In Of Mice and Men, why does Steinbeck focus so much attention on Candy's dog in Chapter Three? What does this foreshadow?

The situation with Candy's dog in Chapter Three helps Steinbeck establish two of his important themes in the novella. It is also important because its death foreshadows later events. First, the dog is symbolic of the old and weak who are powerless when faced with a society which views them as useless. Because the dog is old and decrepit, the laborer Carlson contends that it should be put out of its misery. It is no longer useful and its existence is now a burden on the men around it, mainly because it smells bad. Society, in the form of Carlson and Slim, judges the dog and it is ultimately killed by Carlson. Second, the symbol of the dog helps Steinbeck reinforce the idea of loneliness and isolation. The dog is Candy's friend and its loss throws him into a period of depression. He has lost a faithful companion, an animal he has raised and lived with for several years. Only the idea of the dream farm helps Candy overcome the loneliness of losing his dog.

More importantly, the episode with the dog foreshadows the end of the book. When Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife it is left to George to provide a solution to the problem presented by Lennie's mental disability and continually anti-social behavior. As with the dog, Slim is also part of the judgement against Lennie. He suggests to George that allowing Curley to get to Lennie first or locking him up will not be the right thing to do. In Chapter Three, Candy laments that he should have shot his dog himself instead of allowing a stranger to do what was his responsibility. Like the dog, Lennie has outlived his usefulness. He can no longer continue in society and George ultimately decides that the best thing to do is to kill him rather than allow Curley or the law to do what George sees as his problem. To further emphasize that the death of the dog provides foreshadowing for the death of Lennie, Steinbeck has George use the same gun (Carlson's Luger) to kill Lennie that was used on the dog.

Is Hermia from A Midsummer Night's Dream right to disobey her father's commands? Why?

I personally believe Hermia is right to disobey her father's commands, as doing so constitutes a rebellion against oppressive patriarchal laws. In the world of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Athenian law maintains that fathers can choose their daughters' husbands and punish them harshly for disobeying their commands. Egeus, Hermia's father, wants his daughter to marry Demetrius, and refuses to understand she's actually in love with Lysander. By mandating his daughter marry who he wants her to marry, Egeus totally disregards Hermia's feelings and well-being. Indeed, Egeus treats Hermia as if she is property, as he believes he has the right to "give" her to any man he wants. This idea is clearly an example of an oppressive patriarchy at work, so Hermia's decision to disobey her father and follow her heart is clearly the right course of action.

In Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, when and how does Stargirl first become aware of Leo Borlock?

In the prologue entitled "Porcupine Necktie," Leo tells about the time he read about himself in the family section of the local newspaper that highlights birthdays. In that article, his mother reported that Leo had a porcupine necktie collection as a hobby. Leo was fourteen years old at the time, which probably would have put him in ninth grade. A few days after the article about his hobbies ran in the newspaper, he found a birthday present on his doorstep and discovered that it was a porcupine necktie. It isn't until later in the book that he discovers it was Stargirl who had given him the necktie. He doesn't meet Stargirl until he is in eleventh grade, though, which is when the two of them are around sixteen or seventeen years old. Therefore, Stargirl first becomes aware of Leo Borlock when they are in ninth grade through the newspaper article, but the two of them don't officially meet until a couple of years later in eleventh grade.

What is the feud in Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Juliet is set in Renaissance Italy, which establishes a cultural background for the feud between the houses of Montague and Capulet. During this period in Europe, especially in Italy, noble families were engaged in a dangerous game of social chess. Families used their influence, either in wealth or in name, to shape laws and social structure to benefit themselves. In fact, there was a practice at this time, known as Indulgences, where people might "buy" forgiveness for sins from the Church. In a society where money could excuse sins, imagine the power it held in government!

Noble feuds sprang up for a number of reasons and often lasted so long that younger generations forgot why the fighting began. This is the case in Romeo and Juliet. From the prologue, we know that "ancient grudge break[s] to new mutiny." This means that the feud between the Montagues and Capulets is a very old one which has erupted again in the current societal tensions. Though we do not really know why they began fighting, we can imagine it has to do with money and familial honor based upon the fact that both families are wealthy and the younger members of each house swear hatred on the name of the enemy alone. This is what makes the romance between Romeo and Juliet so "star-crossed"! Their fate has been determined by their families and they are intended to be enemies. If they had known each other's names before meeting, who knows if they would have fallen in love?

What is the name of the Keller home in The Story of My Life?

The Keller home was known as Ivy Green.

When Helen was young, she lived with her family in a very small house on the family land.  She explains that it was the custom for the family to do this, building a little house she calls an annex neat the homestead “to be used on occasion.”  Her father built the house and moved in there with her mother before she was born.

The Keller homestead, where the family lived, was a few steps from our little rose-bower. It was called "Ivy Green" because the house and the surrounding trees and fences were covered with beautiful English ivy. Its old-fashioned garden was the paradise of my childhood. (Ch. 1)

Helen Keller was not born blind or deaf.  This was the result of an illness as a young child.  She remembered her childhood cabin and wandering around the Keller homestead.  Even at that age, she valued nature.

But the roses--they were loveliest of all. Never have I found in the greenhouses of the North such heart-satisfying roses as the climbing roses of my southern home. (Ch. 1)

Nature is one of the ways that Anne Sullivan, Helen's teacher, was able to get through to her.  Helen loved wandering around the land, and even if she could not see or hear she could experience the land with her other senses.  Helen loved flowers and you can still enjoy them when you are blind.  Smell is one of the strongest senses.  Helen had very good memories of wandering the Keller land smelling the flowers.

Does Stargirl have any conflicts with people? Who?

Yes, I would definitely say that Stargirl has conflicts with people.  I would even say that she is in conflict with a specific person as well.  

In general, Stargirl's main conflict is with most of the student body at her school.  Most of the students simply don't understand Stargirl, which causes them to shun Stargirl.  They are not necessarily always outright mean to Stargirl, but the students also don't go out of their way to be nice and include her in everything either.  It makes school a lonely place for Stargirl.  

Hillari Kimble is Stargirl's specific antagonist.  Hillari is outright mean to Stargirl.  Her mean streak begins with spreading nasty rumors about Stargirl and escalates from there.  At one point, Hillari physically slaps Stargirl in front of people.  

Shortly after, as the Serenaders gratefully played “Stardust,” Hillari Kimble walked up to Stargirl and said, “You ruin everything.” And she slapped her.

What is most interesting about your conflict question regarding the novel is that Stargirl herself essentially refuses to be in conflict with people.  People might have problems with her, but she doesn't have problems with them.  Stargirl is either oblivious to the antagonism, or she is so confident in herself that she simply chooses not to care.  I think it's a mixture of both.  Even when Hillari Kimble slaps Stargirl in the face, Stargirl flat out refuses to stoop to that level.  Instead, Stargirl kisses Hillari on the cheek.  

And in fact, when Stargirl finally moved, Hillari winced and shut her eyes. But it was lips that touched her, not the palm of a hand. Stargirl kissed her gently on the cheek.

Finish this sentence: England prized its North American Colonies because___________.

England prized it's North American colonies for many reasons.  One was for the valuable natural resources they contained.  Virginian tobacco was very popular all over the world, and lumber from New England was quite valuable to create ships for the rapidly growing English navy.  Sugar from the Caribbean was necessary to make rum--a staple in English naval and shipping culture.  Furs, especially beaver during the early 1800s, were quite important to English fashion.  The American colonies would be valuable for their contributions of indigo and rice as well before they became independent.  

Another reason that the North American colonies were valuable was that they served as an area where England could send it's potential troublemakers.  Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania served as lands for religious dissenters--this was important, as religion was considered something to fight over in Europe during this same period.  Georgia was a place for what were called the "deserving poor;" it was more humane than a debtor's prison.  Finally, Virginia, South Carolina, and the Caribbean were places for ambitious young men to make their money raising cash crops.  These young men in turn would hopefully be valuable taxpayers to the English government.  

