Sunday, October 6, 2019
Clinical log Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Clinical log - Essay Example Easily perishable stuff such as milk is refrigerated. Every foodstuff is stored in its category for ease of distribution. The shelves in the facility are chronologically arranged with food types stacked in their respective categories.AFAC serves over 1600 families per week categorized as 3500 adults and 1500 children. Food donated is stored here and later redistributed to the intended recipients. AFAC target vulnerable society members like elderly people that live alone and cannot afford food. Jobless people, college students from poor backgrounds, sick people with no working family members also form part of those who benefit from it. The AFAC Young professional is a group of young people between the ages of 21-40 years who raise awareness and food drives to in aid of the facility. AFAC has a management team and a small full time staff. They heavily rely on members of the community who sign up as volunteers. The whole community with schools, firms and churches pitching in to lend their help supports the project. What doing my clinical analysis I interacted with most members of these interested groups, who, form part of the larger community. The management team is drawn from members of these interest groups with gender been a factor. Foodstuff is mostly donated in bulk mostly in big, heavy packaging’s to be redistributed in smaller portions. These bulky packages are moved around the warehouse by the small team of staff aided volunteers. Lack of proper lifting machinery and technology forces the staff and volunteers to manually do this work. This is a constant health risk to the staff and volunteers with potential injuries always lurking. Muscular aches and back pains are the most common complaints from staff and volunteers. Malnutrition especially amongst children is also a potential program since some vital foods are not on provided on regular basis especially fruits and vegetables, which have important
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Principles of Disaster Response and Recovery Essay
Principles of Disaster Response and Recovery - Essay Example In this connection every facility in the region shall prepare an Risk management plan which includes hazard assessment, programs to prevent accidental releases and response plans for emergency situations. The initiatives by Florida state administration is highly commendable (Florida, SERC, n.d.). It has set up separate state emergency commission who examines the capability of the state to handle a disaster and also frame policies for risk reduction and management. The state has evolved a well structured risk management programmes and also allows to inspect and audit its system to identify the key inputs to strengthen its risk management initiatives (Florida SERC, n.d.). The regulations released by the Florida state administration have clearly said that the state administration have realized the need for a proper environmental compliance. Though the Department of Homeland Security would have insisted on the implementation of appropriate measures, the local level interventions are thought to be much more than mandatory concerns. The impact of this was to raise the chemical emergency preparedness of the local administration (Cornhill law university, n.d.). The administrator is the responsible person for the release for the list of chemicals and also characterizing them considering the factors like toxicity, reactivity, volatility, dispensability, combustibility and flammability of the substance (Cornhill law university, n.d.). . And also the threshold limits proposed by the administrator for this region is liable to change subjected to different conditions. The various time limits fixed for issuing proper notification in case of any emergency situatio n is also explicitly stated by the administration (Cornhill law university, n.d.). The Federal government has already undertaken several initiatives through the state administration for effective implementation of local level emergency planning . As the impact of the disaster is experienced across regions different regional bodies of administration shall evolve the most effective intervention plans considering the local requirements. The major requirement in all these cases are identification of all the facilities contributing to the risk of the region like hospitals, natural gas stations etc. Preparation and release of documents that help to undertake the response plan that need to be followed by the factory owner, operator and medical personal in case of eventuality. Methods of determination of the presence of hazardous materials and also the population who would be affected shall also be made available for effective intervention. The training programs for both the emergency operators as well as the polluters need to be undertaken that would ensure more comfort in the operation (comprehensive emergency response plans, n.d.). Inclusion of Industry in strategic planning. The strategic planning exercise in the event of emergency and disaster involves a collective action. Though the planning exercise would be in a frame work of federal administration, the more proactive approach need to be from the local and
Friday, October 4, 2019
