How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 Essay Example

How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 Paper As a country nearing the end of its unification process, Italy was in the midst of several key issues, including problems within the politics of the country, the social issues that arose as a result of unification, the economic stability of Italy as well as the Papacy’s role in the Italy. The prime ministers of the time, Crispi and Giolitti remained partially successful at tackling these issues, building Italy from the financial rubble into what became known as the ‘economic miracle’ of Italy, although with numerous social costs. A key issue that remained for much of the unification process was the problems caused by the establishment of a centralised Italian government. Despite the liberal aims of this new government that controlled the majority of Italian states, it could not be considered a full democracy due to the fact that there was extremely limited suffrage, with only around 2 percent of the total population being able to take part in voting, a so called liberal state whose government did not represent the actual majority of the Italian population. From this, the concept of ‘Transformismo’ was created, in response to the limited numbers that were actually able to vote. Due to lack of voter turnouts, political leaders relied upon a system of bribery and pressure in order to secure support from several other smaller groups, and in turn arguably the Italian leaders, particularly Giolitti who relied on this massively were unsuccessful to a small extent to dealing with problem of lack of suffrage. We will write a custom essay sample on How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However, the success brought by Giolitti in increasing the electorate from 3 million to 8. 5 million people indicates that there were some small successes on the political front. The problem of political extremism also arose from the limited suffrage. Many felt that the Italian government did not fully represent the views and needs of the people, and indeed despite Giolitti managing to increase the electorate numbers it was still a massively small proportion of the whole of the Italian population. This shift towards political extremism reached two ends of the political spectrum; new factions were formed, usually to the far left or right wing in ideology, and would contribute to the eventual downfall of liberalism, particularly by the nationalist ideology which continued to spread with rapid pace. Along with nationalism came the rising urge for Italy to build its own empire, and the Italian prime minister Crispi spectacularly failed with this, not only having his claims to African states rejected by France, but also in failing to provoke a war with France which could possibly allow Italy to seize French territory. Giolitti was also left with little success, failing to promote any assertive foreign policies which would later spur the nationalist movement, and failing to build Italy’s empire despite the invasion of Libya, which while was technically a success, resulted in several Italian casualties and long term instability. Despite this minor success, Giolitti himself received little credit for this, with the nationalist movement claiming success, while the left wing socialist movement remained opposed to his foreign policy, and Giolitti’s small success would only fuel the political extremism. Socially, Italy was also an extremely divided state. From the beginning of the unification process, the issue of the north-south divide was already a major issue, and many Italians from the south refusing to recognise their ‘Italian’ identity, instead viewing unification as more of a colonisation process rather than spurring national unity. The rural south was considered a relatively backward area, especially when compared to the industrialised north which seemed to amount for much of the country’s identity; people from the south were particularly disillusioned by the fact that the Italian working class were the ones that often did not gain from any reforms made. While Crispi’s own domestic policies failed to gain wider support, and in fact brought the Liberal Italian state to the lowest since its creation, Giolitti was extremely successful at tackling the social issues, increasing living standards and affordability of food, with the average calorie intake increasing, leading for an overall healthier nation with better living standards, achievable by balancing the government budget effectively. Social reforms made by Giolitti also led to the abolishment of child labour, with a pensions scheme for the old age and sick extended as well as the establishment of better working conditions by a compulsory weekly rest day. Similarly, under his new legislation female workers were also granted a maternity fund, in an attempt to pacify and improve working as well as living conditions for the working class majority in the south. Overall, it is clear that the Italian leaders of the time generally succeeded in improving Italy’s general society, especially Giolitti’s reforms, although hampered by Crispi’s unpopular domestic policy. Prior to the