Bermuda Triangle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bermuda Triangle - Research Paper Example The number of accidents will be illustrated and its causes and scientific facts will be submitted to have a clear understanding of the mystery. Discussions of fallacies come first followed by scientific explanations. Background First, let us have an idea where Bermuda Triangle is located. Thru the map, Bermuda Triangle has an imaginary line located off the South-Eastern coast of the United States and in the Atlantic Ocean. The three corners of the triangle are: San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami (Florida and Bermuda (North of ) Atlantic Islands.(Battcharya, Raj.)    The definite area is not defined, but some says it is around 500,000 to 1,500,000 square miles. Battcharya, Raj recalls, at the time of coining a name or this place, it was named after Miami, but people of Florida objected for fear that tourists might be afraid to come. The same objections were raised by Puerto Rico too. No one seems to question when it was given the name Bermuda, so from then on the name Bermuda is retained. (Rattchaya, Raj) Several scientists have advanced their theories about the mystery of Bermuda Triangle. But the list of lost planes and ships are long that the theory or mystery is quite intriguing. This is not a complete one, but after exhaustive research I have gathered there is about 1,000 numbers of lost vessels and planes in this triangle, but names are no longer listed. The loss started in 1875 up to 1975 and after that only one incident has been reported lately. (India TV). List of vessels and planes lost in the Bermuda triangle are shown below. (not-exhaustive) Flight 19: The Avenger planes of Flight-19 took off from the U.S Naval Base of Florida for a routine training session, but never returned. PBM Martin Mariner: When the hopes for Flight-19 was quickly fading, two Martin Mariner planes were sent by US Navy to search them out. One came back, but strangely the other didn't. Tudor Star Tiger: Star Tiger, a Tudor Mark-IV aircraft disappeared in Bermuda Triangle shortly befo re it was about to land at the Bermuda airport Flight DC-3: The flight DC-3 NC16002 disappeared when it was only 50 miles south of Florida and about to land in Miami.   Flight 441: The flight 441, a Super Constellation Naval Airliner disappeared in October 1954 : USS Cyclops: Disappearance of the carrier ship U.S.S. Cyclops in Bermuda Triangle has been one of the greatest mysteries of the sea. Apparently it seemed to be a sudden thunderstorm that had disintegrated the plane. Mary Celeste - The Ghost Ship: Known as one of the ghost ships of Bermuda Triangle, Mary Celeste had many misadventures even before her mystery voyage in 1872. Ellen Austin: The Ellen Austin, an American schooner, met with another ship in Bermuda Triangle. The other ship that was moving in full speed, strangely had nobody on board. USS Cyclops: Disappearance of the carrier ship U.S.S. Cyclops in Bermuda Triangle has been one of the greatest mysteries of the sea USS Scorpion: USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was a Nuclea r powered submarine of United States Navy that disappeared in Bermuda Triangle area in May 1968 source: Battcharya, Raj Note that most of these losses happened decades ago, the last one was in 1997and news about further losses is no longer found. However, a recent news about the loss of the plane boarded by designer Vittorio and five others that appeared on January 9, 2013 has deepened another round of

The Top Ten Major Trading Partners of the United States Assignment

The Top Ten Major Trading Partners of the United States - Assignment Example Ford Motor Company greatly value international business. The company is present on five continents; North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Therefore, it is a multinational company with global interests. The foreign operations of the company are increasing. The percentage of sales export has increased from 45% in 2013 to 50% in 2014. Despite the international economic recession, the sales of products from Ford Motor Company have increased. Walt Disney Company values global business. The entertainment services and related products provided by the company are utilized globally, in almost all countries. Entertainment services offered by the company are commonplace in households across the globe. The increase in foreign operations of the Walt Disney Company is attributed to the increased foreign investments, especially in the areas of amusement and recreational parks. The sales of entertainment products have also improved globally, with the 2014 value being the highest at 54.16B. The foreign operations of General Electric Company have improved as illustrated through the foreign sales operations from 46% to 53% in 2014. The diversified product portfolio of the company has improved presence in almost all developed economies. Unilever Company is a multinational with a presence in over 190 countries. This is because their consumable products are utilized by the citizens of all countries. The export sales have increased by 57% in 2014. The increase in foreign operations is illustrated through the net income earned from foreign operations, which grew to 63% of the total net income in 2014.

