In Elie Wiesel's Night, what are the lives of Sighet's Jews like before the German invasion?

Night is a harrowing memoir of a young man attempting to survive the Holocaust. In its first chapter, Night reveals much about the Jewish community where Elie spends his youth. These observations teach the reader about what daily life was like in Sighet and the countless other Jewish communities destroyed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Day to day life in Sighet is something to which many readers can relate. “The shopkeepers were doing good business, the students lived among their books, and the children played in the streets.” This sentence is timeless and placeless. It applies to civilizations from thousands of years ago just as well as it does to today.

One thing the reader learns early on is that for the Jews of Sighet, their religion plays a large role in their daily lives. Even Elie, still a child in the memoir’s opening pages, dutifully studies the Torah. His father, though not a rabbi, is a highly respected member of Sighet’s Jewish community. Wiesel notes that his father “was more involved in the welfare of others than that of his own kin.” Though one can interpret this statement as negative, it shows the degree to which Elie’s father is an active member of his community.

Though religion ties Sighet’s Jewish residents together, these ties are not unbreakable. When foreign Jews, including Elie’s mentor Moshe the Beadle, are deported by the Hungarian police, they are quickly forgotten. “What do you expect,” someone in the crowd says as the train car full of foreign Jews pulls away. “That’s war.” Even Elie moves on, only to be surprised later when Moshe reappears in Sighet after escaping the Nazis' death squads.  

What was the Renaissance and why was it significant?

The Renaissance is a period in European history that saw a renewed interest in the classics of Ancient Greece and Rome. It started in Florence, Italy and took place between the 14th and 16th Century. The period saw a flourishing of the arts and sciences and a was a unique period of humanism and secularism. It was a significant period because it broadened the scope of human potential. In other words, limits that existed in people's own imaginations were removed. People started to believe they could achieve anything which led to unparalleled scientific achievement. The Renaissance inspired both the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. It also was an inspiration for the age of discovery which led to the "discovery" and colonization of the New World. These are significant examples of the many important developments that were spawned by the Renaissance in Europe.

`int csc^4(x) cot^6(x) dx` Evaluate the integral

`intcsc^4(x)cot^6(x)dx`

Rewrite the integrand by applying the identity,`1+cot^2(x)=csc^2(x)`

`=int(1+cot^2(x))^2cot^6(x)dx`

Apply integral substitution,

Let `u=cot(x)`

`=>du=-csc^2(x)dx`

`=>dx=(-1/(csc^2(x)))du=-1/(1+u^2)du`

`=int(1+u^2)^2u^6(-1/(1+u^2))du`

`=-int(1+u^2)u^6du`

`=-int(u^6+u^8)du`

`=-(intu^6du+intu^8du)`

`=-(u^7/7+u^9/9)`

`=-1/7u^7-1/9u^9`

Substitute back `u=cot(x)`

`=-1/7cot^7(x)-1/9cot^9(x)`

Add a constant C to the solution,

`=-1/7cot^7(x)-1/9cot^9(x)+C`

Why is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein still relevant today?

One thing that makes Frankenstein extremely relevant today are the kinds of scientific experiments that we do and the increasing advancements made by the medical community.  Medical ethics -- what we can do and what we should do might be two very different things -- were problematic for Victor and they remain problematic for us today.  Where is the line?  Everyone seems to have a different opinion.

Victor's goal, besides attaining glory and honor for his achievement, is to "render man invulnerable to any but a violent death"; he wants to figure out a way to make us stronger and more resilient so that we no longer succumb to disease, the way his mother did when she died of scarlet fever.  Essentially, rather than find a cure for all diseases, he wants to make us so strong that we would be immune to them all.  Scientists, today, are attempting to discover cures or vaccines for diseases in order to render us incapable of suffering with them, and we tend to think of this as important work.  But how far should we go in the attempt to sustain human life?  When do we cross a line into "playing God"?  What will happen as a result of more people living longer when cures are discovered?  These are the kinds of thoughtful questions that Victor never asked himself when he made the first creature.  He lacks forethought, and Shelley seems to warn readers not to make the same mistake.

Victor's practices can be viewed as unethical, and many people consider certain medical practices unethical today.  Women who receive in-vitro fertilization can now choose the sex of their baby; some individuals would consider IVF or making choices such as this "playing God."  Many people who oppose abortion rights also feel that getting an abortion, a medical procedure, is playing God as well.  Again, where is the line?  We still cannot come to a consensus on medical interventions like this.  

Frankenstein forces us to consider how far is too far.  It makes us form an opinion on Victor's behavior and, in doing so, we have to consider our own community's similar behaviors and whether or not we are doing something we shouldn't.  We'll never agree, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversations, and this novel is one starting point.

At which altitude is atmospheric pressure equal to 760mmHg?

Atmospheric pressure is measured in pascals (Pa), atmospheres (atm), and millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Essentially, mmHg is the original measurement born from an experiment designed to define "atmospheric pressure." On the other hand, the unit Pa defines the amount of pressure and the unit atm defines a new unit for atmospheric pressure itself.

Atmospheric pressure is 101325 Pa at sea level, which is equivalent to 1 newton per square meter. This can also be written as 101.325 kPa, which is in the unit kilopascal and is easier to read.

Often, atmospheric pressure is written as 1 atm at sea level, which is just another way of saying 101.325 kPa.

Finally, atmospheric pressure can be written in the primary unit millimeters of mercury mmHg. At sea level, atmospheric pressure is at 760mmHg.

What are the roles of monsters in The Odyssey?

In a general sense, the various monsters confronted in the Odyssey serve as tests of Odysseus's cunning and resolve. Each one presents a unique type of obstacle to the adventurer, tempting or testing Odysseus in a different way, and they can each be understood to represent eternal human challenges, fears, and conflicts. Scylla and Charybdis, for instance, have become bywords for any choice between two equally destructive alternatives or extremes; they are literature's archetypal "rock and a hard place" or "no-win situation." The sirens and the sea nymph Calypso each embody variations of temptation; the sirens embody the false, cold allure of all things alien and malevolent; their beauty and song beckon Odysseus to surrender to the unknowable depths of the sea, as the worm beckons the fish.

Calypso, on the other hand, can be seen as the true and perfect temptation, the promise of arcane and eternal bliss which threatens to sway him from his course and from his human, temporal devotion to his wife, son, and kingdom. Calypso dramatizes the conflict of those qualities in us that desire struggle, discovery, change, and fulfillment, against those that desire ease, release, and inertia. In a sense, she offers the choice between the humane and the divine. The island of the lotus-eaters poses a similar kind of choice, between the striving and incertitude of reality and the addictive pleasures of opiate-induced slumber.

Of all the Odyssey's monsters, the cyclops Polyphemus is the hero's most direct and active antagonist, and he serves as an avatar of ruthlessness, barbarism, and destructive appetites. In these respects he becomes a sort of monstrous mirror of the suitors in Odysseus's palace. His role is primarily to test Odysseus's cunning, and to present a warped vision of the Odyssey's recurring theme of hospitality; like Circe, he is a predatory host, devouring Odysseus's men and violating sacred taboos which mandate generosity to one's guests--a theme which comes full circle when Odysseus slaughters the suitors in his own home, disguising his identity to fool them much as he did with Polyphemus.

Speaking broadly, the monsters Odysseus faces in his journey constitute a kind of gauntlet or series of trials, probing for specific weaknesses in his character. The fact that he prevails, alone among all his men, is an indication of the exceptional qualities that make him and epic hero and an exemplar of certain human limits.

What state of matter does conduction and convection take place in?

Heat transfer can take place through three different mechanisms: conduction, convection and radiation. In conduction, heat is transferred through direct contact between bodies. Since direct contact is possible in solids, liquids as well as gases, conduction can take place in all of them. However, solids are more tightly bound than other forms of matter and hence conduction is better in the solid state, as compared to other forms of matter. If we heat one end of a metal stick, the other end will also feel hot after a while, due to conduction.

Convection is the transfer of heat energy through the movement of fluid particles. Hence, convection cannot take place in solids, since the solid particles are not fluid. Thus, convection only takes place in liquids and gases. The boiling of water in a pan happens because of convective heat transfer between water molecules.

In comparison, radiation does not require any medium for heat transfer. Solar radiation is an example of radiation or radiative heat transfer.

Hope this helps. 

What does Will mean when he says, "There were dangerous curves and corners in Harlen's mind, and none of them were marked"? This quote is found in...

It is important to put this quotation in the context of the chapter and in the context of Will's character. Will is immersed in self-doubt at this point in the book. The local basketball team, the Medicine River Friendship Center Warriors, has lost its most valued player, Clyde Whiteman. Of course, it is Harlen, Will's best friend, who continues to encourage Will to take Clyde's place.

