Antonio and Bassanio are very close friends throughout the play The Merchant of Venice. Antonio willingly takes out a loan to fund Bassanio's trip to Belmont despite the fact that his assets are lost at sea. Antonio essentially risks his life for his friend's happiness by accepting terms from Shylock that indicate that Antonio will have to give a pound of his flesh if he defaults on the loan. Bassanio is overwhelmed with grief when he receives the news about Antonio's ships and the fact that Antonio will have to forfeit on his loan. Bassanio does not consummate his marriage with Portia and leaves Belmont immediately to return to Venice. Right before Shylock is about to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's breast, Antonio tells Bassanio that he loves him. Bassanio responds by telling Antonio that he would gladly give up his wife and friends to see Antonio live. Antonio's willingness to risk his life for Bassanio's happiness reveals his magnanimous personality. Bassanio's loyalty is portrayed in his decision to leave Belmont to come to his friend's aid. Both Antonio and Bassanio are caring, selfless individuals who value each other.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
How would one summarize chapters 11 and 12 of Gary D. Schmidt's novel Trouble?
To write a summary, we focus on the most important details.
In Chapter 11 of Gary D. Schmidt's Trouble, the most important details concern the fact that Henry faced conflict from his family for his plans to travel to Maine to climb Katahdin yet left without his family's permission regardless. In the minds of his family members, Henry going off by himself to climb a dangerous mountain he would have been climbing with Franklin is just inviting more Trouble into the Smiths' home. In addition, his mother can't bear the thought of the family being separated after Franklin's death:
It's not the time for us to be splitting apart. (p. 146)
Yet, in Henry's mind, the Smith family has already split apart. Therefore, at the start of July, Henry sneaks out of the house with Black Dog on a leash and meets up with Sanborn to hitchhike to Maine. It's not until dark that Henry and Sanborn are picked up by a truck, and when they get in, they discover they have been picked up by Chay Chouan, who is responsible for Franklin's death and has just left his family out of rebellion against his father.
One important detail in Chapter 12 is that tensions between Chay and Henry begin to resolve somewhat during their conversation in the truck. Chay speaks of how sorry he is for being responsible for Franklin's death. Tensions begin to resolve the most when Chay expresses how much he is aware of Henry's mother's suffering because he witnessed his own mother suffer in the exact same way. Chay continues to relay his experience in the refugee camp in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge came to collect boys to fight. The soldiers chose Chay's ten-year-old brother because he was large. Chay further relays that his mother begged the soldiers not to take him, and when she refused to cease begging, "a soldier shot [Chay's] sister." It is because Chay has heard his own mother grieve for her lost children that he can tell Henry, "That is how I know what your mother sounds like" (p. 159). Though Henry begins to feel compassion for Chay, tensions rise again toward the end of the chapter when Henry reflects to himself in the chowder house that he is sharing a table and dining with his brother's murderer.
1. How did Starbucks initially use segmentation to targeted coffee markets? 2. Did the Starbucks customer or the Starbucks Experience change...
1. Market segmentation is a very common strategy where instead of trying to appeal to the whole mass market which requires a sort of "least common denominator" approach that is acceptable to all but ideal to none, a company instead targets a specific group of people and tries to give them exactly what they want.
Starbucks did this expertly, targeting specifically young-adult to middle-aged upper-middle class urban professionals. While most of their competitors (e.g. Dunkin' Donuts, Tim Hortons) were simply offering coffee as cheap and fast as possible, Starbucks instead offered what they called the "Starbucks Experience": a comfortable coffee shop environment, standardized so it would be familiar and consistent when people travel (as this demographic travels extensively), with high-quality coffee that appeals to socially responsible customers by being organic, Fair Trade, and locally sourced. To pay for this, Starbucks needed to charge higher prices, but they knew this demographic has a lot of spending money and would be willing to pay a higher price if they could enjoy higher quality and a better overall experience.
2. This is a bit of a chicken-or-egg problem. While Starbucks targeted their market at an existing demographic, as they grew they also began to create pressure on our whole society, changing expectations about what coffee shops are or are supposed to be. Customers who had previously been accustomed to buying the cheapest coffee they found remotely palatable began to spend a bit more to try coffee of higher quality. Customer habits began to change, and more people began seeking out high-quality coffee -- a wave Starbucks was quite happy to ride.
3. Starbucks has now shifted their strategy to China, where they hope to capture the market of the new rising Chinese middle class. This means substantially changing their strategy; instead of the high-quality coffee they provide in the US, they will need to focus on low prices for the Chinese market because there simply aren't as many people with a lot of discretionary funds. Instead, Starbucks is trying to provide slightly better coffee than what is otherwise available, at a price low enough that people will be willing to stop making coffee at home and start buying it from Starbucks.
