What are the reasons John offers for considering confession in The Crucible ?

To answer the question correctly, one needs to understand that there are two parts to John's confession. The first is the confession itself, which is obviously made verbally and written down. The second is when he has to sign it to make it binding.

John tells his wife, Elizabeth, that he is prepared to tell a lie by confessing in order to save his own life. He is clearly tortured by the difficulty of this task and seeks Rebecca's advice. She tells him that she cannot judge him but whatever decision he wishes to make is one that only a good person can. She tells him to do as he wishes. He replies that he knows that she would never, even under extreme torture, do what he is about to do. He says that it his confession is evil but that he will do it. 

His announcement is greeted with great relief and gratitude by judge Danforth who asks that the confession be written down. John questions the necessity thereof and says that it is enough if he verbally confesses. Danforth tells him that it is for good instruction to the villagers and that his confession will be posted on the church door. He is then asked a number of questions about his dealings with Satan and he admits to all, essentially dictating to Cheever who writes down what he says.

However, when Danforth starts asking about people who John had seen with the devil, he refuses to implicate them. Different names are put to him but he refuses to budge. Danforth is insistent but John tells him that he refuses to name such people because: 'They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names' and further asserts that he can only speak for his own sins and cannot judge others.

The written confession is accepted as is by the court and John is asked to sign it. He bluntly refuses, saying that his confession has been witnessed by all present. They do not need his name for verification. Danforth commands that he sign it or it would not be deemed a valid confession. Proctor, clearly under great pressure, signs the confession which provokes loud praises from reverend Parris.

When judge Danforth reaches for the paper, John snatches it up. Danforth beseeches him to hand it over but he refuses, stating that they have all seen him sign it and God has witnessed him confessing to his blackest sins. They do not need a written and signed document to prove his guilt. When Danforth wants to tell him that he had not confessed, he interjects and shouts:

I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!

John insists that he will not allow his confession to be nailed to the church door. He refuses to be used by the court. He realises that his confession will beused to encourage others to confess or to blacken the names of those who refuse to do so, such as Rebecca, and implicate them even further. Danforth asks him whether it is not the same if he signs or he reports that John has confessed, and John says it is not. It is different. He says:

What others say and what I sign to is not the same!

When he is asked whether he will deny his confession when he is free, John says that he won't. When Danforth asks him why he would then not hand over the confession, he passionately cries out:

Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! 

It is evident that John is not prepared to die with his name besmirched and in tatters. Danforth asks him if his confession is a lie but John remains silent and then rips the confession to pieces, crying. Danforth calls on the marshal to rearrest him. Hale tells him he cannot do what he has done, he will surely hang. John, who has clearly reconciled himself with his destiny, tells him that in that lies the miracle - that he can die. He, in a moment of illumination, accedes that there is at least some goodness within him, a goodness which cannot be exploited by the animals (dogs) who want it.

It is this action that seals his fate. He is led away, with others, to be hanged. Parris and Hale plead with Elizabeth to speak to him but she cries out:

  He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! 

Contrast the difference between Banquo and Macbeth with relation to the witches' prophecies.

One of Banquo's first responses to the Weird Sisters is incredulity.  He doubts his senses, asking, "Were such things here as we do speak about? / Or have we eaten on the insane root / That takes the reason prisoner?" (1.3.86-88).  He wonders if the sisters were actually there or if he and Macbeth hallucinated them after, perhaps, eating some wicked plant that affected them thus.  Macbeth's response?  "Your children shall be kings," he says to his friend (1.3.89).  Therefore, while Banquo's first instinct is to doubt, Macbeth's first instinct is to believe.  Macbeth seems pretty trusting, given that these women appeared from nowhere, knew the identities of Macbeth and Banquo, and then vanished into thin air; Banquo is much warier and more cautious.

Further, while Banquo makes conversation with the men who come to tell Macbeth about his new title, Macbeth becomes immediately introspective and secretive.  He begins to hope: "If chance will have me king, why, chance may / crown me / Without my stir" (1.3.157-159).  Banquo seems relatively unaffected by the prophecies, other than to wonder at them, but Macbeth takes the Weird Sisters' words as fact.

How do you get ideas when composing music?

Have you ever heard of Bloom's Taxonomy? This is an educational theory (often accompanied by a visual diagram or model) which describes the learning process and its stages of development. It all begins with remembering, progressing through more complex stages of analysis and understanding, and ending with that step you seem to be seeking—creativity! When we learn a new skill, especially in the arts, we best learn by interacting with work others have created before us.

I recommend listening to lots of music to get inspired. Pay attention to the different parts of the music—the notes, the chords, the arpeggios, the instruments, the vocalizations. Try to identify as many separate pieces in a work of music as you can and how they interact with one another to create the whole. Listening to music might also help you to get an idea of what kind of music you'd like to create. You might try listening to some music you really don't like or that is very different from what you are used to—what makes this piece of music unpleasant or different?

If you play an instrument, a good way to gain a deeper understanding of any work of music is to try to play it. Take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with both the parts and the whole of a work of music and compare it to another.

After some listening and analyzing, you're ready to do a little tinkering! If you play an instrument, sit down with it and have some staff paper ready. (If you sing, no need to grab an instrument, but you might still wish to make notes on staff paper.) Now, start making sounds! They don't have to be good ones; just make some noise! Try to recall what you liked about works of music you've heard and try to replicate that or create a similar sound. If you would feel more "natural" playing along with other instruments, check YouTube for some simple drum, piano, or guitar music to experiment with. You might also find it helpful to record your experimentation session through a video or sound recording program. Reviewing your experimentation session can help you hear what you liked and what you'd like to make changes to, and offer you some distance that being "in the moment" does not.

What metaphor is used to describe Miss Emily in the first paragraph?

Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" begins with this line:

"When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house"

Here, Miss Emily is compared to a fallen monument, the sort of thing people have respect for, but likely no real affection or love. This makes it an appropriate metaphor for Miss Emily in a number of ways.

For one, the phrase "fallen monument" suggests age and an older time period that has ended. This certainly applies to Miss Emily, who was emblematic throughout her life of life in the antebellum South. Everything from keeping up her family's proud, aristocratic ways to her refusal to pay the taxes that have been forgiven by the kindly alderman demonstrate that Emily is living in an older time.

Miss Emily can also be viewed as a fallen monument due to her place in the town's mythology. Between her pride and her reclusive ways, she is very much on the outside of the action and relationships of the town. Just as a monument is untouchable and distant from everyday lives, Miss Emily had no strong connections or love with any of the townspeople. The narrator suggests a strong "us vs her" sentiment and this demonstrates the distance between Miss Emily and the people of the town.

Please explain if there are any other tools, besides interest rates, that can be used to influence the supply of money, inflation, and deflation....

There are two other tools that a central bank like the Federal Reserve can use to try to influence the money supply. When the Fed influences the supply of money, it is also influencing the levels of inflation or deflation. The other two tools the Fed can use are reserve requirements and open market operations.

Reserve requirements have to do with banks and lending. When banks receive money as deposits, they do not simply keep that money in their vaults.  Instead, they lend it out, thus making money for themselves. However, the banks are not allowed to loan out all the money they take in.  They must keep a certain percentage in their own hands. This percentage is the required reserve. The Fed can increase the reserve requirement if it wants to lower the supply of money (if inflation is too high) and decrease it if it wants to increase the supply (if there is a danger of deflation).

Open market operations are when the Fed buys and sells government securities.  When the Fed sells government securities it gives the securities to banks in return for money.  This takes money out of circulation, thus reducing the money supply (making inflation less likely).  When the Fed buys government securities, it gives the banks money and gets the securities bank. Now the banks have more money and the supply of money increases (this makes deflation less likely).

Your question says that the Fed uses interest rate manipulation more than these other tools.  This is not true.  The Fed rarely changes reserve requirements.  This is because that is too strong of a tool.  It is hard for banks to adjust to this and it is hard to carefully calibrate how much of an impact it will have on the money supply.   While the Fed rarely changes reserve requirements, it often engages in open market operations.  This is the tool that it uses far more than any other (see link below). This is because open market operations can change the supply of money by small amounts on a day-to-day basis, thus giving the Fed the ability to affect the supply of money much more precisely than it can with either of the other tools.

What future event might the line "My grave is like to be my wedding bed" hint at in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare?

This line foreshadows the fact that being in love with Romeo will be Juliet’s doom.  The line is spoken when Juliet first sees Romeo at the Capulet ball.  She does not know who he is, but makes this rather profound statement, which seems to imply that if Romeo is married, she will never marry. 

Juliet asks Nurse his name, and she explains that Romeo is a Montague. 

Nurse

His name is Romeo, and a Montague;
The only son of your great enemy.

JULIET

My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy. (Act 1, Scene 5) 

This is significant because the Montague and Capulet families have been feuding for ages.  Juliet does not want to get in the middle of the feud and betray her family by loving a boy from the wrong family.  She bemoans the irony of it. 

Of course, Romeo and Juliet do marry, in secret.  Her prophecy seems to be coming true.  She will die soon after marrying Romeo.  She did not exactly mean it this way.  She thought that she would die without marrying. Instead, she married and her death was a direct result of marrying in secret. 

Before he died, Romeo made a speech that seems to echo Juliet’s earlier words about her marriage bed being her tomb.

Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour? (Act 5, Scene 3) 

You know the story.  Juliet faked her death to avoid marrying Paris, and Romeo did not get the message.  He came back and saw her, thinking she was dead, and poisoned himself.  She woke just in time to see that he was dead, and killed herself.  It seems that fate was unavoidable for them.

Feminists have pointed out that one of the unpaid female gender roles is that of the family nutritionist. What does this role consist of? What...

