What are calcium channel blockers? How do they interact with other drugs?

Calcium and Vitamin D

Effect: Possible Decreased Action of Drug

Taking calcium and vitamin D supplements might interfere
with some of the effects of calcium channel blockers.

Ginkgo biloba

Effect: Possible Decreased Action of Drug

According to a study in rats, ginkgo extract may cause the body to metabolize some calcium channel blockers more rapidly, thereby decreasing their effects.

Naringen (Citrus Bioflavonoid)

Effect: May Necessitate Reduction in Drug Dosage

Some evidence suggests that the bioflavonoid naringen may interact with medications in the calcium channel blocker family, increasing blood levels of the drug. This may necessitate a reduction in drug dosage.

Bibliography

Guadagnino, V., et al. “Treatment of Severe Left Ventricular Dysfunction with Calcium Chloride in Patients Receiving Verapamil.” Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 27 (1987): 407-409.

Kuhn, M., and D. L. Schriger. “Low-Dose Calcium Pretreatment to Prevent Verapamil-Induced Hypotension.” American Heart Journal 124 (1992): 231-232.

Luscher, T. F., et al. “Calcium Gluconate in Severe Verapamil Intoxication.” New England Journal of Medicine 330 (1994): 718-720.

Margolis, K. L., et al. “Effect of Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation on Blood Pressure.” Hypertension 52 (2008): 847-855.

What causes bubbles to form in a muffin?

The reaction that causes bubbles to form in muffins is a chemical reaction, not a physical reaction. Bubble/gas formation is one sign of a chemical reaction, as is the one-way action of the process--we cannot easily separate the ingredients back into the components.

The bubbles that form when muffins bake, and cause the batter to rise, are caused by a chemical reaction--carbon dioxide gas is released during the reaction between baking powder and the liquid in the recipe. Baking powder itself is composed of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) and cream of tartar (KHC4H4O6). In the presence of the water component of the liquid added, these two react to produce KNaC4H4O6, water, and carbon dioxide gas.

These bubbles of gas are produced as soon as the ingredients are mixed, and the muffins must be baked quickly before the bubbles escape the batter. This type of leavening is different from that used in yeast bread. That reaction is the result of yeast, a microorganism, using sugars to produce carbon dioxide; this reaction takes more time than the immediate reaction of baking powder.

What is the malaria vaccine?

Definition

Malaria vaccine is a preparation designed to provide immunity against
infection by the parasite Plasmodium, which
leads to malaria.

Background

Malaria is caused by four species of Plasmodium: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P. ovale. P. falciparum causes about 90 percent of malaria cases and is responsible for the most deaths, particularly in Africa. It is estimated that 3 billion people are at risk for malaria exposure. About 500 million people suffer from malaria worldwide, and 1 million children in Africa die each year from the disease.

Plasmodia are transmitted by the
Anopheles mosquito; the incubation period lasts between seven and
thirty days, depending on the Plasmodium species transmitted.
Symptoms of malaria include shivering, fever, headache, vomiting, and sweating.
Severe malaria can involve such symptoms as impaired consciousness,
seizures, coma, anemia,
pulmonary
edema, and cardiovascular collapse.

Vaccine Status

Preventing malaria infection is a top priority for many health and research
organizations around the world, as they are trying to establish vaccines to
protect against the disease. No commercially available vaccine for
malaria exists, despite decades of research on the topic. Many researchers are
focusing on developing vaccines against P. falciparum, while a
few groups are working on a vaccine for P. vivax. The life cycle
of P. falciparum is quite complex, as it provides several stages
on which to focus vaccine development.

The most advanced vaccine is RTS,S, which has been studied in phase-three trials in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa since 2009; the phase-two trial for this drug showed 30 to 50 percent efficacy in reducing malaria in infants and children. Based on these results, it appears that the vaccine will only partially protect those immunized.

Another promising vaccine is FMP2.1/AS02A, which has shown efficacy in children in Mali. Numerous clinical trials have attempted to select safe, effective vaccines. Because of the complexity of the parasite’s life cycle, it is likely that multiple types of vaccines will be necessary to interrupt that life cycle.

Impact

A viable, disease-preventing malaria vaccine has the potential to save millions of lives by providing protection against Plasmodium infection.

Bibliography

Crompton, Peter D., Susan K. Pierce, and Louis H. Miller. “Advances and Challenges in Malaria Vaccine Development.” Journal of Clinical Investigation 120 (2010): 4168-4178.

Enayati, A., and J. Hemingway. “Malaria Management: Past, Present, and Future.” Annual Review of Entomology 55 (2010): 569-591.

Mahamadou, A. Thera, et al. “Safety and Immunogenicity of an AMA1 Malaria Vaccine in Malian Children.” PLoS 5 (2010): e9041.

Sherman, Irwin W. The Elusive Malaria Vaccine: Miracle or Mirage? New York: ASM Press, 2009.

Why is controlling the buoyancy a critical feature of a submarine?

Submarines are vessels that stay underwater and travel long distances. Due to the nature of their application, they have to dive in the water, rise up to the surface and/or maintain a constant depth. All of this cannot be done without a knowledge and control of buoyancy. 

Buoyancy is the phenomenon in which a fluid exerts an upward force on an object immersed in it. This upward force is known as the buoyant force. If the object is able to control the buoyancy and displace as much fluid as its own volume, then it will be submerged. If the density of the object is more than that of the fluid, it will be submerged. 

A submarine uses this knowledge to its advantage. When a submarine has to dive, it takes in water in the ballast tanks (which increases the submarine's density, allowing it to submerge). When it has to rise up, the submarine can release the water from the ballast tanks, thereby decreasing its density and thus rising up. It can also control its level by maintaining a certain amount of water in the ballast tanks.

Thus, submarines control buoyancy for their operation in the water.

Hope this helps.

What cognitive changes result from aging?

Introduction

Cognitive changes refer to those changes that occur in overall mental functions and operations. Cognition
encompasses all mental operations and functions, including attention, intelligence, memory, language and speech, perception, learning, concept formation, thought, problem solving, spatial and time orientation, and motor/behavior control. Psychologists have worked hard to define and measure various areas of cognitive functioning, even though there has been no consensus about these areas. Understanding the progression of cognitive functioning requires an understanding of brain structure and those human functions emanating from the brain and its fullest human potential, the mind. There is considerable debate within the scientific community about what type of cognitive functions actually exist as well as the nature of the mental mechanisms that are necessary to understand cognitive functioning.

There is a common belief that cognitive abilities decline markedly in older individuals. More and more, however, this idea is being shown to be exaggerated. Studies have shown that the diminution of cognitive skills with age may not be significant, especially before the age of about seventy-five. Aging has been found to have different effects on long-term memory
and short-term memory
processes. The capacity of short-term memory (which is quite limited in all age groups) remains essentially the same for older people. Long-term memory, however, does show a decline. This decline can be minimized by various strategies; the use of mnemonic devices is very effective, as is taking extra time in learning and remembering.

Both biological and environmental factors have been studied in regard to aging and cognition. An environment that induces apathy or depression
has been found to have a lowering effect on cognitive abilities. Environments that provide stimuli to interest the individual can reduce cognitive decline. Moreover, at least one study has found that providing challenging stimuli can even reverse cognitive decline. There is a tremendous range of aging effects from individual to individual, with some showing virtually no changes and others showing serious deterioration of functions. It should be noted that this discussion concerns cognition in healthy individuals; diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and events such as strokes (cardiovascular accidents) have effects on memory that are considered separately from the normal effects of aging.

Common age-related stereotypes suggest that older adults are slower at performing many tasks and have poorer memories than when they were younger. Other stereotypes suggest that increased knowledge and wisdom come with age. Scientific evidence indicates that as people age, their mental processes become less efficient, but at the same time, they gain growth and experience, which are useful in solving complex problems.

Contemporary research on cognitive changes caused by aging emphasizes the information-processing capabilities of individuals as reflected in memory capacities. Memory is a basic psychological function on which higher-level psychological processes such as speech, learning, concept formation, and problem solving are based. Lester Sdorow describes the brain’s information-processing capacities as the human being’s active acquisition of information about the world. Sensory stimuli are transmitted to the brain, where replicas of the external world are stored briefly in the sensory registry (one second for visual stimuli and four seconds for auditory memory). Information is then transferred to short-term memory for about twenty seconds, unless it is actively rehearsed, then into long-term memory, where it is potentially retained for a lifetime.

Information Processing and Memory

Information processing is a view of cognitive development that is based on the premise that complex cognitive skills develop as the product of the integration of a hierarchy of more basic skills obtained through life experience and learning. According to this view, fundamental skills are mastered and form the foundation for more and more complex skills.