Middle Range Theory Essay Example for Free

Middle Range Theory Essay Bank of America is the largest US bank founded in 1904, it has expanded through several acquisitions. By the end of 2009, Bank of America was the market leader serving 82% of the US population and over 53 million customers. They are positioned as number one in online and mobile banking. Their mobile banking services were launched in 2007 and have gained 4 million customers in less than three years. Acquisitions made by Bank of America prior to the financial crisis caused a very strong drop in their stock price. Customers: In 2009, 10 million customers used mobile banking and this is expected to grow to 37 million by 2014. Customers that use mobile banking are not the same as online customers. Customers that use mobile banking represent a different segment of the market that other banking customers. Security issues, a perceived low value and expense, were the primary reasons that customers did not switch to mobile banking. Potential customers were reluctant to try a new banking service that are represented an extra cost and they were also afraid of losing control of their finances. Debit cardholders were the most active users. It was convenient for them because they could check their account at any time. Customers that used this service changed their usual banking channels and as a result -the bank had a higher retention for these users of online services. Competition/Competitors: Bank of Americas main competitors were: Bank of New York Mellon, JP Morgan Chase ; Co. , Wells Fargo ; Co. , Citigroup, and PNC Financial Services. These competitors also used mobile banking to ensure good service for their customers. They used SMS, customized web browsers and apps, depending on the bank and the customers they served. Citibank and Wells Fargo had different applications customized for their target groups. General Context Considering that the banking industry is fragmented, with thousands of banks offering retail and wholesale banking services; ten of the largest banks hold 46. 4% of total deposits, Bank of America being the largest one. The mortgage crisis of 2009 led to a deep recession and spilled over into a financial crisis that affected the retail banking business. Banks started waving fees and offering additional benefits in order to capture and retain customers. Mobile banking was introduced in the US in 2007 which added costs to each transaction. However, these costs were lower than call centers and interactive voice response costs. Bank of America had three options: mobile messaging (mobile stream modification without any software installation), mobile Internet (wireless application protocol), and mobile applications. Mobile applications in particular were more sophisticated and costly. Smartphone use was estimated to grow to 46% by 2014. Development Dilemma: Bank of America has two options to handle the future of mobile banking: 1) Build new and various applications to target different customers a) Pros: i) Customers want customization in the products; this will increase retention and satisfaction. ii) Marketing strategies can be segmented into different types of clients. This increases efficiency and reduces costs. iii) Superior brand and innovation perception. a) Cons i) Cost of application creation will increase due to the different areas and type of customers at Bank of America ii) Any changes in the bank services will have to be applied to all apps. Some customers will have to download and use various apps at the same time 2) Refuse to add complexity to the current application a) Pros: i) No extra costs on building a new application ii) Customers that don? t like technology or doubt about security issues wont be affected b) Cons: i) Other banks offer better mobile apps and this will increase their competitive advantage ii) Customer satisfaction will suffer if the app is not updated and does not fulfill their needs. iii) Transactions will still be done through ATMs, Call centers and IVR, which are 4 to 11 times more costly. Opportunities: Since Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions in United States that has millions of customers; online banking is an important feature that offers to ease transactions and provides access to billing statements. However, because of the multitude of services banks offer it is overly-complicated to provide all items in one bundle. Because of this complexity (to add all the banking features in one app for mobile banking) Bank of America should target tablet-users to provide all the banking features with different applications. For example Bank of America can provide tools like market reports for savvy investors or savings programs for households (where it is easier to keep track of expenses. ) Tablets are relatively easier to use than mobile phones. Targeting such a market at an early stage can broaden the spectrum in which Bank of America operates its mobile banking. This opportunity which targets future markets as computers are being replaced by tablets should not be forgone. Ease of access and use for customers with multiple Bank of America services, easier tracking of frauds or errors. ) Bank of America customers will be able to access a large array of services online. c) For some high-end apps a nominal fee may be charged to cover some of the technology budget. 