Feminine Roles in Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Macbeth's Feminine Roles    The feminine roles in William Shakespeare's Macbeth are only two, the witches being not human in many ways, and we shall consider only one in great detail in this essay - that of the all-important Lady Macbeth. The witches are considered briefly.    In "Memoranda: Remarks on the Character of Lady Macbeth," Sarah Siddons comments on how the feminine role of the leading lady is not a typical one as regards attitude:    [Macbeth] announces the King's approach; and she, insensible it should seem to all the perils which he has encountered in battle, and to all the happiness of his safe return to her, -- for not one kind word of greeting or congratulations does she offer, -- is so entirely swallowed up by the horrible design, which has probably been suggested to her by his letters, as to have forgotten both the one and the other. It is very remarkable that Macbeth is frequent in expressions of tenderness to his wife, while she never betrays one symptom of affection towards him, till, in the fiery furnace of affliction, her iron heart is melted down to softness. (56)    Fanny Kemble in "Lady Macbeth" finds that the main female role could have ended in madness due to the evil tendencies of the lady:    Lady Macbeth, even in her sleep, has no qualms of conscience; her remorse takes none of the tenderer forms akin to repentance, nor the weaker ones allied to fear, from the pursuit of which the tortured soul, seeking where to hide itself, not seldom escapes into the boundless wilderness of madness. A very able article, published some years ago in the National Review, on the character of Lady Macbeth, insists much upon an opinion that she died of remorse, as some palliation of her crimes, and mitigation of our detestation of them. That she died of wickedness would be, I think, a juster verdict. Remorse is consciousness of guilt . . . and that I think Lady Macbeth never had; though the unrecognized pressure of her great guilt killed her. (116-17)    Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare contradict the impression that the female protagonist is all strength:    Lady Macbeth is of a finer and more delicate nature. Having fixed her eye upon the end - the attainment for her husband of Duncan's crown - she accepts the inevitable means; she nerves herself for the terrible night's work by artificial stimulants; yet she cannot strike the sleeping king who resembles her father.

Recrystallization and Melting Point Determination

Consider what happens when a solid material is placed in a solvent in which it has a low solubility. Not much! A small fraction of the solid will dissolve, but the rest will just sit there. (Actually, it doesn't just ‘sit there' since an equilibrium is in effect, with solid molecules going into solution, and an equivalent number of dissolved molecules reforming solid, but we see the same amount of undissolved material). How can we get the entire solid to dissolve? One way is to heat the solution — most materials are more soluble in hot solvent than in cold. Suppose we heat to the boiling temperature of the solvent (the highest temperature which is practical), and the entire solid goes into solution. If we now let the solution cool, what will happen? Obviously, at some temperature, the concentration of solute will exceed its solubility, and the solid will start to come back out of solution – it will crystallize. By the time we return to the initial temperature, nearly all of the original material has formed crystals, which can be removed from the solvent by filtration. Now, suppose that the original solid contained small amounts of impurities. These would go into solution as well, but since the impurities are present only in small amounts, they remain soluble when the temperature is lowered again. Thus, the crystals, which come out of solution, are more pure than the original sample. This is the essence of purification by recrystallization (Fig. 1). [pic] Figure 1: An impure solid in: (A) cold solvent in which it has low solubility, (B) solvent that has been warmed up to dissolve all of the solid, and (C) solvent that has cooled down to the original temperature. The crystallized solid is now pure, while the impurities remain in solution. Recrystallization Recrystallization is the preferred method for purification of organic solids. The technique can be used for large or small quantities of materials, and is usually very effective and efficient. The most important aspect of the recrystallization technique is the selection of the solvent. A large number of solvents are commonly used for recrystallization of organic compounds. Among these are water, ethanol, ethyl ether, and hexane to name just a few. A solvent, which works beautifully for one recrystallization, may be totally unsuitable for purification of a different compound – the choice for recrystallization solvent is made on a case-by-case basis. This is because of the variation of solubility of different organic compounds in these solvents. We can identify a set of characteristics which are desirable for a recrystallization solvent: 1. The substance to be purified must have a high solubility in the solvent at its boiling point, and a significantly diminished solubility at lower temperatures (limited only by the freezing temperature of the solvent). Obviously, the first part is necessary so that you can get the material into solution, and the second part is required so that the purified compound will come back out of solution. 