4. I don't think Starbucks will ever be able to restore the profit margins they had when they first established themselves in the United States. In the United States, Starbucks' successful strategy has drawn competitors to the market -- just as is supposed to happen under monopolistic competition in an efficient capitalist system. In China, they are already forced to adopt a strategy that is very competitive on price, simply because most of the population can't afford to pay any more. It's possible Starbucks could devise some new strategy or expand to some new market that would raise their profits back to that high level, but it's quite unlikely. For the foreseeable future, Starbucks will be a typical established blue-chip company: small but consistent profits, providing a low return at a low risk.
Friday, December 12, 2014
How do the events in Act III, Scene 1 establish Romeo as "Fortune's fool"?
In Act I, Scene 4, Romeo admits his life is guided by fate. He fears that this night, as he attends the Capulet party, will be the beginning of the end of his life. He says,
I fear too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels, and expire the term
Of a despisèd life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
Romeo's destiny leads him to Juliet and they fall madly in love, setting the stage for the tragic events to come. Even in Act II, Scene 6 when he is about to marry Juliet, he says he is ready to die once he is joined with the girl:
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare,
It is enough I may but call her mine.
The events in Act III, Scene 1 seal Romeo's fate and establish him as "Fortune's fool" (line 142). He unsuccessfully attempts to dispel the anger of Tybalt. When Romeo backs down, Mercutio views it as an insult and fights Tybalt, winding up cursing the families (foreshadowing their final despair) before dropping dead. Romeo steps in, and even though he knows it may change his life or even result in death, he engages Tybalt and kills him. This scene is considered the turning point in the play. It leads inevitably to the double suicide in the final scene. Romeo becomes the ally of fate as he hastens the complications which will result in his banishment, the proposed marriage of Juliet and Count Paris, and Friar Laurence's scheme for Juliet to fake her death.
What are three ways suspense is created in Lather and Nothing Else by Hernando Tellez? How?
Hernando Tellez builds wonderful suspense in his short story Lather and Nothing Else (also translated as Just Lather, That's All). The story is written from the perspective of a barber who is secretly part of a rebellion against the government. Captain Torres, the villain in the story, is a hard driving, cruel dictator of the local militia and terrorizes the town. Entering the shop Torres sits down for a shave, placing the barber in a difficult situation. He could easily kill the captain, but the barber also has his pride and life to consider.
The suspense begins within the first few lines of the story. As Captain Torres enters the shop, the narrator states that he begins to tremble from the sight. This draws the reader into the story and hints at the danger later revealed. The ambiguity of the appearance of Torres and the setting allows the reader to build their own creation for the scene. The only description first given for the captain is how he hangs his gun belt. The focus on danger and the guns provides hints as to the monstrosity of the man.
The main focus of suspense begins after Torres is resting in the chair awaiting his shave. The barber begins the steps to shave the beard but an internal struggle rages within him. As a rebel he has some duty to aide in the rebellion, yet as a barber the customer came to him in confidence and there is a duty to perform his best services. The barber goes back and forth in an internal dialogue while questioning the captain about his plans on punishing captured rebels. The question quickly becomes will the barber murder Torres?
The author allows the suspense to build by limiting the information about the rebellion. In the greater context it's hard to know if the government represented by Captain Torres is right, or if the rebellion is a worthy opposition to a tyrant. This gives the reader the opportunity to impart their own feelings into the story and onto the characters. Rather than give the backstory for each, the author has allowed the characters to be different for different people. The other ploy Tellez uses is the use of the internal dialogue to envision the murder, but also analyze the repercussions of it.
The final suspense in the story comes in the last few paragraphs. Captain Torres leaves the chair and puts his gun belt back on. The barber admits to being pale and says that his shirt is soaked with sweat, a clue to his rebellious convictions. In the doorway Captain Torres pauses and turns to speak to the barber. The final words show that Torres knew all along the barber might kill him, but also that killing a man wasn't as easy as it might seem.
The cliffhanger style ending is a great tool for leaving the reader in suspense. Although the true nature of the barber is revealed, the last lines gives hint that Captain Torres is not entirely understood. He trusted the barber despite his allegiance to the rebellion and shows guilt over killing. This causes the reader to pause and may cause them re-evaluate their position on the character. By leaving the ending in this manner, Tellez has left the reader wondering what will happen next for the barber and Captain Torres.
How did the cultures of Bronze Age Mesopotamia define the characteristics that modern thinkers tend to associate with civilization?