Family nutritionist is one of the many roles a homemaker plays. The family nutritionist is responsible for ensuring everyone in the family, particularly the children, receives three balanced meals each day. The nutritionist also monitors choices during snack times.

Being responsible for nutrition requires one to have knowledge of the nutritional value of foods. When shopping, the family nutritionist must also engage in a bit of cost-value analysis. Most families shop for groceries according to a budget. A family nutritionist with a middle-class income may want to buy organic fruits and vegetables and free-range meats. However, she may not be able to afford exclusively organic and range-free produce and meats, so instead she "shops organic" for those items that are most likely to be contaminated with pesticides (e.g. apples and tomatoes), and selects free-range chicken over grass-fed beef. 

Family nutritionists who are working-class, or poor and living off of public assistance, have more difficult decisions to make. The grocery budget will probably include the cost of transportation to a grocery store stocked with nutritious items. People in poor neighborhoods generally rely on small convenience stores or "bodegas." These shops almost never have fresh food and are stocked with cheap junk food. Neighborhoods with such poor options are referred to as "food deserts." One must usually travel several miles to reach a grocery store in a higher-income neighborhood. 

The family nutritionist is usually female. This is because, as previously mentioned, "family nutritionist" is one of many hats worn by the homemaker, or the person who does the grocery shopping and cooking and who monitors the children, among other responsibilities—all traditionally roles women hold in a household. Her ability to perform the tasks outlined above is based on the assumption that her partner, usually male, is sharing resources with her. Because the male is usually the primary wage earner in the household (due in part to wage inequality in many nations), his income is necessary to maintain adequate nutrition.

It is here, then, that we can apply John Rawls's idea about distributive justice which assumes that the principles of justice "regulate the basic structure of society, and the rights and duties and practices of family life are to be set so that they interact with other major institutions to affect people's life prospects in ways that conform to justice" (Arneson). As a result, we can assume that the distribution of resources within households among all adults and children is equitable, or we can assume, based on what we understand about most societies, that the distribution of goods strongly favors men.

Moreover, many societies equate work with the ability to earn income outside of the home. Work done within the home is deemed less valid and less valuable. Though there is increased awareness of the demands of homemaking, particularly due to men now sharing some of the responsibilities, it is far from being considered a role that warrants a regular wage. Homemakers, traditionally, have received allowances, but this money is expected to be used for household expenses.

Many heterosexual married men who do not partake in household duties underestimate the role that the family nutritionist plays in the maintenance of their health. Because these men often cannot cook and have no desire to learn due to the presence of their partners, they must rely on their partners to select food that will keep them healthy. For example, if a wife learns her husband has hypertension, she will not include fried foods in meals. She will instead include more leafy greens, such as kale or collard greens. Depending on her income status, she may opt for fresh greens or cheaper frozen greens. If she can afford them, she may also buy berries and beets. Otherwise, potatoes, bananas, and oatmeal are generally affordable, as well as instrumental in reducing hypertension. 

The foods mentioned are fresh and require some preparation. However, single men are notorious for opting for processed foods and packaged snack items. Though some of these items may have nutritional value, they are not equal to that which is found in fresh foods. They may also have higher fat content and preservatives. A married man will be more likely to eat healthier, home-cooked meals made from fresh foods, which is better for his health than the processed and packaged foods a bachelor might eat.

Why are gas thermometers more sensitive than liquid thermometers?

Gas thermometers are more sensitive because gas itself is, on average, more sensitive to changes in energy than liquids. That is to say, the same amount of energy will cause a greater amount of temperature change in a gas than in a liquid of the same substance. This is largely due to the nature of temperature itself.

Temperature isn't a "real" property, and neither is heat. It's simply the name we've given to our measurement of average kinetic energy of matter. All matter has a temperature, whether we're aware of it consciously or not, because all matter is moving to some degree; not even solids are able to exist with zero molecular movement except in theory. Heat is an even more specific and imprecise term because it's inherently comparative. 

Gases are characterized by the fact that their kinetic energy is so high that any intermolecular forces between them are basically irrelevant. This means they are capable of responding to changes in their energy with a much more proportional change in their motion than a liquid or a solid, which have to devote larger portions of that energy to disrupting intermolecular bonds.

What color is the trophy and what does this mean in "Death of a Salesman?"

In the stage directions at the beginning of the play, Miller specifies that "a silver athletic trophy" stands on a shelf above Willy's bed. The color specified for the trophy has several possible meanings related to the theme of the play. One might think that a silver trophy could signify coming in second rather than coming in first, which would be a gold medal or trophy. However, that doesn't seem to correlate well with the ideas in the play. The trophy was a first-place trophy; Biff, as captain of his high school football team, led his team to be the "All-Scholastic Championship Team of the City of New York" when they won the big game at Ebbets Field. 

What's notable is that the trophy that Biff won is displayed in Willy's bedroom. Biff's success is Willy's "silver lining." Even if Willy is dissatisfied with his own skills and feels "kind of temporary" about himself, he clings to the hope that Biff will be a star. That was true when Biff was in high school, and it is still true years later. Willy is upset about Biff's failures and begins to calm down when he thinks Biff may get a loan from Bill Oliver to start a company. 

Silver can also have the connotation of betrayal, as in "thirty pieces of silver," the price Judas Iscariot received for betraying Jesus. Biff feels betrayed by Willy because Willy has been unfaithful to his wife and Biff caught him in the act. Willy also feels betrayed by Biff because Biff didn't go to college and make something of himself. Willy feels Biff has failed just to spite him and that he has betrayed the promise of success represented by the trophy.

Finally, and most importantly, silver represents the glittery, shiny, get-rich-quick American Dream that Willy has been pursuing his whole adult life. Rather than devoting himself to substantive pursuits--doing things with his life that will make the world a better place--Willy wants to succeed based on likability. He taught his boys to value popularity over hard work and serious training. Willy has a glamorized view of success: the elderly salesman who makes a living without ever having to leave his room, just because he is well loved. Willy says to Ben, "A man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked!" Chasing after the shiny thing keeps Willy from focusing on the things that truly matter. The silver trophy (in reality, probably painted plastic) represents the tantalizing prospect of achieving success without integrity and hard work--a prospect that does not live up to its promise. 

The four alcohols, ethanol, butan-1-ol, butan-2-ol and 2-methylpropan-2-ol, are added to test tubes and reacted with acidified potassium...

These alcohols can be classified according to the carbon they are attached to:

• ethanol and butan-1-ol are primary alcohols


• butan-2-ol is a secondary alcohol


• 2-methylpropan-2-ol is a tertiary alcohol

Given that we have primary, secondary and tertiary substituents, and because hydroxides are a terrible leaving group, we can assume that we're going to see a variety of reactions (probably not Sn2 though) and that the hydroxide has a good chance of being oxidized by the chromate ion, losing its hydrogen atom and then undergoing further stabilizations. Reduction of the chromate would be indicated by a color change from orange to green for primary and secondary alcohols. 

• The ethanol, butan-1-ol and butan-2-ol would be oxidized, forming a carbocation and negatively charged oxygen, which would then stabilize into a carbon-oxygen double bond. Due to having an extra hydrogen on the carbocation, the ethanol and butan-1-ol could be further oxidized into carboxylic acids. All three solutions would show the expected color change from orange to green.


• There would be no reaction for 2-methylpropan-2-ol. The oxidation from the chromate ion depends on having two hydrogens on lesser-substituted carbons, but none exist in this molecule. It's possible that the hydroxide would be protonated by the acid, but this wouldn't produce much of a response from the chromate, and there would be no color change even if a reaction did take place.

What are grammar and speech?

Introduction

Human beings everywhere, despite differences in geography, culture, and ethnicity, have a capacity for language, a system of communication primarily involving a patterned, rule-governed sequence of oral sounds. The rules that human beings implicitly use to produce and understand such communication are collectively known as grammar, and the vocalizations that serve as the vehicle of the communication are called speech.

When people think of grammar, they usually think of a set of arbitrary rules learned in school about correct and incorrect ways of speaking or writing. Indeed, such rules do constitute a grammar of sorts, one that prescribes standards of appropriate style. Grammar, however, has a wider and more important meaning, because without a grammar, no language is possible. In fact, every speaker of a language knows the rules of the grammar of that language without being explicitly taught them. Grammar, in its most important sense, is the set of rules that each language has and that each native speaker of that language knows even before going to school; it determines what the basic building blocks of the language are (the words, the morphemes, and the sounds) and specifies the rules for combining those basic elements into meaningful utterances. Grammar is simply the structure of that unique human behavior called language.

Language Subsystems

Language scientists generally subdivide language into a set of structural subsystems, each of which has its own set of rules, or regular patterns. When discovered, these rules can be seen to operate in every utterance of that language. Each of these subsystems—syntax, morphology, and phonology—therefore is a grammar, although the term “grammar” in its everyday use is usually associated only with syntax.

The syntax of a language is the set of rules that govern how meaningful elements, the words, are combined into the permissible sequences known as sentences. Syntax also dictates how sentences can be combined with other sentences to form more complex utterances and how elements within sentences can be rearranged to change the focus of a sentence without changing its meaning. For example, speakers of English know that the sequence of words “the dog chased the cat” means that an instigator of an action, a dog, behaved in such a way to affect the second participant mentioned in the string of words, the cat. Moreover, they know that the word “the” must precede and never follow words such as “cat” and “dog.” Finally, they know that the sequence “the cat was chased by the dog” is merely a paraphrase, a restatement, of the original string and not a contradiction of it.

