Friday, November 29, 2019

Oedipus Rex Essays (522 words) - Oedipus The King, Operas, Oedipus

Oedipus Rex Oedipus began Oedipus Rex as a king, only to end the tale as a blinded beggar. Oedipus' fall from his kingly status was not by accident or because of some other person. Oedipus is the only one that can be blamed for his misfortune. Oedipus' character traits are shown most clearly during his spiralling downfall, thinking he is "a simple man, who knows nothing", yet knowing more than he realizes by the end of the story. Throughout the story, Oedipus' haste or lack of patience is most evident. Wishing to end this mystery of the death of Laios as quickly as possible, Oedipus passes an edict to kill or exile anyone who withholds information. Teiresias tested Oedipus' patience in the beginning of the story with the information he was holding; "You'd try a stone's patience! Out with it.". This impatient accusing of Teiresias proved to be bad, especially since Teiresias foretold the ending of the story. If Oedipus had been more patient and waited, he might have not been quite so upset about the future, nor shaken up about what was to happen. However, that one trait did not alone take away his position of high authority. Oedipus displayed anger throughout the whole story, which did not help him at all. During the story, we learn of Oedipus' anger as he knocked a passerby at the meeting of the three highways; "I struck him in my rage". Later, this passerby whom he angrily and quickly killed, was revealed to be Laios, Oedipus' father. Oedipus' anger also quickly shifted his judgement of Teiresias. "We are in your[Teiresias] hands. There is no fairer duty", Oedipus' respect for Teiresias quickly changed as Teiresias refused to tell of what was the trouble's cause. Oedipus began claiming that "Creon has brought this decrepit fortune teller" to mean that Teiresias was thought of as a traitor in Oedipus' thinking. Oedipus' anger is also shown as he begins to insult Teiresias by calling him a "wicked old man". Oedipus' anger throughout the beginning of the play hindered himself. The final trait that was Oedipus' greatest enemy throughout the entirity of the play was his own truthfulness. Whenever new facts presented themselves, Oedipus gave them an honest look. As soon as it was suspect that Oedipus was involved, he acknowledged it; "I think that I myself may be accurst by my own ignorant edict". Oedipus never held back any evidence pointing to his possible future eviction and loss of his kingly status. As the plot grew to the uppermost point, Oedipus persisted testimony of the shepherd as he was "of dreadful hearing, yet he must hear" more. This trait was the binding trait that brought Oedipus' downfall. If Oedipus hid all the facts concerning himself, he could have easily buried this as nobody would know that he killed his father nor slept with his mother. The decline of Oedipus' was started by himself. His traits of anger, haste, and truthfulness, each helped accelerate his decline of power. Unfortuanately, for Oedipus, this decline of power led to the plucking of his own eyes. "Oedipus, noblest of all the line of Kadmos, have condemned myself to enjoy these things no more, by my own malediction, expelling that man whom the gods declared to be a defilement in the house of Laios."

Monday, November 25, 2019

Going It Alone

Going It Alone For some reason, todays quote resonated with me. Whether introverted or extroverted, a writer has to feel comfortable being alone for hours and days on end. While we see lots of blog posts about how a writer needs his tribe or his team, the bottom line is he writes alone. Hes rejected alone. Hes accepted alone. Theres a tremendous amount of alone time in his career, and he has to accept, maybe even enjoy, that experience or he wont last long. All this alone time is probably why writers are indeed so introverted. We enjoy keeping company with ourselves, inside our thoughts. Its safer there. But that also explains why writers, when they venture out of their seclusion, tend to congregate with other writers. This is a trend that is helpful . . . only to a point. After that point, however, its detrimental. In case after case, I see writers pitching their books to other writers when they ought to be pursuing readers. Unless they write FOR writers, in how-to books, or their fiction is about a writer, they are not reaching their targeted audience. Writers are an incestuous lot. Conferences, promoting their books, chatting online. They gravitate to each other, but it becomes a habit because its so comfortable, and we tend to overdo it. And theres been a trend of late to host events where dozens of writers appear at a festival of sorts. Ive been invited to several of them. This is my opinion, keep in mind, but I see these events as not being very effective, possibly even handicapping or detrimental. At least depressing. And this is why: 1) Appearing with thirty or forty authors dilutes you, your voice, your work. The faces start to blur. Attendees remember you as part of a mass, not as you. 2) Attendees can only buy so many books. Lets say two books per attendee. Do the math. Thirty authors x 2 books per attendee = 60 attendees minimum. But lets say a productive day for you means ten books. That means 300 attendees minimum assuming one or two authors dont run away with the show. 3) Such events try to snare one or two well-known authors. Those names draw readers . . . to them, not you. Thats the name that will be remembered when the readers go home. Branding doesnt mean you and others. It means you. Dare to appear alone. Dare to promote yourself as unique, powerful, intriguing and worth reading. Embrace your aloneness. Theres nothing wrong with being alone. Like I preach to shy writers across the country, learn to love who you are. Be unique, be confident in your own skin. Because attempting to blend into dozens, even hundreds, of like souls will only make you fade into the masses. You are better than that.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Victim support and the criminal justice system Essay