2. The solvent should dissolve the impurities at all temperatures. Actually, its OK if the impurity dissolves readily or doesn't dissolve at all, as we'll see. The important point here is that purification will be accomplished only if the impurities remain in solution as the mixture is cooled. This isn't too hard to accomplish if the amount of impurity is small. Obviously, it's a bit more difficult if a large amount of an impurity is present, but if the solubility characteristics of the desired substance are sufficiently different from the impurity, as is often the case, a suitable solvent can usually be found. 3. The solvent must not react with the substance to be purified. It's hard to get your compound to come back out of solution when it is consumed by a reaction. 4. A reasonably volatile solvent is preferred. This consideration is dictated by the need to ultimately remove traces of solvent from the crystals, and this is most easily accomplished by evaporation, either at room temperature or in an oven. Even with an oven to aid in the drying, only moderate temperatures can be used, since you should stay below the melting temperature of the solid, and definitely below temperatures where the material will decompose. Generally speaking, solvents with boiling temperatures below ~150 °C are OK. 5. Ideally, the solvent should be inexpensive, non-toxic, and non-flammable. These are not absolutely required, but desirable characteristics, which can help to determine the choice of a solvent. Obviously, water is an ideal choice based on these criteria, and is the preferred solvent if it satisfies conditions 1-4. How does one go about choosing the proper solvent? If you are dealing with a known compound, it makes sense to use solvents that have been used before. You can go to the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (printed or online), and frequently a solvent suitable for recrystallization will be indicated. This may show up in two places: First, in the column headed â€Å"color, crystalline form† is often listed the solvent used to obtain the crystals in question. Otherwise, you can move to the columns near the right-hand side of the page, which deal with solubility. The CRC has changed its presentation of solubility data over the years. For this purpose, the older editions (before 1980) are significantly better than the recent ones. Whereas the new editions simply list solvents in which the compound is soluble, the older ones provide more information, which can be useful in selecting a crystallization solvent. Qualitative indicators for solubility in various solvents range from i (insoluble), d (slightly), s (soluble), to v (very). Especially useful is the fact that some solvents are given two listings, one for hot solvent, the other for cold. What if you are working with a brand-new compound, which is often the case? Here, the only thing to do is try different solvents. The choice of solvents is often more art than science – everybody has their personal favorites based on their own experience, but those mentioned above are typical solvents to try. A small amount of the solid is placed in a test-tube and a few drops of cold solvent are added. If the solid dissolves, you can forget this solvent – you need low solubility at low temperature. If the solid remains, so far, so good, but this is only the beginning. Now the sample is warmed to the boiling point. If the solid dissolves, things look good. The next test is to let this solution cool, and to see if nice crystals actually form. If they do, you're in luck. Further tests with this solvent on larger samples of material can then determine whether the desired degree if purification is achieved, and if the loss of material is acceptable. Sometimes, though, no crystals form. This may be a problem with the rate of crystal nucleation – that event where the first few molecules get together to form the growing crystal. A trick which often works in this case is to take a glass rod and rub vigorously the wall of the test-tube just below the solvent surface. Often, this will stimulate crystal formation, presumably because some of the microscopic scratches serve as nucleation sites. Alternatively, the solution can be ‘seeded' with a few tiny crystals of the substance (if these are available), and then to allow the solution to stand undisturbed until crystal formation is complete. If no crystals form, you must consider the possibility that the substance is too soluble in this solvent, and the fact that it did not dissolve at first may simply be because it dissolves very slowly. If this is the case, it's back to the drawing board with a new solvent. A not-uncommon result is for the solute to separate from solution as an oil which will not crystallize. This annoying situation arises particularly for low-melting solids and frequently results when the solution