How did American attitudes regarding US foreign relations affect Roosevelt's foreign policy change of opinion?

After World War I ended, many Americans wanted to have as little as possible to do with foreign affairs. We wanted to go back to a normal life where we wouldn’t be dealing with many world problems. This attitude continued to exist when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President.

The Nye Committee suggested that our involvement in World War I was heavily influenced by business considerations. The Nye Committee suggested part of the reason why we entered World War I was so our businesses could make money. In the 1930s, a series of neutrality laws were passed significantly restricting what we could do in foreign affairs, especially regarding trade. We weren’t allowed to sell weapons to countries that were at war. We weren’t allowed to sell nonmilitary supplies to countries at war unless these countries paid cash for the products and transported the products on their ships.

President Roosevelt understood these concerns. Plus, we were trying to deal with the devastating effects of the Great Depression. Against this backdrop, President Roosevelt knew he needed to make Americans aware of the growing danger in Europe and in Asia. After Japan invaded China in 1937, President Roosevelt gave the “Quarantine Speech” where he told Americans we needed to pay attention to world affairs. He knew that we needed to continue to try deal with the effects of the Great Depression. However, he understood our focus had to extend beyond our borders. As conditions worsened, President Roosevelt began to openly help Great Britain. The Destroyers for Bases program and the Lend-Lease Act were ways for President Roosevelt to get around the restrictive neutrality laws. Creating a hemispheric defense zone was a way for the United States to help the British in the Atlantic Ocean. These actions also helped to awaken Americans to the dangers that existed in the world. The Four Freedoms Speech also was designed to convince Americans we needed to be more vigilant about world events.

President Roosevelt had the difficult task of swaying opinion in favor of becoming more involved in world affairs. As the world situation became more serious, President Roosevelt saw the need for the United States to take action, and he was able to convince Americans that this was the proper course of action. 

How would you compare the tragic implications of "Rooms" by Charlotte Mew and "Monna Innominata [I dream of you, to wake]" by Christina Rossetti?

Christina Rossetti was an English poet of the Victorian era. Charlotte Mew was also English, but writes at the transition from Victorian Romanticism to Modernism.

Mew’s poem “Rooms” begins with the poignant “I remember rooms that have had their part / In the steady slowing down of the heart,” pointing to themes of remembrance and loss. In line six, the reader is hit with the element that ties the rooms together, “Rooms where for good or for ill—things died.” Then Mew drifts from a literal meaning of death to the figurative emotional death of the speaker and her lover. The two "lie dead" even though they seem to wake and sleep. This hints that the pair may be suffering from an emotional death or the death of their emotional connection to each other.

Rossetti’s “Monna Innominata,” meaning unknown lady in Italian, creates a voice for the unnamed woman glorified in the poetry of such writers as Dante and Petrarch. The speaker grieves the loss of her lover and treasures her dreams in which she can be with him again. The final lines give the seemingly logical reasoning, “If thus to sleep is sweeter than to wake, / To die were surely sweeter than to live.” The speaker thus contemplates preferring death to the pain of grief.

These poems both explore themes of love and loss but with different tragic implications. Rossetti’s poem is a more traditional take on lost love and grief, while Mew’s poem is a more subtle exploration of the figurative death of a relationship or emotional connection. 

What was the difference between the frog and the nightingale?

The Nightingale was unsure, gullible, and naïve. On the other hand, the Frog was cunning, ruthless, and malicious. The frog sang horribly to the chagrin of the other animals in the forest. The other animals tried to stop him, but their attempts were futile.

The Nightingale arrived in the forest and sang melodiously to the pleasure of the animals. The animals loved how the nightingale sang and applauded her. The frog was jealous and hatched a plan to destroy the bird. The frog pretended to be an expert singer and an adept critic. He offered to help improve the nightingale’s singing. The nightingale unquestioningly agreed to follow the instructions of the frog. She failed to consider that her singing was impressive. She blindly accepted the frog’s claims of being an expert. The frog took advantage of the nightingale’s naivety and forced her to sing nonstop. The malicious exercise led to her demise.

Which character asks Lord Capulet for permission to marry Juliet?

In Act 1 Scene 2, Paris asks Lord Capulet's permission to marry Juliet. Although amenable to his request for his daughter's hand, Lord Capulet asks Paris to wait. He states that Juliet is not yet fourteen years old, and he would prefer that Paris wait two years before he presented his suit again.

Disappointed, Paris argues that girls younger than Juliet have married and become happy mothers. In response, Lord Capulet basically explains that Juliet is the apple of his eye; she's the only child he has ("Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she"). So, he's not ready to see her married yet.

Lord Capulet tells Paris to concentrate on winning Juliet's heart first; if Paris is successful, Lord Capulet will then give his permission and his blessing for the union. In the meantime, Lord Capulet invites Paris to a party he's giving that night. He tells Paris that there will be lots of young women there and advises him to delight himself in the presence of all the "fresh fennel buds" (young maidens) who will be in attendance. Lord Capulet thinks that if Paris keeps an open mind, he may find himself preferring another young woman to Juliet.

How does Shakespeare develop the theme of fate in Romeo and Juliet, and why is this significant?

From the famous prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the Prince's closing statement at the play's end, fate weaves its way through the title characters' lives. Not only does the audience find out in the play's opening lines that Romeo and Juliet take their lives at some point during the play--which is admittedly ill-fated--but they are also forewarned that the young people are "star-crossed lovers," which implies that their destinies cannot converge successfully. From the moment they are born into feuding families, Romeo and Juliet's fate is to die in order to bring about peace. Shakespeare writes that "the continuance of their parents' rage, / Which, but their children's end, naught could remove" (Prologue, Lines 10-11), meaning that the grudge between the Capulets and Montagues is so strong that absolutely nothing other than each family's loss of a child could stop the feud.

During Acts II-IV, Romeo and Juliet seemingly cannot take a step without their family backgrounds hindering their relationship. Whether a scene involves Juliet's hotheaded cousin Tybalt insulting and causing trouble for Romeo and his friends, or the Nurse and Friar Laurence entangling themselves in the secretive relationship between the teens, or Romeo killing Tybalt and being banished, one cannot deny that none of these actions would have been necessary had not the pair been born into families which hate each other.

Finally, at the play's end, the Prince blames the Capulets and Montagues' hate for the deaths of their children and states that "heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!" (5.3.293)--thus, even true love between the young couple could not disrupt "heaven's" plan to end the ancient feud. After his admonishment of the families of the dead, the Prince acknowledges that even elements of nature such as the sun mourn the lovers' dreadful fate and closes by claiming that

"never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo" (5.3.309-310).

How do you start an introductory paragraph for an autobiography, especially if you're young?

My best guess is that you're aiming to write not your entire autobiography, but rather an autobiographical story: that is, a focused story about something that happened to you in your own life. But whether that's the case or not, the ideas below may be of help, especially if you are still a kid or a teenager. Remember, even though you're young, you've still experienced an interesting, unique childhood that's worth writing about!

1. A good strategy is to start your first paragraph with a quick anecdote (a short, interesting story) that helps show readers what kind of person you are, or what kind of person you used to be. That is, just jump right into a description of something specific that happened to you, something that was funny, or sad, or surprising.

For example: "I once got in trouble with my parents for introducing myself to people as 'Lisa.' I was really tired of my weird real name, 'Liesl,' and I was especially tired of answering questions like 'Uh, how do you spell that?'"

2. Another strategy is to start describing something important you recently realized about life, or about a big idea like friendship, family, love, school, etc.

Example: "It took me way too long to realize that it's much more exciting to watch people open presents from you than it is to open your own presents."

3. Of course, you can also blend an anecdote with a realization. Example: "Last year in school when I didn't have my homework to turn in, and Mrs. Tarkington was standing over me with her eyebrows all wrinkled up in confusion because I always have my homework, I was very surprised to realize that I was neither jailed nor expelled nor disowned by my family as a result of this seemingly unforgivable sin."