Victim support and the criminal justice system - Essay Example Previous Governmental Approaches to Victim Support Over the years, the government has created a great deal of reports on the issue of victim support particularly in relation to domestic violence. The main aim of its 2003 report stated that it was â€Å"determined to prevent domestic violence happening...and to protect and support all victims†.1 As the years have passed, governmental approaches towards victim support have recognised that victims need to be given greater access to and degrees of support, yet this has so far failed to be implemented. It is evident however that the government’s focus on making â€Å"the sentence reflect the crime†2 has caused it to place more focus on the offender’s punishment rather than the victim’s need for support. This is particularly the case in instances of domestic violence. Endless references have been made which recognise the need to support victims in order that they be given help to â€Å"rebuild their live s†,3 yet interest in and focus on this need has been sporadic and never a central aim of the government in the past. However, 2009 saw a renewed need to support women and girls who were victims of domestic violence in particular, and the government once again quoted an onslaught of promising plans and strategies to increase access to support, advice and services.4 Arguably, these were never properly implemented, or were applied in a piecemeal fashion, causing support for victims to be patchy and incomplete at best. The approach of the government has certainly not been without its critics; it has been often commented that years after plans were published, they still have yet to be properly implemented in order to provide the support that victims so evidently need.5 There is evident focus placed on the criminal justice aspect of crime, which greatly derogates attention from providing victims with the requisite support. Indeed, it is often claimed that the government has missed t he point in attempting to support victims,6 a result of its mistaken assumption that â€Å"the criminal justice system alone can deal adequately† with victims of crime.7 The reality of proposals and plans is greatly different from the theoretical promises of those plans; funds have been pumped into arresting offenders while victim support services took a step back due to lack of funding and importance. For example, despite research proving that refuges for victims has a major positive effect, minimal funding was assigned to the creation and maintenance of refuges for victims of domestic violence in particular.8 There is blinding evidence that funding has been improperly directed towards offenders rather than victims; promises to increase the number of Rape Crisis centres have actually resulted in many centres being closed down due to major underfunding.9 The government has placed much focus on and investment in convicting offenders, while studies show that over 90% of victims who were given access to shelters felt that they had majorly improved access to safety.10 The acts of the government and its plans and promises have simply not be implemented in reality: victims still stand in the shadow of inappropriate focus placed on offenders and criminal justice.11 There is little doubt that the approach of the government has been unorganised, unstructured and incomplete, despite reports recognising that it should be the complete opposite.12 Such failure on the part of the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Energy drink case Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Energy drink case - Research Paper Example It is, therefore, feasible to posit that market positioning of alternative beverages is largely dependent on product differentiation. Just like in production of carbonated drinks, principal sellers in alternative soft drinks industry are globally renowned beverage manufacturers like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola (Barr & Hajela, 2013). This is ascribable to the fact that the two companies already had strong brands in the beverage industry before venturing into the provision of alternative beverages. Nonetheless, other beverage manufacturers like Hansen Natural Corporation, which produces Monster Energy and Red Bull GmbH, have succeeded in building recognized brands, while gaining a considerable share of the potent alternative beverage industry. Even though the latter industry was projected to sustain the steady growth observed previously, it suffered a setback following the 2008 financial recession. Unfavorable economic conditions impeded consumers’ buying capacity thus resulting in a significant decline in sales, particularly those of highly-priced alternative beverages. All the same, industry analysts foresee improvement in sales of alternative soft drinks with time, as carbonated drinks consumers progressively shift their preference towards the relatively new beverage category. Competing companies in this industry can only increase their chances of success depending on their readiness to match volatility of consumer trends, capacity to build brand loyalty, willingness to adopt innovation, and ability to increase distribution and marketing channels, among other distinctive strategies. Global beverage organizations like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are focusing on reversing the major decline of carbonated by venturing into production of alternative beverages. These organizations have expanded their market presence by introducing vitamin drinks, sports drinks, and energy drinks in the international market (Esterl, 2013). Additionally,

Monday, November 18, 2019

The impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder on an individual Research Paper

The impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder on an individual - Research Paper Example They had however never been classified as clinically diagnosable until 1973 and identified as a preventable cause of disability. They was also addressed formally for the first time as disorders stemming from maternal consumption of alcohol. Consequences of prenatal alcohol consumption on the children born were visible but in a society where specific protocol to fight against them had not been established or the study of these disorders. These conditions continue to evolve with the nomenclature as new diagnostic methods demand to improve as well. Despite being a long lived problem that the organizations try to address, alcohol consumption amongst women of childbearing age and those that are pregnant persists and the risk of FASDs has not reduced (Streissguth, A.P 1997.) Whilst FASDs are a preventable cause of defects and lowered quality of life among the people affected and the society by behavior change and rehabilitation by alcohol consuming mothers. Definition Fetal alcohol spectru m disorders FASD refer to a group of conditions acquired by people born of mothers who drank alcohol during their pregnancy period and the effects of the alcohol on those in are prevalent afterwards. These defects acquired from birth are permanent and consist of a number of conditions such as the Fetal alcohol syndrome FAS, partial Fetal alcohol syndrome disorder pFASDs. Alcohol related birth defects ARBD, fetal alcohol defects FAE and alcohol related neurodevelopment disorder ANDD. Diagnosis of FASD. Diagnostic approaches of the FASD are characterized by approaches of the features relating to the kind of defect in question. It involves screening by use of imaging techniques such single photon emission computed tomography SPECT among others of technology to detect developments of FASDs and address them early. The physical examination where the individual affected is made for structural features associated with FASDs as well as intellectual quotient tests. This is the neurological ef fects of alcohol in the fetus are active in slowing brain activity Neurological effects relating to alcohol could extend to slow learning from slowed brain activity and could lower the IQ of the affected person to the third quartile. The maternal history of alcohol consumption is relevant to confirm the signs and the intensity of the defects. During diagnosis follow up is important to ensure consistency in the treatment. Features of FASDs. The features include characteristic abnormalities of the facial structure which could be short palpebral features, a smooth philtrum and thin vermillion border. Other symptoms include abnormalities in growth in both the prenatal and postnatal periods of the child’s development. FASDs are also characterized by defects of the central nervous system CNS which portray in structure or behavior and could be neurological or a combination of them all. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are also evident by retardation in growth where the height of the affected individual and or his weight is not greater than the