Traditional Chinese History Essay Example for Free
Traditional Chinese History Essay Abstract            It is not a secret that the Chinese written language is one of the most ancient languages on the Earth planet. In fact, hieroglyphs are considered to be the most significant part of the traditional Chinese history and the most important signs of the Chinese civilization.            In general, the Chinese language includes about 50 thousands of hieroglyphs, but only   5-8 thousands are practically used and as it is known about 3-4 thousands of hieroglyphs are enough for reading the modern literature.  Also, it continues to unite many ethnic groups. But, why? It is a very interesting question †¦ Traditional Chinese History            The Chinese written language is suggested to be an amazing phenomenon among the modern writing systems. It is important to know that other hieroglyphic languages, which took place in the Near East, South Asia, China, Central America disappeared long time ago and became just the objects of the ancient history. As to the Chinese written language, it managed to adapt to all changing conditions during the long development process of Chinese civilization and to become the most reasonable tool for writing in China in the end.            According to the archeological data, early history of the Chinese written language began from the inscriptions on the ceramic vessels of the Neolithic period of time. It should be pointed out that all inscriptions were elementary by their forms. It was obvious that the forms of inscriptions were changed depending on various Neolithic cultures of that time. At the same time, some simple signs, revealed on the vessels, were total for several cultures (Origins of Chinese writing, 2006, p.1).            In fact, the historians consider these inscriptions as the ancient signs of the Chinese written language. The differences, which were demonstrated in graphical forms of signs, in some degree, could mean that each Neolithic culture had its own written language.            The point is that, the special conditions (both graphical and technical) are required for creating the written language. For instance, the material on which various signs were cut had to have the special surface, which could correspond to the possibilities of the tool chosen for writing. In China, like in the other civilization centers the first writing tool was some sharpened object, which could be used for cutting thin lines and therefore, the material had to possess soft surface.                       Coming back to the history we can see that ceramic industry was very popular in China. So, Chinese craftsmen knew various ways of covering ornament and other images on the raw and burnt materials. That’s why both crude and burnt clay were regarded to be the most available material chosen for writing (p.1).            It should be emphasized that the uncommonness of the Chinese written language continues to attract the attention of many specialists and amateurs. There is even the special literature, which describes this uncommonness in detail, but the scientific studying of its history began only at the end of the 19-th century after some ancient evidences of the Chinese written language were found. The discovery of the oracle bones took place in China in1899, when a scholar from Peking was prescribed the special remedy, which had to contain so-called dragon bones for his illness: the fact is that dragon bones were widely used in Chinese medicine at that time and usually referred to fossils of dead animals. The scholar also managed to notice several very interesting carvings that looked like some kind of writing language on the bones he acquired from the local pharmacy (p.1).            People often have the impression that Chinese characters are extremely difficult to learn. In fact, if you were to attempt to learn how to write Chinese characters, you would find that they are not nearly as difficult as you may have imagined. And they certainly qualify as forming one of the most fascinating, beautiful, logical, and scientifically constructed writing systems in the world (Chinese written language, 2006, p.1).            Comparing with alphabetic language, hieroglyphic language has more difficult graphical structure of its symbols and includes several thousand signs. For example, the latest Chinese language includes about 50 thousand signs. No other famous hieroglyphic language had such a great number. This example demonstrates how many symbols hieroglyphic language can contain during a long period of time.            The main feature of phonemic and syllabic written languages shows that the linguistic units themselves don’t have the certain meaning. In fact, hieroglyphic writing demonstrates such important linguistic units as words and morphemes. In other words, it transmits the content plan of the certain linguistic units. It is clear that alphabetic writing is intended for some special state of one language. In other words, it can’t be used by another language without some special changes. So that, the main feature of hieroglyphic writing is universality. As we can see, this splendid feature allowed the modern Chinese written language to unite many ethnic groups in a single whole (p.1).            