Saturday, November 2, 2019

Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Immigration - Essay Example Barring some religious differences between catholic and protestants, they were accepted more readily within the American society as against Chinese immigrants. The Irish and German immigrants in America were conspicuous in their attitude towards work. The German immigrants were endowed with more money and therefore sought land and work in farmland. There were also politically active and endorsed the ideology of democrats who believed in equality and in the welfare of the commoners. The Irish immigrants, on the other hand, were driven to America due to poverty and scarcity of opportunities in their motherland. Most of the were employed in labor intensive work like construction of road, canals, bridges etc. But both, German and Irish immigrants faced huge opposition because they threatened the livelihood of Americans in low paying jobs. Most importantly, German and Irish immigrants showed that America remained the most attractive place to realize one’s dream of prosperous and happy

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Communication for Managers Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication for Managers Final Exam - Essay Example 23). First, Speaking slowly and clearly is one of the strategies used in global business, to address communication barriers. This is because many people fail to understand what the other person is saying due to speed of communication leading to vague meaning. Thus, this strategy gives an opportunity for foreigners to understand what the native speakers are saying (Guffey, 2009). Second, asking for clarification addresses communication barriers, to gain a deeper understanding of the subject mater. Thus, it is wise to allow one to ask a question to ensure that the intended information has reached the required party (Hogan & Stubbs, 2003, p. 34). Frequently checking for understanding is a third strategy used in avoiding communication barrier. When communicating with someone, ask questions to establish whether the communication objectives are realized (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2011, p. 32). Fourth, defining the basics of business is another strategy of avoiding communication barrier. When the objectives of business are clearly communicated to individuals, then chances of misconception are significantly reduced (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2011, p. 23). Finally, Careful selecting communication media is another strategy used to avoid communication barrier. Some of communication channels used creates communication barriers. Thus, it is essentially for an individual to use proper communication media. For example, when wanting to communicate abroad using of email may be more reliable communication media than use of telephone (Thompson, 2004, p. 56). Globalization of business poses a significant intercultural communication challenges. This is because culture differ across nations; thus, the need to adopt appropriate strategy to enhance effective intercultural communication. These strategies include the following. The organization should educate its staff on various cultural practices present at the

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Trifles Case Essay Example for Free