Finally, here are some sentence patterns you can borrow to start your introduction paragraph:

A. "By the time I was (a certain age), I had realized _____."

B. "If you think that (something is true), you're in for a shock because _____."

C. "(A specific person in my life) once taught me something amazing: that _____."

D. "My life changed forever on the day that _____."

E. "For as long as I live, I will never forget how _____."

For more ideas, head to the biography section of your school's library, and open to the first page of any of the autobiographies to see how these published writers began their own stories. You can borrow their strategies—not copy what they say exactly, but notice how they begin and try to do a similar thing.

Discuss "The Stolen Bacillus" as a science fiction story.

"The Stolen Bacillus" belongs to the genre of science fiction and, to understand why, it is useful to look at a relevant definition. According to the University of California, for example, a science fiction story is one which presents an "alternative world" (see the reference link provided). In "The Stolen Bacillus," the setting is London but it is a very different London to the one which Wells' readers were accustomed to. In Wells' London, for instance, the city is at risk from anarchists who use deception to wage biological warfare by poisoning the water supply. 

In addition, science fiction stories have very distinctive character types, like "the scientist" and "the action hero" (see the reference link provided) and "The Stolen Bacillus" is no exception. Wells conforms to these character types by creating "the Anarchist" and "the Bacteriologist," two typical yet contrasting character types who also create the story's central conflict.

Carbon-14 dating assumes that the carbon dioxide on Earth today has the same radioactive content as it did centuries ago. If this is true, the...

It is impossible to predict when a particular atom will decay. However, it is equally likely to decay at any instant in time. Therefore, given a sample of a particular radioisotope, the number of decay events `−dN` expected to occur in a small interval of time `dt` is proportional to the number of atoms present `N,` i.e.

`-(dN)/(dt)propto N`

For different atoms different decay constants apply.

`-(dN)/(dt)=\lambda N`

The above differential equation is easily solved by separation of variables.

`N=N_0e^(-lambda t)`  

where `N_0` is the number of undecayed atoms at time `t=0.`

We can now calculate decay constant `lambda` for carbon-14 using the given half-life.

`N_0/2=N_0e^(-lambda 5715)`

`e^(-5715lambda)=1/2`

`-5715lambda=ln(1/2)`

`lambda=-(ln(1/2))/5715`

`lambda=1.21 times 10^-4`

Note that the above constant is usually measured in seconds rather than years.

Now we can return to the problem at hand. Since the charcoal contains only 15% (`0.15N_0` ) of the original carbon-14, we have

`0.15N_0=N_0e^(-1.21times10^-4t)`

Now we solve for `t.`

`e^(-1.21times10^-4t=0.15)`

`1.21times10^-4=-ln 0.15`

`t=-(ln0.15)/(1.21times10^-4)`

`t=15678.68`

According to our calculation the tree was burned approximately 15679 years ago.                                                                                                    

Can anyone suggest for me a topic in Finance for PhD research?

Some current topics of interest in Finance are auction and game theory; gambling and sports (University of Salford); employee satisfaction and employee working environment; corporate culture; corporate and CEO governance; and corporate social responsibility and "green" responsibility (ECSP Europe Business School). Other topics of interest in Finance include business failure and bond ratings; health and social well-being; employee motivation and green behavior; and supply chain factors (University of Salford). 

One way to discover topics for Ph.D. research is to examine the areas of research being done by professors at various universities. As with the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, professors tend to publicly list their areas of research interest and their latest research publications. These can be used by Ph.D. candidates to inspire ideas and trigger areas of interest.

Following the global financial collapse based on credit-rated mortgage derivatives and as a result of such things as the expansion of gaming theory, the burgeoning needs and costs in healthcare, and the attention given to corporate culture consequent of CEOs' and millennials' behaviors, relevant new topics in finance have come to the fore for the purpose of examining these areas of finance.

[The topics I cited above come from the publicly described research of Professor David Forrest, Dr. Jia Liu, and Professor Hassan Yazdifar of the University of Salford, UK, and Professor Alberta Di Giuli, Professor Michael Troege, and Professor Franck Bancel of ECSP Europe Business School.]

During which part of the cell cycle does a cell spend the majority of its time?

There are three main phases of the life cycle of a cell: interphase, mitosis and cytokinesis. Mitosis is further divided into 4 phases: prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase. Among all these phases, the cell spends most of its life in interphase. It has been estimated that a cell may spend more than 3/4th of its life in interphase. During this phase, the cells make preparations for division, including chromosome replication, cell enlargement, and protein synthesis. Interphase consists of three sub-phases, including the G1 phase, S phase and G2 phase. After interphase, cells enter mitosis, where the cell makes all the preparations for division. The cell division actually takes place in the cytokinesis phase and each cell gives rise to two daughter cells. Among all the phases of mitosis, the cell spends most of its time in prophase, while anaphase is the shortest of all the phases.

Hope this helps.  

What are the characteristics of a mammal?

Mammals are vertebrates--animals with a backbone. Mammals can be distinguished from other vertebrates because they generally have a covering of hair or fur.

Mammals are endothermic and can self-regulate their body temperature. They generate their own body heat internally. Body fat is used for insulation  and hair or fur can prevent heat loss. Some mammals have sweat glands to regulate body temperature.

Vertebrates in the class Mammalia (mammals) have mammary glands which are capable in females of producing milk after a baby mammal is born to help nourish their young.

Mammals have a four-chambered heart and breathe air using well-developed lungs. 

Mammals take care of their young for a greater period of time than any other group of vertebrates. During this time, the young learn survival skills from their parents.

Mammals have a more highly developed brain than any other vertebrates. Mammals are adapted to life in water, air and land with many specialized organs to help them survive in their various environments. 

Another adaptation in mammals is their well-developed excretory system, which includes kidneys. These can regulate the water balance in the body and excrete the waste urea.

Their specialized teeth and jaws are adaptations for various ways of life. A rodent can gnaw with its incisors that grow throughout its life; a wolf has large canine teeth to tear the flesh of its prey.

As Annie remembers her time at the institution, what painful question does she recall her brother, Jimmie, asking her? Why do you think he asks...

Annie Sullivan was sent to an almshouse as a girl with her brother after their mother passed away and their father abandoned them.  Annie's brother was younger than her, and he was called Jimmie.  In The Miracle Worker, Annie Sullivan had flashbacks to her painful past in the almshouse with her brother.   In the first flashback, Jimmie repeatedly asked young Annie the same question.  He asked her, "Where we goin'?"  Annie and her brother had been displaced when their mother died and their father left.  They only had each other, and the almshouse was an unpleasant place to live.  He later asked her, "When are we goin’ home?"  He reminded his older sister that she promised to take him home.  He did not know that he and Annie had no home to return to.  

Jimmie probably asked Annie where they were going and when they were going home because they were displaced.  They were forced out of their home after their mother died.  He could have asked the question because the almshouse was a dirty and unpleasant place and he did not wish to stay there.

"When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet." What hit mama? What did she...

Dee's terrible selfishness and the ownership that she has asserted over the quilts that she once rejected, over the heritage represented by those quilts (that she's also never cared about before and doesn't really care about now), "hits" mama and she will not allow Dee to make off with the things that are of far more importance to Maggie.  Maggie knows how to quilt, and this is one way she keeps their family heritage alive. 

Maggie knows all the stories behind the items that Dee wants to take so that she can "do something artistic" with them.  Dee doesn't know the stories.  In fact, she's rejected her own name -- a family name -- insisting that it must be tied to white slave owners somewhere back, failing to recognize that she was named after the strong women in her family who all share that name.  Dee doesn't care for or value her heritage like Maggie does, shy Maggie who keeps to corners and doesn't say much.  It seems as though Mama recognizes which daughter is the one worth valuing, something she doesn't seem to have noticed before because she spent so much time trying to get Dee all the things that she wanted. 