becomes saturated at a temperature higher than the melting point of the solute. A remedy which is often effective is to ensure that separation does not occur until the solution has cooled below this melting temperature, either by using more solvent or by switching to a different solvent. Once this is settled, scratching and/or seeding are often helpful for obtaining crystalline product. Quite often, a single solvent which gives suitable results cannot be identified. In such cases, the use of mixed solvents (solvent pair) is often successful. Two solvents are chosen, one which dissolves the substance readily, and another in which the solute is only sparingly soluble. Note that the two solvents must be completely miscible. The usual procedure is to dissolve the crude solid in the better solvent at its boiling point, and to add the weaker solvent dropwise until a faint cloudiness persists, indicating that the solute is starting to come out of solution. A few drops more of the better solvent are then added to put the solute back into solution, and the mixture is allowed to cool to effect crystallization. Typical solvent pairs are water and ethanol, or hexane and benzene, where the ‘weaker' solvent is listed first. These mixed solvent systems are interesting — it seems that the solubility characteristics of the better solvent dominate at higher temperatures, while the mixture behaves more like the weaker solvent at lower temperatures. Once the crystallization solvent is chosen, consideration can be given to other features of the crystallization process. The idea is to maximize the recovery of purified compound. Enough solvent must be used to keep the impurities in solution, but if an excessive amount of solvent is used, a large part of the desired compound will remain in solution, and the recovery will be low. For this reason, the minimum amount of hot solvent which will dissolve the desired compound should be used. It is possible to further improve the recovery of material by harvesting a ‘second crop' of crystals. After the purified crystals have been separated by filtration, the filtrate (called the ‘mother liquor') is concentrated by evaporation of ~1/2 – 2/3 of the solvent. On cooling, more of the compound will crystallize, and this can be isolated by filtration. The purity of these crystals is generally not as good as the original crop, since the concentration of the contaminants in the mother liquor is always increasing. The proper apparatus for recrystallization is the Erlenmeyer flask. A beaker is not appropriate. The shape of the Erlenmeyer flask allows swirling of the mixture without sloshing, and the conical walls tend to condense and return refluxing solvent. The flask should not be overfilled – about 60% of the listed capacity is the maximum, and so the flask volume should be chosen accordingly. Decolorizing a Solution and Hot Filtration Special problems are posed by insoluble impurities and highly colored, resinous contaminants. The best way to remove insoluble material is to filter the hot mixture, while the desired material is dissolved. Insoluble debris will be trapped on the filter paper. The colored, resinous impurities are usually large, relatively polar organic molecules which have a strong tendency to be adsorbed on surfaces. Crystals grown from solutions containing such resins are often discolored by surface contamination by these materials, and it is therefore desirable to also remove them from the solution before recrystallization. They can be taken care of by addition of a small amount of powdered, activated charcoal (Norit ® or Darco ®, also decolorizing carbon) to the hot solution before filtering. Decolorizing carbon has a huge surface area, and readily absorbs the colored impurities. The hot filtration then removes the charcoal; the filtrate, now free of this contamination, is allowed to cool and deposit crystals. The decolorizing/hot filtration procedure requires some care. First, the addition of the powdered charcoal to hot solvent can cause a vigorous foaming which may result in loss of some of the solution. This can be avoided if the hot solution is allowed to cool for 15-20 seconds, and the charcoal is added cautiously. Only a small amount of charcoal is required — add too much and significant amounts of the desired compound will also be absorbed, and low recovery will result. After addition of the charcoal, the mixture should be heated to a gentle boil for a few minutes, to ensure that any compound which might have precipitated during cooling is brought back into solution. Filtration of the hot mixture must be done rapidly to avoid crystallization of material on the filter paper or in the funnel. The setup depicted in Figure 2 shows how the filter can be kept hot during filtration. The speed of filtration is enhanced by the use of a ‘fluted' filter paper and a stemless funnel. ‘Fluting' a filter paper is organic chemistry origami and the process is best demonstrated in person. A fluted paper uses the entire surface area of the filter paper, and therefore filters more rapidly than the conventional conical fold. The stem of a funnel is susceptible to clogging by formation of crystals, so a stemless funnel is used. To