2) Cons a) Customer information may be at risk as it is insecure to access sensitive information online for which Bank of America will have to maintain high privacy, increasing cost. b) Some of the features may still be complex and require customer support hotline. c) Customers may act on unintended transactions involving significant funds. Recommendations: Bank of America needs to improve the complexity to the current application. After analyzing the options and the opportunity, we think that Bank of America has to differentiate themselves from their competitors while offering a great service to their clients, we would recommend to increase the functionality of the mobile app. This change will bring extra benefits to the different type of clients in a single download. The company will also cut costs in the type of transactions made by the clients. The continuous growth of the mobile market especially the Smartphone use is another aspect of the recommendation. Having a mobile has become a commodity for the population. The new generation will get so accustomed to this technology that they will be able to deal with any app complexity without any problem. Bank of America has to think of its future customers, not only the current mobile technology adaptors. 1) Pros: a) Having a better application will differentiate the bank compared to their competitors b) Customers will have overall services in a single application. Mobile payment services would be added to the app and will attract and benefit many customers. d) Transaction costs will become lower as the % of Smartphone users grows (46% for year 2014). 2) Cons: a) Added complexity will discourage some customers to use the application b) Speed of the application may suffer if the customer has a bad connection or has too many applications downloaded in their mobile. c) The cost of developing a more complex application is larger and may require more expertise and training for employees and customers as well.

Function And Production Of Insulin

Function And Production Of Insulin Insulin is a protein produced by islet cells in the pancreas. Insulin helps human body regulate glucose in the body. Insulin reduces the use of fats as energy (gluconeogenesis) by utilizing glucose to produce energy. Patient with diabetes require insulin to keep the blood glucose levels under control. (1) The first successful insulin was produced from ox pancreas (bovine insulin). Bovine insulin is similar to human insulin however bovine chemical composition is slightly different hence the body immune system produces antibody to reject bovine insulin. (4) Identical human insulin was produced by recombinant DNA technology, by inserting the insulin gene into a vector to produce human insulin. Production of human insulin by recombinant technology was accomplished and commercialized in 1982 by Genentech and Eli Lilly. (2) Function Carbohydrates consumed are broken down into glucose which then resides in the bloodstreams. This causes the body blood glucose (BBG) level to rise. The pancreas senses the rise in BBG level therefore, secretes insulin into the bloodstreams. The cell will absorb the released insulin and bind to it. Cells that are attached with insulin are able to absorb glucose from the bloodstream and turned it into energy. This energy is vital for new cell growth and repairing damage cells. The main function of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into the body cells and convert glucose into energy. (3) Chosen Host Escherichia coli (E. coli) E. coli was used as a host to produce recombinant insulin since 1982. E. coli was widely used as host for the production of recombinant insulin because it was well studied, many vectors available and good characteristic. (5) E. coli advantages and suitability for producing insulin. (6) Fast growth rate e.g. able to reach optimal yield within hours of induction. Economical to grow and undemanding growth conditions. Good protein production rate. Can be frozen for storage and thawed immediately for usage. Cellular structure E. coli is a rod-shaped bacterium measuring 1.8 microns in length and 0.8 microns in width. E. coli consist of: (7) Inner and outer cell membrane Cell wall Periplasm Flagella Pili Cytoplasm Chromosome The two main structures are cytoplasm and periplasm, where the production of recombinant insulin usually takes place. (5) Structure Details and functions Cytoplasm (7) The cytoplasm contains most of the major component such as chromosomal DNA, RNA, nucleoid and ribosome. Cytoplasm provides support for the internal structure and provides