Dee certainly doesn't seem to come to an awareness of the shortcomings in the way she views her family heritage, though Maggie is so shocked when Mama ranks her promises to Maggie over her desire to please Dee that it seems possible she has an epiphany in this moment as well.  Perhaps she realizes her own value for the first time, as she ends the story far more content than she's ever seemed to be before.

What kind of man is Billy Pilgrim in "Slaughterhouse-Five"? Why does Kurt Vonnegut choose to make a man like Pilgrim the protagonist of his novel?

The protagonist of Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five", Billy Pilgrim, is a quintessential anti-hero because he is an unequivocal vehicle for anti-war sentiment, yet lacks any admirable or heroic qualities. An optometry student before getting drafted in the military in World War II, Billy is nerdy and awkward. While many of his peers display the bravado and assertiveness expected of a soldier, Billy is ridiculed for his physical and mental fragility; he has frequent mental meltdowns and is consistently passive in the way he experiences everything. A case in point: he and his fellow POWs survive one of the deadliest massacres, the firebombing of Dresden, by hiding in a meat-locker. The irony that he survives the war without contributing any dashing or heroic effort underscores the futility of war and the arbitrary, senseless loss of life. 

Vonnegut's decision to characterize Billy as a pathetic weakling is essential to deconstructing the generic archetype of the hyper-masculine soldier. Vonnegut wants to make a larger point about the depravity and inhumanity of war in spite of its frequent glorification in literature and history. The best way to achieve that is through a sensitive character like Billy, whose military experiences leave him mentally scarred, begging the question: is surviving war more desirable than dying? Through Billy's PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and deluded belief that he has been abducted by aliens, Vonnegut indicates that war has taken a huge toll on Billy's mental well-being. Thus, Vonnegut successfully uses Billy as a tool to critique the destructiveness and pointlessness of war.

Explain how mutations can become established in a gene pool? Why does the frequency of some mutated alleles increase while others decrease in...

A mutation can arise from a change in the DNA sequence. If a mutation occurs in a germ cell, the mutation can be passed along to the next generation.

Some mutations are harmful, some have no effect while a small percentage may actually prove beneficial.

In the Theory of Natural Selection put forth by Charles Darwin, it is mentioned that organisms possess variations. These are due to gene mutations. If an organism has a variation that makes it better suited to the environment in which it lives, it may win the struggle for existence, survive and reproduce. Possibly, its variation which is an adaptation to the environment may be passed down to its offspring. In this way, the frequency of the gene that produces this variation may increase over time. However, if a gene mutation is not beneficial, it may become less common in the gene pool because it doesn't benefit the organism or improve its chances of survival.

An example demonstrating how gene frequencies can shift can be seen in the Peppered Moths in England. Before the Industrial Revolution, most moths in the area where the study occurred were of the light-colored variety. However, a few dark-colored moths existed due to a gene variation. Light ones blended into the light- colored background of the trees upon which they rested, while dark ones stood out and were eaten by predatory birds. In this way, natural selection caused the gene that produced the light-colored moths to increase in frequency, while the gene producing the darker-colored moths decreased.

During the time of the Industrial Revolution, the trees in the forest became covered in soot. Dark-colored moths now had an advantage because they blended into the background and escaped predatory birds. These moths lived and reproduced and the gene frequency increased for the dark variety. However, the lighter moths no longer had an advantage and were consumed more frequently. Their numbers due to the selective pressure of predators were drastically reduced.

Life doesn't operate in a vacuum. Because the environment changes, gene frequencies can change over time due to natural selection. I have included a link which elaborates the story of the peppered moths. I have included a second link summarizing Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

Does Charlie fully understand that the surgery's effects will be temporary? Why or why not?

Charlie's diary entry on March 6th suggests that he doesn't fully understand that the surgery's effects could be temporary.

In that entry, notice how Charlie writes down much of the conversation between Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss as they are arguing about whether or not to select Charlie for the operation--and yet Charlie barely understands the meaning of their words. He uses asterisks in place of letters and words he couldn't catch, as in "Charlie is not what you had in mind as the frist of your new breed of intelek** couldnt get the word *** superman." Significantly, there's nothing wrong with Charlie's hearing: the reason he can't process the words he hears is that he doesn't know them.

Take a close look, too, at how Charlie reports Professor Nemur's warning about why Charlie shouldn't get his hopes up too high about the outcome of the operation:

"He said Charlie we werked on this for a long time but only on animils like Algernon. We are sure thers no fisical danger for you but there are other things we cant tell until we try it. I want you to understand this mite fale and then nothing woud happen at all. Or it mite even sucseed temperary and leeve you werse off then you are now. Do you understand what that meens."

Here, readers notice that Charlie didn't use a question mark at the end of Professor Nemur's question, indicating that he probably didn't understand that he was being asked something. And Charlie doesn't say anything in response to Professor Nemur, even though the professor is clearly expecting Charlie to say something, like "Yes, I understand." Further, as the diary entry concludes, Charlie writes nothing to show that he has comprehended the professor's warning at all.

Why can't he understand the risk involved? Charlie has an IQ of 68, meaning his intelligence is very low. He struggles with understanding adults' conversations, and he's essentially a beginner in reading and writing, as his spelling in the quotes above reveal. So he simply doesn't mentally process the risk involved in the operation. He's also so thrilled about the possibility of becoming smarter that he's unable to focus on much else.

What more do we learn about the nature of Iago in Act II of Othello?

One thing we learn about Iago in the second act is that he treats his wife Emilia poorly and appears to be a misogynist. He announces to everyone that Emilia talks too much and then makes generalizations about women:

… you are pictures out of doors,
Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,
Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,
Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.

Iago says all this in a joking manner, and Cassio excuses him because he is a soldier: “You may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar.”

Iago’s plot to frame Cassio and Desdemona also becomes clearer. When Iago watches Cassio and Desdemona speak to one another, he says to himself, “with as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio.” Iago quickly manages to convince Roderigo of this affair, degrading both Cassio and Desdemona in his explanation. Then Iago ruins Cassio’s reputation by getting him drunk and telling Roderigo to provoke him. Cassio, who is susceptible to alcohol, becomes belligerent and fights with Roderigo and a fellow officer. As a result, Othello strips him of his rank.

In a soliloquy, Iago reveals more about his motives and plot. He suspects Othello and possibly even Cassio of sleeping with Emilia. Iago is jealous by nature, and he plans to provoke Othello into a jealous rage. His disdain for Roderigo also becomes apparent, as does his acknowledgement that he has been lying about Othello’s and Desdemona’s characters: he knows they are loyal to one another.

Still, Iago schemes to use Othello and Desdemona's love against them. He tells Cassio to appeal to Desdemona in order to get back into Othello’s good graces. Meanwhile, he suggests to Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are sleeping together. Iago describes his plan when he says, “So will I turn her virtue into pitch, / And out of her own goodness make the net / That shall enmesh them all.” Act II demonstrates much about Iago’s character, plot, and motivations.

In the language of grief in Act 4 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, what does the first quotation reveal about Capulet's attitude toward Juliet?

When the Nurse first tells Lord Capulet that Juliet has died, he doesn't believe it.  He insists on seeing her himself.  When he does, he confirms that she has been dead for some hours because her body is now cold and her joints are stiff.  He says, "Death lies on her like an untimely frost / Upon the sweetest flower of all the field" (4.5.33-34).  Here, he uses a metaphor to compare Juliet to the prettiest flower in existence, and death is the frost that comes too early and kills that flower.  Therefore, despite his earlier threats to throw her out and let her starve in the streets if she disobeys him and refuses to marry Count Paris, it does seem that Lord Capulet cares for daughter.  It is telling, however, that his first comment upon her death addresses her beauty (rather than some other, more important, quality); it could indicate that he sees her as more of a possession than a person, an interpretation supported by his claim, "An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend" (3.5.203). 

In Spiegelman's Maus, how long has it been since Artie last visited his father?