minimize crystallization in the filter paper it is common to place a small amount of solvent in the receiving flask, and to heat this to boiling during the filtration. The hot vapors help to keep the filter warm. In addition, it is prudent to use about 10% more than the minimum amount of solvent, to account for evaporation during the heating, and to allow for the small amount of cooling which will occur. Finally, the mixture should be poured onto the filter in small portions which will filter within about 30 s, so that excessive cooling does not occur. The [pic] remainder of the mixture is kept heated until it can be poured on the filter. When all of the solvent has been filtered, it is a good idea to rinse the flask and filter with a small portion of fresh, hot solvent (~5 – 10% of the volume already used). This will help to dissolve and pass through the filter any material which has crystallized. The filtrate should be collected in an appropriately sized Erlenmeyer flask. Some crystals may have formed in the flask by the end of the filtration, but these are often very small and not well formed. They should be dissolved by warming the filtrate. The best crystals are obtained by slow cooling without agitation of the solution. Therefore, the filtrate should be placed in a spot where it can remain undisturbed as it cools. The mouth of the flask may be loosely stoppered, but this is normally not necessary. Crystal growth is normally well along by the time the mixture reaches room temperature. Further cooling in an ice-water bath will cause additional crystallization. Crystals come in a variety of shapes and sizes: long needles, blocky prisms, and flat plates are common. Slow crystal growth not only gives the most pleasing display; the product is generally purer. Too-rapid crystallization generally leads to smaller, more poorly formed (and less pure) crystals. pic] Vacuum Filtration Once crystal formation is complete, the product is isolated by vacuum filtration. This technique permits fast and efficient removal of the mother liquor. A special flat-bottomed funnel (a Buchner funnel) is used in conjunction with a heavy-walled Erlenmeyer flask with a sidearm called a filtering flask. The apparatus is illustrated below (Figure 3). A circle of filter paper, small enough to lie completely flat on the perforated base of the Buchner funnel, but large enough to cover all of the holes, is placed in the funnel, and moistened with a small amount of solvent to hold it in place. With the vacuum on, the cold crystallization mixture is poured as rapidly as possible onto the filter paper. It helps to swirl the flask a few times to loosen the crystals, and with a little bit of skill the entire mixture can be deposited on the filter, with only a few stray crystals adhering to the walls of the flask. The mother liquors are rapidly drawn into the filter flask by suction, and the crystals are squeezed dry of solvent by pressing with a clean cork while drawing air through them. Now, this procedure does not remove all of the mother liquor. Invariably, there is a film of solvent coating the surface of the crystals. Since the mother liquor contains impurities, this must be washed away with fresh solvent. The crystals are washed as follows: the suction is stopped and enough fresh, cold (why? ) solvent is added to just cover the crystals in the funnel (this solvent can be used to rinse the last few crystals out of the crystallization flask). The crystals should be stirred gently with a glass rod or a spatula so that all come in contact with the wash liquid, then the vacuum is restarted and the crystals sucked and pressed dry as before. In some cases, it may be necessary to repeat the wash a 2nd time. Air is drawn through the crystals until they are as dry as possible, at which time they are spread on a watch glass for further drying in the air or in an oven. The steps in recrystallization can be summarized: 1. Dissolve the crude material in a minimum amount of hot solvent. 2. Treat with decolorizing charcoal. 3. Filter hot solution to remove charcoal and other insoluble impurities. 4. Cool to effect crystallization 5. Filter crystals, wash to remove adhering mother liquor. 6. Dry crystals to remove last traces of solvent. Melting Point Determination Once we have purified a solid, how do we establish that the product is, in fact, pure? Undoubtedly, the simplest criterion for purity is determination of the melting point, or more accurately, the melting range. Strictly speaking, the melting point is defined as the single temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid phase of a compound is equal to the vapor pressure of the solid phase, and so the liquid and solid are in equilibrium. These values are actually rather difficult to measure. Much simpler is the determination of the capillary melting range, which, as the name implies, is the temperature interval over which the compound is found to melt. Since, during the melting process, the system is not at equilibrium, this is not identical to the true melting point, but the values are normally very similar. In fact, most of the ‘melting points' in the literature are actually capillary melting point ranges. An important distinction is that the latter is always presented as a range of two temperature readings, from the temperature where melting is first observable to that where melting is complete. For pure compounds, complete melting normally occurs over a very narrow range, often