The quotation you provide highlights the differences between Will and Harlen. Harlen is a risk-taker while Will is not. Will does not have enough confidence in his ability to play basketball at forty years old. Will has a solid and calm exterior, but he seems to be a late bloomer in regards to self-confidence. Will considers himself merely "normal" and someone who is simply getting through life. Will admits in the quote you provide that Harlen is much more unpredictable. This is why there are "dangerous curves and corners" in Harlen's mind. "None of them are marked" because marking dangerous curves or corners would at least provide a warning of the danger ahead.

Who is a stereotyped character in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

Dr. Wheeler defines a stereotyped character as one "who is so ordinary or unoriginal that the character seems like an oversimplified representation of a type, gender, class, religious group, occupation" (Literary Terms and Definitions, Carson-Newman University). They are the types of characters we recognize very easily when we see them such as the bully or the nerd.

One stereotype we find in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is the Southern belle, represented by Aunt Alexandra. The Southern belle is usually a young, unmarried woman of Southern high society who holds strong beliefs of social superiority and of proper feminine behavior, believing in particular that women should be in positions of subordination and subservience. They are often even racially prejudiced. Though a married woman herself, Aunt Alexandra was raised as a Southern belle and still holds those beliefs; she is even trying to raise Scout as a Southern belle. In terms of appearance, Southern belle's are often corseted, gloved, and carry fans. We particularly see Aunt Alexandra being described as a Southern belle in the following:

To all parties present and participating in the life of the county, Aunt Alexandra was one of the last of her kind: she had river-boat, boarding-school manners; let any moral come along and she would uphold it; she was born in the objective case; she was an incurable gossip. (Ch. 13)

Beyond her manners, Aunt Alexandra is described as being representative of a Southern belle when she is characterized as persistently wearing a corset and as being racially prejudiced.

A second stereotype we see in To Kill a Mockingbird is what today we might call white trailer trash, and the Ewells represent this social class. According to descriptions, the Ewells are uneducated, always dirty, extremely poor, and have never "done an honest day's work" in their lives; Bob Ewell lives solely off of relief checks. In particular, Bob Ewell's son, Burris, is described as having stereotypical dirtiness in Scout's following narration:

He was the filthiest human I had ever seen. His neck was dark gray, the backs of his hands were rusty, and his fingernails were black deep into the quick. (Ch. 3)

In general, To Kill a Mockingbird contains many stereotypes, but Lee uses many of them in more creative ways than average.

What was Jimmy's conflict when he heard Agatha scream in the bank?

In the story, five-year-old Agatha has been locked in the vault by May, her nine-year-old sister. Accordingly, everyone can hear the child 'wildly shrieking in the dark vault in a panic of terror.'

After hearing the screams, Jimmy realizes that he has two choices: either he lets the girl suffocate to death or he helps the girl escape. If he does the latter, he risks exposing to the community his identity as a former professional thief. This is Jimmy's conflict. As his alter ego Ralph D. Spencer, he is the beauteous Annabel Adams' fiance. When he marries Annabel, his transformation from former felon to respectable banker's son-in-law will be complete; he will have left behind his old life.

However, when little Agatha becomes trapped in the vault, Jimmy realizes that he is the only one who can really save her. Against all human inclinations for self-preservation, Jimmy gets to work with his famous tools; in ten minutes, the little girl is freed. With Agatha safely deposited in her mother's arms, Jimmy thinks to surrender himself to Ben Price, the detective. However, after witnessing Jimmy's act of courage, the detective declines to arrest Jimmy.

How does Annemarie's understanding of pride change over time in Number the Stars by Lois Lowry?

Annemarie grows up a lot during the events of the war. She sees her friend’s family have to run away. Her family participates in Resistance activities. Annemarie learns Denmark is a proud country that will not bow to Nazi control. 

Annemarie’s family discusses the story of the sinking of Denmark’s fleet. She thinks about how the old king must feel terrible to lose the fleet, but proud to have kept it from the Nazis. In the same way, the people of Denmark try to prevent the country’s Jews from being victims of Nazi genocide. 

Annemarie realizes pride is a complex thing. Even when everything has been taken from you, you can still have pride. She considers the case of her friends the Rosens, who will have to leave everything behind in order to go into hiding. 

All of those things, those sources of pride — the candlesticks, the books, the daydreams of theater — had been left behind in Copenhagen. They had nothing with them now; there was only the clothing of unknown people for warmth, the food from Henrik's farm for survival, and the dark path ahead, through the woods, to freedom (Chapter 11).

For the Rosens, survival is of the utmost importance. Losing personal possessions means nothing as long as the Rosens have their lives and each other. In war, priorities change.  People realize what is really important. 

Another source of Annemarie's pride is her family's assistance with the Resistance. Peter was arrested, but he did not regret what he had done. He helped people while he could, and for this he was proud. 

He had written a letter to them from prison the night before he was shot. It had said simply that he loved them, that he was not afraid, and that he was proud to have done what he could for his country and for the sake of all free people (Chapter 17).

War is difficult for everyone. Annemarie realizes each person has to do what he or she feels is right. Pride means knowing you are standing up for what you believe is right. 

In Whirligig, where is Brent heading? Where is he coming from?

Brent had been driving drunk when he caused the car accident that killed Lea Zamora. As a way to atone for his crime, Brent is asked by Mrs. Zamora to build four versions of Lea’s favorite wooden toy, a whirligig. These devices have arms that whirl when the wind blows. She asks him to build them in tribute to Lea and to install them in the four corners of the country: Washington, California, Florida, and Maine. She provides a Greyhound bus ticket good for forty-five days and a camera to take photos of each whirligig. Brent takes on the challenge. We follow his path on the bus in alternating chapters: from his home in Chicago to Seattle, Washington, in “The Afterlife”; to San Diego, California, in “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”; to Tampa, Florida, in “Apprentices”; and to Weeksboro, Maine, in “Everybody Swing!” When the challenge is complete, he still has some travel time left. We readers are left to wonder exactly where Brent will go next.

What comparisons can be made between Tom Clancy's real life and his character Jack Ryan in the story "The Hunt for Red October"?

Tom Clancy's life and the life of his fictional hero, Jack Ryan, have some things in common, while in other ways they vary greatly.  The obvious comparison is that Clancy, like his character Jack Ryan, was born and lived in Baltimore, Maryland.  But While Clancy received a degree in English Literature from Loyola College, Jack Ryan attended Boston College where he trained to become a commissioned officer for the Marine Corp.  Although Clancy did join the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corp at Loyola, he was never able to serve in the Army due to his extreme nearsightedness, and his focus in college was on the humanities rather than the military.

Jack Ryan, like his creator, did spend part of his (fictional) life in academia, in particular as a teacher at the Naval Academy, and we learn Jack Ryan spent some years working in the civilian world (also like Clancy, though Ryan was an investment broker, whereas Clancy was an insurance agent).  These smaller considerations aside, however, Jack Ryan in the world of "The Hunt For Red October" is a brilliant strategist and operative--he is a CIA analyst who spearheads a tricky and dangerous mission to lead a defecting Soviet sub to safety, and to appropriate its technology in order to safeguard America and her citizens.  He is a man of action and a hero, whereas Clancy is a common man who writes about larger-than-life characters such as Jack Ryan.

Anne says Margot has become quite sweet these days and isn't as catty. Why do you think this is so?

On Wednesday, January 12, 1944, Anne writes in her diary:

Margot's gotten much nicer. She seems a lot different than she used to be. She's not nearly as catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little kid who doesn't count.

Although Anne grew up admiring her sister, that admiration turned into resentment and jealousy as the two aged. Margot seemed to be better loved by most adults due to her calm and non-reactive personality. Anne, in fact, used to sarcastically refer to her as "a paragon of virtue." When trouble was afoot, Anne was usually blamed for it first since no one might suspect that Margot would misbehave. 

Anne and Margot's renewed sense of friendship could come from necessity (as it was better for the sanity of everyone sharing this small space if the two would get along) or from Anne's budding love for Peter (which seemed to have a mellowing effect on the emotionally tempestuous girl). It could also be due to the fact that Anne seems to be maturing and gaining self-awareness, which is demonstrated in an entry shortly before this one in which Anne re-reads portions of her diary and scolds herself for her nasty words against her mother. We can see that Anne is growing up over the course of the diary, and as she transitions from being a moody little girl to a more thoughtful and sensible young woman, her relationships seem to transition as well. 