unification process, as a set of separate sovereign states success economically was hardly viable, and the unification process of the states did little to actually implant the idea of a single Italian nation within the majority of the Italian mind-set, and with a combination of economically crumbling states. To ease this issue, industrialisation was thoroughly encouraged as a way of building the ‘economic miracle’, and this would be a major success as Italy began to catch up to other European countries economically. In this way the Italian leaders can be seen as extremely successful at tackling the issues of the Italian economy, with the rapid industrialisation process leading to production of commodities such as cars and typewriters in Italy. Much of this was made possible by government reforms to gain self-sufficiency; instead of relying on expensive coal imports there was a push towards development of hydroelectric power, which in turn provided the power to fuel Italy’s other industrial activities- at a lower cost to themselves, as well as placing themselves in the forefront of the newest electrical technology available. The government reforms included numerous tariffs in order to protect Italian production and encourage the sale of Italian goods, while the Italian government decided to invest in infrastructure such as shipping facilities and railways, which helped boost Italy’s industrial production further. The success of the Italian leaders at this time can be proven by Italy’s own import records; compared to the 1880s, by the early 1900s nearly all locomotives were produced within Italy, using Italy’s own resources such as steel. The industrialisation process also reached some of the more traditional industries, including silk, cotton and wool, which under government reforms and protection were able to switch to modern production methods. However, there was some economic failure in the form of the backward south, which failed to gain any advantage from the numerous policies and push towards industrialism; records suggest that the maize yields in the northern states were nearly five times as much as the production in the south, and while one part of Italy spurred in its economic advances, the other states underneath Rome were left disadvantaged. Despite this, the Italian leaders were still very successful in improving Italy’s economy, being able to lift Italy from a mainly agricultural, backwards state to one that was industrialised, relatively self-sufficient and the country paving the way for the new technology of the century – hydroelectric power. A key stumbling block in the process of unification was the Papacy, and even after the unification the Papacy still did not regard the unified Italy as a legitimate state. In response to the national elections, the declaration of the Pope to prevent Catholics which made up virtually all of the Italian population would become a threat to Italy’s democratic system, especially the issue of poor vote turnout. Previous attempts to allow some freedom for the Catholic powers had failed, and crackdowns on the ‘Opera dei Congressi’ led to church authorities becoming more complicit with the Liberal government. Despite limited cooperation, ultimately the leaders of the era could not bring about any significant stability; the Catholic influence surrounding politics was still significant with the large majority of the population being under Catholic influence, and the Pope as often demonstrated could command followers to ignore the government, such as refusing to participate in voting. Overall it becomes clear that the policy of crackdown initiated did nothing to solve the problem of Papal influence in the state- arguably it increased it even further as despite the Church initially being complicit, the tensions that built up would trigger an even bigger outburst, and therefore the Italian leaders of 1896-1914 generally failed at maintaining a stable relationship with the Papacy, as despite Catholics being involved in the political system, generally there was still tension emanating from both sides. The Italian leaders of 1896-1914 Crispi and Giolitti attempted numerous reforms to repair the problems of the newly unified state; the newly united Italy was economically backwards, living conditions relatively poor compared to other European countries and the democratic system a failure, failing to grant the majority of the population the vote. The leaders were only successful to a limited extent as despite the suffrage being enlarged, politically the idea Transformismo was still very much engrained and the failure to keep a stable relationship with the Church influenced voting. A success of the two leaders was in industrialising the country, increasing the standard of living and boosting the Italian economy, although this can only be considered a minor achievement due to the fact that not all of Italy benefitted; the rural southern states remained relatively poor and backwards, failing to keep up with the growing northern states. Overall, the leaders were successful to a limited extent to dealing with the problems of Italy, their successes often with shortcomings that would later strike Italy again.