Information-processing theories emerged as psychologists began to draw comparisons between the way computers operate and the way humans use logic
and rules about the world as they develop. Humans use these rules for processing information. New rules may be added and old rules modified throughout childhood and adulthood as more information is obtained from interactions with the world and life experiences. The cognitive changes that occur throughout adult life, as more useful and accurate rules are learned, are every bit as important as the cognitive advances that occurred during childhood, as long as the basic rules acquired in childhood were not distorted by aberrant experiences. Each advance refines the ability to process information. Elizabeth F. Loftus points out that the terms “cognition” and “information processing” have supplanted the term “thinking” among contemporary cognitive scientists. Similar efforts have been made to redefine other human abilities such as problem solving (by Herbert Simon) and intelligence (by Robert Sternberg) to describe greater specificity of function.

Researchers have spent much time and effort defining and redefining memory constructs, although theorists remain in the early stages of understanding memory. Much debate has focused on naturalistic versus laboratory methodologies, with few resolutions as to how the results of both can contribute to a permanent knowledge base of memory.

The mediation school of thought suggests theoretical mechanisms of encoding, retention, and retrieval to explain memory functioning. Consequently, concerted efforts have been made to attribute memory changes across the life span to the specific deterioration of such mechanisms. Researchers continue to debate the importance, even existence, of such constructs. Similarly, the dichotomy of long-term versus short-term memory continues to be debated. To test the empirical validity of such theories, constructs must be able to be disproved if false, and these metaphorical constructs have proved difficult or impossible to test because of their abstract nature.

The greatest controversy in memory research focuses on laboratory versus naturalistic experiments; some researchers, such as Mahzarin R. Banaji and Robert G. Crowder, state that naturalistic experiments have yielded no new principles and no new methods of memory research and should be abandoned. Others, such as H. P. Bahrick, however, claim that the naturalistic approach has provided in ten years what the laboratory has not in a hundred years. Banaji and Crowder criticize naturalistic experiments for their lack of control and thus their lack of generalizability. Yet confining a study to a specific population in a contrived laboratory setting does not seem to generalize any further. S. J. Ceci and Urie Bronfenbrenner emphasize the need to focus on the process of understanding, whatever that process might be. As Endel Tulving notes, the polemics that have ensued from this debate are not going to advance the science of memory. He concludes that there is no reason to believe that there is only one correct way of studying memory.

Information Processing in the Elderly

Learning, memory, and attention are all aspects of cognition. Learning is the acquisition of information, skills, and knowledge measured by improvement in responses. Memory involves retaining and retrieving information for later use. Attention is the mechanism by which individuals process information. Cognition is how sensory input is transformed, stored, and retrieved from memory.

Major stages of information-processing models of learning and memory include memory registration (input), memory storage (retention), and memory retrieval (processing of input for response). Attention is a major component of registration in that focusing on stimuli and processing of information begin at this stage. Environmental influences, age-related sensoriperceptual changes, and pacing of instruction affect the processing of information.

Environmental influences can produce negative responses from the elderly because older adults are less comfortable in unfamiliar settings and with unfamiliar people and have difficulty performing multiple tasks. Additionally, the ability to block out extraneous information and to focus on multiple instructions decreases with age.

Sensoriperceptual changes include age-related vision deficits such as altered color perception as a result of yellowing of the eye lens, difficulty seeing at various distances as a result of presbyopia, difficulty adjusting from light to dark, and decreased peripheral vision and depth perception. Sensorineural hearing loss affects the ability to hear high-frequency sounds and consonants and hinders communication. Also, excessive noise interferes with the ability to hear in the elderly.

Pacing of instruction includes both the time it takes to present and the amount of information presented. With age, there is slowing of physiological and psychological responses. Reaction time increases. Studies have shown that the elderly learn more efficiently when they are able to learn and respond at their own pace. The total number of brain cells in the healthy elderly decreases only slightly, but a lifetime of activity causes the cells to be less efficient than they once were because of decreased blood flow and other physiological changes. Decreases in cognitive function are likely because of these deficiencies. The amount of decrease varies widely, however, ranging from insignificant to troublesome.

Studies in Age-Related Cognition

In examining cognitive changes in aging populations, aside from the theoretical debates, researchers have reported that cognitive processes progressively decline as chronological age advances. Studies have tended to describe the cognitive declines as gradual and general, rather than being attributable to discrete cognitive losses in specific areas of functioning.

Several studies have supported the existence of age-related cognitive decline, while other studies dispute the severity of such declines. Research interest is increasing in the areas of identifying factors related to cognitive decline and interventions to abate them. Under the direction of Ronald C. Petersen and Michael Grundman, the National Institute on Aging is studying whether daily doses of vitamin E or donepezil can prevent those with mild cognitive impairment from developing Alzheimer’s disease. Vitamin E is also being researched in conjunction with B vitamins. A 2005 study found that healthy people who consumed more than 400 micrograms of the B vitamin folate (the recommended daily amount for adults) cut their risk of developing Alzheimer’s in half. Gingko biloba, the so-called memory herb, appears to help slow cognitive decline for some people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Research studies making this claim have been criticized, however, and further studies are necessary. Other studies are investigating cholinesterase inhibitors and anti-inflammatory agents as a means to slow the progression of mild cognitive impairment.

Psychologists who studied memory change identified diminished memory capacity in the elderly as attributable to a number of processes, such as slowed semantic access and a reduced ability to make categorical judgments. Other researchers concluded that older subjects were slower in mental operations but were not less accurate. Some researchers hypothesized that slower speed tied up processing functions, resulting in apparent memory impairment. Still others hypothesized that older adults have more trouble with active memory tasks because of increased competition for a share of memory processing resources, whereas others linked the aged’s poor performance on working memory tasks to an actual deficiency in processing resources. Finally, some researchers concluded that older adults might simply have less mental energy to perform memory tasks. These studies accept gradual memory decline, or a slowing of processing, as a normal by-product of aging.

There are some who believe that mild cognitive impairment is a neurological disorder. This belief stems from the identification of atrophy of the left medial lobe and small medial temporal lobe, low parietal/temporal perfusion, and asymmetry of the brain as revealed by computed tomography. One study identified those with small hippocampi as prone to developing Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, electroencephalogram tracings of the brains of patients with mild cognitive impairment and patients with Alzheimer’s disease showed similarities.

R. A. Hock, B. A. Futrell, and B. A. Grismer studied eighty-two elderly people, from sixty to ninety-nine years of age, who were living independently in the community. These normal adults were tested on a battery of eight tasks that were selected to reflect cognitive functioning, particularly measuring primary and secondary memory, memory for nonverbal material, span of attention, the capacity to divide attention between competing sources of stimulation, and two motor tasks requiring psychomotor integrity. This study found a gradual, progressive decline in cognitive functioning but found that the decline did not reach statistically significant levels. The decline was general, suggesting that it may have been a function of reduced attention rather than more discrete losses. This finding appears to be consistent with the notion that crystallized intellectual or abstract processes are well maintained across time. There were suggestions that speed of information processing is a sensitive measure of the aging process.

It is possible, however, that the tasks selected for this study did not discriminate between younger and older aging adults because the tasks may be more reliable for assessing brain injuries and psychologically impaired persons, who were not included in the population studied. Consequently, further studies on the same cognitive tasks with impaired aged adults would be necessary to see if the same relationships and conclusions would apply. Individuals with impaired cognitive functioning offer a unique opportunity to determine whether the brain continues to show the same propensity to function as a unitary, global system as is observed with individuals who experience the normal aging process.

Although the brain does exhibit localization of functions, with specialization of certain brain cells for specific functions, its overall mode of operation is as a total unit. The brain has an exceptional capacity to compensate for the loss of some specific functions and continue the rest of its mental operations. This capacity or flexibility in brain function has been termed equipotentiation. Further studies of individuals with brain impairments will help to show how the brain attempts to carry out its overall functions when more specific impairments have been sustained. When cognitive disorders result in faulty information processing, actual observable changes may occur in a person’s daily behavior. The previously neat person, for example, may neglect personal hygiene. The person who previously exhibited exceptional verbal abilities may speak in a socially inappropriate manner. The staid conservative businessperson may act impulsively, make unreasonable decisions about personal finances, and show impaired social judgment.

Mild Cognitive Impairment

Studies of cognitive changes across the life span must distinguish between normal gradual change in the elderly and change that is associated with disordered functioning. Studies must also respect the complexity of the human brain. Morton Hunt notes that cognitive scientists have concluded that there may be 100 billion neurons in the interior of the brain. Each of these neurons may be interconnected to hundreds of others by anywhere from one thousand to ten thousand synapses, or relay points. This may enable the average healthy person to accumulate five hundred times as much information as is contained in the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, or 100 trillion bits of information. The circuitry in one human brain is probably sixty times the complexity of the entire United States telephone system. Given this complexity, even the daily estimated loss of 100,000 brain cells from the aging process may leave human beings capable of sound cognitive functioning well into old age.