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Education in Freedom Writers

Education in Freedom Writers Foundations of Education Film Critique – Freedom Writers Historically, concepts such as curriculum, syllabus, lesson plan, educational objectives have been all-important words in education. These concepts do not exist in a vacuum. Teaching and learning are often affected by social, political, economic, and historical factors that are not accounted for in the formal curriculum. The film Freedom Writers explores some of these factors from the vantage point of Ms. Gruwell, an inexperienced middle class Caucasian female teacher at an integrated school, Woodrow Wilson Classical High School inLong Beach, California. The film is set in the racially charged atmosphere of 1994, less than two years after the Los Angeles riots sparked by the acquittal of the Caucasian officers who were caught on camera brutalizing Rodney King, an African American. Her group of racially diverse at risk students are unflatteringly labeled â€Å"unteachables†. Before she can teach basic concepts in poetry, however, Ms. Gruwell has to contend with and overcome the racial stereotypes, low teacher and student expectations, poor discipline, socioeconomic restraints, and myopic bureaucratic policy that have resulted in her students’ negative attitude to their teachers, school, the educational system, and life in general. They believe that their educational boundaries are limited, that their teachers are not invested in them, and that school is merely another prison to which they are assigned during the day to fight the undeclared war. Both teachers and students believe that the students are hopeless and that attempts to teach them using the formal curriculum is an exercise in futility. This paper explores how certain factors external to the educational institutions—racial stereotypes, low teacher and student expectation, poor discipline, socioeconomic and historical restraints, and myopic political policy—affect the educational process as portrayed in Freedom Writers. Initially, Ms. Gruell tried an ineffective teacher dominated, teacher centered approach to educating her students. Try as she might, however, she could not get the students interested in her lessons. The students regarded her as an outsider and that she had to gain their respect before they would give them hers and allow her to teach them. Ms. G was forced to revise her teaching style and strategies to reach her students. Eventually she expelled the curriculum and simply listened to her students. Her wisdom was in recognizing that she had to connect with them and to understand that they had needs that had to be acknowledged and barriers that had to be demolished before they would be taught. She assigned materials about minorities and discrimination that they could relate to including The Diary of Anne Frankand Elie Wiesel’sNight. She empowered them with words by giving them diaries in which they could write their own stories. She devised activities and field trips to help them learn respect and tolerance of one another. The student listened to guest speakers, and conducted a field trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum so they could experience racism, intolerance, death and injustice in a new context. She was even able to raise funds for class projects and outings. Once she had gotten their interest, Ms. G relentlessly built on themes that which was familiar her students. In so doing, she achieves what thus far had been seemingly impossible: getting her students interested in reading education. Ms. Gruwell’s pedagogical style evolved to resemble the Inquiry Approach. Inquiry is a student-centered pedagogical model which is based on the idea that teaching and learning are enhanced when students are active agents in the teaching and learning process. Teaching is most effective when students are not just passively digesting arbitrary information, but are engaged in the actual construction of diverse, relevant, and real world knowledge. Thus, the very nature of the Inquiry Approach means that it is highly effective framework for catering to students’ different learning styles and for facilitating the management of challenging curricula. The learning sequence is based on concepts that facilitate effective learning rather than arbitrary classroom activities: tackling real-world questions, issues and controversies, developing questioning, research and communication skills, and solving problems or creating solutions. Schema activation, articulating novel methods of pr ocessing ideas, drawing ideas and generating new ideas from experiences, conducting independent research are important to Inquiry. Inquiry is authentic: lessons and content are focused on authentic, relevant ideas that students are actually interested in. This is the ultimate genius of the Inquiry Approach: the deep understanding of self-generated content in an authentic context which extends beyond the classroom. While Ms. G might have opted simply to teach the established curriculum, she instead opted to teach the students in the way they needed to be taught. One of the important themes of Freedom Writers is that teaching and learning do not take place in a vacuum. Rather, the classroom is a microcosm of the larger society where a host of social, historical, political and economic factors converge in the classroom and directly impinge on the education process. This plethora of factors influence the educational process and how effectively a teacher can teach. Political agents included the school administration and the Board of Education; all cogs in a system designed to suppress the advancement of minorities. The callous label of â€Å"unteachable† placed on the students only exacerbates the sense of oppression these disenfranchised minority students feel. The school serves as microcosm of the larger society where oppression was even more pervasive and detrimental. Instead of serving as a springboard for the students to self-actualize and escape the bonds of the â€Å"matrix of domination† by challenging them to achieve high standards, it instead institutionalized the same oppression the prevented the students from self-actualizing in the first place. A simple example is the reading list for class. Instead of allowing the students to interact with high quality, challenging reading material such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, they students were expected to read a condensed version of the play which was below the re ading standard for their grade. Even worse, the main concern of the head of department, Ms. Margaret Campbell, was that the students would damage the books instead of reading them. She was not concerned with challenging students to reach for high academic accomplishments. She simply fed into the machinery of the â€Å"matrix† where â€Å"unteachable† students continue to perform much more poorly than their Caucasian counterparts. What she fails to realize is that this attitude simply perpetuates the very issue that she complains about. According to Carborne II in Race, Class, and Oppression: Solutions for Active Learning and Literacy in the Classroom. The disadvantage perpetuated by this oppression can influence a student’s motivation to succeed in school, and has been shown to negatively impact academic performance and levels of self-esteem. In many urban school settings, the racial impact of socio-economic status is reflected in the academic performance of minority students in those schools as well as in the sense of hopelessness that often accompanies it. The influence of historical factors and the influence on attitudes to education is clear in Freedom Writers. The film is set in 1994 soon after the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles which were prompted by the televised police brutality of Rodney King. With the single exception of a male Caucasian student, Erin Gruwell’s students are minorities: African-American, Latino, Asian, and Mexican. Traditionally, undereducated, underprivileged and marginalized, these students grew up with a long history of racial, economic, educational, and social inequity. They come from neighborhoods that are traditionally controlled by crime lords, drug kingpins; neighborhoods where drugs, broken families, gang-life and violence are a way of life. Survival dominates their thinking, and most are confident that the will not reach their 18th birthday. The hate the system that warehouses them in integrated school and forgets that they exist. Their primary goal in school is to survive the day. Learning is of secondary importance particularly if the education comes from a Caucasian, the representation of the system that they hate so much. Initially, Ms. G’s students resisted her attempts to educate them, because they had been socialized to think of Caucasians as â€Å"them†: racially oppressive forces that historically have undermine and disenfranchised minority races. The students refuse to or cannot respect her as a teacher or even as a human