Theoretically, hieroglyphs can be used for writing by other languages. The history of the Chinese written language and a huge experience of applying hieroglyphs by Vietnamese and some Thai languages can prove the given fact. As the experience of applying the Chinese hieroglyphs by the Japanese and Korean languages showed – the successful usage of hieroglyphs for agglutinant languages can be very successful and effective if the alphabetic writing is used at the same time.            There is also another advantage of the Chinese written language – each symbol is independent on its reading. The fact is that each symbol of hieroglyphic writing can be read differently depending on the number of languages, which are usually used by the given writing. So that, we can say the Chinese hieroglyphs have not only one meaning, in fact, it can be also read and understood by such languages as Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese. It should be also said that each hieroglyph has both the â€Å"national†meanings and many dialectical. At the same time, in the South China one hieroglyph can have two completely different meanings – spoken and literary. As usual, the second meaning is widely used for reading written texts and pronouncing the scientific and cultural terms (Origins of Chinese writing, 2006, p.1).            The independence from the real pronunciation of linguistic units allows hieroglyphic writing also to have some so-called â€Å"timeless†properties. It means that if a reader knows the grammatical structure of the language, so the text of hieroglyphic writing can be completely understood despite the date it was written and its symbols can be read by the help of any convenient way.            It is known, that today, the ancient hieroglyphic texts can be differently understood by the help of the national reading of hieroglyphs, any dialectic readings, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese readings despite the fact they could have another meaning at the moment of their creation.            All these properties of the Chinese hieroglyphic writing played a very important role in the development of the Chinese national culture and history and allowed the Chinese written language to live so long in spite of all difficulties it had to face. In addition, due to its originality this language managed to become one of the most wide-spread languages among the people all over the World.   Taking into consideration all these historical data we can come to the following conclusion – the Chinese written language is considered to be a unique phenomenon among the other written languages, which also took place in the World history. So, it is unique hieroglyphic language which is very interesting for studying. Chinese is the only major writing system of the world that continued its pictograph-based development without interruption, and that is still in general modern use (Chinese written        language, 2006, p.1).            Coming back to the history of the Chinese written language we can emphasize that the given hieroglyphic writing has managed to go through several stages of its development. Having made a great deal of attempts to change it reformers manage to make the Chinese written language more available for people.            Nevertheless, the main principles and feature of the modern Chinese writing continue to be unchanged during several thousand years. So, that’s why in order to understand the Chinese culture, the traditional Chinese history, the Chinese civilization and if it is possible the Chinese traditional ideology – both the Chinese written language and its history should be studied in detail. References Chinese written language. Retrieved August 10, 2006, from www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese_written_language.htm Origins of Chinese writing. Retrieved August 10, 2006, from http://www.logoi.com/notes/chinese_origins.html
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Airborne infectious disease
Airborne infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne infectious disease which is caused by bacteria belonging to Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex1. There are approximately one third of the worlds population are infected with tuberculosis where nine millions of new cases reported annually2. Although tuberculosis is essentially curable and preventable, it continues to cause millions of deaths every year2. When infected individual coughs, sneezes or spits, M. tuberculosis is propelled into the air and infected those who breathed in the bacteria that existed in droplets of saliva3. Primarily, tuberculosis will affect the lungs, known as pulmonary tuberculosis3. It will also affect other parts of body, for instance lymph nodes, bones, brain and kidneys3. Once a person is infected with tuberculosis, there are basically three possible ways may occur. Firstly, the immune system plays a vital role and strong enough to kill the bacteria3. Secondly, immune system is not strong enough to fight off the bacteria bu t is able to build a defensive barrier against the bacteria3. Individuals who are latently infected with M. tuberculosis show asymptomatic where these bacteria lie dormant in the lungs and able to reactivate after years1. The disease is often reactivated in those who are immunocompromised or generally weakened. Lastly, the