The most frequent cognitive complaint made by and about the elderly is loss of memory, especially short-term memory. Researchers are finding that staying active and engaged in a challenging activity requiring mental concentration, such as learning a new language, taking music lessons, doing crossword puzzles, playing games such as chess, or reading books, may help to combat or slow the onset of dementia and keep the mind alert. Not everyone loses the same skills at the same time, but by the eighties, nearly everyone has experienced some cognitive loss. A study in the late 1990s by Gerald E. McClearn of the Center for Developmental and Health Genetics at Pennsylvania State University examined the influence of genes on aspects of cognition in the elderly. Using 240 sets of twins averaging eighty-three years of age, the twins were tested for verbal meaning, figure logic, block design, and picture memory. Genetic inheritance accounted for 55 percent of the individual differences in ability, a result similar to that of middle-aged people. The study concluded that the relative influence of genetics and environment (half and half) extends into advanced age, contrary to the commonly held belief that environmental influences increase throughout the life span as genetic influences decrease.

Mild cognitive impairment is a term used to describe isolated memory loss without changes in activities of daily living. There is some support for the theory that mild cognitive impairment represents a transitional stage between normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease and may be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. However, a significant proportion of patients with mild cognitive impairment do not progress to Alzheimer’s disease. One research study followed a group of mildly cognitively impaired patients and reported they developed Alzheimer’s disease at a rate of 10 to 15 percent per year, while individuals without mild cognitive impairment developed Alzheimer’s disease at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year. Individuals who have a memory problem but do not meet clinical criteria for Alzheimer’s disease are considered to have mild cognitive impairment with memory loss. One study supported that those who carried the gene apolipoprotein E-4 (APOE-4) were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Studies involving molecular brain activity have contributed to understanding normal and abnormal memory activities. Another study linked poor performance on a memory test that provided cues to help participants at time of recall as indicating a cognitive decline. There is no cure for mild cognitive impairment. However, treatment of coexisting conditions such as depression and high blood pressure can help cognition. Also donepezil (Aricept) has been used to try to slow the progression of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. Awareness and early identification are important in management of mild cognitive impairment.

Paul Baltes notes that it used to be considered common knowledge that cognitive abilities decline with age, but this view has become highly debatable. When the effects of disease and injury are separated out in studies of the healthy elderly, no drastic decline in cognitive ability is found. This conclusion may be one reason that studies of cognition and aging have begun to make a distinction regarding intelligence. The distinction is between crystallized intelligence, involving the accumulation of facts and knowledge, which holds up with age, and fluid intelligence,
which is the rapid processing of new information, a function that appears particularly associated with the young, and vulnerable to the effects of age or disease. Studies of neurologically healthy aging adults have revealed no consistent evidence of a reduced ability to learn. Studies have further shown that very little practice may be required to substantially improve an elderly person’s ability to perform some cognitive tasks, reflecting a motivational factor. Studies of mentally active persons in their eighties have concluded that loss of cognitive ability stemmed more from intellectual apathy or boredom than from actual physical deterioration.

John Darley and his colleagues concluded that on average, the decline of intellectual capability with age is slight and probably does not occur before age seventy-five. When declines do occur, they do not occur equally across cognitive functions. Vocabulary and verbal skills may actually improve with age, whereas skills involving spatial visualization and deductive reasoning are more likely to diminish. In general, verbal skills and accumulated knowledge are maintained with aging, while tasks that require quick responses are more susceptible to aging.

Bibliography

Bahrick, H. P. “A Speedy Recovery from Bankruptcy for Ecological Memory Research.” American Psychologist 46.1 (1991): 76–77. Print.

Banaji, Mahzarin R., and Robert G. Crowder. “The Bankruptcy of Everyday Memory.” American Psychologist 44.9 (1989): 1185–93. Print.

Birren, James E., and K. Warner Schaie, eds. Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. Burlington: Academic, 2011. Digital file.

Ceci, S. J., and Urie Bronfenbrenner. “On the Demise of Everyday Memory.” American Psychologist 46.1 (1991): 27–31. Print.

Craik, Fergus I. M., and Timothy Salthouse, eds. The Handbook of Aging and Cognition. 3rd ed. New York: Psychology, 2007. Print.

Lear, Martha Weinman. Where Did I Leave My Glasses? The What, When, and Why of “Normal” Memory Loss. New York: Wellness Central, 2008. Print.

Loftus, Elizabeth F. Memory: Surprising New Insights into How We Remember and Why We Forget. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1980. Print.

Nuland, Sherwin B. The Art of Aging: A Doctor’s Prescription for Well-Being. New York: Random, 2007. Print.

Park, Denise, and Norbert Schwarz, eds. Cognitive Aging: A Primer. New York: Psychology, 2012. Print.

Petersen, Ronald C. “Mild Cognitive Impairment or Questionable Dementia?” Archives of Neurology 57 (2000): 643–644. Print.

Shah, Yogesh, Eric Tangalos, and Ronald C. Petersen. “Mild Cognitive Impairment: When Is It a Precursor to Alzheimer’s Disease?” Geriatrics 55 (2000): 62–67. Print.

Smith, Glenn E., and Mark W. Bondi. Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: Definitions, Diagnosis, and Treatment. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.

Weil, Andrew. Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being. New York: Knopf, 2005. Print.

What is the type of epithelium that forms glands?

Tissues are made of groups of cells that work together to carry out a particular function. Epithelial tissue can cover the parts of the body and glandular epithelial tissue is what makes up our glands. 

Glandular epithelial tissue forms the exocrine glands (glands containing ducts) and endocrine glands (ductless glands that secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream). This tissue is called secretory tissue because glands produce useful substances called secretions that must be released from the gland to be transported to where they are needed.

Glandular secretions are produced by obtaining substances from the circulating blood and through chemical reactions, and the end-product is formed. Usually these secretions contain both water and proteins. Secretions can be digestive enzymes, hormones which are chemical messengers, and mucous, among other things.

Examples of endocrine glands include the pituitary, adrenals and the thyroid glands. Examples of exocrine glands include sweat and oil glands, mammary glands as well as digestive glands like the salivary glands.

Glandular epithelial tissue contains cells capable of secreting important substances produced by the gland.

Who invented the calendar and how were they invented?

This question is not very specific on a number of levels. Does this question mean the calendars that we use today? There are a number of different calendars used in different parts of the world. Does it mean the first lunar or solar calendar? For this answer, we should just focus on who invented a calendar in general.  

Many would point to the calendars used by the Sumerians and Egyptians for planting as the earliest calendars. The Chinese used calendars early in their history and the Mayan calendar is touted for its extreme accuracy. Despite all of these ancient civilizations using calendars, none of them can be considered the "inventor" of the calendar. According to the archaeological record, the earliest calendars were used in Europe and date back to 32,000 BC. Paleolithic man utilized a lunar calendar. They would track the moon and used bones to record the phases of the moon. They used bones or small rocks because they were nomadic and needed to take the calendars with them from place to place.

Why does O'Connor make the children so obnoxious in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"?

I think that O'Connor made the children in the story so obnoxious in order to render the grandmother's disgust with the world all the more powerful.  She longs for the way things used to be, when children were well-mannered and polite, when sons took care of their mothers, when men were gentlemen and women were ladies.  The force of the children's rudeness and disrespect toward her serves to solidify her feelings about the terrible state the world is in now, compared to the way it used to be.  They are so awful that their treatment of her cements her feelings and seems to make her believe them all the more.  Then, when she is confronted with the Misfit in the end of the story, she says all the wrong things to him because her family's behavior has made her believe in the truth of her elitist beliefs, beliefs that help him to understand that she is part of the group that has mistreated him for his entire life. 

How does Atticus demonstrate the following throughout the first eight chapters of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird: "Do unto others as you would...

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, though Atticus never preaches the Golden Rule stating, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," he does preach his own value that directly relates to the Golden Rule. We see him preach his own value to Scout in the third chapter:

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-- ... --until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Ch. 3)

Atticus's value is directly related to the Golden Rule because we must feel complete, genuine respect for another person to be able to shed our own view long enough to see things from the other person's perspective. In feeling and showing respect for another person, we are following the Golden Rule

One example of Atticus following the Golden Rule within the first eight chapters of the novel can be seen when he treats Walter Cunningham Jr. with complete respect. As recompense for Scout needlessly picking a fight with Walter, Jem invites Walter to the Finches' home for lunch. During lunch, Scout feels surprised by their father's treatment of Walter, as Scout describes in her narration:

Atticus greeted Walter and began a discussion about crops neither Jem nor I could follow. (Ch. 3)

Atticus continues to show the utmost respect to Walter by continuing to converse with him as if he is an adult and forbidding Scout from saying anything rude to him. In treating Walter with the utmost respect, Atticus is following the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

How and why does Miss Havisham die in Great Expectations?

Miss Havisham dies because she goes too close to her fireplace in her distraught condition after asking Pip to forgive her. The material of her old wedding dress, which she has worn for decades, is so rotted that it immediately goes up into flames.