being because she is one of â€Å"them. They fail to acknowledge the possible positive ramifications of being educated by her. The most damning aspect of this kind of oppressive system is that it is self-perpetuating. Over generations, the oppression has become firmly engrained in the lives of minorities to the point where they internalize and manifest the stereotypes even as they resist them. For example, while Ms. G was genuinely interested in her students, but after years of discrimination and ill treatment, her interest came across as sympathy, or worse pity. Her positive attitude was not accepted at face value. Instead her display of what the students interpreted as what Freire terms â€Å"false charity† was yet another bit of proof that the system was stacked against them. The fact is that she â€Å"needed† to show â€Å"charity† because of the system—her system—put minorities at an unfair economic disadvantage. Economics play a major role in Room 203. Researchers such as Jonathan Kozol (2008) and Berliner (2006) record startling correlations between the achievement gap and which are directly linked to economic prosperity. According to a Trends in Mathematics and Science Study TIMMS (2003), â€Å"American schools with the most wealth possess the highest test scores†. Conversely, American schools with the highest levels of poverty achieve the lowest test scores. Hodgkinson (2008) reports even more startling statistics: the United States has the largest total number of children living below the poverty line. In this demographic, 33% is African while only 14% is Caucasian. Hodgkinson asserts that long term investment from government and non-governmental agencies would be the best way to alleviate the problem of student performance in underperforming schools. Investment like this would have a ripple effect in the larger society by breaking the cycle of poverty. However, the issue is far t oo complex to be solved by a simple injection of financial capital into poor performing schools. A collaborative effort is needed where students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and teachers converge as a single entity to combat this issue. Initially, Ms. G’s students resisted her attempts to educate them, because they had been socialized to think of Caucasians as â€Å"them†: racially oppressive forces that historically have undermine and disenfranchised minority races. Their attitude toward her was based on their previous experiences with â€Å"white teachers† and other privileged members of a racially oppressive system, who do not understand the struggle that they had experienced as minorities: poverty, discrimination, crime, drugs, racism, and death. In fact, for these oppressed students, these individuals are actually part of the machinery designed to perpetually oppress minorities. With her constant smile, her high minded ideals, and her feeble, misguided attempts to save the minority students from their own lives, she fit perfectly the stereotype of â€Å"white privilege†. The author of â€Å"Race, Class, and Oppression: Solutions for Active Learning and Literacy in the Classroom† explains this in terms of a â€Å"matrix of domination† where the achievement gap between minority students and their Caucasian counterparts has led to the marginalization of many students by social class and race†. The students refuse to or cannot respect her as a teacher or even as a human being because she is one of â€Å"them. They fail to acknowledge the possible positive ramifications of being educated by her. The movie provides an in-depth exploration of the complex dynamics of expectations. Historically, low expectations were routinely assigned to lower class or minority populations by teachers and the students themselves. The academic downgrade of Woodrow Wilson High School after integration â€Å"proved† that minorities are not as academically capable as students from other privileged backgrounds. The poor performance was further exacerbated by the students’ lack of discipline which in turn confirmed teachers’ negative attitude and low expectations. Perhaps the worst consequence so such attitudes is that they creates a sense of inferiority in these students who now internalize these low expectations of others now manifest them as low expectations of themselves. Clearly, expectations are a double edged sword. Positive expectations are a major contributor to student success, while negative expectations have the opposite effect. Over the last several decades a number of researchers have shown that irrespective of whether the teacher or students have high or low academic expectations, self-fulfilling prophecies assure that those expectations will be met. The results of a study of 30,000 minority students by Harvard University economist and researcher Ronald F. Ferguson discovered â€Å"the distinct importance of teacher encouragement as a source of motivation of non-White students†. Both Mr. Gelford and Ms. Campbell, and the rest of the staff, had low expectations of the â€Å"unteachables† in Room 203. From the onset, Ms. Campbell indicated that Ms. G’s objectives in her lesson plan were pitched above the students’ ability and advised her to simplify them. She also dismissed the idea that the student should be provi ded with rich, stimulating material. Mr. Gelford refused to entertain the idea that the students would be able to appreciate the novel The Diary of Anne Frank and sneered at the idea that they had the intellectual sophistication to draw parallels between their lives and Anne’s life. Ms. G’s kids were not expected to achieve as much as the students in Mr. Gelford’s advanced class so they were held to a different, albeit lower, standard. The solution for counteracting the damaging effects of low expectations is not merely to dispel low expectations or to declare a belief in high expectation. Teachers must believe that students have to potential for unlimited success. Rosenthal and Jacobson’s 1968 experiment indicated that students showed remarkable academic success simple because their teachers thought they would. Had Erin attended to the advice about the achievement potential of the students in 203 would never have achieved their remarkable academic performance. What drove them to achieve was her simple belief that they were just as capable of the levels of achievement as their Caucasian counterparts. Despite all odds, Ms. G was able to achieve what the two teachers before her had been unable to. She was able to get the students in Room 203 to take an active interest in their own education. Despite all odds, and with great personal sacrifice, she showed the students what it really meant to have an education in an oppressive world. She gave them hope for the future. Once she shifted the focus from her teaching to the students learning, she was able to recognize that the racial stereotypes, low teacher and student expectation, poor discipline, socioeconomic and historical restraints, and limited bureaucratic policy are real restraints that compromise the educational process. The film Freedom Writers inspires me as a teacher. Students today are much more difficult to manage, but as the film shows, management difficulties are rooted in social, economic, political, and historical factors that the students internalize and consciously manifest in ways that compromise them. It takes enormous dedication, patience, and conviction to help students break through whatever constraints the students are struggling with. Ms. Gruwell’s experiences remind me of my first days as a teacher with typed lesson plans and a thousand misconceptions about how students should be taught. Ultimately, we have to understand out roles as facilitators of learning, and more broadly, life. Our jobs—vocation—as teachers is not merely to broadcast facts. Rather it is to educate students in the sense of helping them to gather and construct relevant information that will help them to evolve as creative individual thinkers. Teachers need to find catalysts that generate the fire for learning in their students. We need to strive daily to find creative and revolutionary means to get students to achieve way beyond their wildest expectations. If Ms. G, inexperienced and idealistic as she was, inspired 150 at risk students to persevere and graduate, then so can any teacher. She truly is an inspiration for us all. References Carbone II, S. A. (2010). Race, Class, and Oppression: Solutions for Active Learning and Literacy in the Classroom.Student Pulse,2(01). Retrieved fromhttp://www.studentpulse.com/a?id=113 Laurier. J. (2007). â€Å"Freedom Writers: Truly no child left behind† Retrieved from http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/01/free-j27.html O’Hara, M. (2009). â€Å"Freedom Writers: Their Story Their Words. A Study Guide†. Retrieved from http://www.metromagazine.com.au/freedom/downloads/freedomwriters_sg.pdf Teach for America. (2011). â€Å"Diversity, Community and Achievement†. Retrieved from http://www.teachingasleadership.org/sites/default/files/Related-Readings/DCA_2011.pdf