Ptang, yang, kipperbang Essays

Ptang, yang, kipperbang Essays Ptang, yang, kipperbang Paper Ptang, yang, kipperbang Paper Ptang, yang, kipperbang is a play written for television which focuses around the life of a teenage boy, named Alan Duckworth. Set after the war, the play gives the viewer or reader a well documented insight into teenage life at this point in time. The main character, Alan is not only a keen cricket fan like most boys his age, but has developed an infatuation for an attractive girl in his school. Although at first glance Alan seems to be like any other teenager, beneath this image is a boy who is healthily in touch with his feminine side. This leads to a play which not only adopts a successful comedy routine between Alan and his friends, but in the end, turns Alan into the unlikely hero of the play. The writer of the play, Jack Rosenthal ensures Ptang, yang, kipperbang sets itself from the crowd. He achieves this by using a certain dramatic device, which can only be labelled as genius. Rosenthal employs John Arlott, a famous sports commentator to provide play-by-play of the test cricket match, England against Australia to coincide with the events in Alans life. Its this commentary along with Rosenthals thought and preparation into the characters, which makes Ptang, yang, kipperbang such a joy to read and even more so to watch. The stage directions can not be ignored when reading the play, but naturally they go without acknowledgement. When watching the play, however they obtain a high degree of importance throughout the production, from Alans jerk in pain when he receives his punishment from the headmaster to Anns kiss on the cheek towards the end of the play, they all serve a purpose, some more than others. Its these stage directions which highlight the fact that Ptang, yang, kipperbang is in fact a play written for television and not for the stage. For one, the majority of the stage directions required for the play to be acted out to full effect demands a physically larger area than a stage. For example, Alans daily chores for his father, which were in fact an excuse for Alan to indulge himself in Anns presence. The scenarios used in the play also demonstrate that the play was written for television. This is evident in that there are so many scenarios in the play, I dont know where to start. From the school grounds where Alan talks to the caretaker, Tommy about cricket and life in general, to Anns house where as soon as Alans love object is out of view, he U-turns to arrive home. Upon review of the play, my favourite scene was undecided. There were so many that stuck out in my mind as memorable, such as the cross country P. E lesson, a classic example of the chemistry between Alan and his friends along with their comical antics. Alan is shocked and insulted when he discovers prostitutes refuse to kiss; (stops dead) They wont kiss? His friends reply by crudely remarking that its a price theyre willing to pay to employ a prostitute. Another scene which I find to be one of my favourites is one of the many Tommy and Miss Land conversations, the particular one I have in mind however is that of when Tommy is enlightened by Miss Land that she had a relationship with an American during the war. Miss Lands addition of virtually to the end of every sentence, along with Tommys irony makes the scene an asset to the play; One! One American! Virtually.. Old men and Yanks! Bloody old two-faced fogeys and randy Yanks! While me and my oppos are spilling blood and guts all over Africa and France and the sodding Rhineland! Both Tommy and Miss Land are lying to themselves in this scene. Miss Lands self deceit is visually obvious as her virtually spree suggests. Later in the play, Tommys claims of fighting valiantly in the war turn out to be false, he mentions in spite of Miss Land that he was fighting for Queen and country whilst she meddled with old men and foreigners. These two scenes, however entertaining, come in at a close fourth and third in my opinion. One of the two scenes that I have decided are joint for first place is Alans scene with the Headmaster, the comments between thrashes and the Headmasters demeanour throughout is what makes this scene primarily so entertaining. Alans physical response to his punishment, him avoiding contact with a seat for some time after, also adds to the value of this scene. I think Jack Rosenthal achieves such a level of humour from a place with the opposite emotional atmosphere (being the dreaded Headmasters office) by using this feeling of dread to his advantage. Instead of portraying the Headmaster as a stern and cold man, he shows that not only has he the strictness to be a Headmaster, but the unique blend of a sense of humour as well. Its this combination that makes the scene such joy to read. The other scene that makes up my personal top spot double is yet another example of the rib-tickling chemistry between Alan and his friends which explained earlier, is just one of several wild-cards Rosenthal uses to make Ptang, yang, kipperbang what it is, a successful comedy play written for television. The scene in question is the brilliant pontoon game parody staged in the boys lavatory. Alans half participation in the game, explaining the days earlier events, whilst his friends play with a trance-like attitude is entertaining on its own. As the scene goes on, Alan grows more impatient with his unimpressed companions. The game continues and his friends, still oblivious to Alans dilemmas and more to the game at hand, and in an ironic twist reveal they have lost patience with him. Sod off Quack-Quack. Youre getting on my nerves! (Turns his cards over) Pontoon. Match null and void. Ungentlemanly play from Quack-Quack. I had bloody pontoon! As Quack-Quack or Alan detaches from his friends, there are no signs of Alan even being present. Pontoon seems to be the popular topic of choice. In my opinion, Ptang, yang, kipperbang offers much more than meets the eye. One of the things I picked up from the play was its employment of comedy to put across certain points, for example, the daily after school pressing sessions. This demonstrates adolescent behaviour in a humorous and nai ve manner. This is a frequent occurrence throughout the play, which proves to be a success. The point made at the end by two workmen on Alans street, which primarily left me in a state of confusion as well as no doubt many others came in the form of the following; Hell be starting shaving next. Then spend the rest of his life trying to stop the bleeding. Although vague, I interpret the comments to be a forecast for later on in Alans life where as the workmen believe, despite his current desire to grow up will lead Alan to long for his days as a schoolboy again. This may be Jack Rosenthals way of presenting the stereotypical old mans clichi. The time you spend in school are the best days of your life.