How would one summarize chapters 1-5 of Avi's The Man Who Was Poe?

To write a summary, we pick out and explain the most important details of a work. To summarize a work of fiction, we want to focus on describing the most important details of the plot, which include the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Since chapters 1-5 occur at the beginning of Avi's The Man Who Was Poe, these chapters will only be a part of the exposition and the rising action. Authors use the exposition of a story to lay out for the reader the setting, characters, and conflicts.

In the prologue of the story, we were introduced to the protagonist, Edmund, and told the central conflict is that his sister, called Sis, has gone missing. In the first chapter, we are introduced to another important character, a writer who is currently broke and behaves a bit strangely. The writer is later identified as Edgar Allan Poe; however, he introduces himself to Edmund as Auguste Dupin, who is actually a detective character Poe created for a series of his short stories. In this opening chapter, Mr. Dupin and Edmund meet for the first time, and Edmund tells him about his Aunt Pru and Sis having gone missing and asks for help, having no one else to turn to.

In the second chapter, Avi begins to develop more rising action. The term rising action refers to all events in a story that lead to the story's climax, the turning point of the story. One important moment of rising action is that Mr. Dupin and Edmund together learn that the body of Edmund's Aunt Pru has been discovered by authorities at the docks.

Rising action continues to develop in chapters 4 and 5. In these chapters, Edmund explains why he and his family came to America and that, each day, his aunt searched the town for Edmund's missing mother. Edmund and Mr. Dupin also go investigate the room in the neighboring building to discover a wooden plank by the window and a "pearl button" Edmund says came from his sister's shoes (46). These clues convince Dupin that Sis was kidnapped, forcibly taken from one room into the next through the windows, using the plank as a bridge.

What are some similarities and differences between the French Revolution and The Russian Revolution?

Here is the first similarity:  massive loss of life, especially in the ruling class.  King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette both were beheaded and Czar Nicholas II and his family were shot to death.  Many lesser nobles and pro-government generals were killed in purges during the French Revolution and Russian Revolution.  

The second similarity is that both revolutions led briefly to a period of the nations trying to form republics.  The initial leadership of Russia sought to strengthen the Duma (Parliament) and give the people more of a voice.  However, the pressure to stay in WWI by the Allies brought down this government and opened the door to civil war where the Bolsheviks took over the government and Lenin passed draconian laws.  France also formed a republic but it was soon toppled and after the Reign of Terror, Napoleon set himself up as supreme leader.  

Lastly, both were caused by governmental inefficiencies.  France had an unbalanced taxation system that put more pressure on those who could barely pay, and the economy was poor due to a long series of wars with Britain, most recently the American Revolution.  In Russia, infrastructure such as rails were the worst in Europe and were hampering the movement of men and material for the WWI effort.  People were starving, both civilians and soldiers.  Both governments were seen as the root of the people's problems, and Louis XVI and Nicholas II were not forceful personalities who could put down resistance with progressive reforms or force.  

Why was the Declaration of Independence written ?

The Declaration of Independence was written mainly to persuade people that the Patriots’ cause was just and that the colonies deserved to be independent.  Thomas Jefferson and the others involved in writing and approving the Declaration wanted to persuade both foreign countries and American colonists of this idea.

Of course, one reason for the Declaration was simply to announce that the colonies were breaking away from the United Kingdom.  However, the document was meant much more to persuade than to inform.  If it had only been meant to inform, it would have been much shorter. Instead, the bulk of the Declaration is devoted to setting out the Americans’ complaints against the king and their philosophical justifications for rebelling.  All of this was meant to persuade.

The American leaders wanted to persuade both colonists and foreigners that the Patriots were in the right.  The leaders wanted and even needed to get foreigners on their side.  They hoped that foreign countries would recognize their independence and would perhaps pressure the British to let the colonies go.  If the colonists had to fight a war, they wanted foreign countries to help them fight that war. 

The leaders also wanted to persuade American colonists.  Not all colonists supported independence.  Scholars estimate that only about one-third of colonists were firmly in favor of independence while equal numbers were against independence and neutral.  The leaders of the independence movement wanted to get as many colonists as possible on their side so that they would have a better chance of defeating the British government.

Thus, the Declaration of Independence was written mainly to persuade colonists and foreigners to support the Patriots’ efforts to achieve independence.

What point does Harper Lee want to make about courage through her use of characters in To Kill a Mockingbird?

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops the theme concerning courage to show the difficulty and necessity of behaving courageously. She also intertwines her theme of courage with her themes concerning behaving like a gentleman and a lady to show that it takes a great deal of courage to treat others with the amount of respect required of gentlemanly and ladylike behavior, just as Atticus treats people.

Atticus is the primary character Lee uses to show the difficulty of behaving courageously, but many characters behave courageously throughout the book by acting in ways that are contrary to society's expectations. Atticus behaves courageously by putting his all into defending Tom Robinson, despite the rest of society's prejudiced belief that Robinson is guilty and does not deserve a defense simply because he is African American. More importantly, Atticus takes on this responsibility knowing the likelihood he will fail to acquit Robinson. Atticus defines courage as the ability to do what needs to be done despite the fact you are unlikely to succeed, as we see in his following speech to Jem:

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. (Ch. 12)

Beyond defining courage as doing what is right regardless of failure, Lee intertwines courage with gentlemanly and ladylike behavior in multiple places. Jem recognizes Atticus's courage when he learns Atticus opposes the rest of society by refusing to use his sharpshooting skills to hunt, because Atticus he prefers to be respectful towards all living creatures when the rest of society doesn't usually care. In treating all living creatures with respect, Atticus behaves gentlemanly, and since his behavior is contrary to the rest of society, Atticus shows that even behaving gentlemanly requires a great deal of courage, as Jem implies in his revelation once he understands why Atticus won't boast about his skills to easily kill living things: "Atticus is a gentleman, just like me!" (Ch. 10).

In addition, though Jem at first equates behaving like a girl with cowardice, he soon comes to realize that being a great lady, like Mrs. Dubose, requires the utmost bravery. Even Scout comes to equate being a lady with being courageous when, after Robinson's death, she sees Aunt Alexandra and Miss Maudie put on brave smiles and continue to treat their guests with the utmost respect when all they would like to do is dwell on their own worries and sorrows. Scout comes to realize that it takes a great deal of courage to behave selflessly in times of tragedy, as true ladies must.

In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, what request does Nick make of Daisy when he asks her to tea?

In Chapter V, Nick relates that he called Daisy from his office the next morning at the behest of Jordan Baker and invited her to come to tea. The following dialogue reveals the request Nick makes of Daisy over the telephone.

"Don't bring Tom," I warned her.

"What?"

"Don't bring Tom."

"Who is 'Tom'?" she asked innocently.

Nick felt he had to warn her not to bring her husband Tom because that would be extremely awkward and would make Nick look guilty. Daisy may have asked "Who is 'Tom'?" "innocently," but it would only have been a pretense. She may have suspected that Nick wanted her to meet somebody--although she would have had no idea that it would have been Gatsby. When Daisy arrives at Nick's cottage she reveals only a part of what she was thinking when Nick asked her not to bring Tom.

"Are you in love with me," she said low in my ear, "or why did I have to come alone?"

She may be only half-joking. She may truly believe Nick might be in love with her, and she may find this exciting. 

What is the theme or main idea of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain?

The main theme of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the joys of childhood when the world is full of wonders and children are free of the heavy responsibilities of adulthood. Mark Twain was writing about his own boyhood, growing up in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri, right on the edge of the great Mississippi River. Tom is a town boy. If he lived on a subsistence farm like the majority of Americans in those times, he would not have the freedom he enjoys in this novel. Farm boys were put to work at an early age, and much of their work consisted of plowing behind a horse or mule. They were often called "plow-boys." American literature was full of stories and poetry about boyhood. A good example is "The Barefoot Boy" by the eminent poet John Greenleaf Whittier, which begins:

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan! 

And contains this sentiment:

From my heart I give thee joy,—
I was once a barefoot boy! 

One of the most prominent authors of the time was Booth Tarkington, who wrote two very popular books about boyhood: Penrod, and Penrod and Sam.

The theme of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer might be best expressed by quoting from one of the most popular poems of the time, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality, From Recollections of Early Childhood" by the great English Romantic poet William Wordsworth.

Thou little Child, yet glorious in the might
Of heaven-born freedom on thy being's height,
Why with such earnest pains dost thou provoke
The years to bring the inevitable yoke,
Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife?
Full soon thy Soul shall have her earthly freight,
And custom lie upon thee with a weight
Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life!