In Chapter XLIX, Pip arrives at Satis House after having been given a note from Miss Havisham when he was previously at the office of Mr. Jaggers. He shows the note to an older woman he has seen before who guides him into a larger room that Miss Havisham usually occupies. She tells Pip that "to show you that I am not all stone" she wishes to help out with his friend, about whom Pip has petitioned her aid on his previous visit. When she inquires about the details, Pip explains about the secret partnership he has made on behalf of Herbert, but he needs funds of nine hundred pounds. 

"If I give you the money for this purpose will you keep my secret as you have kept your own?"

Pip promises to do so. Then, Miss Havisham asks if there is nothing that she can do for Pip himself. After he reads the note instructing Mr. Jaggers to release the money to Pip, her hand shakes as she takes the pencil from its chain attachment to the pad on which she has written. She tells Pip,

"My name is on the first leaf. If you can ever write under my name 'I forgive her' though ever so long after my broken heart is dust--pray do it."

"Oh, Miss Havisham,...I can do it now. I want forgiveness and direction far too much to be bitter with you."

Overcome with emotion, Miss Havisham drops to her knees before Pip, crying in despair, "What have I done! What have I done!" as she realizes the extent of her cruelty to young Pip in conditioning Estella to be heartless. For, when Pip visited the other day, Miss Havisham saw herself in Pip as he opened his heart to Estella, and she knew then his terrible heartbreak, emotions so much like her own so long ago. Pip sees an earnest compassion now in her new feelings for him, and he is deeply touched.

Pip repeats that he forgives her and signs his name as she requests. Then, he asks about Estella's past and who her mother is. When he learns all that Miss Havisham knows, Pip makes his departure. After reaching the courtyard, Pip hesitates whether to call the woman to open the gate or to first check to be sure that Miss Havisham is all right. He decides to go back to her room and discovers that she has pulled her chair too close to the fire. She runs shrieking, "with a whirl of fire blazing all about her" and soaring above her head. Quickly, Pip removes his great coat and smothers the flames by enclosing her within it. He puts her down on the floor and pulls off the tablecloth to further smother the flames.

A physician is summoned and he says that Miss Havisham's main danger is in the nervous shock she has received. As Pip leaves, she repeats over and over the three sentences about what she has done, asking to be forgiven, and requesting Pip to sign his name. It is not long after this injury that Miss Havisham dies.

How do Hughes' words vividly convey the power of pike in the poem, "Pike"?

When you finish reading "Pike" by Ted Hughes, you come away with a healthy respect for this kind of fish, maybe even fear, or at least awe. Let's see how the poet's words express, concisely and vividly, the power of these pike, whom the poet clearly admires. 

For Hughes, the pike's power seems to lie in several dimensions: first, sheer size; second, ruthlessness; and third, grace and beauty. These features all combine to delineate the fish as powerful creatures worthy of this intense poem.

Notice how, as we get into all of these details, that it's always Hughes's choice of precise words that convey the pike's attributes. He's never vague. He's always bold in his word choice. 

For instance, in conveying their impressive size, Hughes doesn't say "they're huge" or "they're monstrous." He says they are "three inches long," yet a "hundred feet long in their world," compared to the flies that they swim around. And the other specimens are "six pounds each, over two feet long" - exact measurements that give you a chill as you imagine how hefty they would be to hold. The last we hear of their size is when Hughes describes them as "too immense to stir, so immense and old." Their hugeness is part of their power.

So, too, is their ruthlessness. The speaker calls these pike "killers from the egg," with jaws that "clamp" with "fangs." Their grins are "malevolent" (evil) and "aged." These fish even have "iron" in their eyes in death. Well, I'm pretty terrified of them by now!

Yet despite their ability to kill and clamp and show an iron reserve, the pike retain a powerful grace and beauty. They "dance on the surface" of the water, Hughes tells us. There is "green tigering the gold" on their scales, and the pike themselves are at times "stunned by their own grandeur." So it's not that they're simply monsters; they also have their own brand of elegance, adding even more to the sense of their power.

What does Montag do with the Bible in Fahrenheit 451? Why does he do it?

In Part Two: "The Sieve and the Sand," Montag visits Faber's house to seek his help understanding what he has read. When Montag arrives, Faber notices Montag holds a copy of the Bible. Faber's eyes light up, and he asks Montag if he can hold it. Faber flips through the pages and says, "It's as good as I remember. Lord, how they've changed it in our 'parlors' these days" (Bradbury 77). Montag then tells Faber why he came, and Faber calls Montag a hopeless romantic. After Faber explains the significance of books, Montag tells him he thought they could print more copies of books and circulate them throughout society. Faber suggests they might be able to hide the copies in firemen's homes and destroy the structure from the inside. Faber then tells Montag the whole society and culture would have to be revamped because people enjoy their superficial existence. Montag then asks Faber if he will help him, and Faber says, "Good night, good night" (Bradbury 84). Montag picks up the Bible and asks Faber if he would like to have it. When Faber says that he would give his right arm for the copy of the Bible, Montag begins ripping the pages out of it. Faber yells, "Idiot, what're you doing" (Bradbury 84). Montag continues to rip pages from the Bible until Faber sinks in his chair and agrees to help Montag. Montag knew that destroying such a rare book would force Faber to act because he is so passionate about books and preserving knowledge. Faber agrees to help Montag by giving him a two-way communication device and offering him moral support. Faber is Montag's mentor and helps Montag escape from the city after he kills Captain Beatty. 

The words Orwell uses to describe the morning after the Revolution are very descriptive. What sort of words and images does he use? What does he...

The morning after the Revolution is a glorious and exciting time for the animals of Manor Farm. This is shown through Orwell's use of descriptive words like "gazed," "ecstasy," and "gambolled," which convey this sentiment to the reader.

Coupled with this, Orwell creates an image of the countryside which is both idyllic and idealised. He does this by using phrases like "sweet summer grass" and "rich scent." In addition, phrases like "they gambolled round and round" and the animals rushed to the top of it" conveys a strong image of freedom.

Orwell uses language in this way because he wants the reader to understand the significance of the Revolution from the perspective of the animals. He wants the reader to appreciate, for instance, that taking control of the farm is a huge achievement which is almost unbelievable:

Yes it was theirs - everything that they could see was theirs!

They could hardly believe it was all their own.

Almost-dreamlike, the morning after the Revolution is filled with hope and optimism. After months of planning, the Revolution has been a great success and Orwell wants the reader to share in this moment of joy. 

What is the aim of chromatography?

Chromatography allows us to separate mixtures into their individual substances. More specifically, homogeneous mixtures can be separated by this method. An example commonly used is a sharpie or ink from a pen. A sample is put onto chromatography paper and then into a solvent. The ink then spreads on the paper, showing the different components. There are two phases to this process: stationary and mobile. The stationary phase is the medium performing the separation. The mobile phase carries the mixture. The components of the mixture move at different rates and so separation occurs. This can also be done with photosynthetic pigments. Chlorophyll A, Chlorophyll B, and xanthophylls can be separated by how far they travel along the filter paper. They travel different distances and are able to be separated because of their molecular weight.

Is Bly's "After the Baptism" a story about social class?

Social class is a significant part of Bly's "After the Baptism."

In "After the Baptism," Bly shows the importance of class in how the family members perceive themselves and their world. They believe that social expectations are extremely important. They want to make sure that their family displays the images of wealth and privilege intrinsic to conformist notions of the good. This emphasis is where economic class is most evident in the story.

The family wants to make sure that appearances are maintained, and adhere to an upper middle class portrait of American life. This can be seen in the party that takes place after the baptism:

A blessed week passed, and now the baptism party was going off well. The caterers had come, with their white Styrofoam trays. They set out sauces and laid the champagne crooked into its pails of ice. They dropped the lobsters into boiling water. There was lemon mayonnaise and drawn butter, a platter of dark-meat turkey-damper, better than white meat, Lois Benty and the caterers agreed.

The world that Bly depicts is one where the vision of wealth is extremely important. The caterers, food, and condiments must reflect privilege. Failing to adhere to those standards is seen as a sign of shame. An awareness of economic class drives these characters. When Doreen warns Merv that she will never "forgive him" if he gets drunk, it is because she does not want to be embarrassed. Her social standing will suffer from such a display. Maintaining this social position, projecting an image of upper class wealth, and ensuring that convention is upheld are motivating factors in how people see themselves. In this way, economic class plays a very important role in Bly's story.

Why do we punish, according to Nietzsche?

In his On the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche explains that punishment comes from ancient forms of war. As he writes, "Punishment at this level of civilization is simply a copy, a mimus, of normal behaviour towards a hated, disarmed enemy who has been defeated" (page 47). He says that punishment is a replication of the way in which defeated enemies were treated in less advanced societies.

He writes that punishment today defies definition and that it is difficult to say why people are punished in the modern age. He says, "Today it is impossible to say precisely why people are actually punished: all concepts in which an entire process is semiotically concentrated defy definition; only something which has no history can be defined" (page 53). He goes on to say that punishment has been used in the past for many purposes, including preventing further harm, making payment to a creditor, inspiring fear in the perpetrator, correcting the advantages the perpetrator has enjoyed to date, rooting out the enemy, and even as celebrating a festival in which the enemy is destroyed, among other uses (pages 53-54). 