Key Factors to a Supportive Environment

Key factors that support speech, language and communication environment: 1. Your room/setting layout – what does your physical environment look like? The noise level – are there quieter and noisier areas, planned times or activities. Evidence: There are two main rooms that are in use during morning and afternoon sessions, the classroom and larger hall area. The classroom has a book corner with a child's size couch and soft cushions on the floor. This area is ideally for quiet time and reading. The rest of the classroom and large hall allows for noisy and more social activities.Throughout the day there are planned adult lead activities, circle times, outdoor play, snack bar and lunch club. Which work on a rota based system. Quality of light – are play areas well lit for children to see ; communicate well with each other, see mouth movements, resources ; staff. Evidence: The classroom and main hall both allow for a substantial amount of natural light through large windows and also have more then one artificial light in either room. Space to move, expressively, with whole bodies, with and without speedEvidence: The main hall area is a large open space with a substantial amount of room for children to move freely and expressively. This room is used for more active activities and also for when outdoor play is restricted due to poor weather conditions. The children will use this area to build train tracks, stack blocks, act out role plays and imaginary games, as well as group games such as duck duck goose and ring a ring a roses. The outdoor area is also set up in a way that allows for all types of movement. There is an large space for bikes and smalls cars, which is also used for obstacle courses and tents.This is divided from the rest of the playground by log stumps that the children can also walk across. Resources and toys – is there a varied selection available for both indoor ; outdoor play. Evidence: Within the classroom and hall the re is a large variety of resources and toys to cater for all the children. For example; a home corner, roll play area, mark making area, play dough and sand/water trays, block building, music corner, small world toys, ICT area book corner. The outside area has a large storage cupboard which allows us to alternate what goes outside to create interest and excitement.There is an outside book corner with bean bags and blankets, large wooden blocks for building, play house with kitchen and work bench, prams, bikes and large cars, balls, rackets, a table and chairs to encourage mark making, blackboard with chalk and a variety of playing apparatus's. 2. Staff – Involvement/roles – how does everyone interact with children to promote communication. Evidence: Most children attending the pre-school will have an all about me book, which their key person and any other staff member are allowed assess. It contains information and pictures on the child's life including family, pets, f riends, likes and dislikes.The children also receive a settling in performer after two weeks of them attending the setting. Which goes over how they are doing and is sent home to their parents to read and comment on, then sent back in. This is kept in the child's learning journey. The children are also given a chance to have their say on what they would like to do at pre-school, with the children's planing board. Where any ideas that are given from the children are written on and then added to the planing in future sessions. We have a classroom rules board, illustrating the main rules of the setting. Which is positioned down low at the children's eye level.There is also a ‘how are you feeling today' poster with photos and illustrations of different facial expressions, again at the children's eye level. We also try to operate with a positive language approach when reminding children of rules, for example saying ‘walking feet and kind hands' instead of ‘no running an d don't hit each other. ‘ Staff responsibilities – does a key person system operate to support your children? Evidence: A key person system is operational within the setting, each key person has on average 11 children under their care and are also responsible for the overall care of every child.Observations are made on every child and logged in their learning journeys, which are kept in a locked cupboard. Planning daily routines – are there times of the day to support communication eg. greetings and goodbyes, toilet asking times? Small/large group and individual activities? Evidence: Our setting works on an rota based system, in which there are set times for snack bar, lunch club, tidy up times, free play, adult led activities, nappy changes, circle times and outdoor play. This helps the children and staff to get into a routine.Who ever is responsible for nappy changes that day will also be reminding children to go to the toilet, both are logged in a daily folder . The children are welcomed in the