This is the spirit and theme of both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Youth is the best time of life because we are free of responsibilities and cares, and the world seems full of wonders and possibilities. We are immortal because we haven't yet found out we are not. The character Tom Sawyer became so popular that Mark Twain wrote two more novels in which the boy is featured: Tom Sawyer Detective and Tom Sawyer Abroad.

In the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, what does the speaker encounter (come across) ?

In Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken,” the narrator encounters a decision, which becomes metaphorical as the poem progresses.

As the traveler makes his way through the woods on an autumn day, he encounters a fork in the road. Knowing he will not be returning that way in the near future, he is faced with the decision of which road to take. As he examines the two roads; the allure of the second one appeals to him.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

On that particular morning, no one traveled on either path so his decision was not influenced by anyone else.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Robert Frost explains encountering that fork in the road, and deciding to take the road “less traveled by” is influential to the traveler’s future.

Where is the "heart of darkness," in Africa, in Kurtz, everywhere and is a part of mankind, or in England?

This is a great question, partly because Joseph Conrad's "heart of darkness" could potentially be found in all the options you've listed. However, because you probably have to choose one answer, I'd say that the heart of darkness exists everywhere and is part of mankind is the most correct answer. 

One of the overarching themes in the novel is the darkness, evil, and violence that resides in the heart of all humans. Marlow witnesses it firsthand as a manifestation of colonial conquest: those who help the company to enslave natives and steal ivory from the Congo become twisted, greedy, and corrupted. Kurtz is a perfect example of this trend: originally an arrogant but idealistic individual, he gradually loses his senses, commits terrible crimes, and dies a wretched death.

It would be a mistake to assume that this tendency is unique to Kurtz. Before Marlow embarks on his adventure, a doctor who inspects him asserts that those who venture off into Africa in search of ivory return changed. The implication here is that all people, not just Kurtz, have hearts of darkness, and certain experiences, such as engaging in colonial conquest, reveal this inherent rottenness. Though we tend to assume that civilization has reigned in the more primitive and violent tendencies of humanity, these qualities haven't actually disappeared. Instead, they're still somewhere inside of us, waiting to be brought back into the open. As such, we should assume that, for Conrad, the "heart of darkness" is one of humanity's essential qualities.  

How do I prove that Friar Lawrence's potion is not the best soution for Juliet's dilemma?

Perhaps the best way to make this argument is by looking at the events that actually transpired after Juliet drank the potion. The potion itself actually worked--it did what the Friar promised it would. But all depended on getting news of the plot to Romeo, who was banished to Mantua. Friar John, as it turns out, was unable to get to Mantua due to plague, but Balthasar, Romeo's servant somehow got through to tell Romeo that Juliet was dead. Perhaps Friar Laurence should have anticipated that Romeo might receive reports of Juliet's "death" instead of learning the finer points of the plan.

In other words, the Friar's rather ill-conceived plot was very dangerous, and that many things had to go right for it to work. It is also important to remember, however, that the Friar really had little choice--Juliet has already warned him that she will kill herself rather than marry Paris. "I long to die," she says, "if what thou speak'st speak not of remedy." Perhaps, then, the safest (but certainly still dangerous) choice might have been to smuggle Juliet out of Verona to Romeo. But that, possibly, would not have achieved the Friar's motive of reconciling the two families--indeed, it may have made things worse.  

In The Scarlet Letter, what does Hester tell Dimmesdale to do to take advantage of what she calls "Heaven's mercy"?

When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest to speak to one another, Dimmesdale seems, in many ways, a broken man.  Hester confesses to him that Chillingworth, Dimmesdale's housemate and doctor, is actually her long-missing husband. Dimmesdale becomes outraged at her for keeping the secret and allowing this man to take such a toll on his heart. She begs his forgiveness, and she tells him that he must no longer live with Chillingworth, but Dimmesdale doesn't see a way out of it.  Chillingworth is so strong and Dimmesdale has become so weak; Hester cries when she realizes how weak he has become.  Dimmesdale insists that "The judgment of God is on [him]" and that he can no longer bear it.  Hester then tells him that "'Heaven would show mercy" if he could just find the "strength to take advantage of it." She goes on to explain how simple it would be for them to run away together, to leave and go somewhere they are not known; they could give themselves new names and construct new identities, and live together in happiness and peace.  This would be Heaven's mercy: to finally be able to be together somewhere where "the yellow leaves will show no vestige of the white man's tread."  In other words, Hester wants him to run away with her.

Is the book Crispin: The Cross of Lead a fiction or non-fiction text?

The book Crispin: The Cross of Lead, written by Avi, falls into the genre of young adult fiction.

Set in the late 14th century, the book is about a thirteen year old boy who is accused of a crime he did not commit. All his life, he has simply been called, "Asta's son," but on his journey to safety from those who might persecute him, he learns his real name-- Crispin. Along the way, Crispin meets and befriends a man called Bear, who has a good heart despite being rough in appearance.

The book has lots of accurate historical details about life during the Medieval Period. In this time, the feudal system was prevalent, and much of the story deals with the peasant boy Crispin being underfoot of the wealthy Lord of the Manor he works for. Author Avi is known for weaving tales rich in historical detail- perhaps this is why you wondered if it was a nonfiction story!

What do you think about the way the nurses spoke to grandma at the doctor's office in Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path"?

Note that the lady in the street also calls Phoenix "Grandma." While in many cases this would seem to be an endearing term, in this case it seems to have a tone of condescension. The lady is willing to help, but instead of "Grandma" she could have said "Miss" and this would have been a more formal greeting. 

When she gets to the doctor's office, an attendant assumes that Phoenix is a "charity case" based upon her appearance. The attendant asks her a series of questions, but Phoenix is in a daze from her long journey. Instead of being polite and concerned, the attendant rudely yells "Are you deaf?" 

Then the nurse comes in and informs the attendant that Phoenix is not seeking treatment for herself. She is there to help her grandson. Initially, the nurse is kind and tells Phoenix to take a seat after her long trip. The nurse calls her Aunt Phoenix. This is significantly more polite than "Grandma" because she has the courtesy to use Phoenix's name. The nurse does get frustrated when Phoenix doesn't answer her questions. The nurse scolds Phoenix, saying to her "Tell us quickly about your grandson, and get it over. He isn't dead, is he?" So, even though the nurse initially appeared kind, she quickly treats Phoenix like an annoyance. Rather than marvel at Phoenix's determination to help her grandson, in spite of her old age, the workers at the clinic treat her like a nuisance. 

The nurse gives her the medicine, adding "But it's an obstinate case." Here, the nurse implies that either the grandson's ailment is persistent or that Phoenix is stubborn for continually trying to make him better with the medicine. After trying to "hush" Phoenix, who has begun talking too much for the nurse's taste, the nurse does offer some money to Phoenix because it is Christmas. This flippant act of charity is slightly admirable, but it has come after a series of condescending comments and gestures. Those at the clinic agree to help Phoenix, but in subtle and sometimes overt ways, they treat her like a nuisance. 

What are some foreign and domestic issues that President Washington faced during his presidency?

President Washington faced several foreign and domestic issues while he was President. On the foreign policy front, we had to deal with Great Britain and with Spain pushing us around. Great Britain and Spain were interfering with our trade. Great Britain and Spain were also encouraging the Native Americans to attack us. The British wouldn’t leave the forts in the West. President Washington preferred diplomacy to war. This led to Jay’s Treaty being signed with Great Britain and Pinckney’s Treaty being signed with Spain to try to resolve these issues that existed.

At home, there were also issues. We needed to develop a plan to pay our debts to other countries. Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of Treasury, developed a plan that allowed us to combined debts from the state governments and from the federal government. New bonds were issued to help pay the debt. We also had to deal with people who wanted to rebel against government policies. When the farmers of western Pennsylvania refused to pay the tax on whiskey, President Washington sent the military to the area to restore order. This sent a strong message that our government would not tolerate lawlessness.

President Washington faced several problems at home and abroad while he was President.

Contrast topographic elevation with bathymetric depth.

Topographical elevation is a height in reference to a geometric sphere. Most maps use sea level as a reference sphere, and have topographic elevation above or below that line.

Bathymetric depth is a depth below the surface of water. This is used to make maps of the sea floor and lake beds, and can even be used in rivers.

To contrast the two, I would say that topographic height can be used anywhere, as it is applicable to any height on any surface, whereas bathymetric depth is only useful on underwater surfaces, and as such is always negative. 

The uses of these two types of numbers also vary. People will use topographic height in land navigation, and bathymetric depth while navigating the sea.

In Chapter 2 of "Three Men in a Boat," you learn a lot more about George. Why is he the butt of all jokes, however good natured?

