoenas begin to appear, and the country's vice president has mentioned that collusion may be behind the oil companies' huge profits this year (Hebert, 2000). The summer driving season always brings higher prices in response to heightened demand, but never to the extent seen this year. Of course the final cost of gasoline at the pump is affected by the price of a barrel of crude, but to a lesser extent than oil producers would have consumers believe. The price of crude accounts for only 30 percent of the final cost to the consumer (Brodrick, 2000a). In 1981, the cost of crude accounted for 62 percent of the final c... ...evert to normal levels following the world oil shortage in the 1970s, but of course that never happened. Because the government controls more than 37 percent of the final cost, only 63 percent of the cost is open to being affected by market forces. Gas is a low elasticity product for the reasons discussed above; the wonder is that it does not cost even more at the pump. References Anonymous (2000). Economics 52 - Using Price Elasticities to Forecast Prices. At http://nimbus.temple.edu/~glady/GasPrice.html. Anonymous (2000, June 19). Record Gasoline Prices for Fourth Week in a Row. Reuters at www.aol.com. Anonymous (2000). The Strategic Petroleum Reserve. US Department of Energy, Fossil Energy at http://www.fe.doe.gov/spr/spr.html. Brodrick, Cynthia E. (2000, February 15). How do gas costs affect consumers? At http://aol.thewhiz.com/2000/02/000215d.asp. Brodrick, Cynthia E. (2000a, February 15). The cost of a gallon of gas. At http://aol.thewhiz.com/2000/02/000215b.asp. Georgy, Michael (2000, June 20). OPEC Prepares To Raise Oil Exports Again. Reuters at www.aol.com. Hebert, H. Josef (2000, June 20). FTC Opens Gas Price Investigation. The Associated Press at www.aol.com.

Defies Reason through Faith Essay -- Essays Papers

Defies Reason through Faith St. Anthony was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1195 A.D. He wanted to live his life above himself as to give meaning to his own life. St. Anthony chose to become a member of the Congregation of Canons Regular of St. Augustine at the age of fifteen. At the congregation, he dedicated his life to the practice of piety in the Monastery at Coimbra. While in the congregation, some of his fellow friars went to Morocco to preach the Gospel of Christ. In Morocco, the friars were brutally tortured for their faith. Christian merchants consummated in recovering the friars’ remains and returned in mastery back to Coimbra. When they returned, St. Anthony was seized with an unwavering desire to suffer martyrdom in a like manner. St. Anthony then desired to be sent to the missions in Africa, and his request was fulfilled. After setting foot on African land he was stricken with a grave illness. Although he recovered from the illness, he was still too weak to go on with his missions. After retirin g to the will of God, he boarded a boat back to Portugal. But, a storm drove him to the coast of Sicily, where he joined a group of friars in Italy. Following his mission work in Italy, he then died in 1231 in Vercelli. During St. Anthony’s lifetime, he performed many miracles and several acts of God. One of these miracles included the resurrection of a fallen man and child. An act of God included the loss of his manuscript and praying to God for its return, and another act was proving to a man the truth of the sacrament by using his horse. Through miracles and acts of God, St. Anthony of Padua defies reason through faith.1 2 One of the miracles that St. Anthony performed was bringing a young man back to life. The young man... ... 6 Stoddard, Charles W., The Wonder-Worker of Padua (Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1971), 56-57. 7 Habig, Marion A., Everyman's saint: Life, Cult, and Virtues of St. Anthony of Padua (Paterson: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1954) 23-24. Bibliography - Cherance, Father Leopold De. St. Anthony of Padua New York: Burns & Oates, Limited, 1895. - Habig, Marion A. Everyman's saint: Life, Cult, and Virtues of St. Anthony of Padua. Patterson: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1954. - "St. Anthony." 26 January 1997. 25 October 1999 http://www.jump.net/~stanthony/tonylife.html>. - Stoddard, Charles W. The Wonder-Worker of Padua Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1971. - "The Life of St. Anthony of Padua." 25 October 1999 http://www.stanthonyshrine.org/St_Anthony.html>