Patch Adams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Patch Adams - Essay Example Patch Adams, directed by Tom Shadyac, is a film about this concept. It is about a doctor who does recognize the emotional and spiritual needs of patients with physical illnesses, and how he is successful in the medical world despite a lot of opposition. Shadyac compares and contrasts Patch Adams with the other, more traditional doctors portrayed in the film, to show Adams as an ideal doctor, who is breaking new ground with his non-traditional beliefs about the way doctors should interact with their patients. While there are plenty of good doctors out there who genuinely care for their patients, many people who study medicine are motivated by money. Such people are not necessarily concerned with the needs of their clients. For instance, in Shadyac's movie, a mother is desperate to visit her sick daughter in the hospital room where she is dying. Even though her daughter needs to see a doctor as quickly as possible and her mother wants to be with her to take care of her, hospital policy requires her to finish all the paperwork before her daughter can get proper medical attention. Hospitals often want to make sure that clients have enough money to pay the doctors before they "waste" the time of a physician. People often feel that hospitals and physicians are motivated by money rather than the desire to help people, and for this reason find it difficult to trust their doctor's words. In extreme cases people might see two or three doctors because they find it difficult to trust in them. In telling the story of Patch Adams, Shadyac challenges this view, portraying Adams as a different kind of doctor. He believes in treating the whole person rather than just their physical symptoms, a view which is very different from the one that most doctors hold. He believes in giving people the best care he has to offer. Shadyac uses the house that Patch Adams built as the symbol for this idea and the focal point of the film. The house that Adams builds is a free hospital, a place where "people will come from all over the world to fulfill their dream of helping others, where learning is the highest aim, where love is the ultimate goal." Adams' hospital is a place where all patients are welcome regardless of how much or how little money they can pay, and it is a house with "with no boss or title." Another issue that Shadyac examines in Patch Adams is the balance of power in hospitals - how doctors have it, and patients do not. In the small hospital society, the people who have power are defined by their clothes. The people who wear the long white coats have the greatest power and authority. Shadyac shows how physicians use their power by showing what they think of themselves, for example, a doctor in the film says "Physicians are business men. Patients need doctors to give them prescriptions. They don't need doctors to be their friends." This kind of attitude creates a gap between patients and doctors and makes it hard for patients to see doctors as helpful or caring. Patch Adams believes in the absolute opposite of this. He does not take advantage of the fact that he holds more power than his patients do - to him, "power is [when you]see what no one else sees, see what everyone else chooses not to seesee the whole world anew each day." Adams becomes a doctor because he wants

Evaluating Vodafone's competitive position Essay

Evaluating Vodafone's competitive position - Essay Example In the United States, Vodafone owns majority control of the company Verizon Wireless giving them exposure to a wide range of competitors and customers. Vodafone also strives to acquire new markets and technology to offer the best to their customers. "We are reflecting the different approaches that will be required to continue to succeed, both in terms of our existing operations and in capturing new revenue streams for the future," said Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin (BBC News April, 2006) With Vodafone companies spanning the globe, Vodafone has the ability to "respond to changing market conditions and seize opportunities," as they become available. (Gartner, May 2006)Vodafone is capable of wholesale buying around the world. This had the added advantage of setting global trends convincing buyers of the stronghold that exists within the company. In addition, a higher profit margin can be achieved when offering innovative service. Through cost leadership, Vodafone has restructured its leadership team in order to lower costs and integrate new technology. In April, Vodafone sold its deteriorating Japanese affiliate and made the president, Jim Morrow head of the new European market.