To get you started on answering this question, we’ll look first at some basic characteristics of civilization and then see how Sumer, the Bronze Age Mesopotamian civilization, lines up with those accepted criteria.
Characteristics of Civilization
Civilizations are typically defined by the appearance of a set of criteria. Exactly what these characteristics are differs depending on who you ask, but a few general characteristics are essential in most definitions of civilization:
- Cities/government
- Division of labor/society
- Stable food source
- Writing
- Cultural achievements
Below, we’ll look at how Sumer meets each of these criteria.
Government and Cities
The Sumerians were a single culture in terms of language, values, and broad religious/cultural beliefs, but in terms of structure they were organized into self-reliant and independent city-states. Each city-state worshipped a specific god and was ruled by a priest-king who was said to be an intermediary between the god and its people. Cities were built around temples to the city’s god. The king was advised by an elected assembly, and he enacted his control over his territory via a system of priests who collected taxes, oversaw building projects, and distributed crops.
Division of Labor/Society
Sumerian society was divided into four classes: nobles (priests, kings, warriors, wealthy landowners), commoners (merchants and craftsmen), clients (scribes and temple personnel), and slaves. A division of labor is important to a civilization because it helps individuals develop specialization with certain tasks and encourages trade; in Sumer’s case, it allowed for greater organization for tasks like building and maintaining the irrigation network.
Stable Food Source
Sumer was able to secure a stable food source through irrigation, the process of utilizing water sources to artificially water land. Canals, wells, and reservoirs were dug to route water from swampy areas to dry areas. Farmers would flood and drain their fields, then use oxen to plow the fields before planting seeds. The canal network allowed for consistent access to water, which in turn provided a consistent source of food to feed the large urban populations. In addition to oxen, the Sumerians also domesticated sheep and goats.
Writing
The Sumerians developed writing around 3200 BC, which was distinguished from previous pictograms by its ability to represent sounds and concepts rather than just images. For example, certain pictograms that stood for a specific object (for example “ti”, arrow) could now be used to also represent the sounds of the word they stood for (the sound “ti”), making the written language more versatile and drastically reducing the number of symbols needed. Sumerian writing was called cuneiform, derived from the Latin word for “wedge”, as it was cut into clay tablets by a reed into wedge-shaped symbols.
Cultural Achievements
Due to the stability provided by the structure of civilization, Sumerians were able to develop unique styles of art, literature, architecture, and cultural expression. Perhaps the most iconic symbol of Mesopotamian culture is the ziggurat, a type of step pyramid that acted as a religious and administrative center. Sumerians made decorative objects and jewelry, and they played a variety of musical instruments for recreational and religious purposes.
What are hyperparathyroidism and hypoparathyroidism?
Causes and Symptoms
The precise regulation of calcium is vital to the survival and well-being of all animals. Approximately 99 percent of the calcium in the body is found in bones and teeth. Of the remaining 1 percent, about 0.9 percent is packaged within specialized organelles inside the cell. This leaves only 0.1 percent of the total body calcium in blood. Approximately half of this calcium is either bound to proteins or complexed with phosphate. The other half of blood calcium is free to be utilized by cells. For this reason, it is critical that calcium inside the cell be rigorously maintained at extremely low concentrations. Even a slight change in calcium outside the cell can have dramatic consequences.
The function and regulation of calcium. Calcium plays a vital role in many different areas of the body. For example, the entry of calcium into secretory cells, such as nerve cells, triggers the release of neurotransmitters into the synapse. A fall in blood calcium results in the overexcitability of nerves, which can be felt as a tingling sensation and numbness in the extremities. Similarly, calcium entry into cells is essential for muscle contraction in both heart and skeletal muscle.
Free calcium is thus one of the most tightly regulated substances in the body. The key player in the moment-to-moment regulation of calcium is parathyroid hormone (PTH). PTH is synthesized in the parathyroid glands, a paired gland located in the neck, and released in response to a fall in blood calcium. PTH serves several functions: to increase blood calcium, to decrease blood phosphate, and to stimulate the conversion of vitamin D into its active form, which can then stimulate the uptake of calcium across the digestive tract. Together these actions result in an increase in free calcium, which returns calcium concentrations in the blood to normal.
PTH binds to specific receptors located primarily in bone and kidney tissue. Since most calcium is stored in bone, it serves as a bank for withdrawal of calcium in times of need. Activation of a PTH receptor on osteoclasts, or bone-cutting cells, results in the production of concentrated acids that dissolve calcium from bone, thereby making more free calcium available to the blood supply. PTH also acts on the kidney, where it stimulates calcium uptake from the urine while promoting phosphate elimination. As a result, more calcium is made available to the blood and less phosphate is available to form complexes with the free calcium.