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Digging by Seamus Heaney, Catrin by Gillian Clarke, Little Boy Lost, :: English Literature

Digging by Seamus Heaney, Catrin by Gillian Clarke, Little Boy Lost, Little Boy Found by William Blake and On My First Son by Ben Jonson. POEMS The four poems that I have chosen to study are Digging by Seamus Heaney, Catrin by Gillian Clarke, Little Boy Lost, Little Boy Found by William Blake and On My First Son by Ben Jonson. All of theses poems express an issue of love and are all indirectly linked by some way or another on the issue of love. Digging is a poem about admiration, how Seamus Heaney as a young boy looks up to his predecessors and how he has; â€Å"No spade to follow men like them† (Line 28 digging) Catrin has a basic structure of love that is becoming more and more common in today’s world, and that is emotional love. Catrin doesn’t show love for her child but it is still a bond between them and can never be broken. There are two lines in catrin which dispute this idea. â€Å"From the hearts pool that old rope, tightening about my life† (lines 25-26 catrin) The emotional love shall never be broken despite there being no apparent love. The other quote being lines â€Å"Our first confrontation, the tight red rope of love which we both fought over.† (Lines 7-9 catrin) The umbilical cord holding the two together. Little Boy Lost Little Boy Found, this poem has love within the family and the desperation of a father to find his son again, eventually he does and he is metaphorically spoken of as god. â€Å"But god ever nigh appeared like his father in white.† (Lines 3-4 Little boy found) On my first son is about a child growing up and ‘leaving the nest’ for the father is upset that his little boy has grown up and he can no long be with him all the time. This is made clear by line eight. â€Å"And if no other misery, yet age!† (Line 8 On my first son) This comments on the only misery being age and explains the whole poem. I have chosen Digging and Catrin because I feel I understand both the poems much better. Digging is a poem about childhood. The whole poem is triggered by a few senses, these being the sound and smell of a spade slicing through the earth. It is as if the poet Seamus Heaney is sat at his window and is stuck on what to write. There is a physical tie of respect in his family. He loves and admires his grandfather and father and remembers little things such as carrying out tasks as simple as carrying him

Monday, November 11, 2019

Should Animals Be Used in Medical Research?