mornings/afternoons and self register with name cards. At the end of both morning and afternoon sessions the story of the week is read and the children can give thanks in prayer. The children are then dismissed when their allocated parent/carer arrives. Training opportunities? Child Development, Safeguarding, Impairment, Activity intervention & awareness.Evidence: All staff are given the opportunity to attend relevant training that is beneficial for the setting and themselves. I myself have already attended four training courses since joining in September 2012. Certificates given at the completion of the training days and are displayed on the wall inside the classrooms setting. We also have a weekly policy quiz, with a different quiz selected each week for staff to read through and then be tested on. 4. Parent & carer involvement – Evidence: The Pre-school welcomes parent and carer involvement within and outside of the setting, especially du ring the festive period.We often have parent helpers for the day that provide us with an extra pare of hands. The pre-school also recently held a fundraising event at the local community center, where we saw an overabundance of support from parents/carers. How does the setting engage with parents to share activity ideas, rhymes, resources, books, event dates, news, parent's language needs, knowledge ; expertise Evidence: Each week parents and staff receive the ‘weekly update sheet' via email, which provides information on the up and coming week.This information consists of the theme of the week, number, letter sound and shape, story focus, our star of the week (child), important dates, resources needed for any activities planned, how they can support their child and a photo gallery of what their children have been up to in the previous week. 5. Language itself – Identify the types of language/methods of communication used in the setting; facial, body, creative, expressi ve and behavioral. Evidence: At the entrance to the classroom there is a mood board on the wall with the phase ‘how do you feel today'.The board displays a variety of facial expressions and words for the children to relate to and caters especially to children still developing their speech or children that have English as an additional language. We also have a mark making area with creative resources for the children to express themselves. Throughout the setting there are posters and images reminding the children of the pre-school rules, for example use kind hands, put hands up during circle time, line up in a straight line and two children at the I. T station. Additional Language-Is there support within the setting for children with additional languages. Evidence: All resources accessible to the children are labelled with the relevant wording of the contents and a photo or picture to support visual aid. Around the main classroom we have numerals 1-10 in additional languages an d greetings/farewells in multiple languages. When the children join the setting their parents/careers are asked if they speak any additional languages or if English isn't their first spoken language. During circle times, we will often greet each child in an additional language.

How marketing research determines the mamanement decision problem.

How marketing research determines the mamanement decision problem. The management decision is always connected with the problem or opportunity the company comes across at some point its business activity. It may be the decision about the introduction of the new product or adoption of the most effecting pricing or campaign.To help the client undertake the decision which action to follow, the market researcher starts with the research process, which first step is the problem definition. The researcher must understand what the needs and objectives of his client are and know how to translate the management problem into the market research problem. Market research problem unlike the managerial problem does not focus on action but rather concerns what kind of information is needed to come to the solution or make the decision. To be able fully understand what kind of information is needed the researcher often is required to consult with management (problem audit), industry experts, investigate the secondary data or undertake some qualitative research.Data analysisThe understanding of the problem comes also from the deep understanding the environmental context of the problem that means the background of the problem. The factors here are past information and forecast, Resources and Constrains, Objectives, Buyer Behavior, Legal environment, Economic Environment, and Marketing and Technological skills. The company exists with the complex environment all of its factors have an impact on it.The second step in the research process is the design formulation. It is the set of procedures and instructions, the blueprint of the research. It answers the following questions:a) What kind information is needed? (regarding a problem or population)b) How obtain and how use the secondary data?d) Whether the qualitative, descriptive or causal research is needed?e) How collect the qualitative data and what kind of measurement and scaling procedures use (how to...

