Personality Attributes Essay Example for Free

Personality Attributes Essay Locus of control  is a theory in  personality psychology  referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by  Julian B. Rotter  in 1954, and has since become an aspect of personality studies. A persons locus (Latin for place or location) is conceptualised as either internal (the person believes they can control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their decisions and life are controlled by environmental factors which they cannot influence). Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events in their life derive primarily from their own actions; for example, if a person with an internal locus of control does not perform as well as they wanted to on a test, they would blame it on lack of preparedness on their part. If they performed well on a test, they would attribute this to ability to study. [1]. In the test-performance example, if a person with a high external locus of control does poorly on a test, they might attribute this to the difficulty of the test questions. If they performed well on a test, they might think the teacher was lenient or that they were lucky. [1] Those with a high internal locus of control exhibit better control of their behavior[citation needed], tend to be more politically involved[citation needed]  and are more likely to attempt to influence others than are those with an external locus of control. [citation needed]  They also assign greater likelihood to their efforts being successful, and more actively seek information concerning their situation. [citation needed] Locus of control has generated much research in a variety of areas in psychology. The construct is applicable to fields such as educational psychology, health psychology or clinical psychology. There will probably continue to be debate about whether specific or more global measures of locus of control will prove to be more useful. Careful distinctions should also be made between locus of control (a concept linked with expectancies about the future) and attributional style (a concept linked with explanations for past outcomes), or between locus of control and concepts such as self-efficacy. The importance of locus of control as a topic in psychology is likely to remain quite central for many years. Locus of control has also been included as one of four dimensions of  core self-evaluations  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ ones fundamental appraisal of oneself – along with  neuroticism,  self-efficacy, and  self-esteem. [2]  The concept of core self-evaluations was first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997), and since has proven to have the ability to predict several work outcomes, specifically, job satisfaction and job performance 2. Machiavelllianism: Machiavellianism is also a term that some social and personality  psychologists  use to describe a persons tendency to be emotionally cool and detached, and thus more able to detach from conventional morality and to  deceive  and  manipulate  others. In the 1960s, Richard Christie and Florence L. Geis developed a test for measuring a persons level of Machiavellianism. Measured on the Mach-IV scale, males are on average slightly more Machiavellian than females  [6]  [8]. Motivation: A 1992 review described Machiavellian motivation as related to cold selfishness and pure instrumentality, and those high on the trait were assumed to pursue their motives (e. g. sex, achievement, sociality) in duplicitous ways. More recent research on the motivations of high Machs compared to low Machs found that they gave high priority to money, power, and competition and relatively low priority to community building, self-love, and family concerns. High Machs admitted to focusing on unmitigated achievement and winning at any cost. Due to their skill at interpersonal manipulation, there has often been an assumption that high Machs possess superior intelligence, or ability to understand other people in social situations. However, research has firmly established that Machiavellianism is unrelated to  IQ. Furthermore, studies on  emotional intelligence  have found that high Machiavellianism actually tends to be associated with low emotional intelligence as assessed by both performance and questionnaire measures. Both empathy and emotion recognition have been shown to have negative correlations with Machiavellianism. Additionally, research has shown that Machiavellianism is unrelated to a more advanced theory of mind, that is, the ability to anticipate what others are thinking in social situations. If high Machs actually are skilled at manipulating others this appears to be unrelated to any special cognitive abilities as such Self esteem: Self-esteem  is a term in  psychology  to reflect a  persons overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Conversely, low self-monitors do not participate, to the same degree, in expressive control and do not share similar concern for situational appropriateness. Low self-monitors tend to exhibit expressive controls congruent with their own internal states; i. e. beliefs,  attitudes, and  dispositions  regardless of social circumstance. Low self-monitors are often less observant of social context and consider expressing a self-presentation dissimilar from their internal states as a falsehood and undesirable.

Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) Mutants

Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) Mutants GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN (GFP) MUTANTS WITH ALTERED FLUORESCENCE INTENSITY AND EMMISSION SPECTRA Introduction: Now-a-days GFP is creating revolution in the field of science by its applications and properties.GFP is a stable protein extracted from the photo organs of the jellyfish Aequoria victoria by Shimomura et al in 1962. In 1992 the cloning of GFP has done. It is found in a variety of coelenterates (both hydrozoa and anthozoa) and it emits light by utilising energy from the Ca2+ activated photoprotein aequorin [1]. Energy transfer and the emission spectra of GFP can be affected by dimerization. Structure of GFP is cylindrical ÃŽ ²-can structure and has a chromophore located centrally. The chromophore is responsible for the fluorescence and the formation is independent of species but mainly depends on oxygen. GFP is a small protein and has been made up of 238 amino acids. Deletion of any seven amino acids either from C-terminus or N-terminus may result in the loss of fluorescence. Amino acid replacement is responsible for the change in colours of GFP. It has a molecular weight of 27 KDa an d has an absorption range at 488 nm and an emission range at 509 nm. It can accomplish high temperatures (65 ÌŠc) and basic PH range of 6-12 [2]. Increase in PH results in the decrease of fluorescence. Increase in the fluorescence and photo stability can be achieved by single point mutation at S65T. Fluorophore of the GFP is generated by using auto-catalytic process of continuous mechanisms. Visible excitation is one of the optical properties of GFP. Its derivatives are produced from the mutagenesis experiments like random and directed mutagenesis [3]. GFP is majorly used as a reporter in expressing genes. Protein and chromophore folding also constitutes as a major advantage of GFP. It can also be used in protein fusion by applying recombinant DNA technology. Aim of this research is to analyze properties of GFP by cloning, mutations, expression of proteins and purification. Objectives of this research are to sub-clone GFP into a vector and mutations are carried out by various mutagenesis experiments followed by expression of proteins and purification. Finally after purification properties are analyzed. Materials and methods: Initially DNA is isolated and GFPuv is sub-cloned into the pET28c vector from pET23 plasmid by speectrophotometric analysis. 5 µg of pET23GFPuv DNA is digested by using NdeI and HindIII restriction enzymes. And the digests are analysed by using Agarose gel electrophoresis. GFP fragment is extracted and purified using QIA quick gel extraction kit from QIAGEN and the recovered DNA is estimated. Recombinant protein is expressed in E.coli by ligation and transformation. To confirm the presence of GFP in the pET28c plasmid, colony PCR is used. Further mutagenesis experiments are carried out by designing oligonucleotide primers which will alter the spectral properties of the protein. Complementary primers containing same mutations are generated. Mutagenic primers are prepared with a melting temperature of ≠¥ 78 ºC, length between 25 and 45 bases and primers longer than 45 bases are generally used. Introduction and identification of mutations within GFPuv gene: Mutations are created in the GFPuv insert by site-directed mutagenesis Site-directed mutagenesis: 5 µl 10 x PCR buffer 5 µl 20 mM dNTP mixes 15 ng GFPuv-pET28c template DNA 125ng oligonucleotide primer F+ 125ng oligonucleotide primer R+ 2 µl 25mM MgSo4 32 µl sterile water 1 µl KOD hot start polymerase (1U/ µl) * All the above are added to 0.2ml PCR tubes and incubated in a PCR machine for 24 cycles: 94 ºC 30s 94 ºC 30s 55 ºC 1min 68 ºC 4min 20s 68 ºC 10 min * Reaction is then kept on ice for 2 min and 1 µl (1U) of Dpn1 is added and incubated for 60 min at 37 ºC Alignment of amino acid sequences is carried out using: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/clustalw2/index.html Product of site-directed mutagenesis (pET28c DNA) is transformed into XL-1 supercompetent cells. Transformed colonies are extracted using QIAprep Mini prep