Should animals be used in medical research? The use of animals in laboratory research is a very well known debate. Many people wonder if the animals are treated well and if they are taken care of properly; however, if medical and scientifical experimentation were done in only human trials the knowledge and understanding of how drugs and procedures can affect human would be decades behind. That is why the use of animals in experimentation is a necessity in order to continue advancing medicine and science.Animals have a high reproductive rate and are easy to breed. Animals have the same organs and tissues as humans do making them a good match. Animals that are used in experimentation are generally small and are easy to keep and feed. It is the best way to learn the effects of substances in a living body because animals are very easy to breed and yield a high amount of offspring. A higher number of offspring allows for a greater number of experiments or trials to be performed at a time. The greater the number of trials that can be performed will increase the data that can be collected to increase the accuracy of the trial. If a drug was tested on humans and the first two people to take the drug died, chances are the drug would be discontinued and research shut down, even if the deaths were only coincidence. By having a big sample size of animals that can test the effects to see how fatal the drug is and determine how it can be improved. Even if many experiments have expected results the effects of a drug could be wide spread.This is why using animals as a match for humans is advantageous because it allow scientists to observe the effects on living tissue under controlled circumstances in many subjects, and collect appropriate data so the margin of error can be made as small as possible. The ability to see the consequences of drugs on animals its success rate because it avoids death of many people who could be used as subject. Without using animals in research labs, our progression with medicine and medical sciences would slow down dramatically.Every day new medicines and practices are coming out that, without the help of animals, would never make it to us. They might make it to us, but only after blindly testing on random human volunteers that could possibly die just as easily from the testing as a rat would if used in the humans place To sump, I would say that many of the medications and procedures that we currently use today wouldn’t exist and the development of future treatments would be extremely limited. Animal testing is the right way to test products. Animals have the right to live their own life; and we are not allowed to mess around with them just because we can.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Free Essays on A Womans Right

A Woman’s Right Pornography. Is it a woman’s right or not? While there are many women who oppose pornography because they think it degrades and demeans women, I believe that there are many women who approve of pornography due to the many positive benefits it has for them such as providing sexual curiosity opportunities and improving couples sexual relationships. You would think that defining the word pornography would be a simple task, but it is not. There were a number of sources that I found in which defined the word pornography as some sort of violent and unjustified sexually explicit material. This was generally the case whenever I found an article against pornography. Unfortunately, there is no universal definition for pornography because everyone has their own ideas in their head of what they think it means. Pornography does not degrade and demean women. When most people think of pornography, or of who they think watches it, stereotypically, many people tend to visualize a lonely man sitting naked in front of his television set, one hand on his penis and the other on his beer watching two women perform oral sex on each other. Interestingly enough, pornography is not just base solely for one person; it is also beneficial to couples.... Free Essays on A Womans Right Free Essays on A Womans Right A Woman’s Right Pornography. Is it a woman’s right or not? While there are many women who oppose pornography because they think it degrades and demeans women, I believe that there are many women who approve of pornography due to the many positive benefits it has for them such as providing sexual curiosity opportunities and improving couples sexual relationships. You would think that defining the word pornography would be a simple task, but it is not. There were a number of sources that I found in which defined the word pornography as some sort of violent and unjustified sexually explicit material. This was generally the case whenever I found an article against pornography. Unfortunately, there is no universal definition for pornography because everyone has their own ideas in their head of what they think it means. Pornography does not degrade and demean women. When most people think of pornography, or of who they think watches it, stereotypically, many people tend to visualize a lonely man sitting naked in front of his television set, one hand on his penis and the other on his beer watching two women perform oral sex on each other. Interestingly enough, pornography is not just base solely for one person; it is also beneficial to couples....