immune system fails to kill bacteria causing the bacteria to grow and spread towards other parts of body which is called active tuberculosis3. In the fight of tuberculosis, World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends universal Bacille Calmette-Guà ©rin (BCG) vaccination in the countries with high TB burdens4. BCG vaccine contains weakened form of M. tuberculosiswhich will induce antibodies to fight against this type of bacteria. The efficacy of BCG vaccination can be ranging from 0% to 84%5. This may be due to the frequency of TB exposure and quality of vaccine used, leading to arguments on BCG vaccination efficacies4. One of the greatest arguments is that BCG vaccination causing positive reactions to tuberculin skin testing and hence interfere with the diagnosis of latent TB4. Existence of evidences showing the rates of efficacy also depends on geographical location, age at vaccination and form of TB further complicate the situation. Currently, TB chemotherapy is made up of a cocktail of first-line drugs isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), pyrazinamide (PZA) and ethambutol (EMB) 6. If the treatment fails due to bacterial dr ug resistance, or patient unable to tolerate, second-line drugs for instance para-aminosalicylate (PAS), fluoroquinolones, ethionamide and cycloserine are introduced6. These are considered as second line drugs generally either less potent with larger doses or more toxic with serious side effects6. Tuberculosis is presently treated in two phases, namely initial phase and continuous phase7. In initial phase, the patient will be treated with concurrent use of four first line drugs, with the aim to eradicate or control bacteria population to replicate in rapid motion and also avoid the emergence of bacteria resistance7. The treatment choices available for initial treatment include isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol7. Streptomycin is used rarely but can be used in patients who infected with bacteria that are resistant to isoniazid before the therapy is commenced7. The duration for initial phase is 2 months whereas the continuous phase takes 4 months7. During the four months of continuous phase, patients are treated with isoniazid and rifampicin at same doses7. Most of the TB treatment is supervised where drug administration needs to be fully supervised by healthcare professions since lengthy duration of treatment causing incompliance in patients7. These patients who are unlikely to be compliance will be given the drugs three times a week until the course is completed while patients who able to comply with the treatment will not be supervised7. Despite the chemotherapy treatment and BCG vaccine, TB remains as a significant infectious disease due to increasing emergence of drug resistant TB and co-infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) 6. Since the host defense in HIV patients is suppressed, they are more susceptible to TB infections. Moreover, drug- drug interactions between antiviral therapy and anti-TB also causing complications in treating co-infected patients6. Drug resistant TB has evolved mainly because of improper treatment or incompliance in patients who stop taking their medications before the bacteria is being fully eradicated since the duration of treatment is lengthy which takes 6-9 months8, 9. The mechanism involved includes chromosomal mutations in genes that responsible for drug targets encoding9. When there is a sequential accumulation of mutations, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) emerges where the M. tuberculosis strains will resistant to two of the most commonly used drugs, Isoniazid and Rifampicin9. Patients with MDR-TB are then relying on the second-line drug classes, fluoroquinolones and the three injectable agents namely amikacin, capreomycin, and kanamycin10, 11. The chances to cure would dramatically be reduced for patients who infected with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), a situation where the isolated strains are resistant against any one of fluoroquinolones and at least one of three injectable drugs12. In order to combat with the MDR-TB or XDR-TB and optimize the tuberculosis drug regimen, it is crucial to understand the mechanism of action of current using first-line drugs and how resistance is developed against these drugs. Isoniazid (INH) or isonicotinic acid hydrazide is discovered in 1952, a bactericidal agent which active against organism of the genus Mycobacterium, especially M. tuberculosis, M. bovis and M. kansassi6, 13. In vivo, INH has shown to be bactericidal in culture over the first 48 hours which become bacteriostatic after this particular time frame13. This indicates that INH is bacteriostatic for slow growing or resting bacilli but is bactericidal for rapidly dividing mycobacterium. The minimal tuberculostatic concentration is 0.025 to 0.05ug/ml14. INH is a prodrug that needs to be activated by catalaseperoxide hemoporotein, KatG before acts by inhibiting mycolic acid synthesis and cell wall disruption in susceptible mycobacterium14, 15. This inhibitory action is very specific since mycolic acids are unique to mycobacteria14. INH acts by inhibit enoyl acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase, InhA, and a beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase, KasA