Bullying speech Essay

What does it feel like to wake up in the morning and look forward to a day of teasing and name calling? What does it feel like to be engulfed in a world of negativity? Bullying†¦ Unwanted and aggressive behavior among school aged children involving real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying is no man’s best friend and it shouldn’t be. We see it all around us in our daily lives. All across the United States, this form of victimization has become an infamous trend among scholars. About 3 million out of America’s 21 million students are affected by bullying. That is about 1 student in every 7 students! Numerous people have different perspectives on what bullying is. Some think it means physical hurting while others think it is only emotional hurting. All of these are correct due to the fact that there are different ways one can be bullied. Bullying is unwanted and repeated behavior among students which includes Physical, Verbal, Indirect, social Alienation, In timidation and Cyber Bullying. see more:speeches on bullying Physical bullying is a serious problem it is when one person or a group of people picks on or harasses another person in a face to face confrontational manner. Verbal bullying is the most common form but it is just as bad as the other types. It is when an individual uses verbal language (e.g., insults, teasing, etc.) to gain power over his or her peers. Social Alienation is one type of bullying whereby exclusion is occurring between students due to social differences. The devastating part about this form is that it is not easily recognized as a form of bullying. Intimidation is the acts of making someone feel fearful by using threats. Last but not least, Cyber bullying which happens when kids bully each other through electronic devices. Over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet. With the increase in our use of technology, this form of bullying is increasing to higher rates. How can you stop this from happening? How can we put an end to bullying? It’s simple. The best way is NOT ignoring it whenever you see it going on. STEP UP! And be an advocate for your fellow peers that are hurting. Bulling is BAD! And it is up to YOU if you would let it happen when  you see it going on or stop it. experience