kit Qiagen [5]. Concentration and purity can be checked by using Agarose gel electrophoresis. For this 5 µl of plasmid preparation and 10U HindIII are digested at 37 ºC for 1h. Sequencing is then carried out by using 10 µl of DNA at a concentration of 50ng/ µl. E.coli BL21 (DE3) cells are prepared and are transformed into the pET28cGFPuv plasmid for expression Auto-induction method: Wild type protein (GFPuv) and the mutant protein are expressed in the expression vector [BL21 (DE3)] using auto-induction method. For this transformed colonies are inoculated into 3ml of LB-1D + antibiotic media and incubated at 37 ºC at 300 RPM for 6 hrs and O.D is taken. Inoculum is taken into the flask containing SB-5052 auto-induction medium along with antibiotic and incubated at 28 ºC at 300 RPM for 20 hrs. Cultures are then cooled for 1 hr. Total induced sample is prepared by taking 100 µl of cooling culture and 900 µl of SB-5052 media. Cells are then pelletized by centrifuging it with both total induced and non-induced samples and are resuspended in 100 µl of SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(PAGE)) sample buffer. 12% of polyacrylamide gel is prepared and the Soluble and insoluble samples are prepared by cell fractionation using BUGBUSTER. For this 1 µl of DNAase1 is used along with reagents. Cell suspension is then centrifuged at 13000rpm for 20mins. Supernatant is then used as soluble sample and insoluble is prepared by resuspending the pellet in 2ml binding buffer. SDS-PAGE buffer and binding buffer are added to the soluble and insoluble fractions. At 95 ºC all samples are heated for 5 min. Gel is then loaded as: Molecular weight standard-5 µl Uninduced sample 5 µl Induced total sample 5 µl Soluble sample 5 µl Gel has to run for 1 hr. And is transfered to a box of Coomassie blue stain. Western blotting: GFP protein presence can be verified using western blotting technique. Protein samples are first seperated by SDS-PAGE and are transferred to the nitrocellulose membrane. GFP bound to nitrocellulose membrane is then visualised by incubating the blot with His-probe which is linked to a HRP (horse radish peroxidase) enzyme (HisprobeTM-HRP solution is diluted to 1:5000 (1 µl in 5ml) ). His-tag of GFP protein is bound to probe. Blots are kept in TBST and probes and thus probes are visualised by chemiluminescence and these are photographed by chemiluminescent reader. Ni-NTA chromatography: His tagged GFP can be purified by Ni-NTA (nickel nitrilo triacetic acid) chromatography method. In this, sample of soluble protein is loaded on column packed agarose resin and the non-specific protein binding is removed by washing resin with buffer and is eluted by high concentrated imidazole of elution buffer. After elution the purification of protein is done by SDS-PAGE and Coomassie staining. The concentration of the protein is measured by Bradford assay. Fluorimetry and mass spectrometry: Properties of GFPuv protein are analysed by Fluorimetry and mass spectroscopy. Fluorimetry: In this wavelength and intensity of a molecule at specific wavelength are measured using fluorimeters. Perkin Elmer LS50B is the fluorimeter used to measure GFP. Quartz cuvettes are placed in a chamber to measure the concentration and intensity. The parameters set to measure GFP are: Excitation 440nm Emission 460-550nm Slit widths 4 and 4 Accumulation 5 20 µg/ml of protein concentration is used. The emission and excitor wavelengths are set at 509nm and 395nm. Mass spectrometry: GFPuv properties and molecular mass can be analysed by mass spectroscopy. The type of mass spectroscopy used here is electron spray ionization (ESI). ESI is a type of atmospheric pressure ionisation technique (API) which is used for biochemical analysis. JEOL HX110/HX110A equipped with electron ion source tandem mass spectrometers are used to analyse structural properties [7]. 