Trifles Case Essay Having to play a certain character’s role in any story or play we should know how to act and especially how to put ourselves in the situation where the character we play is into. We should know how to put ourselves in the position of the character we are playing. We can only play a great role for our character if only we will be able to picture out what is happening in our character and if we can only know what the character is suffering, feeling and all about the character we are playing. Also, a great factor for us to have a great performance in playing a certain character’s role is a great motivation towards the play. As an actor or actress we should be able to know how to motivate ourselves in different situations that the character is undergoing. We should have a great background of the character itself and the situations that the character will be encountering along the play. Different actors and actresses have different ways of motivating their selves depending upon the situation that their character is facing. They motivate their selves depending upon the feelings of the character they are playing. If the character they are playing needs to happy then they should be happily motivated in order to perform well and on the other hand if the character they are playing needs to be sad then they should be sad. Also they should know what struggles their character is facing and they should reflect this to the play by their acting ability. As to the play â€Å"TRIFLES†, the character of Mr. Hale is being played as he was being investigated or interrogated at the start of the play (Maillakais). As a character being interrogated then the one who plays his role must know how to act as a person under interrogation. Being under an interrogation then you should know how does it feel to be interrogated and how to act as one. Being under interrogation then you should know how to answer all the questions being asked by the one who investigates you. Also, you should know how to react as a person being interrogated. You should know how to show people the way you are being nervous under interrogation and how you manage to tell the interrogator what you know about the crime. On the other hand, the Sheriff, Henry Peters, have been motivated as a character that knows how to interrogate a certain suspect or any witnesses relevant to the crime (Maillakais). With regards to the character being played by the actor we can see that the Sheriff really wants to solve the crime and being the Sheriff in the place he shows that he should be respected by the people of the place and so he must be the one assigned and reliable to solve the crime. He as the one interrogating all the possible people who could be relevant to the crime and at the same time he was the one in charge to ensure that the place should be clear and in order as it was before and after the crime had happened. But let us evaluate the two of the more important characters in the play, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Hale is the wife of Mr. Henry Hale (Maillakais). She was the one who goes with Mrs. Peters upstairs to get something for Mrs. Wright. As they were upstairs they were talking about the battle of sexes. They also talk about how such crime had happened. Her instincts of being both a wife and as a lady have brought them to a more serious talk about the crime that had happened. Being a role player to such character the actress should be motivated as she knows how it feels to be a wife and hoe does it feel as a lady and how to act as both personas. Being a lady, the actress who plays the role of Mrs. Hale must be someone who have a great knowledge regarding the attitude of a woman and how they look forward to their duties as a woman. The actress should be motivated in a way that she knows how to value her role as woman and as a lady and on the other hand she knows her role as a citizen. Based from the characteristics of Mrs. Hale in the play, the actress should adapt her quality as being a woman who is strict in her gender and knows how to value herself. Mrs. Hale is a woman who has a very strong personality so the actress should motivate herself as being a woman who has a strong personality. Being an actress who will play the role of Mrs. Hale it should be clear to the actress that she has to be at the position of Mrs. Hale. She should know what Mrs. Hale feels as a woman regarding the topic about the idea of the crime which the suspect is a lady. The actress can use some self-made programs like thinking that the situation had happened in her real life before or maybe thinking the same situation that may be close to what had happened in the play. Being able to do such action can help the actress play the role of Mrs. Hale in a more prolific manner and still makes it easier for her to act. As an actress she had to device such plans or ideas where she can easily put herself in the position of the character she has to play. An example of such idea is what actresses usually do to make it easier for them to portray such roles. Actresses rehearse their selves as if they have personally suffered the same situations that the character had gone. They internalize the scene and try their best to put their selves in the mood of the character. As to Mrs. Peters, her characteristics as a character in the play are almost the same as to Mrs. Hale (Maillakais). She is a woman who has a very respect with regards to the dignity and role of a woman in the society they live. She thinks that women have different roles compared to men and that men do not have the right to do what a woman is doing because there are things that only women can do. She is also very bias and very protective when it comes to women’s rights. As to what the writer wants it to be, she have shown in the play the inequality of sexes and with regards to this idea only actresses who have the same point of view as the writer can portray a good acting to the characters in the play. In order to portray Mrs. Peters’ character the actress should motivate herself as a woman who seeks an unbalance treatment between men and women in the society. She has to be a feminist who wants women to be above men in different aspects. She must show in the play that she wants changes that will be an advantage to women. The actress must be very-well motivated to play a character that has a bias opinion upon the battle of sexes. The actress should also think the same as the how Mrs. Peters thinks. The actress should also be a feminist who will protect her fellow women even if it means to trick even your own husband. In the end of the story, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have found out what had really happened through the clues they find in the house of the Wrights. They have found several clues such as the dead bird and preserved fruits that may lead to their conclusion. That clues may be enough to tell them what had really happened and what brought them to these clues are their instincts of being women. The story shows that no man can ever figure out what had really happened because men do not have the ability to read what is in women’s mind. At the beginning of the story, the two ladies did not judge Mrs. Wright as how the men in the story think. They used casual talking with a bit of curiosity of what the things around them symbolize; while the men looked for clues to prove the guilt of Mrs. Wright for murdering her husband. And also the men in the play overlooked what they call small things such as knotting, worrying over preserved fruits, and household keeping. As what the story implies, the actor or actress that should portray a certain role must understand well how the character requires (Answers.com). They must show how the view of men regarding the case differs from the view of the women. The men should act as if they make conclusion hastily without understanding why the thing happened, while the women should act as if they were depending on feelings and instinct (Talley). Citations: Talley, Chinyelu. â€Å"Facts and Reason Matters.† Making Judgments: the Women vs the Men. 8 June, 1999. http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/Trifles/women-men.htm Maillakais, Mikes. â€Å"A Woman’s Place: Literary Background for Glaspell’s Trifles†. 30 July, 1996. http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/glaspell.htm#Literary%20Background Answers.com. â€Å"trifles†. 2007. http://www.ans

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Tetanus Toxin: Structure and Purification

