Plutonium-239 can be produced when Uranium-238 is bombarded with an alpha particle. How many neutrons will be produced as a by-product?

The nucleus of a Uranium atom has 92 protons. (This can be seen from the periodic table, as the atomic number of the element Uranium is 92.) The Uranium-238 isotope has 146 neutrons in the nucleus as well: 238 - 92 = 146.

An alpha-particle, by definition, is a nucleus of a Helium atom. It consists of two neutrons and two protons. Therefore, when Uranium-238 is bombarded with an alpha-particle, a Uranium nucleus might capture the two protons, thus turning a Uranium nucleus into a Plutonium nucleus, because the atomic number of Plutonium is 94. The mass number of the resultant nucleus is 94 + 146 = 240. For Plutonium-239 to be produced, one of the neutrons must separate from the nucleus. This neutron, together with two additional neutrons from the alpha-particle, will become the by-product.

So, three neutrons will be produced as a by-product.

Where and how can I find proper resources to back up my thesis that in the play "In the Blood" by Suzan-Lori Parks the issue of colorism...

An excellent resource to find resources is Google Scholar, as it filters out many sources that may not be credible. It does require access to lots of databases, though, and so you may run into trouble actually accessing sources. However, if you take the title of the source and copy and paste that into Google, it may come up, especially if you type "PDF" after it. 

On that note, typing PDF after your search term will also help you to come up with reputable sources more often than just typing it in normally will. The following link is to a Google search that might be helpful. The link is provided rather than the names of the websites because you may have different preferences and like one website over the other.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=scholarly%20resources%20for%20free

If you can get access to databases like JSTOR, that would be excellent as JSTOR is a perfect resource for literature and social science. 

Another action you can take is posting on literary forums. Many of them are either monitored or watched by people who have some sort of background in literature and literary research. 

Discuss Byzantine classicism and Byzantium's educational system and how both contributed to a distinct culture and society.

While in the Latin west, the "fall" of the Roman Empire is normally marked by by two important dates, the sack of Rome in 410 and Odoacer deposing the Emperor Romulus in 476, the history of the Greek east is one marked by continuity rather than decline. The Graeco-Roman system of education and culture remained relatively intact, and even, according to some scholars, ossified, until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The major transition from the classical to the Byzantine era in the east is marked by the establishment of Christianity as the imperial religion under Constantine, and a growing intolerance of heresy and paganism, culminating in Justinian's closing of the Platonic academy in Athens in 529 A.D. This also marked a shift of the educational center of the Greek learning from Athens, Alexandria, and Rome to Constantinople. A second major shift was the decline of the Latin language in Greek education. While the Latins had always been more prone to learning Greek than vice versa, the importance of the Latin west and its legal system had made knowledge of Latin necessary for at least some of the elite, as evidenced in the complaints of the fourth-century teacher Libanius about schools of Latin and law. According to the sixth century John Lydus, by his own period knowledge of Latin had become an increasingly rare accomplishment.

The Byzantines generally retained the ancient tripartite system of education, with students starting with basic literacy and numeracy. Secondary education covered the enkyklios paideia, or "well-rounded education" of the seven liberal arts (music, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric). This differed from the classical model mainly in adding the Psalms and other Christian materials to such established readings as the Iliad. Tertiary education, centered in Constantinople and often based in schools endowed by the Emperor, included the ancient disciplines of rhetoric, philosophy and law, a limited amount of tertiary Biblical study, and professions such as medicine and architecture, often taught through an apprenticeship system. Unlike the Latin west, the Greek east did not seem to develop elaborate theological schools. 

Culturally, this educational system produced a sense of continuity with the ancient past. The Byzantine Empire considered itself the Roman Empire, and valued tradition over innovation. In religion, for example, the Orthodox church of "the Seven Councils" saw itself as preserving an undiluted faith in contrast with Roman Catholic innovations. Much of Byzantine scholarship was focused backwards, producing editions of and commentaries on classical figures.

What is autoerotic asphyxiation?