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Cell Culture Technique

Cell Culture Technique Biological advancements have contributed to the improvement of society in various forms. Biomedical research which forms the foundation for spectrum of inventions/discoveries, has its origin in techniques like cell culture.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Cell Culture Technique specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Cell culture involves creating an artificial environment of growing that mimics the natural one in all the characteristical features in a laboratory. So, growing the cells of animals, plants or human beings, yeast and bacteria in a lab setting, constitutes the cell culture. It is mainly employed to examine new drugs and detect infectious agents (Dictionary of Cancer Terms n.d.). The methodology of cell culture is a bit complicated. In order to achieve the robust growth of cells, specific conditions need to be maintained. The key process involved in handling living eukaryotic cells initially is mandatory awarene ss of materials and methods. It involves the use of 370 CO2 incubator, phosphate buffer saline, plastic ware, glass ware, petri dishes, trypsin/EDTA, vialsfor cryopreservation media like DMEM, Hemocytometer is provided with cover slip, DMSO and FBS for cell freezing etc(Protocol: Cell Culture 2012). Initially, cell culture begins with primary culture. It constitutes a stage where cells are picked from tissue and multiplied in the presence of suitable atmosphere till they become full grown on the platform known as substrate, resulting in confluence (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012) Here, cells need re-culture known as passaging or subculture achieved by the transporting them to a novel vessel with medium of growth which is fresh to enable more space for the prolonged growth. Primary culture is the important step and prerequisite for any kind of cell culture technique. A failure in proper maintenance of Primary culture could lead to total failure in the overall culture process (Intr oduction to Cell Culture 2012). Maintenance of cell culture is firmly linked with safety interlinked with cross contamination issues. This is because, cell culture unit contains many particular dangerous agents linked with hand contact and modifying chemicals, solutions of corrosive nature, tissues and cells of plant, animal or human. The potential dangers are punctures occurring accidentally with needles, spills on the skin, mouth contact through pipetting or ingestion and inhaling infectious agents like sprays, exposures etc.Advertising Looking for essay on biology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To overcome these problems, agencies like National Institute of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have provided biosafety recommendations United States. It is mainly focused on four types of biosafety levels (BSL). BSL-1 is the primary option of protection to many laboratories involved in basic and clinic al research. BSL-2 is suitable for medium risk contributors that lead to severe disease in human, that vary deepening on complexity, by contact with percutaneous membranes. BSL-3 is suitable for agents of indigenous nature which have a capacity for transmission like aerosols and that lead to detrimental infections. BSL-4 is suitable for indigenous agents that carry a high risk or fatal by aerosols of infectious nature and no therapy exists (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012). But laboratories of only high containment possess these agents. Hence, there are specific guidelines that not only ensure safety but also may be helpful to avoid all possible chances of contamination from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic sources. These are wearing equipment of specific personnel type and replacing contaminated gloves with new ones, disposal of all wastes suspected of contamination, washing hands after contact with dangerous materials prior to the laboratory closing hours, avoiding smoking, drink ing, food consumption and storage in the lab, close adherence to the institutional rules and regulations with regard to handling glassware, pipettes, scalpels and needles, lessening the development of aerosols and leakages, removing surface contamination with suitable disinfectant near the work place before and after the experiments, infectious material spills, regular cleaning of laboratory devices as well as instant reporting of the laboratory incidents that occur due to contact with infectious agents to a laboratory authority (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012). Next, for preventing contamination from sources like sneezing, skin shedding, and spores, dust which serves as the vial constituents of aerosols and airborne particles, employing a hood of cell culture, is essential. Setting up cell culture hood relies on the location where there are a restricted outlets like windows, doors and no personnel movements. The work place must have only necessary reagents, lab ware and protocol s. One must disinfect work place, clean instrument regularly before and after use with 70% ethanol, use ultraviolet light for air and surface sterilization of hood, while using at frequent intervals, as well as maintain the hood in running conditions through the available time and switching it off when there is no work. In the cell culture, the cell lines are the most important ones to consider (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Cell Culture Technique specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The cell lines are defined as the products of primary culture obtained by subculture. Primary culture of the given cell lines possesses a short duration of life known as finite cell lines. When these cell lines are subjected to passaging, the resultant cells obtain a robust phenotypic and genotypic stability marked with lustrous growth potential. As such, cell line growth is achieved in two ways. One is monolayer or adherent culture which is achieved on substrates of artificial nature and another one is suspension culture, achieved through medium of free floating nature (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012) Cell line contamination needs to be understood from the point of view of biological contamination in general. These may be grouped under Bacterial, Mold Virus, Mycoplasma and yeast types of contamination. Bacterial contamination is recognized by visual observation of culture during the very initial days of infection. The cultures appear turbid with low pH of the medium and tiny appearance of bacteria. Molds are a special category of eukaryotic microorganisms and infection; in the early stages they contribute to turbidity with visual appearance of spore clumps and thread like thin filaments under microscope. Viruses are microscopic organisms with high multiplication potential. Infected cell lines can be identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), immunoassays, immunostaining a nd electron microscopy (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012). Mycoplasma are bacteria without cell wall. Their infection of cell lines contribute to altered metabolism of cells, low multiplication potential, suspension culture agglutination, etc.Advertising Looking for essay on biology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Detection is possible though PCR, immunassays, and the most important, Hoechst 33258 – fluorescent staining. Yeasts are microorganisms of eukaryotic type and their infection contributes to turbidity, pH variation, with rounded appearance in the culture which can be microscopically observed (Introduction to Cell Culture 2012). Very often in the cell culture unrelated cell growth could lead to contamination and cell line growth more than the expected limit. This is nothing but cross-contamination which may appear as of interspecies and intraspecies among human cell lines. Possible detection strategies may include cytogenetic analysis and DNA fingerprinting. Earlier, by employing this approach, the investigators were able to detect nearly cross contaminated cell lines brought from hematopoietic cell lines of different source and those belonging to the original researcher. This situation of cell line cross contamination could be attributed to constant necessity in the protocol fo r cell culture viability and identification. Maintenance of multiple cell lines is the contributing factor sometimes and it can be avoided by regular monitoring for specificity and identity, markers, karyotyping and immunoprofile (Drexler, Dirks, MacLeod 1999). To better overcome the problem of contamination, U.S. National Institutes of Health has commissioned the utility of authentication of cell line investigations. Here, a private firm Promega has come forward with PCR system in a multiplex format known as StemEliteâ„ ¢ ID System (Oostdikv et al. 2009). This approach better recognizes the contamination in variety of cells like those of mouse and human by making comparison between a standard genotype and genotype developed by StemEliteâ„ ¢ ID System (Oostdikv et al. 2009). Even for the plant cell culture contamination detection, the strategy recommended was maintenance of cultures aseptically with regard to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) by meristem explants and good laboratory practice (GLP) guidelines (Cassells Prestwich 2009). Pure cell lines are important for a variety of applications like Blood Factor VIII, Erythropoietin (EPO), hybridoma technology to produce monoclonal antibodies (Applications of Animal cell culture 2009). Large scale culture of cells is done in industries in order to scale up for the development of cell bank systems. For this purpose, huge bioreactors like compact-loop bioreactor will be used that optimizes the cells in the medium by providing biological, physical and chemical factors. For cultures operated in batches, spinner flasks and Micro Carrier Beads are used for scale up (Applications of Animal cell culture 2009). This indicates that pure cell lines are very important for scale up processes in industries. It is reasonable to mention that very often impure cell line growth may contribute to adverse reactions in the bioreactors. The impure cell lines may release unnecessary bye products that may become t oxic and affect the down stream process. More probably, it may interfere with the routine biological and chemical properties offered by a bioreactor, as mentioned earlier. This may not only alter the yield of the culture but also affect the equipment with great chances of interproduct contamination. Thus cell culture appears a vital research strategy for a variety of biomedical applications. References Applications of Animal cell culture 2009, http://biotechnology4u.com/animal_biotechnology_applications_animal_cell_culture.html Cassells Alan C Prestwich Barbara Doyle 2009,Contamination Detection and Elimination in Plant Cell Culture, viewed on http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470054581.eib241/abstract Dictionary of Cancer Terms: Cell culture n.d.. cancer.gov/dictionary?cdrid=556412. Drexler, HG, Dirks, WG, MacLeod,RA 1999, ‘False human hematopoietic cell lines: cross-contaminations and misinterpretations’, Leukemia, vol. 13 no.10, pp.1601-7. Introduction to Cell Culture 2012, invitrogen.com/site/us/en/home/References/gibco-cell-culture-basics/introduction-to-cell-culture.html Oostdikv Katie, Petterson Adam, Schagat Trista Storts Doug 2009,  Stem Cell Line Authentication and Contamination Detection, promega.com/resources/articles/pubhub/enotes/stem-cell-line-authentication-and-contamination-detection/