The morphology of a language, the second subsystem, defines the basic set of elements that operate in the formation of words. Each of these basic elements is called a morpheme. Many morphemes may be words in a language, but some morphemes are less than an entire word. For example, the English suffix-s attached to a word such as “cup” states that there is more than one cup; it is apparent to any speaker of English that this suffix (ending) is considerably less than a word. Nevertheless, the -s is a meaningful element in the English language and constitutes a morpheme, or minimal meaningful unit, of the language. The way words are constructed is governed by rules and is therefore a kind of grammar; for example, the -s that signals “more than one” is always attached to the end of the word, not to the beginning of it, and it cannot be inserted in the middle. This fact about English is predictable. If English speakers encounter a new word that designates some object, they know that talking about more than one of these objects usually requires the addition of the-s suffix to the new word. This implicit knowledge is a kind of grammar known as morphology.

The third important structural subsystem of language is phonology, or the sound system of a language. Each of the world’s languages uses only some of the vocal sounds, or phonemes, that human beings are capable of producing, and this limited set is further constrained regarding what sounds may follow one another at the beginnings, middles, and ends of words. For example, the English language has both /t/ and /l/ as sounds that may be used in words, and though /l/ may follow /t/ in the middle of words such as “antler” and “butler,” there are no English words beginning with this sequence of sounds, nor are there likely to be any. The sequence tl simply does not occur at the beginning of English words, although there is no physiological reason that it cannot. Human beings are perfectly capable of producing such a sound combination, and it does exist at the beginning of words in other languages. It is the grammar of the sound system of English—its phonology—that prohibits such a possibility.

Unique Grammar of Languages

These subsystems of language are found in every one of the world’s languages, even though each subsystem’s particulars and importance are unique for each language. As an example, languages such as modern English can be compared to classical Latin, the ancestor language of French, Italian, and Spanish. In English, the ordering of words is of paramount importance. A sentence such as “The boy loved the girl” has only one meaning, and changing the sequencing of words would drastically change that meaning. That is, if the words “boy” and “girl” were interchanged, the resulting sentence, “The girl loved the boy,” would mean something entirely different: the initiator of the state of love is now the girl, not the boy. Thus, in English, the critical information of who is doing what to whom is given in the syntax, in the ordering of words. In Latin, on the other hand, although there is surely word sequencing, since words can be expressed only one at a time, the word order—the syntax—does not indicate relationships as it does in English. Instead, the matter of who is doing what to whom is given by morphology, by suffixes attached to the ends of words. The sentence “The boy loved the girl” could be expressed by any of the following: puer puellam amabat, puellam puer amabat, amabat puer puellam, puellam amabat puer, and so on. The arrangement of words has little effect on meaning; the endings on the words tell speakers of Latin who does what. The-m at the end of the word for “girl” (puella) signals that the girl is affected by the action and is not the initiator of it. These facts about the two languages show that word order is more important to English than it is to Latin and that endings on words are more important to Latin, even though English continues to make use of endings to some degree (the -ed on “love” indicates, for example, that an action or state occurred at some past time).

The fact that all languages have a grammar, a predictable pattern underlying every utterance, allows human languages to be unique among all the communication systems found in nature. Grammar allows people to talk about new things, about events that occurred in the past, about events that might possibly occur in the future, and even about things that can never be. A grammar allows people to produce an infinite number of possible sentences because words can be combined and recombined in many ways to generate many different meanings. This possibility makes language qualitatively different from the songs and calls of birds, which are rigidly structured to allow only a limited number of meanings; from the dances of bees, which have the single function of indicating the location of nectar; and even from the gestures of the apes, which can indicate only a limited set of communications.

Language Acquisition

The complexity and variation in systems of grammar have led to a number of speculations about the nature of the human mind in particular, about the relationship between language and thought, and about how such complex systems could be achieved by human children before they are capable of logical thought. The first of these two areas is also known as linguistic relativity. The second, the possibility that at base all languages are essentially the same because they are constructed by human beings who have an innate capacity for language, has been proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky, the founder of the field of syntactic inquiry known as generative grammar. Generative grammar can be defined as a grammar that projects the structure of a potentially infinite number of sentences, including both those already produced and those yet to be uttered.

Examining the complexity of the syntax of English, Chomsky suggested that the capacity for language must be innate, that human beings have an inborn language-acquisition device that enables them to determine the grammar of the language spoken by the people who rear them. Chomsky explained that much of what young children hear must be full of errors and false starts, and yet, before age five, most children speak their native language with a high degree of accuracy. He suggested that the language-acquisition device must act as a kind of analyzer that assigns a structure to the incoming stream of speech. The resulting analysis then becomes the foundation of the grammar that permits children to produce new, original sentences in the language they hear all around them.

This speculation fueled much research during the 1960s and 1970s, and the result is that most language scientists—linguists and psychologists alike—agree that indeed the capacity for language acquisition is innate; the actual nature of the innate capacity, however, remains uncertain. Research has generally found that parents and other caregivers tend to be extremely careful in the kinds of speech they address to children; that is, they tend to speak without the errors and the false starts Chomsky had supposed. Moreover, they tend to pause and change the pitch of their voices at precisely those places in an utterance where the grammar would assign an important boundary. In many ways, then, the speech addressed to children seems an ideal teaching device, and so Chomsky’s hypothesis that children formulate a grammar on the basis of fragmentary and poorly structured input has been disconfirmed. It also has been found that even very young infants tend to prefer the sound of human voices to other sounds and are capable of telling the difference between very similar but distinct speech sounds. Thus, it is clear that human beings are predisposed to acquire language.

Critical Period Hypothesis

Other evidence supports the notion that there is a biological predisposition to language. In his book Biological Foundations of Language (1967), Eric Lenneberg proposed that there is a critical period
for language acquisition, an age beyond which the acquisition of a first language would not be possible. That is, Lenneberg contended that a child deprived of the opportunity to acquire a language—any language at all—would never be able to do so if the deprivation continued past the onset of puberty. Supporting evidence for this hypothesis suggested a discontinuity in language abilities at adolescence. Children who suffer trauma to the parts of the brain where language is processed, for example, tend to recover if the injury occurs before puberty but typically do not recover their language abilities if the injury occurs in their mid-teen years. In addition, children who are exposed to a second language during childhood seem to acquire that language with little difficulty when compared with adults facing the same task. This, too, seems to support the hypothesis of a critical period for language acquisition. Moreover, case studies of feral children raised without language by nurturing animals such as wolves have indicated that these children failed to acquire language when introduced into civilization.

These kinds of evidence provide only partial (and debatable) support for the critical-period hypothesis. For example, no two injuries are exactly alike, so the successful recovery of one patient from a brain injury compared to the failure of another may stem from a number of causes. The facility of children compared to the difficulty for adults with respect to second-language acquisition may result from children’s lack of self-consciousness. Finally, children raised by wolves during the last several centuries may have been abandoned by their parents because they had some apparent disability; perhaps the children lacked the cognitive or speech skills necessary to acquire language.

The “Genie” Case Study

In 1970, a thirteen-year-old girl suffering from severe neglect was found. The child of a psychotic father and an abused and half-blind mother, “Genie,” as she came to be called, had been locked in a darkened room since infancy and deprived of all genuine human contact. She was absolutely devoid of any language skills, although her hearing was found to be normal. Since medical records indicated normal development during infancy, save for a hip defect, and since she was clearly past puberty, Genie provided a test case for the critical-period hypothesis.

Removed from her abusive environment and given the attention of caring adults, Genie made remarkable progress. At first, she seemed able to acquire language after all, and reports of her linguistic achievements were thought to herald the demise of the critical-period hypothesis. It soon became evident, however, that although Genie was making excellent progress with social and cognitive skills, her development of syntax and morphology lagged far behind. She was able to acquire a vocabulary of some size—a word list—but she failed to put words together in the ways that were typical of children acquiring language during the usual developmental period. She also had difficulty with those English morphemes that show relationships between elements in a sentence. In short, although Genie could understand words and word meanings, she was having considerable difficulty mastering grammar. Genie’s case provides partial support for the critical-period hypothesis; after puberty, parts of language may still be acquired, but a full elaboration of the grammatical patterns that underlie a language will not be achieved. The importance of the early childhood years to the acquisition of language skills is clearly demonstrated by this case.

Genie’s progress with language acquisition—or lack of it—could not be mapped without a knowledge of the parts of language, an understanding of syntax and morphology. Similarly, the accomplishments of young children with respect to language acquisition could not be appreciated without a knowledge of the structures underlying grammar and speech. The field of language acquisition is an entire area of study that crucially depends on knowledge of the structure of language. To study acquisition requires a knowledge of what is being acquired.

Evolution of Language Research

Although interest in language is as old as language itself, prior to the nineteenth century investigations were philosophical and speculative. Questions about language were likely to concern the origins of language or the identity of the oldest language. During the early part of the nineteenth century, newly discovered relationships between languages fueled interest in a field of study now called comparative linguistics, which attempted to ascertain which languages derived from the same prehistoric ancestor language. Late in that century, however, interest began to turn away from the comparison of languages and toward an investigation of languages on their own terms. In the early part of the twentieth century, the scientific study of language was encouraged by the great American linguists Edward Sapir
and Leonard Bloomfield.

Both Sapir and Bloomfield were spurred by the study of the indigenous languages of the United States, the languages spoken by the peoples often called American Indians. These languages were unwritten, so recording them involved a detailed investigation of their phonology, morphology, and syntax. The languages of Europe were also subjected to this new, rigorous scientific study, now called linguistics.