Tetanus Toxin: Structure and Purification Tetanus is regarded amongst the most severe and fatal disease since ancient times [1]. Tetanus is termed from a Greek word ‘Tetanos’ which means- to contract *. The disease is generally initiated due to deep wounds, cuts, and during catastrophic situations like natural calamities, physical trauma, etc. [a] It was first discovered by Hippocrates in early 19th century *. However it was etiologically described by Carle and Rattone who were first to produce tetanus in animals by injecting pus extracted from an infected human with the same disease in 1884. During this same period Nicolaier also produced tetanus in animals from soil samples. Further research in 1889 by Kitasato revealed that animals were infected by this disease when they were injected with a particular organism isolated from a human patient *. Nocard in 1897 revealed that this disease can be treated by the use of its antitoxin. Moreover in 1924 the significance of toxoid came into existence during World War I which was formulated by Descombey and this passive immunization against tetanus was majorly used during World War II *. Structure of tetanus toxin: The tetanus toxin is of 150kD comprising of three fragments i.e. A,B and C having a molecular weight of 50kD each [n]. Fragments A and B were observed to be non-spastically toxic and also to block the release of catecholamine. It also inhibits the action of synaptic nerves and thus exhibits an important role in the toxicity of the toxin. On the other hand fragment C is regarded as the non-toxic subunit but retaining the required antigenic properties of the toxin. This fragment is seen to bind with gangliosides, motor endplates and synaptic membranes. It also helps in transportation of the toxin from the periphery to the central nervous system [o]. Krieglestein et al. in 1990 stated that tetanus toxin is a 151-kD protein. The complete amino acid sequence is known. The mature toxin is made of two peptide and contains 10 half-cystine residues. Treatment with 4-vinylpyridine in the presence of 6M guanidine converted six of them into s-pyridylethyl cysteine residues are determines by amino acid analysis. When alkylation was preceded by mercaptolysis, all 10 halfcystine residues were recovered in the s-pyridylethylated form. It was therefore concluded that the toxin contains six sulfhydryl groups and two disulfide bond [r] Mode of Action: Rossetto et al. in 2001 reported that the neuroparalytic syndromes of tetanus is caused by neurotoxins produced by bacteria of the genus Clostridium of 150 kDa proteins consisting of three-domains, endowed with different functions: neurospecific binding, membrane translocation and specific proteolysis of three key components of the neuroexocytosis apparatus. After binding to the presynaptic membrane of motoneurons, tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) is internalized and transported retroaxonally to the spinal cord, where it blocks neurotransmitter release from spinal inhibitory interneurons. TeNT cleave specifically at single but different peptide bonds, VAMP/synaptobrevin, a membrane protein of small synaptic vesicles [s]. Kegel et al. in 2002 stated that the 50kD ligh chain subunit comprises of zinc metalloproteases which cleaves synatobrevin that is not involved in neuroexocytosis [t]. Foster in 2009 Stated that TeNT enters the body via wounds and initially binds and internalizes into the peripheral terminals of motorneurons where it is transported by retrograde axonal transport to the motorneuron in the spinal cord. TeNT is transported to somatodendritic postsynaptic sites and is released into the synaptic cleft where it undergoes receptor mediated uptake into the presynaptic termini of the inhibitory interneurons, from where it translocates into the cytosol and inhibits neurotransmitter release. [u]. Starting material for purification of tetanus toxin: Raynaud in 1951 developed a technique of using non-autolyzed toxin direct from the organism i.e. Clostridium tetani [i] .This technique gave an advantage of obtaining a more concentrated form of toxin as compared to that obtained from the filtrates [i][j]. For this purpose the organism was generally cultured and subcultured using Tarozzi medium* and modified Tarozzi medium [j] Latham medium was also widely used for the same reason [j] [k]. M. Matsuda et.al in 1989 also used modified Latham medium for culturing of Clostridium tetani [o]. Muller and Miller in 1954 investigated that pancreatic digest of casein contained some inhibitory content which was