In Three Men in a Boat, it appears as though George is the only one in the group who holds a “real” job. At the beginning of Chapter II, J., the narrator, brings this fact to light and makes fun of his friend at the same time:

(George goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two.)

Here, J. implies that George doesn’t do anything worthwhile at the bank, either. But we learn more about George in other parts of the book, too. In Chapter IV, he packs the food hamper with Harris. In Chapter XI, we hear the story of what once happened when his watch stopped and he got up too early for work. He makes Irish stew in Chapter XIV. He also gets out his banjo for the first time in this chapter. George and J. get the boat caught in a lock in Chapter XVIII. And at the end, in Chapter XIX, George plays “Two Lovely Black Eyes” on his banjo. The others chide him most for working in a bank and for attempting to learn to play the banjo.

What are miscegenation and antimiscegenation laws?

What Is Race?

Implicit in most biological definitions of race is the concept of shared physical characteristics that have come from a common ancestor. Humans have long recognized and attempted to classify and categorize different kinds of people. The father of systematics, Carolus Linnaeus, described, in his system of binomial nomenclature, four races of humans: Africans (black), Asians (dark), Europeans (white), and Native Americans (red). Skin color in humans has been, without doubt, the primary feature used to classify people, although there is no single trait that can be used to do this. Skin color is used because it makes it very easy to tell groups of people apart. However, there are thousands of human traits. What distinguishes races are differences in gene frequencies for a variety of traits. The great majority of genetic traits are found in similar frequencies in people of different skin color. There may not be a single genetic trait that is always associated with people of one skin color while not appearing at all in people of another skin color. It is possible for a person to differ more from another person of the same skin color than from a person of a different skin color.

Many scientists think that the word “race” is not useful in human biology research. Scientific and social organizations, including the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and the American Anthropological Association, have deemed that racial classifications are limited in their scope and utility and do not reflect the evolving concepts of human variability. It is of interest to note that subjects are frequently asked to identify their race in studies and surveys.

It is useful to point out the distinction between an “ethnic group” and a race. An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common social ancestry. Cultural practices may lead to a group’s genetic isolation from other groups with a different cultural identity. Since members of different ethnicities may tend to marry only within their group, certain genetic traits may occur at different frequencies in the group than they do in other ethnic or racial groups, or the population at large.

Miscegenation

Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, is often regarded as the father of eugenics. He asserted that humans could be selectively bred for favorable traits. In his 1869 book Hereditary Genius, he set out to prove that favorable traits were inborn in people and concluded that
". . . the average intellectual standard of the Negro race is some two grades below our own. That the average ability of the [ancient] Athenian race is, on the lowest possible estimate, very nearly two grades higher than our own—that is, about as much as our race is above that of the African Negro."

While easily debunked by today's science, the work of Galton was widely accepted by political and scientific leaders of his time. Bertrand Russell even suggested that the United Kingdom should issue color-coded “procreation tickets” issued to individuals based on their status in society: “Those who dared breed with holders of a different colored ticket would face a heavy fine.” These “scientific” findings, combined with social and racial stereotypes, led to the eugenics movement and its development in many countries, including England, France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, and the United States.

Laws were passed to restrict the immigration of certain ethnic groups into the United States. Between 1907 and 1940, laws allowing forcible sterilization were passed in more than thirty states. Statutes prohibiting and punishing interracial marriages were passed in many states and, even as late as 1952, more than half the states still had antimiscegenation laws. The landmark decision against antimiscegenation laws occurred in 1967 when the US Supreme Court declared the Virginia law unconstitutional. The decision,
Loving v. Virginia
, led to the erosion of the legal force of the antimiscegenation laws in the remaining states.

Impact and Applications

In spite of antimiscegenation laws and societal and cultural taboos, interracial matings have been a frequent occurrence. Many countries around the world, including the United States, are now racially heterogeneous societies. Genetic studies indicate that perhaps 20 to 30 percent of the genes in most African Americans are a result of a mixture of white genes from mixed matings since the introduction of slavery to the Americas more than three hundred years ago. Miscegenation has been widespread throughout the world, and there may not even be such a thing as a “pure” race. No adverse biological effects can be attributed to miscegenation.

Key terms




eugenics


:

the control of individual reproductive choices to improve the genetic quality of the human population




hybridization

:

the crossing of two genetically distinct species, races, or types to produce mixed offspring




negative eugenics

:

preventing the reproduction of individuals who have undesirable genetic traits, as defined by those in control




positive eugenics

:

selecting individuals to reproduce who have desirable genetic traits, as seen by those in control




race

:

in the biological sense, a group of people who share certain genetically transmitted physical characteristics





Bibliography

Alonso, Karen. Loving v. Virginia: Interracial Marriage. Berkeley Heights: Enslow, 2000. Print.

Brah, Avtar, and Annie E. Coombes, eds. Hybridity and Its Discontents: Politics, Science, Culture. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.

Cardon, Lauren S. The White Other in American Intermarriage Stories, 1945–2008. New York: Palgrave, 2012. Print.

Ehlers, Nadine. "Onerous Passions: Colonial Anti-Miscegenaiton Rhetoric and the History of Sexuality." Patterns of Prejudice 45.4 (2011): 319–40. Print..

Kennedy, Randall. Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print.

Lubin, Alex. Romance and Rights: The Politics of Interracial Intimacy, 1945–1954. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2005. Print.

Moran, Rachel F. Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2001. Print.

Robinson, Charles Frank II. Dangerous Liaisons: Sex and Love in the Segregated South. Fayetteville: U of Arkansas P, 2003. Print.

Salesa, Damon Ieremia. Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.

Sollors, Werner, ed. Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.

Yancey, George. “An Analysis of Resistance to Racial Exogamy.” Journal of Black Studies 31.5 (May 2001): 635. Print.

How does Shakespeare portray Portia's fear in Bassanio's selection of the caskets?

In Act three, Scene 1, Bassanio is ready to choose between the three caskets in order to marry Portia. Portia is already in love with Bassanio and is fearful that he will choose the wrong casket. Shakespeare depicts Portia's fear regarding Bassanio's selection through Portia's insistence that Bassanio take his time, as well as her confessions that she will never love again if his choice is wrong. Portia then admits that she wishes that Bassanio could stay with her for a month or two before choosing. She also says that if Bassanio does not pick the correct casket, she will never be another man's wife. Portia also comments that she feels divided and is worried about him choosing the incorrect casket. Before Bassanio chooses a casket, Portia tells him that she is suffering more as a spectator than he is as the contestant. Fortunately, Bassanio picks the correct casket and wins Portia's hand in marriage.

Why did Heck Tate and the men with him want Tom Robinson moved out of the local jail?

At the beginning of Chapter 15, Sheriff Tate and several community members arrive at Atticus' house to discuss moving Tom Robinson from the Maycomb jailhouse. Heck Tate is worried that they will have trouble from the Old Sarum bunch, and he doesn't want anything to happen to Tom Robinson before the trial. Atticus is not fazed and tells Sheriff Tate that they've already had one postponement, and housing Tom Robinson for one night won't cause any trouble. Atticus reminds the men that the next day is Sunday, and the Old Sarum bunch doesn't drink on Sundays. One of the men comments that this is a special occasion, but Atticus remains confident that nothing bad will happen. Later on in the chapter, Atticus and his children narrowly avoid a dangerous situation when the Old Sarum bunch travels to Maycomb's jailhouse and attempts to lynch Tom Robinson. Fortunately, Scout saves the day and the Old Sarum bunch leaves without harming anyone.

Who is Martha and why does she visit the Wiesel family in the ghetto?

At the beginning of Night, Elie Wiesel's memoir of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, the Jews of Sighet, Wiesel's hometown, are in denial about the threat which the Nazis pose to their way of life. As late as the spring of 1944 they did not believe the threat was real. They ignored the warnings of Moshe the Beadle who had miraculously escaped death in the forests of Galicia and felt it his duty to report the atrocities he had seen. He is greeted with derision as the people look on him as simply crazy. When the ghetto is established, the Jews still cling to the idea that all will be well. Even Elie's father seems to ignore the signs and, when the family's servant Martha pleads with him to bring his family to her village for protection, he refuses. He does, however, tell Elie and his older daughters that they may go with Martha if they wish. They refuse and the family is ultimately deported to Auschwitz.

How can a 0.5 molal solution be less concentrated than a 0.5 molar solution?

The answer lies in the units being used.

"Molar" refers to molarity, a unit of measurement that describes how many moles of a solute are in a given volume of solvent (measured in liters). By comparison, molality evaluates moles of substance per kilogram of solvent. 