At first, scientific linguistics dealt mainly with phonology and morphology and studied syntax only as an afterthought. The publication of Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures (1957), however, revolutionized the field. This small book redistributed the rankings of the various subfields of language by showing the formal relationships among apparently diverse structures in syntax; what had previously been backgrounded in the study of language, the syntax, was now seen as the central focus of linguistic inquiry. In fact, syntax became so important within linguistics that Chomsky and his colleagues argued for an autonomous syntax, a system of structural relations that has an existence apart from sound and meaning. In the last decades of the twentieth century, many linguists abandoned this notion and opted instead for a pragmatic analysis of language, a description based on how particular words, syntactic structures, phonological features, and other patterns of discourse such as overlaps and interruptions among participants in a conversation are used to achieve certain effects in the real world. This approach has the effect of integrating the subsystems of language so that the focus is on the basic circumstance of communication: people talking.

Bibliography

Arbib, Michael A. How the Brain Got Language. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.

Baker, Mark C. The Atoms of Language: The Mind’s Hidden Rules of Grammar. New York: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.

Carroll, David W. Psychology of Language. 5th ed. Belmont: Thomson, 2008. Print.

Chomsky, Noam. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge: MIT P, 1965. Print.

Crain, Stephen. The Emergence of Meaning. New York: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.

Harley, Trevor A. The Psychology of Language: From Data to Theory. 4thd ed. Washington: Psychology, 2014. Print.

Jackendorff, Ray. Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Karmiloff, Kyra, and Annette Karmiloff-Smith. Pathways to Language: From Fetus to Adolescent. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2002. Print.

Loritz, Donald. How the Brain Evolved Language. New York: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.

Sanz, Montserrat, Itziar Laka, and Michael K. Tanenhaus, eds. Language down the Garden Path: The Cognitive and Biological Basis for Linguistic Structures. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.

Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. 1921. Mineola: Dover, 2004. Print.

Yule, George. The Study of Language. 5th ed. New York: Cambridge UP, 2014. Print.

In The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, who do the two boys go to for help? Why is it significant that they go to this person and not Darry? ...

Johnny and Pony went to Dally for help because Pony was fighting with Darry and because Dally had more experience being on the wrong side of the law.

Johnny and Ponyboy find themselves needing help because of a combination of unfortunate events.  They meet some nice girls at the movies that just happen to be Socs.  The Socs’ boyfriends do not appreciate their girls hanging out with greasers.  The two gangs are constantly at odds.  The girls leave with their boyfriends, but when they find Johnny and Pony in the park later, there is trouble.

Johnny and Pony were in the park because Pony came home late and got in a fight with his older brother Darry.  Darry hit him, and Pony ran.  He felt that Darry was too hard on him and did not really care about him.  Johnny was from an abusive home and basically didn’t mind staying away.

In the park, the Socs jump Pony and Johnny.  They are Bob and Randy, Cherry and Marcia’s boyfriends.  Bob nearly drowns Pony, and Johnny intervenes.  He kills Bob, and the boys run.  They feel that Dally is the best person to turn to, because Dally has been in trouble with the law enough to know what to do.

"We'll need money. And maybe a gun. And a plan."

Money. Maybe a gun? A plan. Where in the world would we get these things?

"Dally," Johnny said with finality. "Dally'll get us outs here."

I heaved a sigh. Why hadn't I thought of that? But I never thought of anything.

Dallas Winston could do anything. (Ch. 4)

Dally does help the boys.  He has them hide out in an abandoned church and later comes for them.  This is how all three of them end up getting injured in the church fire, when they try to save a group of kids on a trip.  Johnny is injured enough that he will eventually die, so the boys do not really need to worry about being on the run anymore.

This experience shows Pony that Darry really does care about him.  It is difficult for Darry, because he is the older brother and has to be the father figure.  Pony's trouble really worries him, and of course he is horrified that his little brother is injured, and that he played a part in it by driving him off.  Their relationship is stronger from this point on.

Does Atticus Finch manage his role as a single parent well?

Yes. In my opinion, Atticus manages his role as a single parent well throughout the novel. He shows his children attention and is continually teaching them important life lessons. Atticus takes time out of his busy schedule to play catch with Jem and to sit on the porch to read with Scout. Whenever his children ask him a question, Atticus answers it as honestly as he can and does not lie to Jem and Scout. Jem and Scout also enjoy their childhood and Atticus allows them to be individuals. He does not raise Scout to be a conventional Southern Belle and allows her to run around in overalls. He also protects his children by acting tolerant towards the racist community members of Maycomb and teaches his children to respect others regardless of their beliefs. He makes the intelligent decision to employ Calpurnia and even invites his sister, Aunt Alexandra, to come live with them so that she can teach Scout how to be a lady. By the end of the novel, Scout and Jem are tolerant, empathetic, moral individuals which reflects on Atticus' parenting skills.

What is the difference between speed and velocity?

Speed is defined as the rate of change of motion of an object. In other words, it is the ratio of distance traveled to time taken.

speed = distance traveled by the object / time taken for the journey

In comparison, velocity is the rate of change of position of an object. In other words, it is the ratio of displacement to the time taken by an object.

Velocity = displacement of the object / time taken

Speed is a scalar quantity and only has a magnitude. In comparison, velocity is a vector quantity and has both magnitude and direction. 

Speed is dependent on the path taken by the object, since it is needed to determine the distance. Velocity is independent of the path taken by an object, since it depends on the displacement (distance between initial and final position of an object).

Hope this helps.

To what extent did the powers of the government in Britain increase during the First World War?

The English government during World War One increased its power over both domestic policy and foreign policy in many ways. First and foremost, Lord Kitchener’s army had vast power to conscript soldiers from everywhere in the British Empire. Additionally, the armed forces, under the civilian command and oversight of first H. H. Asquith and then Lloyd George's government, took direct control over the British economy, turning its vast manufacturing power toward the aim of arming, clothing and feeding British soldiers. Moreover, with the knowledge of senior government officials in parliament, Downing Street and the army and navy, the civilian government set up a completely off-the-books domestic surveillance program that supplemented and at times over-rode military intelligence. This secret service, into which academics and wealthy aristocrats were drafted, was engaged in all manner of domestic and foreign spying, most of it unlawful, in the sense that neither the House of Lords nor the House of Commons had created any such service, or given oversight mechanisms to regulate what would later become MI5 and MI6.

As for freedom of press and speech, although neither of these rights are guaranteed in England even today under law, there had long existed a good deal of tolerance for those who spoke out against the government and in favor of socialism, unions and against the aristocracy. Publications that engaged in these kinds of criticisms were often stifled during the war and those deemed to be engaged in subversive activities were jailed. Strikes at mines, which had been quite common before the war, were banned during the war, because the government declared coal mining an essential service, and took indirect control of that industry. In fact, when they were strikes or even the hint of labor unrest during the war, scabs or strikebreakers, often foreigners, were brought in to work the mines. 

Perhaps the most serious and flagrant expansion of government authority came in response to the Ulster Rebellion, when British Soldiers, many of them Irish, were ordered to occupy and violently suppress the Irish Catholic uprisings that begin in 1916. The occupation of Northern Ireland by British Soldiers began during the war but lasted until the end of the 20th century, circa 1999.  Lastly, no discussion of increased British War powers could be complete without the mention of the complete whitewashing of the terrible realities that British soldiers fighting the war faced. The propaganda machine that Britain put into place heavily censored all soldier's letters home, tolerated only positive (mostly false or highly misleading and selective) news from the front, so that those back at home were for a long time under the false impression that the war was going well and that victory was assured and would come soon. Those who reported the reality of the war, especially if they were soldiers, were imprisoned and or executed, and labeled traitors. No distinction was made between telling the truth about the conditions on the front and directly spying for the Germans. This was a moral and legal outrage, but it was not unique to England. 

The gravity of the war made it possible for the British government to expand the scope of it war powers inward and to blanket the home front in a very tight, all encompassing, and not altogether benevolent embrace.

How does distance affect the strength of the force of gravity?

Hello!

The properties of the gravity force were discovered by Isaac Newton and can be described by Newton's law of universal gravitation.

Suppose there are two bodies with the masses `m` and `M` and the distance `R` between them (the distance is supposed to be much greater than the sizes of the bodies). Then the gravity force acts on each body in the direction of another body, and the magnitude of this force is:

`G*(m*M)/(R^2),`

where `G` is the universal gravitational constant.

So, for the fixed masses the gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. For example, if the distance becomes twice as big, the force becomes four times weaker. Conversely, if the distance becomes twice as small, the force becomes four times stronger.

Despite such a dependence on distance, the gravity force plays a more important role between stars and planets than between atoms and elementary particles.

How does Walter Cunningham's unique cultural perspective affect how he interacts with others?

Walter Cunningham is a poor farmer who comes from a family that values respect and integrity. Walter is a trustworthy individual with a good work ethic and is respected throughout Maycomb. Even though he is not educated and the economic situation has dramatically affected his financial stability, his good reputation allows him access to goods and services typically acquired through transactions of currency. Walter trades his homegrown crops and vegetables for specific services like lawyer fees. The professionals in Maycomb trust that Walter will pay them and gladly do business with him. Despite his good reputation, Walter is also loyal to his family members and the people of Old Sarum in the northern part of the county, where he lives. The Old Sarum bunch are rough "rednecks," who like to drink and are known to cause trouble. Walter Cunningham has a unique cultural perspective because he can relate to the rough, "backwoods" individuals in the northern part of the county and he can get along just fine with the people who live in town. His good reputation allows him to interact with professionals and respected members of the community, yet he naturally associates with the Old Sarum bunch. Typically, citizens would not associate with the Old Sarum bunch, but Walter's good standing throughout the community makes him the exception. 

What is trichomonas?