However, Nietzsche writes that the one supposed benefit of punishment, that it creates a feeling of remorse or guilt, what he calls a "pang of conscience" (page 54), rarely occurs. He writes, "On the whole, punishment makes men harder and colder, it concentrates, it sharpens the feeling of alienation; it strengthens the power to resist" (page 54). Punishment does not result in creating feelings of bad conscience in the offender; instead, the offender simply accepted his punishment in a fatalistic way. Therefore, the purpose of punishment comes from earlier forms of retribution rather than from its efficacy in creating feelings of guilt in the perpetrator. 

What was the main goal of the United States in regards to the Native American?

The main goal of the United States in regard to the Native Americans was to move them out of the way so our country could grow and make progress. Many Americans believed the Native Americans were blocking the growth of and the development of the United States. They believed the Native Americans were uncivilized and were undeveloped. They believed the Native Americans had a backward way of living that was holding back our country's progress.

In order for our country to grow and to make progress, the government wanted to move the Native Americans west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s. The Indian Removal Act led to the forced relocation of many Native Americans. The Trail of Tears, a term used to describe this forced relocation, led to many Native Americans tribes being relocated to lands west of the Mississippi River.

As we began to expand west of the Mississippi River, we then developed policies to place the Native Americans on reservations. We again viewed the Native Americans as holding back progress. There were many conflicts between the U.S. Army and the Native Americans. In most cases, the Native Americans ended up on reservations.

Throughout our history, we haven’t considered the needs of the Native Americans. We have developed policies that benefitted the white man and that have allowed the country to grow and to expand. We have tried to move the Native Americans out of the way so our country could grow and develop.

What is bacteriology?

Science and Profession

Bacteriology is the study of
bacteria, unique life-forms that maintain the basic physiological and genetic processes of all other types of cellular life but that have the unusual characteristic of chemicophysiological diversity. Many bacteria live in totally anaerobic environments, converting carbohydrates to acids and alcohol by fermentation, nitrate to nitrogen gas, sulfate to hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen and carbon dioxide to methane gas. Some bacteria live by photosynthetic processes similar to those of plants, while others survive by using energy obtained through the oxidation of sulfur, hydrogen, ammonia, or ferric minerals.

The history of life on Earth is closely linked to the presence of bacteria. Geologic evidence suggests the early increase in Earth’s atmospheric oxygen more than two billion years ago was the direct result of bacteriological activity. Throughout time, bacteria have continued to play a crucial role in recycling materials necessary for the survival of plants and animals. In the biosphere, bacteria are responsible for degrading and converting complex substances into useful products. Bacteria break down carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids to form carbon dioxide, and they convert ammonia to nitrate and nitrogen gas to amino acids, all of which are essential to the life cycle of plants. Bacteria are the basis of many industrial processes. Bacteria colonies are involved in producing cheeses and fermented foods such as pickles, sausage, and sauerkraut. Bacteria thriving in sewage and landfills produce methane gas, which is used as an alternative energy source by humans. The exploitation of bacteria as a detoxifying agent of environmental pollutants is becoming widespread. Almost all medically important antibiotics are produced by bacteria cultures.

Many types of bacteria live in association with animals. Most bacteria associated with humans live on the surface of the skin, in the mouth, or in the intestinal tract; the majority are harmless, and many are quite beneficial. Some bacteria, known as pathogens, are opportunistic and able to establish themselves in the body of a host, multiply, and produce local or systemic infections. Many pathogens are the causes of severe diseases in humans; most notable are anthrax, tuberculosis, bubonic plague, typhoid fever, pneumonia, gonorrhea, syphilis, gangrene, meningitis, botulism, diphtheria, scarlet fever, tetanus, streptococcal infections, and pertussis (whooping cough).

Medical bacteriology involves the study of infectious diseases produced by bacteria. Medical bacteriologists isolate bacteria suspected of being infectious, relate their role to the disease in question, study the life cycle of the bacteria colony, and seek means to provide therapy to infected victims and prevent further spread of the infectious pathogen.

Bacteriologists are highly skilled scientists who have undergone advanced studies in the fields of biology, microbiology, and chemistry; many have additional training in medical specialties such as pathology, epidemiology, and serology.

Diagnostic and Treatment Techniques

The way in which bacterial infections develop usually follows a consistent pattern. Transmission may occur by one of four pathways: direct contact, such as sneezing or sexual intimacy; inhalation; common source contacts, such as food, water, or blood; and vector-borne spreading by insects or parasites. Bacteria first invade the body through some opening, such as a wound or the skin, nose, throat, lung, intestine, urethra, or bloodstream. The bacteria then target specific cells and begin to reproduce, establishing a primary infection. If the infection remains unchecked, it may spread to the lymphatic system or bloodstream, and multiple sites of infection may develop. The resulting infection destroys local tissue by producing toxins that damage cells or by producing compounds that interfere with body metabolism.

The control of bacterial infections is accomplished by breaking the links in the chain of transmission. This can be done by altering the behavior of potential hosts through education programs, quarantine, health inspections of common source contacts, and pest eradication programs. Other efforts to control infections involve altering the defensive capability of the host. The most effective means has been through vaccination. Vaccination immunizes individuals so that they are no longer susceptible to the targeted infection. Additionally, many bacterial infections can be treated with injections or topical and oral applications of antibiotics.

Perspective and Prospects

During the mid-nineteenth century, studies by Louis Pasteur
into undesirable fermentation of beers and wines led him to the conclusion that infections in animals might be the result of some type of fermentation process. Pasteur experimented with the microbiological cause of infections by studying the characteristics of anthrax and cholera bacilli. Pasteur noted that the introduction of dead bacterial pathogens into a healthy host did not result in disease. Furthermore, if the host was injected with a virulent supply of the subject bacteria, the host did not contract the disease. The result of this work was the discovery of a method for acquired immunity to disease.

Working during the same period, German physician
Robert Koch
provided proof that anthrax and tuberculosis are caused by bacteria. Earlier in his career, Koch developed methods for isolating pure cultures of bacteria and then identifying, staining, and cataloging bacilli. This enabled Koch and other investigators to view infected blood samples and then quickly isolate and cross-reference noted bacilli with previously identified pathogens.

The groundwork that Pasteur and Koch provided helped to establish the role that microorganisms play in the development of infectious disease and ushered in a golden age of discovery into the cause of infectious diseases and their control by immunization.

Bibliography

Alcamo, I. Edward. Microbes and Society: An Introduction to Microbiology. 2d ed. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett, 2008.

Graumann, Peter. Bacillus: Cellular and Molecular Biology. 2d ed. Norfolk: Caister Academic, 2012.

Madigan, Michael T., et al. Brock Biology of Microorganisms. 13th ed. Boston: Benjamin Cummings, 2012.

Shnayerson, Michael, and Mark J. Plotkin. The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug Resistant Bacteria. Boston: Little, Brown, 2003.

Snyder, Larry, and Wendy Champness. Molecular Genetics of Bacteria. 3d ed. Washington, D.C.: ASM Press, 2007.

Topley, W. W. C. Topley and Wilson’s Microbiology and Microbial Infections. Edited by Leslie Collier, Albert Ballows, and Max Sussman. 10th ed. 6 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Volk, Wesley A. Essentials of Medical Microbiology. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1996.

Wassenaar, Trudy M. Bacteria: The Benign, the Bad, and the Beautiful. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Wilson, Michael, Brian Henderson, and Rod McNab. Bacterial Disease Mechanisms: An Introduction to Cellular Microbiology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Why is Macbeth asking Banquo questions about his plans for the afternoon in Macbeth?

Macbeth is planning to kill Banquo and wants to make sure he knows where to send the murderers. 

Macbeth is pretty convinced that Banquo is on to him.  Banquo knows as much about the witches’ prophecies as Macbeth does.  He was there when the witches told him he would be king.  He was also there when Duncan was murdered.  Macbeth fears that Banquo is suspicious.  He is. 

In a soliloquy, Banquo tells the audience that he is afraid that Macbeth got his kingship through evil means.  When he says “Thou hast it now” he is saying, “Macebth, you are king.”  He is not talking directly to Macbeth, of course.  He also says that Macbeth “play'dst most foully for't,” meaning he got to be king through despicable acts, in this case killing the king (Act 3, Scene 1). 

Banquo knows that Macbeth is dangerous though, and he does not let on.  When Macbeth tells him he wants to see him at the ball, Banquo pretends he has no suspicions and is ever-loyal.  He worries about what Macbeth would do if he thought Banquo knew what he had done. 

MACBETH

To-night we hold a solemn supper sir,
And I'll request your presence.

BANQUO

Let your highness
Command upon me; to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit. (Act 3, Scene 1) 

Macbeth casually asks Banquo if he is riding, and how far, and reminds him not to miss the feast.   Banquo complies, but he is wary.  Later, when he sees the murderers Macbeth has sent, he knows what is going on.  He is with his son Fleance, and he tells him to run.  Fleance is able to get away then, but Banquo is not that lucky. 