Bonobos as Model for Human Behavior essays

Bonobos as Model for Human Behavior essays The bonobo, or pan paniscus is a very unique, and relatively unknown member of the primate family. They share many of the same physical features and genetic makeup as their relative the chimpanzee, and are so similar that they are commonly known as pygmy chimpanzees. Bonobos however, vary in quite a number of ways from their relative the chimpanzee and these differences will be discussed in detail through this essay as well as how similar our behavior is in many respects as these exceptional creatures. Bonobos are a relatively newfound species with the official discovery coming in 1928 by American anatomist Harold Coolidge. He was studying the skull of what was believed to be a juvenile chimpanzee, however slight but distinct differences in the structure led him to believe that the skull was something other than a chimpanzee, it was a bonobo. This discovery eventually led anatomists, anthropologists, and other researchers to the left bank of the Congo River where the bonobos are native (figure1). The surrounding area is populated by chimpanzees and gorillas, so for the most part bonobos were largely lost in the fray, or mistaken for chimpanzees. It was not until the distinction was made between the two that researchers began to find out the difference between these two intriguing creatures. As stated earlier bonobos are native to the left bank of the Congo River, which is an area that is almost exclusively habituated by these apes, other primates such as monkeys reside there however. The areas east, west, and north are all home to different types of chimpanzees as well as gorillas. The surrounding river provides a sort of moat that keeps the area exclusive to the bonobos. This area is approximately 1000 km east to west and 750 km north to south, which provides almost a little kingdom of bonobos. Within this habitat the bonobos predominantly consume fruits as the major part of their diet. Bonobos also eat foods such as pith, leave...

Vocab Practice 1

Vocab Practice 1 Trying to prepare yourself for your next reading test? Whether youre prepping for the Verbal section of the GRE, the Critical Reading section of the SAT, the Reading section of the ACT or just your typical reading test in school, chances are good youll have to understand a vocabulary word or two in context. Sure, youll also find standard questions about finding the main idea, distinguishing the authors purpose and making inferences, but those can be tricky whereas vocabulary words in context are typically the easier ones to manage if you complete some vocab practice. So, lets get on with it, shall we! Read the passage below and answer the corresponding questions. Teachers, feel free to print and use the PDFs below for easy sub plans or vocab practice as you see fit. Vocab Practice 1 WorksheetVocab Practice 1 Answer Key Vocab Practice 1 Adapted from, The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce. In 1830, only a few miles away from what is now the great city of Cincinnati, lay an immense and almost unbroken forest. The whole region was sparsely settled by people of the frontierrestless souls who no sooner had hewn barely habitable homes out of the wilderness and attained to that degree of prosperity which today we would call indigence, than, impelled by some mysterious impulse of their nature, they abandoned all and pushed farther westward, to encounter new perils and privations in the effort to regain the meager comforts which they had voluntarily renounced. Many of them had already forsaken that region for the remoter settlements, but among those remaining was one who had been of those first arriving. He lived alone in a house of logs surrounded on all sides by the great forest, of whose gloom and silence he seemed a part, for no one had ever known him to smile nor speak a needless word. His simple wants were supplied by the sale or barter of skins of wild animals in the ri ver town, for not a thing did he grow upon the land which, if needful, he might have claimed by right of undisturbed possession. There were evidences of improvementa few acres of ground immediately about the house had once been cleared of its trees, the decayed stumps of which were half concealed by the new growth that had been suffered to repair the ravage wrought by the ax. Apparently the mans zeal for agriculture had burned with a failing flame, expiring in penitential ashes. The little log house, with its chimney of sticks, its roof of warping clapboards supported and