Definition

Trichomonas is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD), or
infection. It is a symptomatic infection of the vaginal tract in women and a usually asymptomatic infection of the urethra in men.

Causes

Trichomonas is caused by infection with the single-celled protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis, which is transmitted almost exclusively through vaginal sexual intercourse. Extremely rare cases of fomite transmission, that is, transmission through a contaminated object, have been reported.

Risk Factors

Risk factors for contacting trichomonas include those things that increase the chances of contact with an infected partner. Persons with multiple sexual partners, who have unprotected sexual intercourse, and who have untreated sexual partners are at high risk.

In addition to the noted risk factors for trichomonas, associated high risks
have received focused attention from researchers. Increased rates of
human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have been documented in women with a history of trichomonas.
Biological changes associated with trichomonas may occur. Microabrasions caused by
the inflammatory response associated with the organism, and possibly with itching
and scratching from the discomfort caused by the infection, can make
trichomonas-infected women more susceptible to seroconversion with HIV if they are
exposed to infectious fluids. Pregnant women infected with T.
vaginalis have demonstrated increased rates of complications,
including premature rupture of membranes, preterm birth, and delivery of
low-birth-weight neonates.

Symptoms

In women, trichomonas symptoms include a foamy grayish discharge with a foul
odor; mild, moderate, or intense itching and burning that often includes pain with
intercourse; and, in severe cases, erythema (redness) of the vagina and inner
vulvar folds. Some women may experience pain with urination and may confuse their
symptoms with that of a urinary tract infection.

Men are usually asymptomatic, but men who do have symptoms present with penile
burning on urination, a reddened urethral opening, and a clear penile discharge
that is often misdiagnosed as nongonococcal urethritis or chlamydia. This
misdiagnosis can result in the provision of antibiotics that are effective against
chlamydia but that have no treatment value for trichomonas. Men with longstanding
infection may also have symptoms of prostatitis.

Symptoms may present anywhere from a few days to a month following transmission, so for persons with multiple partners, there is often no way to determine when the infection was acquired based on symptoms.

Screening and Diagnosis

Trichomonas is one of the STDs for which screening tests are not widely employed. Infection in women is marked by an increased pH (acidity) of the vaginal fluid in most cases, so screening women who are undergoing vaginal speculum examinations with pH paper has been suggested.

For many years the gold standard for diagnosis has been the saline wet prep, which requires a working microscope, skill in examining wet prep specimens, and a laboratory certification for the clinical setting for provider-performed microscopy. The sensitivity (the percentage of time a positive result is identified from the testing) of vaginal wet preps for trichomonas is estimated to be between 60 and 70 percent, but the specificity is very high if only mobile trichomonads are used for identification. Specificity refers to a lack of false-positive results and is especially important for a sexually transmitted infection that can raise serious issues in a relationship. Sensitivity is increased by scanning multiple fields and by examination immediately after collection of a specimen, because the organisms may die quickly. Because of these limitations, many clinical settings have not always been able to offer wet prep testing, and laboratory diagnostic testing methodologies have become available with send-out and point-of-care testing.

Many issues remain concerning the low specificity of these DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) probe or PCR-based tests. Commercial tests continue to enter the market. Pap screening may also produce incidental findings of trichomonal organisms, but because of a high rate of false-positive results (low specificity), this should only be treated as a screening, rather than a diagnostic finding, so confirmatory testing is required. Culture is also available in a few specialty laboratory settings, utilizing vaginal secretions in women and urine, urethral swabs, or semen in men. In laboratories that have the capability of centrifuging urine and doing a microscopic examination of the spun sediment, trichomonal organisms, or trichomonads may be identified in male urine sediment.

Diagnosis is usually made from testing symptomatic women through a wet prep of vaginal discharge. Male partners receive a presumptive diagnosis.

Treatment and Therapy

Trichomonas is a curable sexually transmitted infection, without a high rate of relapse if partners are properly treated and if future behavioral changes can be implemented. Treatment is generally with only two approved medications: metronidazole in a single 2 gram (g) oral dose, or tinidazole in a single 2 g oral dose. Alternatively, metronidazole can be given as one 500 milligram tablet twice each day for seven days.

Persons who are treated with a one-dose regimen are given multiple tablets
(often four). They need to remain abstinent for one week while the medication is
eradicating the organism. They also need to abstain from alcohol for twenty-four
hours before taking the medications and for twenty-four hours after completing
metronidazole and for seventy-two hours after completing tinidazole, as severe
symptoms can result from interaction with alcohol. If a provider has concerns
about resistant infection, he or she can contact the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Metronidazole is safe to give during pregnancy
and is preferred over tinidazole.

Prevention and Outcomes

Prevention of infection with T. vaginalis involves decreasing one’s number of sexual partners, practicing mutual monogamy, and using barrier protection such as male or female condoms. Prevention is also accomplished at the community level through the contact and treatment of all potentially infected partners.

Bibliography

Boston Women’s Health Collective. Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era. 35th anniversary ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. A popular, classic book dealing with all aspects of women’s sexuality, including sexually transmitted infections and safer sex.

Grimshaw-Mulcahy, Laura J. “Now I Know My STDs: Part II—Bacterial and Protozoal.” Journal for Nurse Practitioners 4 (2008): 271-281. A review article that has a comprehensive section on trichomonas.

Holmes, King K., et al., eds. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Medical, 2008. A comprehensive text covering all aspects of sexually transmitted infections and diseases.

Johnston, Victoria J., and David C. Mabey. “Global Epidemiology and Control of Trichomonas Vaginalis.” Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases 21 (2008): 56-64. Updated information on epidemiology and treatment trends.

Szumigala, J. A., et al. “Vulvovaginitis: Trichomonas.” In Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2011: Instant Diagnosis and Treatment, edited by Fred F. Ferri. Philadelphia: Mosby/Elsevier, 2011. Provides recommendations on clinical treatments for trichomonas infection.

Van Der Pol, Barbara, et al. “Trichomonas Vaginalis Infection and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Acquisition in African Women.” Journal of Infectious Diseases 197 (2008): 548-555. Research article on the risks that trichomonas can pose for increased seroconversion to HIV.

What do Mrs. Jones' actions reveal in the beginning of the story?

Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones doesn’t “play,” and the characterization of her by Langston Hughes shows this.  Mrs. Jones is a formidable woman who is large in stature with a large purse that, according to Hughes, has “everything in it but hammer and nails.” When Roger tries to steal her purse, the strap breaks, and Roger ends up on the ground.  Mrs. Jones kicks him in the rear end and picks him up by his shirt collar to face her.  When she asks Roger if he will run away if she lets him go, and he says, “yes,” Mrs. Jones drags him back to her apartment to clean him up, give him a meal, and teach him a lesson. Roger has met his match and tried to steal from the wrong person.  However, the tough exterior that Hughes suggests Mrs. Jones has is just a mask for the kind, caring person she really is.  She tries to teach Roger about doing the right thing because she made mistakes in her past as well.  Hoping Roger will turn his life around, Mrs. Jones gives him the $10.00 he wanted for a pair of blue suede shoes.  The characterization of Mrs. Jones at the beginning of the story does not match who she really is as a person, and perhaps, that was Langston Hughes’ intention or message from the very start. 

“The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” What does that mean?

This happens at the very end of the story, when the narrator is finally looking at himself in a mirror. This is after he's been rescued, but he's recently spent two weeks with a serious illness--and now he looks like a corpse.

So, that quote means that he will never forget what he looked like when he first took a glimpse of himself after surviving the horrors of the Holocaust as well as his own long illness. In other words, the image of himself as a haunted and emaciated (deathly skinny) version of who he once was will never leave his mind for as long as he lives.

Further, take a look at how the narrator is separating himself from his reflection here: he calls the eyes in his reflection "his eyes" (not "my eyes") which presents them as if they belong to someone else. This means that the quote also reveals how Eliezer has become a completely different person because of his experiences. He may even feel as if he is two separate people at once: both the damaged man in the mirror as well as his own real self trapped inside that suffering being.

What is Eugene's nickname in "American History"?

Eugene is a new boy at Elena's school. Elena is discriminated against at her school because she is Puerto Rican and the majority of the school's population is African American. Eugene is white, so when he comes to Public School Number 13, he is in the minority along with Elena. Elena had already been given the nickname of "Skinny Bones" by her peers. Because Eugene is white and from Georgia, the students in the majority call him "the Hick." When students see that Elena and Eugene are friends, they link the two nicknames together by saying, "Skinny Bones and the Hick." It would seem then, that Elena and Eugene become friends in part because of their status in the school. In a way, their nicknames help to unite them as friends against the majority's teasing.

In All Quiet on the Western Front, what do the symbols of boots, horses, and cancer represent?

In All Quiet on the Western Front, boots represent playing the part of a soldier. In Chapter 2, Paul says of his boots, "standing up one looks well-built and powerful in these great drainpipes. But when we go bathing and strip, suddenly we have slender legs again and slight shoulders. We are no longer soldiers but little more than boys" (page 29). Boots are part of the armor that turns a young man physically and psychologically into a soldier. When the men remove their boots, they are civilians, but donning boots immediately makes them resume playing the role of soldiers.

In Chapter 4, when Paul and his fellow soldiers are under attack, he says he hears the cries of wounded horses. He describes the cries in the following way: "It's unendurable. It is the moaning of the world, it is the martyred creation, wild with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning" (page 62). The horses stand for the most innocent kind of victim of the war. They are martyrs, and their cries are filled with anguish. Paul and the other soldiers find the cries of the horses more difficult to take than the cries of men, and soldiers try to shoot the horses to put them out of their misery.