that are crucial in fatty acid synthesis system for myco lic acid16. Resistance to INH is believed due to mutations in gene encoding catalaseperoxidase katG or InhA or lacking KatG9, 15. Isoniazid is metabolised in the liver, mainly by acetylation and dehydrazination where slow acetylator may experience higher concentration leads to potential toxicity before excreted in the urine within 24 hours14. Rifampicin (RIF), discovered in 1963, is a lipophilic semisynthetic derivative of rifamycin antibiotic which is produced by the fermentation of a strain of Amycolatopsismediterranei6, 9, 17. RIF has bactericidal activities against a broad spectrum of microorganisms including gram-positive and gram-negative. RIF will inhibit the action of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase of mycobacteria that is encoded by rpoB through formation of a stable drug-enzyme complex9. This will suppress the initiation chain formation in RNA synthesis and hence prohibit protein synthesis in M. tuberculosis9. Development of resistance to RIF is mostly due to mutation in 81 base pair region of rpoB gene thus facilitate a straightforward approach to detect MDR-TB since 85-90% RIF-resistant strains are also resistant to INH9. RIF produces peak plasma concentration of 7ug/mL in 2 to 4 hours after ingestion of 600mg18. It also distributed well to most of the body tissues and fluids, including cerebrospinal fluid since it is lipophilic18. Following absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, RIF is eliminated rapidly in the bile with fewer amounts excreted through urine18. Pyrazinamde (PZA) is discovered in 1954 and it produces excellent sterility effects against semidormant tubercle bacilli at slightly acidic pH6, 9. The antimicrobial activity of PZA is through interference with mycolic acid synthesis in M. tuberculosis by pyrazinoic acid, an active moiety of PZA9. Conversion of PZA to pyrazinoic acid is mediated by pyrazinamidase enzyme that is encoded by pncA gene in M. tuberculosis, thus indicating that these bacilli are sensitive to PZA9. Resistance against PZA evolved when mutation occur at pncA gene that is responsible for pyrazinamidase, hence affecting the activity of this enzyme9. PZA is well absorbed from gastrointestinal tract and is widely distributed to most tissues and fluid too18. The oral administration of 500 mg PZA produces plasma concentrations of 9-12ug/ml after two hours and 7ug/ml after 8 hours18. PZA is metabolized in liver whereas the metabolites are excreted through renal glomerular filtration18. Ethambutol (EMB) is discovered in 1962, acts as bacteriostatic agent and is active against undergoing cell division6, 19. EMB primarily targets on impairment of cell wall polymerization by inhibits arabinosy transferase, a vital enzyme responsible for mycobacteria cell wall biosynthesis9, 19. Since arabinosy transferase enzyme is encoded by embC-embA-embB genes, resistance against EMB evolved is believed due to mutation of these genes9. EMB is currently used as one of the first-line treatment for tuberculosis mainly because of its synergistic effect with other front-line drugs and its low toxicity property19. There is roughly 75-80% of an oral dose of EMB is rapidly absorbed in gastrointestinal tract with absorption unaffected when administered with foods20. In addition, EMB is distributed widely to body tissues and fluid, including cerebrospinal fluid before being metabolized in the liver and excreted in urine20. Streptomycin (SM) is an aminoglycoside antibiotic, used as first line treatment for TB when it first discovered in 19441, 6. Streptomycin is isolated from the bacteria Streptomycesgriseus and its antimicrobial effects against M. tuberculosisis highly effective when use in combination with other first line agents21. However, SM is no longer considered as first line treatment as resistance against it has developed rapidly1. The optimum pH for SM is at pH8 where its bacteriostatic activity will reduce with increasingly acidic environment21. SM acts by binding tightly to A site of 16S ribosomal RNA subunit, interferes with mRNA translation, causing faulty protein being produced1, 9. Resistant emergence when the mutation occurs at gene rpsL and rrs that encoded for 16S and S12 ribosomal protein1, 9. Upon administration, SM is poorly absorbed from gastrointestinal tract and mostly administered parentally1. SM is mostly excreted in urine and patients with low renal profile might experience toxicity such as neurotoxic reactions1. When the first line treatment is no longer suitable for patients or patients develop multi-drug resistance TB, second line drugs will then be introduced in combating the TB. Second line drugs that are mostly used include Ethionamide (ETH), Cycloserine (CS), Para-Aminosalicylic Acid (PAS) and Fluoroquinolones (FQ). ETH has been in use since 1960s, is a structural analogue of INH and it targets at inhibition of mycolic acid biosynthesis in tubercle bacilli9, 22. INH however is much more potent than ETH since the minimal inhibitory concentration for ETH is 0.5-5.0ug/mL22. Resistance evolved due to mutation at gene InhAand ethA which encode for oxygenase enzyme in activation of ETH 9. In vitro, CS has inhibitory effect on M. tuberculosis at 5-200ug/mL and there is no cross resistance occurred