Later, Banquo does make the banquet.  He comes as a ghost!  Macbeth is horrified when he sees him, and while Lady Macbeth makes excuses for him the guests are still disturbed by his actions.  It is a sign of Macbeth’s guilt and mental decline.

What does the future of genocide look like?

It is hard to imagine genocide at any level, really.  No one could have imagined the atrocities of the Holocaust before WWII, just like no one could imagine the disaster that befell the Armenians in 1915.  The Hutu and Tutsi Civil War in Rawanda in 1995 and the "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo are the two latest incidents of genocide.  Today, with social media, I think that it would be easier to identify groups for genocide, and a leader with that purpose in mind could have one on a massive scale.  That said, the same social media that points out groups for execution would also serve as a watchdog against genocide.  There were no cameras rolling when the Ottoman Empire marched Armenians into concentration camps.  The first reactions to the Holocaust were shock and denial.  Today, with smartphones and social media, the world is hyper-sensitive against genocide and public outcry would force the United Nations to at least examine a potential genocide. While sadly I think that humanity is still capable of being barbaric enough to commit genocide, I think that social media makes it harder to commit one, at least in secret.  

In what ways has the house infantilized the Hadleys in "The Veldt"? How does Bradbury depict this as dangerous?

George and Lydia's Happylife Home plays a number of roles in the story -- not least, it can be understood as the true antagonist, the force that undermines their parental authority and drives a wedge between them and their children. It has "infantalized" the parents, no doubt -- but if the parents have been turned into children, then it makes sense to ask what sort of "parent" the house can be. If you think about it that way, you can begin to see the shape of the satire at work in Bradbury's story. 

First, the basic thing about the house is that it does everything for you. The Happylife home is the ultimate expression of the labor-saving device: the home that "clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them." Lydia feels unnecessary, as you say: "That's just it. I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid." She wants to take a "vacation," which, oddly, means a return to domestic drudgery: she wants to be the one frying eggs, darning socks, sweeping the floor. 

Lydia's desire to do these things comes from her sense that the house has replaced her as mother; her assumption that "darning socks" is what makes a mother is of course another expression of her infantilization. Lydia longs to "go back" to being a mother, but it is clear that, in real terms, she doesn't know what that means -- cooking breakfast is not the same as having a emotional bond with your children, and, of course, that bond is exactly what is missing.

Second, the house satirizes the "leisure first" lifestyle Americans value to this day. The fact that the house will make dinner and tie your shoes is, on the face of it, a ridiculous exaggeration. But Bradbury is also indicting a society that confuses freedom from chores with freedom from responsibility. Perhaps the real reason George and Lydia are unhappy in the house is because of what it doesn't do -- absolve them of guilt for not connecting with their children. 

Third, the house infantalizes the parents in that it becomes the means for their children to assume the role of "head of household." That is, the suggestion is that the kids have hacked the house somehow (Peter may have "got into the machinery and fixed something"). George, who admires the technical acheivement of the house, really has no idea how it works. Lydia is childishly afraid of the nursery ("Those lions can't get out of there, can they?" she asks at one point). The parents fear the children, and fear that they have become more powerful than they are. 

Of course, the children become more powerful than the parents. That's what kids do: they grow up. I think, in the end, the house infantilizes the parents because it shows that the parents don't know, really, what being a parent is: someone that helps their children grow up. In the end, the house provides on last labor saving service: it gets rid of the parents altogether.

0.3 g of citric acid is dissolved in distilled water to produce 100 mL of 0.016 M of solution. How much citric acid is needed in order to complete...

To make this reaction run to completion, we want to ensure that there are the right number of moles of each reactant so that none will be left over.

The equation for citric acid neutralization with sodium bicarbonate is as follows:
`H_3 C_6 H_5 O_7 + 3 NaHCO_3 rightarrow 3 CO_2 + 3 H_2 O + Na_3 C_6 H_5 O_7`
That is, 1 mole of citric acid plus 3 moles of sodium bicarbonate produces the reaction. So we need 3 times as many moles of sodium bicarbonate.

We currently have 100 mL of 0.016 M citric acid, which is `(0.016 {mol}/{L})(0.1 {L}) = 0.0016 mol` , or 1.6 mmol.

We also have 30 mL of 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate, which is `(0.5 {mol}/{L})(0.03 {L}) = 0.015 mol` , or 15 mmol.

So, to match the 15 mmol of sodium bicarbonate, we need a total of 5 mmol of citric acid. That means we need an additional 3.4 mmol.

Since 0.3g of citric acid produced 1.6 mmol, that additional 3.4 mmol will require `(3.4/1.6)(0.3 g) = 0.6375 g` , or 637.5 mg.

Once we add the 637.5 mg to the 100 mL of 0.016 M solution, we will have 5 mmol in 100 mL, which is a 0.05 M solution.

Thus we mix the 100 mL of 0.05 M citric acid with the 30 mL of 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate, matching 5 mmol of citric acid to 15 mmol of sodium bicarbonate.

This is an endothermic reaction, so it will proceed faster if we heat the solution to a higher temperature (thus providing the energy needed to sustain the reaction). Physically stirring the solutions together to mix them better would also speed up the reaction somewhat.

What is Napoleon's reaction to the farm animals' agreement to build the windmill in Animal Farm by George Orwell?

In Chapter Five of Animal Farm, Snowball develops the idea to build a windmill. All of the other animals are very intrigued about the windmill and look over Snowball's plans every day. Napoleon, however, feels very differently:

Only Napoleon held aloof. He had declared himself against the windmill from the very start.

Napoleon's opposition to the windmill continues until the day that Snowball is finally ready to unveil his plans to the other animals. During his speech, he emphasizes the windmill's labor-saving capabilities and the animals agree that it ought to be built. But, once again, Napoleon's opposition is overwhelming and leads to unprecedented violence:

[Napoleon] uttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind no one had ever heard him utter before. At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn.

These dogs are the puppies that Napoleon took from Jessie and Bluebell in Chapter Three. Now grown, they have become Napoleon's personal guards and they give chase to Snowball, who is lucky to escape the farm with his life. The animals have never seen Napoleon act with such brutality before and this represents a turning point on the farm; Napoleon is asserting his dominance over Snowball and, in turn, over all the others. This, then, marks the beginning of his absolute dominance on the farm and foreshadows the violence to come. 

What happened when Charlie took the Rorschach Test? Why was Charlie so angry?

On March 4th, when Charlie took the Rorschach Test, he was supposed to view the images of the inkblots and freely imagine what he saw in them. But Charlie only saw the inkblots for what they were: blobs of ink. Even when Burt tells him to imagine, to pretend, to look for something there in the card, Charlie can't. He struggles to give a true description of the cards, pointing out how one was "a very nice pictur of ink with pritty points all around the eges," but again, this isn't the response that the psychologist is looking for.

Like ambiguously shaped clouds in which people "see" images of people and animals, the inkblots have enough random, busy shapes on them for people to interpret them as many different things--people, animals, scenes, conflicts, and so on. The idea is that the psychologist will pay attention to what a person thinks he or she sees in the inkblots, which is supposed to provide insight on what that person thinks and feels overall.

As a result of Charlie's inability to properly take this test, he worries that he's failed and that he won't be a candidate for the treatment to increase his intelligence. And while he gets frustrated with himself during the test, and while Burt seems to get almost angry--as evinced when his pencil point breaks--I wouldn't say that Charlie is angry in this situation.

But what this scene does reveal about his character is that perhaps he's already smarter than we expect. By insisting on seeing the inkblots for what they really are, and by failing to imagine scenes and images that are false or skewed, Charlie shows that he's not just honest but scrupulous. This early evidence of his good character foreshadows the upcoming conflicts he has with the men at the bakery as well as the researchers themselves, who are less scrupulous.

If I say that Romeo is to blame for Juliet's death how can I prove it with evidence?

One might argue that Romeo is responsible for Juliet's death for three reasons. First, he ignores the advice of Friar Laurence and rushes into his relationship with Juliet. Second, he fails to fully consider Juliet when he fights Tybalt to the death in Act III, Scene 1. Third, he impetuously launches into his quest to commit suicide before thinking to consult Friar Laurence, who has been a friend and loyal advisor in the past.

In Act II, Scenes 3 and 6, Friar Laurence counsels Romeo to not be so impatient and to ease into his love for Juliet. He tells Romeo in Scene 3, "Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast." Again in Scene 6, he repeats these feelings just before he marries the two young lovers:

Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

The Friar's words, however, fall on deaf ears as Romeo is quick to marry, quick to seek revenge against Tybalt and quick to do away with himself when he thinks Juliet is dead.