In Chapter 7, Paul returns home and finds out his mother has cancer. Paul's mother is clearly grieving that he must return to the war. He says, "How destitute she lies there in her bed, she that loves me more than all the world" (page 184). The war is also like a kind of cancer that makes parents sick with grief about their children who have to fight in it. In Chapter 11, Paul compares war to cancer. He says, "War is a cause of death like cancer and tuberculosis, like influenza and dysentery. The deaths are merely more frequent, more varied and terrible" (page 271). War is a type of cancer that kills rapidly.

Summarize "The Death of the Moth" by Virginia Woolf.

In this essay, Woolf sees a moth at her window on a pleasant mid-September day. The moth, full of energy, flies back and forth across the window pane. Woolf finds her attention caught by the moth's movement. The moth seems both pathetic to Woolf, because its area of activity is confined to a window pane, and yet at the same time marvelous:

It was as if someone had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zig-zagging to show us the true nature of life.

The moth eventually settles down quietly on the window sill. But when Woolf looks at it again, it is on its back, its feet waving in the air. It's dying, but Woolf nevertheless marvels at the valiant effort it makes to hang on to life:

this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth

The moth dies and Woolf finds his death as strange as his monumental struggle for life:

Just as life had been strange a few minutes before, so death was now as strange.

The essay is pure Woolf, showing how much attention she paid to the smallest details of everyday life. The moth becomes a symbol for all of our urgency to live to the fullest, no matter how insignificant our lives. Its death at the end shows that we all will die:

O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am.

What is a syndrome?

Causes and Symptoms

A syndrome is a collection of symptoms that characterize a disorder. For example, metabolic syndrome is the name given to a group of symptoms that warn of potential heart
disease, stroke, or diabetes. The symptoms of metabolic syndrome are obesity, high blood pressure, low levels of insulin, and high cholesterol.

Syndromes can be grouped into roughly fourteen categories: environmental (caused by the environment); congenital (existing at birth); gastrointestinal (affecting the stomach and intestines); cardiovascular (involving the heart and blood vessels); iatrogenic (induced by a treatment or procedure); neoplastic (caused by a malignant or benign tumor); endocrine (affecting glands, including sex glands); pulmonary (involving the lung); infectious (caused by a virus, bacterium, or fungus); renal (involving the kidneys); reticuloendothelial (affecting cells, including blood cells); neurological (affecting the nervous system); psychopathological (affecting the mind and behavior); and medically unexplained (cause uncertain).

The causes of syndromes vary. Some come from a single, clear source. For example, toxic shock syndrome
is caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. The bacterium enters the body through wounds from injuries or surgery incisions. It also breeds in superabsorbent tampons and contraceptive sponges. Symptoms of this syndrome include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, and muscle aches.

Chinese restaurant syndrome is caused by monosodium glutamate (MSG), a chemical compound widely used to enhance the flavor of foods. MSG can induce headache, dizziness, giddiness, a feeling of facial pressure, tingling sensations over parts of the body, and chest pain.

Some syndromes result from any one of an array of causes. Fanconi syndrome, for instance, activates the release of certain substances from the kidney into the urine instead of the bloodstream. It can be caused by genetic defects, inherited diseases, exposure to heavy metals, a kidney transplant, or any number of medicines or diseases that damage the kidneys.

Other syndromes, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, arise from a combination of causes. This syndrome stems from increased pressure on certain nerves and tendons in the carpal tunnel in the wrist. Most people prone to carpal tunnel syndrome are born with a comparatively small carpal tunnel. This condition is complicated by injury to the wrist, an overactive pituitary gland, an underactive thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, repeated use of vibrating hand tools, or overuse of the hands for activities such as typing.

The causes of some syndromes remain uncertain. For example, Reye syndrome
is a rapidly appearing, deadly disorder that affects all body organs, most seriously the brain and liver. It attacks adults but is primarily a children’s disease. Symptoms include personality changes, seizures, and loss of consciousness. There is no cure. The cause is unknown, but there seems to be a link to the use of aspirin taken for a previous viral disease.

Restless legs syndrome
is the nighttime twitching of the legs that often leads to insomnia. The cause is unknown, but there seems to be some connection to a family history of the disorder. Also associated with this syndrome are anemia, diabetes, kidney failure, and certain prescription and nonprescription medicines.

Just as the causes vary, so too do the number and severity of symptoms, depending on the syndrome. Barrett’s esophagus, for example, is a condition in which the esophagus (the tube that carries food to the stomach) develops new cells similar to those found in the intestines. Symptoms are nonexistent, and the cause is unknown. It can, however, lead to a deadly type of esophageal cancer.

The symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) vary widely in number and severity from woman to woman. Some women experience few symptoms; others need several days of bed rest. Symptoms include irritability, headache, backache, weight gain, swelling or tenderness of the breasts, depression, fatigue, and loss of sex drive.

Some fifty different symptoms, or characteristics, are associated with Down syndrome. Characteristics include intellectual disabilities; short stature; slow physical growth; weak muscles; short, stocky arms and legs; a wide space between the big toe and second toe; small, low-set ears; a narrow roof of the mouth; crooked teeth and other dental problems; heart defects; an underactive thyroid; and hearing problems. So many symptoms require a lifetime of care.

Asperger syndrome
produces no symptoms that require medical attention, but people with this autism spectrum disorder display abnormal behaviors and have limited social skills that can bring on unwanted consequences, such as being shunned by others. Some people with this syndrome seem “normal” most of the time. Others just seem odd or different from other people, quieter and disinterested. Still others exhibit somewhat bizarre, or at least socially unacceptable, behaviors, such as inflexible routines, a narrow but intense focus of interests, an inability to empathize with other people, and difficulty understanding some types of humor, especially teasing and sarcasm. Yet they are often above average in intelligence and do no more harm than so-called normal people. The odd behaviors lead people to think that Asperger syndrome is a mental disorder. In fact, it is a type of autism, a developmental disability that affects how the brain processes information. The cause is unknown.

Fauci, Anthony S., et al, eds. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 18th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Frazier, Margeret Schell, and Jeanette Wist Drzymkowski. Essentials of Human Diseases and Conditions. 5th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Saunders/Elsevier, 2013.

Kirmayer, Laurence, et al. “Explaining Medically Unexplained Symptoms.” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 49, no. 10 (October, 2004): 663–672.

McConnaughy, Rozalynd. “Asperger Syndrome: Living Outside the Bell Curve.” Journal of the Medical Library Association 93, no. 1 (January, 2005): 139–140.

Pease, Roger, Jr., ed. Merriam-Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary. Rev. ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2002.

Rakel, Robert E., ed. Textbook of Family Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 2011.

Rice, Shirley. “Reye’s Syndrome Isn’t Just Child’s Play.” Nursing 33, no. 9 (September, 2003): 32hn1–32hn4.

Wallis, Claudia. “The Down Syndrome Dilemma.” Time 166, no. 20 (November 14, 2005).

What role does guilt play in Lord of the Flies? For example, what does it mean when some boys feel guilt over Simon's death, while others do not?

At the end of Chapter 9, Simon is brutally murdered by the group of boys who initially mistake him for the beast coming out of the forest. The boys were so worked up into a frenzy that they were unable to control themselves as they beat, ripped, and stabbed Simon to death. In Chapter 10, Ralph climbs onto the platform and simply says, "Simon" (Golding 155). Piggy nods solemnly and gazes out into the lagoon. After Piggy suggests that Ralph call and assembly, he begins to shiver and says, "That was Simon...That was murder" (Golding 156). Piggy gets extremely upset and starts trying to defend their actions by saying that it was dark, and they were scared. Ralph takes full responsibility for what they did and feels appalled, excited, and guilty for participating Simon's murder. Piggy justifies their actions by claiming that it was an accident and tries to dismiss it, but Ralph refuses to drop the subject. Piggy says, "Look, Ralph. We got to forget this. We can't do no good thinking about it, see?" (Golding 157). Piggy then tells Ralph not to let Samneric know that they were participants and Ralph says, "But we were! All of us!" (Golding 157).

Piggy explains to Ralph that they only participated at the end of the dance and stood on the outside, which in a way makes them feel "less guilty" about Simon's death. He says, "That's right. We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing" (Golding 158). When Samneric arrive, they claim that they went straight into the forest after the feast. Piggy tells Samneric that he and Ralph left early too. Golding writes, "The air was heavy with unspoken knowledge." Sam then shouts, "dance?" and all of the boys shake (Golding 158). The boys continue to maintain that they left early and did not even witness Simon's murder.

On the other side of the island, Jack tells his savages that the beast disguised himself and that he may come again. Stanley raises his hand and says, "But didn't we, didn't we---?" (Golding 160). Jack yells, "No!," and Golding writes, "In the silence that followed, each savage flinched away from his individual memory."

Many of the boys, including the savages, feel guilty about Simon's murder. The fact that some of the boys feel guilty while others do not suggests that there are still remnants of civility and morality in them. However, Jack is completely void of civility and does not feel guilty over Simon's death. The other boys attempt to repress their feelings of guilt. Guilt is a very strong emotion and none of the boys, except Ralph, want to discuss the roles they played in Simon's death. Piggy tries desperately to justify his actions while Samneric claim that they were not even present. The fact that they have the ability to feel guilt suggests that they have not entirely turned into savage beasts. Essentially, the boys' feelings of guilt are a gauge of their of civility and morality. By the end of the novel, the majority of the boys have become so barbaric that they are unashamed, and feel no guilt about their immoral actions.

In Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, are there any verbal assaults before Tom's trial?