between CS and other drugs14. CS acts by interfereing the biosynthesis of bacterial cell wall14. CS is well absorbed in gastrointestinal tract and also widely distributed to body tissues and fluid including cerebrospinal fluid14. PAS was first introduced as first line drug but being replaced by Ethambutol in 1960s1. It acts bacteriostatically with possessing inhibitory effect at concentration less than 1mg/ml by interfere with folic acid metabolism in bacteria1. PAS is readily absorbed from gastrointestinal tract and distributed well throughout the body. Approximately 80% of the drugs will be excreted via kidney after being metabolized to acetylated form1. Moxifloxacin and Gatifloxacin are both been synthesized and evaluated as excellent bactericidal agents through inhibiting DNA gyrase, an ATP-dependent enzymes topoisomerase II which is responsible in bacteria DNA transcription9. DNA gyrase is consisted of two subunits that is arranged in a complex, is encoded by two different genes, gyrA and gyrB where mutations at gyrA will normally cause bacteria resistance to these new generation of flouroquinolones9. Due to the increasing incidence of multidrug resistance TB, it is highly desirable to develop new drugs that are not only potent and effective against current resistant strains of M. tuberculosis but also possess shorter treatment duration since most of the incompliance of patients is brought up by lengthy TB treatment. Most of the mechanisms of action of current treatments are involved in interfering the bacterial DNA synthesis, protein and mycolic cell wall biosynthesis. The enzymes that participate in these pathways could also be the target of newly designed drugs such as TMC207, one of the new drugs which are currently under investigations and clinical trials. TMC207 is a member of diarylquinoline class of compound which target at adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase by binding to subunit C of the synthase, blocking the energy pathway of mycobacteria23, 24. In vitro, TMC207 not only possesses ability to inhibit both drug sensitive and resistant M. tuberculosis isolates, but also able to sterilize the patient through killing the dormant bacilli bactericidally23. TMC207 showed a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.03ug/mL against M. tuberculosis, suggesting a more potent agent compared to current first- line treatments such as isoniazid and rifampicin24. Apart from that, its synergistic effect with pyrazinamide could promise as effective drug combination for sterilizing the patients against TB23. A phase I clinical trials which involved short terms administration of TMC207 in healthy individuals showing no adverse effects and the subjects are well tolerated with it24. However, it is essential to investigate the selectivity of TMC207 again st mammalian ATP synthase with longer periods to ensure the patients safety when administered with TMC207. Thiacetazone (TAC) is widely used as second line anti-TB agent against multiresistant tuberculosis at present25. TAC acts by interferes the biosynthesis pathway of mycolic acid in tubercle bacilli25. The fact that M. tuberculosis has been difficult to eradicate and remains persistent is due to its cell wall that composed of mycolic acid which is resistant against chemical injury, dehydration and also has low permeability to antibiotics25. Mycolic acid contains cyclopropane rings that is activated through cyclopropane mycolic acid synthase (CMASs), has a significant contribution to tuberculosis25. By inhibiting the cyclopropanation, the cell wall biosynthesis will then be interrupted, introducing the bactericidal effects25. The aim of this research is to synthesis and evaluates the analogues of Thiacetazone which might be potential anti tuberculosis agents. The analogues will be tested against different strains of mycobacteriain lab. The target actions of these analogues will also be identified based on the structure of the analogues. The above analogue is synthesized when a benzylaldehyde reacts with a primary amine. This is a condensation process and an imine is produced. The changes at position R1 to R3 with different electron withdrawing groups are first planned to be evaluated. However, the plan is prohibited since the corresponding structures are either unavailable or too expensive that falling outside the budget. After revised on the previous analogues that were discovered and their respective MIC values obtained from lab, the structures of new analogues that are going to be evaluated are finally sorted out. The R1 to R3 positions would be replaced by either a -chloro or a -methoxy with R8 position would either be an amine, a methyl or a benzene ring. A chloro is used at position R1 to R3 since it is electron withdrawing, big and lipophilic molecule whereas the methoxy group is electron donating, small and quite lipophilic. For R8 position, an amine is selected because it is electron withdrawing and small. A methyl is also selected since it is quite lipophilic, small and electron donating. On the other hand, benzene ring which is highly lipophilic, neither electron donating nor withdrawing group might have a different effect on the analogue synthesized.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Victorian Maternity Essay -- Victorian Era