Monday, November 4, 2019

Anomaly Detection Using Probability Distribution Method with Focus on Research Proposal

Anomaly Detection Using Probability Distribution Method with Focus on Network Intrusion Detection Systems - Research Proposal Example 107). These correction techniques need to be initiated through diverse ways of detection and existing digital computation methods. Alongside these mechanisms, the following paper analyzes deviation from original forms of information that can secure any computer network (Singh and Kaur, 2007, p. 109). Anomaly Detection Using Probability Distribution Method Network intrusion detection systems are computerized systems able to reveal infringements in computer network systems (Nakkeeran, Aruldoss and Ezumalai, 2010, p. 52). Irregularity detecting systems are grounded on infringement of networks. When the networks face anomalies, the detection system creates a standard traffic paradigm. This system is used as an approach of determining deviation from original formats of data to altered ones. Under the anomaly detection, the Fuzzy Gaussian mixture and modeling strategy is employed to detect abnormalities in computer network systems. The Probability Distribution technique stood for network i nformation in multidimensional aspect gaps. The limits of this mixture are approximated to deploying fuzzy c-means of abnormalities within digitized techniques. Even though this approach is accurately tested by researchers, results have proven the mechanism more effective than other quantization techniques (Nakkeeran, Aruldoss and Ezumalai, 2010, p. 55). ... Among infringement detection methods that are automated, vector quantization in anomaly recognition might prove to be inexpensive from a capital’s perspective (Azer, El-Kassas and El-Soudani, 2006, p. 2). Therefore, vector quantization is considered most appropriate for resource limited and improvised computer network systems. Anomaly Detection systems can also employ a game approach means to perceive deviation of changed data streaming through various computer networks. Computerized detection is mainly employed to conclude future anomalies within a precise network. Game approaches focus on the prediction of any upcoming abnormalities in computer’s network systems (Azer, El-Kassas and El-Soudani, 2006, p. 6). Traffic patterns have been affiliated with the conditional possibility distribution of the nature of the anomalies in a computer network (Sobh, 2007, p. 119). Given the nature of data processing from the past, anomaly detection systems use similar distribution stat es that currently exist. This way, system updates will reinforce the protection of data and communication systems. Infringement in computer networks requires recognition of any deviation in the transformation of data from one form to another while streaming through the network. When a monitored traffic experiences anomalies, it becomes marked or labeled should there arise a possibility of extremely low levels of security encountering high levels of threat. Cases that are more preventive include technical methods that engage specification-based anomaly mechanisms (Sobh, 2007, p. 119). Legitimate system behavior faced chronic demerits that certain networks encounter and obtained from similar entry-grounded systems, whilst significantly elevated digitized assistance is needed (Portnoy,

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Perfect Competition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Perfect Competition - Essay Example According to the research findings the market with perfect competition is characterized by many small buyers and sellers such that none can influence market conditions; all firms are price takers. The products sold are identical and have close substitutes and this makes it hard for such a condition to be met for in reality, a market has differentiated products due to technological innovations. An example of such products includes agricultural products such as a bushel of wheat. Firms are free to enter or exit the market without any problem and also the factors of production are mobile. The market is also based on the assumption that all the participants have perfect information regarding the prices and quality of products. The buyers thus are able to make choices of the products they want to buy and the producers are aware of what the buyers want hence it is easy to decide on the quantity to produce. Since the participants have perfect information regarding the market and are free to enter and exit at any time, there are no transaction costs incurred in the exchange of goods. The profit maximization of the firms occurs where marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost and the market price is equal to marginal cost. Due to these conditions, it is very rare to have perfect competition although technological advancements are driving markets towards such a situation. For example, the trade in currency or money markets where participants are assumed to have perfect information and currency is same regardless of where it is being traded. Another characteristic of such a market is non-existence of externalities. According to Nicholson (2005), perfect competition ensures optimum allocation of resources in the economy. Since price is equal to the marginal cost, consumer and producer surplus can be maximized. If a producer finds that the output is not bring in revenue, he/she can top producing the product and put the resources into more profitable use especially because t here are no barriers to entry or exit. In this situation, no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off. For example, if production of wheat is not profitable, the producer can shift to production of other grains and in the process may lay off some staff and recruit others with the required skills. Competition also pushes prices down and makes the producers to find ways of producing at minimum cost hence productive efficiency is achieved (Geoff, 2006). The supply curve of a perfect market is the marginal cost curve and the demand curve is the price line which is equal to average revenue and marginal revenue. Since the price remains the same regardless of quantity produced, the demand curve is horizontal. In the short run, firms make abnormal profits as total revenue is greater than total costs thus attracting entry of new firms into the market especially due to lack of entry barriers. As firms enter the market, the market supply curve shifts outwards pushing th e prices down consequently lowering the profits by firms. Since each firm earns sufficient revenue to cover variable costs, some firms may shut down to avoid paying variable costs as revenue is low but they still continue paying fixed costs (Mankiw, 2011). The fixed costs