Consumer Behavior Essay

This section describes the roles of product appearance in the process of consumer evaluation and choice. For this aim, literature in the fields of product development, product design, consumer behavior, marketing, and human factors has been searched. The literature shows that the visual appearance of a product can influence consumer product evaluations and choice in several ways. Several authors considered the role of product or package appearance in consumer product evaluation or choice (Bloch, 1995; Garber, 1995; Garber et al. , 2000; Veryzer, 1993; Veryzer, 1995). However, they did not discuss explicitly the different ways in which appearance influences consumer choice and their respective implications for product design. In addition to these more recent contributions to the literature, the functions of a product in consumer–product interaction are described in earlier industrial design literature (Lo? bach, 1976; Pilditch, 1976; Schu? rer, 1971). Several of these functions concern product appearance. There are differences between authors in the number of roles (i. e. , functions) of product appearance they distinguish and the terms they use. For example, communication of ease of use was mentioned by Bloch (1995) and was described as part of the aesthetic function by Lo? bach (1976), while Veryzer (1995) called it the communicative function of a product appearance. If all the roles mentioned in the literature are considered as a whole, the following six roles of product appearance for consumers can be distinguished: (1) communication of aesthetic, (2) symbolic, (3) functional, and (4) ergonomic product information; (5) attention drawing; and (6) categorization. A description of these six roles and their implications for product design follows. Product Appearance and Aesthetic Product Value The aesthetic value of a product pertains to the pleasure derived from seeing the product, without consideration of utility (Holbrook, 1980). A consumer can value the ‘‘look’’ of a product purely for its own sake, as looking at something beautiful is rewarding in itself. When product alternatives are similar in functioning and price, consumers will prefer the one that appeals the most to them aesthetically (see, for example, Figure 1). Aesthetic responses are primarily emotional or feeling responses, and as such they are very personal (Bamossy et al. , 1983). Several researchers have tried to determine properties of products that are related to aesthetic appreciation. Innate preferences are proposed for visual organization principles, such as unity (i. e. , congruence in elements), proportion (e. g. , ‘‘the Golden Section’’), and symmetry (Hekkert, 1995; Muller, 2001; Veryzer, 1993; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998), and an inverted U-shaped relation is proposed between aestheticpreference and complexity (Berlyne, 1971). Another property influencing aesthetic judgments is color. The desirability of a color will change according to the object to which it is applied (e. g. , a car or a table) and with the style of the object (e. g. , modern or Georgian) (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In addition to (innate) preferences for certain properties of stimuli, prototypicality is found to influence the aesthetic response. Proto typicality is the degree to which something is representative of a category (see also the section about categorization). In several studies, evidence is found for a positive influence of visual prototypicality on aesthetic preference (Hekkert, 1995; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998; Whitfield and Slatter, 1979). According to Hekkert et al. (2003), products with an optimal combination of prototypicality and novelty are preferred aesthetically. As well as the product-related characteristics previously mentioned, there are cultural, social, and personal influences on design taste. For example, color preferences differ between cultures and in time (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In addition, personal factors, such as design acumen, prior experience, and personality influence the design taste of consumers (Bloch, 1995). The influence of an aesthetic judgment on product preference can be moderated by the perceived aesthetic fit of the product with other products the consumer owns, or his or her home interior (Bloch, 1995). Product Appearance and Symbolic Product Value Consumer goods carry and communicate symbolic meaning (McCracken, 1986). Symbolic value even can be the key determinant for product selection (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982) and can account for the selection of products that clearly are inferior in their tangible characteristics (Levy, 1959). An example of the latter is Philippe Starck’s Juicy Salif lemon squeezer (Lloyd and Snelders, 2003). The choice for a specific product or brand may convey the kind of person someone is or wants to be; consumers use products to express their (ideal) self-image to themselves and to others (Belk, 1988; Landon, 1974; Sirgy, 1982; Solomon, 1983). Symbolic meaning can be attached to a product or brand on the basis of, among other things, advertising (McCracken, 1986), country of origin, or the kind of people using it (Sirgy, 1982). But the productitself also can communicate symbolic value in a more direct way, namely by its appearance. A product’s appearance communicates messages (Murdoch and Flurscheim, 1983), as it may look cheerful, boring, friendly, expensive, rude, or childish (see, for example, Figure 2). In addition, a certain style of appearance may evoke associations with a certain time or place (e. g. , the Fifties). Furthermore, the product or package appearance can reinforce the image of a brand, as the identity of a brand is expressed visually in the appearance of products (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Consumers may attach the meaning of a brand to elements of the physical appearance of products. In this way, a brand image may transfer to different kinds of products (see the section about categorization). Many companies therefore make consistent use of certain design elements, such as a color combination, a distinctive form element, or style. For example, car manufacturers often try to keep different car models recognizable as belonging to the same brand. The distinctive radiator grill of BMW automobiles is an example of a recognizable design element. The linking of brand meaning to elements of the product appearance will be easier when the associations these elements engender by themselves (e. g. , because they are innate or are determined by culture) correspond to the desired brand image. For example, use of bright colors and a large size, which is associated with aggression (Murdoch and Flurscheim, 1983), will make it easier to position a car brand as aggressive. Although there are large individual and time-specific differences in the experience of color and form, there are certain associations that seem to be relatively constant. Overviews of the influence of form and color on consumer perception of symbolic value (but also ergonomic and aesthetic value) can be found in Muller (2001), Murdoch and Flurscheim (1983), Schmitt and Simonson (1997), and Whitfield and Wiltshire (1983). For example, angular forms are associated with dynamism and masculinity, while roundness evokes softness and femininity (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Culture is an important determinant of the interpretations that consumers give and the associations they have with certain factors of a product’s appearance. For example, color associations vary from culture to culture (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In America and Europe, the color white stands for purity, and brides traditionally dress in white; in Japan itis a color of mourning. Furthermore, meaning is context dependent. The impression that colors give may change completely by combining certain colors (Muller, 2001). Also, the meaning of forms and colors may change in time, as meanings are continuously transformed by movements in art, fashion, etcetera (Muller, 2001). There is some debate about whether symbolic interpretation is part of the aesthetic experience. In most literature, aesthetic value is mentioned as botha hedonic impression and a result of interpretation and representation (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997; Vihma, 1995). It is acknowledged in this article that whether a product is conceived of as beautiful is affected by what it represents (Vihma, 1995). The same style can be considered ‘‘good taste’’ at one point in time, while being considered ‘‘bad taste’’ 10 years later, because the connotations associated with it or the interpretations given to it have changed. For example, orange was a modern color for clothes, furniture, and plastic products in the Seventies, generally was perceived as old-fashioned and ugly in the Eighties, and became used in products and clothing again in the Nineties. However, the view in this article is that aesthetic and symbolic value should be distinguished, as they may have opposite influences on preference. For example, someone who likes a colorful design may not buy it because it looks ‘‘too childish. ’’ Product Appearance and Functional Product Value