solved by charcoal treatment [y]. Toxin was also extracted by treating the bacterial cells in hypertonic solution using 0.1M sodium citrate and 1M sodium chloride as stated by Bernard Bizzini et.al [q] Conventional method to produce tetanus vaccine: The Harvard strain of Clostridium tetani is grown in a fermentor for about a week using a semisynthetic medium. This leads the bacteria to lyze and release the toxin obtained in the supernatant. This method yielded about 60-80 Lf/ml. This yield is then filtered and detoxified using formaldehyde. This reacts with the toxin molecule mainly the amino groups of lysineresulting in imine formation, further reacts with the unstable groups of imidazole or phenol ring finally involves a cross-linking reaction between the both the amino groups. Formaldehyde also affects the 3-D structure, therefore making the toxic conformational epitopes [y]. Purification by HPLC: Kunihiro Ozutsumiet.al. in 1985 used extracts from the organism for purification of tetanus toxin using High performance liquid chromatographic methods (HPLC) [j]. The toxin extracted from the previously described method was initially purified using ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by ultracentrifugation in order to get rid of the unwanted particulate matter by filtering it through a 0.2 um membrane filter. The concentrated sample in the equilibrating buffer at a pH of 7.5 proceeded through a final step of purification by running it on HPLC using a column of a TSK G3000 SW of 0.75 x 60 dimensions. This column was equilibrated using 0.1M sodium-phosphate buffer at a pH of 6.8 and the flow rate was maintained at 0.6 ml/min. The fractions obtained were tested for its protein content at 280nm using a UV spectrophotometer [j]. Further the efficiency of HPLC was compared with another gel filtration method using Ultrogel column [j] [o]. Purification using Sephadex G-100: For large scale production of tetanus toxoid, Alcohol precipitation was used for immunization purpose by Pillemer L. et.al [b]. However, Levine et.al in 1951 used to purify the tetanus toxoid by ammonium sulfate precipitation [c]. Later, further purification and characterization of the toxoid was achieved by filtering it through Sephadex gels using G-100 columns as stated by Williams C. et.al in 1965 [d]. This simplified and low cost method yielded four separable fractions of the toxoid where the first two fractions of 55-65% non dialyzable nitrogen possessed significant antigenic properties. The next fraction obtained was of smaller molecular weight and showed poor antigenecity when injected in animals; however the fourth fraction obtained was not identified but was predicted to be metabolic by-products of the organism and had no significant role [d]. Before running on the column the protein concentration was determined using a UV spectrometer at 280nm. Chromatographic gel filtratio n was performed using a column of 1.2 x 0.062 m dimension. The column was packed and equilibrated with 0.1M phosphate buffer with a pH of 8.5, additionally 1% formaldehyde can be added to inhibit the bacterial growth. The void volume after equilibration was maintained at 800ml at the flow rate was fixed at 80ml/hr. The sample loading volume was around 50ml and was concentrated to about 100,000 Lf. The four fractions were collected and were further seperated by recycling them on the same column [d]. This method gave an efficient insight on how to purify and separate different components of the toxoid. M Matsuda in 1989 carried out the separation of fragment A-B treated with urea by running it on a ccolumn packed with Sephadex G-25, equilibrated with 0.02M tris-HCL buffer containing trace amounts of dithiothreitol and urea [o]. Other gels such as Sepharose 4B and Sephadex G-200 was also used by researchers like Bernard Bizzini, Immunodiffusion test was also carried out using Ouchterlony’s method [o] [p] [q]. Papain Digestion of Tetanus toxin: Further research by Helting and Zwister in 1974 made possible to obtain fragment C from Tetanus toxin which has significant antigenic properties but lack pathogenecity and thus occupies a major role in immunization [e]. Helting et.al stated that Tetanus toxin can be degraded in a specific pattern. The mild papain digestion cleaves the F(ab) region. The papain enzyme breaks the 150kD toxin into two parts, one comprising of the C-terminal of the heavy chain i.e. of 47kD which corresponds to the Fragment C of the toxin whereas the other part of 95kD consists of N-terminal heavy chain subunit along with the lighter chain