Artie doesn't like visiting with his father, Vladek, for too long because it drives him crazy. His father is very difficult to deal with, so in the beginning, he visits for dinner usually and leaves thereafter. At one point, when his wife Mala leaves him, Vladek wants Artie and his wife to live with him for the summer; but Artie won't stay longer than the weekend. Then Artie visits Vladek in the fall, and then again in the winter time. Then in chapter five, Vladek winds up in the hospital in Florida and Artie stays with him for a while as he recovers. Eventually, they fly him back to New York where he is closer to home. After taking care of Vladek for a while in Florida, Artie takes a month long break from his father. Vladek also moves back in with his wife Mala, at which point Artie feels well enough mentally to see his father again. When Mala opens the door, she says, "Artie, we haven't seen you in ages," whereupon he replies, "I needed time to get over our trip from Florida." Above this exchange it says, "A month or so later" (288).

If a question asks how to separate insoluble ions, soil, etc. from water, is distillation an acceptable answer? (The given answer is "filtration")

Distillation would be a partially acceptable, but not optimal, answer because it implies you understand the question and know a process that should achieve the desired result; upon heating and vaporization, the water should theoretically be separated from any insoluble substances. Filtration is a better answer, however, because the process of distillation normally refers to a mixture of multiple liquids rather than liquids and insoluble solids. Distillation specifically requires heating and cooling according to the various boiling points of the liquids in the mixture, and since we presume there are no liquids in this mixture other than water, distillation is unnecessary (it may also result in reactions that we would prefer to avoid because we can't control exactly how the energy is being added to the molecules themselves). Filtration requires no additional input of energy and also ensures we don't accidentally vaporize any volatile compounds along with the water.

I think the legitimacy of this answer depends upon the context in which it is asked; speaking personally, I would give a student partial credit for this answer, but another teacher may not, for various reasons. I don't think my own definition of "acceptable" should necessarily apply to a problem assigned by someone else, and I always advise caution when seeking outside sources of authority on procedural qualification as opposed to the information itself. 

Based on the molecular formula of water, H2O, work out the valencies of hydrogen and oxygen.

The guiding principle for determining valency is the Octet Rule. This states that all atoms will prefer to have a full valency shell. In practice, this doesn't always mean there must be eight electrons, and with only the molecular formula to work with, we have to incorporate a little of our own background knowledge of oxygen and hydrogen. Practically speaking, it's much more straightforward to use the periodic table and know what the ground state valency for each element is before you start.

We know there are two hydrogens bound to the oxygen atom, which means there must be at least a single bond in each case (we would need more than the molecular formula if there were double or triple bonds). Each single bond provides one extra electron, so we know this provides two electrons to the oxygen in total. If these two electrons satisfy the Octet Rule, then the oxygen is happy and its valency must be 6. Likewise, the hydrogens must have a valency of one because we know there's one bond and they only have one electron to provide. Another key piece of information is that the entire molecule is shown with a neutral charge, which means all the atoms are either in their ground states or there is an equal number of protons and electrons in the molecule.

On what page is Simon described as a Christ-like figure in Lord of the Flies?

Simon, depicts spirituality and man's innate goodness. As more of a spiritual creature than the other boys, it is only he that discerns the evil innate in man.

Like Christ, Simon is depicted as compassionate, altruistic, and peace-loving. In Chapter Three Simon provides fruit for the boys in a manner much as Christ provided bread in one of the gospels:

Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for the fruit they could not reach... passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.

Then, specifically, in Chapter Eight Simon--whose name is Biblical--retreats to his glade in the forest where he confronts the pig's head, called the Lord of the Flies, which is the name for Beezlebub. In poetic prose reserved for Simon, Golding describes his conversation with this symbolic devil:

Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!...You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? I'm part of you? Close, close, I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"

With his intuitive and spiritual powers, it is only Simon who understands the beast. Still, he must confront the Lord of the Flies by looking directly into its face, just as Christ spoke with the Devil in Matthew 4: 1-11 when He was led into the wilderness.

Further, Simon is Christ-like as he becomes the sacrificial victim when he returns to the boys and tries to tell them that the evil lies within them, and he is savagely killed by his own kind, just as Jesus was.

Aside from risking death to go to her balcony and drinking poison to be with her in death, what else does Romeo do to be with Juliet?

He marries her, for one. When Romeo spoke with Juliet, he in her garden and she on her balcony, she told him that if he wanted to marry her, she would send someone to him the next morning to get the details of the arrangement. He goes right away to Friar Lawrence to explain that he wants to be married to Juliet, and the friar marries the pair later that afternoon.

After their secret wedding, Tybalt challenges Romeo to fight him, but Romeo refuses now that he is related to Tybalt by marriage. He repeatedly tells Tybalt that he loves him, even though Tybalt cannot possibly understand the reason why.  Mercutio interprets this as a "dishonorable, vile submission" (III.1.74). Romeo didn't care about appearing dishonorable to his friends, however, because he was trying to honor his wife.

After Romeo and Juliet spend their wedding night together, Romeo is willing to be found there the next day by her family rather than leave her. He says, "Let me be ta'en; let me be put to death. / I am content, so thou wilt have it so" (III.5.17-18). He is willing to be killed by Juliet's family rather than to do something she doesn't want him to do: leave her.

Which path does the narrator actually take in "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

The speaker takes the seemingly less traveled road.

The speaker says he came to a fork in the road in the woods, and had to choose between a well-traveled road and one that was not. He chooses the less-traveled road and this made all the difference for him. Many people interpret this to mean you should take risks in life.

The two roads are a metaphor for paths in life. In one path, you do what a majority of people do. In the other path, you do something unique. The speaker cannot really tell which road is more used because both are covered with leaves, so he chooses the one he thinks fewer people take.

I shall be telling this with a sigh 

Somewhere ages and ages hence: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference.

The speaker is telling us about the roads years after he made his choice. He took the road few took, and it made a big, presumably positive difference in his life. When you make your own choices, it can be difficult but often very rewarding.

In life, many people take the road less traveled. You could be an inventor, an artist, or a writer. Doing something different than others means there may not be many examples for you to follow and you may face resistance. It can, however, also work out very well for you and the world to which you contribute.

Once he chose a road, the narrator knows the chances of going back and taking the other were slim. Life is kind of like that. Once you make a choice, you never go back to the person you were. You can make another choice later, but it is not the same choice.

How did the Nile shape the ancient Egypt?

The Nile River shaped ancient Egypt in that it provided a waterway for trading, a means of defending against enemies, and a water source for agriculture.  Each year, the river flooded the land around it.  This caused silt deposits to develop and made the land fertile for agriculture.  Wheat and papyrus were important crops in ancient Egypt.  Agricultural life in Egypt was dependent on the Nile River because much of Egypt was desert.

Egyptian merchants both exported and imported goods.  Sailing vessels traveled along the Nile River for trading purposes.  Boats from Egypt could travel north to the Mediterranean Sea.  From there, they could get to Asia and Europe to trade.

In the southern part of the Egyptian Kingdom, the cataracts provided protection along the Nile.  Fortresses were built along the Nile for defense.  Military forces from Egypt also sailed up and down the river.

How is Jo rebellious? How does she rebel against gender norms? How is she "breaking the rules" about being a female in this time period?

Jo is rebellious against the typical female gender role of the Civil War era because she rejects most of the norms established for proper female conduct. For one, she resents her femaleness and longs to be able to leave home and do exciting things like go to war or live in the big city (she actually does achieve the latter after she rejects Laurie's marriage proposal). She is not romantic, and rebuffs Laurie's advances for quite a long time before he eventually asks her to marry him; again, going against the typical female role, Jo turns him down when almost everyone expects them to end up together. 

In order to get some distance, she moves away to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Even this is made more difficult as a result of Jo's gender; she is initially rejected by editors because she is a woman, and it takes a great deal of time for her to be accepted as a female writer of serious works. 

Jo even has what sounds like a boy's nickname, and she prefers books to music, knitting, or other more properly female activities. When Marmee needs money, Jo's pride will not allow her to ask Aunt March, so she cuts all her hair and sells it! This is certainly not "proper" behavior for a girl, and she must live with her boyish haircut until it grows out.