a medium of suspension. Metabolic reaction and protein synthesis takes place in the cytoplasm. Periplasm (7) The periplasm is about 10nm thick. Located between the inner and outer membrane. Periplasm contains 80,000 proteins essential for nutrient binding, enzyme detoxifying and degradative and electron transport. Growth strategy for the production process Insulin is produce through genetic engineering. Firstly the gene producing human insulin is isolated and copied. A circular shape DNA (plasmid) is removed from the bacterium cell, and then using special proteins to cut open the plasmid ring. The insulin gene is inserted into the open plasmid ring and closed again using special proteins hence the human insulin gene is now combined with the bacterium DNA plasmid. The recombinant plasmid is then inserted into the bacteria cytoplasm using a very small needle syringe. (8) High level protein production often leads to formation of inclusion bodies which accumulated through protein folding. (5) The chain approach method was used to produce human insulin in recombinant E. coli. Two different expression vectors were constructed carrying either insulin A- or B-chain gene fused to a shortened and inactive É £-interferon gene allowing a stable cytoplasmic production of recombinant insulin in E. coli in the form of inclusion bodies. (2) Recovery of biologically active insulin from inclusion bodies has some advantages for example inclusion bodies accumulates protein in the cytoplasm to a much higher level, inclusion body could initially be isolated in a purified and concentrated state with just centrifugation process and final insulin concentration in E. coli can be increased significantly by high cell density culture (HCDC). (5) The HCDC technique was used to grow recombinant E. coli in a two stage cyclic fed batch bioreactor. After the expression system is developed, HCDC is carried out using synthetic medium with glucose as the sole carbon source to increase the recombinant protein concentration. (5) The induction of recombinant protein production was carried out by a temperature à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬shift from 30 to 42oC. Expressions of the A- and B-chain genes are controlled using a strong promoter (bacteriopage lambda) therefore, protein are produce efficiently by temperature shift. (2) The first step of purification to obtain human insulin was to centrifuge the solution to isolate the inclusion body. The inclusion bodies were then recovered from the centrifuge continued by dissolving the inclusion bodies using formic acid. Then use cyanogens bromide to cleave the peptide bond by hydrolysing the peptide bond for separation of insulin from the fusion protein partner. Finally the conversion to human insulin is performed by proteolytic removal of the connecting C-peptide and disulfide link. (2) The maximum productivity is achieved when the growth and production phase are separated hence a two stage cyclic fed batch bioreactor is used. The first stage is use to grow the cell to an optimum cell density followed by the second stage where the growth is suppressed by chemical and production of protein is maximize. (5) The cyclic fed batch is used to ensure that toxins and biomass do not accumulate, extend the productive phase, control the growth rate and optimize the product synthesis. (9) The by-product produced from the process was monomeric and multimeric forms of A- and B-chain connected by incorrect disulfide bridges. These by-products are collected too undergo sulfitolysis for recycling purposes. (2) How to analyse the growth process Off-line analysis methods were used to analyse the growth process. Samples were taken from the process every 30minute to be used to determine the optical density600, dry cell weight, dissolved oxygen tension and concentration of glucose. Result from the test are compiled and plotted in graphs therefore the growth process could be analysed. (2) Possible problems and solution The major problem in production of insulin by recombinant E. coli is the rapid intracellular degradation of the recombinant protein. Insulin is then produced as a fusion protein with a protein partner that would direct the recombinant gene product towards the formation of inclusion bodies. (2) Proteolytic degradation and over expressing protein can destabilize the protein hence protein are produced in the form of inclusion bodies which are complicated and expensive denaturing and refolding process during the downstream processing. To overcome this problem, recombinant protein could be targeted at the periplasm instead of the cytoplasm hence avoided formation of inclusion body. (5) In the process HCDC would cause several problems for example the limitation of dissolved oxygen due to high cell density and off gas accumulation which reduces the growth rate and enhance formation of acetate acid. The use of different promoters to regulate the level of expression and use of oxygen