weighted with traversing poles and its chinking of clay, had a single door and, directly opposite, a window. The latter, however, was boarded upnobody could remember a time when it was not. And none knew why it was so closed; certainly not because of the occupants dislike of light and air, for on those rare occasions when a hunter had passed that lonely spot the recluse had commonly been seen sunning himself on his doorstep if heaven had provided sunshine for his need. I fancy there are few persons living today who ever knew the secret of that window, but I am one, as you shall see. The mans name was said to be Murlock. He was apparently seventy years old, actually about fifty. Something besides years had had a hand in his aging. His hair and long, full beard were white, his gray, lusterless eyes sunken, his face singularly seamed with wrinkles which appeared to belong to two intersecting systems. In figure he was tall and spare, with a stoop of the shouldersa burden bearer. I never saw him; these particulars I learned from my grandfather, from whom also I got the mans story when I was a lad. He had known him when living near by in that early day. One day Murlock was found in his cabin, dead. It was not a time and place for coroners and newspapers, and I suppose it was agreed that he had died from natural causes or I should have been told, and should remember. I know only that with what was probably a sense of the fitness of things the body was buried near the cabin, alongside the grave of his wife, who had preceded him by so many years that local tradition had retained hardly a hint of her existence. Question 1 As it is used in paragraph one, the word indigence most nearly means†¦A. sustenanceB. wealthC. influenceD. poverty Answer and Explanation Question 2 As it is used near the end of paragraph one, the word suffered most nearly means†¦A. enduredB. allowedC. instructedD. agonized Answer and Explanation Question 3 As it is used in paragraph two, the word traversing most nearly means†¦A. travelingB. crossingC. shiftingD. holding Answer and Explanation Question 4 As it is used in paragraph three, the word lusterless most nearly means†¦A. dullB. brokenC. barrenD. alarming Answer and Explanation Question 5 As it is used in paragraph five, the word retained most nearly means†¦A. romanticizedB. commendedC. preservedD. illustrated Answer and Explanation

Maternal stress as a potential risk factor for having an offspring Research Proposal

Maternal stress as a potential risk factor for having an offspring with a ventricular septal defect - Research Proposal Example ency, misalignment or failure of fusion of the components of the interventricular septum, viz., endocardial cushions, aorticopulmonary septum and the muscular part of the septum, is the primary cause of the ventricular septal defects (Shinebourne et al, 2006). A hole or complete absence of the septum allows the blood to mix in the ventricles, which is supplied to the lungs as well as the rest of the body giving rise to symptoms like ‘blue babies’. Soto et al (1980) gave an objective classification of the ventricular septal defects (VSD). On the basis of angiograms of 220 children with VSD, they observed that the defects in the septum could present with the following morphologies - perimembranous defects; muscular defects and subarterial infundibular defects. Perimembranous defects as well as the muscular defects were further divided into three sub-groups each. A stressful life of the mother has been studied as a risk factor for a number of congenital malformation in the offspring, e.g. orofacial cleft (Montenegro et al, 1995), neural tube defects (Carmichael and Shaw, 2000) and conotruncal heart defects (Suarez, 2003). Carmichael et al (2007) have conducted a comprehensive population based case-control study involving 1355 mothers and calculated a ‘stressful life event score’ based on exposure to 18 possible stress-events and its association with congenital birth defects. Their results showed that a 3-point increase in the stress score increases the odds-ratio of a birth defect to 1.45 ( C.I. 1.03-2.06) and the risk is further aggravated to O.R. of 2.35 (CI = 1.47 – 3.77), if the mother is not taking vitamin (folic acid) supplement during early pregnancy. Hansen et al (2000), in a rare 12 year prospective study with a 16 months retrospective component, reported an increased incidence of cranial-neural-crest malformatio ns as well as other congenital malformations in children born to mothers exposed to severe life events like death, hospitalization for