`int_0^4 1/sqrt(25-x^2) dx` Evaluate the integral

The function under the integral is similar to the derivative of `arcsin(x),`   `1/sqrt(1 - x^2),` and may be reduced to it.

Namely, make the substitution `x = 5u,` then `dx = 5 du.` Also this means  `u = x/5`  and therefore the limits of integration for `u` are from `0/5 = 0` to  `4/5` (substitute the limits for `x` to the formula `u = x/5` ).

The integral becomes

`int_0^(4/5) (5 du)/sqrt(25 - 25u^2) =int_0^(4/5) (du)/sqrt(1 - u^2) =`

`= arcsin(4/5) - arcsin(0) = arcsin(4/5) approx 0.93.`

I need a thesis statement for mob mentality in Lord of the Flies.

When trying to construct a thesis statement, it's usually best to have some sort of goal in mind. For example, ask yourself what kind of question you want answered by your essay, or come up with a specific idea you will illustrate fully with examples. But you must also explore the ideas related to your topic first, before you can construct your thesis statement effectively.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, the theme of "mob mentality" is one that defines the story's maine plot trajectory. In the absence of their customary authority figures, such as teachers, headmasters, or family members, the boys are made vulnerable. As they try to establish rules and systems for survival, the question of authority becomes more and more significant. Although Simon and Piggy try to establish some systems of communication and responsibility, Jack's ways (with his loud, forceful way of speaking and his impulsive actions) seem to resonate more deeply with most of the boys.

Jack's efforts to lead hunts for wild pigs results in the majority of the boys following him passionately; this suggests their desire for meat/food is partially connected to their loyalty to him as a leader. Jack creates a somewhat animalistic energy among the boys, using chanting, masks, dancing and other activities to unite them in a way that is reminiscent of a mob. The intensity and physicality of these hunting rituals escalates the tensions already present, and makes it clear that Jack will be able to command a larger and more aggressive "mob" then Simon and Piggy.

To turn any of these ideas into a thesis statement, choose the one that interests you the most. Then, construct a sentence that contains the point you want to illustrate. For example: "Jack's ability to provide fresh meat for the boys inspires their loyalty, and this encourages them to follow him with a mob-like mentality that disregards the safety of others."

What external conflict does Faber have in Fahrenheit 451?

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Faber is an ex-professor of English who acts as a mentor to the protagonist, Guy Montag. You could say that Faber's overarching external conflict is with the entire society of Fahrenheit 451—in his conversations with Montag, he points out the shallowness and emptiness of modern life and critiques the fireman system, the media, and the decline of reading and books. In this way, Faber and Montag can be said to share an external, person vs. society conflict that brings them together. Faber also comes into an external, person vs. person conflict with Montag when Montag reads "Dover Beach" to Mildred and her friends in spite of Faber's pleas (via the "green bullet") for him to stop.

Faber's main external, person vs. society conflict comes to a head the night Montag takes shelter in his house with the Mechanical Hound on his trail. If the Hound tracks Montag all the way there, Faber's life as well as Montag's will be in danger, and the firemen will, at the very least, burn Faber's home and his books. Before he flees, Montag tells Faber to clean all the surfaces that Montag has touched and to turn on the sprinklers to get rid of his scent. On his way to the river, Montag looks through the windows of houses at their "parlor walls," which are all broadcasting the manhunt. He watches the Hound pause outside Faber's house, where the sprinklers are indeed running, and then continue on its way, so we know Faber survives that particular external conflict.

After seeing the city he has fled decimated in the bombing, Montag thinks to himself that at least Faber has already left on the early morning bus—but that it's likely Faber's destination has been destroyed as well. Though we don't know what happens to Faber after this, we can surmise that a whole new external conflict awaits the ex-professor as he, like Montag and his new companions, sets out into this changed world.

How does the mongoose show persistence in "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"?

In the story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” the mongoose after whom the story is named shows persistence in at least two places.  In both cases, he shows it as he protects “his” family from the cobras that want to kill them. 

In the first instance, Nag (the male cobra) wants to kill the man of the family in the house’s bathroom. The mongoose shows persistence by waiting patiently for Nag to go to sleep. The story says that Rikki-Tikki “stayed still as death” for more than an hour before he struck and tried to kill the snake. Once he bit Nag, he showed persistence again. He held on as Nag whipped his head back and forth, battering him against walls and various other hard things. Rikki-Tikki “was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces” before the man came and shot Nag with a gun. This shows real persistence.

At the end of the story, the mongoose shows persistence again. He kills all but one of Nagaina’s eggs and brings the last one to distract her and prevent her from killing the young boy of the family. He dances around for a long time, avoiding her strikes. Then, when she grabs the egg and makes off, he chases her down. He knows that he has to kill her and the last egg so that there will be no more snakes to threaten the family. He follows Nagaina into her burrow (a very dangerous thing to do) and kills her. In both of these instances, Rikki-Tikki shows persistence because he refuses to give up until he has done everything he can to protect his people.

Discuss the idea that the ghost is a pivotal character in "The Canterville Ghost."

In the traditional ghost story, the ghost is a shadowy figure who terrorises residents in the middle of the night. But "The Canterville Ghost" is a ghost story with a twist and nowhere is this more evident than in the portrayal of the ghost himself.

While we do not meet the ghost until Chapter Two, it is his battle to terrify the Otis family which drives the story's plot. The reader, for example, follows the ghost's trials and tribulations as he is humiliated and mocked by the family, especially the troublesome twins, at every turn.

Furthermore, as the plot develops, the reader learns more about ghost's tragic family history, like his haunting career of the last 300 years and the murder of his own wife because she was "plain" and bad at housekeeping.

The story reaches its climax at the end of Chapter Five when the ghost enlists Virginia to help him enter the Garden of Death where he can sleep eternally. While Virginia's role in this process is instrumental, it is the ghost himself who causes the resolution of the story's conflict: his death brings peace to Canterville Chase and to all who reside there.

`int_sqrt(2)^2 1/(t^2 sqrt(t^2 - 1)) dt` Evaluate the integral

You need to re-write the expression` t^2 - 1` , such that:

`t^2 - 1 = t^2(1 - (1/t)^2)`

You need to use the following substitution, such that:

`1/t = sin u => -1/(t^2) dt = cos u du => (dt)/(t^2) = -cos u du`

`u = arcsin (1/t)`

`int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) = - int_(u_1)^(u_2) (cos u du)/(1/(sin u)*sqrt(1 - sin^2 u))`

You need to use the basic trigonometric formula `1 - sin^2 u = cos^2 u,` such that:

`- int_(u_1)^(u_2) (cos u*sin u du)/(sqrt(1 - sin^2 u)) = - int_(u_1)^(u_2) `

`- int_(u_1)^(u_2) (cos u*sin u du)/(sqrt(cos^2 u)) = - int_(u_1)^(u_2) (cos u*sin u du)/(cos u)`

Reducing like terms yields:

`-int_(u_1)^(u_2) (sin udu) = -(-cos u)|_(u_1)^(u_2)`

Replacing back the variable, yields:

`int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) =(cos (arcsin (1/t)))_(sqrt 2)^2`

`int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) =cos (arcsin (1/2)) - cos (arcsin (1/sqrt 2))`

`int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) = cos(pi/6) - cos(pi/4)`

`int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) = sqrt3/2 - sqrt2/2`

`int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) = (sqrt3 - sqrt2)/2`

Hence, evaluating the given integral yields `int_(sqrt 2)^2 (dt)/(t^3*sqrt(t^2-1)) = (sqrt3 - sqrt2)/2.`

What is the main message and theme in Hamlet's soliloquy "Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I"?