Verbal assault is anytime one person uses words to hurt, belittle, or demean another. There are many verbal attacks thrown in the direction of the Finch family before the Tom Robinson trial in Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The first verbal assault comes at the beginning of chapter 9 when Cecil Jacobs tells everyone at school that Scout's father "defends niggers" (74-75). Scout holds her temper and doesn't beat up Cecil for his accusations, but she does go home to ask her father about the truth of Cecil's words. Atticus explains the situation to her and reminds her to keep herself out of fights over the course of the next year until the trial is over. Unfortunately, Scout can't get too far along in the year, though. During Christmas, and in the same chapter as Cecil's remarks, the next verbal assault comes from Aunt Alexandra's grandson, Francis. Francis says the following to Scout:

"Grandma says it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'" (83).

In the above passage, Francis provokes Scout by reiterating what he has heard from his grandmother about Atticus. It's bad enough for Francis to be saying such hateful comments, but to know that Aunt Alexandra first said them compounds the problem and makes Scout very upset. As a result, Scout loses her temper and beats Francis up. 

Finally, and probably worst of all, are the verbal assaults thrown from Mrs. Dubose, an elderly neighbor. This old woman doesn't care who hears her. Nor does she care how much harm she causes for Jem and Scout who are her victims. Mrs. Dubose's worst verbal assault is as follows:

"You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You'll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn't change your ways . . . Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers! . . . Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" (101-102).

As if these verbal attacks aren't bad enough, Mrs. Dubose continues to tell the children that their father is a "nigger-lover" every day when they go to read to her before she dies. Atticus doesn't take offense to her words, or anyone else's, but the hateful attitude behind what she says is highly offensive and meant to hurt.

Refer to the book called A Dialogue On Personal Identity and Immortality by John Perry. Why does Weirob think that on the view of a person that...

The dialog occurs over three nights between Miller and his friend, Weirob. Weirob is dying, and Miller is trying to convince her that her identity can endure after death. Weirob is skeptical.

Miller suggests at the beginning of the second night that the key to Weirob's survival after death lies in memory: identity should be understood as a set of psychological connections -- moments, or experiences, that form a coherent pattern. One example used to explain this concept is the idea of seeing different stretches of the same river: specific places on the river may be different, we are able to mentally connect these experiences and realize that despite their differences they are actually the same river. This is possible through memory. Miller suggests that the possibility of identity (e.g., a whole person made up of individual experiences, bound together into a "pattern" of a human being through memory) existing after death only requires imagining a being in heaven who can "remember" your memories.

Weirob tries to show that this argument is circular, since memories can be false; we can really remember something that we actually experienced in the real world, but we can also think we remembered the experience, or remember it in a different and inaccurate way. How can we be sure the being in heaven with Weirob's memories is remembering them in the right way, e.g., that the memories are true? Miller responds that all we need do is imagine that God can create a being with true memories. But if that is the case, Weirob counters, isn't it possible for God to create many of these beings? Which, in that case, would be the real Weirob? Weirob argues that now the preconditions for identity surviving death involve both the existence of a being in heaven with her true memories, and that God somehow has chosen not to create more than one of these beings. 

I find it difficult to not see these arguments as circular. Identity is based on the principles of truth and uniqueness; that is, the accuracy of our memory of real events, and the singular nature of these memories, here or in heaven. It's not clear what test one could use to determine if either of these conditions can be true.

What event sets off the family's reactions?

The event that set off the family's reactions occurred when James Thurber was a young man still living at home. One night he heard what he describes in his essay as "a rhythmic, quick-cadenced walking around the dining-room table." Thurber specifies that the date was November 17, 1915, so he would have been nearly twenty-one. He woke his brother Herman to listen to the footsteps. But there was only silence. Then:

"Instantly the steps began again, circled the dining-room table like a man running, and started up the stairs toward us, heavily, two at a time. 

Herman retreated to his room and slammed the door. James slammed another door at the top of the stairs and held his knee against it. The slamming of the doors woke their mother, who thought the house was being invaded by burglars. Thurber's mother summoned the police, who only added to the confusion and panic.

Thurber never tries to explain the cause of all the sounds of footsteps in the dining-room and up the stairs. In an old wooden two-story house it is very common for the beams and boards to make noises as they expand and contract. The lumber will pull on the nails, making eerie creaking sounds. It is also very common for people to interpret those noises as burglars or even ghosts.

Thurber and his family seem like the kind of people who would spook very easily. He writes more about his family in the personal essays collected in My Life and Hard Times (1933). Thurber once defined humor as follows:

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.

Thurber is alluding to a famous statement by the great English poet William Wordsworth in his "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" (1800):

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.

Jem is now 12. There is a widening gap of understanding between him and Scout. Find two or three examples which illustrate the emotional distance...

Chapter 14 is where a couple of disputes between Jem and Scout truly show them drifting apart. Jem is growing up and taking on a more adult attitude towards life. Scout, on the other hand, is still young and playing through life with a child-like attitude. Jem does understand adults better because he sees how riled up Aunt Alexandra can get when Scout challenges her. As a result, Jem takes it upon himself to ask Scout to stop "antagonizing" their aunt. Scout's response is as follows:

"His maddening superiority was unbearable these days. He didn't want to do anything but read and go off by himself. Still, everything he read he passed along to me, but with this difference: formerly, because he thought I'd like it; now, for my edification and instruction" (138).

The above quote shows that Scout and Jem don't play like they used to. The only interaction that Jem gives her is to instruct her in what he has learned from his reading, and she does not like the self-righteous attitude that she thinks comes with it. Scout picks a physical fight with Jem after this, which helps to prove to herself that Jem is still a kid--because an "adult" wouldn't have fought with a "child."

Atticus comes in to break up the childish fight and Scout asks him if she has to start obeying Jem, now. Atticus says, "Let's leave it at this: you mind Jem whenever he can make you. Fair enough?" (138). This shows that Jem will have to work harder to get Scout to mind him; but if he can do it, then Scout should follow accordingly. Therefore, there's a bit of a separation in status between the two, but they are also on the same ground as far as childhood is concerned. He's not grown up just yet.

Finally, the next thing Jem does cancels him from being a child in Scout's eyes. He snitches on a friend. When Scout finds a runaway Dill hiding under her bed, she tells Jem, but Jem tells Atticus. The shock of the scene is described as follows:

"Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. 'Atticus,' his voice was distant, 'can you come here a minute, sir?'"

When Scout says that Jem broke the last remaining childhood code, that seemed to seal the gap between them. She understands that he isn't going to adhere to childhood codes anymore because he will choose to act like an adult instead.

What is an example of a heroic couplet in Anne Bradstreet's "An Author to Her Book"?

Anne Bradstreet's entire poem "The Author to Her Book" is written in rhyming couplets. A rhyming couplet is a pair of two lines that display ending rhyme (the last word in each line rhymes). A heroic couplet is a more specific pair of lines in that the two lines have an end rhyme and also are written in iambic pentameter. The meter of the line is the number of syllables and the stresses, or emphases, placed on the syllables. In a line of iambic pentameter, there will be ten syllables, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (five times per line, making ten total syllables). 

In Bradstreet's poem, the first two couplets, lines 1 and 2 and lines 3 and 4, are heroic couplets because each pair of lines rhymes and is written in iambic pentameter. For example, in lines 1-2, Bradstreet writes: 

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain 

The words at the end of each line--brain and remain--rhyme, making this a couplet. Each line also contains ten syllables, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. If you read the lines out loud, you would stress all of the even-numbered syllables (ill/off/of/fee/brain), giving them more emphasis and lending the line its cadence or rhythm.

Most of the lines in this poem are ten syllables long (line 5, for example, appears to have eleven syllables) and the entire poem is arranged in rhyming couplets. Lines 1-2 are just one example, but you could look at each pair of lines in the poem and explain them in the same way I did above.  

Does the speaker's mood change as the poem continues? If so, where?

The first six stanzas are a celebration of the beauty of the skylark's song and the freedom of its flight. The skylark sings only when flying, and the bird is flying so high that the speaker can no longer see it. Given that the skylark is invisible (but still heard) and so close to "heaven," there is an immaterial, spiritual quality to the skylark's song. So, it is not just the beauty of the song that affects the speaker; he is also struck by the spiritual symbolism of the experience. Note that in the first line, though, he calls the skylark "blithe." This means happy but indifferent to (or unaware of) the suffering of others. These first six stanzas are a celebration, but there is that initial tone of envy as well. The speaker envies the skylark's ability to feel so happy and free, whereas he is burdened with his own problems.

In the next six stanzas, the speaker shifts from this celebratory-yet-envious tone to a more pessimistic tone. The speaker cannot find the same earthly beauty as he had experienced with the skyward skylark. Thus, the tone shifts as the speaker switches from describing spiritual beauty to earthly limitations. In this stanza, he notes that the rainbow's beauty does not match the skylark's song:

 What is most like thee?

         From rainbow clouds there flow not

                Drops so bright to see

As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. 

In these six stanzas, we have other examples of things unseen or unnoticed. Whereas the speaker did notice the unseen skylark's song, these examples go unnoticed. There is the poet's "unbidden" (not asked for) hymns, the "lovelorn" maiden in the tower, the glowworm's hidden hue, and the rose clouded by its own leaves. The tone is downright melancholy at this point. Here are all these wonderful things which go unseen, unheard, and so on. 

For the remainder of the poem, the speaker asks the skylark how to be a natural poet. In the skylark, he sees unlimited potential. He, on the other hand, feels limited by his earthly concerns. This symbolism is illustrated in the first two sections of the poem. The first 30 lines express the skylark's beauty and freedom. The next 30 lines express the poet's notions of earthly limitations. The remainder of the poem shows how the speaker would like to be a poet with the same potential and beauty that he perceives in the skylark. So, the tone shifts from celebration and envy to pessimism to plaintive (pleading) requests.