polypeptide forming the fragment B (refer to Figure 2). This Fragment B was observed to have a toxic effect on mice when injected with a sufficient dose and also has an adverse effect on the nervous system, thus it was necessary to purify and obtain only Fragment C for immunization and to further study its immune response [f]. The purified Fragment C was separated and ob tained by chromatographic methods and by using anti-Fragment C IgG [f]. Ulrich Weller in 1989 performed papain digestion for 16 hours of overnight stirring of the toxin at 25Â °C at a concentration of 40ug/ml. The toxin was suspended in 10mM sodium-phosphate buffer at pH of 6.5 with 1mM EDTA and NaN3 and 10mM cysteine. After the incubation period 0.5mM of Ll-chloro-3-tosylamido-7-amino-2-heptanone was added as a stop solution in order to inactivate papain by further incubating it at room temperature for 30 min and was then cooled to 0Â °C with saturated ammonium sulfate solution at pH 6.5 with further centrifugation. The precipitate was resuspended in the same buffer mentioned. This further proceeded for its separation and purification on Sephadex G-100 column and the fractions were collected at the flow rate of 15ml/hr b*. These fractions were further pooled and contrated using a Centiprep 10 concentrator and the buffer was changed to 0.5 M NaCl with 30mM Tris-HCl at pH 7.5. The fragments B and C showed up homogenously on SDS-PAGE. The fragment C was further dialyzed against 10mM sodium phosphate buffer at a pH of 7.5. The samples obtained were further checked for its protein content at 285nm and was determined by modified lowry method after trichloroacetic acid precipitation. They also ran an SDS-PAGE using rerducing and non-reducing gels and was stained by Coomassie blue-250 and the chains and fragments of the toxin were determined according to their known amino acid sequence b* Other methods developed to obtain fragment C: Fishman et al. (1992) Pointed out that the non-toxic binding fragment of tetanus toxin (fragment C) binds avidly to neural tissue and has a growing number of neurobiological uses. Its current utility is limited by both its high commercial cost and the complex procedure for its preparation requiring highly purified tetanus toxin. A short procedure was developed which prepares fragments of tetanus toxin from crude C. tetani extracts. The resultant proteins are atoxic with molecular sizes and immunological properties closely resembling fragment C. These proteins undergo retrograde axonal and apparent transneuronal transport in a fashion similar to fragment C [v]. Ledoux et al. in 1994 Indicated that tetanus toxin once internalized via receptor-mediated endocytosis, form membrane channels in order to traverse the endosomal membrane and enter the cytoplasm of the nerve terminal forming an association between neurotoxin monomers which results in an oligomeric form of the neurotoxin necessary for assembly of a channel through the hydrophobic interior of the endosomal membrane, thereby allowing passage of the neurotoxin or its active fragment through the resulting pore [w]. Technique used to test the specificity of the heavy and light chain subunits: Matsuda and Yoneda in 1975 isolated the heavy and light chain subunits from a toxin reduced by treatment with dithiothreitol-urea[g] [h]. Kunihiro Ozutsumiet.al. in 1985 used the technique of electrophoresis using sodium-dodecyl-sulphate polyacrylamide gel i.e. SDS-PAGE as shown in Figure (3). and was further used to put up a western blot in order to check the specificity of the isolated subunits obtained [l] [m] [j]. SDS-PAGE allowed the toxin to stack at 49kD corresponding to the fragment C subunit and 85kD comprising of the 4heavy chain subunit [j] Goretzki and Habermann in 1985 characterized enzymatic fragments of tetanus toxin by immunoblotting using a set of previously characterized antibodies and a set of novel antibodies. The selected antibodies recognized the light chain, fragment C (ÃŽ ²1) and the complementary piece (ÃŽ ²2) of the heavy chain when blotted on nitrocellulose. All toxin preparations contained intrinsic esteroprotease activity which became manifest in the presence of urea. The main product of papain hydrolysis is fragment C, which appears as a double band under non reducing conditions but is homogeneous when reduced. Chymotryptic digestion hydrolyses the heavy chain well but leaves the light chain largely intact. Tetanus toxin is very resistant against trypsin as compared with other proteases, although this enzyme splits numerous different links [x].