Say, for example, we had 1 mole of a solute, and we were dissolving it in 1 liter of solvent, which weighed 2kg. The molarity would be 1/1, or 1, and the molality would be 1/2, or 0.5.

So, as long as the volume and the mass of the solvent are different values, we will get different molarity and molality measurements for the same solution.

Back to the original question; how can the same numbers result in solutions that are less concentrated in molality than molarity? The answer requires a little wordplay. 

In both cases, we have half a mole of solute. That aspect is pretty straightforward. The concentration is another way of talking about density; how many particles of solute i find in a given volume of solvent. In the less concentrated solution, I should find fewer particles of solute, meaning they are spread out more. Therefore, this tells us that the 0.5 molal solution must have a greater volume than the 0.5 molar solution. In fact, if we were to evaluate the 0.5 molal solution in terms of molarity, it would have a lower value, and that would confirm our expectation.

To what extent have Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984 explored the notion of challenging the status quo and questioning...

The idea that we should question and challenge political authority and the status quo is central to both 1984 and Brave New World. The novels envision different types of dystopia, but in each, loss of the power to think, challenge authority or make one's own decisions dehumanizes the population.

In 1984, the dystopia is one in which people live under the heel of a repressive state regime. Here, they live physically miserable lives with poor food, broken elevators, endless shortages of basic goods, continuous warfare and constant surveillance. Any shred of individualism or thinking for oneself is potentially a thought crime. The language is in the process of being dumbed down and reduced to the fewest number of words and concepts so that people won't have any apparatus for developing independent thought. 

In Brave New World, the population lives amid material plenty and without war. Rather than being openly miserable, people are conditioned from earliest youth to be happy with their lot. Yet they also are conditioned never to think for themselves, to live superficially and to avoid entering into deep relationship with another human being. They live in a banal world without real poetry, art, religion or grandeur. The goal is the absence of suffering, but this leads to a loss of humanity and autonomy similar to the loss people experience in 1984. In both cultures, people have been robbed of the ability to develop as individuals or to question their fate.

Brave New World was written before 1984. When 1984 appeared, Huxley wrote Orwell a letter. In it, Huxley naturally defended his own version of dystopia as more likely, writing

Within the next generation I believe that the world's rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience. In other words, I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World.

The letter is relevant because it shows Huxley's awareness that both novels centrally concern governments robbing people of their individualism by forcing them, one way or another, to become obedient instruments of the state. 

How are alliteration and metaphors used in "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

The biggest metaphor in the poem is undoubtedly the roads as literal and figurative paths in life. Each path will lead to another, just as each decision we make in our lives leads to another, and eventually we end up far from where we started due to the long chain of events that follows each choice we make. The general mood created by the speaker's famous sigh in line 16 is sentimental and even nostalgic, which adds to the serious mood of the poem. 

The alliteration in the poem contributes to the lyrical quality of the poem. One of the only instances of Frost's alliteration is in line eight when the speaker says the path "wanted wear." However, instances of repeated consonants near each other also contribute to the poem's lyrical quality, like in line one with "yellow wood." 

What is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)?

Causes and Symptoms

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV), a member of the lentivirus family of
retroviruses. This virus is thought to have arisen in Africa
in the early to mid-twentieth century from related viruses in the chimpanzee and
the sooty mangabey monkey. The virus cannot survive long in the air and cannot be
transmitted by casual contact. Individuals can be infected only by the exchange of
certain body fluids, including semen, vaginal fluid, blood, and breast milk. Other
body fluids such as sweat, tears, saliva, urine, and feces may contain HIV, but
the virus exists in such low concentrations that these fluids are completely
ineffective in transmitting an infection. The most common mode of transmission is
through vaginal and anal sex; it is also possible to transmit HIV by performing
oral sex, although this is less common than with vaginal or anal sex. The presence
of other sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs), such as gonorrhea, syphilis,
chlamydia, genital herpes, or human papillomavirus, dramatically increases the
risk of acquiring an HIV infection through sexual contact.

The second most common mode of transmission is through the sharing of needles or
syringes contaminated with HIV-positive blood. An HIV-positive pregnant woman may
transmit the virus to her child in utero, or more commonly during childbirth.
Mother-to-child transmission may also occur through breast-feeding in which the virus is present in the milk.
Early in the AIDS epidemic and before a blood test for HIV was available, blood
and blood products from blood banks were sometimes contaminated with HIV that
subsequently infected recipients. Indeed, more than 90 percent of patients with
hemophilia at this time became infected with HIV through injections of
HIV-contaminated clotting factor VIII. Because of the development of a heat
treatment for clotting factor VIII and the screening of the blood supply, patients
with hemophilia and other blood-transfusion recipients are no longer at high risk
for HIV infection. Although the blood supply is relatively safe today, a very low
probability of acquiring HIV through a transfusion of contaminated blood still
exists, as a recently infected donor may not yet test positive for HIV, although
this is phenomenon is extremely rare in developed countries.

Although HIV can infect virtually all cells of the body, it has a strong affinity
for cells of the immune system. The virus uses a cell surface receptor called
CD4 to bind to the membrane of a cell. The CD4 receptor is found on many cells in
the body but is in relatively high concentrations on the surface of a class of
T
lymphocytes called T4 or CD4 cells. The virus uses a
coreceptor called CXCKR4, also found on the membrane, that promotes the fusion of
the membrane of the virus particle with the membrane of the cell, thereby allowing
entry of the virus. Persons who lack the coreceptor on their cells appear to
resist infection by the virus. The T4 cells are also known as T-helper cells, as
they produce a series of chemical signals called lymphokines that are needed for
the development and maintenance of the entire immune system. While the body
constantly makes new T4 cells, HIV has a very small edge in the rate at which
these T4 cells are infected and destroyed. Thus, there is a slow but progressive
decrease in T4 lymphocytes in the body and loss of immune function. This process
may take ten or more years.

The clinical course of infection occurs in three stages. Initially upon infection,
HIV produces an acute retroviral syndrome referred to as the prodromal stage,
beginning about three to four weeks after initial infection and lasting for two to
three weeks. During a retroviral syndrome, the patient experiences flulike or
mononucleosis-like symptoms. The patient will believe that
he or she simply has a moderate-to-severe case of influenza or, if the symptoms
are prolonged, mononucleosis. During this period, HIV is rapidly proliferating,
disseminating throughout the body and infecting lymphoid tissues. Viral load is
high at this stage, and the patient is highly infectious. At the same time, the T4
cell count, which normally is about 1,000 per cubic millimeter, drops by about
half. The patient’s immune system will mount an antibody response against HIV, but
these antibodies are ineffective in stopping the infection. When such antibodies
are detectable, the patient is then said to have seroconverted. Anti-HIV antibody
detection by a simple blood test is the basis for assigning HIV-positive status.
In most cases, seroconversion occurs between six to eighteen weeks after
initial infection, although, in rare cases, antibodies may not be detectable until
later. By three months, 95 percent of patients will have seroconverted; by six
months, more than 99 percent will have detectable circulating antibodies to
HIV.

The second stage is called the clinical latency period or asymptomatic stage.
Without anti-HIV therapy, this period may last ten or more years. It is during
this time that the patient usually has no AIDS symptoms. Early in the latent
period, T4 cell counts usually recover somewhat during the first year of
infection, averaging approximately 700 per cubic millimeter. After that, there is
a very slow decline. In the meantime, viral loads, which were high during the
acute retroviral syndrome stage, drop by several orders of magnitude as the T4
count rises. At about one year into the infection, the viral load very slowly
increases as the latent period progresses.