1-10 pmol/ µl of protein concentration is used. Solvents used are: MeOH MeCN TFA During ionisation sample is dissolved in a solvent and is pumped through a steel capillary at a rate of 1 µl/min and voltage of 3 or 4KV is applied [8]. Ion current is amplified by the detector and the data system will record signals in the form of mass spectrum. RESULTS: Site-directed mutagenesis: Primers used for site directed mutagenesis (Mutant) Forward primer: 5-CACTTGTCACTACTTTCTCTTGGGGTGTTCAATGCTTTTCC-3 Reverse primer: 5-GGAAAAGCATTGAACACCCCAAGAGAAAGTAGTGACAAGTG-3 Alignment of the amino acid sequence of the mutant with the GFPuv amino acid sequence GFPuv MSKGEELFTGVVPILVELDGDVNGHKFSVSGEGEGDATYGKLTLKFICTTGKLPVPWPTL 60 mGFPuv MSKGEELFTGVVPILVELDGDVNGHKFSVSGEGEGDATYGKLTLKFICTTGKLPVPWPTL 60 ************************************************************ GFPuv VTTFSYGVQCFSRYPDHMKRHDFFKSAMPEGYVQERTISFKDDGNYKTRAEVKFEGDTLV 120 mGFPuv VTTFSWGVQCFSRYPDHMKRHDFFKSAMPEGYVQERTISFKDDGNYKTRAEVKFEGDTLV 120 *****:****************************************************** Y66W GFPuv NRIELKGIDFKEDGNILGHKLEYNYNSHNVYITADKQKNGIKANFKIRHNIEDGSVQLAD 180 mGFPuv NRIELKGIDFKEDGNILGHKLEYNYNSHNVYITADKQKNGIKANFKIRHNIEDGSVQLAD 180 ************************************************************ GFPuv HYQQNTPIGDGPVLLPDNHYLSTQSALSKDPNEKRDHMVLLEFVTAAGITHGMDELYK- 238 mGFPuv HYQQNTPIGDGPVLLPDNHYLSTQSALSKDPNEKRDHMVLLEFVTAAGITHGMDELYK- 238 ********************************************************** Amino acid substitution: Y66W Belongs to Class 5, indole in chromophore (cyan fluorescent proteins) [6] eCFP CATATGAGTAAAGGAGAAGAACTTTTCACTGGAGTTGTCCCAATTCTTGTTGAATTAGAT 60 GFP ATGAGTAAAGGAGAAGAACTTTTCACTGGAGTTGTCCCAATTCTTGTTGAATTAGAT 57 ********************************************************* eCFP GGTGATGTTAATGGGCACAAATTTTCTGTCAGTGGAGAGGGTGAAGGTGATGCAACATAC 120 GFP GGTGATGTTAATGGGCACAAATTTTCTGTCAGTGGAGAGGGTGAAGGTGATGCAACATAC 117 ************************************************************ eCFP GGAAAACTTACCCTTAAATTTATTTGCACTACTGGAAAACTACCTGTTCCATGGCCAACA 180 GFP GGAAAACTTACCCTTAAATTTATTTGCACTACTGGAAAACTACCTGTTCCATGGCCAACA 177 ************************************************************ eCFP CTTGTCACTACTTTCTCTTGGGGTGTTCAATGCTTTTCCCGTTATCCGGATCACATGAAA 240 GFP CTTGTCACTACTTTCTCTTATGGTGTTCAATGCTTTTCCCGTTATCCGGATCATATGAAA 237 ******************* ******************************** ****** Mutation eCFP CGGCATGACTTTTTCAAGAGTGCCATGCCCGAAGGTTATGTACAGGAACGCACTATATCT 300 GFP CGGCATGACTTTTTCAAGAGTGCCATGCCCGAAGGTTATGTACAGGAACGCACTATATCT 297 ************************************************************ eCFP TTCAAAGATGACGGGAACTACAAGACGCGTGCTGAAGTCAAGTTTGAAGGTGATACCCTT 360 GFP TTCAAAGATGACGGGAACTACAAGACGCGTGCTGAAGTCAAGTTTGAAGGTGATACCCTT 357 ************************************************************ eCFP GTTAATCGTATCGAGTTAAAAGGTATTGATTTTAAAGAAGATGGAAACATTCTCGGACAC 420 GFP GTTAATCGTATCGAGTTAAAAGGTATTGATTTTAAAGAAGATGGAAACATTCTCGGACAC 417 ************************************************************ eCFP AAACTCGAGTACAACTATAACTCACACAATGTATACATCACGGCAGACAAACAAAAGAAT 480 GFP AAACTCGAGTACAACTATAACTCACACAATGTATACATCACGGCAGACAAACAAAAGAAT 477 ************************************************************ eCFP GGAATCAAAGCT 492 GFP GGAATCAAAGCTAACTTCAAAATTCGCCACAACATTGAAGATGGATCCGTTCAACTAGCA 537 ************ eCFP GFP GACCATTATCAACAAAATACTCCAATTGGCGATGGCCCTGTCCTTTTACCAGACAACCAT 597 eCFP GFP TACCTGTCGACACAATCTGCCCTTTCGAAAGATCCCAACGAAAAGCGTGACCACATGGTC 657 eCFP GFP CTTCTTGAGTTTGTAACTGCTGCTGGGATTACACATGGCATGGATGAGCTCTACAAATAA 717 SDS-PAGE : Coomassie staining gel of (Sample 6): Marker GFP protein (soluble sample) Western blotting (Sample 11): Induced total sample GFP protein Ni-NTA chromatography: Fluorimetry: Mass spectrometry: Wild-type: Mutant: Discussion: Site-directed mutagenesis: In the site-directed mutagenesis mutation is carried out at the right place i.e., at 197 and 198 places. Tyrosine (TAT) is mutated to tryptophan (TGG), Y W. During this mutation protein undergoes many changes especially in the fluorescence. GFP turns into CFP (Cyan fluorescent protein) hence the light emitted will not be exactly green. CFP will have many peculiar features like rather than single excitation and emission peaks it possess double humping. Tag CFP possess some properties like: Structure monomer Molecular weight 27KDa Polypeptide length 239aa Fluorescence colour Cyan Maximum excitation 458nm Maximum emission 480nm Excitation coefficient 37000M-1 cm-1 Pka 4.7 Quantum yield 0.57 Brightness 21.1 Brightness is produced by the quantum yield and extinction coefficient. Dual colour visualisation of the protein expressed