The main message of this soliloquy is that Hamlet feels like a total lowlife for having done nothing so far to avenge his father's murder. Hamlet has just heard an actor recite a monologue about Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, and the actor appears to have shown more emotion—though he is only acting—than Hamlet has shown in his real life about his real tragedy.  Hamlet marvels that this actor could produce real-seeming tears, yet Hamlet neither says nor does anything so emotional. He feels he is a coward because he has been charged with the responsibility of exacting revenge on his father's murderer, but he has done nothing. Finally, toward the end of the speech, Hamlet decides to ask the actors to put on a play that is similar to the way his father was murdered, and he will watch his uncle while his uncle watches this play with the hope that he will reveal his own guilt. This monologue addresses themes such as cowardice, revenge, and guilt.

In Memories of the Ford Administration, by John Updike, what does Clayton's objective research on popular culture during the Ford administration...

In the book Memories of the Ford Administration by John Updike, Clayton seems to give Gerald Ford an endorsement as a good president, but he does not give the same glowing endorsement to popular culture.  Clayton seems to believe that the offerings of American popular culture during the 1970's was pretty bland.  The popular music of the day is without variety in terms of content, subject, and style.  This is demonstrated by Clayton in the following passage:

No, wait—”Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” rings a faint bell, I can almost hum it, and the same goes for “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” if it’s not the same song. In fact, all twenty- five titles give me the uneasy sensation of being the same song.

Clayton did not partake in popular movies or novels of the era either.  These did not interest him either.  He was going through a separation with his wife and was not occupied by popular culture during this time.  This is mentioned by Clayton twice, including in this passage.  

As I’ve said, I was preoccupied by personal affairs, and had the radio in my little apartment turned to WADM—all classical, with newsbreaks on the hour of only a minute or two.

`dy/dx = xe^(x^2)` Use integration to find a general solution to the differential equation

An ordinary differential equation (ODE)  is differential equation for the derivative of a function of one variable. When an ODE is in a form of `y'=f(x,y)` , this is just a first order ordinary differential equation. 

We may express `y' ` as `(dy)/(dx) ` to write in a form of `(dy)/(dx)= f(x,y)` and apply variable separable differential equation: `N(y)dy = M(x) dx` .

 The given problem: ` (dy)/(dx) = xe^(x^2) `  can be rearrange as:

`dy= xe^(x^2) dx`

Apply direct integration on both sides:

`int dy= int xe^(x^2) dx`

For the left side, we apply basic integration property: `int (dy)=y` .

For the right side, we may apply u-substitution by letting: `u = x^2` then `du =2x dx` or  `(du)/2=x dx` .

The integral becomes:

`int xe^(x^2) dx=int e^(x^2) *xdx`

                    ` =int e^(u) *(du)/2`

Apply the basic integration property: `int c*f(x)dx= c int f(x) dx` .

`int e^(u) *(du)/2=(1/2)int e^(u) du`

Apply basic integration formula for exponential function:

`(1/2)int e^(u) du=(1/2)e^(u)+C`

Plug-in `u=x^2` on `(1/2)e^(u)+C` , we get:

`int xe^(x^2) dx=(1/2)e^(x^2)+C`

Combining the results from both sides, we get the general solution of differential equation as:

`y=(1/2)e^(x^2)+C`

or

`y=e^(x^2)/2+C`

What nations were attacked or were on the receiving end of acts of aggression from the Axis Powers in World War II?

There were several nations that were attacked or that experienced aggression from the Axis Powers before and during World War II. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria. Japan also invaded China in 1937. Germany invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and Albania in 1939. These acts of aggression occurred before World War II started.

The Axis Powers continued to attack more nations. Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were some European countries attacked by the Axis Powers. Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt were some countries in North Africa that were invaded by the Axis Powers. In Asia and the Pacific, some of the places the Axis Powers attacked included Burma, French Indo-China, Siam, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, and Hawaii. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war.

The Axis Powers attempted to impose their will throughout the world before and during World War II.

In Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger?" what is unique about the king's arena?

The king's arena in Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger?" is not unique because there is a 50% chance that the accused will die an ignominious death. Roman arenas provided such gut-wrenching death scenes as well. The king's arena in this story is unique because the outcome doesn't depend on a criminal's strength or skills in battle. For the person who faces the choice of what is behind two doors, the outcome is determined by chance. The narrator describes the king's justification behind creating such an arena for justice as follows:

This was the king's semibarbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady. . . and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan; for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands?

Based on the information provided from the passage, the unique qualities of this king's arena is that the criminal gets to choose his fate; then, whatever comes out from behind the door is the accused's final reward or punishment.

In Roman arenas, slaves would fight gladiators more than once or until they died. Roman arenas weren't used as courtrooms, either. They were used purely for violent entertainment. As a result of the philosophy behind the arena, the king supplies his subjects and himself with a partially civilized way of dealing with criminals; of course, the civilized part emerges only if criminals choose the lady's door. On the other hand, the arena is also barbaric because of the deaths which occur if criminals choose the door with the tiger behind it. Ultimately, there is hope in the king's arena because there is a choice; and when there is a choice, there is an opportunity for the criminal to escape the punishment of a tiger. The arena is also unique because of the intrigue it provides its audience each time a new criminal is released in it.

At the beginning of Section 2, what does the narrator say Dexter wants?

At the beginning of Section 2, the narrator says that Dexter wants to possess the material accoutrements (the trappings or outward signs of success) that come with being affluent.

He wanted not association with glittering things and glittering people--he wanted the glittering things themselves.

In other words, Dexter longs for luxury, and he works to get it. At twenty-three years old, he borrows a thousand dollars to purchase "a partnership in a laundry." His laundry business eventually becomes well-known for its expertise in laundering English woolen golf stockings, Shetland hosiery, delicate sweaters, and women's lingerie. Before the age of twenty-seven, Dexter is the proud owner of five laundry branches, making him the owner of "the largest string of laundries in his section of the country." After making his money, Dexter sells his business and heads to New York.

As can be seen from the beginning of Section 2, Dexter is a man who prizes wealth and its material trappings above all else in life.

What are the pros and cons of how electronic medical records affect communication?

Hospitals and medical practices are increasingly using electronic medical records to record and manage patients' healthcare data. The benefits of using these records are that they allow different providers to consolidate and share data about patients' medical history, diagnoses, test results, magnetic imaging, and medication. This type of consolidated record keeping allows different healthcare providers full access to a patient's complete medical record and can help providers avoid duplicating tests or providing medications that are contraindicated. The systems improve communication among different providers. In addition, it can allow providers to more efficiently bill insurance providers, Medicaid, and Medicare for services, and it can save providers time and money compared to traditional means of transcribing medical records. 

The major con of using electronic health records is that the data can be compromised, allowing the types of communication that providers want to avoid. Patients' confidential information can be leaked, jeopardizing the patient and his or her ability to secure employment or attain other benefits. In addition, these types of leaks can put the hospital or healthcare provider at legal risk. Records can also be deleted or lost electronically. Electronic systems need multiple layers of protection to remain secure from leaks and hacking. These systems also need to be securely backed up. 

`2xy' - ln(x^2) = 0 , y(1) = 2` Find the particular solution that satisfies the initial condition

The problem: `2xy'-ln(x^2)=0 ` is as first order ordinary differential equation that we can evaluate by applying variable separable differential equation:

`N(y)y'=M(x)`

`N(y)(dy)/(dx)=M(x)`

`N(y) dy=M(x) dx`

Apply direct integration:` intN(y) dy= int M(x) dx` to solve for the

 general solution of a differential equation.

Then, `2xy'-ln(x^2)=0` will be rearrange in to `2xy'= ln(x^2)`

Let `y' = (dy)/(dx)` , we get: `2x(dy)/(dx)= ln(x^2)`

or`2x(dy)= ln(x^2)(dx)`

Divide both sides by `x` to express in a form of `N(y) dy=M(x) dx` :

`(2xdy)/x= (ln(x^2)dx)/x`

`2dy= (ln(x^2)dx)/x`

Applying direct integration, we will have:

`int 2dy= int (ln(x^2)dx)/x`

For the left side, recall `int dy = y` then `int 2dy = 2y`

For the right side, we let `u =x^2` then `du =2x dx` or `dx=(du)/(2x)` .