Learning by Degrees Essay

I don’t recommend the article â€Å"Learning by Degrees† by Rebecca Mead, which questions the belief that goes against attending college to be successful in the modern society, should be published in the next upcoming issue of The Shorthorn. The article was written for an entirely different audience than The Shorthorn’s daily regular readers. Even though the article has powerful logos and ethos appeals, I would think readers from the Shorthorn wouldn’t find the topic of the article fascinating at all and wouldn’t even put up with reading the article in the first place. Also, another factor that fails to be an article that the Shorthorn’s readers would find interesting is that it lacks a claim that fails to make a case for going towards a career path immediately or obtaining a college degree first. Through my analysis on this article, I’ve provided several reasons and evidence why I don’t find this article should be published since she is trying to convince a hostile audience in this essay, gives a weak claim, and has credibility for a separate view that she is discussing about. The main audience the article â€Å"Learning by Degrees† is trying to convince is average working parents with kids that are about to graduate from high school and preparing them for a higher education or a career that’ll be successful. This article is trying to convince a hostile and resistant audience instead of a friendlier audience. We must remember that the Shorthorn is mainly written and read by college students that are studying for a degree and involve college professors that have already received their degrees. â€Å"Learning By Degrees† gives a pathos appeal to the question of whether going to college to readers who’ve already made a decision on this topic, making it harder for someone to recommend this article to the Shorthorn. If Mead was trying to publish this article for the Shorthorn, she should have considered that the audience doesn’t fit what it’s addressing to which are parents instead of students. Mead’s claim that is shown in â€Å"Learning by Degrees† is easily found throughout the entire article, yet it’s a very weak claim to provide to both convince and especially understand to a hostile and resistant audience that the reader of the Shorthorn are. The claim in the article fails to pick a side in the debate of whether college really is worth the financial debt and yet instead falls in between them. The opinions of this current argument would be if college is necessary to acquire a successful career or if college isn’t needed to obtain one. Mead believes that an individual not wanting to earn and spend thousands of dollars on a college degree has the ability to become successful through several others routes instead of a college degree. She provides evidence of this through giving examples of successful billionaires, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. One of these examples are found when Mead says â€Å"Within the sphere of business, a certain romance attaches to the figure of the successful college dropout, like Steve Jobs, who was enrolled at Reed for only a semester, or Bill Gates, who started at Harvard in 1973 but didn’t get his degree until it was granted, honorarily, thirty-four years later†(5). However, she contradicts her claim by providing evidence of people with degrees earning higher yearly salaries than those who haven’t earned their college degrees. When Mead says â€Å"Engineers of all stripes have also fared relatively well since the onset of the recession: they dominate a ranking, issued by Payscale.com, of the disciplines that produce the best-earning graduates. Particular congratulations are due to aerospace engineers, who top the list, with a starting salary of just under sixty thousand dollars†(2). She leaves the audience a claim that floats between the two views of whether someone should obtain a college degree. Rebecca Mead joined the New Yorker in 1997 as a staff writer and she attended Oxford and New York University, which gives her creditability of being a respected writer and a well-educated individual (The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/rebecca_mead/search?contributorName=rebecca%20mead). However, shouldn’t that mean Mead should be recommending college and frown on any lower level of education? This sheds light on whether Mead is a credible writer, well educated, and yet argues against higher education; this is a hypocritical view from a college-educated author. Mead might have only written articles for profitable causes instead of having a true belief of going against college to be successful; There might be a chance that Mead regrets her previous decision on choosing college instead of a different route and wants to give advice to newly coming college students, which might be an unlikely case. Through the analysis I gave, â€Å"Learning by Degrees† by Rebecca Mead is an article I wouldn’t recommend to publish in the upcoming issue of the Shorthorn. Its main audience doesn’t have the same characteristics as the readers of The Shorthorn, the central claim doesn’t have a stable and sturdy base since it lacks whether college is necessary or not, and the writer’s creditability doesn’t fit the side of the argument she is defending. Due to these factors, Shorthorn readers will find this a weak and insubstantial argument that will bore them and find this article a waste of time. If Mead chooses towards favoring the belief of obtaining a college degree, made the main audience similar to the readers of the Shorthorn, and used her credibility towards agreeing with college, â€Å"Learning by Degrees† would be a great article to publish in the next upcoming issue of the Shorthorn.