By exerting these effects on its target organs, PTH can restore low calcium concentrations in the blood to normal. Once calcium has returned to a particular set point, PTH secretion is slowed dramatically. If PTH release is not controlled, however, the imbalance in calcium can lead to life-threatening situations. These conditions are termed hyperparathyroidism and hypoparathyroidism.
Hyperparathyroidism. This disorder is defined as the excessive and uncontrolled secretion of PTH. The release of a closely related substance, PTH-related protein, from cancer cells can also cause this condition. Hyperparathyroidism is found in 0.1 percent of the population and is more common in the elderly, who have an incidence rate of approximately 2 percent.
There are two types of hyperparathyroidism: primary and secondary. Primary hyperparathyroidism is caused by disease or damage to the parathyroid glands. For example, cancer of the parathyroid gland can result in the uncontrolled release of PTH and is characterized by an increase in blood calcium. The symptoms associated with primary hyperparathyroidism include
osteoporosis, muscle weakness, nausea, and increased incidence of kidney stones and peptic ulcers. These symptoms can all be linked to the presence of excess calcium, which is a result of the oversecretion of PTH.
Secondary hyperparathyroidism often results when PTH cannot function normally, such as in kidney failure or insensitivity of target tissues to PTH. Secondary hyperparathyroidism is usually characterized by an overall decrease in blood calcium levels, even though there is a marked increase in the amount of PTH being released. Its symptoms may include muscle cramps, seizures, paranoia, depression, and, in severe cases, tetany (the tonic spasm of muscles). These symptoms are a direct result of the decline in available calcium.
Hypoparathyroidism. Less common than hyperparathyroidism, hypoparathyroidism is defined by a reduction in the secretion of PTH. This condition is normally characterized by low calcium levels and elevated phosphate levels in response to the lack of PTH. Not only are calcium levels unusually low, but phosphate levels are unusually high as well, which complicates this condition because phosphate ties up some of the free calcium.
Hypoparathyroidism can also have primary and secondary causes. Primary hypoparathyroidism is known to have two separate origins. The most common is a decrease in PTH release caused by accidental removal of the parathyroid gland. The other is damage of the blood supply around the parathyroid glands. Both occur after there has been some type of surgery or other medical procedure in the neck area. Consequently, the decline in PTH results in low calcium and elevated phosphate concentrations.
Secondary hypoparathyroidism is a frequent complication of
cirrhosis and is characterized by a decrease in both calcium and magnesium concentration. Because magnesium is essential for the release of PTH, this condition can be corrected with magnesium replacement.
Complications associated with all types of hypoparathyroidism include hyperventilation, convulsions, and in some cases tetany of the muscle cells.
Treatment and Therapy
The treatments for primary hyperparathyroidism vary and are dependent on the severity of the condition. Specific drugs can be prescribed that lower elevated blood calcium. Hormone therapy, which includes the administration of estrogen, also acts to restore calcium to normal. Other treatments include dietary calcium restriction and/or surgery to remove the abnormal parathyroid tissue.
Treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism often involves correcting the problems associated with kidney failure. This can be done by administration of a dietary calcium supplement to restore plasma calcium levels or, in more severe cases, by kidney transplantation. Vitamin D therapy has also been attempted for those patients diagnosed in the early stages of
renal failure.
Hypoparathyroidism is usually treated with dietary calcium and vitamin D supplementation. Both of these treatments promote calcium absorption and decrease calcium loss. The duration of the treatment depends on the severity of the condition and may last a lifetime.
Bibliography
Al Zarani, Ali, and Michael A. Levine. “Primary Hyperparathyroidism.” The Lancet 349, no. 9060 (April 26, 1997): 1233–38.
Bar, Robert S., ed. Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Endocrine Disorders. Totowa, N.J.: Humana Press, 2003.
Gardner, David G., and Dolores Shoback, eds. Greenspan’s Basic and Clinical Endocrinology. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.
Kronenberg, Henry M., et al., eds. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 12th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders/Elsevier, 2011.
Licata, Angelo A., and Edgar V. Lerma. Diseases of the Parathyroid Glands. New York: Springer, 2012.
Neal, J. Matthew. Basic Endocrinology: An Interactive Approach. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Science, 2000.
Ruggieri, Paul, and Scott Isaacs. A Simple Guide to Thyroid Disorders: From Diagnosis to Treatment. Rev. ed. Omaha, Nebr.: Addicus Books, 2010.