Victorian Maternity Working Class Maternity According to author Helena Wojtczak, â€Å"the average working class wife was either pregnant or breast-feeding from wedding day to menopause,†bearing approximately eight pregnancies, and ultimately raising approximately five children. This overflow of offspring was most likely linked to the fact that birth control literature was illegal at the time (Wojtczak). Wohl’s research of the difficulties in Victorian childbirth shows that a combination of a nutrient deficient diet, and a substantial deficiency of both height and weight prevalent in urban working class Victorian women very likely contributed to an exceedingly high number of premature births, and consequently, a high infant mortality rate. Also, working class women were expected to continue working throughout their entire pregnancy. Examples of this prejudice can be found in Victorian articles such as â€Å"The Rearing and Management of Children: Mother and Baby†in Cassells Household Guide. The article s tates that, â€Å"He who placed one woman in a position where labour and exertion are parts of her existence, gives her a stronger state of body than her more luxurious sisters. To one inured to toil from childhood, ordinary work is merely exercise, and, as such, necessary to keep up her physical powers, though extra work should be, of course, avoided as much as possible.†In reference to pregnancy outside of marriage, Wojtczak notes that it was notably common for a working class woman to become pregnant out of wedlock, and due to the social stigma involved, and the possibility of unemployment, these women often chose to conceal their pregnancy. Middle Class Maternity By the mid nineteenth century, Abrams states that Victorian middle cl... ...ther and Baby.†Cassells Household Guide, New and Revised Edition. C.1880s [no date]. Victorian London. Lee Jackson, Ed. Vol. I. Pg. 10. 8 November 2004 . Wohl, Anthony S. â€Å"Women and Victorian Public Health: Difficulties in Childbirth.†The Victorian Web: Literature, History and Culture in the Age of Victoria. George P. Landlow. 29 June 2002. National University at Singapore. 8 November 2004. . Wojtczak, Helena. â€Å"Pregnancy and Childbirth.†English Social History: Women of Nineteenth-Century Hastings and St.Leonards. An Illustrated Historical Miscellany. The Hastings Press. The Victorian Web: Literature, History, and Culture in the age of Victoria. George P. Landlow. National University at Singapore. 8 November 2004
On Empathy :: essays research papers
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1999 edition) defines empathy as: "The ability to imagine oneself in anther's place and understand the other's feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. It is a term coined in the early 20th century, equivalent to the German Einfà ¼hlung and modelled on "sympathy." The term is used with special (but not exclusive) reference to aesthetic experience. The most obvious example, perhaps, is that of the actor or singer who genuinely feels the part he is performing. With other works of art, a spectator may, by a kind of introjection, feel himself involved in what he observes or contemplates. The use of empathy is an important part of the counselling technique developed by the American psychologist Carl Rogers." Empathy is predicated upon and must, therefore, incorporate the following elements: (a) Imagination which is dependent on the ability to imagine (b) The existence of an accessible Self (self-awareness or self-consciousness) (c) The existence of an available other (other-awareness, recognizing the outside world) (d) The existence of accessible feelings, desires, ideas and representations of actions or their outcomes both in the empathizing Self ("Empathor") and in the Other, the object of empathy ("Empathee") (e) The availability of an aesthetic frame of reference (f) The availability of a moral frame of reference While (a) is presumed to be universally available to all agents (though in varying degrees) - the existence of the other components of empathy should not be taken for granted. Conditions (b) and (c), for instance, are not satisfied by people who suffer from personality disorders, such as the Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Condition (d) is not met in autistic people (e.g., those who suffer from the Asperger syndrome). Conditions (e) is so totally dependent on the specifics of the culture, period and society in which it exists - that it is rather meaningless and ambiguous as a yardstick. Condition (f) suffer from both afflictions: it is both culture-dependent AND is not satisfied in many people (such as those who suffer from the Antisocial Personality Disorder and who are devoid of any conscience or moral sense). Thus, the very existence of empathy should be questioned. It is often confused with inter-subjectivity. The latter is defined thus by "The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995": "This term refers to the status of being somehow accessible to at least two (usually all, in principle) minds or 'subjectivities'.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Inspector calls