In the street fight in Act III, Scene 1, after Mercutio is killed, Romeo believes he has been "effeminate" and blindly flies into a rage, challenging Tybalt, who inexplicably has returned to the scene. Even though the Prince has proclaimed that he would enforce the death penalty for any who engaged in fighting, Romeo ignores this, as well as his obligations to his new bride. After killing Tybalt, he realizes the situation and claims he is "Fortune's fool." Throughout the play, Romeo seems the victim of fate, yet each step he takes is of his own volition.

This is clear in the final Act when he immediately plots his own suicide after hearing the mistaken news from Balthasar that Juliet is dead. He even believes he is going against fate in procuring poison and rushing off to the tomb: "Is it e’en so?—Then I deny you, stars!" In reality, he is playing into fate and proceeding on a course which means not only his doom but also Juliet's. If he had simply taken a little time to ascertain the situation and sought out the Friar for advice, he would have known that Juliet wasn't dead and that his intentions were foolish. Unfortunately for Juliet, Romeo is at his most impulsive when she needs him to be mature and calculating.

Does Holling's dad ever get compliments about the "Perfect House" in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, Holling's father is the only one who cares about "the Perfect House," and the irony is the house isn't really all that perfect. Therefore, no one ever compliments the house; instead, there is much to complain about.

Holling explains his father declared the house to be the "Perfect House" because the house is "right smack in the middle of town," neither on the north side nor the south side, past the drug store, the bakery, the five-and-dime store, and the public library ("September"). It was a white two-story colonial that Mr. Hoodhood worked hard to keep immaculately white, painting it every other year. Holling even explains the sidewalk cement leading up to the house was kept perfectly white, and there was not a single crack in the sidewalk. The walkway leading up to the house was "bordered by perfectly matching azalea bushes, all the same height, alternating between pink and white blossoms" ("September"). Yet, in November, Mr. Hoodhood struggles to keep the Perfect House looking perfect. Holding explains November is a very rainy month on Long Island. Everything looks "gray and damp'; the perfectly white sidewalk is "always wet"; and the azalea bushes grow naked, so his father covers them up with burlap sacks, "which also [get] wet" ("November"). The house gutters also get clogged up, so the rainwater falls dirty from the gutter upon the house, leaving a stain that makes his "father really mad." What's more, during the month of November, they discover a water stain had grown as big as a "garbage can lid" and moldy on the ceiling of the "Perfect Living Room" that no one ever goes into. The ceiling in the living room comes crashing to the floor just before the family leaves for a reception at which Mr. HoodHood will be formally presented with the Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967 Award ("February").

Mr. Hoodhood's meticulous care of the house parallels his obsession with his business and his reputation, such as his desire to be elected the Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967. Yet, while he is successful on the outside, he is ironically not successful on the inside. In the final chapter of the book, he argues to Hollings that to "become a man. . . you get a good job and you provide for your family. You hang on, and you play for keeps" ("June"). While Mr. Hoodhood does have a good job and does provide to fulfill his family's material needs, he does not provide to fulfill their emotional needs because he constantly lets his children down and belittles their needs, especially their needs for independence.

In this excerpt from “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which sentence implies that the narrator is unreliable?(a) There...

The answer is definitely (d).

When we say that the narrator is unreliable, we mean that she doesn't have the cognitive or emotional ability to notice the exact, full truth of what's going on and to express that truth. 

In other words, an unreliable narrator has some mental or emotional disturbance that warps how she perceives reality and/or how she expresses what she perceives. It's also the case sometimes that an unreliable narrator is just too young or naive to notice and process what's happening around her, like with the innocent Scout who narrates To Kill a Mockingbird.

But the narrator in question is an adult. In this case, Jane, the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper," has been suffering from serious depression, and her condition has been made worse by the stifling conditions she's in. That is, she's forced to stay a prisoner in the nursery of the vacation home, doing nothing productive with her mind or body. Who wouldn't go nuts in that situation?

Sentence (d) reports a "figure," or some kind of person or creature, who "skulks" behind the pattern of the wallpaper. That kind of thing happens in a hallucination, not in real life. So that's how we know that this sentence, specifically, reveals the unreliable nature of the narrator.

If you look at the other three sentences, they offer only factual information and reasonable comments. 

How was American culture transformed during the 1920's?

An argument can be made that the America we know today was forged during the 1920's. The period that followed the Great War was one of great economic growth and social change. America's wealth grew because of an industrial boom and the rise of the consumer economy. Americans bought goods that were not available at an affordable rate for their parents. Automobiles and household appliances drove this consumer economy and more Americans had disposable income than at any time in history. Those that could not purchase goods charged them with consumer credit, another new development.

The 1920's also saw a great change for women. Many shunned restrictive traditional conventions of dress and behavior. They entered colleges in larger numbers and pursued careers that their mothers would never have dreamed of pursuing. Women were also granted the right to vote with the Nineteenth Amendment and were now expected to be involved in the political process. African-Americans also fought for similar opportunities during the decade of the 1920's.

The Twenties are also the decade of mass popular culture. For the first time, Americans felt a sense of community due to transportation technologies. Radio and motion picture introduced Americans to movie stars and sports icons. Jazz music was also introduced as a very popular music form. With more leisure time and expendable income, Americans treasured their pop stars and invested in entertainment.

In The Giver by Lois Lowry, how does Larissa describe the process of Roberto's release?

In The Giver, Larissa, who is one of the Old in the community, describes to Jonas Roberto's release as "wonderful" (Lowry 31). She describes it as a kind of celebration of Roberto's accomplishments, as an Instructor, an important committee member, a landscape designer for a plaza, and a parent. This seems to be "the telling of his life" (32). She tells Jonas there is a toast and an anthem chanted.  Roberto made "a lovely good-bye speech" (32), and then various individuals made speeches to him, "wishing him well" (32). After bowing, Roberto walked through a door to the Releasing Room. She characterized the look on his face as he goes as "pure happiness" (32). That is all Larissa is able to share, since only a special committee is present in the Releasing Room. On the face of it, this sounds like a lovely way to celebrate a life.  But as Jonas learns from the Giver, this ceremony is a prelude to euthanasia.  

What are some literary terms in "Seeing Things Simply" in order to create a research question for this short story?

"Seeing Things Simply" is one of the nine short stories in Edwidge Danticat's collection Krik? Krak!. In this story, the young girl named Princesse poses nude for a foreign painter named Catherine. Princesse is at first nervous about being painted nude, but is reassured by Catherine that they will be discreet and that nobody will see the paintings. Later in the story, Princesse grows confident in her own beauty and decides to become an artist herself.

Some of the literary terms you may find in this short story could be: themes, characterization, and symbols.

Some possible questions could be: What themes can be found in "Seeing Things Simply?" How does the character Princesse evolve within the short story? What symbols can be found in "Seeing Things Simply?"

One thing you may want to consider is how themes, characters, and symbols work throughout all of the short stories. Are there similar themes that act as threads running throughout each of the short stories? Are there symbols that repeat themselves within the various short stories? How are characters similar and or different throughout each of the short stories?

Some themes to consider: suffering, family

Some symbols to consider: water, butterflies, crying

What quotes from Lord of the Flies relate to the theme and main idea of the story?

A literary work can have many themes, but an obvious theme of Golding's Lord of the Flies is that human beings have a moral darkness inside of them that must be contained or civilization will degenerate into savagery. Golding builds this theme through several sections of the book dealing with "the beast." In chapter 5 during the evening meeting, after Ralph re-establishes the rules about the fire, he opens up discussion to the fears the littluns have about some sort of beast. The older boys try to put their fears to rest, but Piggy lets an idea slip that is met with laughter: "Unless we get frightened of people." After much more discussion, Simon rises to speak and says of the beast, "Maybe it's only us." He, too, is ridiculed. Golding summarizes what is going on in Simon's head: "Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness. Inspiration came to him. 'What's the dirtiest thing there is?'" Here Golding brings up the depraved nature of the human heart, and he reinforces the idea when Simon has his vision of the Lord of the Flies in chapter 8. At the very end of the chapter, during Simon's conversation with the personification of evil, the "pig's head on a stick" says to him,

"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! ... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"

This quote captures Golding's point that the things that go wrong in society are not due to any outside environmental factors but are in fact the result of the moral failings of each individual human being.

How does Brighton Beach Memoirs relate to history?

Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs is set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, in 1937. That year sets the drama between two important times in American history: the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II.

The impact of the Depression is most clearly seen in the character of Jack Jerome, Eugene's father. In order to support his family during this troubled time (including his widowed sister-in-law and her two daughters who have moved into his house), Jack is working two jobs: one as a clothing cutter and one selling party favors. But, indicative of the hard times still facing the country, the party favors business has closed. To support his family, Jack will later take another job that contributes to his having a heart attack. Meanwhile, Eugene's older brother Stanley is also working a job while living at home, providing another important income. When he gets fired, it's a problem not just because the income is lost, but because during this time period it's not easy to find another job.

It's also important to remember that this is a time-period when women did not really work, particularly middle-aged mothers. As we see Kate and Blanche do in the play, their role was to keep house, cook, and watch after the children.