enriched air would minimize the problem. (5) During the HCDC process, overproduction of recombinant proteins often results in cell filamentation and stagnant growth. The filamentation of cells consequently lowers productivity and final cell concentration. The problem could be overcome by suppressing the cell filamentation, by co-expressing the E.coli ftsA and ftsZ genes. (5) Escherichia coli limitations E. coli is not appropriate to produce large and complex proteins which contain disulfide bonds or protein that require post translation modification. (5) Acetic acid is produce by E. coli when glucose is used as a carbon source. (5) Secretion of protein by E. coli is a complex process often fails due to incomplete translocation across the membrane and insufficient capacity of the export machinery.(10)

Letter to Soldier :: War Writing Papers

Letter to Soldier When faced with obstacles in life, people rely on their family and friends to give them support and encouragement. Sometimes, family members can seem harsh and unkind, but their intentions are sincerely good. Mothers will always disapprove of their son’s choice in girlfriends, but she will shed tears of joy at the wedding. Fathers will never like their sons-in-law, but they still tell their daughters that they will find the perfect man. Thirty-year old men will always be treated as if they were ten by their mothers. It has been this way for centuries in our society. A letter from a worried mother to her son, a soldier in the Confederate Army, proved this point. While this young man was, by that time’s standard, an adult, his mother still felt the need to keep her child safe. Aside from the content and ideas relayed in the letter, the document itself is a powerful item from American in history. Reading about a person or event in history is a good experience; a powerful experience, however, is to hold history in your hand and listen to people in their own words. Discovering the story and history behind this letter proved to be even more rewarding than holding and reading the letter itself. Expecting to find a few, uninteresting facts about this Civil War Era, I found that this letter brought to life five southern boys that were thrown off the farm and into battle. The letter also helps to illuminate the way a society lived while it told a story of a mother, her sons, and several friends On January 6, 1863, a mother sat down and wrote her son a letter. The author of the letter was a forty-five year old woman named Kerney A. Stocks. She was writing to her son, John, who was a soldier in the Civil War. From what she mentioned in the letter, she was a very passionate woman. She made some very blatant remarks concerning her feelings toward her son’s behavior. For example, Mrs. Stocks says, â€Å"I feel [sort of] mad this morning because I did not get no letter from you yesterday,† expressing her displeasure to her son. Kerney Stocks was more than likely a middle class woman, since she could read and write.

Jihad: Moving Beyound Cultural Biases and Misconceptions Essay

The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as â€Å"a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief† (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may re asonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or â€Å"holy wars.† While there is no precise definition of the term, the meaning of Jihad is far more complex. In fact, the term Jihad generally refers to the struggle one must undertake as one â€Å"strive[s] in the path of God† (Church 110). That struggle is defined both externally and internally. As so, they are classified in terms of an external struggle with enemies or non believers, or an internal struggle with oneself to reject greed and temptation. While popular opinion has been misconstrued to see Jihad as a malevolent, violent action; a serious investigation of the term’s historical and religious background reveals a multi-defined word. An examination of the Jihad’s etymological context will lend a k... ... As Americans, we must approach Jihad with sensitivity, an admission of our ignorance on the subject, and an earnest attempt to properly educate ourselves. Works Cited Church, Kenneth. â€Å"Jihad.† Collateral Language. Ed. John Collins and Ross Glover. New York: NYU Press, 2000. 109-123. Engineer, Asghar Ali. â€Å"The Real Meanings of Jihad.† December 2001. 1 October 2003.Husaq, Nina. E-mail to the author. 19 October 2003. Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror In The Mind Of God. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (6th Edition) Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1999.Rogers-Melnick, Ann. â€Å"Jihad Misused, Misunderstood.† Post-Gazette 23 September 2001. 2 October 2003. The Qu’ran. LXI:11, p.398; IX:41, p.149. Witham, Larry. â€Å"Muslims See Wordplay as Swordplay in Terrorism War.† The Washington Post. 24 July 2002. 3 October 2003.

To What Extent Did the Russian Economy Improve in the Period 1894 to 1914?