Causes

There is no known cause for autoerotic asphyxiation. Some experts believe the practice may be related to childhood trauma, such as sexual abuse. Others believe it may stem from an anxiety about death. The anxiety is relieved, and sexual gratification is obtained, by repeatedly “cheating death.”

Risk Factors

There are no known factors that predispose a person to engage in autoerotic asphyxiation. People who practice autoerotic asphyxiation are often involved in otherwise healthy relationships. However, there are some comorbidities that can be associated with the practice of autoerotic asphyxiation, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and other forms of masochism, sadism, and fetishism.

People who play the choking game
as adolescents or teenagers also may be predisposed to practicing autoerotic asphyxiation. The choking game is “played” by depriving the brain of oxygen through strangulation or by hugging a person from behind until he or she passes out. The choking game produces a feeling of euphoria and, therefore, is used as a means of getting high.

Symptoms

Autoerotic asphyxiation is a dangerous practice that can end in death. Because it is normally a solitary act that is practiced behind locked doors, it may be difficult to determine if a person is at risk. However, there are some signs and symptoms, including the following: unexplained bruises on the neck; bloodshot eyes; bed sheets, belts, ties, or ropes tied in strange knots and found in unusual places; frequent, severe headaches; disorientation after being alone; wearing high-neck shirts or scarves in warm weather; locked bedroom or bathroom doors; and wear marks on bed posts or closet rods. Aside from death, there are some potential complications that are associated with autoerotic asphyxiation, including heart attack and permanent brain damage.

Screening and Diagnosis

Each year, as many as one thousand people in the United States are found dead—naked or partially naked—hanging by their necks in their bedroom closets (or in similar positions). Sexual paraphernalia is often found nearby.

People who practice autoerotic asphyxiation do not intend to kill themselves. They often devise some sort of safety mechanism that is intended to prevent accidental death in case they lose consciousness. Safety mechanisms may include slip knots or hanging from something that is shorter than they are. These safety mechanisms often fail because the person becomes disoriented and is unable to take the necessary steps to restore the flow of oxygen. Many people also mistakenly believe that autoerotic asphyxiation with a partner is safe because they assume that the partner can remove the object that is cutting off the flow of oxygen after the person who is being asphyxiated loses consciousness.

It is difficult to diagnose autoerotic asphyxiation because it often goes undetected until it results in death. People who practice autoerotic asphyxiation tend to go to great lengths to keep it a secret; most do not discuss it with peers, parents, or clinicians.

Screening for autoerotic asphyxiation requires that clinicians be knowledgeable about autoerotic asphyxiation, its signs and symptoms, and other related risky behaviors, such as the choking game. It may be helpful for clinicians to begin a discussion about autoerotic asphyxiation with people who are assumed to be engaging in the practice by approaching the subject in a nonsexual way. Instead of focusing on the sexual aspects or autoerotic asphyxiation, the clinician could focus on the dangers of getting high by self-hanging, strangulation, or suffocation.

Treatment and Therapy

Treatment for autoerotic asphyxiation may include a combination of cognitive behavior therapy and medication. Common medications for the treatment of autoerotic asphyxiation include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and antiandrogens.

Prevention

Education is key to the prevention of autoerotic asphyxiation. Education about the dangers of the choking game and about autoerotic asphyxiation may take place both at home and as part of sex education classes at school.

Once the behavior has started, many children begin looking for a way to perform autoerotic asphyxiation safely, so they need to be told that there is no safe way to do it. Clinicians should also be educated about autoerotic asphyxiation. Education could be incorporated into medical, nursing, and psychology curricula, and into primary care, psychiatry, and emergency medicine residency programs.

Bibliography

Cowell, Daniel. “Autoerotic Asphyxiation: Secret Pleasure, Lethal Outcome.” Pediatrics 124.5 (2009): 1319–24. Print.

Hucker, Stephen. “Hypoxphylia/Auto-Erotic Asphyxia.” Web. 13 Feb. 2012. http://www.forensicpsychiatry.ca/paraphilia/aea.htm.

MedicineNet.com. “Paraphilias.” Web. 13 Feb. 2012. http://www.medicinenet.com/paraphilia/article.htm#.