What are congenital disorders?

Causes and Symptoms

Congenital disorders can be the result of genetic factors, environmental exposure, infection during pregnancy, or a deficiency or lack of a substance required for proper fetal development.

Genetic defects include defective genes, extra chromosomal material, and missing chromosomal material. Examples of defects from a single gene include Huntington’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease. Huntington’s disease is caused by an autosomal dominant gene (inheritance of the gene from one parent will produce the disease). Cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease are autosomal recessives (inheritance of the gene from both parents is necessary for expression of the disease). Huntington’s disease is a progressive and fatal deterioration of the central nervous system with an onset in middle age. Patients with cystic fibrosis produce excessive mucus in the lungs, pancreas, and other secretory organs. The secretions in the lungs clog respiratory passages, causing pulmonary damage, and subject the patient to life-threatening infection. Secretions in the pancreas prevent the flow of enzymes into the intestines and damage the pancreatic islet cells, resulting in diabetes. Tay-Sachs disease is a fatal disorder in which a fatty substance known as ganglioside GM2 builds up in tissues and nerve cells in the brain. Even with meticulous medical care, death usually occurs by age four.

In some types of defects caused by recessive genes, the possession of one abnormal gene can be detrimental. One example is sickle cell disease
and sickle cell trait, which is an abnormality of the red blood cells. Individuals with two defective genes are much more severely affected than those with one. Some defective genes reside on the sex chromosomes. Females have two X chromosomes, and males have one X and one Y chromosome. The Y chromosome is shorter than the X chromosome and has less genetic material. A defective gene on an X chromosome in the area with no corresponding material on the Y chromosome will always express itself; therefore, these diseases affect males much more frequently than females. An example of an X-linked disease is red-green color blindness, in which individuals cannot distinguish between red and green.

Ethnicity is also a factor in the inheritance of genetic disorders. For example, Tay-Sachs disease is most common among Eastern European Jews (Ashkenazi), sickle cell disease is most common among individuals of African descent, and thalassemia (a blood disease) is most common among people of Mediterranean descent.

A number of congenital disorders are the result of aneuploidy, which is the presence of extra or missing chromosomes. The normal human complement is twenty-two pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes (X and Y). A number of defects due to extra chromosomal material are trisomies. Two examples of trisomies are Down syndrome
(trisomy 21) and Edwards syndrome
(trisomy 18). Down syndrome is characterized by delayed mental development and physical deformities such as an enlarged tongue, poor muscle tone, and cardiac abnormalities. Trisomy 18 is characterized by profound physical deformities and developmental disabilities; about 95 percent of affected individuals die before birth or within the first year of life, and those who live rarely survive beyond childhood. Turner syndrome
is an example of aneuploidy caused by a missing chromosome. Affected individuals have only one X chromosome and no Y chromosome. They are typically sterile and may have physical characteristics such as short stature and a webbed neck.

Toxic substances ingested by a woman during pregnancy can affect a developing fetus, often to a much greater extent than the mother. Toxins that can cause congenital disorders includealcohol, cocaine, and nicotine. Fetal alcohol syndrome
is characterized by delayed mental development, low birth weight, and facial deformities. The syndrome has occurred in infants whose mothers reportedly consumed as little as two drinks per day (one drink is defined as 1.25 ounces of 80 proof liquor, twelve ounces of beer, or six ounces of wine). Infants born of mothers who use cocaine may have low birth weight and disproportionately small heads. They may have learning difficulties; some research suggests that a variety of congenital disorders are prevalent in these children. Mothers who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy are more likely to deliver infants with low birth weights or respiratory problems. Although most congenital disorders resulting from toxins are related to maternal exposure, paternal exposure is a factor in some cases. For example, cocaine use by the father at the time of conception has been reported to affect the fetus. This is thought to be the result of the lodging of the cocaine molecule on the spermatozoa head; these molecules are passed to the ovum during fertilization. In general, use of a toxic substance increases the risk of fetal loss and premature birth.

Infectious agents that cause congenital disorders include rubella, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis. A pregnant woman who becomes infected with the rubella virus, particularly during the first trimester (three months), may give birth to an infant with the rubella syndrome. The syndrome is characterized by auditory, cerebral, cardiac, and ophthalmic defects. Symptoms range from mild to severe. If a woman with HIV
does not undergo treatment during pregnancy, transmission of the virus to the fetus is likely. Infants born with congenital syphilis may appear healthy at birth; however, they can subsequently develop central nervous system, bone, teeth, and eye disorders.

Poor nutrition during pregnancy can likewise result in congenital disorders. Folic acid deficiency has been implicated in the development of neural tube defects such as spina bifida, anencephaly, and encephalocele. Spina bifida is caused by failure of the spinal column to close during fetal development. The severity of symptoms depends on the location and size of the defect. Affected infants may have varying degrees of paralysis of the lower extremities as well as problems with bowel and bladder control. Anencephaly is caused by the lack of the formation of a cranium (skull cap); as a result, the brain does not form at all or in major part. This disorder is always fatal. An encephalocele is a skull defect that exposes a portion of the brain. This disorder may be fatal or result in varying degrees of developmental disability.

Treatment and Therapy

As is the case with all disorders, prevention is preferable to treatment. Avoidance of harmful substances (mind-altering drugs, alcohol, and tobacco) during pregnancy is essential, and adequate nutrition, including vitamin supplements, is extremely important. Exposure to infectious agents (rubella, HIV, syphilis) should be avoided. Certain medications can increase the risk of congenital disorders, including isotretinoin and etretinate, used for the treatment of acne, and phenytoin and carbamazepine, used to treat epilepsy. Any woman who is pregnant or contemplating pregnancy should consult a health care professional in regard to any medication, prescription or nonprescription.

Screening tests such as the triple test are blood tests that can screen for genetic abnormalities. Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis
can definitively diagnose genetic abnormalities that cause disorders such as Down syndrome and trisomy 18. Single-gene defects can also be diagnosed with CVS or amniocentesis, particularly when a family history of the defect is present. Prenatal diagnosis allows parents the ability to choose whether to continue with a pregnancy. If they opt to continue with the pregnancy, it gives them time to seek counseling and join support groups to help them cope with caring for a child with a congenital disorder.

Treatment for congenital disorders ranges from nonexistent to complete. For example, anencephaly has no known treatment. Phenylketonuria (PKU)
, a metabolic defect that leads to developmental disabilities, is caused by an inability to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine. As such, a special low-phenylalanine diet can markedly reduce progression of the disease. Surgery can correct some congenital disorders, such as cardiac defects related to Down syndrome and spinal defects associated with spina bifida.

Advances in medical science and supportive therapy have greatly improved the longevity of patients with genetic disorders. For example, for centuries, many children with cystic fibrosis died in childhood. However, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, by the early twenty-first century, many individuals with access to medical treatment were able to live well into adulthood.

Perspective and Prospects

Genetic disorders have been recognized for centuries; however, the genetic basis was not understood until the latter half of the twentieth century. Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis are two typical examples. English physician John Down noted that Down syndrome was a specific type of mental disability with distinct physical features. For centuries, the foreheads of children with cystic fibrosis were licked; if a salty taste was noted, the child was deemed to be bewitched and expected to die soon. It was not until the 1990s that the mutated gene that causes the disease was identified.

In addition to Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis, rapid progress has been made in the past decades in regard to genetic abnormalities. The locations of defective genes have been mapped, and alleles (different forms of a gene) have been identified. Research into the treatment of congenital disorders caused by genetic abnormalities is ongoing. Currently, treatment is mainly limited to surgical correction of defects (correction of a cardiac abnormality in an individual with Down syndrome), medical therapy (enzyme therapy for an individual with cystic fibrosis), and supportive care (pulmonary therapy to loosen secretions in an individual with cystic fibrosis). The most promising treatment for specific gene defects rests in the field of stem cell research. Single-gene defects may be curable via gene therapy in the near future. To date, most of the studies have been animal or in vitro (laboratory) studies.

The outlook is much poorer for trisomies, which involve a significant amount of extra chromosomal material. The outlook is extremely poor for severe disorders such as trisomy 18 and virtually hopeless for disorders such as anencephaly. In the case of anencephaly, the best option at present is early diagnosis via CVS or amniocentesis and pregnancy termination.

There now exists an increased public awareness of the impact of exposure to toxins and infections on pregnancy. This increased awareness has the potential to reduce the incidence of these preventable disorders. For example, awareness of the benefits of folic acid can reduce the incidence of neural tube defects. Aggressive therapy for children with a disorder caused by exposure to a toxin can sometimes reverse the damage. For example, speech therapy and other behavioral support can reverse central nervous disorders resulting from congenital cocaine exposure. The therapy must be initiated promptly when symptoms are recognized, while the developing brain is in its formative phase. Therapy is most effective before the age of five.

Bibliography

A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia. "Genetic Counseling." MedlinePlus, May 31 2012.

American Pregnancy Association. http://www.americanpregnancy.org.

Amniocentesis Report. http://www.amniocentesis.org.

Cummings, Michael. Human Heredity: Principles and Issues. 8th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 2008.

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. http://www.cff.org.

Lewis, Ricki. Human Genetics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

March of Dimes. http://www.marchofdimes.com.

National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. "Pediatric Genetics." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 12, 2012.

Rapp, Rayna. Testing Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Scriver, Charles. The Metabolic and Molecular Bases of Inherited Disease. 8th ed. 4 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

World Health Organization. "Congenital Anomalies." World Health Organization, October 2012.