The Russian economy is universally declared to have been a thoroughly backward prior to 1890s therefore it is highly likely that there was economic improvement in the given period; however the extent of this is difficult to define due to the varying manifestations of economic improvement and the independence with which they may occur. The finance minister during this period was Sergei Witte, and to him the majority of the improvements are credited, yet the improvement was not universal. Whether this was him personally or simply a product the awful conditions which the Russian economy rose from is to be decided. In 1897, 82% of the Russian population were peasants, leading one to the believe that any economic improvement must be both partially caused by and result in improvements in this area. This is because generally the greater the economic improvement the greater the amount of people are involved in bringing it about and the greater the number of people it affects for the better. The situation in 1894 was a mass of peasants that owned small and mainly subsistence farms. This meant that they sold very little of their produce and therefore had very little money. This was bad for two reasons. Firstly if they sold little then the state would have very little to sell to other countries, meaning that no extra wealth was coming in to Russia. Secondly, if the peasants had little money than they would not be able to buy much. If we acknowledge John Keynes’ theory of demand as true, this lack of it can only be seen as a severe impediment to the Russian economy. To answer the question, one must therefore decide if either the peasants started producing enough to sell or if less people were peasants. There is evidence to suggest that between 1890 and 1910 there was an increase of 38 million tonnes of cereals produced. One could argue that this shows economic improvement because they were working the land more efficiently, and therefore selling more so getting richer, the extra wealth generated would be pumped into other areas such as manufacturing due to the rise in demand. In addition the extra grain acquired by the government could be sold to other countries, and this money could then be spent on industry, improving the economy. This theory is complemented by the fact that between 1897 and 1914 Odessa, the major gain exporting port, saw a rise in population from 403 thousand to 499 thousand, which would lead one to believe that more eople lived there because there was more work to be done because there was more grain to export. On the other hand it could be believed that this does not show an improving economy firstly because it 74 million tonnes in 1910 is actually a lot less per hector then more developed countries were able to produce. They were still poor in comparison with other countries s uch as England which had experienced the industrial revolution and therefore had more efficient farming. In addition it must be taken into account that the population of Russia was rapidly increasing at this time, it doubled between 1861 and 1914 to 130 million people, therefore this increase in food production would not have lead to a vast amount of either overseas income or surplus money because they needed to eat most of it. This argument would lead one to the belief that on both an international and internal scale the agriculture of Russia shows very little economic improvement. It is, however commonly acknowledged that a failing of Witte’s was his lack of action in the agricultural department. The fact that in 1914 four-fifths of the population were still peasants that we have already asserted helped very little towards an economic improvement puts into great doubt the scale of such an improvement. Nevertheless it is possible for large change to be implemented by few people therefore instead of passing judgement based only on Witte’s weakest area of economic reform the others must be examined. Transport is highly necessary for a good economy because it allows workers to move to where there are jobs, business to trade goods with ease and ideas to spread quickly. Witte was aware of this and therefore undertook a massive project of railway extension going from 19510 miles of track in 1891 to 43850 miles in 1913. This included the Trans-Siberian railway which stretched from Moscow to Vladivostok and was meant to encourage the migration of workers from remote area to the manufacturing centre. Unfortunately this project was a disappointment internally as east-west migration did not increase significantly, which perhaps in explained by the fact that in 1914 sections were still incomplete. One could argue that the smaller scale railways were just as important because they allowed peasants to move from the overcrowded agricultural land to the cities where they could benefit the economy by working in factories. This may have happened to a small extent however we have already concluded that the majority of the peasants stayed peasants, besides by law peasants had to gain permission from village elders to move , stifling the desired rural to urban migration and therefore economic improvement. It must therefore be decided that internally the transport revolution helped to improve the Russian economy to an unexpectedly small amount. However the railway system in its vastness attracted international attention that was to improve the economy in other ways. The Trans-Siberian Railway was seen by other countries as a symbol of Russian enterprise and advancing society; this positive attention encouraged them to trade with Russia, therefore bringing in money, which in the long term would create demand and subsequently improving the Russian economy. Figures to back this are those of the comparative industrial output which rose from 109. 5 in 1904 to 163. 