Benefits of using pieces of crushed brick in the concrete Essay

Benefits of using pieces of crushed brick in the concrete - Essay Example Aggregates in the concrete make the concrete weather resistant through their design and composition. Brick can not be considered a suitable material for mixing in concrete if its weather resistance is declined. To increase the durability of concrete structures, Romans tried several materials in place of aggregates. Owing to the lower modulus of elasticity and higher tensile strength than stone aggregate concrete, brick aggregate concrete is considered a suitable option. Three different concrete mixtures were produced and tested in different conditions. The first sample group was made of 100% gravel, the second sample group contained 100% crushed bricks and the third sample group contained 50% bricks and 50% gravel. A total of 33 concrete cubes were cast, 11 from each group. The concrete cube samples were subjected to repeated cycles of the frosting and thawing process to simulate the real-world conditions. For each concrete mixture, 3 of the cubes were not frozen at all, 3 cubes unde rwent 10 freeze-thaw cycles and the last 3 cube samples were subjected to a maximum of 20 freeze-thaw cycles. The remaining 2 cubes were subjected to the oven temperatures to determine their porosity. Each concrete cube was tested for its compressive strength, and tensile strength. Brick concrete showed more compressive and tensile strength than ordinary concrete because of lower w/c ratio.

Is capital punishment a good sentencing option Essay

Is capital punishment a good sentencing option - Essay Example Colon-Cruz), declaring it unconstitutional (Bedau, 190). Essentially, capital punishment may be referred to as â€Å"the taking of a criminal’s life by an organized society in view of his crime† (Moreland and Geisler 1990, 103) In the US, the legal methods to carry out the death penalty through the years are as follows: lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging. Arguments in favor of the death penalty can be classified into three: utilitarian, retributive and egalitarian. The first is that view which holds that enforcing capital punishment would serve the common good because society would benefit from it by deterring crime either by discouraging future offenders or by incapacitating the criminal. Many view the utilitarian argument as a forward-looking and objective perspective since it weighs both the cost and benefit of the penalty. The retributive argument, meanwhile, follows the classic â€Å"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth† principle. There is no thought given to what the society may reap or achieve from the act of killing an offender. What matters is that the criminal should be punished because he deserves it. Finally, there is also the egalitarian point of view. Here, capital punishment is seen as part of the principle that all people must be treated the same and that too little punishment may constitute an injustice for a criminal that has committed a far grievous crime. On the other hand, proponents who object to capital punishment argue that it violates the right to life, that it is inhumane and actually do nothing to deter crime. As one would find, the arguments are anchored on what is moral and in some areas dwell in the utilitarian line of reasoning as well. Many of those who favor the abolition of death penalty cite the â€Å"inalienable right to life† which Thomas Jefferson himself has eloquently stated in the Declaration of Independence as â€Å"Nature’s Laws† given by God and that no man has the right to