Good Communicator Essay Example for Free

Good Communicator Essay Effective communication begins when a specific message is conveyed to people and that your idea is being received and people understand what you are saying to them. This is especially important in the healthcare industry because proper interpretation from patients is critical in them receiving the utmost care and proper diagnosis. Interaction between healthcare workers, doctors and patients is critical in communicating symptoms, diagnosis and test results and treatment of patients. When workers are able to communicate with each other it makes it easier to interact with the patients by having all the needed information, whether it was symptoms relayed from patient, test results relayed from lab or diagnosis relayed from the doctor. There are six characteristics of both supportive and defensive relationships, where one set of characteristics focus on compassion and empathy and defensive characteristics are to the point and abrupt without any interpersonal communication between parties involved. Supportive relationships would seem to be the better choice for the healthcare industry because like a broken wheel halts forward progress, so does non-communication among professionals and patients. When there is no empathy present with a patient they feel like no one understands their problem and feel like they are not getting the help that they deserve. Assertive communication allows an idea to be brought up and talked about but making sure all parties are respected. By being assertive is a learned technique to use and if not done correctly can cause conflicts among the workplace because people do not like abrupt changes in the workplace. Once changes are felt by all and are eventually practiced, it becomes part of a daily routine in the office and there are no longer conflicts having to be resolved. When being assertive one must not become aggressive also or a person would become known as a â€Å"bully† in the workplace and doesn’t care what the consequences of actions will entail. Not only can assertive behavior be bad if not utilized correctly, it may also cause undue stress on the coronary system and could ultimately lead to a heart attack or stroke. When using an assertive style in the workplace, one must be aware of negative reactions that could occur and be able to be ready with additional information to sway the receiver. One must not be too aggressive with tone and pitch of the voice and it will send off the wrong impression to receivers and not sway them to understand what is being said. When faced with aggression most people react negatively and this would not be advisable in a healthcare setting. An example would be when a medical coder has a question on what a doctor has documented in a patients file that doesn’t seem appropriate for the diagnosis so a doctor must be spoken to get more information to code correctly but without pointing fingers at the doctor. If the coder inquires aggressively then the doctor would become irate over being questioned but if the coder were to inquire assertively they would seem more like they just wanted more information to properly code the patient’s records. I fall under the type B personality because I am very easy going, but I do want to be heard when needed. I don’t feel that aggression is the answer but I do feel that one can be assertive and get a point across without being viewed as being too aggressive. Assertiveness takes into account what others feel and say and aggressiveness is all about what â€Å"I† want and need and not what â€Å"they† want or need. Previous positions that I’ve worked, I had many supervisors that used very assertive behavior and they really didn’t get good feedback. When workers became assertive about their needs for specific things at work, then supervisors are more likely to hear what they want and react appropriately. I do have a hard time getting my point across because I know what I want to say in my brain but when it comes out of my mouth it becomes all jumbled and does not make sense. I’m trying to work on my communication skills and am hoping that this course will increase my skills so that I can speak more clear and concise and have people understand what I want to accomplish in the workplace.

The Perception of African Americans in the Media and How it Affects The

The Perception of African Americans in the Media and How it Affects Their Self-Identity There has been much debate over the perception of African Americans in the media and how it affects their self-identity. It is easy to find examples of bias in portraying African Americans, but not a lot of causal research to prove that it causes problems with self-identity. A case can even be made that the amount of media presence by African Americans, whether biased or un-biased, has greatly helped to unify and give voice to a small minority group. The role of the media in the social identity of African Americans According to the United States Census Bureau (2001), 12.3% of all people reporting as one race reported they were â€Å"Black or African American†. This ethnic identity is now the second biggest minority in the United States. It also refers to a group of people who have been in this country for as long as it has existed. However, through the persecution of slavery, the rigors of segregation, and the continuing latent prejudice; African Americans are still searching for their true identity. African American Identity Just as children that were adopted tend to long for a true identity most of their lives, so is the plight of the African American. Stolen from their homeland and forced into enslavement in a new country, African Americans were basically victims of identity theft. Although much progress has been made in the way of an American identity for African Americans, a true identity has not yet been found. According to W.E.B DuBois (1903) â€Å"The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self†. (p. 68) Many African Americans feel the same as Kali Tal (1996) when she says, â€Å"After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world – a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.† She also states, â€Å"One ever feels his twoness – an American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled arrives; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.† A quick look at American histor... ...ly 25, 2004 from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/timeline/early_01.html Tal, K. (1996) The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: African American Critical Theory and Cyberculture The Kali Tal Homepage Retrieved July 25 fromhttp://www.freshmonsters.com/kalital/Text/Articles/whiteness.html U.S. Census Bureau (2001) Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin. Census 2000 Website Retrieved July 25, 2004 from http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/cb01cn61.html Woods, K. M. (1995) An Essay on a Wickedly Powerful Word Poynter Online Retrieved July 25, 2004 from http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=5603 Afro-phobic or Afro-publicist 15 Worthy, D. (2004) Cosby’s Rant Reverberates Through the Black Press NCM Retrieved July 25, 2004 from http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id= c3a1cf5b268909dfee0db53722131aee Young African-Americans Against Media Stereotypes (2004) Black Athletes and the Media. YAAMS WEBSITE Retrieved July 25, 2004 from http://www.yaaams.org/blackathletes.shtml Young African-Americans Against Media Stereotypes (2004) The NBA and White Wives. YAAAMS Website Retrieved July 25, 2004 from http://www.yaaams.org/whitewives.shtml