`int (ln(x^2))/xdx=int (ln(u))/x*(du)/(2x)`

                    ` =int (ln(u)du)/(2x^2)`

                    ` =int (ln(u)du)/(2u) `

                    ` =1/2 int ln(u)/u du`

Let `v=ln(u)` then `dv = 1/udu` ,we get:

`1/2 int ln(u)/u du=1/2 int v* dv`

Applying the Power Rule of integration: `int x^n dx = x^(n+1)/(n+1)+C`

`1/2 int v* dv= 1/2 v^(1+1)/(1+1)+C`

                    `= 1/2*v^2/2+C`

                   `=1/4v^2+C`

Recall `v = ln(u)` and `u = x^2` then `v =ln(x^2)` .

The integral will be:

`int (ln(x^2))/xdx=1/4(ln(x^2))^2 +C or(ln(x^2))^2 /4+C`

Combing the results from both sides, we get the general solution of the differential equation as:

`2y = (ln(x^2))^2 /4+C`

or `y =(ln(x^2))^2 /8+C`

To solve for the arbitary constant (C), we consider the initial condition `y(1)=2` 

When we plug-in the values, we get:

`2 =(ln(1^2))^2 /8+C`

`2 =0/8+C`

`2=0+C`

then `C=2`

.Plug-in `C=2` on the general solution: `y =(ln(x^2))^2 /8+C` , we get the

particular solution as:

`y =(ln(x^2))^2 /8+2`

Explain the statement: "And that has made all difference" with reference "The Road Not Taken."

With this concluding statement of the poem, the speaker means that the choice he had made (the "road" he took) is the reason why his life turned out the way it has. This is vague but it is the point of the poem. Had he chosen the other road, he would have the same conclusion about that choice.

In the final stanza, he explains that, when he is an older man, he will try to convince himself that he took the less traveled road. Note that he says "I shall be telling this with a sigh." The sigh is important because it suggests doubt. He foresees himself, "ages and ages hence" sighing, as if he will try to fool himself into thinking that he had taken the less traveled road. 

This poem is all about making choices. The choice of taking one of two roads is a metaphor for any of the significant choices we make in life. Such a choice is made more difficult when both options look the same. Surely, it would seem more interesting to take the "less traveled" road. But note in the second stanza that both roads look like they've been traveled the same. Or, as Frost writes, "the passing there / Had worn them really about the same." Either choice would have "made all the difference."

This is a choice that he probably would not be able to revisit. So, the choice will make a huge difference in his life because he can not go back and try the other option. 

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

I doubted if I should ever come back.  

What are the direct and indirect characterizations of Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible?

In terms of direct characterization, before Abigail even speaks, Miller tells us that she is "a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling."  This "endless capacity for dissembling" means Abigail is adept at hiding her true feelings or opinions; in other words, she is deceptive. 

In terms of indirect characterization, we learn a great deal more about Abigail from her conversations.  Abigail's uncle, the Reverend Parris, asks her about her reputation in the village because he thinks it's odd that no one has tried to hire her in the seven months since she was discharged from the Proctors' service.  He says, "I have heard it said, and I tell you as I heard it, that [Goodwife Proctor] comes so rarely to the church this year for she will not sit so close to something soiled."  In other words, there are rumors about Abigail, rumors that makes her quite defensive (implying there is some truth to the rumors).  Abigail is not honest or virtuous, either—a fact we learn from her conversation with John Proctor.

Moreover, Abigail threatens the other girls, saying she will kill them if they tell her uncle that she drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor in the forest.  She says,

Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; [...] I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!

Such a threat really shows us just how awful Abigail is.  Not only is she a liar who had an affair with a married man, but she is also, apparently, willing to murder.  She threatens her cousin and her "friend" with death if they tell the truth about her actions.  This indirect characterization helps us identify Abigail as ruthless, selfish, and cruel.

What form of government and administration of law and order did the Lilliputians have?

Lilliput is a monarchy, and it is ruled by an emperor (though the country does not control any other territories and is not divided up into smaller kingdoms); the emperor would like to add the kingdom of Blefuscu to his empire, but he has not been able to accomplish this yet.  His majesty, the emperor, has a court with various positions, and candidates compete for the honor of these positions by rope dancing and trials of dexterity.  Lilliput has laws, courts, and magistrates who enforce citizens' compliance with these laws.  Crimes against the state are severely punished, and fraud is considered to be a worse crime than theft, so it is punishable by death.  Ingratitude is also a capital crime.  Gulliver says that the Lilliputians employ a method of "Reward and Punishment," rewarding citizens for lawful behavior and punishing them for unlawful, and they think it is very odd when he tells them that England does not offer reward but only punishment.

What's the tone conveyed in Scout's description of Maycomb, Alabama in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Tone refers to how the author feels about a topic or story. At the beginning of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout shows how she feels about Maycomb by first describing her ancestor, Simon Finch, who settled twenty miles west of the town. It seems as though she is proud of her ancestor, but also states with great concern the following:  

"Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land"  (4).

If Simon would be disappointed to know that his posterity had nothing more to show for his hard work and wealth than land, then the tone in the above passage reveals a sense of loss. She verbalizes what many in Maycomb feel--that the Civil War is to blame for their poverty. 

Next, Scout describes the town of Maycomb as she remembers it during her childhood in the 1930s. Since the narrator of the book is Scout as an adult, the tone describing Maycomb includes some nostalgia accompanied by melancholy. For example, Scout describes Maycomb as follows:

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. . . Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. . . People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer" (5).

In the above passage, Scout describes the suffering of animals in the heat and with hunger because they are "bony." The heat and poverty are readily remembered because the South is usually hot and the effects of starvation during the Great Depression include even the smallest of towns. These descriptions not only suggest that the people of Maycomb are poor, but they can't even feed or take care of their animals properly because of it.

Scout's tone seems to be saying that even though life in Maycomb is hard in the 1930s--and Maycomb had its share of suffering--life also seems simpler back then because the pressures of modern life just don't exist. For instance, people "shuffled" along and the days seemed longer than twenty-four hours. In addition, she mentions that the courthouse "sagged in the square," which not only symbolizes how people feel living in the heat but also alludes to the lack of funds to renovate it (5). 

In summary, the author's tone describing Maycomb feels nostalgic, but there is also a sense of melancholy for the suffering that the town goes through because of the annual heat and because of widespread poverty. As a result, life seemed to drag on more slowly then. 

Why did Swift make the houyhnhnms look like horses in part 4?

In this section of the satire, Swift is, in part, poking fun at the entirety of the human race and our perception of our own intelligence and feelings of mastery over other animals or even, sometimes, other people.  The horse is a long-domesticated beast of burden that many of Swift's contemporaries felt to be beneath them in terms of intelligence, and so he presents a utopian society in which horses rule in order to turn this common way of thinking on its head.  Unlike human society, the society set up by the Houyhnhnms is peaceful and reasonable, and it is actually the Yahoos, the horribly disgusting and animalistic humanoid creatures, who are the beasts of burden for the Houyhnhnms.  By presenting humans and horses in these ways, Swift encourages readers to reevaluate the way they see themselves and other animals and/or people to see if their perceptions are accurate or merely the common way of thinking.

What were Mary Wollstonecraft's views on education?

Mary Wollstonecraft believed in the education of girls and young women.  She lived and wrote in the 1700s, which was a time when the education of girls was limited.  Typically, girls who were fortunate enough to receive an education in the 18th century were taught the arts of dancing, serving tea, drawing, curtsying, and basic reading skills.  Mary Wollstonecraft believed in a thorough education for girls to aid them in their roles of eventual wives and mothers.  

She did not think women should marry too young.  Instead, she thought it would be better for them to mature before marrying.  She thought that it was important for middle class girls to learn morals and intellectualism.  They should learn reasoning and critical thinking skills, as well.  She believed that young women should be taught self-discipline skills to aid them when they are married adults.