is enabled by the CFP. This has led to the Fluorescence Resonance Energy Development (FRET). SDS-PAGE: SDS-PAGE is carried out to separate proteins according to their electrophoretic mobility and experimental repeats will result in the purity assessment of the protein. Four wells are loaded with samples and 2 and 4 wells show protein result and as 1 and 3 wells dont contain protein they will be normal without any bands. Results shows that little amount of GFP has been observed in the insoluble and large amount of protein has been observed in the soluble sample. Uninduced sample cannot find GFP. Western-blotting: Western-blot is performed to make sure the presence of protein. Histidine tagged probe is added to confirm the protein present was GFP or not. pET28c plasmid contains T7 RNA polymerase promoter sequence. But this promoter is blocked by the repressor. Hence lactose containing medium is required for E.coli growth. Because lactose is used as carbon source, glucose is converted into allolactose. This allolactose will bind to repressor by unblocking promoter, and expresses GFP. Hence presence of glucose will result in Lac-I and is binds to the operator. Band observed in the blot is probably GFP and it has high level of intensity after induction. And it is necessary to confirm this by performing blotting technique using His probe to detect His tagged GFP. Bands are observed in the induced and soluble samples after performing western blotting confirming the presence of GFP. Ni-NTA chromatography: Purification of GFP can be done by Ni-NTA chromatography. For a recombinant protein the amino acid binding site with 6 or more His residues in a row acts as metal binding site. So hexa-his sequence is called as His-tag. His-tag sequence is present in the N-terminal of the target protein and is located in the promoter region adjacently to the GFP gene. During this process enzyme HRP is also bound to the probe. This HRP-probe will react with luminal 4 peroxidase buffer which is further used for purifying GFP by Ni-NTA chromatography. Purification by His-tagged GFP can be done by using several methods like Ni2+-poly (2 acetomidoacrylic acid) hydrogel. Displacement of GFP can be done by binding nickel to imidazole. This is mainly because of high affinity of nickel towards imidazole compared to GFP.Distinctive bands are supposed to observe in the elute1, elute 2 and also in the total soluble fraction. Bands formed states the presence of the GFP mutant. Absence of the bands states mutant a bsence. In the results bands are observed at the total induced and the soluble samples which state the protein presence. Even small amounts of bands are also observed in the insoluble sample. GFP protein produced in the induced total sample is approximately at 27KDa. Slight bands are observed in the insoluble sample as it may be because of some impurities. Finally the GFP protein has been detected. References: 1. Davenport D, Nichol JAC: Luminescence in Hydromedusae. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B 1955, 144:399-411 2. Ward. W., Prentice, H., Roth, A. Cody. C. and Reeeves.S.1982.Spectral perturbations of the Aequoria green fluorescent protein. Photochem. Photobiol. 35:803-808 3. Cormack, B. P., Valdivia, R. H., Falkow, S. (1996). FACS-optimized mutants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP). Gene, In press 4. Darelle Thomson , Greg Smith. (2001).PCR-based plasmid vector construction for generation of recombinant viruses. Journal of Virological Methods 94, 7-14 5. Vogelstein, B., and Gillespie, D. (1979) Preparative and analytical purification of DNA from agarose. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76, 615-619. 6. HEIM, R., PRASHER, D. C. TSIEN, R. Y. 1994. Wavelength Mutations and Posttranslational Autoxidation of Green Fluorescent Protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 91, 12501-12504. 7. HARUKI NIWA, SATOSHI INOUYE et,al., Chemical nature of the light emitter of the Aequorea green fluorescent protein. Vol. 93, pp. 13617-13622, November 1996. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 8. â€Å"Mass Spectrometry: A Foundation Course†, K. Downard, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, 2004.