Fermentation of Carbohydrates: Ethanol from Sucrose Essay

Objective: To demonstrate a fermentation process, isolate the ethanol produced by fractional distillation, determine the composition of the ethanol solution recovered, and make stoichiometric and yield calculations. Procedures: Fermentation Weigh out 20.0 g of sucrose and place it into a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask. Add 100 mL of water and gently shake until all the sucrose has dissolved. To this solution add 0.60 g of dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K), 1.8 g of sodium phosphate hydrate (Na3PO4ï‚ ·12HO) and 2.0 g of dried baker’s yeast. Vigorously shake the contents to mix them thoroughly. The Erlenmeyer flask is fitted with a one-hole rubber stopper containing a short piece of glass tubing. Latex tubing (8 -12 in.) is attached to the glass tubing. An overhand knot is loosely tied in the tubing. The low part of the loop is filled with just enough water so that the passage is blocked, but gas from the fermenting chamber will be able to push the water out of the way and escape (brewers call this an airlock). This setup excludes air (and oxygen) from the system (which allows anaerobic oxidation) and prevents further oxidation (by aerobic oxidation) of the ethanol to acetic acid. Label the fermentation setup with you r name and place the flask in the incubator chamber Isolation by Fractional Distillation Do not shake the flask; avoid disturbing the sediment on the bottom! Get your flask from the incubator bath or chamber. Carefully remove the rubber stopper from the 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask. Prepare a vacuum filtration assembly using two 250-mL side-arm filter flasks, a 5.5-cm Buchner funnel (with a Filtervac or neoprene adapter), and two lengths (each 12 in.) of vacuum tubing. [N.B. We use the second flask so between the aspirator and our filter flask so that the filtrate will not become contaminated if tap water is pulled back through the hose.] Place a piece of filter paper into the Buchner funnel so that it covers all the holes and lies flat. Into a  250-mL beaker, place 100 mL of water and one tablespoon of Celite. Stir vigorously and pour the mixture into the Buchner funnel while the water is running and a vacuum is applied. A thin layer of the Celite Filter Aid will form on the filter paper. Discard the water collected in the filter flask. Do not suck too much air through the filter pad; if it dries, it may crack and be unusable. Carefully decant the liquid in the fermentation flask above the sediment through the Celite Filter Aid, using suction. This technique traps the small yeast particles in the Celite Filter Aid but lets through water, ethanol, and any other liquid impurities. This liquid filtrate will be distilled. Obtain a distillation setup and assemble the glassware for distillation. Note the placement of the thermometer bulb in the adapter take-off to the condenser. Securely clamp the apparatus and condenser, and secure joints with plastic clips. Use a small dab of silicone grease on all the standard-taper joints as you connect them. Collect the distillate in a graduated cylinder. Use a round-bottom distilling flask that will be filled approximately one-half to twothirds full; a 250-mL round-bottom flask should do. Add 2-3 boiling stones to the flask. Use a heating mantle for the heat source and a Variac to control the heat. Your mantle may have a built in voltage controller. Gradually turn up the heat until the liquid in the distillation flask begins to boil. As the vapors rise in the head, you will see liquid condensing; this ring of condensate will rise in the column. Control the setting on the Variac so that the condensate rises slowly through the column and at an even rate. (If the rate is too fast, the column will flood.) The temperature readings at the distillation head will rise; when the temperature reaches (about) 78 °C, begin to collect the liquid that distills. Discard any liquid distilling before this temperature is reached. Collect liquid distilling between 78 and 90 °C. Collect 10-15 mL of distillate. Turn off the heat source and remove the heating mantle from the distillation flask. Weigh a 50-mL beaker to the nearest 0.001 g. With a 10-mL volumetric pipet, transfer 10 mL of distillate to the beaker (V). Do not pipet with your mouth; use a pipet bulb. Reweigh the beaker and liquid (5), and by difference, determine the weight of the distillate. Determine the density,  and by referring to the graph, determine the percent composition of the ethanol.