The third phase of HIV infection is the development of AIDS. This usually occurs
when the T4 count drops below 200 per cubic millimeter. Opportunistic
infections and cancers become common, and patients may have
several infections simultaneously. Many of these diseases are rare in healthy
individuals. Most common is
Pneumocystis jiroveci

pneumonia, a form caused by a fungus that is virtually unseen in individuals with
a normal immune system. Indeed, the fungus is present in a majority of the
population yet almost never causes pneumonia unless the immune system is
compromised or suppressed. As one of the functions of the immune system is to
destroy cancer cells when they arise, patients with AIDS are at a
substantially higher risk of developing some types of cancers compared to
uninfected individuals of the same age. One of these cancers is Kaposi sarcoma, a
normally very rare tumor of blood vessels characterized by pink to purple spots or
slightly raised areas on the skin. These lesions may
also arise on internal organs, where they can impair function. Kaposi’s sarcoma is
caused by human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) and is sexually transmitted. Individuals
with AIDS are several thousand times more likely to develop Kaposi sarcoma than
uninfected individuals. The other cancer commonly associated with AIDS is
non-Hodgkin
lymphoma, often in the brain. Patients with AIDS are nearly
seventy times more likely to be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In 1987, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published the criteria for the
diagnosis of AIDS, including the appearance of one or more opportunistic
infections or cancers. Twenty-three different conditions were listed in the
definition: candidiasis of the bronchi, trachea, or lungs; esophageal
candidiasis; disseminated or extrapulmonary coccidiomycosis; extrapulmonary
cryptococcosis; chronic intestinal cryptosporidosis (greater than one month in
duration); cytomegalovirus disease (other than liver, spleen, or lymph
nodes); cytomegalovirus retinitis (with loss of vision); HIV encephalopathy;
herpes simplex causing chronic ulcers (greater than one month in
duration) or bronchitis, pneumonitis, or esophagitis; disseminated or
extrapulmonary histoplasmosis; chronic intestinal isosporiasis
(greater than one month in duration); Kaposi sarcoma; Burkitt
lymphoma; immunoblastic lymphoma; primary lymphoma of the
brain; Mycobacterium avium complex or M.
kansasii; extrapulmonary infection due to Mycobacterium
tuberculosis; other or unidentified Mycobacterium
species; Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia; progressive multifocal
leukoencephalopathy (PML); recurrent
Salmonella
septicemia; toxoplasmosis of the brain; and wasting
syndrome caused by HIV. In 1993, three conditions were added to the criteria:
pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia, and invasive cervical carcinoma.
Moreover, the definition was expanded to include any HIV-positive person whose T4
count had dropped to 200 per cubic millimeter or lower or whose level of T4
lymphocytes had fallen to 14 percent or less of total lymphocytes.

For the diagnosis of HIV infection, the CDC recommends laboratory evidence from a
positive HIV antibody screening test, such as a reactive enzyme immunoassay, that
is confirmed by a positive result from a supplemental HIV antibody test or a
positive result from HIV nucleic acid detection test such as polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) or HIV virologic tests such as HIV p24 antigen
test or HIV viral culture. The Infectious Disease Society of America recommends
diagnosing HIV infection by a rapid HIV test or conventional enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and confirmed by Western blot or indirect
immunofluorescence assay; if the initial testing is negative or indeterminate it
should be repeated four weeks later.

Treatment and Therapy

As of 2014, no effective vaccine had been developed to prevent HIV infection.
While a number of candidate vaccines have been under development and in clinical
trials, none has proven successful. The usual strategies used with most antiviral
vaccines in the past, immunization with attenuated or inactivated viruses, have so
far proven ineffective for HIV given its significant rate of mutation. Control of
the epidemic has shifted significantly toward preventing exposure and decreasing
infectivity by treating to reduce viral load, a measure of the number of viruses
in blood and in body fluids.

AIDS treatment and therapy fall into two categories: prophylaxis and the
prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections to slow progression to
full-blown AIDS. Treatment of opportunistic infections must follow established
guidelines for the individual disease. Thus, in the treatment of Kaposi sarcoma,
surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment singly or in
combination are utilized. Bacterial and yeast or other fungal infections are
treated with antibiotics or antifungal agents. Although some medications
may reduce the severity of viral infections, such infections are
not easily treated. Because a person with AIDS might suffer from more than one
opportunistic infection and/or cancer at the same time, simultaneous treatments
often take a severe toll on the patient. Without treatment, individuals who
progress to AIDS survive approximately three years. Death typically results from
an opportunistic infection or cancer. However, HIV-positive individuals who
undergo antiretroviral therapy (ART) to maintain a low viral load typically have a
life expectancy similar to HIV-negative individuals and never progress to
AIDS.

This strategy for HIV treatment involves interfering with the viral life cycle
with the aim of slowing viral replication. Anti-HIV drugs target several steps in
the life cycle, primarily at the levels of reverse transcription or assembly. In
1987, the first generation of drugs was developed to treat HIV. The first
effective treatment utilized zidovudine (ZDV), commonly called azidothymidine
(AZT), a drug originally developed for chemotherapy of cancer. ZDV inhibits the
viral encoded enzyme, reverse transcriptase, involved in copying the RNA viral
genome into a DNA copy. As a result, a nucleoside analogue is inserted into the
growing DNA, which stops further synthesis of the DNA copy. Other nucleoside
reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) that have a similar effect include
emtricitabine, tenofovir, and abacavir. In a similar manner, the nucleotide
analogue tenofovir blocks DNA replication. Nevirapine and efavirenz are
non-nucleoside drugs that bind directly to and inhibit reverse transcriptase.
Although this group of drugs inhibits reverse transcriptase, their mode of action
is different from nucleoside or nucleotide analogues.

The final step in HIV replication involves the cleavage of a large precursor
protein into smaller structural proteins, an event taking place at the cell
surface and followed by release of the completed virus. The cleaving enzyme is
called a protease and is encoded by the virus. The second generation of anti-HIV
drugs, which were developed in the 1990s, were protease inhibitors, drugs that
interfere with cleavage of the precursor and prevent viral assembly. As a result,
functional virions cannot be made. Atazanavir, darunavir, fosamprenavir,
indinavir, lopinavir, and ritonavir are approved drugs in this class. Other types
of anti-HIV drugs called fusion inhibitors (for example, enfuvirtide) interfere
with entry of the virus into a cell. In addition, integrase inhibitors, such as
raltegravir, may be used. Integrase inhibitors prevent the DNA copy of the virus
from inserting itself into one of the cell’s chromosomes. Thus the anti-HIV
arsenal includes drugs that act at different sites or stages in the HIV life
cycle.

The HIV reverse transcriptase makes numerous mutations during the synthesis of
DNA. Consequently, resistance to individual anti-HIV drugs arises easily and
frequently. Beginning in 1995, a new strategy for anti-HIV therapy called highly
active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), also known as AIDS cocktail therapy, was
developed. HAART consists of using a combination of three or more anti-HIV drugs,
including two reverse transcriptase inhibitors and at least one protease
inhibitor. HAART therapy is very effective, as it has been
estimated that it prolongs the life expectancy of a person with AIDS by three to
ten years. Moreover, many patients with AIDS and in terminal stages of the disease
have made remarkable recoveries when placed on HAART. In many cases, viral loads
were dramatically reduced, T4 cells made some recovery, and the incidence of
opportunistic infections was reduced. Another advantage of multiple drug therapy
is that the probability of HIV developing simultaneous resistance to three or four
different drugs is very low, extending the useful therapeutic life of the
individual drugs.

The long-term effectiveness of HAART is underscored by an examination of the AIDS
deaths in the United States. In 1981, the CDC began to track the number of AIDS
deaths. Each year, the number of deaths climbed steadily, reaching a peak of
50,610 in 1995. In 1996, the first full year of widespread HAART therapy, AIDS
deaths dropped by 25 percent, and they have continued to drop every year since. In
2012, an estimated 1.6 million people died of the disease worldwide, down from
approximately 2.3 million in 2005.

Perspective and Prospects

AIDS was first recognized as a new disease in the United States in late 1980.
Michael Gottlieb at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) diagnosed men
who have had sex with men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and
Kaposi sarcoma, diseases that in the past were extremely rare. In June 1981, the
CDC alerted doctors in a report on this new epidemic for the first time in the
CDC Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report. Shortly thereafter,
the New York Times reported on the new “gay cancer.” At first,
the disease was called gay-related immunodeficiency (GRID). The name GRID was changed to
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, in an August 8,
1982, article in the New York Times, representing the first time
that the term was used in a publication. The change reflected the fact that this
new disease was not restricted to men who have had sex with men; cases involving
intravenous drug users, individuals with hemophilia and other blood-transfusion
recipients, and infants were being diagnosed. In January 1983, Luc
Montagnier and colleagues at the Pasteur Institute in Paris
were the first to isolate the virus causing AIDS. It was given the name human
immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in 1985; previously, the virus had been given
several names by different researchers. With the isolation of the virus, a blood
test could be developed.

Testing of blood and blood products started in March 1985. A test called
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) screens for the presence of anti-HIV
antibodies. Results once took weeks, but the test is now automated and is
performed within hours.

HIV has been confirmed in the United States since at least 1969. At that time, a
physician in St. Louis, Missouri, had a young male patient with a variety of AIDS
symptoms. After the patient died, the pathologist took samples of his tissues and
froze them. Later, when tests to detect HIV became available, the tissue samples
were tested and found positive for HIV. The oldest positively identified HIV
sample came from blood collected from a male patient by a Belgian physician in
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The doctor had saved many blood
samples taken between 1959 and 1982; thus, the earliest confirmation of HIV
infection in Africa dates from 1959. The virus has probably been present in the
human population for much longer, but without blood or tissue samples, this cannot
be confirmed.