5 in 1913. As four fifths of the population were virtually incapable of buying this, we can only assume that the excess was either sold abroad or used on the railways. This will have brought money into Russia, improving the economy. One must then decide if the benefits of the foreign trade and the kick starting of industry was worth the massive amount the railways would have cost the government. In the long term it must be considered so, as without both something and someone to trade with the Russian economy would have taken much longer to improve. In addition, although the intended benefits were not seen within the given period, they may have appeared later, if the country had not been disrupted by war. However in the given time span economic improvement due to the railway was limited to the sector of foreign trust and therefore sales. The actual production of goods is often a good indicator of the success of an economy. There is no doubt that this happened in the years 1894 to 1914. For example between the years 1890 and 1913 the annual production in millions of tons rose from 5. to 35. 4 in coal, 0. 89 to 9. 1 in pig iron and 3. 9 to 9. 1 in oil. This is proof that in the industrial sector there was economic improvement. However it is known that much of this improvement was state directed, which would be fine if it were not for the fact that this direction was financed heavily by overseas loans. This meant that though the economy did improve, it was not strong in the way the France and Britain’s were because it firstl y needed state intervention to keep it going and secondly could not finance itself. If the improvements in this period in the economy could be continued over another twenty years, then it is probable that the loans would have been paid off and state intervention no longer necessary to such a large degree, however in this time period such drastic improvements were not possible. Therefore it must be understood although the industrial part of the economy did improve in measurements such as output and turnover during the given time period, it did not stabilise in a way that would make it strong. The improvement of an economy is all comparative, as well as comparing the Russian economy to how it way at the start and finish of the given period we must also compare it’s improvement to that of other countries, so as to create a more contextual answer. Of the five great powers, Russia shows the least increase in national income between 1894 and 1913 at 50% however its growth in national product between 1898 and 1913 is the highest at 96. 8%. The latter figure shows that Russia’s production of goods had gone up by fa more than its rivals, showing that the economy defiantly improved. After our inspection of both the industrial and agricultural sides of the economy it is possible to say that this improvement was almost entirely in industry. Never the less this shows great economic improvement. On the other hand the fact that Russia’s national income had increased the least shows that the people of Russia were not richer in comparison with the rest of the world. This may be firstly explained by the great increase in Russia’s population. Although production may have increased, the profit from it had to be shared out between more people. Therefore as a country the economy had improved but for the individual it was hardy better. Although this is still economic improvement it is far more precarious as unhappy individuals may lead to economy damaging strikes such as the 3574 in Russia, in 1914. The fact that other countries such as Britain invested in Russian economy supports the idea that the country as a whole was improving economically, as these advanced countries would not risk their money otherwise. The reason for this was firstly the railways, as has been discussed but also the fact that in 1897, the Russian currency was put on the Gold standard. This gave it strength when exchanged with other currencies, again helping Russia in the international climate but making it harder for Russian inhabitants to buy anything as prices naturally increased. Although putting the Russian rouble on the gold standard helped to stabilise the currency itself, it was not so powerful a move as to stabilise the economy and in fact added to the instability by further decreasing home sales. Therefore the Russian economy was improving greatly in comparison with its rivals in overseas sales and production, but this improvement was limited by domestic instabilities that Russia’s rivals had to a much lower degree. In conclusion the Russian economy did improve greatly between 1894 and 1914 however this improvement was confined to a very small sector of the economy. That sector was industry on a national scale. On an individual scale this improvement of the economy amounted to very little, with wages not allowing a significant growth in home demand. The agricultural side of the economy also improved very little, meaning that by 1914 four fifths of the people were not involved in the economical improvements to any great extent. The fact that the economic improvement was restricted to one area meant that it was unstable. On the other hand, although it must then be assumed that this improvement was greatly superficial in 1914, Russia was starting from the very bottom and therefore it is unlikely that a vastly improved in all areas and stable economy was possible in 20 years. If Russia’s economical improvement was extended at that rate for another 20 years then it would have had time to both gain security and reach out into other sectors that were overlooked in 1914, such as light industry. Therefore it must be concluded that between 1894 and 1913 there was great improvement in one area of the economy, which, due to its confinement was superficiality in an economic overview, yet due to the awful conditions in which this improvement operated in, it must be deemed substantial.