Research Paper -- essays papers

Research Paper In a child’s life there are many things that can effect school achievement. One of the most common talked about things is parental involvement. However, something that might be just as important is the income of a child’s family. There are several reasons why income is important. Higher income families usually live in better neighborhoods which means better schools. An higher income can also mean more educational programs available to a child, and the ability to choice a school. These are some factors on why family income is important in school achievement. A family that has a high-income will usually live in a better neighborhood then a family with a low-income. A lot of times the better the neighborhood the better the school. High-income neighborhoods are usually more successful in school then low-income neighborhoods. This usually occurs because there are usually more resources available to the wealthier students, and better teachers tend to teach at wealthier schools. Studies have shown that a family’s economic does play a role in school achievement. The more money a family has, the more sources open to a child, which enhances achievement. Reynolds and Temple (1998) looked at low-income, inner city, African American children from Chicago. These are some of the most disadvantaged children in the Chicago school system. The study looked at the programs that were available to the students in this area. By doing so they were able to see how effective public service programs were, and whether or not they actually produce better performance in school. The emphasis of the program was placed on parent invovlment and having smaller classes that lead too more personalized teaching. These two ideas... ... Entwisle, D., & Alexander, K. (1995). A Parent’s Economic Shadow: Family Structure Versus Family Resources as Influenced on Early School Achievement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 399-409. Pong, Suet-Ling; Ju, Dong-Beom. (2000). The Effects of Change in Family Structure and Income on Dropping Out of Middle and High School. Journal of Family Issues, 21, 147. Reynolds, A., & Temple, J. (1998). Extended Early Childhood Intervention and School Acheivement: Age Thirteen Findings from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Child Development, 69, 231 246. Shumow, L., Kang K. & Vandell, D. (1996). School Choice, Family Characteristics, and Home-School Relations: Contributers to school Achievement? Journal of Educationl Psychology, 88, 451-460. Research Paper -- essays papers Research Paper In a child’s life there are many things that can effect school achievement. One of the most common talked about things is parental involvement. However, something that might be just as important is the income of a child’s family. There are several reasons why income is important. Higher income families usually live in better neighborhoods which means better schools. An higher income can also mean more educational programs available to a child, and the ability to choice a school. These are some factors on why family income is important in school achievement. A family that has a high-income will usually live in a better neighborhood then a family with a low-income. A lot of times the better the neighborhood the better the school. High-income neighborhoods are usually more successful in school then low-income neighborhoods. This usually occurs because there are usually more resources available to the wealthier students, and better teachers tend to teach at wealthier schools. Studies have shown that a family’s economic does play a role in school achievement. The more money a family has, the more sources open to a child, which enhances achievement. Reynolds and Temple (1998) looked at low-income, inner city, African American children from Chicago. These are some of the most disadvantaged children in the Chicago school system. The study looked at the programs that were available to the students in this area. By doing so they were able to see how effective public service programs were, and whether or not they actually produce better performance in school. The emphasis of the program was placed on parent invovlment and having smaller classes that lead too more personalized teaching. These two ideas... ... Entwisle, D., & Alexander, K. (1995). A Parent’s Economic Shadow: Family Structure Versus Family Resources as Influenced on Early School Achievement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 399-409. Pong, Suet-Ling; Ju, Dong-Beom. (2000). The Effects of Change in Family Structure and Income on Dropping Out of Middle and High School. Journal of Family Issues, 21, 147. Reynolds, A., & Temple, J. (1998). Extended Early Childhood Intervention and School Acheivement: Age Thirteen Findings from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Child Development, 69, 231 246. Shumow, L., Kang K. & Vandell, D. (1996). School Choice, Family Characteristics, and Home-School Relations: Contributers to school Achievement? Journal of Educationl Psychology, 88, 451-460.

Copious Imagery within the Tragedy Othello :: Othello essays

Copious Imagery within the Tragedy Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚   In the Bard of Avon’s tragic drama Othello there resides imagery of all types, sizes and shapes. Let us look at the playwright’s offering in this area.    In the essay â€Å"Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello† Robert B. Heilman discusses the significance of imagery within this play:    Reiterative language is particularly prone to acquire a continuity of its own and to become â€Å"an independent part of the plot† whose effect we can attempt to gauge. It may create â€Å"mood† or â€Å"atmosphere†: the pervasiveness of images of injury, pain, and torture in Othello has a very strong impact that is not wholly determined by who uses the images. But most of all the â€Å"system of imagery† introduces thoughts, ideas, themes – elements of the meaning that is the author’s final organization of all his materials. (333)    The vulgar imagery of the ancient dominate the opening of the play. Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† describes the types of imagery used by the antagonist when he â€Å"slips his mask aside† while awakening Brabantio:    Iago is letting loose the wicked passion inside him, as he does from time to time throughout the play, when he slips his mask aside. At such moments he always resorts to this imagery of money-bags, treachery, and animal lust and violence. So he expresses his own faithless, envious spirit, and, by the same token, his vision of the populous city of Venice – Iago’s â€Å"world,† as it has been called. . . .(132)    Standing outside the senator’s home late at night, Iago uses imagery within a lie to arouse the occupant: â€Å" Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves! / Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!† When the senator appears at the window, the ancient continues with coarse imagery of animal lust: â€Å"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is topping your white ewe,† and â€Å"you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans.† Brabantio, judging from Iago’s language, rightfully concludes that the latter is a â€Å"profane wretch† and a â€Å"villain.†    When Iago returns to the Moor, he resorts to violence in his description of the senator, saying that â€Å"nine or ten times / I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the ribs.