Two major classes of HIV have been identified: HIV-1, which arose in Central
Africa, and HIV-2, which arose in Western Africa. HIV-1 and HIV-2 have long been
known to be genetically similar to viruses know as simian immunodeficiency viruses
(SIV) in chimpanzees (SIVcmp) and the sooty mangabey monkey (SIVsm). In 2006,
scientists determined that in all likelihood, HIV-1 originated in chimpanzees from
regions of the nation of Cameroon; as many as one-third of chimpanzees from some
colonies were found to carry SIV. The first confirmed human infection was that of
a man from the nearby Congo, who developed AIDS in 1959. However, evidence
suggests that HIV may have emerged in humans as early as 1930.

According to the CDC's HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report, 2011
(2013), an estimated 1.14 million persons aged thirteen and older are living with
HIV infection in the United States, including nearly 181,000 people who are not
aware of the infection; approximately 15,500 persons with an AIDS diagnosis died
in the United States in 2010, although these deaths may or may not be related to
AIDS. Worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that seventy-five
million people have been infected with the HIV virus since the beginning of the
epidemic and approximately thirty-six million people have died of HIV/AIDS.
Worldwide, an estimated 35.5 million people were living with HIV infection at the
end of 2012, and an estimated 1.6 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in
2012. The WHO estimates that 0.8 percent of people aged fifteen to forty-nine
years worldwide are living with HIV, although the vast majority of people with HIV
live in low- and middle-income countries, where prevention and treatment efforts
are limited. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region of the world,
with an estimated 24.9 million adults and children living with HIV in 2012.
However, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes in sub-Saharan Africa
declined by more than 50 percent from 2004 and 2012, as prevention and treatment
efforts in the region improve.

Several new medications in development will hopefully enlarge the arsenal of
anti-HIV drugs, further extending the life expectancies of individuals with
HIV/AIDS. The success of HAART promises to extend the life of persons with AIDS by
many years, and with adequate treatment many HIV-positive individuals enjoy life
expectancies equal to those of HIV-negative individuals. A significant issue is
the high financial burden of HAART therapy. A typical HAART regimen may cost
$1,500 to $2,000 per month. Although many people in high-income countries can
purchase these drugs through insurance providers or government subsidy, this
financial burden precludes the use of HAART and many anti-HIV drugs in low- and
middle-income countries, where HIV prevalence is highest. Thus, effective
prevention of HIV infections, through vigorous public education about HIV and
AIDS, is absolutely critical. Such a program in Uganda dramatically reduced the
incidence of HIV infections, showing the effectiveness of public education
campaigns. According to the United Nations, although the number of individuals
living with HIV/AIDS has risen between 2005 and 2013, the number of adults and
children newly infected with HIV has declined from 2.9 million in 2005 to 2.1
million in 2013; the number of AIDS-related deaths has also declined from 2.4
million to 1.5 million in the same time period.

Bibliography

Behrman, Greg.
The Invisible People: How the U.S. Has Slept Through the Global
AIDS Pandemic, the Greatest Humanitarian Catastrophe of Our
Time. New York: Free, 2004. Print.

Cichocki, Mark.
Living with HIV: A Patient’s Guide. Jefferson:
McFarland, 2009. Print.

De, Preeti, et al. "Systematic Review and
Meta-Analysis: Influence of Smoking Cessation on Incidence of Pneumonia in
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2014.

Ezzell, Carol. “Hope
in a Vial: Will There Be an AIDS Vaccine Anytime Soon?” Scientific
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United States. Centers for Disease Control
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Weeks, Benjamin S., and Teri Shors.
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World Health Organization. World
Health Statistics 2014. Geneva: WHO, 2014. PDF file.

In The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, why do Tom and Daisy stay together? What were they each seeking in their marriage?

Tom and Daisy stay together most likely out of convenience. Both characters come from families of wealth, and this affords them a very leisurely lifestyle. By Nick Carraway's account, both are very "careless" people, both in the way that they spend their time and in the way that they treat other people. This carelessness is what leads them both into affairs. Tom has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and Daisy has an affair with Jay Gatsby. However, if either one of these characters were to commit fully to these respective affairs, that is, if they were to leave their spouse, their carefree lifestyles would be unalterably changed due to the social ramifications of such an act. Both Tom and Daisy are very careful to hide their affairs from public view because at the time during which the story is set, infidelity would be nothing short of scandalous. It seems, then, that what they were seeking in marriage is the social status that comes along with marrying a person of the same social caliber. This can be seen when Tom first realizes that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby, for Tom immediately denounces Gatsby's illegal business practices, thus singling him out as someone who does not truly come from "clean" wealth. Therefore, Gatsby does not have the same social pedigree that affords Tom and Daisy their carefree lifestyle, and Daisy's eventual decision to choose Tom over Gatsby could be indicative of her desire to maintain the carefree lifestyle that their marriage affords. 

What is the condition when the magnitude of velocity and the speed of an object are equal?

Speed and velocity are used to describe the motion of a body. While speed is a scalar quantity, velocity is a vector quantity. Speed is defined as the ratio of distance traveled to the time taken. In other words,

speed = distance / time

Velocity is the ratio of displacement to the time taken for the motion. In other words,

velocity = displacement / time

For the speed and velocity of an object to be equal, the distance traveled should be equal to the displacement of the object.

That is, distance traveled = displacement.

Note that distance traveled is a measure of the path taken by an object, while displacement is the difference between the initial and final positions of the object.

For speed and velocity to be equal, the object needs to travel along the shortest path.

Hope this helps.

The assignment says I should argue the merits of my chosen author who is to be inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame. My book is The Kite Runner...

I argue that Khaled Hosseini has an important position within the literary canon in part because his fiction presents a marginalized voice that is rarely encountered in Western literature. Indeed, as an Afghan-American author, Hosseini set his novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns in Afghanistan and addresses the issues that individuals face in that country. He presents the culture in a strikingly singular manner that warrants his position in this imagined Literary Hall of Fame.

I like your approach in examining The Kite Runner. Favoritism and bullying are certainly important aspects of the novel. I would suggest probing Amir’s relationship with his father for examples of favoritism. Amir seeks his father’s approval, and resents the fact that Hassan receives his father’s affection.

The scenes involving Assef are the most striking instances of bullying in the novel. More specifically, the harrowing scene in which Assef rapes Hassan is by far the most devastating scene in the novel:

“Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan’s hips and lifted his bare buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan’s back and undid his own belt buckle with his free hand…. Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse on his face. Saw the resignation. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb.”    

The lamb imagery in the quote above is an important motif, because earlier in the novel  Hosseini writes about sacrificial lambs in Muslim culture. Here, Hassan has accepted his fate like a lamb being led to be slaughtered.

In short, Hosseini’s stellar prose and his examination of a culture that is often misunderstood or else disregarded in Western culture cements his position as an important literary voice. This is why he belongs in your imagined Literary Hall of Fame.

How does Scout try to help Miss Caroline?

In Chapter 2, Scout attends school for the first time, and she is in Miss Caroline's first grade class. At the beginning of the day, Miss Caroline finds out that Scout can read, and she tells Scout that Atticus is no longer allowed to read to her anymore. Miss Caroline believes that it is best to start with a fresh mind which makes Scout extremely upset as she ponders the idea of never reading with Atticus again. Later on in the day, Scout gets bored and begins to write Dill a letter. Miss Caroline catches her writing and tells Scout that her father should stop teaching her how to write too. Clearly, Scout has gotten off to a rough start with her new teacher.

At lunch time, Walter Cunningham does not have any food to eat, and he refuses to accept Miss Caroline's quarter to buy lunch. Scout can tell that Miss Caroline is having a hard time understanding that Walter will not accept the quarter no matter what. Scout tries to help Miss Caroline understand why Walter refuses to accept her quarter but has difficulty explaining Walter's situation. Scout simply says, "Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham" (Lee 26). Scout takes for granted that Miss Caroline is familiar with Walter's family and the Cunningham ways, but Miss Caroline is from Winston County and is unfamiliar with Maycomb. Scout realizes that she cannot fully explain herself, so she says, "You're shamin' him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn't got a quarter at home to bring you, and you can't use any stovewood" (Lee 28). Miss Caroline is offended at Scout's comment and gives her a "half a dozen quick little pats" on the palm of her hand with a ruler. Needless to say, Scout's attempt at helping Miss Caroline is a complete failure.