Friday, October 25, 2019

The American Dream in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun and Arth

Centuries ago, Americans were fighting for their freedom from Britain. Then, the American dream was to have freedom. To American then, being free and having their own individual country was enough. Up until a few decades ago, African Americans were fighting to have equal rights. They thought this was all they needed and they would be truly happy. Somewhere over the course of time; happiness had a new meaning for all Americans. Now material possessions are what it takes to be happy. The American dream is to be rich. A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, and Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, both address the American Dream. Both plays discuss the desire for wealth and how the desire may lead to one’s downfall. However, each play is very different in addressing issues such as race and feminism. A Raisin in the Sun and Death of a Salesman have the same major theme of the American Dream, but address other issues differently along the way. A Raisin in the Sun is about an African American family in Chicago. Living in the same old broken down house is Lena Younger, who is the mother to both Beneatha and Walter, who also live in the house. Walter is married to Ruth and is the father of Travis. As the play begins, the family is about to inherit an insurance check for 10,000 dollars. This money comes from the death of Lena’s husband. Each member of the family wants to do something different with that money. Lena wants to buy a bigger house in a nicer area, and Ruth agrees with her. Beneatha wants the money to go to tuition for medical school. Walter wants to invest the money in a liquor store, so he can own the store, and become successful and rich. He is tired of just being a cab driver. However, Lena inten... ...e almost called Mr. Linder and made that deal with him when he found out that he lost the money, but his family was there to help him figure out that that would not be the right thing to do. On the other hand, Willy’s relationship with his family is what led him to suicide. The role of woman is also handled differently in the two plays, along with the role of age and race. The two plays had similar points, but were also quite different. Works Cited Cleage, Pearl. â€Å" Black Issues Book Review†. Playright’s Choice 3 (1995): 20- 23. Evans, Everett. â€Å"What’s Hot on Stage†. Houston Chronicle. 28 Oct 1994: Pgs 10- 12. Laban, Linda. â€Å"Raisin in the Sun Raisin’s in the Rounder†. Boston Globe. 5 Apr 2001: pgs 8-11. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Penguin Books, 1992. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1949.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Learing Doesnt Ocurin Classroom Essay

â€Å"It has been said: not all learning takes place in classroom. Compare and contrast knowledge gained from personal experience with knowledge gained from classroom instruction. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?Learning takes place not only in the classroom but also in our everyday lives. This is because to learn does not mean just to gain academic knowledge. Rather, learning refers to acquisition of any kind of knowledge that can give us instructions on how we should behave. Information that we get in the classroom is, without any doubt, useful and proven and it can broaden our mind. However, school years are relatively short in terms of a life span, and, therefore, there are a lot more things that can be attained outside classroom and that are equally or even more valuable. First of all, Personal experience is essential for obtaining indelible knowledge. For instance, in an early age of our lives we were thought how to speak, to say please and thank you, things that never depart from us. This is knowledge that was learned from where our learning experience derived from, home, where our basic knowledge begins. Second, the relationship among the people as well as friendship values is not taught by teachers in the classroom. Those relationships have known only by personal experience. Further, the young age people are not aware of love, these things you have to find out for yourself you can’t learn them from somebody else. Finally, some of the new technology and new things were discovered by personal experience and not classroom knowledge. For instance, today’s popular phone was discovered by Alexander Graham bell. It was discovered accidentally. Learning in the classroom although it has many benefits, all knowledge is not obtained from class because subjects are only taught by a teacher. But some lessons, which are pertaining to life, only will demonstrate by personal experiences. Every person should be learning more from real life than class room. I think real life is the best example for learning and obtaining knowledge. Once knowledge is gained by personal experience it is never loss.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Andes essays

The Andes essays The Andes are undoubtedly one of the greatest mountain systems in the world. The Andes contain some of the worlds highest peaks and more than 50 of them rise 6 000m above sea level. One of them being the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, Aconcagua which rises approximately 6 960m above sea level. The Andes are located on the western edge of the South American continent and extend in a narrow belt for more than 8 000km. They are situated at the longitude of 70Â ° W-80Â ° E and the latitude of 10Â ° N and 57Â ° S. The Andes run from the Caribbean Sea to the southern island, Tierra del Fuego. The mountains intersect into seven countries, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Processes Forming the Mountain Environment The earths interior is composed of several layers, the outer layer being the crust. The crust is divided into eight vast plates as well as smaller ones. Each year theses vast plates slowly travel across the earth. The movement is caused by currents deep within the mantle, known as convection currents. This process is know as Plate Tectonics and lead to the formation of the Andes. As a result of the convection current, the plates move in several directions. All of the worlds greatest landforms were formed as a result of the collision of plates. For example, mountains are formed as two continental plates press against each other and thicken the crust. This results in layers of rock compressing upwards. There are three main types of mountains. Fault mountains, Fold Mountains and dome mountains. The Andes were formed by the process of Fold Mountains. Fold mountains are formed at plate boundaries where one plate is subducted. As a result, one plate buckles, where another plate is forced down into the magma. The Andes were formed during the Cenozoic Era about 138-65 million years ago. The Nazca Plate collided with the South American Plate and was subducted under the wes...