The Evolution of the American Television Family Essay examples -- essa

The Evolution of the American Television Family Television is not just a form of entertainment, but it is an excellent form of study of society’s view concerning its families. This study focuses on the history of television beginning in the early 1950s and will run through present day. It examines the use of racial, ethnic and sexual stereotypes to characterize the players of these shows. The examples assist in tracing what has happened to the depiction of the American family on prime time television. It reveals the change of the standards employed by network television as disclosed to the American public. Finally, I will propose the question of which is the influential entity, television or the viewing audience. The Goldbergs, which was originally a radio show, became the first popular family series. It became a weekly TV series in 1949, revealing to Americans a working class Jewish family who resided in a small apartment in the Bronx. The show, while warm and humorous, confronted delicate social issues, such as sensitivity due to the Second World War. It is an excellent example of an ethnic family’s status in society. A classic among classics, I Love Lucy appeared on television on October 15, 1951, (http://www.nick-at-nite.com/tvretro/shows/ilovelucy/index.tin). The series’ premise focused on the antics of a nonsensical wife who beguiles her easily angered husband. The series created the men-versus-women standard on television, (such as what we see between Dan and Roseanne on Roseanne today), that still predominates today. One circumstance that led TV executives to seriously challenge the show’s impending success was the use of Lucille Ball’s real-life Cuban husband, Desi Arnaz. The â€Å"mixed-marriage† status was a questionable concept that worried the administrators. The situation prevailed; its episodes routinely attracted over two-thirds of the television audience. Leave it to Beaver, the definitive 1950’s household comedy, focused on life through the eyes of an adolescent boy, Beaver. Beaver was a typically disorderly youngster. His brother Wally, just entering his teens, was beginning to discover the opposite sex. The relationship that existed between the boys and their parents, Ward and June, was impeccable. A situation never developed that damaged the kinship beyond restoration. The parents exhibited perfect attributes that no ... ..., the idea of the American family is much more realistic than that of those shows from the 1950s. The family’s obnoxious mother is the most dynamic member of the family. Married with Children was an overly exaggerated example of a problematic family. While it was a far cry from reality, the show expressed the society’s opinion of its own culture in a satirical fashion. Television’s portrayal of the American family has undergone a significant transformation in the fifty years of its existence, as stated by this essay. The families seen on television today are the diametric opposite of those seen in the early 1950s. The relationship between the parents and the children has gone from perfect to dysfunctional. But, it is the dysfunctional relationships that are better examples of American families. Racial and ethnic lines have been crossed in the fifty years of television’s existence. If anything, television families have been teachers, showing the viewing audiences how to act and how things truly are. Blind folds, previously worn by the American people, have been taken off and thrown away. It is society’s greater appreciation for honesty that has greatly influenced television.

Personal Space and the Impact of Eye Contact Essay

As being a very important part of the human’s behavior, Personal Space and eye contact attracted a lot of scientists and research institutions. As Jeff Hughes and Morton Goldman (1978) have shown that how variations in eye contact and of experimental confederate affected the violation of personal space. Different people have different definitions to the term ‘Personal Space’. Personal Space may be denned as the area individuals maintain around themselves into which others cannot intrude without arousing discomfort (Hayduk, 1978). Personal Space is often described as a bubble of space surrounding a person. Buchanan, Goldman & Juhnke (1977) defines Personal Space as ‘a physical space surrounding an individual which, when intruded upon, generates an observable reaction of discomfort or flight’. The first factor to be considered that influences a person’s personal space is body position. Whether a person is sitting down or standing up can greatly affect their personal space. Hartnett, Bailey and Hartley (1974) claims that â€Å"for both the short and tall Os, the subjects were approached closer in the sitting position. From a territorial point of view, it could be that people believed that they are not really invading the personal space of others when they were in a position that seemed less threatening, which is sitting. The second factor to be considered that affects personal space is physical disability. Wright (1983) suggests that bad attitudes and perceptions about people with physical disabilities are highly retentive, and cannot be easily removed or changed. Kleck (1968) has also confirmed that people tend to give more personal space in social interactions to people with physical disabilities as compared to people without physical disabilities. A variable that has not been frequently manipulated in personal space research is eye contact. As seen in field experiments conducted by Buchanan, et al. (1977), males generally prefer to violate the personal space of another male who did not offer much eye contact, rather than another male who offered direct eye contact. Another experiment conducted by him shows that â€Å"female subjects preferred to violate the personal space of a female confederate who established eye contact with them†. It is also seen that females tend to avoid invading the personal space of males who had direct eye contact with them. However, females would rather violate the personal space of a male who are smiling at them and gazed directly at them, as compared to a male who had their backs turned. And according to Argyle and Dean, the eye contact is significantly reduced as proximity is increased and their finding that eye contact unpleasant or is to be avoided as proximity increase suggests that variations in the way a person gazes at others could affect intrusions into that person’s personal space. From these readings, it is expected that when two people approach each other with eye contact, the personal space between them will be bigger than without eye contact.