Sheleg, Sergey, and Edwin Ehrlich. Autoerotic Asphyxiation: Forensic, Medical, and Social Aspects. Tucson, AZ: Wheatmark, 2006. Print.

Warner, Jennifer. “Some Docs in the Dark about Choking Game.” Web. 13 Feb. 2012. http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20091214/some-docs-in-the-dark-about-choking-game.

Website of Interest

American Academy of Pediatrics

http://www.aap.org

"No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may...

This quotation applies to Chillingworth because he attempts, with great success for a while, to convince both the town and Reverend Dimmesdale that he is simply a caring doctor who has been redeemed from the Native Americans.  However, he is truly a dark and vengeful man who has made it is mission to find out which villager slept with his wife and ruin that man's soul.  Once he comes to believe that Dimmesdale is this man, the separation between these two faces becomes more distinct, and we can no longer be sure which of them is the real him because, in a way, they both are.

Dimmesdale has managed to maintain the appearance of piety and honesty and sinlessness, despite the fact that he has really committed a very egregious sin: sleeping with a married woman.  He feels himself to be a fraud; however, both of these faces are true sides of him.  He has done something dishonest, and his failure to confess it is also problematic, but he is -- at the same time -- a really compelling minister who serves his parishioners well; we would not call him a bad man or a villain.

Finally, for Hester, there is the pious face of conformity that she wears in her community; while, at the same time, she questions them and their rules constantly.  She even considers whether it is worthwhile for her to live, pondering her own suicide and the murder of Pearl, as if to save them both from their terrible circumstances in this society.  However, the fact that she returns to Boston years later, when she does not have to, and resumes wearing the scarlet letter shows that, to some extent, she does accept their laws and punishment as somehow appropriate.  She embodies both the conformist and the nonconformist, and it is difficult to tell which is more truly her.

Describe how Frankenstein is dealing with his guilt. He wanted knowledge, and now he has it. What are the consequences of his knowledge and its...

Victor never really finds a good way to deal with his guilt.  In fact, he vacillates between feeling that he has done everything wrong and feeling that he has actually done nothing wrong. He comes to think of his knowledge as something that he would have been much happier without.  He tells Captain Walton,

"Learn from me [...] how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow."

He comes to think of the acquisition of knowledge as harmful to one's happiness; a person who stays at home and knows only his/her home is ultimately much more content that someone who seeks knowledge outside of it.  

Victor once thought that he would "pour a torrent of light into our dark world," but now he feels that to "pursue nature to her hiding places" was a terrible mistake.  It made him forget what was truly important in his life -- namely, his family -- and he began to focus on unnatural things that forced his "human nature [to] turn [away] with loathing" from his occupations. He refers to his knowledge and creation as a "catastrophe," and "disgust filled [his] heart" as a result.  He also tells Walton,

"If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind."

Thus, he feels that his knowledge has reduced his ability to benefit from "simple pleasures"; he knows things that he should not know, and now he can never un-know them.

How far will a rocket travel if it is launched at 1200 km/h at an angle of 50 degrees to the horizontal?

The rocket is launched at an initial speed of 1200 km/h at an angle 50 degrees to the horizontal. As the rocket travels, its movement is opposed by the gravitational force exerted by the Earth and the force of friction due to the air. As there is no information provided about the frictional force, this can be ignored.

The initial velocity of the rocket has vertical and horizontal components equal to 1200*sin 50 km/h and 1200*cos 50 km/h respectively. The deceleration due to gravity can be taken as a constant 9.8 m/s^2 in the downward direction.

As the rocket moves, the vertical component of its velocity decreases. It is equal to 0 at the halfway point. To determine the total horizontal distance traveled by the rocket, first determine the time it travels for. This is equal to 2*T where 0 = 1200*(5/18)*sin 50 - 9.8*T

T = 26.05 s

The horizontal distance traveled is D = 1200*(5/18)*cos 50*2*26.05 = 11163.07 m

The horizontal distance traveled by the rocket is 11163.07 m.