The darker aspects of World War II, and particularly the Holocaust, are evident, as well. Jack is upset about what he reads in the papers about Hitler and the Nazis. While in 1937 Hitler has yet to begin making a huge power grab in Europe, as a Jewish family in a Jewish neighborhood, the Jeromes are already receiving snippets of information about the troubles faced by European Jewry. Kate mentions their neighbor, Ida Kazinsky, and the stories she hears of her family's troubles in Poland. And the play ends with word that some extended family has fled Hitler's anti-Semitism and is coming to live in the already crowded Jerome house. Once again, the coming crisis in Europe also affects Stanley. His father has talked about the probability that America will be drawn into a conflict, and that gives Stanley the idea to run off and join the army in Act II.

History is present in other, smaller ways as well. For example, Eugene's favorite baseball players are from his era; and references are made to then-President Roosevelt.

Ultimately, Brighton Beach Memoirs is a portrait of a particular kind of family living during a particular time in American history. Though it is ultimately a family drama, no family is immune to the time and place in which they live. Part of Neil Simon's skill with this play -- and one of the reasons it has endured for so long (consistently produced for 33 years and counting) -- is how he makes the specifics become universal, so that the play's themes still speak to audiences today.

What are two main reasons the narrator of the first part of Frankenstein gives for why he is adventuring into the frozen north?

Robert Walton is attempting to reach the North Pole and he gives at least three reasons for doing so. He is curious to see a part of the world never seen by others, he hopes his discovery will benefit mankind, and he wants to gain glory for his discovery.

In a letter to his sister, Walton writes, "I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man." This desire to gain knowledge and explore untraveled land mirrors Victor Frankenstein's desire for knowledge and his unprecedented creation of human life. 

Walton goes on to say that this discovery will have an "inestimible benefit" for "all mankind." Victor Frankenstein also believed that his scientific discoveries will benefit humanity as his goal is to "banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!"

Finally, Walton asks his sister, "do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? [...] I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path." Similarly, Victor Frankenstein states, "Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery."

Interestingly, both Walton and Frankenstein are traveling North, Walton to gain knowledge and fame, and Frankenstein to destroy that which he hoped would bring him the same.

What is the setting of "To Build a Fire" by Jack London?

When the story opens, it is morning and the man and his dog are in the Yukon. The Yukon is the northwestern part of Canada and lies east of Alaska. London describes the sky as "cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey." The man thinks it must be fifty degrees below zero. "Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below—how much colder he did not know." 

There are no clouds, but there is no sun. The landscape is cold and covered in snow and ice. The sky is gloomy. "It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun." From the north to the south, all he can see is snow. There is only one strip of spruce trees that breaks up the ubiquitous ice and snow. London makes it a point to describe how cold and unforgiving the landscape and weather are. He also stresses how the foolish man is initially not concerned about this. He is new to this area. This is what will lead to his downfall. He does not understand how dangerously cold it really is.

This is a good example of Naturalism in literature. Whereas some Naturalist works focus on social forces, stories like "To Build a Fire" highlight the power and reality of nature. 

Which sentence is correct? Question 31 options: 1) Susan held onto her son's hand very protect as they entered the waterpark. 2) ...

The correct answer is the third choice, and I will explain why:

Susan held onto her son's hand very protectively as they entered the waterpark.

The word "protect" comes in many forms.  In its form in the first sentence, it is a verb, to be used like this:

He needs to protect the children.

In the second sentence, it is in a verb form with a helping verb, which is being used like an adjective, to describe a noun:

The protected town had a great many soldiers.

The town was protected by a great many soldiers.

In the fourth sentence, we have another adjective version of the word:

There was no protective coating on the wires.

In the correct version, the form needed is an adverb, which is the form we use to describe a verb. The word is describing how Susan held her son's hand. Most adverbs are formed by adding "ly" to an adjective:

The man hovered protectively over the baby.

You can see that there are many different forms, and the key to figuring out which to use is to understand what the word is supposed to do in the sentence.

What specific steps does Montresor take to ensure his plan works?

Montresor seems to be bragging about his cleverness in planning his perfect crime and his success in bringing it off as planned. First he takes pains to ensure that everyone will think he and Fortunato are the best of friends, including Fortunato himself. He refers to Fortunato as "my friend," "my good friend," and "my poor friend" repeatedly throughout the story.

He prepares the materials he will need for Fortunato's "immolation." The stones for the wall are piled in front of the recess. The mortar is already mixed and covered with human bones dripping water to keep it from drying and hardening. He keeps the trowel on his person because he doesn't want it rusting in that damp atmosphere.

He takes plenty of time to hone his story to perfection. He not only tells Fortunato that he has purchased a pipe (125 gallons) of Amontillado at a bargain price, but that he is on his way to Luchesi to get him to sample it, since he has been unable to find Fortunato. This is important. Fortunato is interested in the bargain and in showing off his connoisseurship. He has a bad cold and might beg off going to Montresor's palazzo that night--but he doesn't want Luchesi to hear about the Amontillado.

Montresor ascertains that Fortunato is not expected anywhere on that fateful night. He wants to leave a cold trail. Tomorrow morning no one will remember much because everybody on the streets is drunk and will be hung-over. Fortunato is extremely conspicuous in his gaudy jester's costume, but Montresor is like a shadow in his black cloak and black mask. There will be no one to say they saw Montresor and Fortunato together on the night of Fortunato's disappearance. 

Montresor has made sure his servants will all be gone. There will be no witnesses to say they saw him bring Fortunato home. He says:

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.

This does not mean that all domestic servants would do the same thing. Montresor doesn't have first-class servants. They don't respect him. They aren't afraid of getting fired.

Montresor keeps Fortunato drunk while they are underground. Fortunato is already drunk when Montresor finds him in the street, and Montresor gives him two bottles of French wine. 

Montresor walls Fortunato up in a remote place where there is no chance of his being heard when he screams for help. Montresor does a perfect job of building the stone wall and then plastering it over with the same mortar he used in building the wall. He makes the plastered-over wall look like part of the granite wall of the catacombs, and then he covers it over with what he calls a "rampart" of human bones. Even if the authorities were to search his premises, they would not be likely to find Fortunato's body--but Montresor has had the foresight to be sure he was above suspicion when Fortunato disappeared. Everybody believes that Montresor and Fortunato were the very best of friends.

It is not certain how long Fortunato remained alive. Montresor used big, heavy stones rather than bricks in building his wall. Fortunato would not be able to hear anyone approaching through the wall, the mortar-plaster, and the bones. If he screamed for help, no one would hear him on the other side. It was extremely unlikely that anyone would come down there anyway.

The crime was perfect. Montresor concludes his narrative with these words:

 I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!

Name four things that families can do to encourage good eating habits for children.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "monkey see, monkey do?" One of the best things parents can do to help their children develop good eating habits is to set an example through their own actions. When children have the opportunity to observe their parents' or guardian's eating habits on a regular basis, they learn eating behaviors-- healthy or otherwise. It is important for families to set an example for children by making healthy food choices for themselves and the little ones. This includes not only the content of meals, like choosing whole grains and fresh vegetables over packaged foods, but also the process of eating. Eating too quickly can disrupt digestion or cause stomach troubles. When parents set the example by eating at a slow, regular pace, children become more in-tune with this rhythm and learn to recognize the sensation of fullness in their own bodies.

This ties in with "setting an example," but it's very important for families to eat together on a regular basis. Family meals, with no distractions like television, set up the perfect opportunity for children to observe and learn eating behaviors. Additionally, it creates a sense of stability and security to have a regular family meal time. Taking the opportunity to share a meal together and talk reinforces the bonds of trust between parents and children. Family meals where children feel they are welcome to participate in discussion helps foster a sense of confidence and inclusion.

Getting kids involved in making food choices is a great way to help them develop a healthy relationship with food. Inviting a child to help with grocery shopping, meal planning, and meal preparation offers them a sense of control. For young children especially, grocery shopping and cooking together is an ideal way to help them learn names of foods and kitchen safety. Children who do not feel alienated from food and the process of making a meal are more likely to be "good eaters."

Parents should direct a child's involvement in meal preparation and encourage them to make healthy decisions. For example, many kids proclaim that they don't like vegetables. Asking a child what vegetable they want to have with dinner is likely to result in frustration. By directing the question-- "Would you like to have corn or peas with dinner?"-- a child is more likely to make a decision. Building a sense of empowerment in the relationship with food is important from an early age.

Now that we've considered lots of things parents and families should do with regards to food, let's discuss something they shouldn't. Using food as a form of punishment or reward contributes to an unhealthy, possibly abusive, relationship with food. Withholding food from children as a means of punishment can cause them to worry that they will go hungry. On the other hand, using food as a reward can create an unhealthy understanding of what it means to eat a balanced diet. Telling children that they can have some sweets if they eat their vegetables creates the expectation that you only have to eat vegetables if you want to eat some sweets. Instead of setting up a system of rewards with food, parents should focus on instilling an understanding of healthy eating in their children.