Night Essay: Examples of Night

â€Å"I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. † (42) Elie Wiesel’s Night is about a young Jewish boy and his experiences through the Holocaust in the 1940’s. Any human being should never experience the hell-like terror that Elie had to go through. He is separated from his mother and his sister and is deported to Auschwitz, one of Hitler’s most depressing concentration camps. Wiesel uses night not only as the title but also as a symbol of time, a world without God, and man’s inhumanity to man. Night is defined as a time of day when the sun is dormant, but for Elie Wiesel, night is eternal.While stuck inside the camp, hope is quickly diminished in Elie’s mind, overtaken by the deep darkness that night brings. This can be clearly seen when Ellie explains his last night in Buna. â€Å"Yet another last night. The last night at home, the last night in the ghetto, the last night in the train, and, now the last night in Buna. How much lo nger were our lives to be dragged out from one ‘last night’ to another? †(79) The question that Elie repeats shows that light in the camp can be seen as sign of hope, but sadly no light shines in the gloomy, depressing place.Elie explains how he encounters a complete darkness, no matter what time of day it is, when he enters Auschwitz. â€Å"Never shall I forget the night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night. †(32) The horrid sights he has to live through in the camp can be seen as the scary, evil, eerie feeling that you get when nightfall arrives, almost like a time of day were there is no presence of God. When forced to evacuate the camp, Elie explains how the darkness swallowed people’s lives as they were marched to death. â€Å"Pitch darkness. Every now and then, an explosion in the night.They had orders to fire on any who could not keep up. †(81) With the sound of gunshots and people dying, night hove red over every single one of them marching for their own lives. The gloomy, dark, fright-filled nighttime can be closely related to the horrid journey of Elie Wiesel in Auschwitz were no light can be seen, even in the daytime. If God could be seen as light, then the loss of faith is his darkness. On page 60, Elie experiences a young boy being hanged as a punishment inside the camp. From witnessing the awful sight it reminds Elie of the harsh reality of the Nazi’s and how they have deteriorated his faith, a vital omponent for staying alive in the camp. Elie then hears a question come from behind him. â€Å"Where is god now? And I heard a voice within me answer him: Where is he? Here he is- He is hanging here on his gallows . . . † (62) Elie felt as though God no longer had his support and that he had lost faith within him. He explains the young, innocent boy dying in front of him as his faith slowly slipping away. Elie began to doubt the support from God. â€Å"I did n ot deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice. †(42) God was no longer meaningful and helpful towards Wiesel’s struggles; he had nothing to turn to when deeply in need.Nighttime can be seen as a time when God is no longer there, when the evil emerges from their dwellings in which they hid from the light in. Auschwitz is an eternal night, where evil doesn’t need to hide because no light is visible. The horror and inhumanity of the Nazi’s left million of innocent people trapped in a place of darkness without the slightest sign of light or hope. This can be seen numerous times throughout the whole book. Disturbing sights that Ellie experienced will remain with him and haunt him forever because of how brutal they are.The Nazi just threw out the dead corpses. They undressed him, the survivors avidly sharing out his clothes, then two ‘gravediggers’ took him, one by the head and one by the feet, and threw him out of the wagon lik e a sack of flour. † The way they just threw around the dead as though they were useless, inanimate objects was something no normal minded person could do. As they made their evacuation, the SS screamed and yelled at the poor people saying things like, â€Å"Faster, you swine, you filthy sons of bitches! †(81) The Nazi’s showed little to no sympathy towards the people that were different from them.They felt superior to all and dehumanized those who weren’t. When finally being released from imprisonment, Ellie wanted to see what he had looked like. â€Å"I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse glazed back at me. †(109) The fact that Ellie had not seen himself since he had entered the ghetto is unreal. He barely recognized his standing ‘corpse’. Dehumanization does extremely awful things to people and the Nazis did a textbook job of doing so. Leaving people suffering under the wrath of the horror an d inhumanity with a result of innocent people dying.Man’s inhumanity to man, a world without God, ad night as a symbol of the time of day, symbolizes night in Ellie Wiesel’s novel. In additions to the time of day, night can be seen as an everlasting darkness Elie has to endure while stuck inside the camp with no sign of light or hope in sight. Elie Wiesel shares his story to educate the world of the harsh reality of dehumanization. Sadly this is still active in our world today. They say that knowledge is power; ignorance is bliss, so hopefully Elie’s story will reach the souls of humanity and potentially keep history from repeating itself in the near future.