A number of techniques are used throughout the play in order to portray this negative Image to the audience. For instance, her naivety Is repeatedly mentioned and her class conscious attitude is prominent In the play. From the outset, Priestley uses Mrs.. Brisling's persona to create an unlikable character, a woman who Is described as ‘cold' In the stage directions, displaying the attitudes she will show In the opening scene.Her attitude to class is shown by her cynical comment – ‘a girl of hat class' – a comment which implies her awareness of her social superiority. This shows the way in which she looks down upon the character of Eva Smith. Similarly, her dismissive attitude towards lower class people is demonstrated by her careful concern for social etiquette and manners. She shows disgust at Sheila's use of colloquial language, for instance, when Sheila refers to Eric as ‘spiffy, Mrs.. Birding is seemingly outraged. This suggests that she would not want to be associated with the dialect used by those of a lower social status.Her character Is shown to feel a need to impress Gerald due to his upper class heritage and parenting. This could be represented by her embarrassment when Mr.. Birding congratulates the cook and tells him off for discussing business. This Indicates that she doesn't want Gerald to get the impression that she or her family would act In such a way. Her regard to social status is further demonstrated by her involvement with the Brimley Women's Charity Organization. She uses her position as chairperson to gain authority and importance Just so that she can herself highly and above other people.It is evident that she doesn't do charity work purely out of altruism. She has a great desire to be high in social status. This all contributes to portraying the image of negativity and creating dislike by highlighting her superiority complex. She is very aware of class distinctions, resenting Eva Smith's ‘gross impe rtinence' in calling herself Mrs.. Birding, and refuses to believe In her moral Integrity: ‘She was claiming fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd In a girl in that position.At the end of the play, like her husband, she refuses to believe that she did anything wrong and refuses to accept responsibility for her part In Eve's death. Instead, Mrs.. Billing seems to want to put so much blame on the father, because she thinks that it will put her out of the spotlight. There is dramatic irony in the way she is trapped. The audience will discover before her that the ‘drunken young idler' is Eric. There is also situational irony which creates further dislike: the audience knows that she would not apply the same standards to re own family, yet Eric is condemned by her words.She is also forceful in shifting blame onto Birding: â€Å"It wasn't I who turned her out of employment. †The generation gap is emphasized at this point in the play, as further dislike is created for Mrs.. Birding by the way Sheila and Eric begin to see their parents in a new unfavorable light. This dislike is reinforced to the audience when Shells gets angry at her mother in Act Three for trying to ‘pretend that nothing much has happened'. Shells says ‘It frightens me the way you talk. She cannot understand how Mrs.. Birding has not learnt from the evening In the same way she has.This creates dwells for the character of Mrs.. Birding as the audience realism that she has not learnt anything from the blood and anguish' in the first world war. Her character is used to show Priestley attitude towards and critique of Capitalism. She is shown t be part of the capitalist society that will sleepwalk into disaster because they fail to recognizes what is going on in the world around them. This has a particularly significant impact as the sass's audience are aware of the downfall they will face.Furthermore, dislike for the character of Mrs.. Birding is created thro ugh the portrayal of her sexual repression. She is shown to have the belief that women of her class should be protected from things that are what Gerald refers to as ‘unpleasant and disturbing. She is reluctant to understand the reality of society and wants to know nothing about Garage's ‘disgusting affair'. Priestley is effective in portraying her character in this way as the audience in 1946 will have a much broader view of the way in which people behave, ND will develop a dislike for her as a result of the differing attitudes.This is interlinked with the way in which Mrs.. Brings naivety is used to create dislike. Not only does she choose not to understand some aspects of society, there are many other things that her character is show to be sheltered from due to her upper class way of life. For instance, she does not know anything about the hard drinking habits of her son Eric, thinking that ‘it isn't true'. She also does not realism that even supposedly respect able men of a high social status like Alderman Meagerly would sit the Palace Bar and behave in such a way that he did.She does not share the same level of awareness of what goes on in society that the younger generations have. Sheila's comment that ‘she only escaped with a torn blouse' demonstrates how she is show to have a far greater understanding of the realities of society than her mother. Ultimately, Priestley uses various techniques throughout the play to create dislike for the character of Mrs.. Birding. He does this through using the themes of responsibility, class, generations and gender.
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